Universal Translator is an app for the Mac that offers word and sentence translation into more than 50 languages. The Universal Translator installs in a second or two, and the interface is a model. Trial Document Translator has a free 500-word trial. Try it out and see how many amazing features it really packs. After the 500 word trial, you can still use Document Translator with all word processing features enabled but you cannot translate words.
Top Three Free CAT Tools you can start using right now
Computer assisted translation (CAT) tools are computer applications that make job a lot easier for translators all over the world. CAT tools are not automatic translation machines and they won’t translate the text for us, but they will help during the process.
Common feature of these tools is that they allow the user to store the previous translations into database, together with the original texts. CAT tool program then checks if there are previously translated segments in the source text. If the repetition occurs, the software automatically reuses the stored translation. Database that contains stored translation is called translation memory. CAT tools are useful for large projects, especially technical texts, because the turnaround time becomes much faster.
These applications are mostly commercial, expensive and made for Windows users, but there are several good ones you can download or use online for free. If you search for free and open source applications, at the top of Google search results you’ll get OmegaT, MateCAT and SmartCAT, and these are the ones we are going to talk about today.
OmegaT
OmegaT is a free and open source CAT tool that keeps track of the similar segments and provides support in form of dictionary and glossary. It’s a downloadable program, available for Windows, Linux and Mac users.
When you first open the program, you’ll see the welcome screen with some guidance on how to use it. When the document is imported, the translation area is on the left side, and the right side serves for helpers and tools which come handy during the translation process. Glossary appears on the lower right side.
One of the most useful characteristics of this program is the option to mark the untranslated segments, which colors the untranslated text blue. All translated phrases turn green. Saving the document creates a new directory containing the source document, target folder, glossary – basically everything that belongs to the current project. Be careful and often check for untranslated segments, because you won’t receive any warning from the translated document in case that some parts of the translation are missing.
MateCAT
Unlike OmegaT, MateCAT is a web based translation program, which means the only thing you’ll need to use it is Internet connection. It’s a very good tool with easy to use interface. MateCAT gives more matches than any other CAT software because it has the database of over 20 billion words of public translation memory. You can use your own translation memory, and of course – machine translation.
The first screen we see after uploading the file is different from other CAT tools screens out there. On the right side of the window, you can see how many words the document contains, and the middle part of the screen shows how many words is left to translate, without the words MateCAT has in its database since it already counts them as done.
When you click on “translate”, the window that opens is called translation editor. The left column contains text that needs to be translated broken down into segments, and the right side is where we do the work. If there’s a match in the database, it will show on the right side. If it’s not a 100% match, it can be improved and your correct input is useful to many people around the globe. It’s important to download a document preview once in a while to make sure the target document has the same appearance as the source.
SmartCAT
The only thing you’ll need to start using the free SmartCAT tool is to sign up to the website, either as a freelancer, or a company, depending on your needs. As a freelancer, the website offers you to upload documents for translation, assists you in translating them and allows to download them after you’re finished. As a company, you can create projects, manage them, find people to translate them directly on the website, manage access to your employees, etc.
When you first enter the system, the homepage – which is the project page – will be empty, but as you work, there will be more and more translations. The program supports more than 30 file types. This tool is better than the others in terms of optical character recognition (OCR), meaning it can translate image-based files such as PDF files. In fact, SmartCAT’s advanced OCR capabilities are currently number one in the world, the only downside is that you have to pay a small fee to actually use this feature.
Mac Translation Software Free Trial
CAT tools are making translators’ lives easier, however, they are not suitable for translating books, poetry, literary texts and one-off client projects. Developing technologies like CAT applications and constantly improving the software is a great way to keep up with the challenges of the modern day and age.
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Best Translator For Mac
Memsource is a free CAT-tool which you can start using right now. Maybe more powerful than some of the tools on the list.
+ What about Wordfast anywhere?
smartCAT is a great, clear intuitive tool. I recommend it.
I just tried SmartCAT: wonderful!
I am regularly using SmartCAT it is wonderful for translators. Even if they charge little, but that is worth payting.
[…] What languages can they translate from and into? > What are their specializations? > What CAT tools do they use? > How many years of experience do they have? > Are they available for long […]
I received a test but I have to download CAT tools first. Any idea where I can do so free of charge?
