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Babylon (program)
Encyclopedia
Babylon is a computer dictionary and translation program for Microsoft Windows
, developed by Babylon Ltd., an Israeli
public company
.
technology and a single-click activation that works in any Microsoft Windows
program, such as Microsoft Word
, Microsoft Outlook
, Microsoft Excel
, Internet Explorer
and Adobe Reader. When activated, Babylon opens a small popup window that displays the translation.
Babylon provides full text, full Web page and full document translation in 33 languages and supports integration with Microsoft Office. Babylon enables the translation of Microsoft Word documents, PDF files and plain text
files. It offers results from a database of over 1,600 sources in 75 languages.
, Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Larousse
, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary). The program also uses a text-to-speech agent to let users hear the proper pronunciation of words. Babylon Ltd. has developed 35 English-based proprietary dictionaries in 19 languages that are free of charge to purchasers of the software. These dictionaries have between 50,000 to 200,000 terms, and use a morphology
engine that can recognize words in different conjugations and inflections. The company has a linguistics department in charge of developing and adapting these dictionaries.
Language pairs include English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Chinese, Dutch, Russian, Korean, Swedish, Greek, Arabic and Turkish.
In addition to its in-house dictionaries, Babylon users have compiled and sent in over 1400 reference works. These include general and technical dictionaries and monolingual glossaries in over 75 languages. They are indexed in 400 categories covering the arts, business, computers, health, law, entertainment and sports.
, Israel. Its IPO took place on February 2007: Israeli businessman Noam Lanir
purchased controlling interests in the company for $10.5 million, sharing management with second majority shareholder Reed Elsevier
and the company founder Amnon Ovadia. According to Globes
magazine in January 2011, Lanir received an offer for his stake from a foreign private equity fund that valued the company at NIS
248 million (approximately 70 million dollars).
Since 2011, Babylon is included in the Blue-Tech 50 Index
which comprises the 50 top technology and biomedical companies traded in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
.
Among Babylon's important clients is Novartis
, which has purchased 40,000 licenses for the software. In 2008–2009, Babylon reported earnings of NIS 50 million through its collaboration with Google. In 2010, Google Ireland signed an extended cooperation agreement with Babylon to provide it with online search and pay-per-click advertising services.
In 2011, Babylon launched an on-line question and answer translation service.
achievement for the most downloads of a translation software. According to Rob Molloy, Director of Television, Guinness World Records, "this new Guinness World Records title reflects the significant reach and popularity of Babylon's translation services. It is a major achievement for Babylon and comes hot on the heels of recent records for Firefox, Facebook and Ustream." Alon Carmeli, Babylon's CEO said: "When back in 1997, Babylon launched its dictionary software, we couldn't have imagined that over 100 million people in over 200 countries and territories would be using its software."
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
, developed by Babylon Ltd., an Israeli
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
public company
Public company
This is not the same as a Government-owned corporation.A public company or publicly traded company is a limited liability company that offers its securities for sale to the general public, typically through a stock exchange, or through market makers operating in over the counter markets...
.
History
In 1995, Israeli entrepreneur Amnon Ovadia identified the need for an online English–Hebrew dictionary that did not interrupt the reading process. As a result, Babylond Ltd. was founded in 1997 and launched the first version of Babylon. On 25 September 1997, the company filed a patent for text recognition and translation. The year after its launch date in 1998, Babylon had 2 million users, mostly in Germany and Brazil, growing from 420,000 to 2.5 million users in the course of that year. By 2000, the product had over 4 million users.Features
When a user clicks on text with the right mouse button or combination of the right mouse button and another key, the Babylon window appears with a translation and definition of the clicked word. It is a tool used for translation and currency conversion, as well as for obtaining other contextual information. Babylon has a patented OCROptical character recognition
Optical character recognition, usually abbreviated to OCR, is the mechanical or electronic translation of scanned images of handwritten, typewritten or printed text into machine-encoded text. It is widely used to convert books and documents into electronic files, to computerize a record-keeping...
technology and a single-click activation that works in any Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
program, such as Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS , the Apple Macintosh , the AT&T Unix PC , Atari ST , SCO UNIX,...
, Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager from Microsoft, available both as a separate application as well as a part of the Microsoft Office suite...
, Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
, Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...
and Adobe Reader. When activated, Babylon opens a small popup window that displays the translation.
Babylon provides full text, full Web page and full document translation in 33 languages and supports integration with Microsoft Office. Babylon enables the translation of Microsoft Word documents, PDF files and plain text
Plain text
In computing, plain text is the contents of an ordinary sequential file readable as textual material without much processing, usually opposed to formatted text....
files. It offers results from a database of over 1,600 sources in 75 languages.
Dictionaries and encyclopedias
Babylon includes built-in dictionaries, community-created dictionaries (e.g., technical terms, jokes, acronyms), and premium content for an additional cost (e.g., Encyclopædia BritannicaEncyclopædia Britannica
The Encyclopædia Britannica , published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia that is available in print, as a DVD, and on the Internet. It is written and continuously updated by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert...
, Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Larousse
Larousse
Larousse can refer to:*Éditions Larousse, a French publishing house founded by Pierre Larousse**some of its publications***Grand Larousse encyclopédique***Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology***Larousse Gastronomique***Petit Larousse...
, and Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary). The program also uses a text-to-speech agent to let users hear the proper pronunciation of words. Babylon Ltd. has developed 35 English-based proprietary dictionaries in 19 languages that are free of charge to purchasers of the software. These dictionaries have between 50,000 to 200,000 terms, and use a morphology
Morphology (linguistics)
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
engine that can recognize words in different conjugations and inflections. The company has a linguistics department in charge of developing and adapting these dictionaries.
Language pairs include English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Japanese, Hebrew, Chinese, Dutch, Russian, Korean, Swedish, Greek, Arabic and Turkish.
In addition to its in-house dictionaries, Babylon users have compiled and sent in over 1400 reference works. These include general and technical dictionaries and monolingual glossaries in over 75 languages. They are indexed in 400 categories covering the arts, business, computers, health, law, entertainment and sports.
Malware issues
On 7 August 2010, Microsoft antivirus products identified the software application as malware (identified as "Adware: Win32/Babylon") due to potentially intrusive behavior. Sixteen days later, on 23 August 2010, Microsoft announced that Babylon Ltd. had modified the program and that it was no longer categorized as malware.The company
Babylon Ltd. is a publicly traded company. The company was founded in 1997, and is based in Or YehudaOr Yehuda
Or Yehuda is a city in the Tel Aviv District in Israel. According to the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics , the city had a population of 32,200 at the end of 2007.-History:Or Yehuda is located where the biblical city of Kefar Ono used to stand....
, Israel. Its IPO took place on February 2007: Israeli businessman Noam Lanir
Noam Lanir
Noam Lanir is an Israeli entrepreneur and the controlling shareholder and CEO of Livermore Investment Company, which is traded on the Alternative Investment Market since 2005.- Early life :...
purchased controlling interests in the company for $10.5 million, sharing management with second majority shareholder Reed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier is a publisher and information provider operating in the science, medical, legal, risk and business sectors. It is listed on several of the world's major stock exchanges. It is a FTSE 100 and FT500 Global company...
and the company founder Amnon Ovadia. According to Globes
Globes
Globes is a Hebrew language daily evening financial newspaper, published in Israel. According to TGI 2009 media survey Globes' market share rose 15% over the year to 4.4%. Its main competitors in printed media are TheMarker of Haaretz group and Calcalist published by Yedioth Ahronoth Group...
magazine in January 2011, Lanir received an offer for his stake from a foreign private equity fund that valued the company at NIS
NIS
NiS may refer to:*Nickel sulfide NiSNis or NIS may refer to: * Niš, a city in south-eastern Serbia. * Ness, Western Isles , a village in the Outer Hebrides islands.In politics and government:...
248 million (approximately 70 million dollars).
Since 2011, Babylon is included in the Blue-Tech 50 Index
TA BlueTech-50 Index
The TA BlueTech-50 Index is a stock market index of the 50 most highly capitalised Information technology and Biotechnology companies listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange...
which comprises the 50 top technology and biomedical companies traded in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange
The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Tel Aviv is Israel's only stock exchange.The TASE is the only public market for trading securities in Israel. It plays a major role in the Israeli economy....
.
Among Babylon's important clients is Novartis
Novartis
Novartis International AG is a multinational pharmaceutical company based in Basel, Switzerland, ranking number three in sales among the world-wide industry...
, which has purchased 40,000 licenses for the software. In 2008–2009, Babylon reported earnings of NIS 50 million through its collaboration with Google. In 2010, Google Ireland signed an extended cooperation agreement with Babylon to provide it with online search and pay-per-click advertising services.
In 2011, Babylon launched an on-line question and answer translation service.
Awards
In July 2011, Babylon.com made the list of the top 100 sites on the Internet and became the most popular desktop language translation software with a Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
achievement for the most downloads of a translation software. According to Rob Molloy, Director of Television, Guinness World Records, "this new Guinness World Records title reflects the significant reach and popularity of Babylon's translation services. It is a major achievement for Babylon and comes hot on the heels of recent records for Firefox, Facebook and Ustream." Alon Carmeli, Babylon's CEO said: "When back in 1997, Babylon launched its dictionary software, we couldn't have imagined that over 100 million people in over 200 countries and territories would be using its software."
See also
- Machine translationMachine translationMachine translation, sometimes referred to by the abbreviation MT is a sub-field of computational linguistics that investigates the use of computer software to translate text or speech from one natural language to another.On a basic...
- Comparison of machine translation applicationsComparison of machine translation applicationsA machine translation application is a program which can translate text or speech from one natural language to another. Machine translation applications are essential to the modern language industry...
- Lingoes (program)Lingoes (program)Lingoes is a single-click multi-lingual translation software program released as a freeware translation utility. Lingoes is often compared to Babylon dictionary due to similarities in the GUI, same functionalities and most importantly being free of charge.-Features and Expandability:Lingoes has the...
- QwickUp (an alternative online service)
- Science and technology in IsraelScience and technology in IsraelScience and technology in Israel is one of the country's most developed sectors. The percentage of Israelis engaged in scientific and technological inquiry, and the amount spent on research and development in relation to gross domestic product , is amongst the highest in the world...