TshwaneDJe Blog

Upcoming TLex presentation

2011-12-04T15:01:00.001+02:00

TLex will be featured in a guest talk by Prof. Gilles-Maurice de Schryver on Wed 7 Dec (at Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland):

http://ifa.amu.edu.pl/fa/node/2872

"Giving dictionary users what they want: Dynamic, real-time content creation with TLex (TshwaneLex) - (the talk develops ideas introduced in the speaker's groundbreaking "Lexicographer's Dreams..." article, now demonstrating how the dreams can actually be implemented in a leading dictionary production suite; the talk applies to any language, but most examples will be from English)"

The venue is Collegium Novum, Adam Mickiewicz University.

Showcase: Longman HAT English - Afrikaans / Afrikaans - Engels

2011-10-31T12:52:00.002+02:00

Two brand new 'Made with TLex' dictionaries: The Longman HAT English - Afrikaans / Afrikaans - Engels School Dictionary (Skoolwoordeboek) and Pocket Dictionary from Pearson Education.

Several advanced features of TLex were used extensively to streamline the production of these dictionaries, including, amongst others, the 'multiple dictionaries from one database' functionality as well as an advanced custom Lua-script-based partial-automated-reversal tailored for this dictionary.

Note we've been quiet on the blog lately because we've been busy - we have many other interesting new things we'll be showcasing here soon!

Recovering software registration details

2011-07-12T00:34:00.001+02:00

Customers who have misplaced their software registration details, but are still in possession of the original email account the registration details were sent to, can now automatically recover their lost activation details via the following form:

Software registration details recovery »

This can also be used if you are not sure which version of a product you own.

If the original email account is not accessible to you, and you need to recover your software license details, then contact us instead.

New tutorial videos

2011-07-01T12:55:00.002+02:00

Several new free tutorial videos have been posted on our YouTube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/tshwanedje

Note for those with YouTube blocked, these can also be downloaded for offline viewing here: http://tshwanedje.com/videos/

tlTerm 2011 Standalone Available

2011-06-29T12:50:00.002+02:00

tlTerm 2011 Standalone is now available!

New features include more fine-grained privileges, new error check filters, improvements to the Character Information tool, new command-line options, new XML merge options, new Watch Folders functionality, DTD editor improvements, and a tool for deleting all tagged entries at once.

tlTerm is available for both Windows and Mac.

Existing tlTerm Standalone users will also get a free upgrade to the latest version. Also, this is a partial pre-release, meaning more features are still to come!

World's most popular forum software, phpBB, now available in Afrikaans

2011-05-20T04:26:00.001+02:00

TshwaneDJe Software and Translation is proud to announce the creation and release of a professionally translated Afrikaans Language Pack for the popular phpBB forum (bulletin board, or online user discussion) software. The Language Pack allows administrators of phpBB-based forums to provide Afrikaans as an optional forum language for their users. It can be downloaded here:

phpBB in Afrikaans »

If you are a user of a phpBB-based forum and would like to see it in Afrikaans, please ask your site administrator to install this!

The translation was done by Estea Fourie, with some help from Samuel Murray. The project was overseen by David Joffe. The work was made possible thanks to partial funding from Pharos Dictionaries, with TshwaneDJe covering the remainder of the cost.

The Language Pack covers all user-facing text strings and emails for ordinary forum users (though not administrator users), and the prosilver languageset, and is based on phpBB version 3.0.8.

About TshwaneDJe

TshwaneDJe are a leading Translation and Software company in South Africa, with a global customer base. We won the 2009 SATI (South African Translators Institute) Award for Outstanding Translation Dictionary for our Northern Sotho - English Dictionary (created and published in partnership with Oxford University Press), and we also created the new Oxford Zulu - English Dictionary (led by Prof. Dr. Gilles-Maurice de Schryver). We have also produced several other electronic and online dictionaries, developed the online dictionary websites for Pharos Dictionaries Online, the WAT (Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal), the Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls and more, and produce the industry-leading TLex dictionary compilation software, as well as tlTerm terminology software, data editing software and more.

We would be interested in obtaining funding to further this project or do other similar projects, and donations or offers of sponsorship would be welcome; please contact us if interested.

Bitcoin now accepted!

2011-05-17T21:16:00.000+02:00

We now accept Bitcoin, the virtual "digital currency", as a payment method!

