Real-Time Translation, Word by Word

Elena Arroyo

If you work for a global company or browse many Web sites with an international focus, Accent Software's WordPoint can help you understand words written in another language. WordPoint is an interactive translation utility that works with a variety of Windows applications. It performs translations automatically, without requiring you to cut, paste, or copy. Just point your cursor at the word in question, and WordPoint provides a list of likely equivalents in multiple languages. You can use WordPoint to translate between English and Hebrew, Dutch, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

WordPoint is useful, but it won't solve all your problems. Unlike other programs available from Accent, as well as competitors such as Transparent Language, WordPoi nt won't translate an entire sentence or paragraph at a time. It is strictly for use on a word-by-word basis. Also, it may give you several translations for any given word, leaving you to guess which one is the relevant ch oice. This guess is sometimes made harder, because the program translates any verb, no matter what tense, only into the present infinitive (e.g., tracked or tracking is translated as to track).

I think WordPoint is most helpful if your job requires that you view an occasional spreadsheet or document from an international office, or for situations in which you understand most of a document in another language but get stuck on a certain word. At just $29.99, WordPoint is a useful utility, but you'll need to look elsewhere for more comprehensive language-translation software.

---

Where to Find

WordPoint.....................$29.99
Accent Software
Colorado Springs, CO
Phone:    719-579-3403
E-mail:   info@accentsoft.com
Internet: http://www.accentsoft.com

---

Translate As You Read

screen_link (37 Kbytes)