AboutOmegaT.xml

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<chapter id="chapter.about.OmegaT">
  <title>About <application>OmegaT</application> - introduction</title>

  <section id="OmegaT-Highlists">
    <title>OmegaT highlights</title>

    <para><application>OmegaT</application> is a free multi platform Computer
    Aided Translation tool, with the following highlights:</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Translation
        memory:</emphasis><application> OmegaT</application> stores your
        translations in a translation memory file. At the same time, it can
        use memories files from previous translations for reference.
        Translation memories can be very useful in a translation where there
        are numerous repetitions or reasonably similar segments of text.
        OmegaT uses translation memories to store your previous translations
        and then suggest likely translations for the text you are currently
        working on.</para>

        <para>These translation memories can be very useful when a document
        that has already been translated needs to be updated. Unchanged
        sentences are automatically translated, while updated sentences are
        shown with the translation of the most similar, older sentence.
        Modifications to the original document are thus handled with greater
        ease. If you are supplied with previously created translation memories
        , for example by your translation agency or your client, OmegaT is
        able to use these as reference memories.</para>

        <para>OmegaT uses the standard tmx file format to store and access
        translation memories, which guarantees that you can exchange your
        translation material with other CAT applications supporting this file
        format.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Terminology management</emphasis>:
        Terminology management is important for translation consistency.
        OmegaT uses glossaries containing translations of single words or
        small phrases: a simplified bilingual dictionary for a specific
        domain. For your reference, OmegaT displays the translation of any
        word that is both present in the segment and registered in the
        glossary.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Translation process:</emphasis> Imagine
        having to translate something; from a single file to a folder
        containing subfolders each with a number of files in a variety of
        formats. When you let OmegaT know the files that you need to
        translate, it looks for the files it understands based on file
        filtering rules, recognizes the textual parts within them, splits up
        the text groups according to the segmentation rules, and displays the
        segments one by one so that you can proceed with the translation.
        OmegaT stores your translations and proposes possible translations
        from similar segments registered in the translation memory files. When
        you are ready to view the final product, you can export the translated
        files, open them in the appropriate application and view the
        translation in the final format...</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>

  <section id="OmegaT.chapters.summary">
    <title>Summary of chapters</title>

    <para>This documentation is intended both as a tutorial and as a reference
    guide. Here is a short summary of the chapters and their contents.</para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Learn to use OmegaT in 5
        minutes!:</emphasis> this chapter is intended as a quick tutorial for
        beginners as well as people who already know CAT tools, showing the
        complete procedure from opening a new translation project through to
        completing the translation.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Installing and running OmegaT:
        </emphasis>this chapter is useful when you first begin using OmegaT.
        It contains the specific instructions on how to install OmegaT and run
        it on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. For advanced users, the chapter
        describes the command line mode and its possibilities.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">The user interface</emphasis>,<emphasis
        role="bold">Main Menu and Keyboard Shortcuts</emphasis>: these two
        chapters are likely to be heavily consulted, since they explain the
        user interface of OmegaT and the functions available via the main menu
        and the keyboard shortcuts.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Project properties</emphasis>, <emphasis
        role="bold"><application>OmegaT</application> Files and
        Folders:</emphasis> a project in the context of OmegaT is the piece of
        work that OmegaT as a CAT tool is able to handle. This chapter
        describes the project properties, such as the source and target
        languages. The second of these chapters describes the various
        subfolders and files in a translation project and their role as well
        as other user and application files associated with OmegaT.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Editing field behavior:</emphasis> a short
        chapter describing how to set up the editing behavior of the segment
        being translated.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Working with plain text</emphasis> and
        <emphasis role="bold">Working with formatted text</emphasis>: these
        two chapters explain certain important points concerning texts to be
        translated, such as the encoding set (in the case of plain text files)
        and tag handling (in the case of formatted text).</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Translation memories: </emphasis> explains
        the role of the various subfolders containing translation memories,
        and provides information on other important aspects relating to
        translation memories.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Segmentation</emphasis>:translation memory
        tools work with textual units called segments. In OmegaT, segments can
        be based on paragraphs or on segmentation rules. Paragraph
        segmentation is less frequently used, but can be useful in cases of
        so-called "creative" texts. The rule-based segmentation is usually
        synonymous with sentence-based segmentation. A number of rule sets are
        provided while additional rules can be defined by the user, as
        described in this chapter.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Searches</emphasis> and<emphasis
        role="bold"> </emphasis><emphasis role="bold">Regular
        expressions</emphasis>: Searches in OmegaT can be as simple as
        "<emphasis>list segments with </emphasis><emphasis>the word 'kangaroo'
        ". </emphasis> They can also be complex, allowing for instance to
        search for segments with two or more consecutive spaces. In this case
        the regular expression ^s^s+ would be used to find and list the
        offending segments. Regular expressions are also used extensively in
        the segmentation rules.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Dictionaries, Glossaries</emphasis>,
        <emphasis role="bold">Machine translation</emphasis> , <emphasis
        role="bold">Spellchecker, LanguageTool:</emphasis> OmegaT supports an
        extensive use of dictionaries and glossaries. If an Internet
        connection is available, various MT services such as Google Translate
        and Microsoft Translator can be used from within OmegaT. If spell
        checking is activated, spelling mistakes and typos are recognized and
        can be corrected during translation. The open source LanguageTool can
        be used to correct common grammatical and stylistic mistakes.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Miscellanea</emphasis>: deals with other
        issues of interest, such as how to avoid losing data.</para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Appendices</emphasis> contain the
        following information</para>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">OmegaT on the web:</emphasis>
            information regarding on-line OmegaT resources</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">Languages:</emphasis> the ISO list of
            languages and language codes is provided</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">Keyboard shortcuts in the
            editor</emphasis>: the list of shortcuts used in the editor</para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">Shortcuts customization:</emphasis>
            shortcuts can be customized to your personal preferences</para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">Introduction to tokenizers and
            scripts</emphasis></para>
          </listitem>

          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">Team Projects</emphasis></para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>

        <itemizedlist>
          <listitem>
            <para><emphasis role="bold">Legal notices and
            Acknowledgements</emphasis></para>
          </listitem>
        </itemizedlist>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para><emphasis role="bold">Keyword index:</emphasis> an extensive
        keyword index is provided to help the reader find the relevant
        information.</para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>
  </section>
</chapter>