See http://tshwanedje.com/store/ if you would like to pay with Bitcoin.

BEE Rating Level 4

2011-05-17T21:10:00.002+02:00

Our South African customers may be glad to know that we are now B-BBEE complaint, with a level 4 BEE score! Any qualifying procurement from us can be claimed at the rate of 100%. Please see our B-BBEE page for more details, and all required documentation for our customers.

This does not affect international customers.

The Rosetta@home Project

2011-05-02T04:23:00.001+02:00

And now for something different to our usual news topics: At TshwaneDJe we donate 'spare CPU cycles' (*) to the Rosetta@home project (TshwaneDJe@Rosetta), and we would like to encourage others to also consider contributing (we are now the number three contributor in South Africa!) Rosetta@home is a volunteer-based distributed computing project that, in simple terms, could help cure diseases. Anyone can join and contribute, by running the software on their computer. Other similar projects include Folding@home.

(*) Effectively, a little bit of electricity, bandwidth, and spare time.

New Tutorial Videos for TLex, tlTerm, tlCorpus, tlDatabase

2011-03-07T21:44:00.000+02:00

We have a brand new YouTube channel with free online tutorial and 'tips and tricks' videos for TLex (TshwaneLex), tlTerm, tlDatabase and tlCorpus!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tshwanedje

Please do subscribe and keep an eye on the channel, as we'll be adding more videos soon. Let us know if there are any particular topics you'd like to see covered.

We also offer Web-based training for all our software, contact us if you are interested.

New Mailing List for TLex Users

2011-03-03T12:51:00.000+02:00

There is a new mailing list for TLex (TshwaneLex) users! You can subscribe via the following link:

http://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/tshwanelex-l

This mailing list has been created by one of our users, Dr Claire Bowern at Yale University.

tlDatabase 2011 Now Available For Mac!

2011-01-11T21:32:00.000+02:00

Try It Now »

Showcase: New Website for the 'Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls'

2011-01-06T20:01:00.001+02:00

The new website for the AWS (Afrikaanse Woordelys en Spelreëls / Afrikaans Wordlist and Spelling Rules), by Pharos Dictionaries and Die Afrikaanse Taalkommissie (The Afrikaans Language Commission) is now officially live!

We're pleased to have carried out the implementation of this first phase of the website, which uses our advanced Web publishing software. For Pharos, the site complements the over 20 titles already available at Pharos Dictionaries Online, also implemented by TeDJe.

From the announcement of the Taalkommissie (Language Commission): "'n Eerste weergawe van die aanlyn AWS-woordelyste is klaar! Gaan na www.woordelys.co.za om die AWS se woordelys, afkortingslys en lys van buitelandse geografiese name te raadpleeg. Laat weet asseblief wat julle van die webblad dink!"

Watch this space for further interesting projects coming in the near future!

New Mac release for TLex and tlReader

2011-01-05T19:32:00.000+02:00

New versions of TLex Suite 2010 and tlReader are now available for the Mac!

New Localization: TLex in Lingála

2011-01-04T16:05:00.001+02:00

TLex is now also available in Lingála! Thanks goes to Bienvenu Sene Mongaba for the translation.

This is in addition to other languages such as French, Spanish, Irish and Cilubà. tlReader is also available in other languages such as Polish and Chinese.

Just a reminder that we offer free licenses or upgrades in exchange for translation/localization of any of our software applications. Contact us if you're interested!

Showcase: Oxford Practical Teaching Chemistry Lab Guide CD

2010-12-28T16:50:00.000+02:00

Another product developed by us, the CD-ROM for the Oxford Practical Teaching Chemistry Lab Guide. This product, which is one of a series, is aimed at Natural Sciences and Physical Sciences teachers.

tlDatabase 2011 Beta now available

2010-12-27T16:20:00.000+02:00

tlDatabase 2011 pre-release is now officially available! tlDatabase brings the power of the TLex editor to other types of data.

We're accepting beta sign-ups here.

We expect similar announcements soon for tlCorpus 2011, tlTerm 2011 and TLex Suite 2011, on which development is already progressing quickly; stay tuned.

Just a reminder also that purchases for tlDatabase and tlCorpus will automatically be upgraded through to versions 2012.

