CAT tools and layout

CAT tools such as Trados or  DejaVu etc. allow translators to gain in productivity and quality, that is for sure! However, when you upload a quite complicated Word file into Trados, such as one containing links to tables or graphics for example, things are not as simple as we can imagine! Indeed, when translated, the Word file does not contain any links to anything anymore... Then, you have to make it back manually... Improve productivity, fine!... but as long as original layout is kept, that would be better ! CAT tools can still be improved...

English lesson with Berlitz

Just a little ad from a Berlitz campain, so funny.
Téléchargement Berlitz.wmv

I have to go to Chicago !!!!

Today from Reuters

CHICAGO (Reuters) - BlackBerry addicts have a crack at freedom when they check into one Chicago hotel: the manager will put the communications devices and others like them under lock and key for guests who want a break.

Rick Ueno, general manager of the Sheraton Chicago Hotel, said the program which began on Wednesday grew out of his own personal BlackBerry addiction. His one-step recovery was switching to a regular cell phone.

"I was really addicted to my BlackBerry. I had an obsession with e-mail," he told Reuters. "Morning and night. There came a time when I didn't think it was healthy ... I quit cold turkey."

He believes guests might want to try the same thing for a day or two anyway, so they can concentrate on meetings, business and socializing while at the hotel.

Ueno said he would take personal charge of any BlackBerrys or related devices guests want to surrender and place them in his office locked up until their return is requested. There is no charge.

"I run a hotel with over 900 employees and thousands of guests. I think I'm more effective. I feel better. I sleep better. My family likes it," he said of his post-BlackBerry life.

The popular hand-held devices, sometimes called "CrackBerries" because users become so reliant on them, are made by Canadian-based Research In Motion Ltd..

A new press article

What a surprise ! By reading "Réussir en Essonne", the magazine of the "Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie de l'Essonne", we discover that Valérie Le Boudec has written an article about Primoscrib !
Thank you for this attention and let's hope this will boost again our business.

Download article02_russir_en_essonne_mai2006.pdf

Always & ever impressed...

Indeed, even if everybody knows now that with Internet, there is no frontier anymore, that anybody can reach anybody anywhere, I am still impressed when you talk through Internet with people connected on the other side of the planet ! A few examples : we have been contacted by a law firm in Mexico, a worldwide distribution group based in Iran, a small company in Mayotte etc. They all have (of course !) translation needs and contact us for establishing business with us. Making business worldwide is no longer a problem : if you have the right tools, the good price & quality, just make it !

back to Marley...

indeed ! After having submitted the different translations into English, Spanish & Italian, we finally got the confirmation of Hawk that the tests we have made, had been validated by the company ! Thanks again to the translators who have made the tests and particularly to the ones, whose tests have been accepted. We will not only translate their website but also their newsletters and some other commercial supports.

Look for Japanese/Italian interpreter...

Today, I got a phone call of a customer, who is looking for a Japanese/Italian interpreter ! I am not kidding, that is true ! But at Primoscrib, the word 'impossible' does not exist and (I have to admit !) after a couple of phone calls, e-mail etc. I finally found the "perle rare" : a Japanese/Italian interpreter...in Italy, of course ;-)  Let's now cross fingers that the customer will sign the quote... !

Hey Marley, u ok?

We are not only a translation agency but we are also close to urban life ;-) No, I am kidding ! We have been asked to make translation tests for HAWK-CITY.COM  : they are refreshing their website and want to add an English, Spanish & Italian version. Big challenge for us ! We have to find translators, who know urban language & skating vocabulary as the target audience is young people between 12 and 16 year old. But we made it ! We are now waiting for customers' approval and see if we have won the RFQ ! Yeah !

Nabaztag, the Wi-Fi rabbit

Today we have hired a new employee, Nabaztouille. It's a qualified translator in "rabbit" language ... He knows how to connect to internet, to talk, to play music and also give you the weather forecast, and more to discover on the Nabaztag web site. I have just some doubts about how to adress customer with  this new rabbit translation offer.

Seriously, I would like to thank Violet , an innovating young french firm, which created the first Wi-Fi rabbit.

Good luck and long way to the Smart Object Company.

netizen or "how to blog on paper"

It is on sale ! The paper version of the well-known blog netizen is now available. Do not wait any longer and go and buy it  : quite tough, coloured, easy to read, content to discover asap to see if the paper version is as good as the Web one ;-) I leave you make your own opinion.

Small detail before going on WE : Sylvain & I were invited to the party the day before the magazine was launched. Happy to be part of that event, we unfortunately never reached Paris as our RER had to stop cause of an accident, snif... Nevermind ;-) !!