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Thread: Some ideas for speeding up translations

  1. #1
    Member SaraCrystalWater's Avatar
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    Default Wuxia originals

    I was wondering if there are ne site where u could read Wuxia that it not in simplified chinese coz i can only just abt read normal chinese... then maybe i could help with the translations... i'd like to repay all the kindness shown in this forum (so to speak!)
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  2. #2
    Moderator Ren Wo Xing's Avatar
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    Hey, just get NJstar. It can 'translate' from traditional Chinese to simplified automatically with a click

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    Moderator CrazyT's Avatar
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    But she doesn't want simplified. NJStar is doing the opposite of what she asked for.
    I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.

  4. #4
    Moderator Noodles's Avatar
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    NJStar can do BOTH.

    Download NJStar chinese word processor from NJstar.com
    Go to a site like shuku.net or this page http://shuku.net/dblx/html/4/80-2-0.html to find the author of the wuxia novels. Click on their name for a list of their novels. If you copy and paste the whole chapter into NJstar, you can convert between simplified and tradtional chinese. Hope that helps.
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  5. #5
    Member SaraCrystalWater's Avatar
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    Thank U ALL!

    I'll try it wen i get home!
    Life is what U make it...
    ...So make sure U live with no regrets...
    ...and live it to the MAXX!!!

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    Default QIQI

    Quote Originally Posted by SaraCrystalWater
    I was wondering if there are ne site where u could read Wuxia that it not in simplified chinese coz i can only just abt read normal chinese... then maybe i could help with the translations... i'd like to repay all the kindness shown in this forum (so to speak!)
    I do not read Mandarin but this website has, I think, most of the Wuxia stories by Jin Yong and Gu long.

    http://www.qiqi.com

  7. #7
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    Lightbulb Some ideas for speeding up translations

    Hi guys,
    I recently helped a friend translating some chapters of a book from english to french so I thought I would share my experience (just in case it may be of help for someone)
    Here is how we did it.
    - The main tool we used is Dragon Speech software (but any speech recognition software would do). You need to install this in your computer. It can be used together with any editor (like MSword for example).
    - Read the book (written in english) and while doing so, speak aloud the translated version (in french in our case)
    -The idea is while you speak aloud the translated text, the speech recognition software will write it in the editor for you. Entire paragraphs could be done in seconds with few errors.
    Over time, the software makes fewer mistakes at recognizing your speech(training) and this speeds up the translation dramatically.
    The caveat here is that one must be able to translate text while reading it (something not easy to do by any means, more so with chinese).

    Let me know if any of you guys have tried something like this before.

    Axel
    Last edited by s4life; 07-09-05 at 12:49 PM.

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    Your explanation doesn't make a lot of sense to me..

    Do you mean have the translator sit there and read the book, and have him just recite the translation outloud in english?

    It could save him/her from tabbing between programs or looking at a book, so it might save them time. I think some translator think and edit while they type through, I know I when I paraphrase a source...

  9. #9
    Moderator CrazyT's Avatar
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    I had the idea for a program where the translator won't have to tab between several windows to translate. The program will be one big screen with two separate window boxes. The top box will be an internet explorer window where the translator can go to qiqi.com (or whatever site they use) while the bottom box will be a text input where they can save their translation.

    But then I thought about how the majority of the translators here probably have a copy of the book in their hand. So there isn't a need for such a program.
    I would love to change the world, but they won't give me the source code.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Demitre
    Your explanation doesn't make a lot of sense to me..

    Do you mean have the translator sit there and read the book, and have him just recite the translation outloud in english?
    Yes
    It could save him/her from tabbing between programs or looking at a book, so it might save them time.
    I think some translator think and edit while they type through, I know I when I paraphrase a source...
    I guess I didn't emphasize enough that one should be able to read/translate/speak-translated-text simultaneously for this method to save time; if you often need to look up for words in the dictionary or tab between possible translated texts in programs, then you obviously are going to spend most of the time doing those things and the speech recognizer won't help you at all.

    Axel
    Last edited by s4life; 07-12-05 at 02:13 AM.

  11. #11
    Senior Member Ian Liew's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by s4life
    Yes


    I guess I didn't emphasize enough that one should be able to read/translate/speak-translated-text simultaneously for this method to save time; if you often need to look up for words in the dictionary or tab between possible translated texts in programs, then you obviously are going to spend most of the time doing those things and the speech recognizer won't help you at all.

