Paul Gretton, Diederik Grit, Geer Hoppenbrouwers, Phil Hyams
Jan Klerkx,  Han van de Staay, Cecilia Willems

School of Translation and Interpreting
Hogeschool Maastricht
November 1997
Version 1.2. (Please quote this number in contacting the authors on particulars of this text)
 

Computers can be connected to each other in various ways. Many companies have so-called main frame computers and/or Local Area Networks (LAN's) in which many computers are connected to each other enabling colleagues to share the same resources (printers, CD-ROM drives, databases on a main frame computer etc.). The internet provides a means of linking up computers and complete LAN's from all over the world.

In a recent newspaper article the total information available on  the internet in June 1997 was estimated  to be equivalent to a pile of HD-diskettes 3500 kilometres in length.  In terms of A4-pages this amounts to a pile of 40,000 km, enough to encircle the earth at the equator. Probably the information you are looking for is somewhere out there in hyperspace, the only problem is how to find it.
This Translator's Guide to the Internet - as the name implies - is meant to guide the professional translator(-to-be) through the vast resources of the internet. Our aim is a practical one and this directly affects what we are going to talk about in this introduction. If you buy a microwave oven you want to know how it is operated and you probably have no desire to look through the manual for a chapter called  "A Short History of Microwave Ovens" or, even worse, "Maxwell's Electro-Magnetic Field Equations" . Likewise, we are not going to bother you with chapters on ARPANET or the OSI-model. Technical matters are discussed only when they clearly serve a practical need.

This Translator's Guide to the Internet was originally meant as an introduction to the internet for students at the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting of Hogeschool Maastricht. For this reason we will restrict our attention to sites relevant for the languages taught at Maastricht: Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Portugese, Russian and Spanish.

In the first versions of this guide we have tried to attain some level of completeness. Less attention has been paid to organizing the information. Evaluative comments have been made in an ad hoc manner. In later versions we hope to improve the way the information is organized and to evaluate the sites listed by ranking them in a sort of Michelin Guide.

'Visiting places in hyper space', 'surfing the net' or 'browsing the internet pages' are metaphors for finding your way in the vast web of interconnected computers that constitutes the internet. To do this you need a program on your computer called a browser. There are many of them on the market: Microsoft Explorer, Mosaic, Internet Chameleon. They all have a similar look and feel.
We will suppose that you have access to a browser and already know how to use it. Since this text is in HTML-format, you may very well be reading it now with the help of a browser. In any discussion of browsers and the utilities they provide we will only refer to Netscape, not only because it is currently the most frequently used browser, but also because it is the one used by our organization. Sticking with our microwave metaphor: most ovens are operated in a similar way. The same goes for browsers.

The only internet services that we will pay attention to are: E-mail, WWW, FTP, Telnet and Usenet. Many organizations that used to offer a Telnet service (e.g. The Library of Congress)  now offer more user-friendly access by WWW.  Many libraries and the Eurodicautom term bank, however, are still best accessed using Telnet.
 

Access to the internet
Many organizations with a computer network have a direct connection to the internet: once you are logged on to your local network, you also have a gateway to the internet.
Most private individuals, however, need the services of an intermediate, the internet provider. The internet provider has a computer which you can link up to with a modem and a telephone. After the link between your computer and your provider has been established  you have access to the internet via your provider's computer. You have to pay for these services and for the (usually local) telephone connection.
 

E-mail
Most browsers have a built-in facility to compose messages and send them over the internet to the addressee. There are also separate programs that enable one to send and retrieve e-mail, e.g. Pegasus.

The e-mail address
An e-mail address consists of two parts separated by the at-sign @. The part before @ is called the user name and is assigned to you by the system administrator in your organization or by your internet provider. The part after @ is called the host name, the name of the computer that is physically connected to the internet. Here are some typical examples of addresses:

1) charles@students.cs.ruu.nl or
2) Someone@microsoft.com or
3) SomeoneElse@unl.ac.uk or
4) Yet.Someone.Else@otv.hsmaastricht.nl

The host name often provides useful information. The first example refers to a student (students) of computer science (.cs) at the Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht (.ruu) in the Netherlands (.nl).
The second example refers to Ms. Someone working at the Microsoft company (.com). The third example is the address of Mr. SomeoneElse at the University of North London. The abbreviation .ac tells you that unl is an academic institution and .uk indicates that it is situated in the United Kingdom.
The user name is the name under which the person you want to mail is known at the host. So if you worked at Microsoft and the name under which you were known to the host at Microsoft were Someone, your email-address would be as in example 2).

Composing and sending e-mail
Composing and sending mail is quite straightforward in most programs. Usually you have to fill in three fields: the e-mail address, the subject-field and the window in which you type your message. You don't have to fill in the subject-field, but it is considered good etiquette to do so. If you can't remember the exact e-mail address or if you don't want to type it every time you want to mail someone, you can add the address to an on-line address book from which you can easily retrieve it. The contents of the address book are stored in an HTML file that you can copy to a diskette or send as an attachment to someone else if the need arises.
After composing the message by typing its contents in the message-field, you can send it by clicking on the Send button or by invoking the send command from the menu. Usually a copy of the messages you have sent is stored in a folder called "sent".
To check for new mail, look for a command such as "Get mail", "Retrieve mail" or something similar.
 

Attachments
Although many modern mail programs such as the one packaged in Netscape Communicator 4.1 enable you to send richly formatted text in HTML format, there are still many that do not provide this facility. Usually mail programs just accept plain ASCII text. If your mail program doesn't support HTML-formatted messages, you can still send documents containing formatted text and even documents containing pictures, graphs, formulae, or sound or video fragments by attaching these files to your e-mail message. Using some encoding scheme the computer then converts the file in question into a format that can be transmitted, and if the mail program of the receiver knows which encoding scheme was used, the original file can be reconstructed. This by the way explains where things most often go wrong if the addressee encounters problems in reading the attachment: the receiving program does not know or isn't using the proper decoding scheme. We recommend the use of the MIME scheme. So select this setting in the preferences section of your e-mail program. If you are encountering problems read this.
 

In Netscape a file can be attached by clicking the attach button (the one with the paperclip icon). If you click on this button you can browse through the folders of your computer (or your network) and select the file you want to attach.
 
 

WWW
Within half a decade the World Wide Web has become so popular that for many people it has become synonymous with the internet. Although WWW really refers to only one of the many services on the internet (See also URL), this is quite understandable, since most modern WWW browsers have integrated the other services, so to the user they all have become transparent.
Once you know how to start a WWW browser on a pc that has access to the internet, a 30-minute introduction by an experienced user will teach you how to use the world wide web. In this section we will start by discussing many sites of interest to translators. Once you encounter sites that you want to revisit, you can add the URL to your bookmarks.

Sites of interest to translators

Search engines:
As the extent of data stored somewhere in the WWW has been showing an exponential increase for half a decade, the real problem is how to find the information you need. It would be really much worse than looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack if there were no such things as Search engines. Search engines are there to help you solve this problem. There are many of them; below we will discuss some of them.
Once you have arrived at the home page of one of these search engines, you usually find a box in which you type the word(s) you are looking for. If  you click a button marked "Search" or something similar, the engine starts looking for pages that contain the word you entered. The problem very often is that it returns too many hits (hundreds of thousands is not uncommon). In Alta Vista and Yahoo you can refine your search by entering many words separated by the + sign. This will make the search engine look only for pages that contain all of the words listed. So instead of "dictionary" you might enter "dictionary+dutch+english". This will find you pages that contain not only the word "dictionary" but also the words "dutch" and "english". If you enter "dictionary dutch english" you will find all pages containing at least one of these words. In the last case the number of hits may very well be larger than you bargained for.
Users normally stick with one or two search engines they are used to. Below we have listed a number of search engines, in alphabetical order, from which you may take your pick. Although the authors themselves usually stick to Alta Vista and Yahoo, this may very well be for reasons of taste. When reading the list below, be sure to visit at least the sites marked with *!*.
If you are reading this document from within your www-browser, you can reach the site by clicking the relevant hot-spot. If you are reading this document from a print-out, you can visit the site by typing in the URL in your browser's URL window.

Many search engines originated in the USA. When all America is on-line there is often a peak in internet traffic slowing down performance considerably. Many organizations with popular sites have therefore set up so-called mirror sites. If you contact such a site in your own country or in a country close to you it normally speeds up the connection enormously. Since the details of operation may differ between different search engines we strongly recommend that you choose one or two search engines for future use and study their help-information.

Alta Vista: http://www.altavista.digital.com/
This together with yahoo is one of the most popular search engines. It seldom lets you down.
You might prefer the mirror site version of altavista below. This site enables you to enter the country you're in and it automatically calls the search engine mirror site nearest to you:
*!* Alta Vista northern Europe: http://altavista.telia.com/

Excite: http://www.excite.com
This search engine has a press clippings service. Go to this site, select "My Channel", and follow the instructions on how to set up your very own personalised clippings service on any subject you want. This will monitor both the press and the newswires, and will give you a short synopsis of any articles that might be of interest to you. Click on the title and you will be taken to the full article.

Francité: http://www.i3d.qc.ca
"L'engin de recherche de la francophonie!". A Canadian (Quebecois) search engine. In French.

Glimpse: http://glimpse.cs.arizona.edu/

Hotbot: http://www.hotbot.com/

Ilse: http://www.ilse.nl/
This engine specializes in Dutch sites.

A list of German search engines
http://www.zs-augsburg.de/such.htm

Klug Suchen: http://www.kdg.de
According to several of our sources, this should be a language-specific (German) site with links to over 30 German search engines. It was also mentioned in the above list of German search engines. But all we found there was a page providing links to the following questions: "Wer ist die KDG Wittenberg?, Projekte der KDG Wittenberg: Lutherstadt Wittenberg - Elektronischer Stadtführer, Melanchthonjahr 1997 in Deutschland, Lutherjahr 1996 in Deutschland".

Lycos: http://www.lycos.com/science/
There are mirror sites that you can choose from at the address below:
*!* Lycos international: http://www.lycos.com/international/
This site gives you the opportunity to choose a mirror site closer to your own country.

Multi-Language Search Page
http://www.gil.com.au/~kmunro/suchen.html

Search: http://www.search.nl/

Webcrawler: http://www.webcrawler.com/

Yahoo: http://www.yahoo.com/
When in Europe you are advised to look for this mirror site:
*!* Yahoo (Europe): http://www.yahoo.co.uk/
 

Reference works

A Web of Online Dictionaries: http://www.bucknell.edu/~rbeard/diction.html
This remarkable site, maintained by Bucknell University, contains numerous links to on-line dictionaries and grammars all over the world. You can choose from 136 languages. Start your search for on-line dictionaries and grammars here. Recommended but be careful: the quality of the dictionaries listed as links varies considerably!

