Free and Open-Source Software and Tools for Translators
As a freelance translator in the twenty-first century, you will inevitably need translation tools. Many translators purchase proprietary software at a high price, unaware that there is a world of free and open-source software and tools available for public use online. Read on to find out where and how you can access these tools.
While the phrase ‘free and open-source software’ (FOSS) might seem like a mouthful, this is simply what it means: many translators are unaware of the fact that there is a plethora of free software and tools out there that are available for them to download and utilise. It is called ‘open-source’ because the source code has been made available to the public for their usage.
FOSS is useful for translators, as many translators are self-employed. This means that income is not always stable, so it is helpful to have access to tools that are necessary in one’s work, and not have to spend a considerable sum on them. One website that can help you get acquainted with mixing translation and FOSS is Linux for Translators, where an overview is provided explaining how to implement FOSS options.
Operating Systems:
- tuxtrans — this desktop GNU/Linux System offers a myriad of software packages designed specifically for translators, such as OpenOffice, Anaphraseus, OmegaT, and more. There are also programs for CAT software and tools for localising software, aligning text, managing terms and subtitling videos and more.
- Linguas OS — an alternative GNU/Linux System developed for translators.
CAT (computer-assisted translation) Software:
- OmegaT — this program is written in Java and is compatible with the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. It offers a free translation memory application and translation tool.
- OmegaT+ — a user-friendly translation program that has features such as translation memory, full and partial matches, a glossary function and a search engine. It also supports a variety of document types.
- Anaphraseus — this tool functions as a macro in OpenOffice, and can be likened to how Wordfast is crammed into MS Word.
- Open Language Tools — an XLIFF (XML localisation interchange file format) translation editor and an XLIFF filter. This program is written in Java and is compatible with the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. It also supports a variety of document types.
Dictionaries and Terminology:
- IntelliWebSearch — a time-saving tool that can be highly customised by users.
- TDict — this program is compatible with the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems and offers access to 48 different dictionaries and resources.
Project Management:
- ]project open[ — open-source management software.
- TransProCalc — free/open-source translation project management tools.
Accounting:
- GnuCash — free/open-source accounting software with a multitude of features.
Office Software:
- OpenOffice — this is a comprehensive software suite with applications such as word processing, database front end, spreadsheets, drawing tools, presentations, HTML/web page editor, and more. It is completely free and can be used across all platforms.
- Mozilla Thunderbird — a free, open-source, cross-platform email and news client.
- Mozilla Firefox — a free Web browser, lauded for its low demand on PC resources. It has a built-in spell checker, tabbed browsing, a download manager, and other useful functions.
FTP (file transfer protocol) Software:
- FileZilla — can be used across all platforms and offers many useful features. The graphical user interface is also very intuitive.
These are only some of the software programs and tools available online that can be useful in your translation projects. If you are not sure of how to utilise them, that’s what Google is for. If you know of any programs or tools that are not listed here, feel free to share the information by leaving a comment below. Any questions are welcome as well.
About Sergio Guillen Rodriguez
I’m a translator, copywriter, proofreader, and editor. My working languages are Spanish, Finnish, and English. Connect with me on Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.
47 Comments
Leave a comment
Blog Categories
Subscribe to our blog!
Advertising
Brochure Translation
Copywriting
Dentistry Translation
English to Finnish
English to Spanish
Finnish Language
Finnish Translation
Freelance Lifestyle
Freelancing
Keyword Research
Keyword Translation
Language Origins
Languages
Localisation
Machine Translation
Marketing
Marketing for Freelancers
Medical Translation
Online Marketing
Project Management
Search Engine Optimisation
Security Software Localisation
SEO
SEO Translation
Software Localisation
Spanish Language
Spanish Translation
Technical Translation
Tips for Translators
Translation
Translation Career
Translation Profession
Translation Software
Translation Tools
Web Design
Website Localisation In English (19)
Testimonials (6)
WP Cumulus Flash tag cloud by Roy Tanck requires Flash Player 9 or better.
Excellent post!
Thanks! Much appreciated!
Your description of OmegaT’s capabilities is incomplete. particularly when juxtaposed with OmegaT+ as you do here.
OmegaT has every one of these: “a user-friendly translation program that has features such as translation memory, full and partial matches, a glossary function and a search engine. It also supports a variety of document types.”
As someone who has used OmegaT for the past three years, I can wholeheartedly recommend it as a CAT tool. I encourage anyone interested in a reliable, well-supported tool to consider using it.
Thank you for your comment, Charles!
As you say, OmegaT has a user-friendly interface, TM, fuzzy matches, as well as glossary and dictionary functions. I’d say that OmegaT+ has a fancier—and customisable—interface, although it’s missing certain standard features (e.g. tag insertion and spellchecking).
I’ve been using proprietary software for quite a long time and I’m now testing a FOSS environment for my translation projects, I’ll probably post soon an special article about OmegaT and I’d highly appreciate if you could send an email to info(at)translationslisko(dot)com with your views and impressions working with the program.
For CAT tools you might want to add Virtaal which supports editing TMX and XLIFF files – http://virtaal.org
It has quite an extensive list of features – http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/virtaal/features – including terminology management, multiple format support, MT and TM support.
Thank you, Dwayne! I hadn’t heard about Virtaal, great addition
Hey for CAT tools, there is Across, which is free to a professional translator. I use it, and is a good CAT tool that I would recommend to other translators.
That’s correct, Akira, if you are an independent translator, you can get a free license key to use Across.
