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creating an effective glossary- help needed
Thread poster: Luke Mersh
Meta Arkadia
Meta Arkadia
Local time: 19:27
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Mine is smaller than yours Oct 20, 2014

Michael Beijer wrote:
Relational databases are cool, but you would need to learn SQL

The trouble is, the larger your resource, the bigger the need to refine your search results. SQL lets you do that. A huge database (in any format) is a pain in the lower back, and so is learning SQL. The good news is that you don't need to learn all of SQL, and more good news comes from the DejaVu users who have been using SQL queries that suit our purpose since late last century, so a lot of queries are readily available. Rather than learning Perl, awk, and sed, I'd go for SQL. Besides, wouldn't you agree that the ideal file format for a database is a err, database format?

Cheers,

Hans


 
Luke Mersh
Luke Mersh  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:27
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
glossaries Oct 20, 2014

Thank you for all your suggestions.
I will try Rons editor.
I hope this will help me organize my glossary when I create it , as I get fed up just typing in terms without having any structure/


 
Luke Mersh
Luke Mersh  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:27
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
glossaries Oct 20, 2014

As I am only a student, can anybody recommend and free software that I can use for my glossaries?
As those you have suggested I need to purchase and I am only starting out here.


 
Jennifer Levey
Jennifer Levey  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 09:27
Spanish to English
+ ...
It's not a telephone directory, is it? Oct 20, 2014

luke mersh wrote:
As I said .
I find it boring and daunting looking through an A to Z of terminology.


I might say that about a telephone directory, but never about a well-constructed glossary - even if it's sorted A to Z In any case, from my own experience (40+ years as a translator, and counting...), I can assure you at least 75% of all gainful employment is utterly boring. That's something you'll need to get used to...

luke mersh wrote:
My aim is to make it easy for me to use.


Sure - but to make it easy tomorrow, you have to put in some (actually, a lot of of) effort today.

luke mersh wrote:
so if I have an A to Z of Illnesses , I would like to say I need to know what its symptoms and treatments are for that particular illness and select it so that it brings up related info about it.


If you have (or can learn) some basic skills in Excel, you could do that using your own data.*

And if you used a relational database, it would be even easier (once you've got past the steepest part of the learning curve...) and much more flexible. I mentioned in a previous post that one of the advantages of a relational database is that its easy to update things like lists of medical fields. Another big advantage is the ease with which you can create different 'views' of the mass of data held in the system, allowing you to focus on symptoms, treatments, after-care, or anything else you need.

I suggest, however, that before you go much further you need to think about how you are going to exploit your data in 'real life' circumstances; regardless of whether it is stored in a database, in Excel - or on scraps of paper.

A translator working at home in his pyjamas at three o'clock in the morning might want a glossary which interacts directly with a CAT tool. But you are about to qualify as an interpreter specialising in medical matters, not as a translator. So, how do you intend to use your glossary in support of your future interpretation assignments? If you're attending a life-threatening medical emergency in down-town Madrid at three o'clock in the morning, and you get 'stuck' because you can't remember what an xyz is called in Spanish, you really don't have time to run to your office and boot up your lap-top to search for the answer, do you?

The 'art' of glossary building is not in compiling masses of data (that's easy - just ask Michael Beijer!), nor even how to structure it; the 'art' is in making sure you can extract the most pertinent data at a moment's notice, and incorporate it into your workflow. And, in contrast to a translator, your work will flow in real time.

HTH

------
* That said, the last time I wanted to do something similar I just asked Google and I got half-a-dozen pages of relevant information - and I didn't have to collect and collate it it advance, nor bother about keeping it up-to-date. Re-inventing wheels went out of fashion several millenia ago...


 
Meta Arkadia
Meta Arkadia
Local time: 19:27
English to Indonesian
+ ...
Lucky you Oct 20, 2014

luke mersh wrote:
As I am only a student, can anybody recommend and free software that I can use for my glossaries?

There are lots of database systems that are "free" (as in "free beer"). MS Access isn't one of them, but it may already be part of your Office Suite. It has its limitations, but it's probably easier to use than most. OpenOffice/LibreOffice offer a database app as well in their office suites, free. And then there are MySQL, SQLite, H2, Sequel, and a bunch of other ones, all for free. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
A nice introduction to SQL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

Cheers,

Hans


 
Kay Denney
Kay Denney  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 13:27
French to English
Word or OpenOffice Oct 20, 2014

I use Word not Excel.