Virtual Reference Desk
http://www.union.edu/PUBLIC/LIBRARY/index.html
Dictionaries & Language Resources
•Dictionaries & Language Resources
•Directories
•FactBook/Statistics
•Government and Law
•Geography and Travel
•Reference Tools
•News & Current Events
•Style Manuals & Guides
•Resources by Subject Area
•Weather
 

Links to various dictionaries
http://rugcbd.chem.rug.nl/group/anke.p_html/journals/dictionaries.html
List of useful dictionaries
Dictionary of cell biology
Webster dictionary. This hypertext Webster interface provides a point-and-click client interface (for non-linemode browsers) for accessing the various Webster's dictionary services on the Internet
Dictionary of american english
Acronym dictionary
Roget thesaurus
Dictionary of jargon
Computing dictionary
 
Terminology Links University of Innsbruck (Institut für Übersetzer- und Dolmetscherausbildung
http://translation.uibk.ac.at/termlogy/termsen.html
Like everything else on the home page of this university, this one is excellent. Pages in English, German and Italian.
Looking for Terminology in the WWW? This is your point of departure!
“Because of the unimaginable growth of the world wide web and the exponential rise of   accessible information through html-pages and the myriads of links, it will no longer be possible to collect all terminology relevant information on a central site which would need constant updating.
 The specific know-how of finding detailed information on the www will, therefore, in short time be part of any training program for everyone concerned with subject-specific information retrieval. This applies especially to language professionals. The following pages give a short overview over searching tools and search strategies in the www.”
Index of term-banks and terminology products
http://translation.uibk.ac.at/termlogy/terms1en.html
 

Terminology Home Page
http://info.uibk.ac.at/c/c6/c613/termlogy/termlink.html
Terminology on the WWW
Terminology Centres
Projects
Congresses
Terminology Organizations
Terminology Management Systems Providers
Terminology Databases
LSP Dictionaries, Glossaries and Lists
Lexicology and Lexicography
Translation Links
 

Welcome to the Terminology Forum!
http://www.uwasa.fi/comm/termino/
This is a forum for those who are interested in principles and methods of terminological research and work. Terminology work is practised in many companies and organisations, terminology centres and standardizing organisations etc. Translators, subject specialists, terminologists, librarians, LSP teachers, information specialists and many others are involved with searching, using and collecting terminologies.
 
 

Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations...
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/
“Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, Passages, Phrases and Proverbs Traced to their Sources” Searchable index to the most popular dictionary of quotations.
 

Brown University
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Cog-Ling-Sci/lingdir/dictionary.html
This site maintained by Brown University has links to many electronic dictionaries including many highly specialised ones.
 

Chinese(-English)
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/usr/mjchan/www/cdict.html (unidirectional)
For this site your system should be able to display Chinese characters with the help of a suitable program (Twinbridge, Internet with an Accent).

http://www.logos.it/sinologos
Dictionaries for non-romanized languages; uses non-romanized interfaces.
 

Cobuild dictionaries
http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/
In their own words:
"If you're interested in the English language -- especially if you are a teacher or a learner of English -- then these Web pages are for you. The team here at Cobuild works with a huge "corpus" of modern
English text on computer to analyse language usage: word meaning, grammar, pragmatics, idioms
and so on."

Encyclopaedia Britannica (Britannica Online)
http://www.eb.com
To get everything from this site you have to subscribe first.

DictSearch—Alberto Fontaneda’s Home Page
http://www.ctv.es/USERS/alberfon/dicsear1.htm
An excellent collection of on-line monolingual and bilingual dictionaries. Also links to a number of natural language processing software vendors.
 
 

Dutch language, culture and society

Dutch national entry-point
http://www.nl-menu.nl/nlmenu.eng/nlmenu.html
This is the Dutch national entry-point. Its aim is to provide users, particularly the SURFnet audience, with a well-organized and structured view of the public electronic information services in the Netherlands. New categories: Study associations | Bookshops (also antiquarian) | Embassies and consulates. Services in the Netherlands, New in NL-Menu, Weekly overview of new Dutch WWW services.
 
Dutch Home Page
http://www.dhp.nl/
Geographically oriented search. Click somewhere on the map in order to zoom in on a specific area. You can also go directly to one of the following cities: Amersfoort (73 sites), Amsterdam (1141), Apeldoorn (65), Arnhem (97), Breda (69), Delft (130), Den Bosch (98), Den Haag (342), Eindhoven (204), Enschede (116), Groningen (186), Haarlem (97), Hilversum (87), Hoofddorp (62), Leiden (133), Nieuwegein (62), Nijmegen (131), Rotterdam (385), Tilburg (101), Utrecht (345). This makes it easier to find your way to that important job interview.

Onze Taal
This site is an interface between the periodical "Onze Taal" and those looking for tips and advice about Dutch: http://www.onzetaal.nl
It includes a large number of links to Dutch dictionaries and glossaries: http://www.onzetaal.nl/koppling/woorden.htm
 
Van Dale Homepage
This Dutch-language site can be consulted for all questions of spelling and for on-line searches in "Van Dale Hedendaags Nederlands".
http://www.vandale.nl

Dutch online databases
http://www.xxlink.nl/exxpo/onlinedb.htm
The home page of this site contains the following links:
    Bibliografie Nederlandse Sociale Wetenschappen (In Dutch) (Bibliography Social Sciences)
    DRYADE (In Dutch) Dendrologic Database IBN-DLO
    De Informatiebank (In Dutch)
    Marketing Data (In Dutch)
    Dutch Research Database (In Dutch)
    NederlandsePersDatabank (In Dutch) (News paper articles)
    OPmaat (In Dutch) Document service electronic subscription
    SIByl (information on computer applications for the social and behavioral sciences)
    NOS Teletext (In Dutch)

NLMENU
Numerous addresses of institutions, professional organisations, local authorities, etc. in the Netherlands
http://www.nl-menu.nl

Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research
http://www.nwo.nl/Welcome-e.html
Like many such pages, this one is available in both the local language and in English. This can be useful for terminology, or even if you are just trying to find out what the institution calls itself in English. You need to be careful of imitating the idioms and grammar used, however

De Taalpagina
http://www.dcs.warwick.ac.uk/~bcar/languages/Dutch-page.html
This page could not be found when we tried to reach it. It is probably obsolete.

Wordlists Dutch
ftp://sable.ox.ac.uk/pub/wordlists/dutch
Contains one zipped file (760 Kb).

Faculty of Arts Leiden University
http://wwwlet.leidenuniv.nl/www.let.data/let-docs.htm
 
Contrast Advies Lexicon
http://www.or-online.nl/
 

NL.TAAL
This page answers many questions from the USENET newsgroup nl.taal concerning the Dutch language.
http://www.nl.net/~koopal/nlfaqs/nl-taal-faq.html
 
 
Ministeries
Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
http://www.minbuza.nl/

Ministerie van Economische zaken
(Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs)
http://info.minez.nl/a_overhd.htm
The “Ministerie van Economische Zaken, directie Voorlichting” has a site providing links to a large number of other government departments. There are similar services in other countries.
The home page contains links to the following:
     Other ministries:
        Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken
        Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken
        Ministerie van Defensie
        Ministerie van Financiën
        Ministerie van Justitie
        Ministerie van Landbouw Natuurbeheer en Visserij
        Ministerie van Onderwijs Cultuur en Wetenschappen
        Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat
        Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport
        Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieu
    Houses of Parliament:
        Eerste Kamer der Staten Generaal
        Tweede Kamer der Staten Generaal
    Services related to Economic Affairs:
        CBS (Centraal Bureau voor Statistiek)
        CPB (Centraal Planbureau)
        Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
        EVD (Netherlands Foreign Trade Agency)
        Senter
        NMa (Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit)
    European Community
        Informatiedienst van de Europese Unie.
    Miscellaneous
        De digitale Postbus 51
        Een overzicht van andere Nederlandse informatiediensten;
        En de rest van de wereld
 

National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management /RIKZ
http://www.minvenw.nl/rws/rikz/engrikz.html
As part of Rijkswaterstaat (Directorate-General of Public Works and Water Management), the National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management…

RIZA
http://www.minvenw.nl/rws/riza/home.html
The Institute for Inland Water Management and Waste Water Treatment in the Netherlands
 
 

FBIS Foreign Language Glossaries
http://www.fedworld.gov/fbis/
The Foreign Broadcast Information Services' Foreign Language Glossaries are available in both
HTML and PDF formats. In order to view these glossaries, you must have the Adobe Acrobat reader installed on your computer. Below is a complete listing of the PDF-files available:

     Albanian: Press Abbreviations
     Brazil: Abbreviations
     Brazilian: Colloquial Terms
     Czech: Idioms
     Danish: Abbreviations
     English-Spanish Military Dictionary A-E
     English-Spanish Military Dictionary F-P
     English-Spanish Military Dictionary Q-Z
     Estonian: Abbreviations
     French: General Abbreviations
     French: Military Terms (Part 1)
     French: Military Terms (Part 2)
     French: Nuclear Terms
     German: Press Abbreviations, Part 1
     German: Press Abbreviations, Part 2
     Italian: Abbreviations
     Japanese Ballistics Terms
     Japanese Organization Names
     Latin America: Abbreviations (Spanish)
     Norwegian: Abbreviations
     Polish: Abbreviations
     Portuguese: Abbreviations
     Portuguese: General Abbreviations
     Portuguese: Military Terms
     Portuguese: Narcotics Terms
     Portuguese: Press Abbreviations
     Romanian: Press Abbreviations
     Spanish Press Abbreviations
     Spain: Abbreviations
     Spanish: General and Military Abbreviations
     Spanish Narcotics Terms
     Serbo-Croation: Abbreviations
     Subsaharan Africa: Narcotics Terms
     Swedish: Abbreviations
     Sweden: General and Military Abbreviations
 
French-English
http://humanities.uchicago.edu/forms_unrest/FR-ENG.html (bidirectional)

General Acronym Glossary
http://www.ihi.aber.ac.uk/cgi-bin/explain

German-English
http://www.gmsmuc.de/english/ (bidirectional)

Internet Dictionary
http://www.june29.com/IDP/
This site offers many dictionaries and glossaries for many language pairs one of which is English.

