Translating Sigil

[KevinH]

Sad that is so poor. That python program does allow a file of translated word replacements (one per line) that could be used to fix some of the most egregious single word errors. But building that list would require translating and reading the translation to build up such a list.

It is too bad you can not somehow inform Google Translate of the general topic area so that these terms/words with multiple meanings could be more intelligently translated.

I wonder if building a translation helper using the sigil_*.ts files built by human translators would be possible to handle things like "Save As" and other Sigil menu commands that we know the proper translations for.

Thanks for reporting back on how poor the translation was and why.

[Tex2002ans]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Just to be clear as I have no history with translation software, are you saying there is no value at all in starting an epub translation using Google Translate?

Better to leave it to each individual person to use what tools they want.

Like PocketBook allows you to auto-translate ebooks on-the-fly—similar to Google Translate on websites—and you can even choose between translation engines.

(For example, DeepL is consistently better than Google Translate.)

- - -

Note #1: Also, I'd be very careful, because like BeckyEbook said—these tools completely botch translation on things like menu items, commands, technical terms, etc. + they are too literal.

As always, it's better to have a human who actually reads the language go through and correct.

For example, one of the terms is called "expert-in-the-loop". See:

• Slator.com: "How Fast Can You Post-Edit Machine Translation?"

To release raw auto-translated documents as is is just a recipe for disaster.

- - -

Note #2: And, there's a ton of advancements happening in "machine learning translation".

If you release some crappy "English->French auto-translated" EPUB from 2 years ago, it would be beat out by a more recent "English->French on-the-fly" translation today.

(Reminds me of people who post auto-translated stories... but never post the original source language! You come across these things 5-10 years later, and you just facepalm at how awful it is!)

[KevinH]

We are only exploring Google Translate and this tool as a possible means to kick start a human translation. Not to produce a completed product with it.

[Turtle91]

Yeah, my wife (HS Latin teacher) laughs at students when they try and turn in homework...it is blatantly obvious that they attempted to use google translate...it is soooo bad/wrong.
It actually does OK for some of the more common languages, especially if there is a good base of users that are willing to make corrections when Google gets it wrong. However, it's amazing that there aren't very many Latin teachers that want it to get fixed...it's to easy to catch the cheaters! It's also kind of ironic because Latin would be one of the easier languages for a translation software to get right - its a very straightforward language that follows very specific rules...

[User_Z]

Hello.

I would like to discuss another question.

Since I started working on the translation, one problem came up.
The thing is that the font built into the Guide, which is used to display headings, does not have a Cyrillic capitel. This makes titles and headings look just awful.

Thought I'd find the right font quickly. But it turned out to be not quite an easy task. In Cyrillic, the lower case letters are almost exactly the same as the uppercase letters (except for a few), so the capitel is not used very often. Fonts seem to be there and in the description it is stated capitel, but when you look at the screen it becomes clear that it is not, at best a pseudo-capitel.

After all sorts of searches, trials and frustrations I managed to find a more or less suitable font (https://www.myfonts.com/collections/mir-font-juliasys). Now, in my opinion, everything looks very decent.

It remains to figure out the nuances of the license. Did I understand correctly that this font can be used in the Guide or not? Please clarify this point.

The license file:

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by User_Z

It remains to figure out the nuances of the license. Did I understand correctly that this font can be used in the Guide or not? Please clarify this point.

Unfortunately, the MIR font that you've found is a commercial font that requires an annual license fee.

Please check out the following alternative fonts:

Linux Libertine (SIL Open Font License)
Google Noto (SIL Open Font License/Appache License)

Linux Libertine looks like this:

[User_Z]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

Unfortunately, the MIR font that you've found is a commercial font that requires an annual license fee.

Interesting.

The thing is, I conditionally bought one font from the MIR set, namely Mir-Medium, for 0.0 conventional units. And in the license file it says that I can embed the font and pass it on to third parties, provided that the font is not for sale.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by User_Z

Interesting.

The thing is, I conditionally bought one font from the MIR set, namely Mir-Medium, for 0.0 conventional units. And in the license file it says that I can embed the font and pass it on to third parties, provided that the font is not for sale.

Are you planning on giving away (gratis) your book?
Legal double speak is what causes nightmares.
If the font is embedded, then you are selling the font (as part of your book).
Encrypting the font might get you pass that.
(I am clearly not a Lawyer)

[User_Z]

Originally Posted by theducks

Are you planning on giving away (gratis) your book?

Of course, what a question. After I finish translating it, I'll post it to the Guide for free, no-pay access.
Why translate it then?

[User_Z]

Hello.

Help is needed.
Today, while working on the translation of the Guide, the electricity was urgently cut off (however, this is already a common occurrence).
Now I can't open the file. If nothing works out, a huge piece of work down the drain.

Who will advise what? What to do?
Thank you.

[KevinH]

If you used Sigil's Checkpoint feature you may have a recent backup.

If not, the only possible way for Sigil to corrupt a file is for the power to fail during an actual flle save operation and even then Sigil uses an atomic write to a temp file then copies it over so losing something during a power failure is actually very very hard and impossible if you use file save as.

First make a copy of the file that won't open onto a usb key for safe keeping.

Look in your os tmp folder and search for a known internal epub file names there as the working copies of the epub files may still exist on disk and therefore can be salvaged. You may even find the actual epub there if the power failed when saving under a temporary name.

If no luck then try running a disk utility program to help fix any interrupted file writes and make your drive accessible. This should work if you use a journaled file system.

You can also try renaming a copy of the epub file to be .zip and try a zip repair program on it since an epub is just a special zip archive.

Hope something here helps.

[User_Z]

WinRAR and 7-Zip report that the file is not an archive.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by User_Z

Today, while working on the translation of the Guide, the electricity was urgently cut off (however, this is already a common occurrence).
Now I can't open the file. If nothing works out, a huge piece of work down the drain.

Originally Posted by KevinH

Look in your os tmp folder and search for a known internal epub file names there as the working copies of the epub files may still exist on disk and therefore can be salvaged. You may even find the actual epub there if the power failed when saving under a temporary name.

If you have a Windows machine try the following:

• Press WIN+R or right-click the Start menu and select Run.
• Enter %tmp% and hit Enter. This should open the Temp folder.
• Look for folders that start with Sigil- e.g. Sigil-uXBtlN. If you're lucky you'll find the latest user guide manual files there, provide that you frequently saved the files.
• If so, zip up the folder, rename it, change the extension to .epub and try to open it with Sigil.

[BeckyEbook]

Doitsu has already described everything, but I am attaching an additional picture instruction in PDF. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it succeeds.

[User_Z]

So far, nothing works.
I'm desperate. Half of the work has been done.

Here is the failed file itself and screenshots after manipulations with temporary folders: