Computing

With all the work I have been describing over the last few weeks, the end of the day usually finds me entering something into my computer to help me in my work. This week I thought I would give you an overview of some of the programs that I rely on.

With language learning, SayMore and Flex are the two I use. SayMore is designed to help with transcription of recordings as well as with keeping my metadata (information about the who, where and what of the recording) in order. When I return from the village, I have dozens of recordings that I need to work through. I put each of them into SayMore, add the metadata and start transcribing. The program allows me to break the recording into small segments, which it then plays on repeat while I listen and type. Once I have worked through the recording, I am able to export it to the next program, where I work on analysing and describing the content.

 SayMore screenshot

Flex, or Fieldworks Language Explorer, is the next program I use. Its purpose is to help with the analysis and description of a language, while also being good for helping to build and edit a lexicon of the language. I use Flex to type up all my language learning notes, stories I’ve collected and to analyse the recordings I typed in SayMore and then imported. It is a powerful program, which is computer talk for the fact most of us use the basic things but we’re pretty sure there’s lots more we have no idea about. I can use it to break the very long Kope words down into the smaller units of meaning (morphemes) to help me see what is actually going on inside this complex language. Also, as the computer has a better memory than me, I can build up my wordlist and then go back and search it when I’ve forgotten the meaning of a word, or the word that goes with a meaning.

Fieldworks Language Explorer screenshot

For translation, the two programs I use are Paratext and Logos. Paratext is the software in which I am building up the Kope New Testament. It is where I can enter the Kope draft and back translation, create an interlinear version, and consult the Greek text and notes from other translators about things I need to consider as we work. It also has a handy send/receive function that allows us to share the work between users and leave comments for each other. This means that once we are more established in our work, we can collaborate even when we are not in the same place.

Logos is an electronic library in which I have the Translators Workplace collection of books. There are many many more books available in Logos, but my budget has not yet stretched to include them. Still, the collection of Biblical commentaries, Greek helps and journals on translation that I can access with a click are a huge blessing. Seeing as I pay per kilogram for everything I fly to the village, this program gives me access to resources without my computer weighing a single gram more than it did before.

As I’m now also supporting the Anigibi tribe in the adaptation of the Kope drafts into their language, I have also been learning to use the program Adapt It. This is designed for exactly my situation, where a second project is started based on the work in another. Using the Kope as a source text, it makes it easy to adapt into Anigibi, as the computer remembers previous changes we have made and suggests them as appropriate. The more we use this program, the easier it will get, as it will have a database of changes to work from.

AdaptIt screenshot

With all of these programs there are problems, but usually the problems are PICNIC: Problem In Chair, Not In Computer. Sometimes though I am not at fault, but the computer has got too clever and made a wrong guess. I was confused by one of these when the suggested gloss for ‘piraromoido’ was:

pi-	r-	aromoi	-do
Past-	1P.SBJ-	heaven	-GOAL
‘I went towards heaven’ (kinda, not really)

All of these are legitimate units of meaning, but they do not belong together like this and did not match the context. Instead, the word should have been:

p-	iraromoi	-do
Past-	think	-DU.SBJ
‘they both thought’

A bit of a difference, but I am thankful to have the programs to help me sort this out.