Internet IT reference
http://www.ispo.cec.be/g7/backg/glossary.html
THE INFORMATION SOCIETY GLOSSARY
published in the occasion of:
The G7 Ministerial Conference
25-26 February, 1995
Brussels
© ECSC-EC-EAEC, Brussels / Luxembourg, 1995
Resource for computer terminology.
 
 

Italian
Interlex
http://www.interlex.com/info.htm
In Italian
RIVISTA MULTIMEDIALE DI DIRITTO TECNOLOGIA INFORMAZIONE
InterLex è un periodico plurisettimanale di carattere informativo, scientifico e culturale giuridico
Editore: Technimedia s.r.l. - via C. Perrier 9 - 00157 Roma
Iscrizione nel registro della stampa del Tribunale di Roma n. 585/97 del 6.11.1997
Direttore responsabile: Manlio Cammarata
 

Merriam Webster Online
http://www.m-w.com/
This site is maintained by the Merriam Webster Company. It provides on-line access to an online version of Merriam-Webster dictionary (1963!) and thesaurus. Other items: The language info zone, Words from the Lighter Side, Bookstore, Inkwell to Internet (How does a word get in the dictionary), Customer service, and a Daily Word Game.

Pedro's Dictionaries
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pedro/dictionaries.html
This site provides links to many dictionaries. Pedro is a biochemist and his homepage contains also numerous links to sites related to biochemistry.

Rivendell Dictionary List
http://rivendel.com/~ric/resources/dictionary.html#multi

Spanish-English
http://www.gmsmuc.de/english/ (bidirectional)
 

UK Ministries

Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, UK
http://www.maff.gov.uk/
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, UK World Wide Web site
Need to know about BSE? It’s all here! Stay away from those hamburgers while you’re on your year in Britain!
 

US Government

CIA PUBLICATIONS AND HANDBOOKS
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/pubs.html
•The World Factbook 1996
•1997 Factbook on Intelligence
•Chiefs of State and Cabinet Members of Foreign Governments Updated: October 6, 1997
•Handbook of International Economic Statistics, 1996
•1997 CIA Maps and Publications Updated: October 15, 1997
•The Balkans Regional Atlas
•Search our GILS records! -- Hosted by the Government Printing Office (GPO)
•Keyword Search These Publications

CIA: The World Factbook home page
http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/nsolo/wfb-all.htm
This is a vast archive of information on every country in the world, maintained by the CIA for the US government.

US Embassy in the Hague (Information Resource Center)
http://www.usemb.nl
The Information Resource Center (IRC), a research and reference facility focused on American policy and contemporary society, is part of the USIS operation. The IRC uses Internet and databases as major tools and the collection includes general reference works; significant monographs in the fields of international economics, foreign affairs and social issues; U.S. periodicals; documents from U.S. think tanks and the U.S. government, legislation and federal regulations; and selected microform materials. The IRC produces and maintains the Home Page of the U.S. Embassy in The Hague. The center is open to users by appointment.
The Information Resource Center (IRC) is situated in the American Embassy in the Hague. It was established in 1981 to provide a research and reference service to professionals, scholars, and officials, whose responsibility and interests require them to keep abreast of important trends in American contemporary society, and informed on United States foreign and domestic Policy Issues.

Resources:
Online Databases
Internet
Legi-Slate
Dialog
Lexis-Nexis
Public Diplomacy Query System
CD-ROMs
New York Times
Washington Post
Wall Street Journal
US Foreign Affairs on CD-ROM
Readers' Guide Abstracts
Encyclopedia of Associations
Congressional Masterfile 2

Documents:
A collection of over 1000 documents including reports from the United States Government, and publications from major American think tanks and Treaties. The Center also has access to most Congressional Documents via the Congressional Information Service.

Directories:
A small collection of US directories containing addresses of government agencies, private organizations, and other bodies within the United States.

Periodicals:
About 150 subscriptions to leading American Journals, including Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, the National Journal, and Congressional Quarterly Weekly Report

Services
Research/quick reference assistance:
Qualified reference specialists will assist with inquiries and research by telephone, mail, fax, or in person, using the latest electronic resources such as Internet and Lexis-Nexis. The Center can also draw on specialized materials via a network of US Embassy documentation Centers.

Referral service:
When the Center is unable to provide the required information from its own resources, it is usually able to identify appropriate sources within the Netherlands or United States, such as national, state and local government agencies, research institutions, and professional associations.

Briefings:
The staff can give general or subject-oriented briefings on the resources and services of the Center to inividuals or groups upon request.

Publications:
The Center produces a Periodicals List, a Document Alert List and an Article Alert List.

Internet Home Page:
The Center has created the Home Page of the American Embassy. Information on this page includes official American policy texts and Documents.
 
 

European Community

European Parliament
http://www.europarl.eu.int
Easy access to documents of the EP in all EU languages.

A Glossary of the European Communities and European Union
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/%7Epol028/sources/europe.htm#dpage
Another example of a useful ministerial/departmental homepage
Acronyms, Initiatives, Institutions, Policies, Programmes, Terms Author : Professor Derek Urwin (Department of Politics and International Relations - University of Aberdeen), edited for the Web by Fraser Lovie. Extremely useful.

European Ombudsman:
http://www.euro-ombudsman.eu.int

Council of the European Union:
http://ue.eu.int

European Commission:
http://europa.eu.int

Court of Justice of the European Communities:
http://europa.eu.int/cj

European Court of Auditors:
http://www.eca.eu.int

Economic and Social Committee:
http://europa.eu.int/ces/ces.html

European Investment Bank:
http://www.eib.org   or   http://www.bei.org

Office for Official Publications:
http://www.eudor.com

Statistical Office of the European Communities:
http://europa.eu.int/eurostat.html

Cedefop:
http://www.cedefop.gr

European Agency for the Evaluation of Medicinal Products:
http://www.eudra.org/emea.html

European Training Foundation:
http://www.etf.it

Who's who in the European Union? Interinstitutional Directory:
http://europa.eu.int/ideaen.html

CELEX:
http://www.europa.eu.int/celex

RAPID:
http://www.europa.eu.int/en/comm/spp/rapid.html

European Commission Host Organisation (ECHO):
http://www.echo.lu

Information Society Project Office (ISPO):
http://www.ispo.cec.be

Community Research and Development Information Service (CORDIS):
http://www.cordis.lu

National Parliaments Web Servers:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/dg4/cerdp/en/public/assembly/list.htm

Governmental Web Servers:
http://europa.eu.int/en/gonline.htm

 
ITU
http://www.itu.ch
In their own words
"International Telecommunication Union (ITU) headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland is an international organization within which governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services."

Special-interest material
 

Aviation
Aviation Glossary
http://g.oswego.edu/dl/acs/glossary/section3_1.html
 
 

Chemistry
Woordenboek der organische Chemie: (Dutch Dictionary of Orchanic Chemistry)
http://www.sci.kun.nl/sigma/Chemisch/Woordenboek/
This is an interactive dictionary to which you may add entries.

Pedro's Dictionaries
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~pedro/dictionaries.html
This site provides links to many dictionaries. Pedro is a biochemist and his homepage contains also numerous links to sites related biochemistry.
 

Internet and IT
Multilingual Internet Terms
http://home.sn.no/~gjon/multil.htm
Pointers to Internet related glossaries in various languages. This is a paradise for any translator looking for internet related terminology. Sources used are listed according to language. Here we list the Multilingual sources only:
            Netglos main page
            NetRef: Technobabble
            Queen Mary and Westfield College: Foreign language computing terms
            Univ of Exeter - IT Services: Glossary of Terms
            Microsoft Glossaries in Several Languages

PCWeboPaedia:
http://www.pcwebopaedia.com/intranet.htm

Computer Acronyms
http://www.access.digex.net/~ikind/babel96b.html
A Glossary of Computer Oriented Abbreviations and Acronyms

One Look glossary list
http://www.onelook.com

Official Microsoft Glossaries (Click here for more on FTP)
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/developr/msdn/NewUp/Glossary/
For translators in the field of IT a must; glossaries in many languages containing the terminology used in the Microsoft products.

Novell Glossaries (Click here for more on FTP)
ftp://ftp.novell.com/pub/updates/tresorce/gloss/
Before you download this software product you must read and agree to the following:  U.S. Export Laws and Regulations. Because this Novell product was developed in the United States of America, U.S. export laws and regulations apply to its use.  This product may not be downloaded, exported or redistributed in any form in or to Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Sudan or to residents or nationals of any of the foregoing countries.

Yamada Languages Guides
http://babel.uoregon.edu/yamada/guides.html
In their own words: "The Yamada WWW Language Guides are the definitive guide to language resources on the World Wide Web. In the Guides, you will find pointers to:
     The Yamada Font Archive,
     Links to our annotated list of language related news groups.
     Links to language related mailing lists.
The guides contain information about 115 languages. There are 112 fonts in our archives, for 40 languages."

Localization Resources Centre
http://lrc.ucd.ie
The Localisation Resources Centre is the focus point and the research and support centre for the localisation industry in Ireland. The Centre was established in December 1995 at University College Dublin. The establishment of the Centre had the expressed support of 13 software publishers and localisation service providers, as well as the National Software Directorate and the Software Localisation Interest Group (SLIG).

Law
http://www.familieadvokaten.dk/195-k.html
A Danish site: Ordliste over juridiske fagudtryk.
 

Medicine

Harvard medweb
http://hms.medweb.harvard.edu
The purpose of the HMS Student Website is to provide a vehicle for the delivery of curricular and educational materials to students at Harvard Medical School and to provide information concerning the resources of the Office for Educational Computing, the Office for Educational Resources, and the Office of Educational Development.

Medtronic
http://www.medtronic.com
This company produces pacemakers and other medical equipment. The site provides information for the medical profession.

Multilingual Medical glossary
http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~rvdstich/eugloss/welcome.html
Multilingual Glossary of technical and popular medical terms in nine European Languages
This project was commissioned by The European Commission(DG III) and executed by Heymans
Institute of Pharmacology and Mercator School, Department of applied Linguistics.

WHO Office of Language Services
http://pllwww.who.ch/programmes/pll/cat/tra_en.html
Office of Language Services
Division of Publishing, Language, and Library Services
World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters
CH-1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland
Extremely useful links.
 

WHO Terminology Service
http://pllwww.who.ch/programmes/pll/ter/ter_index.html
“The institutional memory of terms and concepts used, proposed and recommended in WHO literature is maintained by means of a database called the WHO Terminology Information System (WHOTERM). This serves as a resource to enhance the accuracy and consistency of writers, editors and translators. It also enables those working in WHO's technical programmes to contribute to emerging terminologies, promote their standardization, and ensure their dissemination.”
 

