30 Language and Translation Tools

17.September 2009 admin

Scarlett Johansson – Lost in Translation by parn

There are plenty of language and translation tools on the Web. Most of these tools are not perfect. It means you can’t rely on them to translate correctly. You can use them to translate well enough to get understood though. Translations made with these tools are in a way “quick and dirty”.  So you still need a professional translator in order to get a high quality translation. Nonetheless even professional translators use such tools just like they use dictionaries.

This list of 30 language and translation tools aims to help both the quick and dirty standard Web users as well as simplify the work of professional translators. Some tools are well known but others are not yet that widely used.

Translation is not only about translating text or words.

Often we encounter metrics and varying numbers we need to localize as well to make a message clear. We need to use different currencies for instance. So this list also includes various tools that convert measurement values.

Translation tools
Simple translation tools allow you to copy and paste your text or let you translate your website. The results are often awful for native speakers but in most cases you can grasp the meaning of a text when using them. In cases where quick and dirty is enough you’ll use these tools. When publishing a text on your website, especially for a business website ask a translator to do the work.

• Yahoo! Babel Fish – Text Translation and Web Page Translation – The most known online translator probably. Lacks some common languages though
• Google Translate – Translate text or web pages, the quality is questionable but you can search in other languages using this tool
• Language Tools – iTools – Check several dictionaries at once
• Free Translation Online – Like Babelfish but offering many more language combinations
• Nice Translator – A dictionary that translates into multiple languages of your choice at the same time
• Frengly – Easy to use translator for multiple languages
• Free Online Translator – Like Babelfish but lets you choose the subject a text deals with

Currencies and other metrics
People in the US measure in miles and pay in dollars so telling them how many euros something costs or how many kilometers they have to travel is not enough. You have to localize the numbers as well. There are lots of tools that allow that.

• Currency Converter – Yahoo! Finance
• Bloomberg.com: Calculators
• XE – Universal Currency Converter

• Metric Conversions – metric conversion calculator and charts
• CalculateMe.com – Comprehensive Conversion Utility
• Unit Conversion – Online Unit Converter

Time zones and Swatch Internet Time
Translation work often involves working with people around the world in different time zones. How do you make an appointment? How do you decide when to call somebody? Either you check the time zones or use Swatch Internet Time which is universally the same, there are no time zones.

• Time – Current time around the World and standard time zones map of the world
• The World Clock – Time Zones
• Internet Time Converter

Other alphabets
Some languages make translation even more difficult due to their alphabets. The Cyrillic alphabet for instance uses the same letters as in English but for other sounds.

• Russian Alphabet (aka Cyrillic alphabet)
• Arabic alphabet, pronunciation and language
• Japanese Alphabet

Language Maps
What language you should translate into? This might sound silly but imagine that you want to sell a regional product in India or even in Switzerland? Which language do people in that area actually speak? You have to find out using language maps.

• World Atlas of Language Structures – Languages
• World Language Mapping System
• Modern Language Association – Language Map of the USA

Translation communities
For some translations you can’t use tools but paying for a professional translator would be too expensive: Here, translation communities can help.

• Cucumis.org – Free Translation Community
• dotSUB – Any Video Any Language
• Lyrics Translate – Multilingual translation community

Other tools
There are many tools that will help you translate that can’t be categorized easily, nonetheless they are very useful.

• Language Identifier Tool
• Forvo: the pronunciation guide
• Lorem Ipsum – All the facts – Lipsum generator
• Dummy Text Generator | Lorem ipsum for webdesigners

These tools are just a few out of many more. No online dictionaries are included as there are enough out there to make a list of their own. These 30 language and translation tools make cross-cultural work substantially easier. Tell us in the comments which of these you already use and if there are any tools missing from the list.

This 30 language and translation tools list does not include standalone software either. All tools are Web tools available online in your browser. This would be another list as well.

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