translationCore® Documentation¶

This is the documentation for translationCore®.

The latest version of this document is available as a PDF, EPUB, or HTML Zip.

Table of Contents¶

translationCore® Overview¶

Note

This module answers the question, “What is translationCore®?”

translationCore® (tC) is an open source platform for checking Bible translations.

Watch the 5 minute video below for an overivew of the features available.

translationNotes Tool¶

Note

This module answers the question, “How do I do a translationNotes check?”

In order to perform the translationNotes checks, follow these steps.

Launch the Tool¶

Sign in to translationCore®
Select the project (book of the Bible) that you want to check
Select the category or categories of Notes that you want to check
Select your Gateway Language
Click “Launch.” The verses to be checked will be listed on the left side, divided into different categories of Notes.

Perform a Check¶

Select a verse to check, and read the Note for that verse in the blue bar. It is best to check all of the verses in the same category before moving to a new category.

Some Notes refer to a more general issue that applies to the specific verse being examined. To understand this more general issue and how it applies to the current verse, read the information in the panel on the right side.

After selecting (highlighting) the translation for the word or phrase in the Note, click “Save.”
Consider whether or not the translation that was chosen for that word or phrase makes sense in this context.
Decide whether or not the translation is correct, considering the issue that the Note talks about.
After considering these things, if you think that the translation is a good translation, then click “Save and Continue.”
If you think that there is a problem with the verse or that the translation for the word or phrase is not good, then either edit the verse to make it better, or make a comment telling someone who will review your work what you think might be wrong with the translation here. If you have made an edit, you may need to make your selection again.
When you are finished making your edit or comment, click “Save and Continue.” If you prefer to only make a comment for the word or phrase and not make a selection for it, then click on the next verse in the list on the left to go on to the next verse.

After a selection has been made for all of the verses in a Note category, the list of translations in that category can be reviewed. The instructions that follow are for the reviewer or for the translation team.

You will now be able to see a list of the translations that were made for each word or phrase under each translationNote category on the left. Choose the category that you want to review. It may be that different members of the translation team will have better knowledge in different areas. For example, one team member may be very good at reviewing metaphors, while another may be very good at understanding and correcting difficult grammar, such as passive voice constructions.
You will want to review any comments that were made by others. To do that, click the funnel symbol to the right of “Menu” at the upper left. A list will open, including the word “Comments.”
Click the box next to “Comments.” This will make all verses that do not have comments in them disappear.
To read the comments, click on the first verse in the list.
Click on “Comment.”
Read the comment, and decide what you will do about it.
If you decide to make an edit to the verse, click “Cancel” and then “Edit Verse.” This will open a small screen where you can edit the verse.
When you are finished making the edit, select the reason for the change, then click “Save.”
Continue this process until you have acted on all of the comments that were left for you.

After you have finished reviewing a Note category or a Bible book, you may still have questions about some verses or Note checks. You may want to discuss a difficult verse with others on the translation team and try to find a solution together, study more Bible translation resources, or refer the question to a Bible translation expert.

translationWords Tool¶

Note

This module answers the question, “How do I do a translationWords check?”

In order to perform the translationWords checks, follow these steps.

Launch the Tool¶

Sign in to translationCore®
Select the project (book of the Bible) that you want to check
Select the category or categories of words that you want to check
Select your Gateway Language
Click “Launch”

Perform a Check¶

Work through the list of words on the left by following the instructions that appear to the right of the Bible verse.
To understand the source word better, you can read the short definition in the blue bar, or the longer one in the panel on the right side.
After selecting (highlighting) the translation for the word or phrase in the list, click “Save.”
Consider whether or not the term that was chosen makes sense in this context.
If you think that the translation for the term is a good translation, then click “Save and Continue.”
If you think that there is a problem with the verse or that the translation for the word or phrase is not good, then either edit the verse to make it better, or make a comment telling someone who will review your work what you think might be wrong with the translation here.
If you have made an edit, you may need to make your selection again.
When you are finished making your edit or comment, click “Save and Continue.” If you prefer to only make a comment about a term and not make a selection for it, then click on the next verse in the list on the left to go on to the next word.

After a selection has been made for all of the verses where a translationWord occurs, the list for that word can be reviewed. The instructions that follow are for the reviewer or for the translation team.

You will now be able to see a list of the translations that were made for each term under each translationWord on the left. If you see that the word was translated in different ways in different verses, you will want to review the places that have differences to see if the target term used was the correct one for each context.
You will also want to review any comments that were made by others. To do that, click the funnel symbol to the right of “Menu” at the upper left. A list will open, including the word “Comments.”
Click the box next to “Comments.” This will make all verses that do not have comments in them disappear.
To read the comments, click on the first verse in the list.
Click on “Comment.”
Read the comment, and decide what you will do about it.
If you decide to make an edit to the verse, then click “Cancel” and then “Edit Verse.” This will open a small screen where you can edit the verse.