WHO MULTILINGUAL RESOURCES FOR TRANSLATORS
http://pllwww.who.ch/programmes/pll/cat/cat_resources.html
Links to Internet resources for translators/editors
Links to other CAT/MT sites
Downloadable glossaries
Glossary on Diseases (English/French - ASCII, zip file)
Translation memories
Administration and Finance System (AFI) (English/French & English/Spanish -  ASCII, zip file)
WHO resolutions and decisions, Volume III, 3rd Edition (English/French - ASCII, zip file)

WHO Health-related Terminology in Cyberspace
http://pllwww.who.ch/programmes/pll/ter/dicfair.html
 
 

Meteorology
Meteorological Acronyms
http://atmos.es.mq.edu.au/acronyms.html
This document provides a list of acronyms that are generally related to meteorology and climatology
and have had a hypertext link identified.

Military
Military Acronyms
http://www.janes.com/
Every second of every day, the editors of Jane's magazines, yearbooks and special reports are preparing information vital to the understanding of global defence, aerospace and transportation.
Useful also for their military glossaries.
 
Technology
Delft University of Technology
http://www.tudelft.nl/home.html
Useful links to sources of scientific information.
 
 

Echo:
Echo is the organization of the European Community that is responsible for Eurodicautom, the term bank of the EC. Eurodicautom has been accessible by modem for many years now, but the internet connection is to be preferred for many reasons.
Currently there are three addresses that bring you to Eurodicautom. Two of them use the http: protocol (University of Frankfurt and Echo Luxembourg) and one the Telnet protocol (Echo Luxembourg). We can only recommend the last one.

University of Frankfurt http connection
For some years now there has been an experimental site via the university of Frankfurt, but we cannot recommend it: it is extremely slow and often lets you down completely: we mention this site only for completeness' sake, but not as a hot-link: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/~felix/edicold.html

Echo http-connection
This connection to Eurodicautom is much better than the one above, but it is also in an experimental stage and worse, it does not give the full information that you can get using the telnet-connection. For a quick look-up and in case you have no Telnet client on your machine, you might want to use this one: http://www2.echo.lu/edic/

Echo telnet-connection
This connection is to be preferred. Since it is not properly discussed in a section on WWW we will tell you about it elsewhere.

Libraries
Catalogues of many libraries can now be searched online. We will list only a few that might be of particular interest to our students. For those interested in other libraries we mention one particular site as a starting point: the World Wide Guide to Libraries..

Library of congress (USA): http://www.loc.gov/
Resources for libraries, information professionals, and researchers. These include  Acquisitions, Cataloging, Preservation, Research, Special Programs, Standards and access  to the catalogues of the Library of Congress and other libraries.
LC research tools
http://lcweb.loc.gov/rr/tools.html
The Library of Congress (LC) offers a wide variety of online databases and Internet resources. In addition, LC provides an easy-to-use gateway for searching other institutions' online logs and extensive links to resources on the Internet.

Libweb
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Libweb/index.html
Library Servers via WWW
Updated daily at midnight, Pacific Time.
Libweb currently lists over 1800 pages from libraries in over 70 countries.
http://www.usemb.nl/usis.htm
 

British Library (UK): http://www.bl.uk/
In their own words: "The British Library's collections may be regarded as the world's finest; the range and effectiveness of the services it provides on the basis of these collections are without rival.
Every working day services are offered in seventeen reading rooms and study areas; there are more than half a million reader visits each year. We send out approximately five million documents each year to remote users. We add more than half a million items to our collection and our catalogue
records are made available worldwide. We fund research and run a varied program in publishing, education and public events."
See also: http://portico.bl.uk/ for The British Library's Online Information Server. Their new building may be disputable, their site is not.
 

Koninklijke Bibliotheek (The Netherlands): http://www.konbib.nl/
This is the national library of the Netherlands. Many of its catalogues can be searched on-line. Choose "Online Contents" to search e.g. titles of journal articles.
 
World Wide Guide to Libraries:
http://www.worldwidenews.net/REFERENC/LIBRARIE/SUBJECT.HTM
This site is maintained on a daily basis by WorldWide Net Corporation, the owner of The InterMall

Bibliotheken Wereldwijd (Libraries all over the world)
Contains catalogues from many libraries from all over the world.
http://www.publishnet.nl/~maerlant/algemeen/library.htm

Bibliotheek Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen.
http://www.knaw.nl/
Library of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences

Dutch Libraries
http://www.nic.surfnet/nl/nlmenu.bibliotheek.html

International Survey of Libraries
http://www.lib.washington.edu/~tdowling/libweb.html

Information from and for translators
 

AATG (American Association of Teachers of German)
http://www.aatg.org/
In their own words: "AATG is the only national individual membership organization dedicated to the advancement and improvement of the language, literature, and culture of the German-speaking countries. With over 7,300 members, the AATG is for teachers of German with students in all levels of instruction.
What can AATG membership mean to you? You become part of a strong, yet caring professional support network which has a positive effect on all your professional endeavors. You join a group of teachers who share your interests, education, and concerns for the profession. You have access to a variety of educational and professional services."

AATIA (Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association)
http://www.aatia.org
"AATIA represents translators and interpreters who live and work in Central Texas and farther afield. Whether you need a translator or an interpreter, want to find out about  translation as a profession, or would like to connect with others in the field, you’re in the right place. Use the buttons to navigate our site and find what you are looking for."
Members’s database, news, SIGs, news, links, etc., in a very attractive site.

Karin Adamczyk’s Home Page
http://www.cam.org/~karin/
This site has a section reserved for exposing companies that fail to pay for  translation work. For the sake of fairness, there is also a list of “Prompt Payers,” and those who end up on the bad guys’ side are given the opportunity to present their side of the story or mend their ways. With  no-frame browsers, use the address http://www.cam.org/~karin/non.htm

AITI (Associazione Italiana Traduttori e Interpreti)
(Italian Translators and Interpreters  Association)
http://www.mix.it/AITI/AITI.htm
Home page of AITI by Luigi Muzii. A highly informative site with a members’ database, rates schedule, extensive list of links, in addition to AITI-specific information. In Italian.

AMWA American Medical Writers Association
http://www.cais.com/amwa/
"The American Medical Writers Association (AMWA), founded in 1940, is the leading professional organization for biomedical communicators. More than 4,000 communicators, representing 24 countries belong to AMWA."

ATA (American Translators Association)
http://www.atanet.org/
The purpose of this site is to help you learn more about the American Translators Association and the translation and interpreting professions.

ATINS (Association of Translators and Interpreters of Nova Scotia)
http://org.atcon.com/atins
A fun bilingual site of ATINS (Canada) by Robert Cormier. Code of  Ethics, Membership List, Events, and much-much more. (*server was down when we tried to connect to it*)

Bjorn Austraat’s Home Page
http://www.austraat.com
Seminars on software localization and WordBasic.
 
Aslib (The Association for Information Management)
http://www.aslib.co.uk/
"Aslib, The Association for Information Management, founded in 1924, is a world class corporate membership organisation with over 2000 members in some 70 countries. Aslib actively promotes best practice in the management of information resources, represents its members and lobbies on all aspects of the management of and legislation concerning information at local, national and international levels.”

BDÜ (Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer e.V.)
German Translators and Interpreters Association member of the Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs (FIT)
http://www.bdue.de
Members’ database, regional organizations in Germany, BDÜ info, useful  links. In German.

Boston Language Institute
http://www.boslang.com/
The Boston Language Institute provides instruction in over 140 languages from Arabic to Zulu, including English as a Second Language and English for Foreign-Born Professionals. In addition to our highly effective five- and ten-week sessions, the Institute offers flexible private, intensive and immersion programs for individual and corporate students who must obtain fluency in a language as quickly as possible.

CBE Council of Biology Editors
http://www.cbe.org/CBE/
"The Council of Biology Editors (CBE) aims to improve communication in the life sciences by educating authors, editors, and publishers; by providing means of cooperation among persons interested in publishing in the life sciences; and by promoting effective communication practices in primary and secondary publishing in any form."

European Language Research
http://www.icp.grenet.fr/ELRA/home.html
The European Language Resources Association (ELRA) was established as a non-profit organization in Luxembourg in February, 1995. The overall goal of ELRA is to provide a centralized organization for the validation, management, and distribution of speech, text, and terminology resources and tools, and to promote their use within the European telematics R&TD community.

Fédération Internationale de Traducteurs (FIT)
http://www.umh.ac.be/atim/fit/
The International Federation of Translators
You will find a complete list of FIT members, the different committees, the Federation's publications, bylaws and other official documents, an introductory page, a schedule of events, etc. All the information is in French and English, FIT's two official languages. New information is added weekly.

FLATA (Florida Chapter of the ATA)
http://members.aol.com/flata1
Site under construction, but it already contains a translation services directory and other useful information on FLATA and ATA, as well as links to other translation-related sites.

Glenn's Guide to Translation Agencies
http://www.well.com/user/johnglen

HOWLERS!! A site with some excellent non-hackneyed examples (various languages)
http://www.lookup.com/Homepages/79530/howlers.html
“An archive of the worst mistranslations encountered by professional translators.
Most of them come from the LANTRA-L translators and interpeters list."
 
Human Languages Page
http://www.june29.com/HLP
In their own words: "The Human-Languages Page is a comprehensive catalog of language-related Internet resources. The over 1600 links in the HLP database have been hand-reviewed to bring you the best language links the Web has to offer. Whether you're looking for online language lessons, translating dictionaries, native literature, translation services, software, language schools, or just a little information on a language you've heard about, the HLP probably has something to suit your needs.
 

Institute of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Innsbruck http://translation.uibk.ac.at/termlogy/termloen.html
An excellent starting point. Warmly recommended!
Terminology on the WWW
a. Activities and associations, links to congresses, projects, software tools, etc.
b. Dictionaries and term banks general language dictionaries and term banks
c. LSP-Dictionaries, glossaries, lists and reference sites filed according to subject fields
 
Internet Address Finder
http://www.iaf.net/
In their own words: "The Internet Address Finder is the choice of millions of Internet users for searching and finding the names, E-mail addresses, and now Intel Internet Video Phone contacts, of Internet users worldwide.  It is the mostcomprehensive E-mail directory on the Internet!”
 
