Frequently Asked Questions
Translation Workspace includes tools and technologies for a global workforce. This next-generation cloud computing system combines advanced Live AssetsTM functionality with proven performance, and delivers unparalleled value and return on investment for all participants. In this section, you can find the answers to commonly asked Translation Workspace questions. See how you can take advantage of our solution, and produce more with the right people and the right tools.
Key Features
What is Translation Workspace?
Translation Workspace is a hosted Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution available to all participants in the localization supply chain. Both buyers and providers of language services can access the same advanced language assets functionality in an innovative, pay-for-use subscription model.
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What are the components of Translation Workspace?
Translation Workspace provides server-based Translation Memories (TMs), glossaries, and review packages (collectively "linguistic assets"), and Translation Workspace Clients (Microsoft Word Plug-in, XLIFF Editor, Online Review Client). With the Translation Workspace Web interface, you can:
- Create and manage large TMs and glossaries
- Share linguistic assets in real-time over the internet with all those working on a project, so translations become available to everyone on the project instantaneously
- Link your internet-enabled linguistic assets together to form massive reference resources for yourself or for teams that you outsource to, while keeping the underlying information separate and protected
- Create review packages that can be shared and accessed by reviewers in a Web-based interface
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What are the benefits of Translation Workspace?
Translation Workspace is designed for freelancers, LSPs managing translation projects, and enterprises who need content translated. In addition, the GeoWorkz Directory is available to users to search for other subscribers.
Freelancers
If you are a freelance translator, you can create new TMs and glossaries yourself, import TMs you currently manage, filter files in preparation for translation, and work on projects for other subscribers. Translation Workspace gives you all the tools you need to do your work.LSPs
If you are an LSP, you can configure and use Translation Workspace to manage linguistic assets and perform pre- and post-processing tasks. Content owners may provide you access to their linguistic assets, which can in turn be shared with subscribed translators.Enterprises
If you have content you need translated, you can use Translation Workspace to create linguistic assets and perform file preparation and post-processing. You can provide linguistic assets to LSP and freelance subscribers, or your vendors can perform these services for you while you maintain control of your linguistic assets.
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What is the GeoWorkz Directory?
The GeoWorkz Directory is a platform-side subscriber list. Subscribers can create a profile for themselves or their organization, and be discovered by other subscribers, system users, and guest users.
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What are the differences between Translation Workspace subscribers, system users, and guests?
Translation Workspace has three types of users:
Subscriber:
- Owns the management of the subscription including plan selection and payment information
- Can create Live Assets and share them with other subscribers
- Can accept Asset Alias tokens from other subscribers, to connect to shared linguistic assets
- Is automatically created in Translation Workspace, where other system users can be created
- Can purchase licenses and words
- Can consult the GeoWorkz Directory
- Can create and manage a GeoWorkz Directory entry
- Has access to support and training
System users:
- Can work in Translation Workspace with permissions granted by privileged system users
- Can consult the GeoWorkz Directory
- Have access to support and training
Guest users:
- Are registered to receive email promotions on webinars and new products
- Are registered to browse the GeoWorkz Directory only
- Can purchase any available plan
- Note: The GeoWorkz team can delete a guest user at any time for any reason
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What is the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model?
SaaS is used to refer to the provision of and access to commercially available software via the Web. Translation Workspace is SaaS because it offers on-demand access to the industry's most advanced linguistic asset tools without the costly and time-consuming infrastructure investment associated with on-premise systems. Lionbridge guarantees security, high availability and response time with each subscription.
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What are the advantages of SaaS-based linguistic asset management?
Unlike other TM systems, Translation Workspace hosts linguistic assets securely in a web accessible location. Assets from multiple projects and workgroups are easily linked to increase efficiency. Translators access Translation Workspace server via the Internet, using the Translation Workspace web interface or one of the two lightweight translation clients. Updates are posted back to the Live Assets in real-time. With this advanced, Internet-based architecture, valuable assets are no longer stored on dozens of machines around the world. Instead, Translation Workspace allows secure, centralized management of TMs and glossaries, facilitating greater efficiency and consistency in the translation process — and better protection for sensitive data.
The Translation Workspace SaaS-based approach to Live Assets management has a number of advantages:
- Better control and utilization of valuable linguistic assets
- Lower transaction costs related to translation asset handling and management
- Improved collaboration among translators
- Greater reuse due to sequencing of TMs
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What are Live AssetsTM?
