1. Frequently Asked Questions

What is Translatihan?

  • Translatihan (http://translatihan.com), a contraction of the English word “translation” and the Indonesian word “latihan” (exercise, practice) is a website for multilanguage translations.
  • Translatihan has the objective to offer the users an opportunity to practice and increase their knowledge of languages by collaboratively translating texts from a variety of sources. This educational purpose is achieved by encouraging the users to locate suitable and allowable material for translation, uploading it to the translatihan.com website, and translating it from the source language to any of the other languages, available on the website. At this time the languages on the website are English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish and Russian.
  • The translatihan.com website is free to its users. The website is non-commercial and free of advertising.
  • The selection of the material for translation is the responsibility of the users and needs to be done, respecting standards of decency, existing copyright laws and publication rights. A user agrees not to post any materials protected under copyright, trademark, or trade secret laws; or any material likely to defame or invade the privacy of any individual.  A user agrees to indemnify the owners and managers of the site from any liability (including attorney fees) related to user’s violation of this agreement.    
  • The translatihan.com website can be accessed and used via desktop and laptop computers, tablets and smartphones.
  • The translatihan.com website was created through the programming efforts of Ryan van Roode with content input from Mark van Roode. The website is registered and owned by Ryan van Roode and managed by Mark van Roode.
  • Enquiries about translatihan.com can be submitted to translatihan@gmail.com.

How do you register and login?

  • Go to the registration link: http://translatihan.com/.
  • Register by entering a username and password you select and your email address. Your username should be different from your email address.Your password can't be too similar to your other personal information, it must contain at least 8 characters, it can't be a commonly used password, and it can't be entirely numeric. You are asked to confirm your password. Only your username is visible to the other users of the website. The other information is selectively accessible to the creator and the manager of the website.
  • Following registration, you’ll see the message: “You are now registered. Activation email sent.” Open the activation email on your email account which reads: “Activate account at translatihan.com” and click on the link (the link is valid for 3 days). After having clicked the link, you’ll see the message: “Your account is now activated” and you are invited to login, either directly in the email or on the translatihan.com website.
  • While in http://translatihan.com/, click on Login at the header bar. Enter the username and password you have selected and click on the “Log in” button.
  • In case you have forgotten your password, click “Reset it!” Type your email address in the box and click the “Submit” button. The following message appears: “Email with password reset instructions has been sent”. Open the email which has the following message: “Reset password at translatihan.com” with a link. Click on the link and you’ll be sent to translatihan.com with the request to submit a new password.
  • Reset the password by typing it in the designated box. The format has been described above. You are asked to confirm the new password by typing it in a second box. Then, press the “Submit” button. You will be sent to the login page. Now, log in as described above with your username and new password.
  • When you access the translatihan.com screen website, always check that you are indeed logged in. If you are not logged in, the “Login” tab will be showing on the header bar. Click on Login on the header bar and you can again access the website by entering your username and password and pressing the login button.
  • You can always log out by pressing the logout button (header bar, far right).
  • Any problems with registration and/or login should be communicated by email to the website manager – translatihan@gmail.com.

How do I upload a text for translation?

  • Select the text you like to submit for translation. Consider whether there could be copyright infringement. Literary texts over 100 years after first publication, or 70 years after the death of the author, Wikipedia articles, and government documents in the public domain are usually OK.
  • Before you can upload a text, you need to accept the following restrictions for uploading of a text.  “User agrees not to post any materials protected under copyright, trademark, or trade secret laws; or any material likely to defame or invade the privacy of any individual.  User agrees to indemnify the owners and managers of the site from any liability (including attorney fees) related to User’s violation of this agreement. If you agree to the above conditions, click the “Accept” button. No text can be uploaded unless the “Accept” button is pressed.”
  • Prepare the text prior to uploading, e.g. as a MS Word file or Mac equivalent. The texts look best when paragraphs are separated by a blank line.The TL program splits the text in translation units, usually one or several sentences. The units are cut off after a period. This can be a problem after multiple initials, e.g. P.G. Wodehouse is cut off after P.G. German dates are cut off after the period following the date, e.g. 12. Mai 2017. So, you may wish to leave these periods off. The program at this time cannot handle pictures, photographs, maps and tables, so eliminate these from the text or select a text without them. Give proper references to the text, author(s), date and source of publication, etc.
  • You are now ready to upload the text. Click on the "Upload an Article" tab at the top.
  • Specify language of the text to be submitted in the drop-down box. There are currently 10 languages; English, French, Dutch, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Swedish, Finnish and Russian. A text submitted in a specific language can be translated into the nine other languages. Check that the language selected is indeed the language of the text.
  • Insert the title of the text in the Title box.
  • Highlight the text in the source document, copy it and paste it into the "Body box." To make the text look good after it has been uploaded, check for blank lines between paragraphs, correct any spelling errors, etc.
  • Press the "Submit" button. The text is now submitted and ready for translation. Enjoy translating.