Internet Resources for Translators
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mderaaij/IRT/general.html
This site contains a very large number of useful links, reputedly even more than the Translator's Home Companion. It is classified according to language: Dutch, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish and Russian.
You can find the language you are interested in directly by changing the last part of the address:
http://www.xs4all.nl/~mderaaij/IRT/dutch.html

ITI (Institute of Translation & Interpreting)
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/ITI
In their own words:
" ITI is the Institute of Translation & Interpreting, the professional association of translators and interpreters, with an international membership, based in the UK. The Institute promotes high standards of professional excellence in those fields in which the services of specialist linguists are required (see ITI's Aim, mission & objectives). Members, both individual and corporate, are expected to follow ITI's Codes of professional conduct."

Cecilia Falk’s Home Page
http://www2.sbbs.se/hp/cfalk/indexeng.htm
Translators, Translation Companies, and many other useful links.

FLEFO (Foreign Language Forum of CompuServe)
http://world.compuserve.com
The largest gathering of translators in Cyberspace. CompuServe  membership required. You can sign up on-line at the above address, and  you’ll be sent the CompuServe-specific software in the mail. With the software, select GO and type FLEFO to access the Foreign Language Forum.
Compuserve members only.

Foreign language resources on the Web
http://www.itp.berkeley.edu/~thorne/HumanResources.html
“This resource list, by no means comprehensive (hundreds of fresh WWW pages are appearing each month), aspires to lend starting points for mining the WWW for foreign language/culture specific resources. This is a "quality-only" index. In other words, we have sought to include only the best of the foreign language ("foreign" for native speakers of English) Web sites out of the many that exist.”

German U-Forum
listserv@twh.msn.sub.org
Discussion forum for German translators. To subscribe, send the message  SUBSCRIBE u-forum to the above address

Michael Gierhake’s Language and Translation Links
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/3137/index.html
A translator’s treasure trove of glossaries, dictionaries, search engines, and more. Warmly recommended.

Glenn’s Guide to Translation Agencies
http://www.glennsguide.com/
This home to Glenn’s Guide to Translation Agencies also contains useful advice to beginning translators, links to dictionaries and databases,  reference resources, information on specific countries, and much more!In his own words: "Glenn's Guide to Translation Agencies is used by
translators and interpreters on all six continents to find  more jobs, at higher rates. Its word-of-mouth reputation has established it as the system for introducing yourself to agencies. Now a flurry of new
products are available for experienced translators/interpreters and for newcomers as well."

Marcia Klingensmith’s Home Page
http://www.pitt.edu/~mrkst19/translation.html
Translation companies, translators’ organizations, and many other very useful resources.

La Ñ - Interpreters page
http://WWW.Catch22.COM/~ashley/
In their own words: "At last! A Web page for Interpreters and Translators! No more lonely days wondering what the correct translation for that word is...what that slang term used in court meant...what your fellow translators and interpreters are doing...now we can all sit around and wonder together! And we can do it on our own Web page!"

Languages and Translation Links
http://ireland.iol.ie/~mazzoldi/lang/
In their own words: "These pages are currently undergoing a rather heavy change. Basically, I have realized that my project was just too ambitious -- with the result that I was never able to keep the pages up to date, even to the extent of regularly purging dead links, never mind adding all the new resources that came to my attention or were pointed out to me; and this leaves completely out the question of actually seeking out new material to add...
For this reason I decided to "downsize" the idea dramatically. From now on, I will concentrate on
resources relative to the Italian language only. I will also keep lists of English-only resources and of
some resource generally useful to translators in all languages, but the focus will be mostly on Italian,
and the listings for other languages will go."

Language International
http://www.language-international.com/index.html
Excellent site with back issues of Language International, translators’ database, calendar of events, news, and much more.

The Language Site
http://www.interscript.com
Meeting point for British translators with all kinds of information of professional interest.

Lantra-L
http://www.xs4all.nl/~jumanl/Lantra.html
Lantra-L is a mailing list for people who are interested in languages and translations. Using the
function "Mail to LANTRA-L" you can reach more than 600 people nearly all around the world.
If you want to be on Lantra's mailing list you can subscribe by mailing to: LISTSERV@SEARN.SUNET.SE
Another address we found for subscribing to the Lantra-L Mailing List
LISTSERV@segate.sunet.se
Translators’ mailing list. About 150 messages a day on topics ranging  from terminology questions to business practices to chit-chat. To join, click on the LISTSERVE address above and send the message: SUB LANTRA-L [fist_name last_name]. (Type your name instead of the  bracketed expression. The subject will be ignored by the server).

LinguaServe
http://www.emb.net/LinguaServe
Provides lists of translators and translation agencies, translation tools, regulations and laws regarding the translation profession.

Medizin & MedTech-Verlag’s Database of Medical Translators
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Medizin_Verlag/sprache.htm
Free listing and/or home page for translators working in the medical field. In German.

NAJIT (National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators)
http://najit.org/
A non-profit organization dedicated to the furtherance of the court interpreting and legal translation profession.

NCATA Professional Services Directory.
http://www.ncata.org/
It lists members of the National Capital Area Chapter of the American Translators Association (NCATA) who are offering their services in the area of translation and interpretation, as well as other language-related fields. You can search the directory by name, language pair, and specialization.

NCTA (Northern California Translators Association)
http://www.lai.com/lai/ncta/nctahome.htm
Searchable database of members and the electronic edition of the excellent newsletter Translorial.

NVTV (De Nederlandse Vereniging van Tolken en Vertalers)
http://www.taal.com/NVTV

NOTIS (Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society)
http://www.notisnet.org
Downloadable membership database, news, and resources.
The Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society (NOTIS) was established in April, 1988 as a forum for professional translators and interpreters in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In view of our strategic position in international trade and of its growing importance in international travel, practicing translators and interpreters, as well as the local and regional business communities   benefit from the existence of an active professional group like NOTIS. NOTIS is a cooperating group of the American Translators Association (ATA), a professional society with over 6,000 members throughout the United States and overseas.
NOTIS sponsors this site as a forum for the exchange of ideas and information for the translation and interpretation community and for users of translators and interpreters. You can reach us via email at info@notisnet.org.

OTIAQ Ordre des traducteurs et interprètes agréés du Québec
http://www.otiaq.org/english/welcome.htm
The Ordre des traducteurs et interprètes agréés du Québec (OTIAQ) is a professional order with
reserved titles, governed by the Office des professions du Québec. It brings together nearly 2,000
professionals in the fields of translation, terminology and interpretation, working for companies,
organizations and in private practice, in all areas of expertise. In all, our members offer close to 50
language combinations. For more information on OTIAQ, we suggest you consult the Portrait of
OTIAQ or contact the Secretariat of the Order, at: otiaq@odyssee.net.

Oxford University Language Centre
http://info.ox.ac.uk/departments/langcentre
Site of the Oxford University Language Centre with links to dictionaries and language related materials.

Page d’Agrégation d’Anglais
http://www.outremer.com/~sharad/index.html
A delightful bilingual potpourri of links, poems, trivia, articles, etc. about  language and translation from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. In French.
In their own words: "Cette Page s'adresse en particulier aux francophones qui étudient ou enseignent l'anglais, et s'intéressent à son devenir à l'échelle mondiale. Elle se propose aussi de cerner les enjeux actuels du multilinguisme."

Planet Internet Talenpagina
http://www.pi.net/discovery/wetentech/talen.html
Language-page maintained by the Dutch IOnternet Provider Planet Internet. This page is accessible only to subscribers of Planet Internet.

Portrans Mailing List
http://lwp.ualg.pt/-vsantos
Mailing list of Portuguese translators (Portugal) and other resources.

Portuguese translators: trad-port Mailing List
LISTSERV@netzero.com.br
Mailing list for translators of Portuguese (both Brazilian and European, but heavily tilted toward the former). Send the command SUBSCRIBE  TRAD-PRT [YOURNAME] to the above address.

Russian Interpreters Co-op
http://world.std.com/~ric/index.html
The Russian Interpreters Co-op is an association of professional Russian-English interpreters. It was
founded by Leonid Fridman in 1994 to educate the public and the business community about the
interpreting profession, to test Russian interpreters, and to market the skills of the top level
interpreters in the U.S. We have grown quickly to become an international cooperative association
of almost 100 professional interpreters in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

SENSE The Society of English-Native-Speaking Editors working in the Netherlands
http://home.worldonline.nl/~sense/
"This new SENSE service is intended as an information source both for SENSE
members and for those interested in SENSE."
With useful links in: http://home.worldonline.nl/~sense/links.htm

SINTRA (Sindicato Nacional dos Tradutores)
http://www.alternex.com.br/~sintrabrasil/
Home page of the Brazilian Translators’ Association. Bi-monthly  newsletter, events, debates, market rates for translations (in Brazil). In Portuguese.

STIBC (Society of Translators and Interpreters of British Columbia)
http://www.vcn.bc.ca/stibc
Code of Ethics, Certification information, links.
In the near future, we plan to make our Directory of Members available online, provide visitors with more links to interesting sites, publish excerpts from our bimonthly newsletter, The TRANSLetter, report on events of interest, e.g. Cascadia Conference, ATA Conference, RCNA Congress, etc., maintain a Calendar of Upcoming Events, and later on, allow you to contact our office electronically, register for admissions and/or certification examinations, try your hand with practice exams, renew your membership, and more!

Silicon Valley Localization Forum
http://www.TGPConsulting.com
Localization and software-related information and links.
In their own words: "Learn about multilingual software development and testing, international          documentation and marketing issues and get useful tips from experts in the field. Find out about the latest in translation technology, tools and localization services.
Hear about conferences and seminars on the subject of developing world-wide software applications and link to other industry organizations associated with this Forum. Find articles and publications on product localization, translation, international business and purchase books on-line."

Universität Stuttgart, Institut für maschinelle Sprachverarbeitung
http://www.ims.uni-stuttgart.de
Information about computational lexicography and research in machine translation. Links to related sites. The Institute of Natural Language Processing of Stuttgart University pursues the realization of natural, human language processing by computer. These web pages should bring you closer to the institute on various levels. In English and German.

Translator Registry
www.translatorguide.com
Searchable database of translators by target or source language. Lots of  interesting links.
 
 

Translation Journal
http://accurapid.com/journal/tj.htm
On-line trans. journal
 No. 2, Volume 1, October 1997
A Publication of Translators by Translators about Translators and Translation
With links to the following via:
http://accurapid.com/journal/links.htm
Translators’ on-line resources:
Translators’ Databases
Translators’ Discussion Groups
Translators’ Educational Resources
Translation Aid Software
Miscellaneous Translators’ Resources
Translators’ Organizations
 
 

The Translator's Home Companion
http://www.rahul.net/lai/thcnew/companion.html
This site advertises itself - and in our opinion this claim seems not to be unwarranted - as the single most useful source of information for the professional translator and those in need of translation services. The Translator's Home Companion is intended to serve as a focal point of information about resources available on the Internet and elsewhere for translators, interpreters, and all those interested in the arts and crafts of foreign languages.

