Omega-T free translation software

I'm not a translator but my wife and daughter do this and I am the IT man supporting them.

One of the big problems for translators is to maintain consistency and there are some quite nice (& expensive) programs for doing this (i.e., Trados)

I have found one called Omega-T which costs zero, zilch. It is reviewed here here.

The downside is that it does not translate at all, it just memorises phrases and tries to match them. Also it only works with the data formats from OpenOffice (a free download), but you only have to install their word processor and it can easily translate to and from MS Word.

It is fast and can work across many files. It can also handle lots of languages, not just German<->English. It also handles non-latin alphabets as well.

Thanks for the info, I'll have a look at that.

A hot market.

Actually, translation memory software of any type (from the thousands of Euros to the nearly free, shareware and rumored upcoming open source stuff) does not translate, but saves translations for reuse.

I've never used Omega-T, but have heard good things about it. (I invested in a couple of other solutions, like a DTP specialist having more than one DTP program depending on customer demand).

Will any Omega-T users be at the translator's meetup on the 12th?

Good point DD: Hugh, maybe you/wife/daughter would like to come along - translators' meetup thread.

I think koala's using it right now.

No she isn't - I've never even heard of this one.

It was Moran (is that the user name?). Anyway, John mentioned it at the last meetup I was at.

Darn, I really will have to see if I can get to this one.

Absolutely, work-related commitment. (And cocktails. Oops.)

I'm sure they would, but they are in Frankfurt and Heidelberg respectively!

If there is interest, I can try and package up a demo for a Munich meeting some time. The wife and daughter use it under Windows, but it is Java based and works equally well on a Mac or under Linux. To get over the issues of Java incompatabilities there is a version with a bundled Java run-time.

Personally what I find impressive is the community support (based on Email groups) and that it really seems to cope well with multiple alphabets. The guys working on it are quite active and improvements appear on a fairly regular basis.

What it lacks against the big packages is no integration with any translation engines (however you can copy and paste translations from other tools) and no database which is useful for big workgroups. There are some tools for playing around with the Translation Memory so it is fairly easy for people to share TMs and merge them if needed or eliminating duplicates. There are also ways to export/import from some of the commercial tools.

OK, just you then!

So let's hear from translators - who's interested in a demo?

Well things that are for free and increases the efficiency - of course I am interested in a demo run!

Thanks Julius! How about if we spread the word a bit more and perhaps include a demo in the next meeting in July (9th or 10th), in somewhere like Lebenslust which is quietish and has space downstairs if we need it? hughk, would that be feasible for you?

I'd be interested in a demo too. AS soon as the new EeePC 900 mini-laptop hits the market, I'll buy one. It comes in two flavors: Linux & XP, so I'm interested in tools that run on Linux. I'll admit that although I use Firefox & Thunderbird, that's the extent of my open source experience. So, I look forward to a demo - thanks!