translationCore 4 Help
Step-by-step help for Bible translators using translationCore 4 (tC4): draft beside the sources, understand the passage, check and align your work, and translate Open Bible Stories.
Getting started
Install tC4, find your way around Home, and learn the three modes.
Install and start tC4Download translationCore 4 for your computer, install or unpack it, and start it. It opens on the Home screen.
The Home screenHome lists your projects. From here you open a book, go back to where you stopped, or add a project.
Understand, Translate and Check — the three modesEvery open project has three modes. Understand the passage, Translate it, then Check it — in any order.
Saving and checkpointstC4 saves as you work. The indicator at the top right shows whether your last change was saved, and offers Retry if it wasn't.
Resume where you left offThe banner at the top of Home takes you back to the last place you changed something, in the mode you were using.
Switch project or go back HomeClick the project name at the top left to leave the project and go back to Home, where you can open another project or book.
Bible projects
Create, import, open and export a Bible translation project.
Create a Bible projectCreate a new, empty Bible translation project. You add books right after.
Add a bookAdd one book, or several at once, to a Bible project.
Open a book and move between chaptersClick a book tile on Home to open it. Inside the project, the book list on the left moves you between books and chapters.
Import a project (translationCore 3, USFM or Scripture Burrito)Bring existing work into tC4 as a new project, from translationCore 3 project zips, USFM files or a Scripture Burrito zip.
Export a book as PDFMake a print-ready PDF of the open book, laid out with your page setup.
Export a book as USFM (aligned or plain)Save the open book as a USFM file, with your word alignments or as plain text.
Export a project as a Scripture BurritoSave the whole project, with alignments and checking decisions, as one Scripture Burrito zip.
Translate
Draft your translation beside the source texts, a section or a verse at a time.
The Translate screenTranslate is where you draft. The source text is on the left, your translation is beside it, and the helps are on the right.
Source tabs — gateway texts and the original languageSwitch the source column between the literal text, the simplified text and the Greek or Hebrew original.
Draft a sectionType a whole section as one piece of text, then place the verse numbers. This is the main way to draft in tC4.
Place verse numbersAfter typing a section, pick up each verse number and click the word where that verse begins.
Make or break a verse spanJoin two or more verses into one span, such as 2-3, when your language needs to reorder their content. Break the span again the same way. Bible projects only.
Draft or revise one verseSwitch to Verse to draft a single verse, or to fix one verse without opening the whole section.
Paragraphs and poetryStart a new paragraph with Enter and indent a poetry line with Tab while you type a section.
The helps panel in TranslateWhile you draft, the helps panel shows the notes, word links, questions, simplified text and your own comments for the verses in focus.
Editing a verse you already checked or alignedWhen you change a verse that has check decisions or alignments, tC4 flags them for review. Nothing is deleted.
Understand
Read a passage with its notes, word links and questions before you translate.
Read a passage before you translateUnderstand shows the source passage section by section, with its helps beside it and a box for your own comments.
Translation notes and Translation Academy articlesTranslation notes explain hard phrases verse by verse. Each note can link to a Translation Academy article that teaches the translation issue behind it.
Word links (Translation Words)Word links point out the key biblical terms in the passage and link each to a Translation Words article that defines it.
Translation questionsTranslation questions ask what the passage says. Use them to test whether your translation communicates the meaning.
The simplified text tabThe helps panel can show the meaning-based simplified text next to what you are reading.
Write a user commentWrite down what a passage means, who is speaking, and what will be hard to translate. Your comments are saved with the project and shown in Translate.
Check
Check your draft with Translation Notes and Translation Words, and preview it.
Choose a checking toolCheck lists the checking tools for the open book and how far you have got in each one.
Check with Translation NotesGo through the hard places in the book, such as figures of speech or abstract nouns, and check how you translated each one.
Check with Translation WordsGo through every key term in the book, such as God, grace or apostle, and check how you translated each one.
Decide on a check item (valid, invalid, to do)For each check, select the words in your translation, then mark the item valid or invalid, or leave it to do.
Bookmark a checkFlag a check item to come back to it later, for example to discuss with your team.
Write a check commentAdd a note to a check item about what you decided or what to ask your team.
Filter and sort check itemsNarrow the list to what still needs work, and change the order of items.
Community Checking previewRead the whole book as a printed page, set up the page, and export a copy for reviewers.
Align
Link each word of your translation to the original language.
Open the Align toolAlign links each word of your translation to the original-language word it translates. Open it from Check.
Link your words to the sourceClick a word in the word bank and then the card it belongs under, or drag it there.
Align a phrase (merge and split cards)When several source words are translated together, merge their cards into one phrase card. SPLIT undoes it.
Align to the gateway text or the original languageAlign to the gateway words you can read (which already carry the link to the original), or directly to the Greek or Hebrew words.
Alignment suggestionstC4 can learn from the verses you have already aligned and suggest links for the next ones. You confirm or reject each one.
Mark an alignment doneWhen a verse is aligned, mark it valid. It counts toward the verses-aligned progress.
Open Bible Stories
Translate the fifty Open Bible Stories frame by frame.
Start an Open Bible Stories projectCreate a project for translating all fifty Open Bible Stories into your language.
Find a story on HomeThe stories card shows three stories. Show all 50 to pick any story.
Translate a storyDraft the story title, each frame and the reference line, with the picture and the English story beside you.
Understand a storyRead each frame with its picture and the story helps before you translate.
Check a storyCheck a story with Translation Notes and Translation Words, frame by frame.
Story preview and exportPreview a story as a page with its pictures, choose the layout, and export it for reviewers.
Export stories as PDF or MarkdownSave a printable PDF of your stories, a Story Markdown zip, or a Scripture Burrito.
Resources and offline
Source texts, helps, downloads, upgrades and working without a network.
What comes with the apptC4 comes with English source texts and helps and the Greek and Hebrew texts, so you can translate and check without the internet.
Download source textsDownload source texts and helps in another gateway language from Door43.
Change the checking languageChoose which installed gateway language this project checks against.
Update pinned helpsSee whether newer notes, words and questions are out, and move your project to them when you are ready.
Update scripture textsMove the project to a newer release of the Greek or Hebrew text, or of the gateway Bible.
Fix a missing resourceWhen a checking tool needs a resource that is not on this computer, tC4 offers three ways to get it.
Working offlinetC4 works without the internet. It asks before any step that needs it.
Settings
Project settings, the app language, and where tC4 keeps your work.
Project settingsChange a project’s text direction, script font or checking language, or manage its source texts.
Where your projects are storedtC4 keeps all your projects in one folder in your home folder. Back it up regularly.
Change the app languageShow translationCore's menus, buttons and dialogs in English, Spanish (Latin America), French, Hindi, and five more languages shipped after 522.
Troubleshooting and known limits
What the messages mean, and what is not built yet.
When a save failsIf a save fails, your text stays on screen. Click Retry, and don’t close tC4 until it says Saved.
Messages that protect your projectWhen tC4 finds something unexpected, it stops rather than risk your work, and tells you what to do.
If the app closed unexpectedly or the window went blankIf tC4 closed unexpectedly or the window went blank, it recovers your projects. Window › Reload brings it back without quitting.
Windows, macOS and Linux notesWhat to expect when you install and start tC4 on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Share to Door43Put a project on Door43 so others can read it. You sign in once and review where it goes before anything is uploaded.
Working as a team on several computersShare a Bible project on Door43, then each teammate opens it from Door43 and uses Sync with Door43 to swap work.
Features not built yetThings people often ask for that tC4 doesn’t do yet.