Translator Resource Links
http://www.ranchopark.com/translatorlinks.html
 “This is a new resource for professional translators, interpreters and proofreaders. We have begun to assemble links to online dictionaries, glossaries, search engines, books, tapes, CD's and videos that will assist all of us involved in the business of accurate translations in all languages. We invite your submissions to this resource page.”
Another useful “in progress” links page.
 
 

Yahoo Links to Language-related sites
http://www.yahoo.com/Social_Science/Linguistics_and_Human_Languages/
 

 
Newpapers and news agencies

CNN
http://www.cnn.com/
 

 “Le Monde” on line.
http://www.lemonde.fr/

NRC-Handelsblad
http://www.nrc.nl
For economics terminoloy: see http://www.nrc.nl/W2/Evj/Begrip/a.html

“The Times” on line
http://www.the-times.co.uk/

The Times and The Sunday Times Internet Edition
http://www.the-times.co.uk/
The website of The Times and The Sunday Times Internet editions  was originally launched on January 1 1996. There are now three main areas - The Times, The Sunday Times and Resources. In the latter you will find all the favourite features, including our searches, Personal Times, Search Today, Search Archive and Back Issues; etc.

 “De Volkskrant” on line.
http://www.volkskrant.nl/
 
 
Miscellaneous

Radovan Pletka’s Job List
RPletka@aol.com
Weekly list of job offers in the language industry, mailed upon request to be made to the above address. A $30/year contribution is requested.

Jobs for German Linguists
listserv@twh.msn.sub.org
To subscribe, send the message SUBSCRIBE u-jobs to the above address.

Netmind.com
http://www.netmind.com
A service that keeps you informed of changes in a site each time such a change occurs. Very handy if you want to keep your own links up-to-date in the fast changing world of internet.

RSI-UK
http://www.demon.co.uk/rsi/
"RSI" stands for Repetitive Strain Injury -- an umbrella term covering all kinds of work-related injuries to the muscles, nerves, and tendons of the upper limbs. It includes, for instance, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, bursitis, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, frozen shoulder, and epicondylitis.
Although many kinds of work can bring on RSI symptoms, computer users are particularly at risk.”

Typing Injury FAQ
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~dwallach/tifaq/
This is the home page for the Typing Injury FAQ (frequently asked questions) and Typing Injury Archive, sources of information for people with typing injuries, repetitive stress injuries, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.”
 

Agora Market Language Place
http://agoralang.com
Agora Main Directories are:
        Publishers, Distributors and Bookstores
        Language Laboratory Hardware and Supplies
        Language Services for Business
        Language Schools and Study Abroad
        Lang. Jobs, Organizations, Conferences, Workshops,
        Calls, Events, Announcements, Other Internet Resources
        How to List Information with Agora

Alpnet: http://www.alpnet.com
This is a very useful site. Visit this one not only for information on services and job opportunities but also for links to other sites of interest for translators.

Amicus Software and Multimedia Services
http://www.amicus.nl/
Amicus Software and Multimedia Services have an interesting site giving examples of what an expert (American) editor can do to improve a text. You can also try your hand yourself at correcting ill-written texts. "At Amicus we can design your company's webpage; custom design software for all your information needs; provide components for Internet or software use: writing, editing, photography, graphics."

AppLocalize for Windows Software
http://www.sbuilders.com/AppLocalize
Windows software localization tool and translators’ database. Beware!  the URL is case-sensitive!
In their own words:  "AppLocalize® helps you translate your Windows Application into foreign languages. All you have to do is importing your application native language .RES file, translate items
(menus, strings, dialog boxes, messages and dialog controls) and ask AppLocalize® to generate a new .RES file (You can also work on 32 Bits executables under WinNT4)."
 

Aquarius Directory of T/I
http://aquarius.net/
In their own words "Aquarius Directory of Translators and Interpreters is the most comprehensive and the largest interactive database of translators and interpreters on the World Wide Web. Aquarius helps you to locate and contact the best translators in the world directly, without intermediates or agencies. The project is non-commercial. Our aim is to show the advantages of the 'Small World' - Internet removes borders and distances, allowing you to reach the best specialists without all kinds of go-betweens.
Aquarius Database can be searched using 'location', 'language combination' and 'specialisation'.
Browse the pages with translators' resumes and send them your email. You will be surprised at how
fast and reliable the system is.
91 specialized areas of expertise, 369 language combinations, powerful offline database."

Atril
http://www.atril.com
In addition to being the home to the Déjà vu translation memory software (with free demo download), this site contains an experimental multilingual dictionary, as well as a database of translators and translation companies. Free demo download.

Berlitz
http://berlitz.com
In their own words:
 "From crash courses in Italian to Japanese tapes and phrasebooks - here is everything you need to learn a language now. From translation services to relocation and cross-cultural training - we're your professional connection. Customs from around the world and tips for your next trip - what you need to know before you take off. With games for kids and tips for parents -  a place for the whole family to explore the exciting world of language. Meet friends, browse international newspapers, and tell us what you think - drop by for a minute or hang out all afternoon."

The Electric Editors
http://www.ikingston.demon.co.uk/ee/home.htm
A UK-based Web resource for publishing professionals and linguists with  interesting links, a macro library, and other services. It is also the home of three mailing lists, dealing with publishing, languages, and computers.

Julia Emily Software Products for Translators
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/SAbbo
Information about Lingo 2.0 Translator’s Assistant, Lexik Bilingual  glossaries, etc., as well as a variety of translation-related links.

Language partners
http://www.languagepartners.com/
Visit this site for translation tools and a useful introduction to Machine Translation.

Logos Dictionary http://www.logos.it
The home-page of the Logos company (translation and localization services) includes a link to their on-line dictionary, which contains 6.700.000 words in a profusion of languages.

Mendez Translation Company
http://www.mendez.com
In their own words:
"We are an international company specialized in large volume technical translations, localization, multimedia and Internet. Structured as a division of Lernout & Hauspie Speech Products (LHSP) -a leader in the development and licensing of natural language processing tools- our Group is made up of:
        Mendez Language & Technology: the division's parent company was founded in Brussels in 1971 and has since become the market leader in Belgium. Today, Mendez Language & Technology is one of  the three largest translation companies in the world.
        Translingua Language & Technology: a major player on the German market set up in 1978 with two branches, one in Bonn and one in the USA, LinguaTrans of America, Inc. based in Redmond, Washington.
        Lexitrans Language & Technology: the parent company of a group that is the number one on the Iberian market specialized in all variants of Spanish and composed of Lexitrans S.A. and LX-Multimedia S.L. in Madrid and NewLexi USA Inc. based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.Lexitrans has been operating since 1978.
        ASAP Language & Technology: a translation company set up in Milan that has had a long collaboration with Mendez Translations and is now a full-fledge member of the Mendez Group.
        CL Servicios Lingüísticos: specializing in multilingual terminological projects, it owns the largest private terminological database in the world.
        EMTI: established in 1989, this company has offices in Portugal (Lisbon) and Brazil (Sao Paulo). It offers the following services to its customers: multilingual solutions (including translations), software localization, DTP, Multimedia and Internet, for both Brazilian andIberian Portuguese. This is the latest company to join our Group.
The resulting entity, the Mendez Language & Technology Group, is leader on the European market and one of the top three international translation companies. The assembly of these competence centers, all blending together  to form a global multilingual vendor able to cope with the high quality standards the market is entitled to, is the ideal partner for any translation project."
 

Polyglot
http://polyglot.com
In their own words: "In 1989 Polyglot was selected as the main translation service provider for Patent Express, the British Library's patent documentation and delivery division. We provide translation and desktop publishing into and from most European languages, Japanese and Russian to clients all over Europe.

Rancho Park Editors
http://www.ranchopark.com/translatorlinks.html
A collection of links to translators’ organizations, dictionaries, glossaries, and other resources.
In their own words: "This is a new resource for professional translators, interpreters and proofreaders. We have begun to assemble links to online dictionaries, glossaries, search engines, books, tapes, CD's and videos that will assist all of us involved in the business of accurate translations in all languages. We invite your submissions to this resource page."

Society for Technical Communication
http://www.stc-va.org/
In their own words: "This site offers access to educational and research materials for technical communicators as well as information about the Society and its programs."

Systran
http://www.systransoft.com/
In their own words: "In 1968, SYSTRAN Software Inc. (SSI) started the development of a Russian-to-English language translation software for the U.S. Air Force. Currently, SSI supports 29 language combinations in over 30 sites throughout the world, and is the developer of SYSTRAN PROfessional. SYSTRAN PROfessional for Windows, a native 32-bit Windows application, brings the latest patented Machine Translation technology, previously only available to mainframes, to the PC. SSI has built a solid reputation and presence in government and multinational organizations, including Xerox Corporation, the document company, which simultaneously launches multi-lingual products to the global marketplace. In addition to its numerous product offerings, SSI offers complete localization and translation services; software consulting and development services in various linguistic fields such as electronic character representation, computational linguistics, and natural language pairing and generation techniques."

Trados
http://www.trados.com/
In their own words: "TRADOS, founded in 1984, based in Stuttgart (Germany), develops and markets tools for professional translators, providing a full range of products and services in this field. Today, with a network of sales and support offices throughout Europe and the US, TRADOS is considered to be one of the leading tools vendors in this market."

Transweb
http://www.translation-services.com
Searchable database of translators, based in Germany.
In their own words: "The Ultimate Guide to Translation Resources on the Net"

IBM Translation Memory
http://www.ibmtm.com
In their own words: "IBM TranslationManager 2.0 for Windows (3.x  and 95) and for OS/2 is out and better than  ever. This family of software is designed to assist, not replace, independent translators and language professionals in translation departments and translation companies.
Now with more filters and with support for more language pairs than any other product in the
market, TranslationManager stands as the best translation solution for all who demand
accuracy, consistency, and speed. Tagged with an affordable price, TranslationManager is the obvious solution.
 

Bookshops on the net
The Internet Bookshop
http://www.bookshop.co.uk/
In their own words: "Europe's biggest internet bookstore".

Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com/
In their own words: "Earth's biggest bookstore". This store has many, many books indeed. If you are ordering from Europe and you don't want to wait for 11 weeks, be sure to have them sent to you by air mail.