We've also made further improvements to our activation system; activating software should henceforth be much simpler.

Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd

2010-12-11T19:07:00.000+02:00

Another new 'Made with TLex' dictionary:

'Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd', Created by Nicoline van der Sijs and her team.

For more examples of dictionaries created with TLex, see our showcase.

TLex Suite 2010, tlTerm 2010 and tlCorpus 2010 Released

2010-10-14T04:34:00.000+02:00

Please see our website for more details on information in this news release.

October 14, 2010: TLex Suite 2010, tlTerm 2010 and tlCorpus 2010 Released

The latest version of our widely recognized dictionary and terminology compilation software, TLex Suite 2010, is now available. This is the fifth major release of our software line, and includes TLex (TshwaneLex), tlCorpus 2010 and tlTerm 2010. Our Electronic Publishing (CD-ROM/Web) software has also been updated extensively.
See below for a more detailed summary of new features. tlDatabase 2010 is also now available, which brings the power of the TLex core editor to any type of data.

TLex Suite 2010 includes tlCorpus and tlTerm, or these may be purchased separately. (SPECIAL OFFER: All customers who purchase tlCorpus 2010 (Standalone) will receive a free upgrade to tlCorpus 2011 next year.)

Translation Services

We offer professional translation services for all major world languages, as well as proofreading, editing, transcription and localization. You can use our website form to quickly get quotes.

New Localizations

tlReader is now available in Polish, Chinese (thanks to Bohan for these), French, and Spanish. TLex is also now available in Irish (thanks to Kevin Scannell for this beta localization).

tlTranslate Translation Memory

Coming soon, tlTranslate 2010 Translation Memory Software: We are currently soliciting beta testers, please see our website if you want to sign up. This Computer-Assisted Translation product supports the industry standards TMX and XLIFF.

Other News

New Oxford Zulu - English / English - Zulu Bilingual Dictionary: In partnership with Oxford University Press, we successfully compiled this new fully corpus-driven dictionary (De Schryver, G-M; ISBN 978-0-19-576554-0). The dictionary is already selling well. Naturally, it was created using TLex.

New Electronic Zulu - English Dictionary: This dictionary (which is incidentally unrelated to the Oxford one) includes advanced Zulu compound-word "smart search" technology, and, as with all our electronic dictionaries, also integrates with Microsoft Word. The dictionary is available from our website.

Summary of New Features

New Features Of TLex Include: A specialised new "auto-sound/image linking" tool allows you to rapidly link thousands of sound, image or video files to their corresponding entries all at once, based on configurable naming conventions. Other new features include video file support, a 'show
whitespace' tool, word count tool, shortcut keys for Lua script-based "macros", a 'field mask' that allows you to easily hide selected fields for exporters, new error checks, extensive and detailed new statistics functionality, and new filters. The RTF export includes a new option to split the output into alphabetic sections. Character Info now includes a new
'search by name' field. There are new data manipulation tools such as a 'split field' function that allows you to split attributes at a given text string (e.g. comma) into multiple elements. The integrated Corpus (F6) tool includes many improvements, as well as new features such as a 'wordlist' command and new sorting
options.

Our Electronic Publishing systems have also seen major improvements, and have been used to publish some major CD-ROM and Web dictionaries, including the prestigious new online dictionary website for the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal ('The Dictionary of the Afrikaans Langage'; a large multi-volume
work spanning nearly 200,000 entries and over 8,000 pages in print), and Pharos Dictionaries Online, which consists of some 580,000 entries across 20 titles. These projects also demonstrate that TLex can readily cope with both very large databases, and highly complex data. Amongst the latest new features are advanced multi-title support, search query scoring/ranking, search auto-completion 'suggester', more
advanced user and subscription management and IP-based authentication, and advanced search queries with boolean
expressions, and support for cellphone-based versions.

tlCorpus 2010 is fully internationalized, can intelligently take advantage of modern multi-core computers to get the best possible performance out of them, and is also capable of handling very large files/corpora. It also features functionality for
auto-detection of languages and encodings to help simplify setup. tlCorpus is also BCP-47-aware. It can also intelligently adapt its sentence-detection routines based on the detected language (e.g. supporting Greek end-sentence punctuation rules).

tlTerm 2010 includes support for the latest standards-based BCP 47 language codes, and also includes an importer for TBX (TermBase eXchange format) files.

tlReader Now Also Available In Polish!

