How to: CAT tool translation on mobile phone

There’s something I’d like to share with the translator community; I’ve figured out how to run a CAT tool on my Nokia N900 mobile phone.

This is the phone of geeks, anyway, featuring a full Linux operating system and root access (admin rights) to let you customise any aspect of the device. It even has Skype integrated; another bonus for a translator on the move.

Now, the CAT tool is the open-source (source code shared freely at no cost), cross-platform (PC, Linux, Mac) OmegaT. I’ve been singing its praises for several years now, much preferring it to the slower, more cumbersome CAT tools.

This may be just a novelty, but it’s great to know that I can use a CAT tool when not in the office. I don’t know if this is a first, translation tools on a mobile phone, but so far I haven’t been able to find it anywhere else online.

Here is a (very) brief rundown of how to set it up:

  • get hold of a Nokia N900
  •  download and install the easydebian image (instructions on maemo.org, takes an hour)
  •  download the Linux OmegaT archive
  • open and extract in easydebian
  •  run OmegaT.jar (wait a minute for it to start)
  • import your OpenOffice, rtf or txt files and get to work!

And now, for your viewing pleasure, some screenshots of OmegaT running on the N900:

CAT tool on mobile phone

Close-up of CAT tool on phone

CAT tool on mobile phone

Thanks for reading. I do translation from French and Swedish to English, so if that's useful to you, feel free to connect and message me on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Published by and tagged linux and translation using 227 words.

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