How to translate a text?

  • Assume you are logged in and arrived at the translatihan.com Welcome Page. Click on “Translate” on the task bar on top of the page.
  • At the top right you see a language couple with drop down boxes. The left box is the language of the text you want to translate. Click on the ˅ inside the box and a menu of 10 languages appears. Choose the language you wish to translate from. Now go to the box on the right. This box shows the language you wish to translate to. Click on the ˅ inside this box. Again, you have a menu of 10 languages. Select the language you wish to translate to.
  • In the area to the left you see the language couple for your translations in a blue box. Below the blue box are the following headers: Articles, Activities, Discussion. Under “Articles” you see a list of article titles in chronological order for the language you selected. The article uploaded most recently is on top, and the article uploaded first on the bottom.
  • To get an overview of the progress of translation of a text, look to the left of the title of an article. A box shows the number of translation units in the text. The color of the box shows the progress with the translation process: dark grey indicates that no translations have been done yet, blue that at least one unit has been translated and green that at least one unit has been translated received a positive vote (upvote). To the right of the box, you see the title of the text, the number of translations performed (including retranslations and edits) and the total number of upvotes given to all translations. On the right side of the page you see a list of the usernames of the translators in colored boxed with the number of upvotes they have received for this translation language couple. Upvoting for translations will be discussed in a separate topic.
  • Now click on the title of a text. You will be sent to a two-column page. On the left is the text of the article to be translated, on the right the text of the article with the translated and untranslated units. The red dot in front of a phrase indicates the start of a translation unit. Now, focus for a moment on the column to the right which includes the translations. Text in normal print but with a shaded background indicated translation units that have not been translated yet. Text in faded grey shows the units that have been translated, but have not received upvotes yet. Text in normal print includes units that have been translated and upvoted.
  • If you wish to translate a phrase, click on it in the text on either the left hand or right-hand column and you will be sent to the translation unit you selected. Having arrived at the unit you see the original phrase and a listing of all translations performed thus far. If you wish to do your own translation go to the box below the original phrase or below all the other translations. Type in your translation or copy/paste it from a file in which you prepared the translation. Read your translation carefully, and if you are satisfied click the button under the box “Translate to" ….. (language of your translation). Your translation has now been submitted and no one can alter it, including yourself. If you wish you can add a comment to your translation.
  • You can comment on someone else’s translation in the Discussion box underneath the various translations. For example, you may suggest a better translation for all or some of the translation unit. The translator to whom the comment was addressed can incorporate your suggestion in an improved translation. Using the Discussion box for this purpose is a good way of communicating minor improvements in an already acceptable translation. If major changes are needed, submitting a new translation is the preferred route. Revisiting your translations will enable you to see the comments and suggestions from other translators which you then can use to improve your translations.
  • You can navigate through the translation units of the text by clicking either “Previous Unit” or “Next Unit” in the top right-hand corner of the Translation Unit page. Another way to get a quick overview of the status of translation is to click on the title of the text in the light-grey task bar. The two-column format of the text appears again. Click on the “Units” tab below the text title. A listing appears showing the status of all translation units. There is a box to the left of each unit, indicating translation status: not translated yet (dark-grey), blue (translated, but not upvoted yet, and green (translated and upvoted). You will also see the phrase to be translated, the number of translations, the number of upvotes, and the time of the most recent activity for the translation unit. You can click on any of the units and be sent to it, so you can translate, retranslate/edit, and give an upvote. Hopefully, at some time all units will have been translated and evaluated and the translation of the text is complete. To get another quick overview of the status of the translation process, click on the “Activity” tab next to the “Units” tab. This shows a chronological listing of the translation units of the text that received some action. By clicking the "Discussion" tab next to "Activity" you will find a box where you can find comments about the text.
  • You have now all the information to start the translation process. Enjoy translating!