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Babylon Translation Software Mac
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Free Translation Software For Mac
So in such instances, the various transcription software available come to rescue. This software mainly performs speech to text conversion making your job a whole lot easier. Here are Top 10 Transcription Software for Mac.
1. Express Scribe
Express Scribe is designed considering the needs of Mac users. The user can control the audio playback using a transcription foot pedal or by using the keyboard. Express Scribe also offers many other functionalities such as variable speed playback, multi-channel control, playing video, file management, and much more.Using the free version, you can use the standard audio formats such as wav, mp3, wma, and dct. By upgrading to the professional version, you can get proprietary format support.
It supports both audio and video playback and plays formats including encrypted dictation files. You can also use professional USB foot pedals to control playback. This transcription software automatically receives and loads files by the internet (FTP), email or over a local computer network.
It also works with speech recognition software to automatically convert speech to text. Using the plug and play foot pedal, you can make your foot control the playback as you type, which can help you increase your typing speed. You can also load CD audio and start working as the audio loads.
Express Scribe Basic costs $29.99, and Professional version costs $34.99.
2. Inqscribe
You can download and install this transcription software for free, or register for a 14-day trial or get the paid version for lifetime use. You can play audio and video in almost all popular formats. Using USB foot pedal, the control playback is smoother.There are options to save the document and to insert shortcuts and snippets. Using snippets, you can add frequently used words in a single click. With Inqscribe, you can create a subtitled QuickTime movie or even print the transcripts. You can add time codes to jump to a particular point in the film clip.
The single license costs $99, but students and staff can get a maximum of up to $60 off on discounts.
3. Dragon
Dragon is designed specifically to help you create documents, spreadsheets or presentations faster. It is useful for sending emails and for filling out forms. The transcription by Dragon is very accurate.You can also customize words for the terms you use every day, insert text or graphics that are often used and create command shortcuts for repetitive tasks. You can also transcribe voice memos from your smartphone or portable voice recorder, podcasts or audio files of any single speaker’s voice to text quickly.
It is capable of advanced customization features so that it adapts well to even the most industry-specific terminology that you use every day. It can transcribe all commonly used formats like .mp3 aif, .aiff , .wav, .mp4, .m4a, .m4v. For accurate transcription, it can also capture notes.
4. VoxSigma Speech to Text
VoxSigma is equipped with extensive vocabulary multilingual speech-to-text capabilities. Keeping in mind the needs of professional users, it can transcribe even clips with slight noises. And it is useful in the text to speech conversion of large quantities of audio and video documents such as broadcast data, either in batch mode or in real-time.Data available from call centers can be analyzed using these. First, the audio segments that contain the speech are identified followed by the language. Then, the text to speech conversion is done.
It has adaptive features that can distinguish voices even if some background music is playing and is capable of converting them into text. VoxSigma outputs an XML document with annotations including speech and non-speech segments, speaker labels, and words with time codes, high-quality confidence scores, and punctuation. This XML file can be converted into plain text.
5. Transcriva
The biggest charm of Transcriva is its usability. You can organize your transcripts all in one place. It also adjusts itself with variable speed audios for accurate transcription. You can further print your transcripts or export them as RTF or Word documents for editing, sharing, and publication.It allows you to play back your transcripts when you're done transcribing. It also comes with foot pedal support to ease things for you. And apart from this, there are so many customization features available to fit each user needs.
6. ATMac
ATMac can be used to write your emails, for chatting and for other text to speech needs. It is capable of identifying many English dialects and accents including American, Northern Ireland, Southern, Australian, British, Indian and much more.7. iSay
iSay has a clean interface to give the users a positive transcription experience. You can use them for emails and other notes. And there are hotkeys to speed up transcription process. It was also compatible with cell phones.8. Mac Speech Scribe
Mac Speech Scribe gives excellent accuracy in converting audio files. It avoids typos and misspelled words. Simply open the file and click on the Transcribe button. Your work is done!It supports up to six speech profiles and guarantees accuracy to six different voices. It also allows transcription from audio recordings on Mac, iPhone, and other digital voice recorders. It doesn't require much time to be spent on training as it quickly adapts to different sounds. It is also sensitive towards 13 different English dialects.