translation

Microsoft is trying to give Google a run for its money by offering a translation tool that can display any Web page in your native language.

Available as a bookmarklet for your browser, Microsoft Translator identifies the language used on a Web page and then re-displays the page with all text translated into your own language. You can select from a variety of languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and Russian, among others.

To install Microsoft Translator from its Web page, first select your native language from the dropdown list. Then make sure your Favorites or Bookmarks … Read more

You probably know that India is a technological powerhouse in the making, but did you also know it's the world's largest English-speaking nation? English is one of India's official languages, and it's the common tongue of business and cultural interaction. India's long familiarity with English helps fuel the nation's explosive technological and entrepreneurial growth, but the world is playing catch-up when it comes to the other half of the two-way communication, which in India means Hindi, the language most Indians speak in daily life. Solpro Technologies Dictionary English-Hindi quickly translates English words and phrases … Read more

Those of you who'd like to read Facebook pages written in a foreign language now have a way to translate posts and comments into your native tongue.

Using the translation tools of Microsoft's Bing, the social-networking site is now offering an inline tool that will translate posts made on public Facebook pages into the language indicated in your profile.

As described by the company, public pages written in a different language will display a "Translate" link next to each post or comment. Clicking on that link converts the post into your own language. Clicking on the &… Read more

Windows 8 will include Microsoft's Hyper-V virtualization tool in an effort to attract developers, IT pros, and other users who need to run, test, or support virtual environments.

Describing the move in the latest edition of the "Building Windows 8" blog, Mathew John, a program manager on Microsoft's Hyper-V team, noted that Hyper-V has previously been available only in recent server-based editions of Windows, making Windows 8 the first client OS to include the feature.

Virtualization tools such as Hyper-V allow users to run multiple operating systems and environments on the same machine. That's helpful … Read more

Google Translate is a simple, versatile tool that supports more than 50 languages, offers an SMS translator, and speaks some of your translations aloud.

Google Translate is incredibly simple to use. Just select your input and output languages, then type in your text. You can also set the app to automatically detect your input language for even faster results. To quickly interchange your input and output languages, just hit the conveniently placed (center screen) arrow icon. That's it.

It's no secret that Google Translate performs a solid job translating, but what really makes it shine are the extra … Read more

Following public outcry, Google said on Friday it is revisiting its plan to kill off third-party access to its translation engine. The company will instead develop a plan to offer a paid version for others who wish to incorporate it into their services.

Google said last month it planned to end the Translate API because of abuse, but many of those who had built services using the tool had called on Google to instead just charge for it.

"In the days since we announced the deprecation of the Translate API, we've seen the passion and interest expressed by … Read more

FineCount from Tilti Systems is a free tool that provides highly accurate document analysis and statistics; it's sort of like word count on steroids. It analyzes a document and counts the number of words, numbers, characters, repetitions, spaces, redundant spaces, lines, sentences, pages, and file paths. It can export statistics, calculate rates, and create reports. It can analyze Microsoft Word documents, text files, PDFs, HTML documents, and other file types. It's suitable for freelance writers, translators, editors, and others who provide document services.

FineCount is free for noncommercial users, but you must obtain a free registration to keep … Read more

How do you say "I want to rock and roll all night and party every day" in Dutch, Taiwanese, or Swahili?

You might be able to find out today when Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons, two members of the iconic glam rock band Kiss, take part in a real-time "multi-language global chat" with fans.

The chat is, of course, designed to bring attention to Ortsbo.com, a language translation service. From the press release: "Ortsbo.com eliminates the need to cut, copy and paste text into a translator by automatically translating typed text into the … Read more

We had only been in Buenos Aires for a few hours last month when my wife and I realized that our Spanish-English dictionary and Latin America phrasebook were still sitting on a bookshelf back at home. "Not cool," my wife said simply.

So I made a trip to El Ateneo, one of the biggest and certainly most beautiful bookstores south of the Panama Canal and picked up the only paperback dictionary in the house--a thick, clunky volume with a neon orange cover meant for speakers of Mexican Spanish, which is quite different from the Argentine dialect.

After a few times stopping in the middle of a crowd to pull out the big, glowing book, I became worried that I might inadvertently start directing traffic; I quickly retired the dead-tree translation method and started looking for a less conspicuous, digital solution. I found three top contenders, each with their own pros and cons. Here's the rundown. … Read more