2010-10-06T00:52:00.000+02:00

tlReader, our free viewer application for TLex, tlTerm and tlDatabase files, is now also available in Polish, in addition to Chinese, French, Cilubà, English and Spanish. Thanks again to Bohan for this translation.

tlTerm 5 now available. Free upgrade for tlTerm 4 users.

2010-08-03T15:09:00.000+02:00

tlTerm 5 Standalone (pre-release) is now available. tlTerm brings many of the powerful features of our TLex Dictionary Production Software to terminology/glossary compilation, and includes tools to help translators, such as Microsoft Word Integration. (Try Now »; Buy Now »)

All users of tlTerm 4 Standalone will automatically receive a free upgrade to tlTerm 5 Standalone.

New features of tlTerm 5 include improved TBX compatibility (the industry standard TermBase eXchange format), improvements to the integrated corpus tool, many new advanced document statistics functions, an advanced Word Count tool, an improved Character Information Tool, a 'Show Whitespace' function, numerous new Filters, and more.

New 'Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal' ('Dictionary of the Afrikaans Language') Online Dictionary Website!

2010-07-07T19:25:00.000+02:00

Last month we completed and launched the new online dictionary website for the Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (Elektroniese WAT Aanlyn). This huge work contains nearly 200,000 entries, spans 13 volumes covering letters A to R, and is also available in CD-ROM and hardcopy formats.

Following is the announcement from the WAT's Facebook Page:

Nuwe internetweergawe van die Elektroniese WAT (11 Junie 2010)
Die gebruikers van die Elektroniese WAT op die internet sou op Dinsdag 8 Junie 2010 gesien het dat ons woordeboek nou effens anders lyk as die afgelope sewe jaar.

Die Folio Views-sagteware waarmee die Elektroniese WAT oorspronklik in 2003 geprogrammeer is, word nie meer ondersteun nie. Die maatskappy TshwaneDJe Human Language Technology het die data vir ons omgesit na die TLex Online Dictionary Publishing System (kort vir TshwaneLex Online Dictionary Publishing System). Dit beteken dat nie net die inhoud van die Elektroniese WAT trots Suid-Afrikaans is nie, maar ook die program waarmee soektogte daarin gedoen kan word!

Die huidige intekenaars word nie geraak deur hierdie veranderinge in die agtergrond van die Elektroniese WAT nie. Hulle intekening gaan gewoon voort.

Kontak ons gerus ... met kommentaar

English Translation:

New Version of the Online WAT Website (11 June 2010)
As of 8 June 2010, users of the Electronic WAT may have noticed that the dictionary now looks a bit different than it looked for the past seven years.

The Folio Views software used to build the original Electronic WAT in 2003 is no longer supported. The company TshwaneDJe Human Language Technology converted the data to the TLex Online Dictionary Publishing System (short for TshwaneLex Online Dictionary Publishing System). This means that not only are the contents of the Electronic WAT 'proudly South African', but also the software for using the dictionary!

Existing subscribers will not be affected by these changes taking place in the background.

Feel free to contact us if you have any comments.

More new features for the site are 'coming soon'.

We'll be at EURALEX 2010

2010-07-05T15:52:00.000+02:00

We'll be at EURALEX 2010 (6 to 10 July). We'll be represented by Prof. Gilles-Maurice de Schryver; please pay a visit if you'd like to see our software (for dictionary production and publication, and more) or learn more about what we can offer.

Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary IsiZulu and English Now Available

2010-07-01T13:53:00.013+02:00

In partnership with Oxford University Press, we have created the first major new bilingual Zulu - English Dictionary in 40 years!

Compilation of the dictionary was led by Prof Dr Gilles-Maurice de Schryver.

The dictionary, which is fully corpus-driven, was created using the TLex Dictionary Compilation Software.

Note that this dictionary is complementary to, and not related to, our electronic version of the isiZulu.net dictionary.

TLex 5 Beta Now Available

2010-07-01T05:13:00.000+02:00

We are currently signing up beta testers for TLex 5, the next version of our industry-leading Dictionary Writing System (aka TshwaneLex). Beta testers may get a free copy of the software. The program is open to anyone interested. You can apply online by clicking here.

