Translating screenshots - is it possible? Thread poster: mbtridiom
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mbtridiom
Local time: 21:53
Italian to Spanish
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Dear All
I am working on a translation project (word) and the manual we are translating is full of screenshots of dialog boxes. My client says he would like that translated as well, do any of you know if there is a software for that? ie. Software that captures the image so that it can be opened independently and edited to be re-inserted?
THANKS!
Regards
Marta
| | | | Uldis Liepkalns 
Latvia
Local time: 22:53
Member (2003)
English to Latvian
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| Yes, there is such software:) | Jun 25, 2007 |
It's called "Word"
Just go to Insert and click on the Text Box. Not very convenient, but all other methods are more cumbersome (say, creating a Word file with a table with original words on the left and translations on the right).
HTH,
Uldis
Marta Bernar Arocena wrote:
Dear All
I am working on a translation project (word) and the manual we are translating is full of screenshots of dialog boxes. My client says he would like that translated as well, do any of you know if there is a software for that? ie. Software that captures the image so that it can be opened independently and edited to be re-inserted?
| | | | mbtridiom
Local time: 21:53
Italian to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER
Thanks, that's what I usually do, but I would like to deliver a "cleaner" Word file, so the idea is directly editing the image which appears in the word file. I have tried with Corel Draw and with the Illustrator and so far no luck!
Anyway thanks for the suggestion
Marta
| | | | ulla2608
Spain
Local time: 21:53
German to Spanish
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| It is possible but... | Jun 25, 2007 |
.. it is a little bit complicated. I use to do this kind of translations with a graphic software . You have to import the screenshot as an image into the graphic program where you can edit it as an image and, after this, you can import it into your Word document. However, it takes a lot of time and requires a lot of patience. And I always ask my customer before whether he really wants me to translate the images, because I have to bill this kind of work per hour and not per word. Good luck!
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| Solution with ABBYY FineReader 8. Pro | Jun 25, 2007 |
ulla2608 wrote:
.. it is a little bit complicated. I use to do this kind of translations with a graphic software . You have to import the screenshot as an image into the graphic program where you can edit it as an image and, after this, you can import it into your Word document. However, it takes a lot of time and requires a lot of patience. And I always ask my customer before whether he really wants me to translate the images, because I have to bill this kind of work per hour and not per word. Good luck!
Hello,
try to use this software (the best i now)
http://download.abbyy.com/content/default.aspx
| | | | Jack Doughty
United Kingdom
Local time: 20:53
Russian to English
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In memoriam | Further to Ulla2608's post | Jun 25, 2007 |
Yes, I have done it that way using Paint. It works quite well. Depends what you consider laborious.
For example: here I have changed "possible" in your heading to "impossible".
By the way, talking of screenshots, someone is doing interesting things with them here:
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34244097/
I find that when I click this link from here, it comes up with"brbr%5BEdited" added at the end of the address line and says "File Not Found", but if you delete the added part from the address line and try again, you'll get there.
[Edited at 2007-06-25 17:00]
[Edited at 2007-06-25 22:07]
| | | | Marina Soldati
Argentina
Local time: 17:53
Member (2005)
English to Spanish
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If I understood you right you are working on the translation of a software manual full of screenshots of dialog boxes that belong to the software.
If this is the case, has the sofware been localized?
If so, why don`t you ask the client to send you the screenshots of the dialog boxes from the localized software? You`ll save time.
If it hasn´t been localized, what´s the use of having the screenshots translated when that´s no what you´ll see in the softwar... See more If I understood you right you are working on the translation of a software manual full of screenshots of dialog boxes that belong to the software.
If this is the case, has the sofware been localized?
If so, why don`t you ask the client to send you the screenshots of the dialog boxes from the localized software? You`ll save time.
If it hasn´t been localized, what´s the use of having the screenshots translated when that´s no what you´ll see in the software itself?
If I have guessed right, you`d better contact you client before you waste time editing the screenshots.
Regards,
Marina ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Screenshots are intended to show images which exist | Jun 25, 2007 |
Marina Soldati wrote:
If this is the case, has the sofware been localized?
If so, why don`t you ask the client to send you the screenshots of the dialog boxes from the localized software? You`ll save time.
If it hasn´t been localized, what´s the use of having the screenshots translated when that´s no what you´ll see in the software itself?
If you translate screenshots of software which hasn't been localized, you are, in effect, adding false information.
Jack - great work, but using Paint to edit images is not very accurate. 'impossible' is at least a pixel above the rest of the text and there is a black dot (bottom of original 'p') beneath the word.
