Automatic translation tool undergoing maintenance

The automatic translation tool is currently undergoing maintance and will be off line for a few days. Meanwhile, you may use:

• the site's French dictionary for looking up individual French words;
• the French language forum, where you may ask questions about the French language or get help with your French homework; for small, informal sentences for non-commercial use, people will often be happy to help you translate your sentence free of charge;
  
• the site's professional translation service for getting documents translated (please note that this is a paid service, whereby your document is translated by professional translators; it is not a free service, and is not available for very short texts).

English-French dictionary update

Today's update focusses primarily on improvements to various entries in the English-French side of the dictionary. The entries to various commonly lookuped up words have been expanded and clarified.

This week on the forum

As usual, we've seen various interesting discussions this week on the French language forum. It's interesting to see how on various occasions, a simple, innocent query about the meaning of a word or phrase can spiral into a discussion of various grammar and vocabulary points.

Some threads not to miss:

• a discussion around expressing obligation in French, which ends up touching on the somewhat quirky behaviour of the French verb obliger, and some aspects of the use of à and de before verbs in French;
• an overview of the curious form l'on in French: a variant of on which occurs under certain circumstances, but not others;
• a look at the French negative with 'de': the general use of the determiner de instead of other indefinite determiners when the entire sentence is negated.

Various entries also centre on choices between sentences produced by machine translation systems. If you use such a system, it's important to understand some of the implications. Among other reading, I'd recommend an article I wrote recently on Machine Translation.

200th forum member

The French forum now counts over 200 members, with discussions ranging from simple homework help to details of French grammar to cultural issues. Thank you to everyone who participating in what are some very interesting and helpful discussions.

French dictionary update

Another small update to the French dictionary today to fix one or two minor typos and add a few more words and phrases. My thanks as usual to those who have written to me to mention typos that they have spotted and to make other suggestions. Your feedback is always welcome.

New translation submission tool

The home page of the French Linguistics translation service now contains a new tool to make it easier to get a quote and submit that document for translation. The tool appears in the top-right of the page under the heading Instant translation quote. Submitting the document is simple: select the "Browse" button next to the File field to select the document that you need translating. Then, indicate which language you wish to have the document translated into, and enter a contact e-mail, before hitting the quote button. An approximate price for translation will then be displayed on screen, and you will be able to decide whether to submit the document for final approval.

It is important to note that at this point you are not committing to anything. Your document will shortly be reviewed and you will be e-mailed with confirmation of the price and proposed delivery time. At this point, any queries about your document may also be raised. For translation to go ahead, you will then be required to reply to the e-mail with confirmation.

Note that the automated quoting tool is currently available for certain document types and target languages only. If you have several documents or if the document type and/or language required isn't supported, please submit your document manually.

Why are these steps necessary? Well, they're essential to getting you the best possible translation. It is impossible for a translator to give a reliable quote and delivery time without having seen the document first, and no reputable translator or translation agency should do so. (As mentioned in a previous post, be very wary of any company that does give a firm price or deadline commitment without having first seen the actual document to be translated: if they underquote on either price or delivery time, they may be forced to cut corners and compromise translation quality in order to meet the commitment.)

New topic: French marketing terms

Those using French for business may be interested in a page of French marketing terms added to the French vocabulary and phrases section of the web site.

Other sections that may be of interest:

• French business glossary
• Names of French business types
• How to write a business letter in French