A German bookstore
http://www.reuffel.de
In their own words: "Bücher zahlreicher Verlage online auswählen, recherchieren und direkt bestellen." (In German)

World of Reading:
http://www.wor.com
In their own words: "World of Reading wants to be your source for foreign language and ESL materials. We offer foreign language software in over 30 languages, from preschool through adult - for IBM compatible PCs or Macintosh - with all products at or below the retail price! We guarantee satisfaction. If you don't see what you are looking for, let us know - we have information on many more materials."
 
 

Miscellaneous
Download-sites
If you are looking for software (freeware and shareware programs, drivers, add-ons) be sure to visit one of these sites or one of their many mirror sites. (for explanation see mirror sites). These sites are actually FTP servers that enable you to download files.
http://www.download.com/                                  http://www.shareware.com/
 

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)
One of the great features of the internet is that many sites offer you the possibility to download all kinds of files to your local pc. This service is provided by many software companies. It enables them to distribute free-of-charge programs, patches for software-bugs, drivers, demos and all kinds of computer files. This service is by no means restricted to software. Many sites offer the opportunity to download pictures (e.g. http://efrosf.frascati.enea.it/CONF/FEL96/vatican.htm) and formatted texts (e.g. the manuals for the Translator's WorkBench and for MultiTerm can be downloaded from http://www.trados.com in Adobe Acrobat-format, that is: ready to print, exactly in the lay-out that was designed by the authors).

Telnet
The Telnet protocol provides a means for you to access a main frame computer over the internet as if your pc were a terminal directly attached to that main frame computer. As with normal main frame connections you usually have to identify yourself (login) before you can start. Most modern browsers automatically launch a separate program (the Telnet client) which maintains the connection.
Although Telnet is rapidly becoming obsolete, we discuss this service mainly because the best access to the Eurodicautom term bank is via Telnet and many (smaller) libraries still allow you to use their in-house searching system by remote login via Telnet.
If you are encountering problems in setting up a Telnet connection read this.

Eurodicautom: the telnet-server
Type in the URL-window of your browser: telnet://echo.lu. If you are reading this document from within a browser you may prefer to click this hot link. The Telnet client is started and you will be connected to Echo's computer in Luxembourg. If you are new to Eurodicautom enter the public code ECHO as requested. You can then register as a regular user by filling in the appropriate forms. You will be given a public code and a password which you are advised to store in a safe place for later use. Registration is free-of-charge. You may even indicate that you are interested in receiving a periodical.
Once you have been registered you can connect again this time entering the password that has been given you after registering.
If you are using the telnet-client that comes with Windows 95 you can save all the information that appears on your screen during the telnet session by choosing Screen/Start log from the telnet-menu. You can stop this logging by choosing Screen/Stop log. Other Telnet-clients usually have similar options.

Below we listed a typical Telnet session with Eurodicautom.Our comments have been entered between square brackets [ ]. Where the user responds this is also indicated by the comment [Entered by the user].

===============================================================================
===============================================================================
   BS2000-TELNET Server Version V01.0A30, Apr 13 1995 15:28:43
%  This is ECHO, please enter the public code ECHO or your personal code
%  ********  [here the asteriskes appear the password should be entered
              that you were given after registration. If you have not registered yet
              just type ECHO and select the relevant options for registration]
%  JMS0066 GRIPSR 97-11-06 10:12 8387
 
STOP-PRESS/DEPECHE/NACHRICHTEN/NOTICIAS/NIEUWSFLITS/NOTIZIA (09/10/97)
 
     [Here you will find last minute messages from Echo]
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Please press the <ENTER> key to continue ...
 
                 ECHO  -  European Commission Host Organisation
 
                                     -oOo-
 
                Enter         1  in order to work in English
                Tapez         2  pour travailler en francais
                Geben Sie     3  ein um auf Deutsch zu arbeiten
                Digitate      4  per lavorare in italiano
                Teclee        5  para trabajar en espanol
                Toets         6  om in het Nederlands te werken
                Tast          7  for at arbejde paa dansk
                Dactilografe  8  para trabalhar em portugues
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please enter your choice :
1 [Entered by the user]
 
 
                                ECHO - Main Menu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     1+: General information
     2 : User guidance databases (incl. I'M GUIDE, I'M FORUM)
     3 : COmmunity R & D Information Service (CORDIS)
     4 : Databases or services in the language industry
     5 : Databases or services in business and economy (incl. TED)
     6 : Innovative projects
     7 : Electronic mailbox
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         80  Help    90  Other commands
Please enter your choice :
4 [Entered by the user]
 

                 Databases or services in the language industry
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     1+: EURODICAUTOM
     2 : SYSTRAN (Service - ex IMTRANS)   [For information on Systran translation services]
     3 : THESAURI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               70  Previous Menu   80  Help   90  Other Commands
Please enter your choice :
1 [Entered by the user]

                                  EURODICAUTOM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     1+: Information on EURODICAUTOM
     2 : EURODICAUTOM menu version
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               70  Previous Menu   80  Help   90  Other Commands
Please enter your choice :
2 [Entered by the user; now we can search the termbank]
 

PRESS L FOR TERMINOLOGY, X FOR ABBREVIATION
*H [Entered by the user; The command H(elp) provides a list of available commands
    the * is the Eurodicautom prompt. It indicates that the user may enter commands]

COMMANDS AVAILABLE NOW
   L  : LANGUAGES
   X  : ABBREVIATION
   E  : SESSION END
   F  : PARAMETERS
   S  : SUBJECT CODE
   U  : USER PROFILE
   D  : FIXED PARAMETER
*l [Entered by the user; this commands starts a dialogue in which we can specify
    both the source-language and the target-language(s)

TYPE CODE OF SOURCE LANGUAGE:
 DA DANISH   DE GERMAN  EN ENGLISH  ES SPANISH     FI FINNISH  FR FRENCH
 IT ITALIAN  LA LATIN   NL DUTCH    PT PORTUGUESE  SV SWEDISH
*en [Entered by the user; we want to look up an English word]

TYPE CODE(S) OF TARGET LANGUAGE(S) WITH SINGLE SPACE BETWEEN
 (FOR EXAMPLE: DE NL) OR 'A' FOR ALL LANGUAGES AVAILABLE
*nl [Entered by the user; we want the translation of the English word in Dutch]

 SOURCE LANGUAGE    :EN
 TARGET LANGUAGE(S) :NL
 SUBJECT CODE(S)    :
 SEARCH PARAMETERS  :
 
 DISPLAY PARAMETERS :BE TY NI CF CM AU VE MC DF PH AB PS NT RF CA
 PRESS Q OR ANOTHER COMMAND
*mad cow disease [Entered by the user; we want the translation of this phrase in Dutch]

                                       DOC =    1/    5  PAGE =   1
 BE= BTL   TY= TFI89  NI= 0000803  DATE = 950426  CF= 5
    CM  AG9 BZ9 MEG
 EN VE  bovine spongiform encephalopathy(1);BSE(2);cow madness(3);mad
        cow disease(4)
    DF  a disease apparently restricted to Friesian-Holstein cattle,
        involving the central nervous system and characterized by
        behavioural changes and impaired gait.The cause is unknown
        and the disease was unrecorded prior to scattered outbreaks
        in the UK in 1987.The affected animals show increasing
        nervousness and hesitancy,clumsy gait,particularly affecting
        the hind legs,and intermittent trotting.Collapse and death
        invariably follow
    RF  VE(1)(2):OIE,Animal Health Tecnology,Elsevier,1992;OJEC 1990
        L 146/29;VE(1)(2),DF:Concise Veterinary Dict,OUP,1988;VE(3):
        New Scientist 8.10.88;VE(4):MBZ/Times 170590
    NT  ABR:BSE
 NL VE  1)bovine spongiforme encefalopathie;2)gekke-koeienziekte
    DF  De zieke dieren vertonen kuren bij het coordineren van hun
        bewegingen en tekens van irritatie.Hun hersens zien er als
        een spons uit.
    RF  PB nr.L 146 van 9.6.1990,blz.29-Beschikking van de Commissie
         PRESS C FOR NEXT PAGE OR GIVE ANOTHER COMMAND
*c [Entered by the user; we want to see more info if there is more available]

                                       DOC =    1/    5  PAGE =   2
        90/261/EEG(1,NT);MBZ/Volkskrant 150590(2,DF)
 NL NT  ABR:BSE
         PRESS C TO CONTINUE OR GIVE ANOTHER COMMAND
*c [Entered by the user]
 YOU HAVE JUST READ THE LAST ANSWER.
 FOR THE FIRST ONE PRESS =1 OR C
*e [Entered by the user; we want to "end" this session
 END OF SESSION
 
 
                                  EURODICAUTOM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     1+: Information on EURODICAUTOM
     2 : EURODICAUTOM menu version
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               70  Previous Menu   80  Help   90  Other Commands
Please enter your choice :
90 [Entered by the user]
 
 
                                 Other Commands
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                   1+Previous screen
                   2 Main Menu
                   3 To change the dialogue language
                   4 CCL Mode
                   5 Quit ECHO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please enter your choice :
5 [Entered by the user]
Thank you for using our services. We hope that your search was successful!
Just before disconnecting, we would appreciate it if you could fill in
a short questionnaire which consists of ten simple questions.
 
Please enter your choice :
 
        1+ For more information on the questionnaire
        2  To fill in the questionnaire
        3  To disconnect from the ECHO host
 
3 [Entered by the user]

%  EXC0419 /LOGOFF AT 1015 ON 97-11-06 FOR TSN '8387'
%  EXC0421 CPU TIME USED: 1.1208 , SERVICE UNITS: 000000000026789

===========================================================================
===========================================================================
 
 

Usenet
[This section is under construction]
Usenet provides a world-wide system of discussion groups, called newsgroups, on nearly every subject you can imagine. It really is a kind of electronic bulletin board: you scribble your message on a note and post it to the relevant newsgroup and come back later to see if anyone has reacted to your message.
For translators this means not only that they can get in touch with each other, they also can ask and discuss questions on specific technical problems in relevant newsgroups.
The following is due to Frank Dietz: " The WWW - A Translator's Treasure Trove"
(fdietz@uts.cc.utexas.edu):

[START OF QUOTATION]
"There are tens of thousands of these discussion groups by now (though the number you will be able to access depends on your ISP), and you can read messages and post questions or replies through special newsgroup readers or with the help of browsers such as Netscape Navigator. Here are some pros and cons:
Pro:
Access to Experts: Where else would you find an expert on avionics or someone who can point you to resources on machine translation?
Virtual Community: There are many helpful people out there, who are willing to share information. Posting in a newsgroup can lead to an exchange of email, and after a while you might find that you are part of a cyber-network of colleagues whom you have never met face to face.
Con:
Spams: Numerous newsgroups are flooded with messages offering get-rich-quick schemes, pornography, conspiracy theories etc., no matter what the stated topic of the newsgroup is. One way to avoid this is to frequent moderated newsgroups, where a moderator acepts or rejects postings.
Flame wars: Some people are downright nasty and insult people who happen to have different opinions. This is less of a problem in professional newsgroups, but not unknown in the soc.culture groups.
Reliability: Once again, be cautious. How do you know that the person answering you is really an expert in a his field?

