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Don’t judge a book by its inside cover

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Don’t judge a book by its cover, goes the saying. If that includes the inside cover, never could this be more true than with the 2009 edition of the Diccionario politécnico de las lenguas española e inglesa. This very good dictionary has been spoilt by a spelling mistake on the inside cover.

Inside cover

I suspect spelling mistakes on the front and inside covers are more often than not the fault of the publisher, rather than the author. It’s not the first time I’ve come across one. In the Humanities library at the Autonomous University of Barcelona there is an English dictionary with “Lenguage Dictionary” on the front cover (I seem to have lost the photo I used to have). And then there was the infamous case of the Catalan translation of the Asterix book Le Ciel nous Tombe sur la Tête, which erroneously appeared as “El cel s’ens cau al damunt”. Like the French tomber, caure is not a reflexive verb. In Spanish, however, they use the reflexive verb caerse, hence the mistake. But the mistake is twofold, since even if Catalan did use the reflexive form caure’s, the correct combination of the pronouns se and ens is se’ns, not s’ens.

The English title of this technical dictionary is also spelt incorrectly inside the book.

Front cover

Despite these mistakes, this is a very good dictionary and I would highly recommend it to anybody translating technical texts between Spanish and English. I just wonder how many people have read the online fragment provided on the publisher’s website and judged it by its inside cover.

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Linguee

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Linguee is an online tool that searches for online translations of terms. It was originally only available for English<>German, but French, Spanish and Portuguese have now been added. You have to look carefully at the sources use and check the results for reliability, but provided you do that it’s a very useful tool.

Linguee website

Spanish<>English toolbar button (drag to the toolbar if using Firefox)
French<>English toolbar button (drag to the toolbar if using Firefox)

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Did the Queen have a sex change? Automatic translation of speech

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There have been many articles recently, like this one, about advances in the automated translation of speech, and I’ve even read stories about armies using them. I find the latter news very worrying.

Automated translation of speech basically combines two previously existing technologies: speech recognition and machine translation. The problems with the latter are well publicised, and despite the advances made, the problems remain. Google’s corpus-based translations mean that sentences tend to be more coherent nowadays, but a coherent sentence can also be an incorrect translation.

Voice recognition has come on leaps and bounds recently. I use it myself when translating. But as every user of such technology knows, you have to train it to your voice, and even then it makes mistakes that you have to correct. The article from The Times I’ve provided a link to discusses the problem of understanding “high-speed Glaswegian slang”. Current technology would no doubt be absolutely useless at understanding this. But what about more standard forms of English?

I decided to test how Google’s new speech-recognition tool would cope with the Queen’s English — literally the Queen’s English — a speech made by Queen Elizabeth II to parliament in 2009. As I expected, because the tool is not trained to the individual’s voice, the results are pretty awful. To see the video, click on this link. Pause the video, move your mouse over the “CC” button at the bottom of the video, then click on “Transcribe Audio” (don’t click on “English”, as that just gives you captions provided by a human, rather than the automated transcription), click on OK, and the video begins. The Queen tells us how she “was a man that’s in the house of common” [sic].

We can, if we wish, have these captions translated into another language. Just go to the “CC” box and click on “Translate Captions”, then choose your language. But the machine translation will only translate what it’s asked to translate, so we are still likely to get told that the Queen is a man. The translations into the three other languages I work with begin like this:

Catalan: “Jo era un home que està a la Cambra dels Comuns”
Spanish: “Yo era un hombre que está en la Cámara de los Comunes”
French: “J’étais un homme qui est dans la Chambre des communes”

As you can see, there is a very high risk of misunderstanding when using this technology. If the army wants to communicate with people in other languages, I’m afraid they’re just going to have to hire trained interpreters.

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DownThemAll! for corpus-building

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For professional translations, see my business website at www.timtranslates.com.

DownThemAll! can be a useful tool for creating a large, relatively clean corpus in a short amount of time. In this article, I shall explain one way of using DownThemAll! via a Google search to create a corpus. This particular example involves downloading the texts from the BBC Food website to create a corpus of recipes, which would be useful for translating and editing texts on food. However, the important thing is the method, rather than the result, so even if you do not think you will use a corpus on food, you may still find it useful to follow through the instructions, since you can then use the same method to download texts from other websites.

The method described in this article requires the use of the Firefox browser. The method was developed using the Windows XP operating system, but should work on other operating systems.

Firefox is needed because we will download the texts using the Firefox extension DownThemAll!. Once you have opened Firefox, if you do not already have the DownThemAll! extension, download it from here. When prompted, restart your browser (the browser should open up again with the same pages open).

