Department of English and American Studies English-language Translation

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English-language Translation Bc Ondřej Jakubčík Cloud Computing and Translation: Past, Present and Future? Master’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr Jarmila Fictumová 2012 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography …………………………………………… Author’s signature Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor, PhDr Jarmila Fictumová, for her thoughtful input, constructive feedback, valuable help and the time she devoted to my thesis Table of Contents Introduction Thesis Structure and Methodology .9 Alphabetical List of Abbreviations Used in the Thesis 12 Cloud Computing .15 3.1 Historical Overview 16 3.2 Deployment Models .17 3.3 Service Models .19 3.4 Characteristics .20 3.5 Summary .22 Translation Workspace .23 4.1 Historical Overview 23 4.2 Lionbridge 25 4.3 GeoWorkz .25 4.3.1 Merchandize 26 4.3.2 Support 27 4.3.3 Training 28 4.3.4 GeoWorkz Directory and GeoWorkz Marketplace 28 4.4 Features .29 4.4.1 Project Management 29 4.4.2 Language Management 30 4.4.3 Reporting/Analytics 32 4.4.4 Infrastructure Management 33 4.4.5 Miscellaneous 35 4.5 Clients and Functionalities 35 4.5.1 Microsoft Word Plug-in 36 4.5.2 XLIFF Editor 40 4.5.3 Online Review Client 45 4.6 Summary .46 Wordfast Anywhere 47 5.1 Historical Overview 47 5.2 Wordfast LLC 48 5.2.1 Merchandize 49 5.2.2 Support 51 5.2.3 Training 52 5.2.4 Wordfast Server, VLTM and +Tools 53 5.3 Features .56 5.3.1 Language Management 56 5.3.2 Optical Character Recognition .57 5.3.3 Portable-Device Support 58 5.3.4 Online Alignment Tool 59 5.3.5 Supported Formats and Languages .60 5.3.6 Machine Translation .60 5.4 Functionalities 62 5.4.1 Menu 62 5.4.2 Toolbar 65 5.4.3 Translation Memory Area .66 5.4.4 Glossary Area 66 5.4.5 Document Area 66 5.4.6 Status Bar 67 5.4.7 Outline Section .67 5.4.8 Concordance and Glossary Search Windows 67 5.4.9 Spellchecking 68 5.5 Summary .68 MemSource 70 6.1 Historical Overview 70 6.2 MemSource Technologies .71 6.2.1 Merchandize 71 6.2.2 Support 73 6.2.3 Training 74 6.2.4 MemSource Server 75 6.3 Features .75 6.3.1 Project Management 75 6.3.2 Language Management 76 6.3.3 Infrastructure Management 77 6.3.4 Scalability .77 6.3.5 Supported Formats and Languages .78 6.3.6 Machine Translation .78 6.4 Functionalities 78 6.4.1 Menu 79 6.4.2 Toolbar 80 6.4.3 Translation Area .80 6.4.4 Status Bar 81 6.4.5 CAT, Search and QA Pane .81 6.4.6 Spellchecking 82 6.5 Summary .83 WebWordSystem 84 7.1 Historical Overview 85 7.2 WebWordSystem 85 7.2.1 Merchandize 85 7.2.2 Support 87 7.2.3 Training 88 7.3 Features .88 7.3.1 Project Management 88 7.3.2 Language Management 89 7.3.3 Public Area TM and TB Trade 90 7.3.4 Infrastructure Management 91 7.3.5 Supported Formats and Languages .92 7.4 Functionalities 92 7.4.1 Toolbar 92 7.4.2 Translation Tool 93 7.4.3 Concordance and Glossary Searches .95 7.4.4 Spellchecking 95 7.5 Summary .96 Wordbee Translator 97 8.1 Historical Overview 98 8.2 Wordbee .98 8.2.1 Merchandize 99 8.2.2 Support 100 8.2.3 Training 101 8.2.4 On-Site Installation .101 8.3 Features .101 8.3.1 Project Management 101 8.3.2 Language Management .102 8.3.3 Infrastructure Management 102 8.3.4 Supported Formats and Languages .103 8.3.5 Machine Translation .103 8.4 Functionalities 104 8.4.1 Toolbar 104 8.4.2 Translation Area 105 8.4.3 Expandable Tabs Area 105 8.4.4 Concordance and Glossary Searches 106 8.5 Summary 107 Tool Overview and Comparison 108 9.1 Licensing 108 9.1.1 Licence Types .109 9.1.2 Limitations 109 9.1.3 Pricing 110 9.1.4 Scalability .113 9.1.5 Academic Licences .113 9.2 Support 114 9.3 Training 115 9.4 Project Management Interface 115 9.5 TM and TB Sharing .116 9.6 TM and TB Exchange 118 9.7 MT Capabilities 119 9.8 OCR and Alignment Capabilities 120 9.9 Translation Clients 120 9.10 Portable-Device Support 122 9.11 Offline Working 122 9.12 Functionalities 123 9.12.1 Menus 124 9.12.2 Toolbars 125 9.12.3 Keyboard Shortcuts 126 9.12.4 Segment Layout 127 9.12.5 TM and TB Searches 127 9.12.6 Spellchecking .128 9.12.7 Internet Search 128 9.12.8 Built-in Instant Messaging 129 9.13 Working Speed 129 9.14 Summary: The “Winners and Losers” 130 10 Future? 134 10.1 Crowdsourcing 135 10.2 Translation Marketplaces 137 10.3 Translation Using Portable Devices 138 10.4 Summary 139 Conclusion 139 Sources 144 Primary Sources 144 Secondary Sources 144 Résumé 151 Resumé 153 Introduction Peculiar though it may sound, the word cloud is no longer connected predominantly to celestial phenomena On the contrary, cloud computing has literally stormed the world of information technology and changed it in a way that seemed unthinkable even twenty years ago This significant change has led to the emergence of solutions which provide features and functionalities similar to the “traditional” software installable to PC, yet without the necessity to perform complex installations which occupy gigabytes of data on users’ hard drives Often, the only gadgets needed are a suitable device (such as even a mobile phone) and a suitable Internet connection One of the fields that are experiencing this cloud-based storm is the field of translation To start at the beginning, the days when a pen or a typewriter, a list of paper, and a printed dictionary were among the translator’s best friends are over Instead, a computer, an electronic database and the Internet have won the translator’s friendship Even within this enormously important shift, a subshift of great consequence begs attention Similarly to other software, more and more computer-assisted translation tools are migrating to the cloud Subsequently, this motion brings translation jobs to the cloud at such a quick pace that the proverbial bell may be soon heard tolling for the “traditional” CAT tools This thesis aims at examining the role of cloud computing in translation; namely, the way cloud computing can improve as well as hinder the translation process The research is based on a scrutiny of five CAT tools that share a common cloud background, but at the same time apply different ways of “taming” it The individual tools are compared and contrasted in order to, inter alia, ascertain the new aspects, operations and opportunities cloud computing brings to translation The information is supplemented by historical overviews of the individual tools, a prediction of the future field developments and, to a limited extend, a comparison to “traditional” CAT tools’ operational principles Due to the fact that this area is extensively vast and still unexplored by theoreticians, the thesis contains a number of suggestions concerning possible research topics All in all, after reading the thesis, the reader should be familiar with, among other things, the series of events that preceded the emergence of cloud-based CAT tools; the operational principles behind them; the individual tools’ strong and weak points; their usefulness in relation to different user needs; and their future prospects Thesis Structure and Methodology As far as the thesis structure is concerned, first, abbreviations that occur in the paper are explained Then, cloud computing is introduced, including the description of its models and characteristics The most extensive part of the thesis is devoted to the description of the examined cloud-based CAT tools For the sake of clarity, the individual chapters have more or less the same layout, elaborating on the tools’ developers, history, features, functionalities, and pros and cons Due to the fact that the tools share an extensive number of common characteristics, the chapters get gradually shorter in order not to repeat the facts again and again, focusing rather on dissimilarities The information gathered in these chapters provides a basis for a tool overview and comparison presented in the last but one chapter The last chapter is devoted to a prediction of the future field developments All the chapters are interconnected, thus, those devoted to the CAT tool description, in particular, combine theoretical aspects with practical findings extracted from my research In order to reserve as much space as possible for the actual findings, the thesis is based on the presupposition that its reader is familiar with the CAT tool basic operational principles, including the role of segmentation, translation memories and so on As for the methodology, the recentness of the thesis topic has negative implications towards the availability of sources Talking of cloud computing in a general sense, the field is attracting theorists more and more Unfortunately, the situation gets worse when it comes to the cloud-based CAT tools Because the “average age” of the examined tools is less than three and a half years, it is obvious that such short period of time is not sufficient for an extensive number of profound sources to emerge Thus, the research is based on three pillars: the information provided by tool developers, the precious little information gathered from articles published by experts, and, most importantly, my own experience with the tools Elaborating on the last pillar, I obtained the tool licences; and, having 10 limitations in balance The first common denominator of all the tools concerns the fact that they move the TM and TB assets online These assets