I would also include GlobalSight, which is an open source, completely free TMS – it offers features similar to many other expensive commercial offerings, if not better. You can also expand its capabilities since it is open source. Perfect for anyone who is fed up with paying for the expensive CAT tools and looking for a complete TMS solution. It offers filters for many file types out of the box. I have been using it for quite a while and so far I am very satisfied.
Thanks, Hanna! I’ve just watched the demo at GlobalSight and it looks quite good.
Great article! Thank you very much for those useful tips. There are many extremely helpful applications available for free. We could easily add to the list the following ones:
TMbuilder – “the easiest Translation Memory export creator is a small tool that makes building up TM export/import files as straight-forward as possible.”
Change Tracker – an application to track changes in localization process
Wordfast Anywhere – an online translation platform
Xbench – an extremely useful QA tool
and more…
Best
Adrian
Thank you Adrian for adding some more tools to the list!
Here are the links for those interested:
TMbuilder
Change Tracker
Wordfast Anywhere
Xbench
People might find this pack useful – put together by Peter Sandrini at the University of Innsbruck.
http://homepage.uibk.ac.at/%7Ec61302/en-fsftrans.html
Thanks, Juliette!
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } http://www.translationslisko.com (via @LinguaGreca) – Today, 9:02 [...]
[...] jQuery("#errors*").hide(); window.location= data.themeInternalUrl; } }); } http://www.translationslisko.com – Today, 2:32 [...]
[...] Are professional organizations worth the bother? Translation Checklist by the European Commission Free and Open-Source Software and Tools for Translators Best Practices in Localization Project Management What I look for when evaluating a translation [...]
Thanks for these valuable tips on free tools! The information on Across turned to be very useful to me.
You’re welcome, Sílvia! It’s great to know the information was useful to you.
I’d like to add one more resource. It can be downloaded for free and it offers results in several dictionaries (monolingual and bilingual, general and specialised). Here’s the link from which you can download it:
http://www.semantix.com/es/diccionario/desktop/particulares.html
Hope you find it useful!
Thanks, Luciana! We’ll definitely take a look at it!
For translators on the road you might find this app https://market.android.com/details?id=com.tbx.editor I developed for Android OS useful.
It’s a free Terminology application which enables you to open TBX and MultiTerm 7 Xml files on your mobile device.
You can do your terminology work while on the road
That’s great, Alex! We’ll take a look at it!
Hi, thanks for these useful tips. I’m having a problem opening/installing Tdict programme/.sl file. Any suggestions?
Hello Tradinglese! Thanks for dropping by. You can send us an email to info(at)translationslisko(dot)com with a little more informations about your problem and we’ll take a look at it.
Excellent post, thank you very much! I’d like to add Transifex to the list: https://www.transifex.net/start/
Thanks, Tiina.
Seems excellent but is it compatible to Indian languages.
If yes then I would like to try definitely.
Thanks, Manish! You can follow the links, there you will find some documentation.
I am using free CAT tool from http://yehongmei.narod.ru/TM-database.htm
Thanks for sharing.
Wonderful and very useful. Of a great help for everybody
Thanks, Ferdi!
Great post!
One thing worth clarifying is the distinction between free/open source (FOSS), which makes reference to a licensing and development model, and free of charge, which only refers to price. A catalogue of FOSS for translators is available at: http://traduccionymundolibre.com/wiki
It’s work-in-progress and feedback is highly appreciated! Hope you find it useful.
Thanks, Silvia! Of course, it is called ‘open-source’ because the source code has been made available to the public for their usage, although, that doesn’t mean the software is free of charge. Thanks for sharing the link, that’s a great list too!
Great information!
Thanks, Rosana!
If you can read Italian, I can recommend our latest book about OmegaT, that covers many subjects related to free and open source tools for translators. http://www.qabiria.com/guida-omegat A Spanish and English versions are planned. Stay tuned.
Thanks for sharing this with us, Marco!
[...] o público baixar e usar. Saiba mais sobre onde e como você pode acessar essas ferramentas no artigo do Lisko Translations reproduzido abaixo, originalmente publicado em 26 de [...]
Does anyone know a word processor which can maintain two open windows for translation?
One for your original document, and the other for your ongoing translation?
Of course you can open two different windows and resize them!
But how many times in my life must I do this, every time I start a new translation? 
Hi Neil,
Have you ever used a CAT tool? Please take a look at http://www.omegat.org/en/omegat.html and let me know.
Hello, everyone.
Our team just developed a new online localization tool, http://poeditor.com/
It started as a po editor, as the name says, but we now also support other popular localization formats.
Here are some its features,
+ unlimited projects
+ unlimited languages
+ unlimited terms
+ add contributors
+ open projects
+ stats
+ import from pot, po, xls, xlsx (for now)
+ export to po, mo, json, php array(for now)
+ support for context (without plurals for now)
We’re constantly looking to improve our projects, so it would be great if you could give it a spin.
We hope it will come useful to you.
Sincerely,
Po Editor Team
Thanks for sharing! I’m planning to update this post soon with all the new tools people are adding.
Hello.
This mentions both LinguasOS and TransProCalc, projects which I initiated.
Both of them have sort of fallen out of development (although TransProCalc may get more attention, this is uncertain).
I have begun creating another translation project management platform, however, which aims to do all that TransProCalc does, and more, but as an online platform, written in PHP with a mysql or mariadb backend, called TransProCloud, http://tonyb.us/transprocloud
TransProCloud is also, of course, 100% FREE, licensed according to the AGPL.
Thanks for the heads-up, Tony! Your TransProCalc projects sounds very interesting, I think I’ll give it a try.
Great savings! Thanks so much! May your tribe increase!