DownThemAll! allows us to download all the links we have selected on a page. If we go to the BBC Recipes page and enter “chicken” into the search box, we are taken to this page. From here, we could download all 15 recipes by selecting the recipes, then right-clicking and selecting “DownThemAll selection…”, as shown below (click on pictures to enlarge).

Food1

On the next screen you could then click on “All files”, select the folder to save the files to and click on “Start”. The problem with this method, however, is that we can only do 15 recipes at a time.

Downloading from Google

Google can display up to 100 results simultaneously (if anyone finds a search engine that makes it possible to display more results, please leave a comment), and we can target our search on the folder of the BBC website containing all the recipes, as follows:

  • Open a new tab (press ctrl+t), open up Google, and go to “Advanced search”.
  • Type +the as your search term (the plus sign tells Google to search for the word exactly as it is written, and not to ignore it as a frequent word). This should ensure we get a good range of types of recipe. If you wanted only fish or chicken recipes, then you could search for “fish” or “chicken” instead.
  • Change the number of results per page to 100.
  • We need to tell Google to search only within the folder containing the recipes. If you go back to the previous tab, where we searched for “chicken” in the BBC database, and move your mouse over one of the links to a recipe, you will see this folder, as shown below:

Food2

  • The part I have underlined in red in the above image appears in the URLs of all the recipes. This is what we will type into Google in the “Search within a site or domain” field. Our Google search should thus appear as follows:

Google Advanced Search

  • Execute the search.

Downloading the pages

  • On the results page, do not select anything, do a right-click, and click on “DownThemAll!…”.
  • In the DownThemAll! window, scroll down until you can see some of the links to the actual recipes, i.e. those links with descriptions resembling those underlined in red below:

DownThemAll!

We need to find a way of downloading only the recipes, and not the Google Images, Videos, Maps, etc. links, nor the “Cached” and “Similar” links, nor any other links other than the recipes. To do this we shall use the “Fast filtering” option.

  • Disable all the filters (“All files”, “Images”, etc.).
  • Click on the plus sign next to “Fast filtering”
  • In the “Fast filtering” box, click on the drop-down list and select the /(.mp3)$/ option. You can find more on the syntax used in the Help files, but basically this option is to select only mp3 files. In this example we want to download only “shtml” files, since our recipes contain this file extension (see the pink underlines above). Select the letters “mp3” and change it to “shtml”, since all the files we want to download have the shtml file extension. The filter should now read /(.shtml)$/
  • We are going to use the renaming mask. The default mask (*name*.*ext*) means that pages will be saved with their current name and extension, so we would have files such as “theclassicroastturke_65538.shtml”. We are going to change the extension to “html”, since this will make it easier to clean our files once we’ve downloaded them. To do this, change the mask to *name*.html
  • Click on the folder (circled above in green) to select where you want to save the files. Make sure you create a new folder, since we’ll be downloading hundreds of files!
  • Your window should now look like the picture below, with the exception of the folder path (underlined below in pink), which depends on where you want to save the files. At the bottom of the window, as underlined below in red, it should say that you have 100 links selected.

    • Food5

  • Click on the “Start!” button, which will bring up the download window, and start the download.
  • Minimise the download window and go back to your Google search results in Firefox, then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the number 2 to bring up results 101-200.
  • Once this page has opened, do a right-click, but this time click on “dTa OneClick!” instead of “DownThemAll!”. This will start downloading results 101-200, but using the same settings as for the previous download, so this time you won’t see the settings window. After about five seconds you should see the 100/100 in the download window change to 100/200.
  • You can go to the third page of Google results without waiting for the second page of results to stop downloading. Scroll down and click on the number 3, then once the page is opened, select the “dTa OneClick!” option again to download results 201-300.
  • Again scroll down to the bottom, but this time we’re going to speed things up by opening the next results pages in new tabs. Click on the numbers 4 to 10 one-by-one with the middle button (scroll wheel) of your mouse, or if you don’t have this button, hold the Ctrl key on the keyboard while you click on them. Go to the first of the new tabs and select “dTa One Click!”, then do the same for each of the remaining new tabs.

Google will not let us access more than 1,000 results, but 1,000 texts will give us a pretty good-sized corpus. If you want more than 1,000 texts, then try searching for another term (such as “chicken”) and downloading again. To avoid duplicates, save to the same folder, and if the “Filename conflict” box comes up, click on Skip/Cancel and select “Just for this session”. Once you have done this, all subsequent duplicates will be ignored.

Converting to plain text

If you open one of the files you’ve downloaded in Notepad, you’ll see that the files are not very clean, and are full of html code. However, programs exist to clean this. If you use Windows, you can clean this with the appropriately named HTML2TXT (please add a comment if you know of a tool that does the same thing for another operating system):

  • First, create a new folder somewhere to which we will export the cleaned files.
  • Download and install Bobsoft’s HTML2TXT from here.
  • When you launch the program, the “Unregistered Copy” window will appear. Click on “Try”.
  • Click on “Add folder”, and the select the folder where you’ve saved the recipes. (Don’t try “Add files”, as there are too many files for this.)
  • Click on the option to save the cleaned files to a new folder (highlighted in red below), then select “Click here to select” (highlighted in pink below) and choose the folder you created in the first step of this section.

