There are all sorts of tools out there, specialised tools doing just one part of the process and comprehensive tools that try to do nearly everything, and they range from free to expensive. That last term is relative of course, relative to your budget, your turnover, your expectations.

As I don’t yet have a huge amount of work as a translator (read “not making a lot of money”), I decided I couldn’t yet afford one of the big players in the field, so I went for one of the free packages, also to get an idea of how everything works and fits together. Similis is a free translation software package that includes the basic functions – manages translation memory, glossaries, alignment and works with both word and open-office files – but it wasn’t always free, so I’m assuming that development has probably stopped and support is probably limited. There is however a very detailed user manual.

I’ve used it for a few weeks on small projects, word files from 2 to 20 pages with and without graphics. In order to use all the functions, you need to get a free licence. It has an internal dictionary for several languages which however I didn’t find very useful. Not all terms were available and those that were I found not particularly appropriate, at least in my field (electronics, computing). In files that include images, the translation environment doesn’t show these images, so you need to have the original document open at the same time. However they are correctly included in the final translated document. After doing the translation, it’s possible to have the program perform an automatic alignment, which can (and should) then be manually edited. In this process, phrases and their translated versions are matched up so that they can be used in future translation projects.

I don’t know if it actually helped me translate better or faster – there is always a learning curve associated with these tools – but it did allow me to become familiar with the workflow and the main mechanisms involved. And I’m hoping that the translation memory and terminology files that I was able to export in csv format will be able to be used in the future with other tools. In any case it’s an exciting field and I intend to remain abreast of developments in this area.

In the courtyard for the meal

In the gardens for the ceremony

If you want to see some more pictures, just go to their website

Our initial impression, after leaving Berlin and heading east towards the Polish border, was one of great stillness – very few villages, few people about, lots of forest, heathland and huge fields, not many cars, no billboards, no supermarket music – and it felt very good ! Except for the resorts on the Baltic coasts, this was how it was for most of the trip – a lot of nature, as we had expected and wished.

A Strange Church

Crossing the canal over into Poland

In order to limit weight, we took along no camping gear, deciding to stay in hostels where possible. Just as well, as other than along the Baltic coast, we came across very few camping grounds, and those on the coast were huge and overcrowded, miles and miles of tents and caravans parked virtually on top of each other – horrible !

At the Jabelsee

As an experiment, I took along only one pair of shoes for both cycling and walking. I had seen them recommended on some other cycling blog and they turned out to be perfect, so I can fully recommend them – the Arroyo Pedal from Keen.

Riding north along the Oder

We passed many wind farms

I also have to give a special mention to the E6 which is part of the Eurovelo program of  long-distance bike paths across Europe. This one allowed me to ride over 400 kms from Alsace down to the centre of France mostly along rivers and canals. Only a few sections are on roads where infrastructure (bridges, paths etc) have not yet been completed. A great  way to move (fairly) quickly whilst avoiding traffic and enjoying beautiful river vistas.

Doubs river

Canal near Loire

More photos here if you’re interested:

NE Germany August 2011

Viola & Gaute in Oslo botanical gardens

The evening of that day was also special as I had the chance to go and see live – and mainly hear – for the first time, one of my favourite pianists. Tord Gustavsen is a brilliant musician, emphasizing emotion and atmosphere more than virtuosity, which he has but doesn’t need to show off all the time. He played solo in a church in Oslo and his choice of pieces for the program and the setting went together perfectly. Both he and the audience were in such a state of meditation, even trance, that applause between pieces seemed inappropriate and so he played on uninterrupted to the end. It was a magical moment.

Tipica Toulouse, Ausonne

We also play well-known arrangements that are publicly available (Piazzolla, Troilo, Exposito, Salgan…). The musical themes are often quite simple, but their arrangement into a successful, danceable piece of music is a highly specialized task and in fact was often left to specialists who excelled in this art. Towards the end of the year we will share the results of our rehearsals by performing several concerts in and around Toulouse. This year the program contains about 12 pieces, of which 2 are waltzes (tango vals), 4 are milongas and the rest tangos. Yesterday we had one of our monthly practice days followed by a small concert (for dancers) in the evening.

Tipica Toulouse, Ausonne

A great pleasure and satisfaction comes from playing this often  incredibly sophisticated music and seeing that it can be successfully danced to.

Nicholson River near Bairnsdale

East Gippsland Rail Trail, past Bruthen

The trail starts just across the Mitchell river bridge, to the right of the road. The surface is very good and initially goes through flat country. The crossing of the Nicolson river is a majestic moment – relative of course to the previous comparatively rural monotony. It’s a beautiful day once again.

The trail then winds its way through mostly forest on a compact earthen surface. Bruthen is a small, pleasant town with a few cafes and a good stop for lunch. It also has its own, newly-opened micro-brewery; unfortunately the time (middle of the day) and circumstances (another 40 km to ride) meant I had to forego the pleasure of tasting their brew.

Gippsland Lakes Discovery trail

The Discovery Trail starts soon after Bruthen, it’s a narrow winding path through the forest, mostly with a good surface, but steep at times with debris often on the path. Wide, heavy-duty tyres are definitely necessary here. This path follows an old tram-line along Mississippi Creek, built early in the 20th century for transporting rocks down to the coast from an inland quarry. As it’s mostly downhill, it’s a pleasant coast – I definitely wouldn’t come up this path. Where the trail comes out to meet the road, it’s unsealed surfaces – and those horrible corrugations, the bane of cyclists – for about 7 km before meeting the bitumen. From here it was a short ride in the afternoon sun to Lake Bunga on the coast and to a few days rest in a beautiful environment.

Bunga Haven

Bunga Haven is a multi-owner community-oriented cooperative which runs a property/house for the enjoyment of its members. The house from the 1920′s is on a small block overlooking the lake and away from most other houses in the area. The deserted Ninety-mile beach is just a 10-minute walk down the hill.

A few days later, I cycled back to Bairnsdale on a wet, misty morning through green forests and rich pasture land. I then took the train back to Melbourne. I had seen and experienced much, met a lot of nice people, had exhilarating moments on the bike, shared experiences with strangers. Even though I had a destination for this trip, the point in touring is not getting from A to B, it’s all about the journey, the things you see, do and feel along the way. It’s the inner transformation which is important, you don’t come back the same person as when you set out.

Gippsland is an area rich in many aspects, vegetation, geology, industry, history and the tourist information office will tell you all about the things to see and do. It’s therefore all too easy to forget that before this area was “opened up” by Europeans, it was inhabited by a group of indigenous Australians, the Kurnai, and that all of these were, over a period of about 20 years from 1840 on, mistreated, hunted, killed and finally exterminated by the newcomers. A number of information panels along some of the trails and roads talk about this aspect of our history, but it’s certainly not common knowledge. More information here.

]]> http://swingtranslations.com/2011/03/bairnsdale-to-lake-bunga/feed/ 0 http://swingtranslations.com/2011/03/maffra-to-bairnsdale/ http://swingtranslations.com/2011/03/maffra-to-bairnsdale/#comments Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:10:14 +0000 wolfgang http://swingtranslations.com/?p=289 Continue reading →]]> The Cambrai Hostel at Maffra is a working hostel, full of young people working in the area, most of them from overseas on a

Cambrai Hostel

one-year working permit and staying in the area for weeks or months working on farms, milking cows, picking grapes, picking vegetables. This is a laid-back, comfortable hostel run like a backpacker’s by Ron and Marg. Its name comes from the big converted house that was owned by an English doctor who came here after WWI having seen the battlefields in the north of France near Cambrai where the British first used tanks.

The rail trail took me on to Stratford on the river Avon just 8 km away, too early for a coffee stop and too early for lunch, so upon recommendations from my hostel hosts, I pushed on to the north in order to avoid the highway to Bairnsdale and see some interesting country. In the next four hours, until I reached Lindenow, only 4 cars passed me, so it’s only logical that I found not one shop, this being very empty country, mostly native forest, but also a lot of (what looked like) Radiata plantations past Stockdale, as well as some grazing country.

Lindenow

Lindenow is on the Mitchell River flood plain, intensive, irrigated crops here and quite a lot of activity but still no shop, just a pub ! I had enough water and muesli bars to keep going, so I pushed on to Bairnsdale, my stop for the night, where I arrived just after five, so too late for the cafes and the Information Centre. For travellers, the period from 5pm to 7pm in Australia, if you’re in a town, is a bit like a void, most places and shops – especially cafes – have closed and it’s really too early for a meal in pubs or restaurants, and most people are going home, so there’s not much to do unless there’s a really nice park and the weather is good and you have a good book; otherwise it can be very depressing.