    Axel
    Sadly, sounds a lot like me, so.. yup, not much of a help to me at all =)

  12. #12
    Senior Member fastclock's Avatar
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    Default Using Babelfish to translate

    Ok, this is a very doable idea - but you have to understand that the result is half-baked stuffs that some people might strongly object to.

    Before that, has anyone else that have limited/no Chinese reading skill used babelfish or any other translation program to output readable material? I haven't used the $200 translation software (TransWhiz etc.) Maybe they are better than Babelfish - but right now I'm sticking to the free translator

    Ok, this is what I've tried to do to translate the stuffs myself:

    1. Get a wuxia novel in simplified chinese, e.g. from easysea: http://www.easysea.com/wuxia/

    2. Use babelfish to translate the whole novel (25% readability)

    3. Start translating back the names and places to Pinyin + correct some common mistranslations in English (60% readability). (use Find/Replace like crazy) This step is of course the hardest step and would take probably about 50 hours for a Gu Long novel. For a person with no chinese skill at all like me, I would use these sites to guide me making educated guesses at the words:
    for long passages:
    http://www.rikai.com/perl/HomePage.pl?Language=Zh
    for a few words:
    http://www.yellowbridge.com/language/worddict.html
    Most of the problems at this stage is the tense version of the verbs, the story would be in present tense instead of the past. And of course, just translation mistakes and incoherency.

    Translations from spcnet translators are usually higher than 95% readability. So, even after step 3, the result is still very bad compared to the work of the translators - but you still get 60-70% of the story, with 10-20% more you can deduce intelligently (hehe...). Also, you can do the whole steps yourself, if you have the time. This is the main problem right - too many books - too few translators.

    If anyone has more suggestions to the above steps, I'd be happy to hear their comments.

    If anyone has done something like this and would like to share their result for no. 3, I would like to read their half-baked stuffs too (PM or email).

  13. #13
    Senior Member fastclock's Avatar
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    Continuing on the subject:

    I have done up to step 3 for Jiu Yue Ying Fei (Flying Condor in Sep/Dec) for the entire novel.
    This novel has lots of conversations which are relatively easier to read.

    Ideally, there is someone with enough time, to bring the readability up to 90% - but not me

    Let me know what you think.
    It's in MS Word (need Chinese language decoding capability).

    http://www.geocities.com/hadrian_d/jyyf.html

    I apologize first to whoever wants to translate this properly (Bliss, Trinie), if this is like jumping the line.

  14. #14
    Member BeeDreamer's Avatar
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    fastclock: Good job.. now you just need to edit it and start posting!

    s4life: Your ideas are pretty good.. sadly it could only work with professional translators or bilingual people.. I'm gonna have to stick with babelfish for now
    Last edited by BeeDreamer; 07-29-05 at 11:49 AM.

  15. #15
    Senior Member Temujin's Avatar
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    Wow !!

    The entire novel is done

    Great job! You should post it.
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  16. #16
    Senior Member fastclock's Avatar
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    Well,

    Once I have read the story, there is really no incentive for me to go back and edit it. That's why I'd prefer someone else to edit/post it. But, if someone thinks it's a good idea to just post it as it is - you're welcome to do it

  17. #17
    Junior Member PrincessRydia's Avatar
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    fastclock please volunteer yourself to do this translation! i'm hooked on these characters and would looooooove to read more about Ye Kai! pweeeeeeeeeez

  18. #18
    Senior Member Du Gu seeking a win's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PrincessRydia
    fastclock please volunteer yourself to do this translation! i'm hooked on these characters and would looooooove to read more about Ye Kai! pweeeeeeeeeez

    +

    Stop whining, you can download it from the site he gave, can't you? It's in .doc format, should you want to see the Chinese part you should choose the correct font (MS Arial Unicode)

  19. #19
    Junior Member PrincessRydia's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Du Gu seeking a win
    +

    Stop whining, you can download it from the site he gave, can't you? It's in .doc format, should you want to see the Chinese part you should choose the correct font (MS Arial Unicode)
    i'm not whining, you're just a meany.

    i saw the link posted, but he said the translation was just babel-fished and then edited for names and pinyin. he said he didn't want to edit/post it, and i was only trying to convince him to.

    i noticed you have a history of being mean and obnoxious on this forum Dugu. thanks for the information you gave but there was no need to tell me to stop whining beforehand. you'll be seeking-a-win for quite soemtime with that attitude of yours mister.

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    Default Anyone interested in taking up old translation projects?

    There are quite a few old translation projects that were never finished......anyone interested in fishing them?

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