Alchemy Translations

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==== TRANSLATION GUIDELINES ====

**TRANSLATION SET**: depending on the project, the customer will require to provide 
either 1 or 2 translations for the same source string. Project managers will inform the 
translation team whether 1 or 2 translations are required in each handoff.  \\
**TASKS WITH 2 TRANSLATIONS NEEDED**: if 2 translations are required: \\
• They will be paid individually (if you provide both **Translation1** and **Translation2** 
for the same source string, the source string will be paid twice). \\
• **Translation1** needs to be the most common. \\
• It will be mandatory to provide 2 valid different translations of the same source 
string. Both translations need to maintain the original intent using different words, 
structures, and expressions, which means that **Translation1** cannot be the same 
as or very similar to **Translation2**. Make every attempt to provide a meaningful 
diversity in Translation2 and not just change the articles or other minor changes. \\
Example:  \\

o T1: I’m Ralf. \\
o T2 (valid): //My name is Ralf//  \\
o T2 (not valid): I am Ralf \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img2_translation_guidelines.jpg?600 |}}

• This diversity can come from using a **different level of formality**, translate into 
two sentences with **different meanings** (if the source text is ambiguous), **use 
synonyms** in the second translation or **rephrase the sentence** (syntactic 
difference). If words with ambiguous gender are present in the source, please be 
sure to **switch the gendered words** in the second translations. Please take all 
these possibilities for providing diversity into account and combine them. Do not 
always use the same criteria (for example do not always rephrase). Don't try to 
add a new translation from a different variant such as Swiss German for German 
(this would be a cheating behavior for wrong target language). __Tips on how to 
provide valid 2nd translations are posted in the below section.__ \\
• Centific will conduct checks to detect how similar Translation1 and Translation2 
are. If there is an indication that Translation1 and Translation2 are the same or 
too similar (only minimum variations applied), it will be considered a cheating 
behavior. \\
• There are cases where it is not possible to provide a valid Translation2, and in 
these cases Translation2 __should be omitted__. For example when the source is 
made just by:  \\
o a number or a price \\
o a URL \\
o an email address \\ 
o a proper name \\
o etc. \\
• If only Translation1 has been provided, Centific will conduct checks to detect if the 
lack of Translation2 is justified. If there is an indication that the lack of Translation2 is 
not justified, the user who missed to translate it will be penalized in the QA. \\
• If the task requires 2 translations but it is not possible to provide a valid Translation2, 
click the **SECOND TRANSLATION NOT POSSIBLE button**. This will indicate to the reviewers that there is only 1 possible translation for the provided source. \\

__**TIPS ABOUT 2ND TRANSLATIONS**__: The 2nd translations should be considerably 
different. It’s not just a matter of changing the articles or the punctuation. You should really 
find a different way to say the same (without of course doing mistranslations, omissions, 
etc.). Please find here some tips about how to reach this diversity in the 2nd translations. \\
• **Different levels of FORMALITY**: Due to their nature, some strings should have 
either an informal or a formal tone. For example, business reports will usually be 
formal, tweets will usually be informal. Vulgar and offensive contents will more likely 
have an informal tone too. However, if the source context is ambiguous enough to 
let you play with different levels of formality, you can use this to vary Translation1 
from Translation2. For example: \\
o Translation1: Votre enfant va impatiemment se rendre sur le site Internet 
www.loremipsum.com  \\
o Translation2: Ton gamin s’éclatera sur www.loremipsum.com \\
• **Different meaning for AMBIGUOUS sources**: Sometimes the source text is 
ambiguous and can be interpreted in different ways. You can use Translation1 and 
Translation2 to provide 2 different possible meanings of the same ambiguous 
source string. For example: \\
o Source: Fred previously checked on this with the gas desk because Aquila 
indicated interest in buying out this contract. \\
Here it is not clear whether “Fred” and “Aquila” are two people or two companies, so 
you can: \\
o T1: translate as if they were both people names \\
o T2: translate as if they were both company names \\
• **Different SINTAXES**: Use different syntactic structures in Translation1 and 
Translation2. This doesn’t only mean change the word order, but literally using 
different grammar/syntactic structures. For example: \\
o T1: I wish you all the best on your birthday \\
o T2: Wishing you a happy birthday \\
o T1: Quería saber si te gustaría ir a ver “American Beauty” con nosotros un 
día de estos \\
o T2: ¿Te apetecería ir a ver con nosotros “American Beauty” algún día? \\
• **Different TERMINOLOGY**: Terminology between Translation1 and Translation2 
can be changed, but please make sure you don’t change just one word, otherwise 
they would be too similar. For example: \\
o Source: Manual coffee crafting competition (Atlanta) \\
o T1: Gara di preparazione manuale del caffè (Atlanta) \\
o T2: Competizione di Atlanta su come fare il caffè a mano \\
• **Different GENDERS**: If the source language doesn't support a specific gender and 
it’s ambiguous, please use different genders for Translation1 and Translation2. For 
example: \\
o Source: You are really funny. \\
o T1: Sei molto simpatica. → This is feminine \\
o T2: Ti trovo davvero simpatico. → This is masculine \\
__**UNACCEPTABLE 2ND TRANSLATIONS**__: Examples of **unacceptable** 2nd translations, that will be considered cheating behaviors, include (but are not limited to): \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img3_translation_guidelines.jpg?600 |}}

