Virtaal

{{Infobox software

| name = Virtaal

| title =

| logo = Virtaal logo.png

| screenshot = 220px

| caption =

| collapsible =

| author = Translate.org.za

| developer =

| released = 2007

| discontinued =

| latest release version = 0.7.1

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2012|01|10|df=yes/no}}

| latest preview version =

| latest preview date =

| programming language =

| operating system = Cross-platform

| platform =

| size =

| language =

| genre = Computer-assisted translation

| license = GPL

| website = {{URL|virtaal.translatehouse.org}}

}}

Virtaal ({{IPA|af|fərˈtɑːl}}) is a computer-assisted translation tool written in the Python programming language. It is free software developed and maintained by Translate.org.za.{{Cite web |url=http://www.translate.org.za/ |title=Translate.org.za |access-date=2009-02-17 |archive-date=2018-01-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180113120840/http://www.translate.org.za/ |url-status=dead }}Morado, L., Wolff, F.: [http://www.raco.cat/index.php/Tradumatica/article/download/248902/333148 Bringing industry standards to open source localisers: a case study of virtaal]. Tradumatica: Tecnologies de la Traducciòn (2011).{{cite book|first1=Laura Arjona|last1=Reina|first2=Gregorio|last2=Robles|first3=Jesús M.|last3=González-Barahona|title=A Preliminary Analysis of Localization in Free Software: How Translations Are Performed|publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg|date= n.d. |isbn=978-3-642-38927-6|pages=153–167|series=IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology|quote= Virtaal is a more modern [than POEdit ] translation tool, which allows working with XLIFF files.|doi=10.1007/978-3-642-38928-3_11|s2cid=37472563 }}

Virtaal is built using the Translate Toolkit allowing it to process a number of translation and localisation formats.

Name

The name Virtaal is a play on words. In Afrikaans, an official language of South Africa where Translate.org.za is located, the expression {{lang|af|vir taal}} means "for language", while the word {{lang|af|vertaal}} (pronounced the same) means "translate".Alastair Otter, [http://www.tectonic.co.za/?p=3416 Virtaal simplifies software translation ] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220101001/http://tectonic.co.za/?p=3416 |date=2016-12-20 }}, Tectonic, 2008-10-22, Retrieved 2009-11-30

Design Philosophy

The key principle behind the design of Virtaal is the optimisation of the interface for the localiser. This includes ensuring that all relevant functionality is keyboard accessible and that needed information is always optimally displayed.

History

Work on Virtaal began in 2007 with an initial 0.1 release made to a small number of open-source localisers. Version 0.2, released in October 2008, became the first official release.

Supported source document formats

Virtaal works directly with any of the bilingual (containing both source and target language) files understood by the Translate Toolkit. This would include XLIFF, Gettext PO and MO, various Qt files (.qm, .ts, .qph), Wordfast translation memory, TBX, TMX and OmegaT glossaries.

Features

Simple single view interface
Colour highlighting
Autocorrect
Autocomplete
In-context segment filtering:
All segments
Partial translations and non-translated segments
All segments matching a search string (includes case-sensitivity and Python regular expressions)
Search and replace with regular expressions and Unicode normalisation
Translation memory with several back-ends:
Local translation memory database (including current file)
Remote translation memory database (such as an office TM server)
[http://www.open-tran.eu Open-Tran.eu]
Machine translation through Apertium, Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, Moses or the libtranslate library providing access to several others
TinyTM
Terminology help from:
Automatically downloaded files
Local terminology files
Open-Tran.eu
Recognition and easy insertion of placeables
Language identification
Quality checks