are stored on the respective company servers where eligible users (typically, within the same subscription) can access them In an ideal case, this practice saves resources as the assets not need to be stored locally and resent to individuals over and over again, and promotes collaboration as users have live immediate access to the work done by their colleagues Nonetheless, the subscribers have to bear in mind that the data stored on third-party servers are prone to confidentiality and availability issues, and that the whole system is heavily dependent the participant access to the Internet The second common denominator concerns the cloud-based solution lightweightness All the tools are extremely undemanding and often require only a PC with an Internet connection and browser If an installation is needed, it consumes only a few IT resources Therefore, in an ideal situation, LSPs should not need to deploy and maintain complex IT infrastructures On the other hand, the lightweightness implies that the cloud-based solutions not offer so comprehensive features and functionalities as their “traditional” counterparts The examined solutions apply different approaches towards the cloud use Not all of them exploit the advantage of the cloud ability to measure service consumption and take the subscription road Those solutions which enable customers to scale their subscriptions and use only the services they need On the project management level, the inclusion of comprehensive PM capabilities is 140 not commonplace Some of the CAT tools not even provide them at all As to the actual translation process, the solutions provide different translation interfaces The first group of the interfaces is installable into PC either as a stand-alone tool, or as a plug-in to Microsoft Office applications The second group is completely web based, hence, even more lightweight Primarily, all the interfaces serve as a gateway to online stored TM and TB assets The interfaces vary in terms of translation-related-command comprehensibility; whereas some of the solutions attempts to preserve most of the advanced commands typical of “traditional” solutions, others aim at less demanding users who most of the times need only the basic functionalities As to the individual tools, Translation Workspace is a Lionbridge translation solution that offers an extensive number of subscriptions suitable for different LSPs Importantly, the solutions are scaled based on not only the subscription duration and the number of user licences, but also the number of ST words translated using the solution On the language management level, Translation Workspace comes with two trademarked technologies – Live Asset and Asset Aliasing – which are intended to enhance the platform collaboration opportunities The users can choose between two interfaces: the Microsoft Word Plug-in and the standalone XLIFF Editor, which are suitable for different translation tasks Apart from the fact that this CAT tool is a must for LSPs working for Lionbridge, it can be appealing traditionalists who would like to combine advanced CAT functionalities with the cloud opportunities 141 Wordfast Anywhere is a completely web-based CAT tool developed by Wordfast LLC On the one hand, it is available free of charge; on the other hand, its users are limited in terms of, among other things, the size and number of uploaded files, and the size of TMs and TBs Wordfast Anywhere comes with a number of advanced features and functionalities, including the OCR tool, the online aligner and the Pandora’s Box As implied above, the actual translation process happens in the Wordfast Anywhere Internet-browser interface, which is lightweight, but at the same time quite comprehensive The tool is particularly suitable for freelancers who would like to exploit CAT functionalities without a need to make investments MemSource is a Charles University project offshoot which developed in a cloud-based translation solution It offers a variety of subscriptions, which include a free licence for academic institutions MemSource PM capabilities are based on a comprehensive online platform that provides advanced commands related to project creation and completion, asset management and so on The projects are translated in MemSource Editor, a stand-alone tool Although the Editor lacks advanced translation-process commands, it provides all the necessities for successful translation culmination The solution aims at LSPs who demand comprehensive PM interface accompanied by a lightweight translation platform WebWordSystem is a Danish CAT tool that centres upon simplicity It does not exploit the subscription opportunity and