New Zulu - English Dictionary, Based On IsiZulu.net

2010-06-29T19:39:00.000+02:00

TshwaneDJe now brings you a new Electronic Zulu - English Dictionary that is an offline version of the isiZulu.net Online Zulu - English dictionary. This is a software dictionary that can be installed on your computer.

The dictionary contains around 9,700 Zulu - English entries, and includes advanced Zulu compound-word "smart search" technology, allowing you to search for compound forms such as "sizobanqoba" and getting a breakdown of the component morphemes and search results for each (e.g. "si-zo-ba-nqoba") without requiring grammatical knowledge of the compound word formation - this is a major boon to learners of Zulu, as this area is one of the major challenges for novices. The dictionary also includes a search tool that integrates directly with Microsoft Word, providing immediate search results as you work. Try the dictionary now »

The dictionary was created using our Electronic Dictionary Publishing System. Authors of other works who are interested in publishing in this manner should contact us.

This will be the first of two interesting Zulu-related announcements from us; watch this space for the second one soon.

tlReader Now In Chinese And Other Languages!

2010-06-24T22:50:00.000+02:00

tlReader, our free viewer application for TLex and tlTerm dictionaries and termbases, can now be used in Chinese!

Thanks for the translation goes to the Bohan Foundation, who are working in cooperation with Beijing Foreign Studies University.

This release also includes initial translations of tlReader into French (thanks to Jacky Maniacky), Spanish (thanks to Dr. Ignacio Navascués), and Cilubà (thanks to Prof. N.S. Kabuta).

We offer free copies of our software to users in exchange for translating the software into new languages - please contact us if you are interested!

tlCorpus Beta Available!

2010-06-24T01:57:00.000+02:00

We are currently signing up beta testers for tlCorpus, our new standalone concordance software application. Beta testers will get a free copy of the software. The program is open to anyone interested. You can apply online by clicking here.

Newly Revamped 'Pharos Dictionaries Online' Website

2010-06-17T23:01:00.000+02:00

We are pleased to announce the recent completion of the new Pharos Dictionaries Online website:

This impressive and useful resource contains over 580,000 entries spanning 20 titles, and is a 'must-have' for translators and other language specialists working with Afrikaans. The website was developed by TshwaneDJe using the TLex Dictionary Production System and our Online Dictionary Publishing system for Pharos Dictionaries, a division of NB Publishers (Media24, Naspers).

The website is fully localized into both English and Afrikaans, and includes the following titles:

Frasewoordeboek/Phrase Dictionary
Klassieke Eiename/Classical Names
Groot Tesourus van Afrikaans
Groot Woordeboek/Major Dictionary
New Words/Nuwe Woorde
Verklarende Afrikaanse Woordeboek
Brug/Bridge
Classical Names
Eiendomsekonomie/Property Economics
Bouwoordeboek / Building Dictionary
Ekonomiese en Bedryfswoordeboek/Dictionary of Economics and Business
Oseanologiewoordeboek/Dictionary of Oceanology
Wiskundewoordeboek/Mathematics Dictionary
SA Musiekwoordeboek / SA Music Dictionary
New Business Dictionary/Nuwe Sakewoordeboek
Polisiewoordeboek/Police Dictionary
Tegniese Woordeboek/Technical Dictionary
Teater-TV-Radio-Rolprentwoordeboek/Theatre-TV-Radio-Film Dictionary
Verklarende Biologiewoordeboek
Woordeboek van Regs- en Handelsterme

Translation Services: New languages

2010-05-26T12:45:00.000+02:00

We have added many new languages already for our Language Services: Afrikaans, Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Bosnian, Croatian, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, French, German, Hindi, Icelandic, Italian, Macedonian, Northern Sotho (Sepedi), Norwegian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sesotho, Spanish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Xhosa, Zulu

Translation and Other Language Services: New Division

2010-04-28T04:23:00.000+02:00

We are now able to offer professional translation services, as well as other language services, including interpreting, proofreading, localization and transcription:

TshwaneDJe Language Services »

Immediately, these are available for English and Afrikaans (translation in both directions); we plan to add many more languages (worldwide) soon.

Freelance translators and other language service providers that are interested in offering their services to us can contact us here. We are particularly interested in translators with a focus on quality.

We are excited to be launching this new division in our growing company; these new offerings are complementary to our language software business.

