Translating Files

A segment filter at the top of the Translation Editor lets you limit the segments shown in the editor.

using the filter

To use the filter, type text in the Source Filter and/or Target Filter field to search for content in either. Then either press Enter on your keyboard or click . As a result, only the segments matching your search are shown.

example

Let's say you have the following segments in the Translation Editor:

You want to limit the segments shown to only those where the name "Jack" appears in the source segments. So you type Jack in the Source Filter field and click . As a result, only a few segments are now shown.

Then let's say you want to further limit the segments so that, of those shown, only those with "Jill" on the target side are included. Therefore, you type Jill in the Target Filter field and click . Now the list of segments is further reduced.

regular expressions and case-sensitive text

You can also select options to use regular expressions or to make the search case-sensitive.

example—regular expression

Let's say you want to limit the results to only segments where the source sentences begins with the letter w. First, you enter ^w in the Source Filter field. This is a regular expression that looks for lines that begin with w.

Then you click and select Regular Expression. This enables Lingo to use the expression you just typed.

Finally, you press Enter on your keyboard and the list is shortened.

example—case-sensitive

Let's say you have the following segments in the Translation Editor:

You want to limit the segments shown to only those that contain the word "song" in the source. So you type song in the Source Filter field and click . As a result, only a few segments are now shown.

However, let's say you want to limit the results to only the segments where the word is lowercase. So you click and select Case Sensitive.

After you click again, only one segment is found where song is found in lowercase.

clearing the filter and resetting the editor

When you want to clear the search fields and show all of the segments again, you can click .

example

Let's say you have used the filter fields so that the Translation Editor shows only a single segment in the file.

Now you want to clear the filter fields and return to the original view showing all of the segments in the file. To do this, you simply click .

Lingo lets you control formatting and other elements in segments so that the translation matches the source in terms of more than just text. This is done through inline formatting styles and tags.

If the source document contains inline formatting that Lingo is able to read (e.g., bold, italic, underlined text), that formatting is displayed in the source cell in the Translation Editor. You need to apply the same formatting to the appropriate text in the target cell.

Tags are shown for elements and formatting that Lingo is not able to read. For example, you might see miscellaneous tags when you import a Word document. Also, Flare project elements such as bookmarks, variables, or index keywords are represented by tags. It is not important that you know the purpose of each tag. As the translator, your job is to make sure the same tags in the source segment are added to the target segment and placed next to the appropriate words.

For more information see Inline Formatting and Tags.

At the bottom of the editor is the TM Suggestions tab. If matching content has already been translated and uploaded to the TM database, it displays in the suggestions area with the following information:

• % Match Displays a numerical ranking for the match. For example, if 100 is displayed, the content matches 100%; if 85 is displayed, the content matches 85%; and so on.
• Source Displays the word(s) in the source language.
• Translation Displays the translated word(s) in the target language.
• Source TM Displays the name of the TM database containing the translation match.

For more information, see About Translation Memory.

notes

Note: Lingo will use your existing fuzzy match settings to fill in matches using the TM. In the Options dialog (File>Options or Tools>Options), you can change the percentage for fuzzy matches to be filled in. See Setting Match Options for Suggestions.

Note: In the Options dialog, you can select a check box labeled "Accept Exact Matches upon applying TM." This option automatically confirms matching segments that are applied at the project or file level. See Accepting Exact Matches on Applying TM.

Note: If you apply TM to a project with multiple TM databases selected, Lingo applies matching translations from the first database selected.

Note: If you apply TM and a segment has multiple exact or context matches, Lingo applies the first one it finds in the TM database.

When you are working in the Translation Editor, you will notice that various statuses may be used for each segment in a document. These often relate to how closely a segment matches a previously translated segment in TM. Different colors and percentages are used to indicate a segment's status. See Statuses and Matches.

Machine translation (MT) is translation of text by a computer or translation program, such as Google Translate. A great benefit of MT is that it allows translators to translate a large amount of content quickly using an automated translation system, and then make any necessary updates to the translation on a case-by-case basis (e.g., using a termbase to replace certain words, fixing translations that are not accurate in context). Then, the translator can add the target segments to an installed translation memory (TM), improving the speed for future translations as well.

You can use MT in conjunction with any installed TM to provide additional translation suggestions from Internet translation providers. These suggestions appear alongside TM suggestions in the TM Suggestions area. You can also translate or pre-translate your entire project using MT suggestions. See About Machine Translation and Translating Projects with Machine Translation.

