Translation Instructions

Introduction

We use OmegaT for as much help with translations as we can get.

Currently, we are using it to translate exam content and portions of the wiki.

Some cool benefits of this tool include:

  * you can stop and restart translation whenever you like
  * it will produce the final translated version.
  * there is a translation memory which will make future translation work faster.
  * you can share your translation memory with others

Downloading the "Right" OmegaT

First off, we created a custom file filter for XaML files (LPI's XML formatted files used for item translation).

This means that you need to download our version from here.

The source code for this version of OmegaT can be downloaded here.

If you would like the unaltered original version of OmegaT, it can be found at this site.

Changes to OmegaT

The following modifications have been made to the original version of OmegaT:

1) Added filter to handle XaML files

Installing OmegaT

Here are the steps to try it out:

1) Make certain you have a good version of Java. The OmegaT project seems to favour Sun's version. I compiled and tested all of this with Sun Java 6.

2) Grab the LPI version of OmegaT.

 And unzip the file somewhere.

3) Run OmegaT (in Linux) or OmegaT.bat (in Windows) from that unzipped directory.

4) Select Options->File Filters and hit 'Restore Defaults'. This should make XAML show up as a filter now (if it didn't show up already).

  This step is very important or OmegaT will not recognize and import the XaML files.

Here are some screenshots which may help, too:

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Adding XAML to the filters - part 1

Error creating thumbnail: File missing

Adding XAML to the filters - part 2

Creating a Translation Project

1) Definitely read the tutorial included in the GUI when you start OmegaT.

2) Create a new Project with File->New in the GUI.

  * The source language should be EN, EN-US or something similar
  *.Select the target language
  * Change the source directory to where a XaML file is located.

Please let me know if there are any problems.

Restarting a Translation Project (or taking over for someone else)

1) Start OmegaT.

2) Load or create a new project, as needed.

  - make certain to select the proper language for translation
  - Hit 'OK'.  Don't import any files yet.

3) To save existing work but use the new translation memory by default:

  - mkdir <proj_dir>/tm/auto
  - mv <proj_dir>/omegat/project_save.tmx <proj_dir>/tm/auto/

4) Copy the new project_save.tmx to <proj_dir>/omegat/project_save.tmx

5) Import Source Files now.

For Step #3, your original translations will still show up in the Fuzzy Matches pane in the GUI.

How to use OmegaT with Wiki Materials

The basic steps are:

0. register an account on the wiki.

1. Click edit on the appropriate page. Cut'n'paste the text area and save that as a plain .txt file.

2. Download/install OmegaT.

If you think that you will be translating exams some day get the modified version here:

      http://wiki.lpi.org/wiki/Translation_Instructions

There's also a link to the OmegaT site if the package for your distro doesn't exist.

There's also a built-in tutorial.

3. Create an OmegaT project, import the saved text file and start translating.

4. When complete, click on: Project -> Create Translated Documents

5. Cut'n'paste the translated text document generated in <project home>/target/ back into the text area of the wiki.

6. Click on 'watch' when you save. If you missed this step because I should have included it in #5, you can click on 'watch' at the top of the page.

7. Also, click on 'watch' for the English page. This way, you will receive a notification whenever there is an edit.

NB: The reason for OmegaT is so that the translator can always take a full copy of the English version, save that again and import it into the existing project. With this process, the translator will only have to translate new content. The older content will not need to be updated.

Language Specific Notes

SpanishTranslationNotes