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english is touted as the international language of business. Why bother learning one of those nonessential languages that the rest of the world speaks? The problem is that more and more business is being conducted across national borders and an increasing number of non-Anglophone languages are appearing online. If you want to attract international customers, it helps if you can present your services or products in a variety of languages. Furthermore, if you are conducting business in Croatia or China, for example, it helps if written communication, at the very least, can be handled in each person's native tongue.
The normal route when confronted with multilingual content needs is to hire a translator. But, if you're a small or mediumsized company, custom translation might be outside your budget. What you need is a simple, efficient, adaptable translation tool that can do the bulk of the work for you, which is where Systran comes in.
Systran grew out of a joint IBM-Georgetown project in 1968. Currently headquartered in San Diego and Paris, the company's first client was the U.S. Air Force, which needed a Russian/English translation tool. Systran still works with the U.S. Intelligence Community to develop customized translation applications, but the company also had the foresight to adapt its translation applications for a larger public. Systran now offers something for everyone-businesses, institutions, and individuals alike, even offering a free Web-based translation tool at its Web site.
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Systran offers two ways to load its product-the traditional CD-ROM route or via electronic download. I opted for the latter and was pleased with how simple it was. There was no unzipping involved, just a few clicks, a registration code to enter, and I was ready to go. I had a .PDF version of the quick guide on hand and access to a more complete user guide online.
Systran Professional Premium is a multifaceted application that manages to hide all its complexity behind toolbar buttons and desktop shortcuts. Once installed, I clicked on the Systran Translation Product Manager (STPM) shortcut thinking this was the only way to access the program, but I was wrong. Systran developed plug-ins for all the most commonly used applications, including the Microsoft Office suite, Explorer, and Outlook, making translation...