Food6

  • Click on “Convert All” to convert the files. Don’t panic if the window freezes and you get a “Not Responding” message. Just be patient.
  • In the new folder you will find the cleaned txt files.

Because we’ve used the demo of HTML2TXT, you will find a short message at the top of each cleaned file. This shouldn’t be a problem for most uses of corpus analysis tools (unless you want, say, accurate word counts), but if you do want to completely clean the files, you can remove this message using cheap batch find/replace tools such as FileMonkey (cost $29).

If anybody knows of free tools that do the same as HTML2TXT or FileMonkey, please leave a comment.

You now have an almost-clean corpus of recipes that you can analyse using corpus-analysis tools such as AntConc .

These instructions can be adapted to create other corpora, but certain changes will be necessary. For example, we will not always have a single file extension (such as shtml) for all the files we want to download. I hope to add further tutorials explaining how to adapt this method for other corpora, at which point I will add a link to the bottom of this page.

Please use the comments section if you have any questions or comments to make about these instructions.

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Remember, remember – Recordem, recordem

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For a bit of fun to mark the 5th November, I’ve translated the famous poem into Catalan. If you think you can do it in another language, please post it in the comments!

Original English:

Remember, remember the fifth of November:
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot.
I know of no reason why the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

Catalan translation:

Recordem, recordem el cinc de novembre:
Pólvora i conspiració!
Mai a la vida podem oblidar
Aquella traïció.

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Norton for another year…

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Last week I announced I wouldn’t be renewing my Norton subscription. Well I definitely won’t be renewing for another year now, because after someone from Norton found my article, I received an apology and was given a free upgrade to Norton 10, with a one-year subscription. I now no longer get the false hit. I am willing to give credit where credit is due, and I thank the member of staff for his very helpful support.

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Why I won’t be renewing my Norton AV subscription

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The problem I had has been solved. See here.

This is the conversation I’ve just had, after I’d been getting a false alert.

Lakshmi: You are being transferred to Lakshmi.

Lakshmi: Welcome to Norton Support, my name is Lakshmikanth, Can I please have a minute to go through the information you have provided?

Lakshmi: Thank you for the time. Could you please elaborate the issue for me?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Norton is giving a false-hit Trojan for a registry entry. In “Exclusions” I can add folders, but I can’t work out how to add a registry entry.

Lakshmi: Thanks, your case number is 4953182**, please write this down.

Lakshmi: If we get disconnected for any reason, we’ll call you back within 30 minutes. Can I check that the phone number you have provided is the best number to call you on?

Mr. Timothy Barton : In the “risk details” it says “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionApp PathsTO3000.exe”

Mr. Timothy Barton : Yes, sure.

Mr. Timothy Barton : The best number is 93 721 00**

Lakshmi: Okay. Thank you for the information.

Mr. Timothy Barton : +34 93 721 00**

Lakshmi: Could you please confirm me if you are getting any messages or pop ups showing Trojans or some thing like that?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Yes, I’m getting a Trojan alert.

Mr. Timothy Barton : I want to add an exception so I don’t get the alert.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Because it’s a false alert.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Is it possible to add a registry folder as an exception?

Lakshmi: Timothy, It seems that your computer is infected with Trojans. What I can do is I will transfer this chat to the Virus Removal Team who are trained in these issues. I am sure they will surely assist you in this Issue. Is this okay with you?

Mr. Timothy Barton : No, it’s not a Trojan.

Mr. Timothy Barton : It’s legitimate softwarte

Mr. Timothy Barton : Even when I reinstall the software, I still get the messages.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Please, all I want to know is how to add an exclusion for a registry entry.

Lakshmi: I wish I could have helped you better but the you can get better assistance regarding this.

Lakshmi: It will just take 2 to 3 minutes time to connect.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Is it possible to add a registry entry as an exclusion?

Lakshmi: You cannot add a registry entry in to the exclusion list.

Mr. Timothy Barton : In that case, I think I’ll have to switch to another anti-virus program, because there seems to be no way of stopping this false alert.

Lakshmi: I assure you that the Virus Removal team will help you in this issue.

Lakshmi: They will help you in all possible ways as I am not trained in these type of issues.

Mr. Timothy Barton : That”s a subscription service isn’t it? How much does it cost? If it turns out it’s not a virus (which I’m convinced it’s not), do I get the service for free?

Lakshmi: They will check that and inform you about that. They will only proceed after your confirmation only.

