The oldest technology you ever used in translating? Thread poster: Daryo
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Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:11
Serbian to English
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and how it compares to what's available today.
I started with a mechanical typewriter, and a collection of paper dictionaries.
First piece of "IT hardware": a Sinclair ZX-81 and a dot matrix printer.
There is one term that I found how to translate after going for around 5 hours through several (paper) glossaries and dictionaries; today all you have to do is to ask a search engine the right question and you get the answer in 5 seconds.
Paper g... See more and how it compares to what's available today.
I started with a mechanical typewriter, and a collection of paper dictionaries.
First piece of "IT hardware": a Sinclair ZX-81 and a dot matrix printer.
There is one term that I found how to translate after going for around 5 hours through several (paper) glossaries and dictionaries; today all you have to do is to ask a search engine the right question and you get the answer in 5 seconds.
Paper glossary:0 Web:1
I found the unusual meaning of a quite common term when used in a very specific context in a paper glossary in less then a minute; the last few years, just out of curiosity, I check from time to time if you can find on the Web this term as used in this specific context. Nope, zilch,nada! Whichever way you try, you won't find it.
Paper glossary:1 Web:0 ▲ Collapse
| | | | Adieu 
Ukrainian to English
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I used to like to type in plaintext.
I'd just shrink the window to several lines wide to declutter and see my source document.
Yeah, I'm a younger generation. Never had a typewriter. My first PC was a used 286 with Windows 3.1 in like 3rd grade.
[Edited at 2021-07-23 17:47 GMT]
| | | | Paul Dixon
Brazil
Local time: 19:11
Portuguese to English
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The oldest technology is my brain, 61 years old. I prefer my BAT (Brain Assisted Translation) tool.
Oh, I also had a ZX81 but was not translating then.
I still remember the noise of the cassette when loading a file (ssssshhh wshhhhhs woosssssshh woom woom...) and the burning smell from the printer. The printout was on a small silver paper roll.
| | | | | A typewriter | Jul 24, 2021 |
… was the only tool of the trade when I started translating professionally in the early 1980s. I used to write my first draft by hand, and then type it up very carefully on a manual typewriter. Those were the days when correcting the slightest mistake seemed like an almost insuperable task: re-typing all over again (before the age of the correction tape and the correcting fluid). Still remember the day I bought an IBM electric typewriter (a Selectric) with all those special type balls. What a ... See more … was the only tool of the trade when I started translating professionally in the early 1980s. I used to write my first draft by hand, and then type it up very carefully on a manual typewriter. Those were the days when correcting the slightest mistake seemed like an almost insuperable task: re-typing all over again (before the age of the correction tape and the correcting fluid). Still remember the day I bought an IBM electric typewriter (a Selectric) with all those special type balls. What a change we “oldies” have witnessed… and enjoyed! ▲ Collapse
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Steve Robbie
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:11
Member (2017)
German to English
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| In this career, a dictionary, but... | Jul 24, 2021 |
I've been translating only since 2012, so in this career I'm pretty much an internet native. Once in a while a consult a paper dictionary, usually when a common word occurs with an uncommon meaning.
In my first career (accountancy/auditing), I remember writing out working papers in pencil by hand, and transcribing figures onto an actual spreadsheet - that is, a piece of A3 paper divided into countless columns. After a year, they gave us all laptops and this kind of thing stopped.... See more I've been translating only since 2012, so in this career I'm pretty much an internet native. Once in a while a consult a paper dictionary, usually when a common word occurs with an uncommon meaning.
In my first career (accountancy/auditing), I remember writing out working papers in pencil by hand, and transcribing figures onto an actual spreadsheet - that is, a piece of A3 paper divided into countless columns. After a year, they gave us all laptops and this kind of thing stopped.
