Embedding translation brief in Paratext

Question

In Paratext 8, when using the SIL Base Plan in Project Plan, the first task is to draft a translation brief. Unfortunately it does not appear that there is a place within Paratext to include that brief.

Are there any plans to include a feature that would allow for keeping such a document with a project in Paratext? What other options might be available for taking advantage of send/receive?

Answer 1

The SIL and Seed Company base plans have several tasks that are not done in Paratext, such as Community review. The intent is that if a task is very important to a translation project then it can be made part of the overall plan and be tracked.
By the way, other than the automated checks, Paratext does not verify that you have actually completed any tasks that you have marked complete. It is very much a self-reporting system.

For Translation Briefs in particular I think various entities will come up with their own forms or templates. I believe that The Seed Company does have such a document. As was said in another comment you could put that document in the shared folder if it is not so large as to strain the bandwidth available for Send and Receive.

If you think that the brief should be part of the project as an appendix like the glossary or something, then maybe you could make the suggestion to SIL International Translation Department who have the responsibility for maintaining the plan.

Answer 2

You can create a folder called shared inside the project directory and put the document in there. It will automatically be S/R’d with your project.

Note that anything that is put in the shared directory will be S/R’d, so you need to make sure you don’t put any large files in there.

Answer 3

In SIL Nigeria translation domain we’re trying out putting the translation brief in the Consultant’s Back Translation project OTH book (in English) and if we do one in the target language then putting a brief in the OTH book of the project itself. We’ve made a SFM outline that we can copy and paste in to prime the pump. The major reason for avoiding putting the English version of the brief in the main project is to avoid a confusion of languages.

Comments

We were thinking of using one of the “extra” books, XXA, XXB, etc. until
there’s an official place in Paratext to put it. I do want it to be in
Paratext where translators can see it whenever they want to see it, without
having to know how to use their operating system’s file system.

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The use of the XX books is preferred for non-publishing tasks. The OTH book
in the vernacular project is used during publishing.

Blessings,

Shegnada J.

Language Technology and Publishing Coordinator, SIL NIGERIA

Text Layout Specialis, GPS

[Email Removed]

+[Phone Removed] / +[Phone Removed]

Skype: Shegnada.james.

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It seems to me if the solution for translation briefs is to keep them in the back matter, then we will need some additional USFMs to support those. We already do not have adequate mark up for glossaries.