Mr. Timothy Barton : So they check it for free, and only charge me once I give confirmation? How much do they charge?

Lakshmi: Yes.If if requires money charge they will let you know before it self. I wish I could tell you but it depends on the issue.

Mr. Timothy Barton : OK, well I’ll let them have a look then.

Lakshmi: I am not sure of the charges.

Lakshmi: Okay.

Lakshmi: Can I put you on hold for 2 or 3 minutes while I update the records for you?

Mr. Timothy Barton : yes

Lakshmi: I am now transferring this chat to Virus removal team. Thank you for contacting Norton Support.

{ Your issue is being escalated. }

Binumon: Welcome to NortonLive Spyware & Virus Removal Service.

Is this the first time you are contacting us?

Mr. Timothy Barton : yes

Binumon: Are you connected from the computer which has this particular issue?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Yes

Mr. Timothy Barton : Started having the problem the other day. It was saying TO3000.exe was a Trojan. The same thing happened when I reinstalled it (and it is definitely legitimate software).

Binumon: Are you connected from the computer which has this particular issue?

Binumon: I am sorry.

Mr. Timothy Barton : I excluded the folder, but now it comes up with a registry entry. I don’t know how to exclude registry entries.

Mr. Timothy Barton : yes

Binumon: Timothy, dont worry. Let me try and see how we can work this out

Binumon: Is your computer on a network or it is a stand alone PC?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Connected to a Wi-Fi router, but it’s stand-alone.

Binumon: Please tell me which country you are connected from.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Spain

Binumon: Please confirm your email address is timtra****@gmail.com and direct phone number is +349372100**. Is that correct?

Mr. Timothy Barton : yes

Binumon: Please provide me your alternate phone number or mobile number.

Mr. Timothy Barton : +34 616 149 0**, but if my landline doesn’t work it means I’m not in, so I won’t be in front of my computer.

Binumon: Thank you for all the information.

Binumon: I understand that you were transferred to us from our technical support department to diagnose your computer for viruses. Am I correct?

Mr. Timothy Barton : I don’t have any viruses. I’m getting a false alert. All
I want to do is exclude the registry entry, so I don’t get the false alert.

Binumon: Are you getting any alert messages like “Virus Alert”, “Your Computer is infected”, “Security Alert” etc?

Mr. Timothy Barton : It says it’s a Trojan Horse.

Mr. Timothy Barton : But I’ve been using the software for four years.

Binumon: Alright.

Binumon: Trojan horses are impostors—files that claim to be something desirable but, in fact, are malicious. A very important distinction between Trojan horse programs and true viruses is that they do not replicate themselves. Trojan horses contain malicious code that when triggered cause loss, or even theft, of data. For a Trojan horse to spread, you must invite these programs onto your computer. For example, by opening an email attachment or downloading and running a file from the Internet, you can activate a Trojan.

Binumon: Are you getting any alert messages like “Virus Alert”, “Your Computer is infected”, “Security Alert” etc?

Mr. Timothy Barton : As I said, I’m getting a Trojan Horse alert

Mr. Timothy Barton : “Trojan Horse has been detected”

Mr. Timothy Barton : I go to Details, and it says it’s the registry entry for TO3000.exe

Binumon: Timothy, please be aware that, once there is an infection on your computer, it will normally try to spread to other files on your hard drive and to other computers/devices connected to your system. Most of the times, it creates or manipulates entries and keys in your windows registry. For these cases we need to manually remove the registry entries and also remove the infected files.

Manipulating the registry is like brain surgery for your computer and is to be done with extreme care, since incorrect changes could mean that the computer’s functioning could be altered potentially unchangeably. It is recommended that only highly skilled individuals make these changes.

Mr. Timothy Barton : But all that the registry entry says is the file path.

Binumon: However you dont worry. We can help you now.

Binumon: If you wish, our expert consultants will do a complete diagnosis of your system, and troubleshoot any malware present on your computer. If required and if your system permits they can connect to your computer remotely and do all this for you directly.

Binumon: Our expert Technicians would provide you the best solutions possible based on their analysis of the threats on your computer. They would also provide you with information to avoid from getting infected in the future. They would advise you based on the specific configuration/settings of your computer and also answer your related concerns and queries.

Mr. Timothy Barton : The data in the registry entry says “C:Program FilesTranslation Office 3000 V8TO3000.exe”. That’s what Norton wants to delete.
Does that look harmful?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Please, I just want to know how to stop this alert appearing.

Mr. Timothy Barton : How much do they charge for the diagnosis? What if they don’t find anything wrong?

Binumon: Okay. Our technician will diagnose your computer and will fix the issue for you now.

Binumon: Before we proceed, I would like to inform you that this is a paid consultation service.

