User Guide
Table of Contents
Abstract
At your service 24/7, SYSTRANet translates your personal files, web pages, and plain text. Within seconds, your translations are displayed in your browser or sent to you by email. SYSTRANet offers over 35 available language combinations, many subject-specific dictionaries, the possibility to create and manage your own personalized dictionaries that help produce high quality translations. It also maintains the original layout of your documents.
1. Translation
1.1. Translating a web page, a file or plain text
The page "New Translation" is the main page of SYSTRANet. Here you choose the document you want to translate, specify its source and target languages, and customize your translation using our specialized dictionaries and/or your own dictionaries.
1.1.1. You want to translate
- 1.1.1.1. A web page
You can translate any web page: just type its URL (Universal Resource Locator). SYSTRANet will fetch the document, and display its translation in your browser. SYSTRANet accepts HTTP and HTTPS.
Example 1. SYSTRANet translates the following type of web pages:
http://www.example.com/
https://www.example.com/
Our free service is limited to 32Kb for HTML. Corporate SYSTRANet translates up to 128Kb.
- 1.1.1.2. A file
You can translate any file without losing its layout. Click on the "Browse" button to browse your computer's content and to select the file you want to translate. SYSTRANet accepts only (plain text), HTML, PDF and RTF files. Proprietary formats such as Microsoft Office documents (Word, Powerpoint...) cannot be translated as such. However you can save these documents as RTF ("File" Menu, item "Save As", select the "RTF" file type) and then translate them with SYSTRANet PDF translation is returned as a plain text file. Your translated file will be available through a "Download" button: left-click on it to view the document in your word processor, or right-click on it and use the "Save target as" option to download it. You can also have the translation sent to you via email.
Our free service is limited to 4Kb for TXT, 32Kb for HTML, 64Kb for RTF. Corporate SYSTRANet translates up to 32Kb for TXT, 128Kb for HTML and RTF.
- 1.1.1.3. Plain text
You can directly type or paste a text in SYSTRANet. The translation will be displayed in your browser as a web page. You can choose the translation layout in the Preferences.
Our free service is limited to 4Kb. Corporate SYSTRANet translates up to 32Kb.
1.1.2. From ... to ...
You choose both the source and target language of your translation (a language pair).
Example 2. Language pairs
To translate an English document into French you choose "English to French".
1.1.3. Dictionaries
Here you can improve the quality of your translations, because you will use adequate entries related to the subject of your document. You will immediately notice the improvements.
- 1.1.3.1. Select your dictionaries
You can choose among SYSTRAN specialized dictionaries (prefixed by [G]) and your own dictionaries (prefixed by [U]). To select multiple dictionaries, press the CTRL key and select the different dictionaries with your mouse.
See also: Creating a dictionary and How to enable and prioritize dictionaries
- 1.1.3.2. Enable quick customization
This box is a shortcut to quickly test dictionary entries without resorting to all the features of the Dictionary manager.
Add entries in the box and check the "Enable" checkbox. Please refer to the User dictionary coding rules for detailed information.
1.2. Preferences
1.2.1. Translation layout
Here you can choose how plain text translations should be displayed in your browser.
- Line by line: for each line you will see the source text and its translation just underneath.
- Side by side: for each side you will see the source text and its translation besides.
- Separated: you will see the source text and then its translation, both being separated.
1.2.2. Dictionaries
Here you can enable or disable the different dictionaries: enabled dictionaries will appear on the "New translation" page; the others will not. You also choose in which order they will be taken into account. Indeed if you choose multiple dictionaries for your translation, an entry might be found in two dictionaries with different meanings and therefore different translations. SYSTRANet will choose the first entry it finds, checking the dictionaries one after the other, in the exact order you specify here (the dictionary on top is the first one that is examined). Note that the "quick customization" entries are always the last ones to be used.
If there is no dictionary in the "enabled dictionaries" list, SYSTRANet will enable all the available dictionaries.
See also: New translation, Creating a dictionary, and the User dictionary coding rules.
Change the random password that was automatically generated in order to have a password you will easily remember.
2. User account
To be able to translate files using SYSTRANet, you must have a SYSTRAN eServices user account. If you already used SYSTRANLinks or another SYSTRAN eService please use the same email address and password. Otherwise you can sign up for free at http://www.systranet.com.
The access to SYSTRANet is protected by your SYSTRAN eServices user account. If you forgot your password it is possible to have your password emailed to you by using the "Password lookup" feature at http://www.systranet.com.
