Recently, I was asked to teach a resources workshop to aspiring translators as part of WritePoint’s translation course. Countless hours spent collating everything I have learnt during my decade in the industry and researching some things I have managed to miss,  produced too much material to squeeze into a four-hour session.

(If you’d like to receive more information about the upcoming Tools for Translators workshop, scheduled to be held in Jerusalem on June 21, please contact me.)

Meanwhile, in the coming weeks, I would like to share some of my favorite solutions with the readers of this blog. While most veteran translators have found their trusty tools and tricks, software companies continue to produce new offerings, not necessarily intended for translators, but useful nonetheless.

Today, we will take a look at some essential productivity programs.

Backup – the standard recommendation is to back up all your data at least once a week. No matter how reasonable that may sound, in the real world of surprise projects and tight deadlines, many language professionals just can’t be bothered. Fortunately, Dropbox has managed to make backing up completely painless. Their set-and-forget solution requires you to do just three things: download the program, register, and determine which folders to back up. The application takes it from there, backing up your files live as soon as you save them. The set up process takes less than 5 minutes and after that you don’t have to do a thing.

Dropbox allows you to access your files from any computer connected to the Internet so, as an added bonus, you can finally part with your flash memory.

The service is free for up to 2 GB and costs $9.99 a month for 50 GB of storage or $19.99 for 100 GB. By clicking on the above link you can receive another 250 MB of free storage.

Tip: Don’t forget to back up your Outlook folder.

File sharing made simple – megafiles laden with graphics are an everyday issue for translator and writers. Drop.io has created a super-simple approach to file sharing. As soon as you open the site, it allows you to create a “drop” with a unique name. Add your files and share the drop with anyone you want by giving them the unique drop name. The service is completely anonymous, which means you do not have to register or provide anyone’s email address.

Drop.io also allows you to create audio recordings by dialing a preset phone number, hold conference calls, and lots more. Check it out.

Password security has become increasingly significant in today’s environment of internet fraud. Unfortunately, most users are unaware of just how simple it is to break a standard password. Passwords based on dictionary words or consisting of lower case letters can be deciphered within minutes. Moreover, it is imperative to have a different password for each site and to change these often.

Maintaining password security could be tricky. After all, who can remember dozens of 14-character strings of alphanumeric gibberish? That’s where Lastpass comes in. Depending on your choice, Lastpass can either remember your login information or generate a new random password for each site. The program then automatically logs you into your sites (after you key in the Lastpass password – the only one you actually need to remember) or allows you to access your password list online. The service is free, with additional features available at $1 a month.

Langover – Forgetting to switch languages with Alt+Shift is a familiar aggravation to anyone writing in more than one language. Langover is a small utility that turns the resulting gibberish into the intended text with one press of F10. Langover also features one-click Google and Google Translate lookups. Oh, and it’s free.

Dictionary look-up – WordWeb is another little tool I’d suggest for anyone writing in English. With one press of a button combination, it presents information from dictionaries, thesauri, and other reference sources, without requiring you to switch to the browser. The Pro version ($20) also makes it possible to define custom web references, glossaries, and third-party dictionaries.

There is just one thing separating this utility from perfection – multilingual support. I am sure many translators would appreciate the ability to do all their terminology research in one small pop-up window.

So, what is your favorite computer tool?

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