Need Translation Help - Don't Forget the Forums

By: Clint Tustison
Submitted: 2007-01-17 11:30:32
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Spanish-English translators have a great tool in the Internet. Research and collaboration with other translators that previously took days and months can be had in a matter of minutes.

Instead of translators having to search through countless paper dictionaries or call numerous colleuges over the phone to find an unknown or unclear definition, they can simply boot up their computers and search the Internet to find an adequate definition.

One of the hard things about the Internet, though, is that there literally hundreds of millions of websites with more and more being added every day. With so many web pages available, it can be extremely difficult to find the information you are looking for. Because of that, the best thing for translators to do is put together a list of websites helpful to them.

Bilingual government pages, online dictionaries, and themed glossaries are some of the websites you should have on that list. In addition to these, however, you should make sure to include Spanish English forums. These forums can be a treasure-trove of information that can be invaluable to your translation work.

At these Spanish-English translation websites, you can post any questions you have regarding a translation you are working on and someone will inevitably get back to you within a pretty short time. The reason is because many translators frequent these forums and are interested in helping other translators.

However, these forums are not just places where you should visit and ask questions without answering anybody else's. After getting your question answered, you should be sure to give back and help out others who have questions to ask. The great thing about the Internet is that people can help each other while making a winning situation for both sides.

So now that you're aware of how these Spanish-English translation can help translators, the next step is finding the best ones among the hundreds of millions of web pages online.

Well, during my time as a translator, I've run across a couple of forum websites that are excellent resources for translators.

1) forum.wordreference.com: This is probably the most active Spanish-English translation forum on the Internet (and it's got more than just Spanish and English issues). It's a great place to go if you need help with any aspect of language. Those who frequent the forums located here are more than willing to offer advice and help so be prepared to receive more than a single answer to your question. If you've got something you're working on and you need help, make sure you search their archives first because there is a good chance it's already been answered.

2)spanish.about.com/mpboards.htm: This is a decent forum that receives a good amount of visitors, even though not nearly as much as wordreferece.org. Because not as many people use the forums here, it might take a little while longer to get your question answered, but the answers are usually good so it is a good place to post if you can't find the answer anywhere else.

There are many other great forums available for both learning Spanish and getting help on translations. Whether you visit the two mentioned above or find your own, these forums are a great resource for translators and a great way to get answers to questions that you might run into during your work.

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