I. MOVING AROUND

Move to First Segment of Doc:
Fn + Ctrl + Left Arrow

Move to Last Segment of Doc:
Fn + Ctrl + Right Arrow

Move to Previous Block:
Fn + Up Arrow

Move to Next Block:
Fn + Down Arrow

Move to First Segment of Block:
Fn + Left Arrow

Move to Last Segment of Block:
Fn + Right Arrow

Move to Previous Segment of Doc:
Up Arrow

Move to Next Segment of Doc:
Down Arrow

Provisional Segment: [Default Fn + F10 conflicts with OS commands!] I changed this shortcut to
Option + S (You’ll know it worked if yellow box shows up at left of segment. To avoid ending the translation, I’m in the habit of typing “s” in the target field when I don’t want to translate it and then Option + S to move on in the document.)

Translate until Fuzzy Match:
Fn + Shift + Ctrl + Down Arrow

Shrink Segment:
Fn + Option + Up Arrow

Expand Segment:
Fn + Option + Down Arrow

II. TOOLS

Show/Hide TM Panel:
Ctrl + Option + M

Concordance Search:
Ctrl + Option + C

Delete TU:
Ctrl + Option + Delete (This is buggy. I can’t go back and edit segments where I’ve recently deleted the TU associated with it)

Show/Hide Glossary Panel:
Ctrl + Option + H

Glossary Search:
Ctrl + Option + G (This isn’t working for me. When I open, it says “The glossary is empty” even though the Glossary is “on” and “tested”, I’ve added terms to it, and can see in the right hand side glossary entries popping up. Hmmm…)

Glossary Dialog Box:
Ctrl + Option + T (Select first term and it will automatically be added to first field in the glossary, though I’m having difficult getting rid of the placeable red box, which when present, only takes the placeable term instead of the complete phrase that I’ve highlighted)

Open Setup Dialog Box:
Ctrl + Option + W

Change Display Mode (Toggle between viewing target only, source only, or bilingual view- you can also click on lower right hand corner of screen):
Ctrl + Comma

III. SEGMENT EDITING

Open Previous Segment:
Option + Up Arrow

Open Next Segment (Commits currently open segment to TM! and doesn’t appear to overwrite existing. I’m seeing multiple duplicate TUs in the TM window.):
Option + Down Arrow

Close and Save Segment (and End Translation):
Fn + Option + Right Arrow*

Close Segment without saving (and End Translation):
Shift + Fn + Option + Right Arrow*

Restore Original Segment:
Fn+ Option + Delete

Copy Source: [Default Fn + Option + Enter doesn't work] I changed to
Ctrl + Option + D for “Dump” Source into Target

Copy Previous TM Match:
Option + Left Arrow

Copy Next TM Match:
Option + Right Arrow

Copy TM Match:
Shift + Fn + Option + Enter

Empty Target Segment:
Ctrl + Option + x

Toggle Placeable (Show Placeables):
Ctrl + Option + Up Arrow

Next Placeable:
Ctrl + Option + Right Arrow

Previous Placeable:
Ctrl + Option + Left Arrow

Copy Placeable:
Ctrl + Option + Down Arrow (Also: Shift + Tab seems to do this?)

Next Word:
Tab (not sure of intended context for this command; seems to work with placeables)

Previous Word:
Shift + Tab

*Note: I find that sometimes after completing an operation, such as closing a segment with or without saving, the cursor moves OUTSIDE the application. An annoying error beep will tell you something is wrong when you try to make your next move. This may happen because it thinks* you are finished translating. Press tab and you will see that it moves to the address bar in your BROWSER. Click tab again to move through any fields that you have in your browser toolbars. Once you’ve tabbed out of the final field you will be back in the web application and can proceed with your regular short cuts.

The course was on translation business tools and opened my eyes to an entire world of corporate translation and localization strategies. Did you know, for example, that Boeing, in an effort to cut translation costs, devised their own form of simplified English, which they used for all of their international communications? I can’t remember the number, but it was some insanely small vocabulary that they forced their technical writers to use in all documentation. The strategy was questionably English-centric, but has really paid off in the long run, because now they can translate their many documents into all the different languages with much smaller margins of error and a much higher rates of consistency.

The real take-home point for me was: translation is becoming less about translation, as we know it, and more about 1) culling what we put IN to the “translation machine” (whether that’s a team of globally-based translators or computer aided translation) and 2) polishing what comes OUT of the “translation machine” (post-editing).

So now, I’m a little intrigued by this whole thing. Maybe I’ll have a stint in the world of corporate translation after I finish this stint in educational technology. Who knows.

What I do know, however, is that learning to collaborate online using Web2.0 collaboration tools is an incredibly valuable tool. If you haven’t already, make sure you:

1. have your own Skype account
2. have gmail and yahoo accounts for chatting, audio, video
3. have participated in a yahoo group to get something done
4. know how to share presentations with tools like slideshare and authorstream
5. know how to create a blog or and understand simple HTML
6. know how to coordinate schedules across time zones
7. can craft good emails and online writing
8. can present your ideas online with tools like wikis, google docs, zoho, etc.
9. have joined a social network before
10. can quickly learn and use web2.0 tools (2/day would be a good start)

These might seem like simple things, but for all you people out there who have the time to do global collaboration work, I highly recommend it. These skills and experiences will put you far ahead of the pack when you finally enter the workforce.

But I did learn some excellent points at this seminar:

1. how to detect the reading level of a passage in English,
2. some of the subtle differences between reading difficulty and translation difficulty,
3. that the first year in the market can be brutal, because until you have experience and a specialty, you have to take what comes,
4. how important it is to properly name your documents for clients,
5. this book by Douglas Robinson is really a great intro to the field (I wish I would have read it earlier),
6. I’ll need to work hard to drum up a consistent volume of business,
7. eventually, I’m going to need to invest hundreds of dollars in style guides and other such books to have all the tools I need at hand, and most importantly,
8. I think I can be a good translator.

This last point was rather critical for me, because I wasn’t sure going in if I had the ability to actually complete a good translation. Honestly, I’m still a bit afraid of the more technical assignments to come. But all in all, I think I have what it takes. This is one of those career paths I’m just going to pursue until I feel like I shouldn’t anymore… nothing like trying.