Lingonaut: The little big newcomer causing a stir
by Helena Stamatovic
Choosing the right translation management system or TMS often drives language services and translation agencies insane: Whereas the beautiful and powerful "Ferrari" is usually too expensive, the small "Beetle" is maintenance-prone or has limited features. For the undecided and habitual Outlook managers, the wait has now come to an end: The new and refreshingly flexible translation management tool Lingonaut was launched this year, and the compact and powerful "VW Golf" has fully convinced us.
The main reason for this positive conclusion: Lingonaut is so clearly structured that we did not need to contact support once during the entire test phase and were able to complete our fictitious orders quickly and easily.
Real user-friendliness and high degree of automation
The consistently minimalistic design of the Lingonaut user interface might not blow away web aesthetes and enthusiasts of dynamic status bars – but the user-friendliness is unusually high. In fact, the start page doesn’t offer users superfluous bells and whistles, but rather a neat and clearly arranged main menu.
In each phase and user role – as controller or project manager, customer or linguist (translator, proofreader, editor) – it is always immediately clear what needs to be done next. And the system is intelligent: Thanks to the messages, status symbols, automatic notifications as well as order and message histories that cannot be overlooked, users are always in control of their orders.
Everything important is there - and much more
Lingonaut offers all the basic functions for the entire processing of language service orders, including automatic generation of cost estimates, invoices and freelancer credit notes. The fully automated generation of SDL Trados packages – including source text analyses and automatic updates of the project and master TM – is particularly useful.
Furthermore, practical "goodies" are available during the order processing: For example, all orders can be recalculated at any time during processing and adjusted with regard to delivery date and delivery type including a message feature indicating the reason. The Analyzer ensures a quick and order-independent cost calculation.
Lingonaut’s ability to adapt to specific processes and user roles is ensured, as are filter options, the creation and export of statistics, as well as additional useful features such as customer and translator feedback and even the rejection of orders. The scope of delivery of course also includes the custom setting of languages, rates, delivery times, express surcharges, advance payment and much more. Lingonaut can currently be operated in five languages: German, English, French, Russian and Polish.
Who’s behind it
The creators of Lingonaut are two companies that one is coming across more and more in this combination: The IT company Meta-Level and the translation agency Leginda. The result of this know-how pooling and successful partnership is now going to be made available to peers. Language services and translation agencies, in particular, benefit from a tried-and-tested solution based on many years of experience and constant improvement.
Data privacy is also guaranteed: Lingonaut is an independent system which can be installed at the customer’s premises or at any host. By the way: Thanks to new partnerships, Swiss customers benefit from a hosting option with ISO 27001 seal of approval.
Drawbacks:
- Only SDL Trados integrations possible, currently no further systems planned
- SDL Trados analyses not available as Excel files within Lingonaut
- Calculation basis only possible on word counts and word rates
- Current currencies: EUR, USD and GBP (CHF in planning)