Binumon: The Consultation fee for this service would be €99.99.

Binumon: We guarantee to identify any threats that may be on your system. Once we have found them, we will remove them. In addition we guarantee our work for a period of 7 days from the day / time the issue is resolved should you experience any reoccurrence.

Mr. Timothy Barton : This is ridiculous. It’s clearly a false hit. I’m blatantly not going to pay €99.99. What I’d like to know is how to exclude a registry entry, the same way as I excluded a folder.

Mr. Timothy Barton : If you can’t tell me how to do this then I will not be renewing my subscription and will look for a new antivirus solution.

Mr. Timothy Barton : I’m not asking you to do anything to my computer. I just want to know how to do something in the program.

Binumon: Virus and Spyware Solutions is a value added service provided by Norton. Highly trained technicians spend time diagnosing and correcting the problem. As with most highly specialized support, there is a fee involved.

Mr. Timothy Barton : If by removing the software I stop getting any alerts, doesn’t that prove that this is not infecting other parts of my computer? And if by reinstalling legitimate software I still get the alert…

Mr. Timothy Barton : … it means the problem is with the virus definitions in Norton.

Binumon: Norton is protecting you from tens of thousands of existing malwares and from the hundreds of new threats released every single day. It provides among the best security that is available for your computer.

This particular infection could have been caused while subscribing or downloading from free websites or when you download/transfer files such as movies, songs, screensavers, games, etc. from other computers, such as in a P2P system, or from insecure websites.

Normally when you download something, it will ask for your permission to open/install, and accept the license agreement.

When you do so, being the administrator/final authority of the computer you are potentially authorizing an override of the security restrictions in place.

Mr. Timothy Barton : I DON’T HAVE A VIRUS. IT’S A FALSE ALERT!

Mr. Timothy Barton : I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW TO DE-ACTIVATE AN ALERT. I CAN’T BELIEVE NOBODY IS WILLING TO TELL ME HOW TO DE-ACTIVATE AN ALERT.

Binumon: Timothy, you have the traces of the Trojan remains in your computer. Thats why you are getting the alert.

Binumon: So we need to fix it from your computer manually.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Have you accessed my computer?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Shouldn’t the software I bought get rid of it?

Binumon: Please be aware that, once there is an infection on your computer, it will normally try to spread to other files on your hard drive and to other computers/devices connected to your system. Most of the times, it creates or manipulates entries and keys in your windows registry. For these cases we need to manually remove the registry entries and also remove the infected files.

Manipulating the registry is like brain surgery for your computer and is to be done with extreme care, since incorrect changes could mean that the computer’s functioning could be altered potentially unchangeably. It is recommended that only highly skilled individuals make these changes.

Mr. Timothy Barton : You’ve sent me this already

Mr. Timothy Barton : Norton is telling me which registry entry is infected. I can see that it is not.

Mr. Timothy Barton : Please, just say how to exclude a registry entry. If after that my computer gets spoilt, I’ll take full responsibility.

Mr. Timothy Barton : If you can tell me, I’ll renew my subscription. If not, I’ll look for different software.

Binumon: Timothy, the registry editing work can be done only with the help of our technicians. I am not trained to do those type of works.

Mr. Timothy Barton : I don’t want to edit the registry; I want to stop a registry folder from being scanned.

Binumon: Timothy, If you chose to proceed with this Consultation, our expert Technicians will troubleshoot the malware on your computer without any potential loss of personal files or undue risk to your Operating System.

Binumon: So shall we proceed with the consultation and let one of our expert’s diagnose and remove any threat identified to make your computer safe and secured at the earliest?

Mr. Timothy Barton : Do they do the diagnosis free of charge, then charge me for anything they do, or is there a charge even for the diagnosis?

Binumon: Timothy, The technicians do a complete diagnosis of your computer, and if there are malware/threats then they remove them. If required and if your system permits, they connect to your computer remotely, and do all this for you directly. They ensure that any malwares/threats present on the computer are removed.

Please note that due to the nature of viruses/malware, sometimes it requires more than one attempt to remove them, and you might have to contact us again. Should you need to contact any other support teams; the technician will guide you appropriately.

If in the rare circumstance where we are not able to remove the malware present on your computer, despite our best endeavors/efforts, we will transfer your case to our research team, who would provide you with the refund, if necessary.

Mr. Timothy Barton : That doesn’t answer my question…

Mr. Timothy Barton : I take it you’re saying there’s nothing else you can do without me paying. If that’s the case, then I’m afraid it’s goodbye Norton. I don’t have virus or a Trojan horse, and the only annoyance is the false alert.

Binumon: Timothy, we can start the trouble shooting process, only after we complete the transaction.

Mr. Timothy Barton : The only way to get rid of this false alert is to find a new Anti-virus program.