Your linguistic assets (TMs and glossaries) can be thought of as "live" because they can be updated from anywhere at any time by subscribers with access permissions. Updates are instantaneously available to all. Based on ground-breaking asset sharing privacy functionality, globally-distributed teams of linguists can contribute to and reference centralized assets in real time, introducing key efficiencies into the production process. Live Assets are self-maintaining, facilitating process-driven management and eliminating costly synchronization work. With near-zero latency and response time measured in milliseconds, Live Assets increase speed of work, reduce internal language asset management costs, and contribute to lower overall localization spend.
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What is Asset AliasingTM?
Asset Aliasing is the process of sharing linguistic assets between subscribers, without risk. The owner - or issuer - maintains control of their linguistic assets and can decide how long other subscribers - or recipients - should have access to them. Identities of both the issuers and recipients are protected during the aliasing process.
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What is a tenancy?
When you subscribe to Translation Workspace, you are given a tenancy, which is your workspace. Your tenancy is your own space within Translation Workspace that contains your users, workgroups, and linguistic assets - the full working environment. You control your tenancy and decide what, if anything, you want to share with others as you execute work in Translation Workspace. To login, you need your tenancy name as well as your username and password, so this is an important credential to remember.
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Subscription Information
What does purchasing words mean in Translation Workspace?
In order to create and work with TMs and glossaries in Translation Workspace, a subscriber must purchase words. When you purchase words, you are buying the number of source words you expect to query against your linguistic assets each month during pretranslation and interactive translation. The Translation Workspace server counts the words as they are accessed. A subscriber only needs to purchase a plan with a minimum number of words if only working on linguistic assets provided by other subscribers.
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How is my word usage measured?
Word usage is measured against the linguistic assets that you own. The manager of your subscription can access GeoWorkz to view a daily update on word consumption—that is, the number of words accessed in your TMs.
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How does word metering work?
The words balance in a tenancy is consumed as content is translated using TMs owned by the subscriber. Translation Workspace reports the tenancy’s daily word usage. When the subscriber’s TMs are queried during translation, words are debited from the purchased words balance. If the TM is made available to users outside the tenancy by issuing an Asset Alias token, the queries made by those users are debited from the original TM owner’s purchased word balance. Users are not charged for work they do using TMs owned and aliased to them by other tenancies.
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How does word metering work for Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Thai?
When the language setting for the source content is Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Thai, Translation Workspace analysis reports count the number of all characters including punctuation, but not white spaces. Then, Translation Workspace programmatically applies a ratio to these character counts before passing the results to the metering engine used for word usage charges.
The per language ratios are as follows:
- Chinese (Simplified) source: 2.8 characters to 1 word
- Chinese (Traditional) source: 2.8 characters to 1 word
- Japanese source: 3 characters to 1 word
- Korean source: 3.3 characters to 1 word
- Thai source: 6 characters to 1 word
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What operations are metered for word usage?
Any segment open operation from a Translation Workspace Client (Microsoft Word Plug-in, XLIFF Editor, and Online Review) or Translation Workspace Tools is metered. When a user opens a segment – either a single segment during an interactive translation or a collection of segments during pre-translation – the system deducts the number of source words in the opened segments from the balance of words in the subscriber's plan. Concordance search, analysis, and terminology lookup operations are NOT metered.
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If the same segment is opened twice, is it metered twice?
Translation Workspace has a system-wide 60-day metering period. The first time a segment is opened, it is flagged as having been metered. If the same segment is opened again in the 60-day metering period, it is not counted again against the word balance.
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Are different TM match levels metered differently?
TM match percentage is not a factor in metering, as only source words in opened segments are counted.
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In the case of aliased assets, who gets charged – the issuer or the recipient?
When an asset is aliased, the issuer of the alias is charged for any usage of that TM. If the recipient re-aliases the TM to another tenancy (for example, an agency re-aliases the TM to a freelancer), any work done using the alias (by the original recipient or the user it is re-aliased to) is charged to the owner of the original TM.
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Are background TMs metered as well?
Segment queries resulting in a match from a background-linked TM are metered against the foreground working TM. Source word counts are associated with the working TM, regardless of the origin of the actual match or non-match.
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Can I roll my words over if I do not use them all during my subscription period?
Words are provided as part of the subscriber's current plan, and cannot be "rolled over" from period to period or into another plan. When a plan expires, the available words in that plan also expire.
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How do I cancel my account?
