Forum Open Language Tools Status Report
July 2008
In today's globalised economy there is a growing demand for just-in-time technical translations. The FOLT working group (Forum Open Language Tools, www.folt.org) has been set up by companies in the translation sector, scientists, state authorities and freelance translators and editors with the aim of catering for such increased customer requirements in terms of quality and quantity and of delivering innovative solutions in this field. FOLT is concerned with the entire process of generating foreign language documentation. From creation of the source text to its production in foreign languages, our processes are scrutinised by FOLT for any weaknesses or lack of standards. FOLT cooperates with the manufacturers of proprietary systems as regards the issue of standardisation and also evaluates and discusses open source translation memory products. FOLT is now taking part in a sub-working group, involved in initiating an open source translation memory system.
Problem and market situation for translation memories
Nowadays translations have to be provided in high volumes and a wide range of languages. The volume of translation work is constantly increasing both in Germany and abroad due to the trend towards the worldwide integration of knowledge, technological development and business, ever-shorter product cycles and new guidelines for the sale of products on international markets (e.g. Machinery Directive, product liability laws). The time and cost factor for provision of this service is growing in importance.
Efficient and intelligent tools are required to support the translation process to cope with the steady rise in the volume of translation work. This is required so as to keep costs and effort within a reasonable framework when producing multilingual documentation and to ensure high-quality results in future as well.
To ensure technical support with the production of documentation there are a number of IT applications which are indispensable for foreign-language documentation if we are to cope with an ever-increasing volume of documents and data, given the high demands not only made on consistency, but also time and cost savings.
Today there are well-established proprietary systems that are now in widespread use. They are known as"Translation Memory Systems (TMS)" or "Translation Memory Technology" and have adapted their functionality to the requirements of users in the market.1
The two outstanding advantages of TM technology are first of all the option ofreusing existing translations, and secondly, ensuring consistent terminologyThis is made possible by the specialist termbases which can be displayed during the translation process and the tools available for checking consistency.
The TM tools on the market differ both in the range of user functions and technical realisation depending on the orientation of each manufacturer. The various user packages offered for sale are also distinguished by different features, including the price of each package and the market share they hold.
However, one thing they have in common is a high cost factor, something that becomes increasingly important if it is necessary to purchase more than one TM system due to the applications and projects involved. One especially critical issue here is the fact that professional translators are selected more for their level of skill and ability in "operating" such a TM system and than for their knowledge of a specific subject and specialist terminology. When processing documentation, changing from one system to another involves major effort and the application of detailed IT knowledge - something that can only be offered by companies with qualified IT staff. The manufacturers of translation memories have no interest in jointly forcing forward standards, let alone ensuring that the translations for a product in one language can be produced for the customer with different TM systems.
In the open source sector there are already a number of applications which cover sub-functions of TM technology. However, there does not yet exist any system that has been developed or is so designed for open source further development or that is "open", enabling it to cater for the meanwhile highly diversified application and market requirements.
Initiation of an open source translation memory system
While endeavouring to maintain further contact with the commercial TM manufacturers on the issue of standardisation, FOLT reached the conclusion in spring 2007 that the next step was for itself to initiate an open source TM system. This was followed on 04.07.2007 by an experts' workshop organised by FOLT which was used to establish the fundamental requirements for an open source TM specification.
- The resulting specification drawn up by FOLT's IT experts forms the basis for tendering and realisation of an open source translation memory system (working title: openTMS), which primarily includes the following key requirements:
- · Clear definition of standards in terms of interchangeability and compatibility with combinable applications
- · Open IT architecture for all standard operating systems
- · Basic functionality to ensure successful usage as quickly as possible
- · Full compliance with the most important TM system functionalities
- · Clear statements regarding licensing
The openTMS project is being driven forward by a steering committee from the FOLT group in relation to the following issues:
- specification of openTMS architecture and financing
- "Best Practices" for an open source development process on FOLT/openTMS with support from Codebeamer and Eclipse
- modularisation in the development of openTMS
- fundraising
- PR work
- openTMS web presentation, "Consortial Design"
- community building / partnerships / financial aid
Questionnaire
An online survey was carried out into the use of translation tools at the end of 2007. This survey was a joint project performed in cooperation with the School of Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies in Germersheim and Linux Solutions Group e.V. (LiSoG) based in Stuttgart.
The results of this survey have now been compiled in a summary which is available under 'downloads'. These results will be incorporated in the development of openTMS and will be accessible to universities, industry, the state authorities and freelance translators at no charge.
About FOLT
Since November 2005, FOLT members have met in open meetings to agree strategies and further procedure, to deal with the subject of translation memory technology in a systematic manner and to take on board and represent the interests of the various users (individual users, small and medium-sized enterprises, universities and large-scale users such as the state authorities or big business). At the meetings attendees discuss typical production problems preventing the smooth generation of multilingual texts and documentation and jointly work out solutions to such problems. They also highlight existing solutions and Best Practices. FOLT has developed into a sounding board for the concerns of all involved in the translation process (authors, IT professionals, translators, layouters, etc) on both sides of the translation market, i.e. customers and service providers.
We regularly invite guests to the meetings, such as representatives of established software producers, to discuss the further development of existing tools and to exchange ideas. FOLT also takes advantage of this opportunity to put forward ideas and requests from those working in the branch to the software manufacturers.
FOLT also has a website (www.folt.org), plays an active PR role in the standard journals of the translation and documentation branch and also attends trade fairs (tekom Herbsttagung congress, Wiesbaden, 5 -7 November 2008).
- Members of FOLT
- · Acolada GmbH
- · beo Gesellschaft für Sprachen und Technologie mbH
- · euroscript Deutschland GmbH
- · GFT GmbH
- · Johan Olasz, technical writer
- · LocaSoft GmbH
- · Matrix Communications AG
- · oneword GmbH
- · transline Deutschland Dr. Ing. Sturz GmbH
- · Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, School of Applied Linguistics and Cultural Studies in Germersheim
- · Robert Malmström
Spokespersons for FOLT and openTMS
The spokespersons for FOLT and the openTMS working group are Michael Schneider (michael.schneider@beo-doc.de) and Thomas Wedde (Thomas.Wedde@euroscript.de).
Information and participation
If you have any queries about our work, would like to contribute to our discussions, might be interested in playing an active role in FOLT or would like to actively support projects such as openTMS, please do not hesitate to get in touch with the steering committee.
Downloads 
