Newsgroups and mailing lists
for translators
Last updated: 15 September 2000
There are three main newsgroups about language and translation that are not
language-specific. Compared to the corresponding mailing lists, the amount of noise
is higher on these two newsgroups; still, they probably reach a wider public, and they
can provide some useful information. These newsgroups are:
- sci.lang (for the discussion of languages in general)
- sci.lang.translation (for the discussion of
issues of specific interest to translators. Important: if you're looking for
a translator, if you're offering translation services, or if you're looking for work
as a translator, don't post here: post on
sci.lang.translation.marketplace).
- sci.lang.translation.marketplace
(for advertisments from translators and agencies offering their services and
from individuals and firms looking for translators).
One newsgroup is devoted specifically to discussions about the
Italian language:
it.cultura.linguistica.italiano
. All messages posted to this newsgroups should be in Italian.
Note that it is part of the Italian hierarchy, and it is not
propagated everywhere. If you're interested in this newsgroups,
and it is not available on your server, contact your service
provider for assistance.
The Italian news hierarchy also includes one newsgroup for discussions about
the English language:
it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
.
As most of the participants are either Italians who speak English, or English
speakers who know Italian, this can be another useful resource. Message are posted
to this newsgroup both in English and in Italian.
There are then many language-specific newsgroups, both in the "universal"
Usenet hierarchies and in the specific hierarchies of each country. For a list of these
newsgroups, sorted by language, follow
this link.
Finally, three more groups are devoted to discussions of software localization and
international standards for data transmission:
- What is a mailing list?
- LANTRA-L: Interpreting and
translation (not moderated)
- TRANSLAT: Critical
discussion of translation theory and practice
- The LINGUIST Discussion
List (moderated)
- CATMT: Computer Aided
Translation and Machine Translation (not
moderated)
- INSOFT-L: Software
internationalisation (moderated)
- CORPORA: Information and
questions about text corpora.
- TECHWR-L: A mailing list
for technical writers.
- LANGIT: A mailing
list for Italian translators.
- The
List of Language Lists
[20 Dec 97] is
a downloadable index of mailing lists on specific
languages. Most of the time the link seems to be broken:
occasionally, however, I have seen it come to life, and
this is why I haven't removed it yet: when it is
available, it is a very useful listing. If you know of a more reliable link, or
of a similar but more accessible listing, please let me
know!
- Another list
of language-related mailing lists, with online
descriptions.
Mailing lists are a way of discussing some specific subject
using e-mail. Each message sent to the mailing list address gets
automatically distributed to all subscribers, who then get it in
their mailbox with their personal mail. As e-mail is the most
widespread way of accessing the Internet, mailing lists can reach
eve those who don't have access to UseNet News, the Web or other
services.
Mailing lists normally have two separate addresses, one for
sending messages to the whole group and one for sending commands
to the listserver. To subscribe to a mailing list, you will
normally send a message to the listserver address (not
to the whole group of subscribers!). Most listservers are
automated, others are managed by some "live" person.
You will find the address and the command that you need to send
to subscribe to each list in the list description.
When your subscription to the mailing list is accepted, you
will receive a message containing instructions on how to send
messages to the list, how to get more information on the list
itself, how to set your own options and how to send other
commands, for example if you want to remove yourself from the
list. Keep this message! Not many things look quite as
bad to mailing list "experts" as people asking
questions that are answered clearly in the welcome message...
Listserver address: listserv@segate.sunet.se
This is an extremely high volume mailing list on all aspects
of translation in all languages. Quite often it's invaded by
off-topic threads and all sorts of chat. If you subscribe,
prepare to have your mailbox flooded - but it is still (in my
opinion) one of the most useful resources for translators
available on the Internet!
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
SUB LANTRA-L your name
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
This mailing list also has a web page,
with list archives,
a file library, FAQs
about the list and links to useful resources. You can also send
messages and join or leave the list from these pages.
Alternative addresses: Web
page, FAQs.
