Visual Dictionary

Maybe you all know this dictionary already, but I must confess I only found it recently when I was desperate to find a specific term. It's the Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary Online http://visual.merriam-webster.com/index.php (a vast improvement on the Lexicon I used to have when I was a student...). And it really is a great help when translating into English. Sometimes you can't find the right term for that little part... So try to find a picture of whatever it is that you want (a machine, an animal, a place) and you'll get the names for all the parts. For example, I looked up 'electronic scale' and this is the picture I got:

Or take 'harbor':

And below the picture you will find all the related terms. Truly useful.

Blog of the month | Blog do mês

I'm starting a new series, Blog of the month, to write about one of the translation blogs I recommend here (list on the right).

Here's the the first one: Translation Tips http://www.rede-de-tradutores.blogspot.com/. Written by Rose Polato, who says she's 'fascinated by the intricacies of languages'. Each post discusses the translation of one group of words or is a mini-glossary about one topic. The most recent post, for example, is about the difference between laptops, notebooks, netbooks, etc (http://rede-de-tradutores.blogspot.com/2009/05/laptop-notebook-subnotebook-mini-laptop.html). And the one before that

Glossaries of financial terms | Glossários de termos financeiros

I find these two websites very helpful when translating business/financial texts:

http://www.investorwords.com/

http://www.investopedia.com/


They're monolingual (English), but excellent to research vocabulary.

Terminology search with Google

Specific information for translators on how to get the best out of Google
Informações específicas para tradutores sobre como tirar o máximo do Google

Terminology search and confirmation with Google *** Busca e confirmação de terminologia com Google http://aboutranslation.blogspot.com/2009/04/terminology-search-and-confirmation.html - An interesting step by step actual example *** Um exemplo interessante do passo a passo de uma busca (in English)

New Google resources *** Novos recursos do Google http://traducaoviaval.blogspot.com/2009/05/novos-recursos-do-google.html - para usuários mais avançados *** for more advanced users (in Portuguese)