5 online free translation tools recommended by translators
The translation process can sometimes cover a multitude of topics, requiring extensive research and contextual knowledge. Fortunately, the digital revolution triggered the creation of tools, software and resources that helps ease the burden of translation and improve efficiency, consistency and quality. Below we share with you 5 online free translation tools that are recommended by translators.
The Free Dictionary
Available in a wide variety of languages, this comprehensive site is a dictionary, thesaurus and encyclopedia in one. Get free access to medical, financial and legal dictionaries, an extensive collection of idioms, acronyms, quotes, and several languages besides English, such as Spanish, French, Portuguese and Japanese. The encyclopedia also has sections updated regularly, providing users a word or article of the day. The free mobile application is compatible with iOS and Android devices.
OmegaT
A free translation memory tool, OmegaT is an open-source software that allows translators to work more efficiently through fuzzy matching (computer-assisted translation) and automatic match propagation. This translation tool also uses multiple translation memories simultaneously and allows users to process multiple file projects at the same time. Its powerful tools include the Unicode (UTF-8) support that can be used with non-Latin alphabets; an integral spell checker, and compatibility with other translation memory applications.
Website Word Count
This is a free online translation tool that you can use to calculate repetitions and new words on the websites which are built on WordPress platform. From the developer of Website Word Count herself, Hanna Sles: “I receive many requests daily for English to Russian translation, mostly for website localization. To make it easier to count repetitions and new words on my website, I developed this tool to help translators and customers save their time and efforts. At the end of this year, I am planning to upgrade my tool so that it can also get word counts for websites on other platforms.”
Microsoft Language Portal
For translators specializing in IT and software, the Microsoft Language Portal lets users search translations of key Microsoft terms and general IT terminology. The term base contains approximately 25,000 defined terms, including English definitions, translated in up to 100 languages. Users can also download the Microsoft Terminology Collection featuring standard terminology terms used across Microsoft products, as well as UI translations, Microsoft Style Guides, and the Microsoft Terminology Service API.
Magic Search
For quicker terminology searches, Magic Search is a multilingual search engine that provides one-page search results of multiple dictionaries and other sources for different language pairs. It searches multiple sources such as Word Reference, TAUS, IETA, EUdict, and more. Users may also install a Google Chrome extension in their browser and customize the list of dictionaries and sources they’d like to search.