Listserver address: listproc@mail.wustl.edu
From the list annoucement:
"TRANSLAT is a open forum for discussion of theory and
practice of translation, with emphasis on literary translation
and contemporary theory. The goal of TRANSLAT is to promote
scholarly study of translation, and to foster international
communication between theorists and practitioners of translation.
[...] Topics may include (but are not limited to) contemporary
theory, literary translation, conferences, new publications, and
film adaptation. Queries, announcements, declarations, syllabi,
and reviews are all welcome. Long-term goals include design and
creation of archival bibliographies on translation, and a
database that can be accessed by e-mail.
Caveat: TRANSLAT is *not* intended to be used as a forum for
requesting particular equivalents (e.g., what is the Spanish for
"blow torch"?) *except* in some larger context of
interpretation, theory, or cultural comparison. [...] There are
other means of discussing such matters (e.g., the LANTRA-L list)."
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
subscribe translat Firstname Lastname
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
If you have trouble subscribing, make sure you are sending the
right command to the right address, and then contact the listt
owner, Rick Francis, at rfrancis@artsci.wustl.edu.
This moderated list is devoted to the discussion of all
aspects of linguistics, and it carries announcements of
conferences and articles and calls for academic papers. A
frequent subject is computational linguistics. The slant of the
list is definitely academic.
For more information, and to subscribe, go to the list's
web page. The page is also a very
good collection of links to all kinds of linguistic resources: professional
issues, dictionaries, research, publications, software and fonts, reviews etc.
There are also a number of mirrors of this page:
Eastern Michigan University -
Edimburgh University -
Moscow State University -
Stockholm University -
University of Tübingen -
Listserv;
choose the one nearest to you.
You also have the option to choose the "Lite" version, designed for those
who want to read the list mainly on the web and don't want to receive the full text
of every article posted to the mailing list. See web page for details and instructions.
Listserver address: Majordomo@atril.com
From the list welcome message:
"The CATMT list hosts discussions regarding Computer
Aided Translation and Machine Translation software. It is
provided by Atril as a free service to the translator
community."
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
subscribe catmt
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
If you have any queries please direct them to owner-catmt@atril.com
Listserver address: insoft-l@magellan.iquest.com
From the list welcome message:
"Topics discussed on this list will include: Techniques
for developing new software - Techniques for converting existing
software - Internationalization tools - Announcements of
internationalized public domain software - Announcements of
foreign-language versions of commercial software - Calls for
papers - Conference announcements - References to documentation
related to the internationalization of software"
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
subscribe insoft-l <your e-mail address>
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
Listserver address: LISTSERV@UIB.NO
"Begun in 1992, CORPORA is an international email
discussion list for information and questions about text corpora,
such as availability,aspects of compiling and using corpora,
software, tagging, parsing,bibliography, and related
matters."
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
subscribe corpora
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
Listserver address: LISTSERV@VM1.UCC.OKSTATE.EDU
This mailing list for technical writers, although not directly
concerned with translation or localization, might prove
interesting for technical translators and localizers
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
SUB TECHWR-L first_name last_name
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
LANGIT: A
mailing list for Italian translators
Listserver address: LISTSERV@ICINECA.CINECA.IT
This list wasn't originally meant for translators at all; in
the welcome message it is described simply as "Discussione
Centri Linguistici Italiani", and apparently it was meant
for discussion of issues relating to the Italian language in
general.
However, some time in 1996, at a time when it had been more or
less dead for a good while, it was taken over by Italian
translators, and as far as I am aware nobody has complained about
it...
So at the moment it is a moderately active mailing list for
all kind of issues, linguistic or otherwise, of interest to
translators working with the Italian language (in either
direction), and probably one of the most precious Internet
resources for the category.
To subscribe to this list, send a message to the listserver
address with no subject and containing only the following line in
the body:
subscribe langit first_name last_name
(Please remember to turn off your signature, if you have one)
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