LOCALIZATION UTILITIES

Ad-aware Lavasoft Ad-aware is a free multi-spyware removal utility that scans your computer's memory, registry, and hard drives for known spyware and scumware components and lets you remove them safely. Not a localization utility per se, Ad-aware is highly recommended for anyone who spends an appreciable amount of time on line. Be sure to download RefUpdate as well: RefUpdate is a freeware add-on that searches for and installs Ad-aware spyware reference file updates. Do you have ideas/suggestions for this page? If so, please let me know!
Alchemy CATALYST QuickShip Alchemy CATALYST QuickShip Environment is a freeware translation companion to the Alchemy CATALYST Developer/Pro Edition (arguably THE industry-standard software localization tool). Quickship allows translators to work with CATALYST toolkits (TTKs), and provides visual editors and interactive validators to ensure that the translation process is fast, smooth, and error-free.  
The American Translators Association The American Translators Association website contains information about the translation profession, ATA accreditation, ATA chapters and local groups, etc.  
aquarius.net Aquarius.net is a European portal for freelancer translators, translation agencies, and those in need of their services.

  
CAT (Computer-Aided Translation) & TM) Translation Memory Tools
  • Cypresoft Trans Suite 2000
  • Déjà vu
  • Lionbridge Foreign Desk (open source)
  • SDL International SDLX Translation Suite
  • STAR Transit
  • Trados Translator's Workbench (not that you need to visit the website...)
  • Wordfast

    For a more exhaustive list of CAT/TM tools, with links to download demo/trial versions, visit The Translator's Home Companion Tools Garage.
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    Copernic Agent Professional Copernic Agent Pro is a great search tool for Web power users.

  • More than 1000 search engines in 120 specialized and language or and country-based categories.
  • From a single query, consult multiple search engines at once, combine results, remove duplicates and keep only the very best of the information gathered from queried search engines.
  • Create your own customized search categories using available engines. Mix categories and engines to create your perfectly targeted search categories and create a list of favorite categories for quick access.
  • Integrates seamlessly with Internet Explorer and MS Office by adding a toolbar that allows you to access a search query box directly within these programs. The IE toolbar also includes keyword highlighting and seeking functions within browsed pages, and even a "Track this Page" shortcut.
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    Dr. International's Developing International Software, 2nd Ed. (Microsoft Press) The long-awaited update to Nadine Kano's 1995 reference work is slated for October release. Designed for anyone who wants to write world-ready code for the Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP platforms, Developing International Software explains how to localize applications easily and inexpensively, determine important culture-specific issues, avoid international pitfalls and legal issues, use the best technologies and coding practices, and more. Updated and new topics include: Globalization; Localizability; Localization and Testing; and Tools and Technologies. Highly recommended for those working in software internationalization and/or localization.  
    Eurodicautom The European Terminology Database.  
    The Eurotexte Portal for Professional Translators A good centralized source for terminology, international news, multilingual dictionaries, meta search engines, etc.  
    Foreignword.com Foreignword.com is a lexical portal that provides access to over 200 online dictionaries (in 69 languages) and over 4,000 glossaries grouped by domain and language.  
    Help Decompilers WinHelp

  • HELPDECO v2.1

    HELPDECO is a free command-line Help file decompiler and internal file extractor. Note: unless you are proficient with and comfortable using command-line utilities, I'd recommend that you download and use the Help Compiler Shell to run HELPDECO (see below). If you don't know what a command-line utility is, then you should DEFINITELY download and use the Help Compiler Shell!

    Help Decompiler Shell

    Help Decompiler Shell is a "point-and-shoot" GUI for HELPDECO. The company that produces this software has suspended operations pending sale or transfer of assets. However, you may still download and use Help Decompiler Shell indefinitely in its free trial form.

    Together, HELPDECO and the Help Decompiler Shell allow you complete access to the internals of Windows RTF-based HLP files, permitting complete decompilation to fully-recompilable source code, including RTF-formatted text and all included bitmaps, or extraction of specific files or data contained within a help file.
    • HTML Help