__**AMBIGUOUS/UNCLEAR SOURCE**__: if the context is clear, keep the same meaning as 
source. But if the meaning of the source is ambiguous and the context is not clear, try 
searching the exact snippets in the Web to find a possible context or meaning. If there is no 
way to clarify the meaning, provide a translation based on your best judgment, even word by 
word if needed. If the project allows 2 translations for the same source, you can use them to 
put 2 different interpretations of the source. Do not mark the source as nonsensical if you 
can apply the phrase into a context where the words make sense. For example, “Rat” can be 
translated referring to the animal in Translation1 and with the meaning of “traitor” in 
Translation2. \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img4_translation_guidelines.jpg?600 |}}

__**INCOMPLETE/TRUNCATED STRINGS**__: if a string is incomplete in source, do not try to 
complete it in target; translate the part that appears in source with what would be the 
equivalent part in your language. Do not try to guess what the rest of the string would be. \\
__**INCIDENTAL WORDS**__: when incidental words of cultural/linguistic courtesy or habit are 
generally used in the source language but not in the target, or generally used in the target 
language but not in the source, translators may add or delete such words to best convey the 
same meaning and tone. For example, when translating a string that discusses a future 
event from Arabic into English, sometimes it may be needed to delete the word “inshallah” 
rather than literally translating it to more closely convey the meaning and tone.\\

__**IDIOMS**__: in case of idioms, proverbs, and expressions, always retain the meaning of the 
source string in your translation. A literal word-by-word translation is not acceptable if the 
meaning of the source string gets lost. Example: “Break a leg” → “In bocca al lupo”. \\
__**REPEATED WORDS**__: if the source text has repeated words that do not seem to serve any 
purpose in the intended meaning, please do not include the extra words in the translation. 
Example:  “I went I went to the park” → “I went to the park” 
FILLER WORDS: do not include filler words like “uh”, “hmm”, etc. in your translations. 
Example: “My weekend was um uh not too bad” → “My weekend was not too bad”. 
INTERJECTIONS: words like “oups”, “yikes”, “yay”, “gosh”, etc. should be considered part 
of the text and should be kept in the target language/translated. 
GRAMMAR AND SPELLING: we expect grammatically correct translations without 
spelling errors. Spell checker is integrated in Oneforma and available directly in the webapp. 
To launch the check, click on this button in each string you want to check: 
{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img5_translation_guidelines.jpg?400 |}}