New Kalenjin - English Dictionary!

2010-03-24T14:28:00.000+02:00

We are pleased to announce the publication online and electronically of the 'Kalenjin - English Dictionary' (Samburtaab Ng’aleekaab Kaleenchin):

http://africanlanguages.com/kalenjin/

It is also available in hardcopy.

The dictionary contains over 13,000 entries. The electronic version includes our Microsoft Word Integration functionality, allowing you to instantly see the results of a dictionary search for the word you are standing on as you work.

The author of the dictionary is Dr. Kipnyango Seroney. The TLex Online and Electronic professional publishing solutions were used to publish the online and electronic versions.

tlDatabase Beta Testing Program Now Open!

2010-03-22T22:25:00.000+02:00

We are now signing up beta testers for tlDatabase, our XML-based database software for editing any kind of structured content in a user-friendly way. The goal behind tlDatabase is to bring much of the power that TLex brings to dictionary editing, into other arenas.

Beta testers will obtain a free license of the software. The program is open to anybody who is interested, and there is no cost involved. You can apply online by clicking here.

New Jarai - English Dictionary!

2010-03-01T17:32:00.001+02:00

We are pleased to announce the publication of the 'Preliminary Jarai - English Dictionary', in online and electronic formats:

http://dictionaryq.com/jarai/

The dictionary was created by Lap Minh Siu. It has been published using the TshwaneDJe Online and Electronic professional publishing solutions, and joins our growing complement of other dictionaries published using these systems.

TLex Suite released for Mac!

2010-01-27T19:37:00.000+02:00

TLex Suite (TLex + tlTerm) for the Mac is now available!

NHN Day 2010

2010-01-27T10:54:00.001+02:00

We're presently attending and exhibiting at NHN Day 2010, at the CSIR in Pretoria! (NHN = National HLT Network)

tlReader released for Mac!

2010-01-18T14:40:00.001+02:00

tlReader (the free viewer application for TLex and tlTerm dictionary and terminology files) is now available for the Mac!

Our other products will be available for the Mac soon. A beta TLex for Mac is also already available; contact us if you are interested.

Explanatory Northern Sotho Dictionary Online

2009-12-12T03:22:00.000+02:00

We are pleased to announce that the Explanatory Northern Sotho Dictionary of the Northern Sotho National Lexicography Unit is online again.

AUSTRALEX 2009

2009-11-06T01:08:00.000+02:00

We'll be at AUSTRALEX 2009 in Sydney, November 16-17. Contact us if you want to meet us there!

New Website Section in French!

2009-11-02T20:42:00.001+02:00

eLexicography 2009

2009-10-17T13:37:00.000+02:00

We'll be at the eLexicography 2009 conference next week, both presenting TLex and sponsoring! Visit our stand for a demonstration.

TshwaneDJe / Oxford University Press Dictionary Wins Award!

2009-10-14T18:53:00.000+02:00

The Oxford University Press Northern Sotho - English Dictionary, created in partnership with TshwaneDJe and created with TLex, has won the SATI (South African Translators' Institute) Prize for Outstanding Translation Dictionaries:

The editorial team for the Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: Northern Sotho and English (Editor-in-Chief: Gilles-Maurice de Schryver; Chief compiler: Mamokgabo Mogodi; Chief Linguist: Elsabé Taljard; Publisher: Megan Hall; OUP SA editor: Phillip Louw)

From the Oxford University Press News Release:

Coinciding with International Translation Day on 30 September, Oxford University Press Southern Africa scooped the South African Translators’ Institute award for Outstanding Translation: Dictionaries for the Oxford Bilingual School Dictionary: Northern Sotho – English / English – Northern Sotho, at an awards ceremony held at the University of Johannesburg on 2 October 2009.

This dictionary is the first for Northern Sotho to focus on the needs of school learners in grades 4 to 9, whether they are learning English or Northern Sotho. It's also the first to include key terms from the school curriculum (with bilingual definitions), a guide to pronunciation, sample emails and letters, and help with writing SMSs.

The dictionary is revolutionary in lexicographic terms too: it was the first for an African language to be fully developed from a corpus, using the most modern, internationally accepted dictionary-development processes.