Mr. Timothy Barton : So goodbye Norton.

Binumon: Is there anything else I can help you with?

Mr. Timothy Barton : A shame, as I’ve been pleased with the service I’ve had over the past few years.

Mr. Timothy Barton : no thanks

Binumon: If you need to contact NortonLive Spyware & Virus Removal Service again please visit http://www.symantec.com/vremoval

It has been pleasure assisting you. Thank you for choosing NortonLive. Have a great day.

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My photo on the Catalan weather / La meva foto al temps de TV3

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Ahir vaig enviar una foto al temps de TV3, i la van utilitzar al final del Telenotícies. Ho podeu veure aquí (a partir de 4:00).

Yesterday I sent a photo to the main national weather forecast on TV3, the public service broadcaster in Catalonia. You can see it here (from 4:00).

Aquí sota podeu veure l’imatge original.

Below is the original picture.

Original picture

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Search dictionaries in Google books

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This tool is provided for you by Timothy Barton, a professional translator. Please have a look at my business website, at www.anglopremier.com.

Recently, there seems to have been an explosion in the number of bilingual and multilingual technical dictionaries available in Google Books. Thanks to the limited previews, we can access most of the information from many technical dictionaries without having to go out and buy them.

The problem I’ve found is the time it takes to search through all the dictionaries, including, in some cases, more than one edition of the same dictionary, since Google Books sometimes hides different pages in different editions.

By creating a “library” of dictionaries available in Google Books, it is possible to search through as many dictionaries as you like at once. You can also make your library public, which means that you don’t need to create one yourself, as you can use the library I have already created. Here are the results you get if you search for “arrollamiento” in my library.

You can search through my library from this page.

If you use Firefox, you can drag this toolbar button to your browser’s toolbar.

If you use IntelliWebSearch, download this file (right-click and save the target) and import it into IntelliWebSearch by going to “Share-Search settings-Import from file” (tested on v 3.1.0.7). It should appear in the list as “Google Books (perso)”.

I recommend searching without quotes, since many dictionaries replace the main word with a ~ symbol inside entries. So you might not find, for example, “arrollamiento de cobre” if you search with quotes, because the dictionary might start an entry with the word “arrollamiento”, but then say “~ de cobre” when listing the compound terms. The intelliwebsearch search is set not to use quotes.

I designed the library to help me with my own translations, so the main languages included are French, Spanish, Catalan and English. The books included at the time of writing are listed below. I have generated the list automatically, so some books may appear twice where more than one edition is included in my library.

If you find this useful, please leave a comment. If you wish to tell others about it, please direct people to this blog entry (Permanent link: http://www.timtranslates.com/blog/?p=154), rather than straight to my Google Books library. If you find other books that could be included, please let me know and I’ll add them.

Update: This list is already out of date, as I’ve just added several medical dictionaries. It will be impossible to keep up to date, as there are so many more dictionaries in Google Books. Any links posted in the comments will be added as soon as possible.

Termcat, Diccionari de Psiquiatria ©2007
TERMCAT, Centre de Terminologia

Terminologia de la sida
TERMCAT, Centre de Terminologia, Colomer i Artigas Colomer, Catalunya. Termcat (Centre de terminologia)

Termcat, Diccionari d’immunologia ©2005
TERMCAT, Centre de Terminologia, Catalunya. Termcat (Centre de terminologia)

Diccionari UB. Anglès-Català
Diversos

Webster’s Catalan – English Thesaurus Dictionary
Icon Group International, Inc.

Spanish-English Food Dictionary
Vicki Wootton

Carmen’s Worldwide Kitchen – English/Spanish Cookbook
Carmen Kolenda

Diccionario culinario mexicano bilingüe español-inglés: Ingredientes, utensilios, técnicas, bebidas y platillos típicos
Elsa G. Casanova

Glosario IICA del Banco Mundial
James Price Gittinger

Diccionario de sinonimos JURIDICOS Bilingue/ Law Synonymous Bilingual Dictionary: Espanol- Ingles/ English-spanish
Laura Casado, M. Casado, Fanny Lilian tr Krimer

Spanish-English/English-Spanish commercial dictionary: Diccionario de commercio español-inglés/inglés-español
Carlos Reyes Orozco

Diccionario de Finanzas bilingue/ Finances Bilingual Dictionary: Terminología bilingüe: español-inglés, inglés-español
Fabricio V Godoy, Orlando Greco

Diccionario de términos financieros
Eliseu Santandreu

Diccionario Politécnico de Ferrocarriles: DPF= Polytechnisches Wörterbuch Der Eisenbahn
Mario León, Mario León Rodriguez, Fundación de Ferrocarriles Españoles