__**GENDER**__: if the source sentence has a specific gender, it should be translated into the 
same gender in the target. If the source language doesn't support a specific gender and you 
need to choose one in the target language, for e.g. pronouns when translating from English 
into German, Spanish etc., choose a random gender. Do not always choose male or female. \\
__**STYLE AND FORMALITY**__: if the source sentence contains a level of formality, try to 
replicate the same level of formality/politeness in the target unless this would be perceived 
as unnatural by the target audience. If the source sentence does not provide a level of 
formality (e.g. English), translate with an informal style by default, unless this would be 
perceived as unnatural by the target audience (like in Japanese, where formal is the more 
accepted form). \\
__**POLITE WORDS**__: if using ‘polite’ words (like 'please') is not common or expected in the 
target, please omit them (this should not be considered an Omission error during review). 
SWEAR WORDS/VULGAR CONTENT: do not omit any parts of the source content and 
do not change the original tone of the sentence. If source contains swear words, politically 
incorrect expressions, vulgar comments, etc. please keep it in target as well by conveying 
the same meaning and tone. If you do not feel comfortable with the content of the string and 
do not want to translate it, feel free to skip the hit. \\
__**NUMBERS**__: keep numbers as is (keep the “same style”). That means written-out numbers in the source should be translated into written-out numbers in the target and Arabic numerals (123) in the source should be transferred as Arabic numerals (123) in the target. Please stick to this rule even if it might be unusual/rare in the target 
language. Examples: \\
▪ 123 → 123 \\
▪ two plus two equals four → zwei plus zwei ist gleich vier \\
__**THOUSAND/DECIMAL SEPARATOR**__: any formatting of the numbers, for e.g thousand and decimal separators needs to be modified to fit the target language. For example, given English to German translation, “123,000” should be translated to “123.000”. \\

__**DATES**__: dates need to be formatted based on the target language but remaining close to 
the source format as much as possible. For example, given English to French translation, 
“02/10/2015” should be translated to “10/02/2015”. \\
__**TIME**__: time indication/hours need to be formatted based on the target language but 
remaining close to the source format as much as possible. For example, given English to 
Italian translation, “5:30 PM” should be translated to “17:30”. \\
__**CURRENCIES**__: currency names should be translated (not converted). For example, given 
English to Spanish translation, “8000 crowns” would be “8000 coronas”. “18 dollars” would 
be “18 dólares”. \\
__**UNITS OF MEASUREMENT**__: **Never convert** units even if the target language uses 
different metric systems. Translation with converted units are not acceptable. Example: 75 
Fahrenheit should not change into 25 Celsius (75 F should be translated to 75 F). 6 inches 
should not change into 15.24 cm. \\
__**SYMBOLS**__: symbols can be switched if one variant is more common in the target language. 
For example, given English to German translation, “$125 dinner” might be translated to “125 
USD Abendessen”. \\
__**FORMATTING**__: The format of the source text should be maintained in the target languages 
unless target language has a pre-defined syntax. Example: “123” should be translated as 
“123” and not as “one hundred and twenty-three”. Example: “I am so happy!!!!!!!!!” should be 
translated by maintaining the same number of “!” in the target. \\
__**PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION**__: preserve source punctuation/capitalization as 
much as possible (especially if the content is informal, like in chats, social media posts, etc.), 
consistent with common usages in the target language. For example, if the source sentence 
includes several question marks, explanation marks, dots etc. please copy this punctuation 
as is into the target. If the source sentence starts lowercase, do not start the target sentence 
uppercase. Please note that if the source has enough intentional punctuation, correct any 
incorrect or missing ones. \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img6_translation_guidelines.jpg?600 |}}

However, some punctuation/capitalization adjustments may be needed in the target 
language for those cases where the source contains symbols that do not exist in the target 
or other grammar restraints. \\
**Note**: be sure to type symbols such as quotation marks (e.g. “ ”) using the target language 
keyboard set. Avoid typing using other keyboard set that is not the target language one 
because this can lead to inconsistencies. \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img7_translation_guidelines.jpg?600 |}}

__**EXCEPTION**__: when the source is clearly FORMAL, you should modify and adapt the 
punctuation to what is expected in the target language. Although most of the times we do not 
have the context of the strings, you can sometimes assume the nature of the source by the 
content, the style or the language used in it.  \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img8_translation_guidelines.jpg?600 |}}