More than two and a half years in the making, it was created by a team of experts including mother-tongue speakers of English and Northern Sotho, as well as experts in dictionary-making. The team was led by Dr Gilles-Maurice de Schryver, Extraordinary Professor in the Xhosa Department at the University of the Western Cape and an Assistant Professor of African Languages and Cultures at the University of Ghent in Belgium. The team was supported by language engineers, and used TshwaneLex, home-grown, state-of-the-art dictionary compilation software developed by David Joffe of TshwaneDJe.

Mamokgabo Mogodi, the main compiler for Northern Sotho, received the prize on behalf of the development team. She explains how she worked: "For each word in the dictionary, I first studied hundreds of lines of text from the corpus. From this I saw how a word was really used and I could work out the different meanings it could have. For each meaning I then selected an authentic example sentence. For the first time I have seen how my own language, Northern Sotho, is actually used."

"We are very excited to have published a dictionary that is so accessible and easy to use," says Managing Director of Oxford University Press Southern Africa, Lieze Kotze, "and to have supported learners of English and Northern Sotho in this way."

The awards strive to promote multilingualism and in particular the use and development of indigenous languages, and promote cross-cultural understanding – a vision shared by Oxford in the development of an ever-expanding range of bilingual dictionaries.

"We're delighted to receive this award recognising both the quality of the work that went into the dictionary and the support it can offer translators, and look forward to publishing more dictionaries in this vital range next year," says Publishing Manager for Dictionaries, Megan Hall.

Frankfurt Book Fair

2009-10-02T14:48:00.001+02:00

A representative of TshwaneDJe will be at the upcoming Frankfurt Book Fair, so if you want to meet with us, or want to arrange a personal demonstration of any of our software solutions, please just contact us!

TshwaneLex on the Mac - First (Development) Screenshot

2009-07-29T03:47:00.000+02:00

It's still very preliminary, but here's the first screenshot of our internal 'in-development' TLex running on the Mac!

We are aiming for the Mac version to be formally available during August or September. (In the meantime, users with Parallels or Crossover can also already use the Windows version on Mac.)

TshwaneLex Suite 4.0 Released

2009-07-27T05:43:00.000+02:00

Well, it's official ... version 4.0 is out. Formal press release here, duplicated below.

July 27, 2009: TshwaneDJe announces the release of TshwaneLex Suite 4.0

Version 4.0 of the standard-setting TshwaneLex dictionary production and termbase software is now available, and has many new features:

Smart Styles - This powerful new feature allows you to create rules of any imaginable complexity to dynamically alter the appearance of fields under different conditions (e.g. different automatic punctuation in front of a field depending on which field precedes it, or automatic highlighting of the most frequent headwords in a different colour).

Microsoft Word Integration.

Entry "Tagging" System - Lets you select and work with subsets of entries in far more flexible and sophisticated ways.

Aesthetic and Usability Improvements - New toolbar and menu icons.

New Localisations - French, Spanish, and Ciluba.

Completely Overhauled Search and Replace - Multi-list item search and replace functionality, 'use tags', 'use filters', replace one-by-one with confirmation, and recent search queries list.

Greatly Enhanced Statistics - Element 'details', frequency-sorted attribute values, characters-used statistics, element 'child patterns', total list item counts, font usage statistics, total child counts, and more.

New Query Filters - Inverse search filter, various cross-reference filters, new list item filters, element child count filters, filter on modified entries, and more.

Real-time Error/Validation Checks.

Compare/Merge Improvements - 'Merge restrictions' allow you to merge in only certain types of information selectively; 'Tag listed entries'.

Significantly overhauled Document Object Model (DOM) - Greater flexibility and better support for more complex and more advanced XML structures.

Many other changes, including: New samples; 'Show all fields' view option; Tree View 'Replace with'; Documentation improvements; Improved filter highlighting; Network / multi-user improvements; New small-caps formatting mark-up and other improved mark-up behaviour; New style options; 'Suggestion' list attributes (freely editable attribute but with drop-down value selection list); Search (F3) field occurrence breakdown and per-field search statistics and filters; 'Sampling' feature for integrated corpus query tool; Right-to-Left improvements; New "DTD Optimize" tool; 'Sort key override'; Scripting-based Filters - create any conceivable kind of filter search query; Scripting-based customisable Lemma Reversal.