Here is a list of newsgroups of interest to translators and interpreters:
sci.lang.translation
alt.usage.english
alt.usage.english.neologism
alt.usage.german
alt.lang.japan
soc.culture.arabic
soc.culture.argentina
soc.culture.brazil
soc.culture.chile
soc.culture.china
soc.culture.french
soc.culture.german
soc.culture.greek
soc.culture.indian
soc.culture.italian
soc.culture.japan
soc.culture.korean
soc.culture.mexican
soc.culture.netherlands
soc.culture.polish
soc.culture.portuguese
soc.culture.russian"
[END OF QUOTATION]
 
 
 

Adobe Acrobat reader
Adobe Acrobat Reader is a program freely distributed by the Adobe company that enables you to view, navigate and print fully formatted texts in PDF-format across all major computing platforms (to be downloaded free-of-charge from http:/www.adobe.com). Acrobat Reader is the free viewing companion to Adobe Acrobat 3.0 and to Acrobat Capture(R) software that can be ordered from the same company.

Downloading files
Copying files from a computer somewhere on the internet (usually an anonymous FTP server) to the hard disk on your local pc is called downloading. The reverse process is called uploading.

Domain name
In a URL, following the protocol definition, the next item of information to be defined is the location of the server housing the file or information pointed to by the hot link. When the protocol definition and the domain name are combined using //, the result is a URL definition that accurately indicates the location and type of the server. By the way, in most cases this information will suffice to give you access to the server's home page or root directory.
 

HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML)
HTML is a language in which all WebPages and most help-files are written. This document e.g. was made with the help of Netscape Communicator's built-in HTML-editor. The most salient feature of HTML is that you can incorporate links into your document: these links could be to other words in the same document, to other files on your computer or to other people's computers.

HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
HTTP is the protocol used for transmitting HTML-files over the internet. This is why the URL's of web-pages start with [http://www...  ]. See also Protocol.

PDF-format (Portable Document Format)
Portable Document Format is a standard for formatting documents in such a way that they can be transported across all platforms. Suppose, for example, that you are the proud owner of an IBM-compatible pentium pc and that you have a fully formatted document in PDF-format (that is including Fonts, Pictures, Graphics, Headers, Footers, Page numbers, indexes with references to the relevant pages, table of contents etc.). If you send this PDF-document to another proud user using a Mac, this person will be able to view it, navigate it and print it just the same way as it appeared to you.

Protocol
The most important part of any URL is the protocol definition. This piece of information defines the type of server the selected link points to. Without this information, the WWW browser doesn't know which port and server it needs to talk to in order to obtain the information pointed to by the selected hot link. The main protocols are listed below:

file:
In addition to referencing information located on the internet, most WWW browsers can also access files stored on your local drives. If   file:  is followed by ///c:, this indicates that the URL points to a file on your local c:-drive, otherwise it performs the same function as the ftp:- protocol.

ftp:
This protocol is used for file-transfer from a so-called anonymous FTP-server. If you click a reference to a file you want to download, modern browsers usually automatically start this protocol.

http:
All HTML documents are usually stored on a WWW server. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) refers to the protocol used by these servers.

gopher:
This protocol was widely used, before http: became popular, to find one's way in the internet. It is now rapidly becoming obsolete.

mailto:
This protocol enables the user to send an e-mail message. In many web-pages nowadays you find references such as: "click here to send e-mail to the web-master". When the user clicks on the reference, the mail-program automatically loads and the user can compose and send his or her message. What happens behind the screen is that the mailto: protocol is used.

news:
This protocol is used for Usenet newsgroups. A link that points to a Usenet news group must be declared using this protocol.

telnet:
This protocol is used for Telnet sessions. To indicate that a particular link needs to open a Telnet session, the URL begins with telnet://. Most WWW browsers can't start a Telnet session themselves, but usually launch a separate Telnet program when the user selects such a link. In the preferences section of the browser the path to this Telnet program on the user's drive has to be indicated. By the way: not all users know that Windows 95 comes shipped with a Telnet program in the windows directory. So the only thing you needs to do in order to enable your browser to launch a Telnet client, is to specify in the preferences section of your browser where this program is located.
 

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME)
The text below is due with thanks to Paul Lewis (lewisp@unm.edu).
Email messages include more than just the text of the message you typed. Your email program begins each message with a "header" - several lines of information that indicate the email addresses of both sender and recipient, the subject of the message, plus other information. There is a standard that applies to such headers, and indeed to the entire format of an email message. This standard is called MIME, which stands for Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. We will explain this concept using an example:
Suppose you used your email program to create an email message to Joe Bologna (email address: joe@jbpizza.com) with the subject "Sicilian". Suppose also that your name is John Henry and your email address is jhenry@unw.edu, and that the body of the message was the phrase "I'm hungry, Joe. Cheers, John." The email message would actually look something like the following after your email program created the appropriate MIME header information:
==================================
Mime-version: 1.0
From: John Henry \
To: Joe Bologna \
Subject: Sicilian
Content-Type: text/plain

I'm hungry, Joe. Cheers, John.
==================================
If the above text were stored in a file called "mymail.txt" on a machine running the UNIX operating system, and the standard sendmail program resided on that machine in the directory /usr/lib, you could send this message as follows (assuming you were logged into the UNIX system):

   /usr/lib/sendmail -t -n < mymail.txt

Of course, normally your user-friendly email program does this work for you and the operating system calls are done in a manner very transparent to the user. The '-t' command line option tells the sendmail program to look for the 'To:' field in the body of the message itself. The '-n' option tells sendmail to not accept email aliases - that is, sendmail should expect the fully-qualified email address (in this case joe@jbpizza.com) to be present in the 'To:' field of the message header.
To attach additional information to the email message, we would use the following format:
==============================================================
Mime-version: 1.0
From: John Henry \
To: Joe Bologna \
Subject: Sicilian
Content-Type: Multipart/mixed; boundary=boundarystring
--boundarystring
Content-Type: text/plain

I'm hungry, Joe.
See the attachment for my pizza order.
Cheers,
  John.
--boundarystring
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="textfile.txt"

I want a large Sicilian-style pizza with
mushrooms and black olives.
--boundarystring--
==============================================================
The first "Content-Type:" field in the message header tells the receiving email program that this message has more than one component, and each component will be separated by the string of characters "boundarystring". Notice that the word "boundarystring" is prefaced with two hyphens in all instances and the last time it is also followed immediately by two hyphens. The receiving email program knows when the last component of the message has been read when it reads the boundary string followed by two hyphens.
The receiving email program also knows that the sender wished the attachment (second part of the email message) to be saved to the recipients hard disk because of the "Content-Disposition:" header field. This field instructs the recipient's email program to try saving the attachment text in the file "textfile.txt" in the standard attachment directory. If a file by that name already exists, the recipient's email program will modify the name slightly (ading a number, for example) until the name is unique. The only other real important thing to note about this header structure are the manditort blank lines following the subheader for each part of the email message. If these blank lines are missing, the recipient's email program will have difficulty telling where the header information stops and the text of the message begins.
 

Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
The World Wide Web uses an addressing system known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL). This system enables the user to uniquely define the location and the type of files and servers anywhere on the web. A URL consists of four separate parts that, when combined, completely define the location of any file or service located anywhere on the internet. Below we list these parts and each of them is illustrated using as an example the URL:
http://www.planet.nl/movie/films.html
This URL points to a file with information on movies contained at the site of the Dutch internetprovider Planet Internet/WorldAccess:
1) the protocol: the type of server used. In the example above a http-server, "http://"
2) the domain name: the name of the computer connected to the internet. Here: "www.planet.nl"
3) the path: the directory-path in unix-style using forward slashes! In the example: /movie
4) the filename: the name of the file. In the example: films.html

Uploading files
Copying files from your local pc to a computer somewhere on the internet is called uploading. The reverse process, which is more common, is called downloading.
 
Wide Area Network (WAN)
When computers or complete computer networks are connected over great distances different techniques are used than in case of LAN's and we speak of Wide Area Networks.

Problems setting up a Telnet connection
It may very well be the case that you are using a browser that does not know which program to launch as a Telnet client. If you think this may be the case be sure to take the following steps

1) Check whether your browser needs to separately launch a Telnet client by reading the documentation or using the online help.
2) Look for the directory on your pc that has the Telnet client (usually this program is called something like telnet.exe and is located in the directory c:\windows)
3) Indicate in the preferences section of your browser the path-name to this client.
 
 

Diederik Grit is a Lecturer in Dutch and Translation Studies at Hogeschool Maastricht
Telephone: (31) (0)43 3466451
E-mail: D.C.Grit@ftv.hsmaastricht.nl

Paul Gretton is a Lecturer in English and Translation Studies at Hogeschool Maastricht
Telephone: (31) (0)43 3466446
E-mail: P.J.Gretton@ftv.hsmaastricht.nl

Geer Hoppenbrouwers is an IT lecturer at Hogeschool Maastricht.
Telephone: (31) (0)43 3466483
E-mail: G.A.J.Hoppenbrouwers@ftv.hsmaastricht.nl

Phil Hyams is curriculum coordinator for the department of Translation and Interpreting of Hogeschool Maastricht.
Telephone: (31) (0)43 3466438
E-mail:  P.J.E. Hyams@ftv.hsmaastricht.nl
 
Jan Klerkx is a Lecturer in English and Translation Studies at Hogeschool Maastricht
Telephone: (31) (0)43 3466481
E-mail: J.H.H.M.Klerkx@ftv.hsmaastricht.nl

Han van de Staaij is an IT-lecturer at Hogeschool Maastricht.
Telephone: (31) (0)43 3466483
E-mail:  J.M.VandeStaay@ftv.hsmaastricht.nl
 
Cecilia Willems is a partner in the firm of Balance Texts and Translations, Maastricht and Amsterdam
Telephone: (31) (0)43 (3218985)
E-mail: 100605.635@compuserve.com