How are translations evaluated? – upvotes

  • Once a translation has been submitted, it can be evaluated by other translators. If the translation is deemed to be sufficiently adequate, then the translation may receive one upvote from another translator. But other translators may give upvotes for the same translation as well. Thus, a single translation can receive multiple upvotes. At this time there is no limit to the number of upvotes a single translation may receive.
  • Translators cannot upvote their own translations. Also, they cannot give more than one upvote to the same translation. But, they can award single upvotes to each of several translations for the same translation unit.
  • Upvoting can only take place once a translation unit has actually been translated. Once a unit has been translated it shows a dark grey triangle, a 0 (zero) and a green tick mark to the left. If you give it an upvote, the dark grey triangle turns red and the zero increases to 1. As more upvotes are awarded, the tally increases from 1 to 2, etc. When you come to a translation that has received one or more upvotes, the triangle will be dark grey and the number of upvotes is indicated. But the triangle only turns red because you gave it an upvote. The red color is not visible to other translators.
  • The green tick mark indicates that the translation with this mark is the leading translation. A translation receives the green mark if it is the most recently upvoted translation. It is not necessarily the translation with the most upvotes. The underlying idea is that a translation tends to improve with time as more translators have looked at it and their input has been incorporated into successive translations.
  • Diligent translators find that over time their total number of upvotes increases steadily as other translators appreciate their translations. Translatihan.com accumulates extensive data both in real time and historically, some of which is shared on the charts of the website. The Welcome page which is adjusted every second gives an overall snapshot of the status of the website, including activity for all language couples and individual rankings (top three translators) for the top language couples. The individual language couples show a complete ranking, listing the user names in colored boxes with the number of upvotes received. The yellow boxes are for translators with up to 999 upvotes, the orange boxes for translators with between 1000 and 2999 upvotes, the red boxes for translators with between 3000 and 5999 upvotes, and the dark red boxes for translators with 6000 or more upvotes. The colors for boxes for future milestones and the corresponding number of upvotes are at the discretion of the website owner.
  • The site Welcome page also lists the total number of translations and the total number of upvotes for the major language couples. The individual Profile page for each translator displays the number of translations and upvotes for each one of the language couples to which this translator has contributed.
  • It should be emphasized that the upvote system in translatihan.com does not intend to create competition amongst the translators. The upvotes are a measure of the activity level of a specific translator as well as the collective expression of appreciation of fellow translators for the efforts of their co-translators. Much effort goes into creating a quality translation and that includes the numerous helpful suggestions made by fellow translators that are not rewarded with upvotes for them.

What is the purpose of discussion in Translatihan?

  • Discussion tabs are incorporated at various positions in the translatihan.com website. They provide opportunities for the translators to communicate on specific aspects of language translation. At this time there are five discussion tabs.
  • Discussion on the Translatihan header bar. This is for discussions of a general nature of interest to all users of the website. This discussion forum addresses users’ observations, recommendations and concerns about any aspect of translatihan.com, suggestions for improvement, helpful tips for other translators, etc.
  • Clicking on the “Profile” tab of the header bar shows another discussion tab. This is intended for communication among individual users. When a translator sends you a message by posting on your Profile Discussion stream, a white bell will appear to the left of the profile Tab on the header bar. Clicking on the bell will immediately send you to the top of your Profile Discussion stream to enable you to read the message, and the bell will disappear.           
  • Each language couple (in a blue box on the right, after clicking the language tab) has its own discussion tab. Since the translations take place within each language couple this discussion forum provides an opportunity to communicate about topics of general interest to the language couple, such as the selection and translation of texts, etc.
  • The two-column view for each text also has its own tab for discussion of interest to this text. For example, the website user who submitted the text may provide the reasons for selecting the text, information about the author, a statement that a specific text is a chapter of a book and that other chapters will be subsequently uploaded, etc.
  • At the bottom of the page for each translation unit is a discussion box which translators may use to make specific comments about the translations submitted, such as small corrections, alternative translations, etc.
  • Note that the discussions can only be viewed by those that are registered users of the site and that have logged in. The can be viewed on the internet via http://translatihan.com, but the discussion forums are hidden to protect the privacy of the website users.

What is the profile page?

  
        
  • The profile page in Translatihan present an opportunity for the users to follow their own translations, discussions and include a description about their interest in languages and translation.
  • You can access the profile page by pressing “Profile” on the header bar.
  • There are three streams under Profile, “Recent Activity”, “Discussion” and “Edit Profile”.
  • The Recent Activity tab gives access to a chronological list of translations and comments of a user.
  • The Discussion tab gives access to a chronological list of communications between the users of the website and the profile owner.
  • Pressing Edit Profile reveals a “Bio” box and an “Image” box.  The user can write a short biography, giving personal details a user may wish to share with other users, such as country and city of residence, native language, languages of study, personal interests, etc. the Image box enables a user to upload a picture representing the user to the Translatihan community. The upload can be done by clicking the Browse button which can access the user’s picture folders. Pressing the “Submit” button completes the Bio and Image upload. The Bio can be edited and the Image replaced by another.
  • The profile page is only visible and accessible to those who have registered for the website and who are logged in.