In case of doubts, if the source is ambiguous and you cannot clearly tell whether it’s 
formal/informal, please assume it is informal and preserve source punctuation/capitalization 
as much as possible. \\
__**MENTIONS AND HASHTAGS**__: keep @mentions and #hashtags as in source. Example: I 
don't like @PapaJohn pizza #cardboard #evil → no me gusta la pizza de @PapaJohn 
#cardboard #evil \\
__**CODE & TECHNICAL TEXT**__: links , html tags, development code, text usually in English 
wrapped with <>, {}, [] or other type of coding language should not be translated. The 
checkbox “garbled text” should be marked in these cases. Example: “<head>” “{top:-
30px;position:absolute;right }”, “xmlHttp.open("GET", true)”, etc. Additionally, there are other 
instances of text referring to a UI, a code, or an instruction where it does not need to be 
translated.  \\

__**Example**__: text STOP to stop receiving message → translate everything except the word, 
“STOP” because this is a text message instruction where the word needs to be texted as is 
for the service to work correctly. \\

__**TAGS**__: You might encounter tags (words surrounded by brackets) in the source text: 
[redacted_name], [redacted_address], [redacted_email], [redacted_id], [redacted_number], 
[redacted_url], [redacted_words], etc. You should treat tags as substitutes for the described 
word or phrase, and translate them according to the context. The tag should be present in 
the translation as it is; you should NOT translate tag contents. \\
__Gendered articles__: Please note that some languages might require gendered articles before 
some tags, like the address tag. Please do not include a gendered article before the tag, you 
should treat the tag as if the gendered articles were included inside the tag. \\

{{ :isaac_project:en:human_translation_instructions_v311:img9_translation_guidelines.jpg?400 |}}


__**EMOJIS**__: copy emojis directly from source into the target. Do not change them, even if they 
are incomplete (like :-‘). If the source sentence uses an emoji to replace a word that is 
essential to the sentence meaning, then translate with the inferred word (without omitting the 
emoji). Example: “The is red” should be translated like if it were “The apple is red”. \\
__**BUSINESS AND PRODUCT NAMES**__: keep business names and product names as-is 
with proper capitalization. Examples: Facebook → Facebook, ebay → eBay. Exception: if a 
company/product has been officially marketed in another country under a different name, 
you should use the official name for the target country. Examples: “Diet Coke” would be 
“Coca-Cola Light” in Italian; “Algida” would be “Frigo”, “Miko”, or “Eskimo” depending on the 
target country.  \\
__**PROPER NAMES**__: proper names of people should NOT be changed unless they are 
historical names widely recognized in each language. Example: Columbus > Colón. 
Transliteration can be used as long as the names are the same as in source. Example for 
Serbian: "Shakespeare" > "Šekspir". Other names (e.g. names of places and languages) 
should be translated when the name is rendered differently in the source and target 
languages. For example, Warsaw in Polish should be Warszawa, Cologne in German should 
be Köln and Spain in Spanish should be España. \\
__**APP NAMES**__: keep well known app names as in source if there is no official translation. 
Example: Skype → Skype \\
__**NAMES OF LAWS, ACTS, ORGANIZATIONS**__: keep as in source the names of laws, 
acts, organizations, etc. that belong to a specific country. Example:  'Defense of Marriage 
Act'. For international organizations or international documents, i.e., 'Universal Declaration of 
Human Rights', please use the standard and approved translations for the target. \\
__**MOVIE/BOOK/SONG/SHOW TITLES**__: if there is no official/culturally relevant translation 
for the title, keep the one in the source. If there is an official translation or adaptation that is 
more familiar to the target locale, please use that one. Example: “Harry Potter and the 
Philosopher’s Stone” should be translated into French as “Harry Potter à l'école des 
sorciers” because that was the title of the French version of the same book. “Twinkle, 
twinkle, little star” might be translated into Korean using the corresponding Korean-language 
song “반짝 반짝 작은 별”. \\

__**QUERIES**__: If you have linguistic queries or doubts about the instructions, raise a ticket to 
our Query Management System Global Query (C837-Isaac projects) by selecting “HT” under 
the Isaac scope field. Do not raise tickets in Global Query for non-linguistic topics. If you 
have queries about workflow, rates, payments, or want to report a technical bug (not related 
to linguistic issues), reach out by email to the PMs. If you do not have an account or you 
cannot remember your username, reach out to the PMs by email. If you don’t remember the 
password, you can reset it from the login page. All answers provided outside this tool and by 
third parties/companies are neither official nor reliable for this project. \\


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