takes the path of perpetual licensing On the project and language 142 management levels, WebWordSystem does not allow creation of individual projects, TMs and TBs as such; instead the operations are based on project codes The tool installs as a Microsoft Office plug-in, which consists of a toolbar a translation workbench The basic translation-related commands are available using just four buttons, yet some of the operations, such as TM search, are quite clumsy and hindering Wordbee is a completely web-based translation solution with a variety of available subscription options Significantly, inter alia, the subscriptions limit the space customers’ data can occupy on Wordbee servers The solution offers advanced project and language management capabilities which help users at all the stages of the translation project cycle Similarly to Wordfast Anywhere, the actual translation process happens in an Internet-browser interface that is simple, yet quite comprehensive; it provides advanced commands facilitating TM and TB searches and so on Wordbee is suitable for LSPs who demand a comprehensive translation solution that is extremely lightweight Importantly, the research has shown that the future of cloudbased CAT tools seems to be promising, to say the least The tools ride on the wave of cloud computing boom, and are used to process more and more translation units Although the result of the battle between the cloud and “traditional” solutions is not in sight, the former solutions are gaining ground at a rapid pace 143 Sources Primary Sources The thesis primary sources stand for five translation platforms: Translation Workspace, Wordfast Anywhere, MemSource, WebWordSystem and Wordbee Apart from Wordfast Anywhere, which is available free of charge, all the platforms were examined based on trial licences kindly granted by the respective entities Secondary Sources About Wordbee LT-Innovate 10 Oct 2012 Aioun, Brahim “Definitions of the Wordbee’s Licensing Model.” E-mail to Ondrej Jakubcik 14 Oct 2012 Ambrose, William, Niclas Dagland, and Samuel Athley Cloud Computing: Security Risks, SLA and Trust Jönköping: Jönköping U, 2010 Jönköping U Publications 18 Oct 2012 Beavitt, Thomas Wordfast Anywhere® User Manual Wordfast LLC, 2011 Bucki, James Definition of Quality Assurance About.com 16 Oct 2012 Cloud Computing: Business Benefits With Security, Governance and Assurance Perspectives Rolling Meadows, IL, USA: ISACA, 144 2009 ISACA 18 Oct 2012 Condron, Seamus Crowdsourcing: A Definition 31 Oct 2012 Converting a “dead” PDF to Word with Wordfast Anywhere CATguru’s vlog 12 Oct 2011 28 Sep 2012 GALA Globalization and Localization Association 21 Sep 2012 GeoWorkz Lionbridge Global Software Products, Inc 2012 14 Oct 2012 Hurwitz, Judith, Robin Bloor, and Marcia Kaufman Cloud Computing For Dummies Hoboken, NJ, USA: For Dummies, 2009 ebrary 18 Oct 2011 “In the future, Cloud Computing will be the only choice” The Telegraph Aug 2012 31 Oct 2012 145 Introduction to DITA OASIS Open Dec 2010 16 Oct 2012 Introduction to the Translation Workspace GeoWorkz, 2012 22 Oct 2012 Kotlík, Martin “Cloud computing řešení IT podpory pro malé a střední společnosti.” MA Thesis Masaryk U, Brno, 2010 Lionbridge Lionbridge Technologies, Inc 2012 19 Sep 2012 Marrero, Kristyna Wordfast Anywhere Reaches 5,000 Registered Users Lingualizer 29 Jun 2009 28 Sep 2012 - Wordfast Anywhere Surpasses 10,000 Registered Users Business Wire Dec 2010 28 Sep 2012 - Wordfast Anywhere Announces Support for Apple’s iPhone and Other Leading Mobile Device Platforms Business Wire Oct 2010 28 Sep 2012 146 MemSource Technologies MemSource Technologies 14 Oct 2012 Mirko M A Beginner’s Guide to MemSource Trusted Translations Aug 2012 Oct 2012 Naughton, John “Cloud control is key to the future of the internet” The Observer 22 Jul 2012 31 Oct 2012 Nový CAT nástroj od české společnosti MemSource Pro překladatele Feb 2012 Oct 2012 O Twitteru Twitter 31 Oct 2012 Parker, Philip M Definition: Computer-assisted Webster's Online Dictionary 16 Oct 2012 Ramnath K Chellappa, PhD EMORY 18 Oct 2012 Return On Investment - ROI Investopedia 16 Oct 2012 Rohde, Diane H “SV: SV: WebWordSystem.” E-mail to Ondrej Jakubcik 28 Sep 2012 147 RSS Feeds - A Tutorial Press feed 16 Oct 2012 Schäffner, Christina Translation in Undergraduate Degree Programmes, Ed Kirsten Malmkjær John Benjamins Publishing, 2004 SDL Trados Kaleidoscope 31 Oct 2012 Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing V2.1 Cloud Security Aliance, 2009 18 Oct 2012 Segmentation Rules eXchange LISA 16 Oct 2012 sourya A History of Cloud Computing CloudTweaks Feb 2011 18 Oct 2012 - Where Is Cloud Computing Going? Up, Up And