About this blog

Translator's Shack is a collection of links, news, reviews and opinions about translation technologies. It's edited and updated by Roberto Savelli, an English to Italian translator, project manager and company owner of Albatros Soluzioni Linguistiche, a team of English-Italian translators, which hosts and supports this blog.


The Project Mangement category, managed by Gabriella Ascari, contains topics that are less technical in nature, but which we're sure will be appreciated by owners of small translation businesses and freelancers.


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What’s new in ApSIC Xbench 2.8 beta

image ApSIC has just released a new beta version of Xbench, the excellent, free terminology management and quality assurance tool.

Among other things, Xbench allows to batch-search large amount of bilingual files such as text files, TMX, TBX, most Trados formats, SDLX, STAR, Wordfast; Deja Vu etc. It also helps spot potential translation quality issues, such as untranslated segments, translation inconsistencies, tag mismatches, double spaces, terminology inconsistencies, etc. Using custom-made checklists, translators can also fine-tune the QA process to their specific needs and find, for instance, banned words or characters.

Here are the new features offered by this latest version:

  • New support for Regular Expressions and Microsoft Word Wildcards. Now it is possible to search and add check list items using regular expressions grammar or Microsoft Word wildcards. This allows you to specify very powerful search expressions that we believe that will allow you to reach a new level with QA searches. You can check out the power of regular expressions and learn how to use them by running the sample search templates provided against a large glossary such as a Microsoft Windows software glossary.
  • Faster search engine. The already fast search engine has been improved in the new search engine to become a 50% faster.
  • More supported formats. Now it also supports SDLX memories, Atril DejaVu and Idiom files, and Logoport RTF files.
  • Categories for checklist items. Now you can organize your checklist items in categories and run them selectively.
  • More fine-grained selection of segments to search. Now you can limit searches to only new segments, only ongoing translation or even exclude locked segments in search results.
  • And many other enhancements and fixes!

Xbench can be downloaded from http://www.apsic.com/en/downloads.aspx.

From ApSIC Tools Weblog » ApSIC Xbench 2.8 beta released!

October 19th, 2009 | by Roberto Savelli | 2 comments

Two interesting (and perhaps antagonistic) blog posts on translation quality

First there’s 90% of in-country reviews are a waste of time, from the Medical Translation Blog where, after a somehow provocative title, the author explains the difference between theoretical, ideal situations and the hard facts of in-country reviews, which are often marred by the following problems:

  • Lack of information sharing (e.g., no reference materials)
  • Lack of understanding regarding brand
  • Review schedules that are “black holes”
  • Clarity of review changes is lacking (ever try reading a French doctor’s handwriting?)
  • Mechanics fail (file exchanges don’t work, changes are entered inconsistently)
  • Quality of review changes (linguistic, technical errors are introduced)

Then there’s Quality translation dictates a collaborative effort, from the Translation and Software Localization Blog, which can be considered as some sort of retort to the previous post. The author adopts concepts from control theory to explain how in-country review is in fact an essential step of the translation process.

I think that the two articles complement each other and really support the idea that quality control, when done properly, can make a huge difference for the final quality of any translated or localized product. In conclusion, two interesting reads.

January 30th, 2009 | by Roberto Savelli | Leave a comment

Interesting article on ISO certification on Global Watchtower

The latest Global Watchtower article sheds some light on ISO certification for language service providers, citing the example of Eurotext Translations and explaining why the achievement of the ISO 9001:2008 standard represents a “smart move” for this company towards gaining a competitive advantage over providers who are “only” 9001:2000 certified.

via Translation Providers Cast Their Gazes toward ISO 9001:2008.

January 22nd, 2009 | by Roberto Savelli | Leave a comment