In Lingo you can use concept-oriented terminology databases to make your translation work easier and quicker. Termbases allow you to create, manage, and reuse multilingual terminology from a single storage area. This system automatically displays previously translated words from your termbase during the translation process, thus improving the reliability of translations. A termbase is more powerful than a dictionary. The idea behind a termbase is to create a database of words and phrases that you never need to translate again. See About Termbases and Inserting Terms from a Termbase.

For each segment in the Translation Editor, you can enter a note. For example, you might want to add a note to remind yourself to do additional research about a term, or to tell a reviewer why a particular translation was used.

A Note column on the right side of the segment row and a tab at the bottom of the editor are available for this purpose.

To add a note, open the Segment Notes tab at the bottom of the editor. You can do this in one of the following ways:

• Click the Segment Notes tab.
• Click the Note icon for that segment.
• Right-click in the segment and in the context menu select Add Note.

In the Segment Notes tab, type in either the Source Note or Target Note area. If you want to create a new paragraph, press CTRL+Enter. After you enter a note, the icon changes in the Note column.

Note: Segment notes travel with the project. Therefore, if you create a new Lingo project based on the same source files, the same notes will not automatically be associated with those segments because it is a new project.

Note: When you import a review package from Contributor, any annotations from the reviewer are added to the segment as segment notes. See Importing Lingo Review Packages and Accepting Changes to Lingo Review Documents.

This option that lets you automatically copy a number from the source to the target cell. This helps ensure that you do not accidentally retype an incorrect number during the translation.

You can add numbers from the source in the following ways:

• Context Menu You can right-click in the segment and select Add Next Number.
• Keyboard Shortcut You can press CTRL+, (comma) on your keyboard to add numbers to the target in order.
• Translate Ribbon From the Translate ribbon you can click Add Next Number.

Several options are available from the context menu when you right-click a segment in the Translation Editor.

You can also use keyboard shortcuts for these options.

• Cut (CTRL+X) Cuts the selection and sends it to the clipboard.
• Copy (CTRL+C) Copies the selection and sends it to the clipboard.
• Paste (CTRL+V) Pastes the selection from the clipboard to the place where the cursor is inserted.
• Confirm (Enter) Confirms the translation, adds it to TM (if applicable), and moves focus to the next segment. You can also press Enter on your keyboard to do this.
• Split Segment (CTRL+T) Breaks the segment at the point where the cursor is placed, so that the one segment becomes two.
• Join Segments (CTRL+SHIFT+K) Merges the selected segments into a single segment.
• Add Note Opens the Segment Notes tab at the bottom of the Translation Editor. This lets you type a note related to the selected segment (for the source and/or the target). When you are done, the Note icon to the right of the segment changes to reflect the fact that a note exists.
• Clear Target Segment (CTRL+Delete) Removes all content from the target cell.
• Copy Source to Target (CTRL+K) Copies all of the text, as well as the formatting or tags, from the source to the target cell.
• Add Next Tag (CTRL+N) Copies each tag in order from the source to the target cell.
• Add Next Number (CTRL+,) Adds each number in order from the source to the target cell.
• Add New Term Lets you add a term in the segment to a termbase.

You can edit shortcuts from the Options dialog. See Changing Hot Keys.

When you translate text, the segments are shown in a grid format (i.e., Translation mode). If you want to see the content in its original context (in paragraphs), click the toggle button in the local toolbar. This button lets you open Live Preview mode for certain file types (i.e., Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, MadCap Flare, Capture images with callouts). Live Preview mode displays next to the Translation Editor and updates in real time as you make changes in the Translation Editor. To toggle the location of the Live Preview pane, click . This toggles the Live Preview pane to display horizontally or vertically.

examples

example—word

When you first open a Word file in Lingo, it may look something like this, with text segments in a grid.

After you click , the file looks just like it would in Word. You can still see the Translation Editor and make changes, which appear in the preview area as you make them.

example—powerpoint

When you first open a PowerPoint file in Lingo, it may look something like this, with text segments in a grid.

After you click , the file looks just like it would in PowerPoint. You can still see the Translation Editor and make changes, which appear in the preview area as you make them.

If the PowerPoint document has multiple pages, and most do, select a different segment in the Translation Editor to view the slide.

example—Flare Project with Capture Image with Callouts

This is an example of an untranslated Flare project, viewed in Live Preview mode. Notice that the callout is part of the preview. This is because the callout is part of the image, not part of the text for the topic file.

When you open the image file, you can translate the callout separately.

notes

Note: The Word preview feature supports DOC and DOCX files.

Note: The PowerPoint preview feature supports only PPTX files, not PPT files.