ProZ.com Newsletter: April 2006

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The Translation Workplace Jobs | Kudoz | Go to site --------------------- ProZ.com Newsletter --------------------- Your ProZ.com username: (See bottom for more details related to your ProZ.com account) Promote yourself - become a member! Join now: http://www.proz.com/join (1) Announcing Wikiwords! (2) Early bird now for conferences in Buenos Aires and Berlin (3) ProZ.com - the leading translator portal, bar none (4) Release news: Directory and KudoZ (5) ProZ.com localized into German, Romanian and Spanish (6) The Edinburgh Stammtisch (7) Wordfast available with membership in a group buying sale (8) Check out your new profile! (9) Translators4Kids (T4K) book project takes off (10) Upcoming powwows ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1) Announcing Wikiwords! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yesterday, ProZ.com announced Wikiwords, a project to create a comprehensive and open dictionary of all terms in all languages. The initial response has been dramatic. At this point, comments on the approach, suggestions on licensing terms, and any other feedback (however harsh) will be appreciated. All those interested in playing a part (terminologists, project managers, developers, designers), are invited to express interest via the website. A warning: our immediate focus is on the mechanisms, and we are not concerning ourselves with content--or quality--just yet. Terms and translations contributed now are likely to get wiped out at the end of the beta testing period. Wikiwords - all terms, all languages, built by you. Let's get started! Wikiwords: http://www.wikiwords.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (2) Early bird now for conferences in Buenos Aires and Berlin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now is the time to register (early-bird) for two ProZ.com conferences: one in Buenos Aires (the big one), and one in Berlin (a regional one). Buenos Aires 2006, ProZ.com's fourth "international conference" will be held August 25-27. The lineup of speakers, the location and the timing--coinciding with our community's ProZ.com's seventh birthday--make this truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. If you live in Argentina, this conference is mandatory. If you don't, trust us - you won't regret making the trip to this special place. Early-bird registration for Buenos Aires closes in nine days. Now is the time to check your calendar and make arrangements for an unforgettable trip. Berlin 2006, to be held May 27-28, will be ProZ.com's first "regional conference". This event will present a great chance to meet your ProZ.com colleagues in a fun and convenient location. There is a full two-day program prepared, with both German and English being used as "official" languages for the conference. If you'll be there, please register as soon as possible to help us make final plans (and to save with the early-bird price). Early bird registration for Berlin also closes at the end of April. Register now! Buenos Aires 2006: http://www.proz.com/conference?r_id=87 Berlin 2006: http://www.proz.com/conference/6?r_id=89 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (3) ProZ.com - the leading translator portal, bar none ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You may have seen copycat websites that look, on the surface, like ProZ.com. You may also have read claims from these sites that they have a high level of traffic and that they offer opportunities for networking on par with those offered by ProZ.com. But what is the truth? Data collected by Alexa--the web's leading third-party traffic authority--shows that ProZ.com is the leading portal for translators--by far. In fact, according to Alexa, ProZ.com receives more visitor traffic than its top copycats combined. Don't take our word for it. See for yourself. Alexaholic.com allows you to compare traffic between multiple websites, using Alexa data: http://www.alexaholic.com At this site, enter the link for ProZ.com, and several other sites. Try different types of traffic metric, different periods of time, different "smoothing" values. See the difference? A pictures tells a thousand words! Notice that ProZ.com's reach is five to ten times higher than that of any of its competitors. Notice also that while ProZ.com's reach has risen over the past year, the number of visitors to each of the lookalike sites has either remained flat or fallen. If you don't trust Alexa, try other methods of measuring opportunities. Compare directory size, job postings, poll responses, number of articles, forum posts, Blue Board entries, Glosspost URLs--anything at all that reflects site activity. (And when you compare, remember that unlike the copycats, ProZ.com does not seed any of these with data obtained elsewhere; everything at ProZ.com is entered one-by-one by ProZ.com users.) No matter what measure you use, the leader is clear. Why is ProZ.com growing while others stagnate? Perhaps it is our commitment to our mission--in other words, our commitment to you and your business. We aggressively reinvest all membership income in improving and promoting the site. The result: more tools and opportunities to network, expand your business, do better work and have more fun. The bottom line: don't believe everything you hear, look at the facts. When it comes to delivering for you, ProZ.com--*your ProZ.com*--is without peer. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (4) Release news: Directory and KudoZ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ News from our April release: - We introduced several improvements to our directory, see http://www.proz.com/topic/45393 - As was announced in mid February -- in http://www.proz.com/topic/42731 -- the old KudoZ designs will be discontinued. - We introduced several improvements to KudoZ, including the introduction of a weekly limit on the amount of questions allowed, the elimination of the “decline answers” function, and some minor enhancements. For more details see http://www.proz.com/topic/45397. Once again thanks to you, our members, for making these improvements possible. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (5) ProZ.com localized into German, Romanian and Spanish ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Teams of volunteer members have been working hard over the last several months to localize ProZ.com into various languages. Now, the German, Romanian and Spanish versions of the site are available. Several other languages are in the pipeline. Thanks go out to the teams and their leaders for their hard work. To view the list of volunteers, see http://www.proz.com/?sp=localization&sp_mode=team. For more details see http://www.proz.com/topic/45405 and the dedicated announcements in the forums of the three localized languages. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (6) Stammtisch, new application of a classic idea ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Member Rebekka Gross - www.proz.com/pro/15166 - has published a vivid description of the Edinburgh Translators' Stammtisch in the Powwow Organizers forum. “The word 'Stammtisch' is German and literally means 'regulars’ table'. Stammtischs are a very popular way in Germany for people to meet up at regular intervals, usually at the pub.” says Rebekka, and she describes the experiences of the Edinburgh group. Do you think ProZ.com should include Stammtischs among its events? Would you organize or participate in one? Read Rebekka's account and discuss at http://www.proz.com/topic/45463 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (7) Wordfast available with membership in a group buying sale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You've heard the buzz, you know the name--Wordfast is truly the people's CAT tool. Buy it now at a special "group buy" price not available elsewhere (150 euros), and get six months of ProZ.com membership at no additional charge (an 80 euro value). Fifty units are available in this round. Buy now! http://www.proz.com/tgb By the way, Wordfast's Very Large Translation Memory (VLTM) project looks worthy of investigation. From the site, "The VLTM project offers translators a set of Very Large Translation Memories, made available for free (positively no strings attached) through the Internet. The usual workflow, work environment, and speed of work are not affected: the translator works as usual, but can leverage valuable information from a very large TM in addition to her/his local TM. The VLTM does not replace the local TM, it complements it." Sound good? Well, one of the best things about Wordfast is that you can try it for free. Why wait? Download now from the wordfast site: http://www.wordfast.net/ Wordfast + membership group buying sale: http://www.proz.com/tgb?r_id=71 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (8) Check out your new profile! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The new profile format, which has been in members-only beta testing for one month, was made available for use this week. It is accessible via a new URL, while the current format remains accessible through the current URL. Your current profile is available here: http://www.proz.com/pro/0 Your new profile is available here: http://www.proz.com/profile/0 The new format is more attractive and better organized overall, and it includes a number of new features: * an availability calendar * standardized and personalized modes * ability to add custom tabs * localization of content * colleague crosslinking * An aggregate 'Settings' tab * KudoZ & Project History "modules" * More powerful options for search engine optimization. In stages, beginning at the end of next week, the new format will be made the default throughout the site. If you don't want to wait, though, you can turn it on now. In any case, the current profile will remain accessible at the /pro URL, and we have no plans to discontinue it. To learn more, see http://www.proz.com/topic/45409 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (9) Translators4Kids (T4K) book project takes off ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Member Marion Schimmelpfennig - http://www.proz.com/profile/1550 - and a great group of ProZian volunteers have been working steadily since December 2004 to help disadvantaged children across the world through the Translators4Kids (T4K) initiative. T4K now has official status, an address, a bank account, an Executive Committee, a vast team of volunteers in the background, and now, a complete written concept for its first big project – a book of writing and artwork by underprivileged children. To learn more about this worthy endeavor read Marion's announcement at http://www.proz.com/post/326939 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (10) Upcoming powwows: Edinburgh, Delhi, Ashgabat, Traslasierra, etc. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Have you ever been participated in one of our powwows? You should. They are great for networking, for future job cooperations and for having fun. Check below for powwows in your area, or organize one yourself. To learn more about our powwows, read http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/102/ April 21: Vienna (23) - http://proz.com/pw/834 21: Buenos Aires (68) - http://proz.com/pw/863 23: Westport, US (14) - http://proz.com/pw/835 26: Edinburgh, UK (6) - http://proz.com/pw/840 27: Buchrest (14) - http://proz.com/pw/839 29: Santiago, Chile (12) - http://proz.com/pw/877 30: Paris (13) - http://proz.com/pw/867 May 5: Stuttgart (15) - http://proz.com/pw/796 6: Brighton, UK (21) - http://proz.com/pw/817 6: Chicago (2) - http://proz.com/pw/872 7: Milano (28) - http://proz.com/pw/845 12: Traslasierra, Argentina (29) - http://proz.com/pw/841 13: Budapest (26) - http://proz.com/pw/819 14: Tokyo (16) - http://proz.com/pw/832 14: Deventer, Netherlands (11) - http://proz.com/pw/865 18: Valencia, Spain (19) - http://proz.com/pw/855 18: Chisinau, Moldova (2) - http://proz.com/pw/847 20: Ashgabat, Turkmenistan (2) - http://proz.com/pw/830 21: Delhi (7) - http://proz.com/pw/854 24: Edinburgh, UK (1) - http://proz.com/pw/870 25: Shanghai, China (4) - http://proz.com/pw/864 26: Rosendal, Norway (17) - http://proz.com/pw/800 27: Vilnius, Lithuania (2) - http://proz.com/pw/874 27: London, UK (17) - http://proz.com/pw/857 27: Berlin (112) - http://proz.com/pw/698 June 2: Iasi, Romania (11) - http://proz.com/pw/842 3: London (12) - http://proz.com/pw/852 9: Bath, UK (5) - http://proz.com/pw/873 Full list of powwows (including those after June): http://www.proz.com/?sp=event/powwow_board&r_id=73 - - - - - - - - - - - Your username: Membership status: Registered user KudoZ: BrowniZ: Wallet balance: $0.10 Your profile: http://www.proz.com/profile/0 - - - - - - - - - - - Forgotten password? http://proz.com/?sp=new_password ================================================================= You are receiving this email message because you signed up for email notifications of this type in your ProZ.com email preferences. 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