  • KeyTools

    KeyTools extracts the source files from a compiled HTML Help (.chm) or compiled Internet Explorer (.its) file. You can also use KeyTools to recreate a project file (.hhp file) or recompile a help system. Like HELPDECO and the Help Decompiler Shell, KeyTools is free.
    • For additional info on free Help authoring, manual and documentation writing tools, visit thefreecountry.com.     		 
    IBM developerWorks Glossary of Unicode Terms A glossary developed by IBM international software researchers to help define the key issues associated with software internationalization. Click here to view the glossary in PDF format (right-click to download).  
    IconForge Use IconForge to create or change icons, cursors, animated cursors, and icon libraries for Windows. Optimized for editing small images, you will find a full set of painting tools at your disposal. You can import from and export to a variety of other image, icon, and animation types, so you can take advantage of work that you've already created or scanned from other sources. IconForge is also an excellent tool for other graphics, such as producing bookmark/favorites icons for a web site, repeating tiles for wallpaper backgrounds, animated GIF bullets to make listings stand out, or cursors for various projects. IconForge is commercial software ($37.95).  
    Infosource KSU offers students, faculty, and staff free web-based training on Microsoft Office 2000 software, namely Word, Access (including relational database design), Excel, and PowerPoint, as well as Infocheck, which enables you to test your knowledge of a particular program at different levels. No login is necessary on campus. However, you will need to configure your browser to use the KSU web proxy server if you want to access Infosource off campus. (The proxy server validates you as a legitimate University user and allows you to connect to restricted KSU online resources such as Infosource, KentLink and OhioLink research databases.) Click here for instructions on how to configure your particular browser to use the KSU web proxy server. After making the necessary changes, point your browser to http://infosource.kent.edu and log on to Infosource using your Kent username and password.  
    ISO 639 Language Codes ISO 639 is an alpha-2 (two-letter) code used for the representation of names of languages. Originally devised by ISO (The Organization for International Standardization) for use in terminology, lexicography, and linguistics, ISO 639 is widely used today used for software and website applications that require language expression in two-letter coded form.  
    LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association) Consisting of over 200 corporate clients and their globalization solutions partners—the LISA provides best practices, business guidelines and multi-lingual information management standards for making enterprise globalization become a reality!  
    Microsoft Global Development and Computing Portal A very good resource of software internationalization information.  
    Microsoft HTML Help Workshop 1.3 v4.71.1015.0 HTML Help Workshop is part of the MS Office Resource Kit, and can be used to author and/or localize HTML Help topics. MS HTML Help Workshop also allows you to integrate those topics with the Microsoft Office XP Help system, or combine them with custom Answer Wizard databases to create a complete assistance solution. Also included in the Office Resource Kit are two cascading style sheets that you can use to build your own custom Help topics using Microsoft styles. The style sheets, Office10.css and Startpag.css, must be used with Internet Explorer 4.0 or later. HTML Help Workshop is freeware.  
    MSDN (Microsoft Developers Network) Glossaries of Translated User Interface Terms Available free of charge from the Microsoft FTP site, the MSDN user interface (UI) terminology glossaries provide an invaluable shortcut, and are an indispensable part of any efficient localization process. Glossaries are contained in separate .ZIP files, identified by language/country name, and are comma-delimited ANSI files that you can open in MS Excel. The compressed files cover various Microsoft applications and systems, not just the simple subset found in the Microsoft GUI Guide. (See the Index.txt file in your language's ZIP archive for a detailed list of included applications.) NOTE: If you have trouble downloading the glossaries using ftp through your browser, try using a separate FTP application.  
    Microsoft ASP.NET Web Matrix Project ASP.NET Web Matrix is a community-supported, easy-to-use WYSIWYG application development tool for ASP.NET, and is absolutely free! NB: ASP.NET Matrix requires the MS .NET framework. Click here to download the .NET Framework Redistributable (languages supported as of 30 Aug. 2002: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish). If you're new to ASP, take the ASP.NET Web Matrix Project Guided Tour.  
    MultiLingual Computing & Technology MultiLingual Computing & Technology is a monthly magazine for language industry professionals and covers topics related to—you guessed it!— multilingual computing and technology.  
    OSCAR/TMX (Translation Memory eXchange) The purpose of TMX is to facilitate TM data exchange between tools and/or translation vendors with little or no loss of critical TM data. OSCAR (Open Standards for Container/Content Allowing Re-use) is the LISA Special Interest Group responsible for its definition. Visit LISA's TMX pages to learn more about TMX tools and implementation.  
    PopupEliminator PopupEliminator blocks all annoying pop-up/pop-under advertisements and prevents them from leaving cookies on your system. The program works without any user intervention, sitting in the taskbar quietly until it detects that a popup is about to be spawned from a window. It then intercepts the window call and discards it. PopupEliminator is shareware, but if you're a heavy web user, you'll find that the time savings—and irritation avoidance—justify the cost ($30).  
    Resource Hacker Resource Hacker is a small but robust freeware utility for viewing, modifying, renaming, adding, deleting, and extracting resources in compiled 32-bit Windows executables and resource files. It incorporates an internal resource script compiler and decompiler and works on Win95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP operating systems. Note: Resource Hacker is particularly useful for localizing compiled Delphi resource files that Alchemy CATALYST cannot "see."  
    Resource Hunter Resource Hunter is a Windows executable resource explorer. Use Resource Hunter to scan your computer and extract all bitmap, icon, cursor, JPEG/GIF/PNG image and AVI/WAV/MIDI media resources inside the programs/DLL files of your choice, and save them as regular image/media files. Resource Hunter is shareware ($29.95).  
    RoboHelp Office X4 RoboHelp is the top-selling Help authoring software suite for Windows and Web-based applications.
  • Creates WebHelp, the standard for browser-based Help, as well as all other popular Help formats such as MS HTML Help, WinHelp, and more.
  • Supports Help deployment in 11 different languages.
  • The industry standard in Help authoring used by more developers and technical writers worldwide than any other Help development tool.
    • RoboHelp Office is commercial software (approx. $1000 for a new user license.) Click here to download a 15-day trial version.     		 
    SnagIt SnagIt is a multimedia Windows screen capture utility that makes it easy to:
  • Capture an exact copy of anything that appears on your screen.
  • Apply edits and annotation.
  • Send the screenshot directly to the printer, a file, an e-mail, or the Web.
  • Integrate product shots into software documentation.
  • Enhance presentations with graphics.
  • Send exact copies of error messages to tech support.
  • Create easy-to-understand training material.
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    The Translator's Home Companion The Translator's Home Companion bills itself as "the single most useful source of information for the professional translator and those in need of translation services." I have yet to find a site that can undermine this claim.  
    UltraEdit 32 UltraEdit 32 is a 32-bit Text/HEX/HTML/programmer's editing tool for power users. UltraEdit 32's features include:
  • Multi-level undo/redo of cut, copy or paste; Find Next/ Previous; Replace Next/Previous/All; etc.
  • Find-in-files/Replace-in-files support for all open files and projects
  • Highlighted syntax - pre-configured for C/C++, VB, HTML, Java, and Perl (configurable)
  • 100,000 word spell checker supports American English, British English, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Swedish
  • Built-in FTP client provides access to FTP servers with multiple account settings and automatic logon/Save (use UltraEdit to manage your web site)
  • French, German, and Spanish localized versions available
  • Project/Workspace support
  • UNICODE support
    • A 45-day demo version can be downloaded free of charge; product registration costs $30.00.