Our Electronic Dictionary Publishing System has also seen improvements, while the tlTerm terminology management software included with the TshwaneLex Suite is also now available separately as a standalone application [Note, just a few days left of our special on tlTerm Standalone!]. We've also recently added a new, cheaper 'Personal License' purchasing option, as well as other new licensing options.

ABOUT TSHWANELEX

TshwaneLex is a professional, user-friendly, internationalized, fully customisable off-the-shelf software application for compiling dictionaries of all kinds and for all languages. It allows you to reduce dictionary production time and increase the quality and consistency of your dictionaries, and allows for the publishing of dictionaries in hardcopy, online and electronic formats.

Its many features include an integrated corpus query system, real-time preview, advanced styles, "smart cross-references", automated entry reversal, automated numbering and sorting, export to MS Word, InDesign and Quark, and multi-user support for managing teams. TshwaneLex supports virtually all of the world's languages, and is based on the industry standard XML.

ABOUT TSHWANEDJE

TshwaneDJe produces various quality language content management tools. Customers include Oxford University Press, Pearson, Longman, Macmillan, the Spanish Royal National Academy of Medicine, Grupo Clarín (Argentina), the Welsh Language Board, the Department of Justice (Canada), the Malaysian Institute of Language and Literature, and more.

The company's growth is achieved by a strict focus on professionalism, world-class quality, and delivering a solid return on investment to customers.

Other products and services include electronic and online dictionary publishing, tools for translators, data conversion (e.g. MS Word to TshwaneLex/XML), support and training, and tlDatabase, a user-friendly database editor (to be released soon).

German Website Section

2009-07-27T02:52:00.000+02:00

New German website section (Professionelle Lösungen zum Erstellen von Wörterbüchern)!

New 'unbundled support' purchasing option

2009-07-22T22:44:00.000+02:00

You can now buy commercial licenses cheaper without bundled support: see our order page for details/pricing.

Added Afrikaans and Swahili

2009-07-22T21:36:00.000+02:00

Two more new languages on our website: Afrikaans (Professionele Woordeboekmaak-oplossings and corresponding PDF) and Swahili (Zana za Kitaaluma za kuhariria Kamusi and corresponding PDF)

New Spanish Product Information

2009-07-19T23:23:00.000+02:00

New Spanish website section (Soluciones profesionales de lexicografía) and corresponding PDF brochure!

If you're interested in helping translate for any other languages, let us know - we can provide free copies of our software in exchange for translation work.

Our Northern Sotho - English Dictionary Nominated for Award

2009-07-18T15:46:00.001+02:00

Our Oxford Northern Sotho - English Bilingual School Dictionary, as well as some other made-with-TshwaneLex dictionaries, have been nominated for a translation award that is presented SATI (the South African Translators Institute).

News on news

2009-07-18T15:45:00.000+02:00

You can now also follow TshwaneDJe news on twitter: http://twitter.com/tshwanedje

Kangxi 2009 Dictionary & Lexicology Seminar

2009-07-14T22:02:00.000+02:00

TshwaneLex will be presented at the Kangxi Dictionary & Lexicology International Seminar in China from 15-20 July.

New Chinese Product Information

2009-07-11T17:30:00.000+02:00

New Chinese (Simplified) product information brochure (专业的词典制作解决方案)!

We're keen to get more languages out - if you can help translate, let us know - we may provide free copies of our software in exchange for translations (either of marketing material, documentation, the website, or localizations of the interface of our software).

TshwaneLex on Linux

2009-07-11T02:00:00.000+02:00

We've produced an internal build of TshwaneLex on Linux - see more screenshots here!

TshwaneLex at AFRILEX 2009

2009-07-09T06:00:00.000+02:00

New products and new features in the upcoming version 4 of the TshwaneLex Dictionary Writing System were successfully presented at AFRILEX 2009 at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa from 6 - 8 July 2009.

Purchase Support Directly from our Online Store

2009-06-25T17:00:00.000+02:00

It is now possible to purchase support packs directly from our online order page.

tlTerm 4.0 Standalone Edition Now Available

2009-06-22T17:00:00.000+02:00

This new product option consists of just the termbase editing system tlTerm (previously called TshwaneTerm) from the TshwaneLex Suite:

http://tshwanedje.com/terminology/

Download a free trial, or take advantage of special launch pricing.