What is the Translation Wizard?
The
Translation Wizard is a tool which connects you directly to online translation tools. Fagan Finder itself does not contain these translation tools.
Instead, it includes a
listing of many translation tools, each of which has different language and translation capabilities.
It matches up the translation you want with a tool that can handle it. Try it out to see for yourself. Enter text (or a website), select the source and destination languages, and click the
translate button.
Using the Translation Wizard Interface
(1) Enter Something to Translate
In the main textbox on the
Translation Wizard, you can enter a single word or phrase, a passage of text (
i.e. full sentences), or even the
URL (address) of a web page.
You can even enter a web page in
several non-HTML file formats. When entering text, you can also make use of the
International Keyboard to type characters that are not on your own keyboard. You can also write in languages that are
written from right to left.
Clicking the
clear button at any time will remove what has been entered in the textbox.
File Formats
The
Translation Wizard can handle several file formats other than standard
HTML web pages.
You can enter a web page that is a
Macromedia Flash (
SWF) file or an
Adobe Acrobat (
PDF) file.
Before these get translated, they are, respectively, passed through the
Search Engine Flash Viewer, or the
Adobe PDF Converter.
When translating with these file formats, expect to wait longer, as
two conversions are taking place. Send a
request if you would like other file formats to be supported.
International Keyboard
An international keyboard is available for typing characters that may not be on your actual keyboard. Click on
[show international keyboard], below the main textbox, to use it.
It will appear just below the textbox. You will see a list of characters (letters); click on any of them to add them to the textbox. A different keyboard is shown depending on which
from language you have selected.
If you have selected Russian, for instance, a Cyrillic keyboard will be shown. Currently keyboards are available for five scripts: Latin (extended characters with diactrics), Cyrillic, Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic. If any script is missing a character that you would like to use,
or you would like another script to be added, send a
request. The keyboard displays characters alphabetically; send a request if you’d prefer a different layout.
See Also:
- Omniglot, ‘a guide to writing systems.’
- PetaMem Diacritisation, a tool which can add or remove diactics for text in German, Czech, French, Spanish, and Italian
Text Direction
To write using a language written from right to left, simply select that language. The textbox will adjust itself accordingly. If you are using a right-to-left language, a
[change text direction] link is provided above the textbox.
Use this to switch between entering a
URL and entering text. If you have already entered a
URL before switching to a right-to-left language,
the text direction will remain as left-to-right, with the option to change the direction still available.
(2) Select a Language Pair
Select the languages you want to translate between, using the two pull-down menus that list the
available languages.
If you want to specify a dialect (e.g.
Brazilian Portuguese), then select
list all the translation matches for the results (see
Results Display below).
Note that not
every possible language combination will have a translator that can performat that translation. If there is none, it will tell you that.
Send a
request if you would like certain language pairs that are not yet included.
To make selecting languages even easier, there is a
<switch> button which will swap the
from and
to languages.
For example, this will change
French to Russian into
Russian to French.
Results Display
By default, the Translation Wizard will take you directly to the translated text or web page, unless no translator can handle the language combination, or the translator requires you to log in.
However, for many language pairs (e.g. German to English), the Translation Wizard actually includes a number of different translators that can perform the translation.
The one which you are taken to by default is the first match, not necessarily the best match. Machine Translation tools (these translate full sentences rather than just single words) vary greatly in accuracy, and it is often best to try several if they are available.
The same applies to language-to-language dictionaries; one may not have a certain word, while another one may.
Below the translate button on the Translation Wizard, is a selection box where you can choose how to display the translation results.
The first option, go to the translation, takes you directly to the first translation match.
The last option, list all the translation matches, lets you see what the Translation Wizard is really doing. Similar to a search engine, it will display a list of all the translators that can peform the requested translation.
Each one of these is a link directly to the translation, so that choosing this option requires only one more click that the first option. Each one will also have an [information] link, which will take you to a page about that translator.
Other information is displayed along with each result, including the dialect being used, and notes such as free registration required. At the top of the translation results, links are provided to the language information pages for the two languages you have selected.
The middle option, list matches if there are several, is a compromise between the other two. If there is one translation match, it will go directly to it, and if there is more than one match, it will list them.
Language Identification
The
Translation Wizard has a
language identification page, which can be used to identify the language that any text or web page is written in.
You can, however, access the language identification page directly from the main translation page. Instead of using the
translate button, use the
identify language button.
It assumes that you want results for language identification displayed in the same way that you want translation results to be displayed. If you have selected
go to the translation, you will be sent directly to the result of the language identification.
Otherwise, you will be taken to the
language identification page, where your input will already be entered for you. Note that for language identification access from the main translation page, it does not matter what languages you have selected.
Saving Your Settings
To save yourself the time of selecting the same options each time you visit the
Translation Wizard, use the
save options button.
It will save three values for you: the
from language, the
to language, and the
results display. When you come back to the Translation Wizard next week, you’ll find that your saved options are already set for you.
Matching Input to a Translator
There are three types of things you can enter (a word, full sentences, or a
URL), and each translator can handle one of these, and any below its level.
That is, a translator that can handle full sentences can also handle words, and a translator that can handle web pages, can also handle full sentences and words.
A special feature of the
Translation Wizard, is that if you enter something
above the capability of the available translators, you will still get a translation.
If you enter a web page, and the translator can only handle full sentences, the Translation Wizard will extract the text from that web page, and send
that to the translator.
If you enter full sentences or a web page, and the translator can only handle single words, you will be taken to a framed page which lets you translate any word with one click.
This is best explained by example; try a translation from English to Afrikaans or Swahili for instance.
Special Pages
Language Pages
Every language in the
Translation Wizard has its own page. You can access them from the
list of languages.
Each language page includes information about the language (such as
ISO codes, alternative names, dialects, and script used),
links to other pages about that language, a search box for finding pages written in that language, and a list of the translations that the Translation Wizard can do with it.
Translator Pages
Every translator in the
Translation Wizard has its own page. You can access them from the
list of translators.
Each translator page includes information about it and what languages it is capable of translating between.