#. When you are finished making the edit, select the reason for the change, and then click “Save.” Continue this process until you have acted on all of the comments that were left for you.

If you are unsure if a translation for a certain term is correct in a certain context, it might be helpful to consult the key terms spreadsheet that the translation team made as they were creating the translation. You may also want to discuss a difficult term with others on the translation team and try to find a solution together. You may need to use a different term in some contexts, or find another way to communicate the concept, such as using a longer phrase.

Word Alignment Tool¶

Note

This module answers the question, “How do I use the Word Alignment Tool?”

Validation Checking¶

In order to use the Word Alignment Tool to do Validation Checking, follow these steps:

Load the translation of the Bible book that you want to check into translationCore®.
Choose the Word Alignment tool.
Navigate through the verses using the menu of chapters and verses on the left side.
- When you click on a verse in the menu list to open it, the words of that verse appear in a vertical list, ordered from top to bottom, just to the right of the list of chapters and verses. Each word is in a separate box.
- The words of the original language (Greek, Hebrew, or Aramaic) text for that verse are also in separate boxes in a field to the right of the target language word list. There is a space under each of the original language word boxes outlined with a dotted line.
In each verse, drag the target language words in the word bank onto the space below the original language words that express that same meaning.
- To drag a word, click and hold down the button as you move each word box of the target language into the space under the word box of the source (original) text that the word corresponds to. Drop the target language word by releasing the mouse button.
- When the target language word is over a word box of the original, the dotted outline will turn blue to let you know that the word will drop there. If you make a mistake or decide that the target word belongs somewhere else, simply drag it again to where it belongs. Target language words can also be dragged back to the list.
- If there are repeated words in a verse, make sure to drag only the words that correspond to that part of the meaning of the original language verse. Then drag the repeated words to the place in the original verse where that meaning is repeated.
- When the same target language word occurs more than once in a verse, each instance of the word will have a small superscript number after it. This number will help you to align each repeated target word to the correct original word in the correct order.
- You may need to combine original language words and/or target language words in order to make groups of words that have equivalent meanings. The goal of aligning is to match the smallest group of target language words to the smallest group of original language words that have the same meaning.

When you have finished this process for a verse, it should be easy to see if there are words left over in either the target word bank or the original language pane.

If there are target language words left over, this may mean that there is something that has been added that does not belong in the translation. If the left-over words are expressing implied information, then they are not really extra and could be aligned to the word or words that they are explaining.
If there are original language words left over, this may mean that the translation needs to include a translation of these words.
If you determine that the translation has words that it should not have or is missing a translation of some words of the original text, then someone will need to edit the translation. You can either make a comment to tell someone else what is wrong with the translation, or you can edit the translation directly in the Alignment Tool.

Alignment Philosophy¶

The Alignment Tool supports one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-one, and many-to-many alignments. That means that one or more target langage words can be aligned to one or more original language words, as necessary to get the most accurate alignment of the meaning conveyed by the two languages. Do not be concerned if the target language uses more or fewer words than the original language to express something. Because languages are different, that is to be expected. With the Alignment Tool, you are really aligning meaning, not just words. It is most important that the target translation express the meaning of the original Bible well, no matter how many words it takes to do that. By aligning the target language words that express the original language meaning, we can see if all of the original language meaning is there in the translation.

Because each target language will have different requirements for sentence structure and the amount of explicit information that must be provided, there will often be some target language words that do not have an exact match to any original language words. If these words are there to give information that the sentence needs in order to make sense, or to provide some implicit information that is necessary for understanding the sentence, then the target words that are provided should be aligned with the original language word that implies them, or that they help to explain.

Merge and Unmerge Instructions¶

To align multiple target language words to a single original language word, simply drag and drop the target language words onto the box below the desired original language word.
When it is desired to align target language word(s) to a combination of original language words, first drag one of the combination original language words into the same box as the other original language word. Multiple original language words can be merged together in this fashion.
To unmerge previously merged original language words, drag the rightmost original language word slightly to the right. A small new alignment box will appear, and the unmerged original language word can be dropped into that box. (The leftmost original language word can also be unmerged by dragging and dropping it into the original language word box immediately to its left.)
Any target language words that were aligned with that original language word then return to the word list.
The original language words should remain in the proper order. If the merge contains 3 or more original language words, unmerge the rightmost original language word first. Un-merging the center word(s) first may result in the original language words becoming out of order. When that happens, unmerge the remaining words in that box to properly return the original language words to their original order.

After Aligning¶

After you have finished aligning a Bible book and making questions and comments about the translation, it is time to either send the questions to the translation team or plan to meet together with the translation team and discuss them. For the steps to complete this process, return to where you left off on the [Steps for Validation Checking](../vol2-steps/01.md) page.