About Paratext

Paratext 7 enables project teams to easily and safely share project data using a feature called Send/Receive. In order to make sharing possible, Paratext maintains a detailed history of all the changes being made to every user's project files. Paratext also provides four different roles which can be assigned to users on a project. Different roles provide users with varying permissions to make changes to the project data.

The Paratext Send/Receive functions are able to do the difficult and detailed work of transmitting and merging project changes between team members, carefully incorporating the history of changes made on one user's system into the project history for another user. This allows users to work independently, but then also be able to contribute work back to the rest of the team at any time. The transfer of project updates between users can be done using a USB drive, a network shared folder, or using a UBS-managed secure Internet server.

In Paratext 7.1 we have worked hard to provide an easy-to-use interface for managing and using project sharing functions.

Paratext 7's editing window allows users to see the text in a number of different views. Users can quickly flip between views depending on their preference and the needs at the time.

In the Standard view, markers are displayed as smaller text colored in green, while proper formatting – such as indentation, alignment, and font size – is applied to the translation text. Project text is fully editable in this view, and Paratext updates the formatted display as a user types. Marker selection is made easier, and less error-prone, by showing a pop-up list of markers which are valid at the current cursor position. Footnote and cross-reference editing is made easier by opening a separate note editing window whenever a note marker is entered in the text. Special forms are provided for inserting tables or illustrations.

Basic view is designed for users with less computer experience. It only allows keying in and editing of the text, and preserves the existing markers and structure. The user can edit an existing translation or create a new translation using the structure and markers of an existing model translation as a template.

Preview view shows a fully formatted, un-editable version of the text, while hiding all the markers.

Unformatted view is for advanced users who want to see and edit the raw markers and text, and does not format the text.

Text Collection sets can be saved, so that they can be easily reopened at later date. The Text Collection window can also be divided into two panes, where any one text can be made to fill the right-hand pane for viewing in a wider context.

Paratext 7 includes the powerful, multi-purpose Interlinear Tool, which is useful for creating back translations, producing interlinear versions, and adapting texts. Many projects rely on the creation of a back translation as part of the translation process, which can be a time-consuming and error-prone operation. The Interlinear Tool uses a technique called statistical glossing to automatically generate a back translation which can then be improved and corrected. The performance of the statistical glossing depends on the project and target languages, but for closely related translations the initial guesses are remarkably accurate. Users can approve or correct the automatically generated glosses, which rapidly improves the quality of further glossing. More advanced users can break down words into their component morphemes and assign glosses to each individual part. The back translation or interlinearized text can be printed, producing an offline copy for review.

An increasing number of translation projects are done by adapting an existing translation into a similar/related language. The Interlinear Tool can be used to adapt an existing translation and automatically export the resulting text to another Paratext project, keeping all of the original formatting and USFM codes. In cases where the model and the target language are very similar, or in cases where the language has undergone a shift in spelling, the Interlinear Tool will automatically start to learn the rules for adapting the word from one language to the other. It uses these rules to increasingly improve the quality of its guesses and thus improves the overall consistency of the adaptation.

The Biblical Terms feature is a tool containing a list of names, concepts, flora, fauna, rituals and other words in the source text which are likely to require special consideration when translating. Each term can be examined to view the different ways in which it is translated in context, ensuring that translations are consistent and correct.

The list includes words with important theological implications, such as the Greek and Hebrew words for “judgment”, “righteousness”, and “blessing”. Paratext users can now compare how the source word is translated across all verses, and help to ensure the linguistic and theological consistency of the translation.

The same statistical glossing engine that powers the Interlinear Tool is also included in biblical terms to help make initial guesses for how the biblical terms are rendered in the current project.

Translation projects typically go through a number of stages. These stages typically include an initial draft translation, a review by a consultant, and a final review by the community. Paratext 7 includes a tool called Project Progress that allows users to record progress of a translation on a per book, per chapter and even per verse basis.

Users can view the progress of the entire project at a glance and can examine the progress within any given timeframe, such as the last year or last month. Paratext will even project a completion date for the project based on the progress thus far.

Project progress is shared along with other changes to the project, meaning that individual translators can update their progress as they work. Seeing all progress information together in one chart makes helps both to encourage the translators as well as to show supporters the clear progress that is being made.