Diccionario técnico: inglés-español, español-inglés
Federico Beigbeder Atienza

Diccionario de tecnología ferroviaria glossario de términos ferrovarios definidos en español con traducción al alemán, francés, inglés, italiano y portugués
Mario León

English-Spanish and Spanish-English glossary of geoscience terms
Gary L. Prost

English-Spanish and Spanish-English Glossary of Geoscience Terms: Diccionario Ingles-Enspnol Y Espanol-Ingles De Terminos De Geosciencias
G. L. Prost

Glossary of the Petroleum Industry: English/Spanish & Spanish/English
Rebecca L Busby, M. Dolores-Proubasta

Vocabulario de términos científicos: Español-inglés, English Spanish
Javier Martín, VV Staff

DICCIONARIO OXFORD-COMPLUTENSE DE FISICA
Aa.vv

Diccionario de informática, telecomunicaciones y ciencias afines: inglés-español
Mario León

Lexikon, Landschafts- und Stadtplanung: Mehrsprachiges Wörterbuch über Planung, Gestaltung und Schutz der Umwelt
Edward B Ballard, Klaus-Jürgen Evert, Comité de IFLA de Traducción de términos técnicos, International Federation of Landscape Architects

Glosario para administradores y economístas agropecuarios
Guillermo Guerra, Guillermo Guerra E., Alfredo Aguilar V., Aguilar, José Alejandro Sánchez Manzanares

Algemeen juridische beroepsvorming
Lydia Janssen

Diccionario jurídico-empresarial: español-inglés-español
Véronique Bodoutchian-Sáiz

Diccionario de recursos humanos: Organización y dirección
Manuel Fernández-Ríos

Diccionario de términos fiscales 2004: Impuestos sobre la renta y al activo: comentados y correlacionados con las leyes respectivas
Baltazar Feregrino Paredes

Glosario de términos para la administración y gestión de los servicios sanitarios
Carlos C. Álvarez Nebreda

Diccionario de términos económicos
César Sepúlveda L, César Sepúlveda

Contabilidad Financiera/ Financial Accounting
WARREN CARL S., FESS PHILIP E., James M. Reeve, REEVE JAMES M., Philip E Fess

Glosario para administradores y economístas agropecuarios
Guillermo Guerra, Guillermo Guerra E., Alfredo Aguilar V., Aguilar, José Alejandro Sánchez Manzanares

Diccionario de términos financieros
Eliseu Santandreu

Glosario de términos financieros: términos financieros, contables, administrativos, económicos, computacionales y legales
Leonel Vidales Rubí

Spanish Business Dictionary: Multicultural Business Spanish
Morry Sofer

Accounting dictionary: Diccionario de contabilidad
Nora Sánchez

Glosario Internacional Para El Traductor (empat.)

Glosario internacional para el traductor
Marina Orellana

Glosario Internacional Para El Traductor: Glossary of Selected Terms Used in International Organizations
Marina Orellana, John D Chadburn

Glosario de Psiquiatría
John C. Nemiah, F. P. Gallardo, Luis Viani, María Jesús Mardomingo

Aviation terminology
Jorge García de la Cuesta

Diccionario del tren: vocabulario de términos ferroviarios definidos en español con traducción al alemán, francés, inglés, italiano y portugués
Mario León

Diccionario de informatica e Internet: Computer and Internet Technology Definitions In Spanish
Course Technology, Course Technology Staff, Armando S Fernández

Diccionario Técnico: Inglés-Español, Español-Inglés = Technical Dictionary: English-Spanish, Spanish-English
Frederic Beigbeder, Federico Beigbeder Atienza

Diccionario de química física
J M Costa

Commercial Trucking Bilingual Dictionary: English/spanish
Maria Ivon Moya

Diccionario de negocios: inglés-español, español-inglés : contabilidad, administración, finanzas, economía y mercadotecnia
Manuel Urrutia, Manuel Urrutia Raola

Wiley’s English-spanish Spanish-english Dictionary of Psychology and Psychiatry: Diccionario de Psicología Y Psiquiatría Inglés-español Español Inglés
Steven M. Kaplan

English-to-spanish Computer And Internet Dictionary: English-to-spanish Computer and Internet Dictionary
Alicia S. Clark, Eduardo Clark, H. (CON) Eduardo

Salud: Medical Spanish Dictionary and Phrase Book
Bonifacio Contreras

Diccionario de electrónica, informática y energía nuclear
Mariano Mataix Lorda, Miguel Mataix Hidalgo

English-Spanish and Spanish-English glossary of geoscience terms
Gary L. Prost

Diccionario tecnico ingles-espanol, espanol-ingles/ Technical Dictionary English-spanish, Spanish-english
Rafael García Díaz

Routledge Spanish Dictionary of Environmental Technology: Spanish-English/English-Spanish
Miguel A. Gaspar Paricio