2.1. Signing up
Only registered users can use SYSTRANet and other SYSTRAN eServices. Your account allows you to keep personal information. If you are a new user complete the sign up form, and be sure that your email is correct. You will then receive an email with a random password. This password must be used at least for the first access to SYSTRANet. You will be able to modify this password anytime thereafter. For your convenience, your account will allow you to access any other SYSTRAN eServices with the same email and password.
2.2. Change your password
You can change your password at any time; choose a password you will easily remember. Your password must be between 4 and 8 alphanumeric characters long.
2.3. Change your personal information
You may change the personal information you provided during sign up at any time. SYSTRAN has a strict policy against junk and unsolicited emails, often referred to as spam. Because we block spam, you will be protected from any unwanted email.
2.4. Change your email
You may change the email you provided during sign up at any time. SYSTRAN has a strict policy against junk and unsolicited emails, often referred to as spam. Because we block spam, you will be protected from any unwanted email. Be sure to give us a valid email. You will then receive an email with a random password. This password must be used at least for the first access to SYSTRANet with your new email. You will be able to modify this password afterwards.
2.5. Close your account
You can close your account if you do not wish to use SYSTRANet and the other SYSTRAN eServices anymore. If you change your mind you can sign up again at any time.
3. Dictionary Manager
To lend ease in translation customization, SYSTRANLinks offers a complete Dictionary Manager, thereby providing a means for improving translation results through the formation of multilingual user dictionaries. User dictionaries are user-created collections of subject-specific terms that are analyzed prior to being integrated directly into the translation process.
To adapt translations to specific terminological needs, it is possible to:
Reserve words that should not be translated: DNT entries (Do Not Translate). DNT entries are used to circumvent the translation of company names, proper names, locations, trademarks or any titles or expressions that should not be translated. Create multilingual entries to modify current translations by giving equivalencies or adding new words. You can give a technical equivalent for a general word, define the specific meaning of a word with multiple possible translations, or add words that are not part of SYSTRAN's standard dictionaries (Not Found Word).
3.1. Creating a new dictionary
Creating a new user dictionary is the first step towards translation customization. To create a new dictionary select "New" in the "Dictionary" menu. You will then need to give a name to the dictionary. This name should be chosen to reflect its terminological content. Eventually you will be asked to choose the type of the dictionary, which will depend on how you wish to manage its content:
Mono-target entries: this type of dictionary is appropriate when the terminology for :
- each language is independently managed by different persons. Dictionary content is entered as bilingual entries. For example there is a set of entries for English to French, another for English to Spanish, etc.
- Multi-target entries: this type of dictionary is the recommended one. It is appropriate when the terminology is managed in a more organized and centralized manner. It reduces the required amount of user input as there is a set of entries per source language and not per language pair. For example there is one single set of entries for English to French, Spanish and German instead of one for English to French, another for English to Spanish and yet another for English to German.
A dictionary belongs to one owner and one group. It is readable by every member of the group but it can be modified only by its owner or by the group administrators.
Our free service is limited to 2 dictionaries per user whereas SYSTRANet Corporate has no such limitation.
3.2. Opening a dictionary
If several user dictionaries have been created, you need to "Open" a dictionary in order to view and update its properties and entries. Use the "Dictionary" menu and select the "Open" item. If no dictionary has been opened you will automatically reach this page when trying to use the other elements of the "Dictionary" menu.
3.3. Dictionary properties
Once a user dictionary has been opened, the "Dictionary properties" page can be opened by using the "Dictionary" menu and selecting the "Properties" item. This page sums up the properties of the user dictionary. If you own the dictionary, you will be able to modify these properties and add or modify its content.
The "General information" section contains the following items:
- Name: the name you gave to your dictionary and which describes its content.
- Type: the type of the dictionary which can be either "mono-target" or "multi-target" (see "Creating a new dictionary").
- Owner: the email address of the person who created the dictionary.
- Group: the name of the group that can view and use the dictionary. For all the dictionaries you have created this will be your own private group, the name of
You can change the name, type and group of the dictionary by clicking on the "Modify" icon. You can also delete the dictionary by clicking on the "Delete" icon to remove the user dictionary and all its entries from SYSTRANLinks.
