Language translation software

Companies that cater to translators (the few that there are) will often try to sell you expensive translation memory tools, language dictionaries, and word processing software. As if you didn't have enough expenses to worry about. Do these companies ever think you might want to buy food?

Anyways, you can stay away from all of that, especially if you haven't yet won the lottery.

When I first began my translation business, I didn't have much of anything in the way of language translation software. I had a few good English-Spanish dictionaries, a good Spanish dictionary and a computer that would be considered a dinosaur by today's standards.

The only language translation software I had (and I wouldn't even consider it specific to language) was Microsoft Office, and you know what? That worked great for me. It had everything I needed (a spell checker, the ability to format text, and a word counter).

Now, before you think I worship Microsoft or anything like that, let me get to my point:

You don't need the latest memory management tools, expensive dictionary software, or any over-hyped under-performing products out there aimed at translators. You will be able to do everything you need to do with a suite of tools like those offered by Microsoft.

However...

Now you don't even need Microsoft.

What? A world without Microsoft Office? Is that possible?

A couple of years ago (when Word on my computer was freaking out), I searched for a freely downloadable alternative. I know you're saying to yourself: "Yeah, right. Good luck!"

Well, what I found was more incredible than I could even imagine. Ready for this?

OpenOffice.org

A complete word processing suite of tools with everything from a word processor, a spreadsheet program, a program for creating multimedia presentations, a drawing tool, and a database program!

The best thing about it? It's free. And over 16 million people have already downloaded it and are using it.

It's an amazing suite of tools and it's compatible with Word documents. It's perfect for translators and like I said, the price is right. Try it out and enjoy.

Now, if you have been using word-processing software to do your translations and find that you could use some more advanced software tools, read my article on computer-aided translation for some information that can help you.