Inglés-español.: English-spanish

Routledge Spanish Technical Dictionary: Inglés-español = English-Spanish
Routledge

Diccionario politécnico de las lenguas española e inglesa
Federico Beigbeder Atienza

Glossary of the Petroleum Industry: English-Spanish & Spanish-English
PennWell Publishing Company, Maria-Dolores Proubasta, Pennwell Publishing Company

Routledge Spanish Technical Dictionary: English-Spanish
Routledge, Stephanie Coontz

IMF glossary: English-French-Russian
IMF’s Bureau of Language Services Staff, International Monetary Fund. Technical Documentation, Reference, and Terminology Section, International Monetary Fund, International Monetary Fund. Bureau of Language Services. Russian Division

IMF glossary: English-French-Arabic
IMF’s Bureau of Language Services Staff, IMF’s Bureau of Language Services, International Monetary Fund

IMF glossary: English-French-Spanish
International Monetary Fund, International Monetary Fund. Reference, Terminology, and Documentation Section, International Monetary Fund. b Terminology Working Group

IMF glossary: English-French-German
International Monetary Fund. Reference, Terminology, and Documentation Section, International Monetary Fund

Imf Glossary: English-French-Russian
IMF’s Bureau of Language Services Staff, International Monetary Fund FMI IMF’s Bureau of Language Services Staff Bureau of Language Services, IMF’s Bureau of Language Services, International Monetary Fund

IMF glossary: English-French-Spanish
International Monetary Fund. Technical Documentation, Reference, and Terminology Section, International Monetary Fund, International Monetary Fund. Bureau of Language Services. Terminology Working Group

Dictionnaire des marchés financiers: plus de 2000 termes et expresions expliqués et traduits en cinq langues : anglais, allemand, espagnol, italien, néerlandais
Joseph Antoine, Marie-Claire Capiau-Huart

100 IFRS Financial Ratios / IFRS Indicateurs Financiers Dictionnaire Anglais / Français
Ulrich Wiehle, Michael Diegelmann, Cometis AG <Wiesbaden, Henryk Deter, Peter Noel Schömig, Michael Rolf

IMF glossary: English-French-Arabic
International Monetary Fund, International Monetary Fund. Bureau of Language Services

Dictionnaire anglais-français, français-anglais de la poste et des affaires postales
Vera Mihailovich-Dickman

Approche linguistique des problèmes de traduction anglais–français
Hélène Chuquet, Michel Paillard

Dictionnaire des sciences et techniques du pétrole: anglais-français, français-anglais
Magdeleine Moureau, Gerald Brace, Institut français du pétrole

Dictionnaire technologique français-anglais-allemand: avec leurs diverses acceptions et applications, tous les termes techniques employés dans les arts industriels et dans la mécanique, la physique et la chimie manufacturières : tableau comparatif des monnaies, poids et mesures
Alexandre Tolhausen, Louis Tolhausen, Gardissal (Durand)

Moby Dick (Webster’s French Thesaurus Edition)
Icon Reference, Herman Melville

Routledge French Technical Dictionary: Anglais-français = English-French
Arden, Neil Clements, Routledge

Merriam-Webster’s French-English Dictionary
Merriam-Webster, Inc, Merriam-Webster

Multilingual technical dictionary on irrigation and drainage: Dictionnaire technique multilingue des irrigations et du drainage. English-French; anglais-français
International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage

Dictionnaire français-anglais des mots tronqués
Fabrice Antoine

Dictionnaire d’automatique de génie électrique et de productique: anglais-français : français-anglais
Pierre Borne, Nigel Quayle, Madan G. Singh

Dictionnaire d’informatique et d’Internet: anglais-français
Jean-Guy Grenier

Dictionary of electrical engineering: English, German, French, Dutch, Russian
Y. N. Luginsky

Dictionnaire du Génie Civil, de l’Architecture, et de la Construction.: Matériaux et technologies, édition bilingue français-anglais
Éric Serge Bon

A Naval and Military Technical Dictionary of the French Language. Part 1. French-English
Robert Burn

Routledge French Dictionary of Environmental Technology: French-English/English-French
Terence Gordon, Routledge

Civil Engineering in French: a guide to the language and practice of civil engineering in French-speaking countries
A. Paulus

Dictionary of Civil Engineering: English-French
Jean-Paul Kurtz

Routledge French Dictionary of Telecommunications: French-English/English-French
Stuart Wittering, Routledge (Firm), Neil Clements, Sinda López

Dictionary of Building and Civil Engineering: English/French French/English
Don Montague

Dictionnaire Technique Anglais: Volume 2, Anglais-français = French Technical Dictionary : Volume 2, English-French.

French dictionary of information technology: French/English, English/French
Terry R. Pyper

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