Cucumis (website)
Encyclopedia
Cucumis is a website where translators share their linguistic knowledge and exchange services online. One unusual feature of Cucumis is that all translations are peer review
ed and may be edited by other Cucumis translators. This provides for high quality translations, and often achieves a target text
that is both faithful in meaning to the source text
and fully idiomatic in the target language.
s. Most of the work involved was volunteered by members.
language, only a small minority of members (about 2%) are in primarily English-speaking countries.
, all translations are rated by administrator
s and experts. All members are eligible for promotion to "Expert" for a given language after completing many translations into that language rated with an average quality of over 7/10.
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
ed and may be edited by other Cucumis translators. This provides for high quality translations, and often achieves a target text
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
that is both faithful in meaning to the source text
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
and fully idiomatic in the target language.
History
Founded in 2005, by July 2007 Cucumis had over 50,000 members and was receiving 100 requests per day for translations between dozens of languages. The first user interface was in English, but in an ongoing process of localization others were added. By the end of 2007, there were user interfaces in 31 languages, in 8 writing systemWriting system
A writing system is a symbolic system used to represent elements or statements expressible in language.-General properties:Writing systems are distinguished from other possible symbolic communication systems in that the reader must usually understand something of the associated spoken language to...
s. Most of the work involved was volunteered by members.
Members
Cucumis members are located in dozens of countries, with the two largest contingents in Turkey and Brazil; together, these two countries account for 1/3 of all members. Why these two countries are over-represented is unknown. Although English is the single most popular targetTranslation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
language, only a small minority of members (about 2%) are in primarily English-speaking countries.
How it works
To submit a text for translation, users become members by choosing a username and giving a valid e-mail address. All new members are given enough points to "pay" for translation of a short paragraph. Returning members who lack points are given more points. Members earn points by translating texts submitted by others. All members may translate texts and edit translations by others. For quality controlQuality control
Quality control, or QC for short, is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. This approach places an emphasis on three aspects:...
, all translations are rated by administrator
Superuser
On many computer operating systems, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system, the actual name of this account might be: root, administrator or supervisor....
s and experts. All members are eligible for promotion to "Expert" for a given language after completing many translations into that language rated with an average quality of over 7/10.