Excel is excellent for accounting, but Word is excellent for Wordsmiths. It has a spell-checker and sorts elements in a table into alphabetical order for you. You can use colour-coding to make certain things stand out, for example if a particular client insists on a particular word even though you have told them that the industry standard is something else.

You can download OpenOffice for free if you can't afford Word, I'm pretty sure you can do a
... See more
I use Word not Excel.

Excel is excellent for accounting, but Word is excellent for Wordsmiths. It has a spell-checker and sorts elements in a table into alphabetical order for you. You can use colour-coding to make certain things stand out, for example if a particular client insists on a particular word even though you have told them that the industry standard is something else.

You can download OpenOffice for free if you can't afford Word, I'm pretty sure you can do anything in it that you can do in Word.

and you don't have to browse all the way through A-Z lists, search functions make things quicker and easier for you.

Unless perhaps (like me in 2011) you have to take your exam in 19th century conditions with a paper glossary, pencil and eraser?
Collapse


 
Luke Mersh
Luke Mersh  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:27
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
glossaries Oct 20, 2014

Thank you for all this helpful info.
I have word 2003.

I thought a good suggestion was to make a list of body organs and their respective symptoms & treatments, etc


 
Luke Mersh
Luke Mersh  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:27
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
glossaries Oct 22, 2014

Robin Levey wrote:

luke mersh wrote:
As I said .
I find it boring and daunting looking through an A to Z of terminology.


I might say that about a telephone directory, but never about a well-constructed glossary - even if it's sorted A to Z In any case, from my own experience (40+ years as a translator, and counting...), I can assure you at least 75% of all gainful employment is utterly boring. That's something you'll need to get used to...

luke mersh wrote:
My aim is to make it easy for me to use.


Sure - but to make it easy tomorrow, you have to put in some (actually, a lot of of) effort today.

luke mersh wrote:
so if I have an A to Z of Illnesses , I would like to say I need to know what its symptoms and treatments are for that particular illness and select it so that it brings up related info about it.


If you have (or can learn) some basic skills in Excel, you could do that using your own data.*

And if you used a relational database, it would be even easier (once you've got past the steepest part of the learning curve...) and much more flexible. I mentioned in a previous post that one of the advantages of a relational database is that its easy to update things like lists of medical fields. Another big advantage is the ease with which you can create different 'views' of the mass of data held in the system, allowing you to focus on symptoms, treatments, after-care, or anything else you need.

I suggest, however, that before you go much further you need to think about how you are going to exploit your data in 'real life' circumstances; regardless of whether it is stored in a database, in Excel - or on scraps of paper.

A translator working at home in his pyjamas at three o'clock in the morning might want a glossary which interacts directly with a CAT tool. But you are about to qualify as an interpreter specialising in medical matters, not as a translator. So, how do you intend to use your glossary in support of your future interpretation assignments? If you're attending a life-threatening medical emergency in down-town Madrid at three o'clock in the morning, and you get 'stuck' because you can't remember what an xyz is called in Spanish, you really don't have time to run to your office and boot up your lap-top to search for the answer, do you?

The 'art' of glossary building is not in compiling masses of data (that's easy - just ask Michael Beijer!), nor even how to structure it; the 'art' is in making sure you can extract the most pertinent data at a moment's notice, and incorporate it into your workflow. And, in contrast to a translator, your work will flow in real time.

HTH

------
* That said, the last time I wanted to do something similar I just asked Google and I got half-a-dozen pages of relevant information - and I didn't have to collect and collate it it advance, nor bother about keeping it up-to-date. Re-inventing wheels went out of fashion several millenia ago...



Google....
Google is not a very good translator.
To be able to use google requires internet access,same on your phone, but what happens if you are in an area without internet???

My point about a relational data ,same in a little black book, is that you go to translate for a client, and after a few minutes of talking about symptoms I could check to lookup say procedures or other info related to the symptoms that I may need to know, where as an A to Z I think would be a little more difficult, because you would have to go back and fourth looking for the right thing.


 
Luke Mersh
Luke Mersh  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 12:27
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
glossaries Oct 26, 2014

I have just paid for 2 webinars for Terminology for medicine & Healthcare.
Levels 1 & 2.
I believe that levels 3 & 4 are beyond what my DPSI exam requires.
But these webinars will help me build and organize my glossaries in a more correct and professional way.

many thanks to Claudia Brauer.


 
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