Translation and Technology

TRANSLATION AND TECHNOLOGY.

 Adoption of information and communication technologies.

1° Document production activities:
 Smaller numbers of respondents  (25%) used graphical or presentation software (e.g. Microsoft PowerPoint), and 17% used desktop publishing  packages.
Web publishing software, such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage, was used by only 13% of the freelancers.

2° Information search and retrieval activities: 
A high proportion of respondents (79%) consulted online dictionaries and / or glossaries, and 59% made use of multilingual terminology databanks.

Including text / document archives (51%)
Oline encyclopaedias (38%)
Academic journals available online (30%)
 

3° Translation creation activities:
Computer – aided translation (CAT) tools: 28% of the translators
Machine translation systems: 5 % of the sample
A very small number of translators 2% were using localisations tools, such as Alchemy Catalyst and Passolo.

4° Communication activities: Electronic mail was in widespread use (93% of the translators used it).
The majority of respondents (68%) relied on dial up conections and only 26% used broadband.
6% dial up and broadband. 

5° Marketing and work procurement activities:
Productivity levels (measured in terms of volumen of work undertaken) were generally higher.
33% used online translation marketplaces for marketing and / or for work procurement (e.g. ProZ.com, TranslatorsCafé.com, Aquarius).

6° Business management activities: 
Many respondents (79%) used spreadsheet packages.
Database packages were used by 25% of the sample.

Only 13% used dedicated accounting / financial management packages.
A very small minority of translator (2%).