Away! CloudTweaks 25 Jan 2011 25 Oct 2012 Speakers Localization World Oct 2012 SQL TechTerms.com Mar 2007 16 Oct 2012 148 Translation Cloud Translation Cloud LLC 26 Oct 2012 Txabarriaga, Rocio, Benjamin B Sargent Lionbridge Translation Workspace Aims to Disrupt Industry Common Sense Advisory 30 Oct 2009 14 Sep 2012 WebWordSystem WebWordSystem Oct 2012 Wordbee Wordbee 14 Oct 2012 Wordbee makes major gains in Japanese translation market GALA 14 Sep 2012 10 Oct 2012 Wordbee Translator.mp4 WordbeeTranslator YouTube 19 Sep 2010 22 Oct 2012 Wordfast Wordfast LLC 14 Oct 2012 Wordfast Anywhere Image Translator iTunes Wordfast LLC 29 Sep 2012 Wordfast LLC Wordfast LLC 13 Oct 2012 149 Čondák, Milan Porovnání kvality OCR z dostatečně velkého PDF 17 Apr 2011 28 Sep 2012 150 Résumé Based on the close examination of cloud-based CAT tools, the thesis aims at exploring the potential of cloud computing in translation The main thesis goals are to map the tools’ past; scrutinize, compare, and contrast their features and functionalities; and predict the future of the field Cloud computing is a rapidly developing IT industry that offers a large number of benefits in comparison to “traditional” IT solutions If adopted responsibly, these benefits can result in, inter alia, cost reduction and collaboration promotion These facts have been attracting a part of CAT tool developers who have been focusing on the creation of cloud-based solutions in an effort to get the edge over the “traditional” players, such as SDL Trados From the number of cloud-based translation platforms, five solutions were chosen for the analysis: Translation Workspace, Wordfast Anywhere, MemSource, WebWordSystem and Wordbee First, background information regarding the tools’ history and operational principles is introduced Then, based on thorough examination and the trial licences kindly obtained from the respective companies, the tools’ features and functionalities are described so as to comprehend their nature and usability The description focuses on various aspects of translation process, including project management and the actual translation interface operations 151 The findings, comparisons, and pros and cons are summarized at the end of the chapters as well as in a comparative chapter towards the end of the thesis and a table in the appendix The thesis is concluded by a prevision of the future developments 152 Resumé Tato práce podrobně analyzuje nástroje CAT využívající technologii cloud computing a zaměřuje se zejména na potenciál této technologie na poli překladu Mezi hlavní cíle práce patří zmapování historie zkoumaných nástrojů, důkladné prozkoumání jejich vlastností a funkcí za účelem srovnání a předpovězení budoucí vývoj na tomto poli Cloud computing patří mezi rychle se vyvíjející odvětví informačních technologií, které ve srovnání s „tradičními“ informačními řešeními nabízí celou řadu výhod Ty mohou mimo jiné přinést úsporu nákladů a lepší spolupráci Vývojáři nástrojů CAT této skutečnosti využili a začlenili technologii cloud computing svých produktů, snažíce se předčít „tradiční“ konkurenci, jakou je třeba SDL Trados Z celé řady nástrojů CAT založených na technologii cloud computing bylo pro účely této práce vybráno těchto pět: Translation Workspace, Wordfast Anywhere, MemSource, WebWordSystem a Wordbee Nejprve jsou uvedeny základní informace související s historií vybraných nástrojů a principy jejich fungování Následuje popis vlastností a funkcí těchto nástrojů založený na jejich důkladném zkoumání Popis je zaměřen na různé aspekty překladatelských procesů, včetně řízení projektů a činností prováděných ve vlastním překladatelském rozhraní Při získávání potřebných vědomostí bylo využito zkušebních licencí, které mi udělily příslušné společnosti Jednotlivé kapitoly zakončuje přehled kladných a záporných vlastností vyplývajících z práce se zvolenými nástroji V závěrečné části diplomové práce se nachází celkové shrnutí, jehož výsledky jsou přehledně uvedeny v tabulce v příloze 153 Závěrečná kapitola práce přináší předpověď budoucího vývoje 154 ... (Computer-Assisted Translation, Computer-Aided Translation) “The form of translation wherein a human translator translates texts using computer software designed to support and facilitate the translation. .. software and demanding data centres) and staff that would be preoccupied with 33 deploying and maintaining this infrastructure In this case, the key incantation takes the form of higher ROI and. .. main Microsoft Office formats (including DOC, DOCX, RTF, PPTX and XLSX), DTP and XML/DITA formats (including INX and MIF), and various other formats (including XML, HTML, TTX, XLZ and XLF) As