Babylon Blog

In the middle of March we started an outreach for supporting academicians and students. We do not have the budget to promote this initiative, but we hope that this good news will slowly spread by itself and some personal contacts of ours.

It is our pleasure to see the first application arriving and also to have first slogans online [ e.g. OM Classroom].

For more info about the outreach and how to join click here.

We received a lot of emails lately asking for some assistance in writing reviews about Babylon’s dictionary software. Here are several tips and some guidelines that could help you get on your way:

General guidelines on writing the review -

• Start by specifying the version you are using.
• Writing two-three paragraphs with a total of 150-200 words is a good and much appreciated detail level.
• The review should be posted on your web site or blog.
• Write freely and openly. We appreciate all candid feedback we can get.
• We would be thankful to have the review published within two weeks.
• It is important to us that your readers will be able to get an impression of their own too, so we kindly ask you to add the following official line at the end of the review:

Official Homepage: Babylon.com – Dictionary and Translation Software.

Please use this HTML code:

Official Homepage: <b>Babylon.com</b> - <a href=”http://dictionary.babylon.com”>Dictionary</a> and <a href=”http://translation.babylon.com”>Translation</a> Software.

10 Tips on what you can write about -

1. How easy is the product to use.
2. How rich is the vocabulary offered.
3. General feedback about Babylon’s online dictionary and translation web sites.
4. General comments about the look and feel of the dictionary.
5. Suggestions for new features and capabilities.
6. General feedback about the effectiveness and accuracy of the dictionary.
7. Level of service by Babylon’s help and support team.
8. Include some example of your personal usage of the dictionary.
9. General comments about the usability of the dictionary.
10. Rank the response time of the translation results.

Thank you very much for taking the time and writing the review about our dictionary - in your valuable feedback lies the future of our product.

The spirit guiding this blog is open communication with Babylon users. This approach is also the core concept for the Babylon Outreach Programs:

• Babylon Outreach Program for Translator - this program is live and you will find a lot of information about it already in our blog.
• Babylon Outreach Program for Language Educators - we started to contact several teacher associations and networks to find a suitable way to establish this program. Hopefully the framework of this program will be finalized by the end of the summer, just in time for the “Back to School” mood.
• Babylon Outreach Program for Academicians/Universities - still in the first phase of finding partner universities.

The Babylon Outreach Program for Translators received an overwhelming response from the world-wide translator community. We thank you for your interest and the warm and friendly emails.
Please bear with us the time until we will be able to answer your mails. We are doing our best to keep the time for screening your applications as short as possible. In light of the huge response our best is not good enough, and we apologize for delays.

Receiving your answers we truly believe that there is something happening right now that is far beyond making use of the offer to get a software for free. This, together with the passion and love for your profession that are evident in your emails, truly touched us and we are very excited to read your reviews.

Below find some questions raised in your emails - guess this is going to grow into a kind of Q&A of the Outreach Program. For the time being, still not very orderly, but a beginning:

• How does one test your software or have a look at it somewhere? After your application has been approved you will receive a license key by email with a download link for our software.

• How long should the review be? The longer the better Seriously, we believe that two paragraphs with a total of 200 words is a good and appreciated length.

• How much time do I have to write the review? We think that two weeks should give you enough time to experience the Babylon dictionary software. If you foresee a delay, please keep us updated.

• None of the logos really fits into my page. Can I write a text instead? Thank you for this question! We overlooked this possibility and reacted immediately by adding a “text link only version” to the set of official logos. We also apologize that the selection of logos is still rather small and we hope to able to present an additional set by the end of the week.

• How long do I have to wait for the free license after joining the program and placing the official logo? Usually 2 days, right now 4 days are more realistic.

• May I refer a colleague of mine to your program? Yes, your friends are cordially invited. Feel free to pass on our emails, but your friends should mention you as their referral.

• I am leaving for a short trip, may I enroll to the Outreach Program on my return? First of all - lucky you! Enjoy your holidays! The answer is “Yes”, simple contact us again on your return.

• I am restructuring my website right now, may I enroll for the Outreach Program later on? First of all - poor you! We wish you the best of luck for the redesign! As above, the answer is “Yes”.

• Is this program “truly offered to a selected group of translators” and are “such words (…) not just flattery? What’s wrong with flattery? And: What can one expect from a team made up of four dynamic women? The answer is absolutely “Yes”. This outreach program is only open to professional translators, for whom we have the greatest appreciation. We are planning to start two additional programs by the end of the summer (Outreach Program for Language Educators and Outreach Program for Academicians/University Outreach).

We are putting Babylon to the test!
Join in and get a Babylon license for free!

Babylon established an Outreach Program For Translators, which is granting free licenses of our one-click dictionary software to a selected group of translators. As a requirement to join this Outreach Program translators either write a short review of our software and/or place the official outreach logo on their site or blog.

By addressing professional translator we have chosen the most qualified audience to put our software to a practical test. We are interested that authentic voices will be heard on the Web that determine whether or not there are synergies between translation software and human translator, whether or not our dictionary software can be of help to translators.

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