<Geneva, 25 November 2002 - Extran Ltd with its office in Geneva commissions the first fully automatic translation agent at Translation Network (TTN) on the Internet. The new B2B service is designed as a global intermediary between translators and clients and can handle millions of translation orders. The customer can monitor the progress of the work directly on the Internet; omissions and delays are identified directly by the system and rectified by translation managers. Completion times are drastically reduced and translation quality significantly improved by standard checking procedures. Translations are not produced or checked by computer programs but solely by qualified translators. Over the initial phase, all languages of the European Union will be offered under www.ttn.ch. By the year 2005, the world network will be extended to all major languages of the world.

Texts translated by expert translators
The client selects the appropriate file under www.ttn.ch and clicks on the required language. The TTN agent immediately produces a quotation and proposes seven deadlines. When the client clicks at the required deadline, the agent accepts responsibility for the order. It passes the files to be translated automatically through all production and checking stages and sends the ready-to-print translations back to the client. All production deadlines are calculated automatically and monitored electronically. Translations are not produced by computer programs but solely by qualified translators. The client can monitor the progress of the work directly on the Internet. Omissions and delays are immediately identified by the system, caught up by translation managers and corrected. Production times are drastically reduced and the translation quality significantly improved thanks to standard checking procedures.

Open production resources
What is kept in strict secrecy at all other translation agencies, is openly disclosed at the TTN network. Names, addresses and qualifications of all collaborators are made accessible to all Internet users. The client can make enquiries about all details relating to professional experience and CV of the production team and can be reassured that his work is only handled by qualified translators with a university education.

Translation tools on the Internet
Correctly kept translation archives represent the translators' valuable working capital. The terminology built up within a company and its specific formulations which shape the company's culture, its marketing and production must be managed and made available.

All orders flowing through TTN are automatically indexed. A search machine immediately finds blocks of texts which have already been translated. Translators and proof-readers surf through client's files and copy existing text elements from several text windows. Automatic archives accumulate the translation know-how and more accurate and elegant formulations are added with each new entry. Each company has a dictionary on the Translation Network which is currently extended and supplemented. This dictionary helps translators searching for accurate technical expressions. Researched terms are systematically stored and made available to everyone concerned. The translator manager controls the right of access and ensures that company's own terms are kept secret.

During the initial phase, all languages of the European Union will be offered on www.ttn.ch. The software will be sold under sales and production licences in all areas where the major languages are spoken. A world-wide network comprising all of the world's major trading languages is to be built up by the year 2005.

Further information available from:

TTN Translation Network
Martin Bächtold
18, bd des Philosophes
CH-1205 Geneva
Tel. 022 328 84 63
Email: ttn@ttn.ch
Media_TTN_Short_ENG.aspx Internet: www.ttn.ch