The "Entries" section lists all the different types of entries that are contained in the user dictionary. For multi-target dictionaries the entries are grouped by source language; for mono-target dictionaries the entries are grouped by language pair. For each type of entry the following information is given:
- Type: for a multi-target dictionary it is the name of the source language. For a mono-target dictionary it is the name of the language pair.
- Status: it is "compiled" if the entries have been successfully compiled by SYSTRANLinks and are ready for integration into the translation process.
- Total entries: the total number of entries (both multilingual and DNT entries).
- Multilingual entries: the number of multilingual entries.
- DNT entries: the number of DNT entries.
- Source: by clicking on this icon you will see the entries in text form (even if you uploaded an Excel file).
For each type of entry there is also a "Modify" icon that allows you to view and modify the content. You can also remove the entries from the dictionary by clicking on the "Delete" icon.
3.4. Dictionary entries
You can access this page either by selecting "Entries" in the "Dictionary" menu or by clicking on the "Modify" icon on the "Dictionary properties". First, select the type of entries. The Dictionary Manager will automatically reload the page and display the current content in a text box. You can either modify the entries in the text box, or choose to upload a file with the new content. The former should only be used when there are few entries. The latter is the recommended solution. If both are used only the uploaded file will be taken into account.
There are three possible formats:
- Microsoft Excel file (recommended): the entries must be on the first sheet, with the first line being the list of the two-letter language codes (one column per language, first one being the source). Then there should be one entry per line. For Do Not Translate (DNT) entries, just fill in the first column. For multilingual entries the source entry should be in the first column and its various translations on the same line in the adequate column (depending on the language.
- Plain text: enter one entry per line. Do Not Translate (DNT) entries should be given "as is". For multilingual entries you need to specify the language by adding " <xx> " before the entry which is the two-letter language code. Multilingual entries
- Bilingual plain text: this applies only to entries of mono-target dictionaries. For each bilingual entry, enter "source=target". DNT entries should be given "as is", without their corresponding meaning.
Detailed information on how to code and optimize the dictionary entries is available online in the dictionary coding user guide.
Example 3. Multi-target dictionary - Microsoft Excel format for English to French and Spanish entries
| EN | FR | ES |
|---|---|---|
| "Apple" (proper noun) | ||
| "Virgin Mega Store" (proper noun) | ||
| "NATO" (noun) | "OTAN" (noun) | "OTAN" (noun) |
| "all rights reserved" (sentence) | "tous droits réservés" (sentence) | "derechos reservados" (sentence) |
| "web based" (adjective) | "en ligne" (adjective) | |
| an interface | una interfaz |
Example 4. Multi-target dictionary - Plain text format for English to French and Spanish entries
For the same entries as in the preceding example, here is the corresponding plain text version. Both the Excel source and the plain text version will of course give exactly the same translation results
"Apple" (proper noun)
"Virgin Mega Store" (proper noun)
"NATO" (noun) "OTAN" (noun) "OTAN" (noun)
"all rights reserved" (sentence) "tous droits réservés" (sentence)
"derechos reservados" (sentence)
"web based" (adjective) "en ligne" (adjective)
an interface una interfaz
Example 5. Mono-target dictionary - Microsoft Excel format for English to French entries
| EN | FR |
|---|---|
| "Apple" (proper noun) | |
| "Virgin Mega Store" (proper noun) | |
| "NATO" (noun) | "OTAN" (noun) |
| "all rights reserved" (sentence) | "tous droits réservés" (sentence) |
| "web based" (adjective) | "en ligne" (adjective) |
Example 6. Mono-target dictionary - Plain text format for English to French entries
For the same entries as in the preceding example here is the corresponding plain text version. Both the Excel source and the plain text version will of course give exactly the same translation result.
"Apple" (proper noun)
"Virgin Mega Store" (proper noun)
"NATO" (noun) "OTAN" (noun)
"all rights reserved" (sentence) "tous droits réservés" (sentence)
"web based" (adjective) "en ligne" (adjective)
Example 7. Mono-target dictionary - Bilingual plain text format for English to French entries
For the same entries as in the preceding example here is the corresponding bilingual plain text version. This format is completely equivalent to the other plain text format but can obviously be used only for mono-target dictionaries.
"Apple" (proper noun)
"Virgin Mega Store" (proper noun)
"NATO" (noun) = "OTAN" (noun)
"all rights reserved" (sentence) = "tous droits réservés" (sentence)
"web based" (adjective) = "en ligne" (adjective)