Grand Terminus Hotel

The Grand Terminus Hotel, not far from the railway station as the name suggests, and indeed quite grand, has good rooms at reasonable prices, and I was able to catch up on local and world news – the NZ earthquake, the Middle East uprisings. It also serves delicious meals, in fact I had one of the best of the trip; perhaps also because I had little to eat during the day.

Chester Hill Cottage at Won Wron

If you’re ever in this area check this out.

Yesterday was a long day and the morning ride up over the Strzelecki Ranges was indeed challenging. But I’ve done harder, the road was good, and not a lot of traffic. Weather was overcast and a bit misty so I have no good photos. The ride down the other side was fast, it’s a long steep slope and I must have been close to 90… and praying the tyres wouldn’t blow. Apart from the odd house, this is all forest. Down on the plain, the highway goes past the huge Loy Yang power station and coal pit. In Traralgon after a late lunch I decide to push on as there’s a backpackers Hostel in Maffra, and I arrive there pleasantly tired in the evening after a lovely, mainly flat, sunny ride

Glengarry, start of trail

through typical Gippsland pasture country. This afternoon ride was supposed to be on the Gippsland Plains Rail trail, however I didn’t spend much time on the trail itself. It only really starts at Glengarry, and here the trail is very uneven with coarse gravel including large sharp stones – very slow going. After a km or so I got back on the road – bicycles do prefer bitumen – as there was virtually no traffic, and in any case, the trail runs parallel to the road a lot of the time. The good surface only starts at 9 km west of Maffra and goes through to Stratford. That’s just 17 km; the other 50 km or so aren’t very useful yet, and in fact I didn’t see a single cyclist there.

View Gippsland 2011 in a larger map

My bike at Southern Cross Station

That out of the way, I’ve embarked on a week of cycling through a part of Victoria I don’t know very well, Gippsland, to the east of Melbourne and not so named because of any Gypsum in the area – Gipps is German for plaster – but after an early governor of New South Wales. Heading east from Geelong with destination Lakes Entrance, I wanted to check out several of the Rail Trails along the way. First the Bellarine rail trail to Queenscliff, a pleasant ride through pastures and woodland, though the Bellarine Peninsula is not nearly as flat as I had imagined !

On the Bellarine rail trail

The Queenscliff to Sorrento ferry takes you to the other side of Port Philip bay from where it’s an afternoon ride to Stony Point (about 50 km) where another ferry takes you to Philip Island. On this trip, I decided to carry less weight, so no tent, sleeping bag or other camping gear. There are a number of hostels along the way and it’s a great way to meet people. The Island Accommodation where I stayed is new, well-designed and excellent value for money.

Day 2 took me to Inverloch via the Bass Coast Rail Trail from Anderson to Wonthaggi – very pleasant off-road riding on a compacted gravel/soil path – then along the coast through Cape

Near Wonthaggi

Paterson with fantastic views here over the cliffs out to sea. Most of the on-road riding here has been fine, there is not much traffic and often there’s a cycle lane.

Coast between Cape Paterson and Inverloch

Day 3 from Inverloch to Foster included the Great Southern Rail Trail from Koonwarra to Foster, one of the most pleasant rides so far. A lot of this trail goes through bush and provides a lot of shade, it also has a very good surface.

I haven’t been able to add the description for the previous days earlier as there are not many public internet access points. In many areas – away from the main traffic corridors -  there is no mobile coverage either, at least not for my provider.

At Foster Youth Hostel I meet John who is cycling from Sydney to Melbourne, he’s English and doing about 70 to 90 ‘miles’ a day. He does two big trips every year and always takes his bike with him. I’m lucky to have a bike here (in Australia, as I live in France), they wouldn’t let my recumbent onto a plane – too heavy and not collapsible !

On the Great Southern rail trail

Day 4 (today) is a shorter ride from Foster to just past Yarram – about 70 km – as tomorrow I have to get over the Strzeleckis to Traralgon and I want to do this early in the day. So far the terrain has been mostly undulating and not far from the coast, tomorrow’s ride will be the first challenge with a pass on the Nyland Highway at 500m. That’s not very high, but the gradients are often steep.