You can cancel your account via a Cancel button in the Translation Workspace tab of the “My account” section at GeoWorkz.com. Your cancellation will take effect at the end of your current billing cycle—monthly or yearly. When your account is cancelled, you assets will be deleted, and your tenancy deleted, so export any assets you need to keep prior to the cancellation date. Annual plans have no cancellation fee. Monthly plans have a cancellation fee equal to 3 months of the subscription fee.
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Can I transfer my words to another subscriber?
Words are provided as part of the subscriber's current plan, and cannot be transferred to another subscriber.
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How many “words” should my plan include?
It depends on how often you will use your own TMs for translation projects. Word usage is metered against the owner of the TM. If you plan to use your own TMs to perform the translation, either in your own tenancy or by aliasing them for others to use during translation, you should purchase as many words per month as are likely to be translated. If, instead, you plan on working only with TMs aliased to you, the owner of the TM is charged for the word usage, and you can purchase the minimum number of words.
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How many licenses do I need?
Purchased licenses are available for assignment to individual system users. You may configure more system users than the quantity of licenses, however, each user in a subscription must have an assigned license to use Translation Workspace.
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How do I get Support?
GeoWorkz provides a Support page where subscribers and system users can access reference materials and troubleshooting information. Access to log a support request is available to all system and subscriber users with a valid license. Subscriber users have the option to purchase an Extended Support plan which provides access to advanced feature support for their system users.
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What is Extended Support?
Extended Support is an optional addition to your subscription, and can be added at any time. With the Extended Support plan, you get personalized assistance with the advanced features of Translation Workspace, such as:
- Penalty and Premium TM linking
- Live Asset Aliasing™
- Permissions management
- Review management
- Translation client configuration and usage
Lionbridge experts can offer extensive knowledge on these in-depth topics.
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Purchasing Options
How do I subscribe to Translation Workspace?
To subscribe and get started with Translation Workspace, please select a plan from Products > View All Plans. Your user account will get created during the checkout process.
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What are the available plans?
Each Translation Workspace plan includes a base allocation of words and licenses in the subscription fee. Please reference Products > View All Plans for a list of available subscription plans.
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What if I need additional licenses?
If additional licenses are required during the billing cycle, you can add licenses with a supplemental plan. For each additional license above the base allocation, the subscriber is billed on a per license basis.
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What if I need more words than included in my subscription plan?
Every subscription plan has a base allocation of available words. If additional pay-as-you-go words are required, the subscriber is billed on a per word basis for each additional word above the base allocation.
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What currencies can be used to pay for my plan?
Payments can be made in Euro or US Dollars.
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Is there a trial version?
Guest user accounts can be used to browse the GeoWorkz Directory, but to work within Translation Workspace, you need a subscription. Free trials are available for you to try Translation Workspace for a limited time. The free trial lets you enjoy all the features and benefits of a subscription, with no risk and no commitment.
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Is there a student version?
At this time a student version is not available.
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What payment methods are accepted?
Payments can be made using a credit or debit card with a VISA, MasterCard, or JCB logo; or with a PayPal account.
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What are my payment installment options?
Plans are available in monthly or yearly installment options.
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Compatibility
Can I export my linguistic assets?
Yes, Translation Workspace is compatible with many common formats used by other translation software packages. However, the exported linguistic asset is no longer a Live AssetTM.
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Can I import my linguistic assets into Translation Workspace?
Yes, Translation Workspace is compatible with many common formats used by other translation software packages. Importing your linguistic assets will turn it into live data.
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More Information
Where can I find information about upcoming events?
Please reference Resources > Webinars and Resources > Training for a list of upcoming events.
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In what languages is Translation Workspace available?
At this time, Translation Workspace interfaces are available in English only.
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How long has Translation Workspace been available?
Translation Workspace is powered by LogoportTM, Lionbridge's own Translation Engine. Logoport has been available since 2000 and has been used exclusively by Lionbridge and their customers since 2005, but is now available for general use as Translation Workspace.
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Is Translation Workspace secure?
Translation Workspace runs on a best-in-class SLA backed by a SAS 70 Type II certified data center with high availability, disaster recovery, and business continuity.
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What are the privacy policies?
Please refer to the privacy policy at the bottom of any GeoWorkz web page.
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What are the system requirements for using Translation Workspace?
For best performance, we suggest a broadband Internet connection and a current web browser. If you are using the Microsoft Word Plug-in, you must have a valid license for Microsoft Word 2003 or Word 2007.
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