TODAY, IN TRANSLATION TIMES.


National Association of Judiciary Interpreters & Translators 22nd Annual Meeting and Educational Conference Announced

From the Mouth of Our Customers: American Megatrends, Inc.

Opentype And The Translator: Question And Answer

Desktop Publishing Tip: Creating PDF Files on a Macintosh from an Asian Version of PageMaker 6.5

National Association of Judiciary Interpreters & Translators
22nd Annual Meeting and Educational Conference
May 25th , 26th and 27th 2001
The Ambassador West Hotel
Chicago, Illinois (312) 787-3700

Friday, May 25th, 2001
Pre-conference Workshops by Sandro Tomasi and Rogelio Camacho
Pilot Testing of Certification Examination

ALL SPANISH SPEAKING ATTENDEES ARE INVITED TO PARTICIPATE

Opening Reception - Friday 6 - 9 p.m.

Saturday, May 26th and Sunday, May 27th
Educational Sessions - including presentations by:
Alee Alger-Robbins
David Mintz
David Deferrari
Johann Paolettu-Schelp
Ma. Cecilia Marty
Dr. Alexander Rainof
Sandra Morra
Nancy Schweda Nicholson
Kathleen Orozco
AND MANY MORE

Saturday, May 26, 12:30 - 3 p.m.
Annual Meeting and Luncheon

Exhibition of book vendors and interpreter/technologies.

To be placed on the mailing list, call (212) 692-9581. For more information please visit www.najit.org

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Hi, everybody!

Just want to say "Thanks!" for all the work you did on the recent translation projects. We kept you busy for months on them, both with the original translations and the content changes. You did a great job handling the last-minute changes and getting them back quickly. Thanks again for all your hard work.

Regards,

Charles

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Q. What is OpenType?

A. OpenType is a relatively new font format that is the result of joint development between Adobe and Microsoft. OpenType fonts can contain both PostScript and TrueType data, but all of this information is hidden under a TrueType "wrapper". Like TrueType fonts, OpenType fonts consist of one file, eliminating the need for separate screen and printer fonts that exists with standard Type 1 PostScript fonts. OpenType fonts can contain up to 65,536 glyphs and use Unicode encoding to refer to glyphs.

Q. What are the main advantages of OpenType?

A. OpenType has several advantages over previous font formats. Some of these are the following:

• OpenType fonts are cross-platform. You can use the same font on both Mac and PC, eliminating problems with different versions of fonts on the two platforms.
• OpenType fonts can encode multiple languages. MinionPro from Adobe, for example, encodes all Roman script-based European languages, Greek (including the polytonic marks needed for Classical Greek) and Cyrillic in one font, allowing users to mix characters without changing fonts. The following is an example of this:

Figure 1. OpenType fonts can mix multiple languages in one font,
as this example (Adobe MinionPro) shows.

Q. What are the disadvantages of OpenType?

A. The biggest problems with OpenType are the following:

• Only Windows 2000 fully supports OpenType fonts. Other operating systems, such as Windows 9x and Mac OS 8.x/9.x, only allow access to the range of characters found in standard fonts. Apple should introduce OpenType font support in OS X, and will use OpenType as the default method for working with Japanese and other Asian languages. Individual applications may, however, allow only limited access to OpenType characters.
• Few applications currently support OpenType. Among those that do support OpenType are Adobe InDesign, Photoshop 6, and Illustrator 9.
• Current input methods for OpenType are often unwieldy and inefficient. As operating system support for OpenType improves, input methods should improve also.

Q. How will OpenType affect the translation industry?

A. It is too early to say how much of an impact OpenType will have on the translation industry. Until the majority is using software and operating systems that support OpenType, it is unlikely that translators will using it either. However, the use of OpenType should gradually increase as it is compatible with previous technologies and does not require a drastic change by the user.

Q. Where can I get OpenType fonts?

A. Presently, Adobe is the best source for high quality OpenType fonts. Adobe is aggressively pursuing the conversion of some of their more common fonts to the OpenType format. Microsoft is also pursuing the development of OpenType fonts. Other typeface foundries will produce OpenType fonts in time.

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Problem:
When using Asian versions of Adobe PageMaker 6.5 on a Macintosh to generate PDF files, the PostScript files produced take a long time to distill and produce low quality bitmaps instead of the actual text. In addition, the files produced do not open properly on other computers and will not print without generating PostScript errors.

Solution:
Asian versions of Adobe PageMaker 6.5 do not embed TrueType fonts properly in PostScript files. Furthermore, Distiller often embeds dozens of "psuedo fonts" in the files.

The following suggestions will help you avoid this problem:

1. Avoid using TrueType fonts in Asian PageMaker documents. Although TrueType fonts are generally cheaper and more accessible than PostScript fonts, PageMaker often will not handle them properly. Instead, use CID-format PostScript fonts, which can be purchased in relatively inexpensive collections from DynaLab and Arphic at http://www.asiasoft.com.

2. Verify that all Asian text in graphics is outlined rather than saved as text. Graphic text that is not outlined tends to be processed and replaced by a Helvetica font and becomes unusable.

3. Use Adobe PS 8.7 or later for printing, and use Adobe's Virtual Printer as your selected printer. To select the Virtual Printer, you will need to do the following:


• Use the Chooser to select the "Virtual Printer" from the Printer menu (due to a bug in PageMaker, you will not be able to select the Virtual Printer from within PageMaker)
• Select the "PSPrinter", and change the upper right-hand menu to read "Virtual Printer"
• In PageMaker, select "Setup" and choose "PPD file". If you do not have a printer menu available, you will need to generate a .PS file, which can then be discarded. When you return to PageMaker, the Virtual Printer will now be selected.

4. Select a PPD in the print dialog box in PageMaker that matches the output printer. If you do not know what the output printer will be, it is recommended that you use a Xerox DocuTech PPD (available from Xerox's web site at http://www.xerox.com). DocuTech PPDs are generally very reliable and offer high quality. If the final output will be in color, a Fiery DocuTech PPD is recommended instead. Also, be sure to set the font embedding in the Print Dialog boxes for your PostScript files to "None" (this is very important to prevent the creation of "pseudo fonts"). If you are working on a Microsoft Windows system instead, do not use the default Distiller or default PostScript PPDs systems since these will always result in bitmapped text output.

5. Use Adobe Acrobat Distiller 4.0 or later to produce the PDF files (Asian versions of PageMaker still ship with Distiller 3.0). Versions of Acrobat prior to 4.0 will not correctly interpret CID-format fonts. Make sure that Distiller is set to embed all fonts.

PDF files generated in this manner are much smaller and more reliable than files generated using other methods.

NOTE: In order to read Asian PDF files properly, you must have Asian support installed with Acrobat or Acrobat Reader. If this support is not originally installed, you can perform a custom install of Acrobat to include it or you can download the Asian font packs from Adobe's web site (http://www.adobe.com) in the Acrobat Reader download section.

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