One extraordinary client still kept a handwritten general ledger for a business with turnover of £3 million a year. In the 1990s, that seemed like a relic of the Stone Age. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Jorge Payan
Colombia
Local time: 17:11
Member (2002)
German to Spanish
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| Pentium 4 based desktop PC.... | Jul 24, 2021 |
...Windows XP, 14" CRT monitor, Wordfast 3.35x and Trados 5.5, ...
Yes, the ZX81 was my first computer (not for translation, of course). I still keep it in working order.
| | | | Daryo
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:11
Serbian to English
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TOPIC STARTER | I like that one! | Jul 27, 2021 |
**BAT (Brain Assisted Translation)**
Still the #1 tool! But seems to be neglected or even going out of fashion ...
New technologies are really a huge improvement, but need to be handled with great caution.
Otherwise you can easily end up with the linguistic equivalent of blindly following your GPS and driving a huge lorry in a muddy country lane or walking in a fog straight over a cliff edge.
I did use the ZX81 for translating, although at fi... See more **BAT (Brain Assisted Translation)**
Still the #1 tool! But seems to be neglected or even going out of fashion ...
New technologies are really a huge improvement, but need to be handled with great caution.
Otherwise you can easily end up with the linguistic equivalent of blindly following your GPS and driving a huge lorry in a muddy country lane or walking in a fog straight over a cliff edge.
I did use the ZX81 for translating, although at first it was just a rare novelty toy. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:11
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Pen and paper | Jul 27, 2021 |
Pen and paper- I can't think of any technology that's older than that.
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Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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Scribbling on walls, cave or otherwise, with other rocks or dirt
Tom in London wrote:
Pen and paper- I can't think of any technology that's older than that.
| | | | Tom in London
United Kingdom
Local time: 23:11
Member (2008)
Italian to English
| Not for translating | Jul 27, 2021 |
Adieu wrote: Scribbling on walls, cave or otherwise, with other rocks or dirt Tom in London wrote:
Pen and paper- I can't think of any technology that's older than that.
Of course there is older technology than pen and paper - but not for translating; have you done any translation by scribbling on walls?
[Edited at 2021-07-27 13:40 GMT]
| | | | Adieu
Ukrainian to English
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| Aren't you forgetting something iconic? | Jul 27, 2021 |
Rosetta Stone (the boulder, not the app)
Tom in London wrote: Adieu wrote: Scribbling on walls, cave or otherwise, with other rocks or dirt Tom in London wrote:
Pen and paper- I can't think of any technology that's older than that. Of course there is older technology than pen and paper - but not for translating; have you done any translation by scribbling on walls? [Edited at 2021-07-27 13:40 GMT]
| | | | P.L.F. Persio
Netherlands
Local time: 00:11
Member (2010)
English to Italian
+ ...
Tom in London wrote: Adieu wrote: Scribbling on walls, cave or otherwise, with other rocks or dirt Tom in London wrote:
Pen and paper- I can't think of any technology that's older than that. Of course there is older technology than pen and paper - but not for translating; have you done any translation by scribbling on walls? [Edited at 2021-07-27 13:40 GMT]
I sense a Four Yorkshiremen-style tale coming: Scribbling with rocks or dirt? You were lucky! I used to bite off the top of my fingers from one hand and write with my blood, while fighting sabre-toothed tigers with the other! And you try and tell the young people of today that ... they won't believe you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHFZBUTA4k
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| A cardboard box | Jul 28, 2021 |
I used it take all my notes and books to the examination centre in Barcelona to take the Institute of Linguists exam.
| | | | Heinrich Pesch
Finland
Local time: 01:11
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
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| Paper and ball-point-pen | Jul 28, 2021 |
Back in 1975 a friend asked me to translate something pulp-mill related, some 4 pages. I wrote my translation on paper and never heard about it later. The first paid translation I did in 1992 on my Atari-ST and a 24-matrix printer The subject was waste dump sites.
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 00:11
Spanish to English
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Turn-of-the-century Systran. I had a copy on CD. Early in the 21st century they upgraded it and I found the new version less user-friendly, so stopped using it.
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