I know you did this quickly to give an example, but even taking your time will only produce so-so results in Paint.
I would use Photoshop to edit images of any kind (except vector) and charge both for my time and my investment in software (and would warn potential clients that I'm not really a graphics designer).
[Edited at 2007-06-25 18:59]
[Edited at 2007-06-25 19:00]
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Owen Davies
Japan
Local time: 05:53
Member (2007)
Japanese to English
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Hi Marta,
If you can get the client to provide you with the software's compiled EXE file you can use Catalyst to separate out the language-dependent text into a separate language DLL. It will also extract a string table of the translatable text.
You can then build a database of matching translation pairs and translate the strings for the program.
The problem in your case of course is that this, as Madeleine and others have pointed out, is full blown localization and you ... See more Hi Marta,
If you can get the client to provide you with the software's compiled EXE file you can use Catalyst to separate out the language-dependent text into a separate language DLL. It will also extract a string table of the translatable text.
You can then build a database of matching translation pairs and translate the strings for the program.
The problem in your case of course is that this, as Madeleine and others have pointed out, is full blown localization and you will be creating a localized product for your client. Not a bad thing, but it's not just translation and you should be charging accordingly. Also, you probably don't want to be translating all of the software strings as you only want the screen shots in question. The good thing about Catalyst is its WYSIWYG editor which allows you to resize buttons/fields/title bars in screen shots so that even if your translations are longer than the originals you can reshape to make everything fit in nicely.
You can get a demo version here:
http://www.alchemysoftware.ie/downloads/index.html
The full version is not cheap (cheaper than Trados, but still) so to make it worth your while you should charge accordingly.
It's a great tool though, a good skill to learn, and a valuable service to be able to offer.
However, for what you want to do it might be like using a shotgun to kill a mosquito, but if your client is keen on full localization you can blow their minds and up your fee!
HTH.
Owen ▲ Collapse
| | | | mbtridiom
Local time: 21:53
Italian to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER
Dear all
Thanks!! I told the client in first place about the localization. ie, it is not very practical to translate the screenshots if afterwards the software was still going to be in another language. He says he is not sure if he will want to localize it afterwards but just in case wants the images translated too (he will be replacing the images with the original ones if he decides not to localize the software in the end). Of course, I will be charging this independently.
... See more Dear all
Thanks!! I told the client in first place about the localization. ie, it is not very practical to translate the screenshots if afterwards the software was still going to be in another language. He says he is not sure if he will want to localize it afterwards but just in case wants the images translated too (he will be replacing the images with the original ones if he decides not to localize the software in the end). Of course, I will be charging this independently.
I will do my best to convince him about the importance of using Catalyst and localizing everything (after all, that is how I believe a good job should be done), until then I have discovered a tool called Snagit which serves my purpose.
Again, thanks to all!!!
Marta ▲ Collapse
| | | | Alp Berker
United States
Local time: 15:53
Turkish to English
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In memoriam | Another option is Printkey-2000 | Jun 26, 2007 |
Hi,
Another option is Printkey-2000, and I use this extensively for documentation at work. Their website:
http://www.geocities.com/~gigaman/
Hope this helps.
regards,
Alp
| | | | Can Altinbay
Local time: 15:53
Japanese to English
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In memoriam | Notes on localization | Jun 26, 2007 |
Localization involves a lot more than changing the text that shows up on all of the screens. That doesn't cover all of the exception messages, nor does it cover the many cases where the text that shows up includes things that have to be inserted on the fly - file names, names of items on the screen, etc. The latter involves making sure that text strings are not hardcoded into the program code. You have to review images to make sure they're not offensive or have unintended meaning (as a matter... See more Localization involves a lot more than changing the text that shows up on all of the screens. That doesn't cover all of the exception messages, nor does it cover the many cases where the text that shows up includes things that have to be inserted on the fly - file names, names of items on the screen, etc. The latter involves making sure that text strings are not hardcoded into the program code. You have to review images to make sure they're not offensive or have unintended meaning (as a matter of fact, that they have the intended meaning) in the target culture. Screens have to be adjusted and tested to make sure the text fits and is legible in the new language(s). Just a few of the things I remember from when I was involved in one.
If the client is not sure whether to localized, I think they're wasting their money, but they have been warned, I guess. ▲ Collapse
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cbcoti
Local time: 21:53
English to Danish
| False information | Jul 5, 2012 |
I agreee, "If you translate screenshots of software which hasn't been localized, you are, in effect, adding false information. "
You can translate captions, but not the screen details itself. You can't be sure to make it look like the actual sreen will look - and more important, you might not translate all words exactly like another translator who will later translate the software strings.
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