Frequently Asked Questions

Slate Desktop™ has been updated to run with Python version 2.7x and 3.7x. Versions after 3.7x will also be supported.

The Python Foundation has published this announcement:

DEPRECATION: Python 2.7 will reach the end of its life on January 1st, 2020. Please upgrade your Python as Python 2.7 won’t be maintained after that date. A future version of pip will drop support for Python 2.7.

Therefore, all future development with Slate Desktop™ will be Python 3.7 and above.

The Slate Desktop™ installs Python with its installation if it was not found on the PC. It does not, however, uninstall Python.

We strongly urge customers to follow the instructions in this article to uninstall Python 2.7, Uninstall and Deactivate (https://www.slate.rocks/portfolio/uninstall-and-deactivate/). Then, install Slate Desktop™. It will Python is not installed and install the newest version.

Follow these steps to install Slate maintenance updates and fixes:

• Sign-in to your Slate Dashboard at: https://www.slate.rocks/account-dashboard/

• Click your personal download link and download the newest installer.

• Unblock the downloaded file if necessary (right-click/properties/unblock).

• Close the Slate Desktop™ application and all of your CAT tool applications.

• Run the downloaded installer. It will:
  • detect your current installation
  • prompt you to confirm your license & configuration details
  • re-authenticate your saved license key, email address and product
  • uninstall the outdated Slate program and CAT plugins from your system
  • re-install the updated Slate Desktop™ program
  • activate the license count

• Start Slate Desktop™. All translation memories and engines are ready for you to use.

Read the full User’s Manual lesson here: Install, Activate and Update

• Intel Core i3 (i7 recommended) or AMD Athlon 64 CPU (4-core x86-64, 2.4 GHz or faster)
• 4 GB of RAM (8 GB recommended)
• 2 GB of free hard drive space for installation
• 250 GB (or more) free space on a high-performance drive is ideal after installation

Personalized engines

• 70,000 to 150,000 sentence segments
• One full-time translator’s work for 3 to 4 years

Customized engines

• 200,000 to 500,000 sentence segments
• Support a team of translators
• No upper limit number of segments
• Too many segments risks degrading the engine

Slate Desktop™ supports any combination of 34 languages. With your translation memories as a training corpus, you can create engines that translate between 1,122 language pairs.

An engine built with your personal machine translation memories works better for you because it learned how to translate using your knowledge and style. That’s why you’re comfortable using it. Even it’s errors use your vocabulary with some of your style and overall, there’s less for you to correct.

But, your personalized translation engine does not work better for everyone. Other translators using your engine will feel differently about your engine’s translation. It’s natural for them to use different words in a different style. Likewise, if you were to use another translator’s personalized engine, you would likely feel less comfortable.

If you know how to use a file/open dialog in MS Word, then you know how to import your translation memories into Slate Desktop™. If you know how to use an MT connector in your CAT, like DeepL in Trados Studio, then you know how to use Slate Desktop™‘s MT connector.

The only question remaining is will your translation memories perform to your liking as a training corpus. I’m ready to help you, as my customer, explore the strange and new concepts in Slate Desktop™. Only you can answer the questions and you have 60 days to experience your engines and evaluate their impact on your work.

Buy Slate Desktop™, experience great technical support and learn how your translation memories perform as machine translation. If you’re not fully satisfied, uninstall Slate Desktop™ and request a refund within 60 days of your purchase. We will refund your full purchase price immediately – no questions asked.

Yes. Slate Desktop™ becomes another MT resource along side all the other resources in your computer-assisted translation tool. The glossaries, term bases and other MT plugins are all there and ready for you to use.

Yes. Before you can use Slate Desktop™, you must build an engine. To build an engine, you must have translation memories or training corpus but they don’t have to be your personal work. You can use any translation memories and there are many free public sources for training corpora, but if you don’t have a training corpus, you can’t use Slate Desktop™.

No. Think about it. Microsoft can not and does not guarantee that Word creates Pulitzer-winning novels. They guarantee functions like bold, styles and layout work.

Adobe can not and does not guarantee that Photoshop creates award-winning graphics. They guarantee that the circle tool draws a circle and the fill tool uses blue when you want.

The same is true with Slate Desktop™. We guarantee the tools give you a medium to work. The more you use these tools, the better you get at expressing your creativity through the medium.

About 90% of customers report Slate Desktop™ helps them realize their goals. You won’t know how it works for you until test it. During that time, I guarantee that you’ll experience a great product with the best customer support. I guarantee to refund your purchase if you simply ask and uninstall within 60 days, no conditions attached.

Slate Desktop™ uses the same machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies as online MT. So, what’s the difference? You “teach” Slate Desktop™ with your translation memories as the text book. It studies your translation units and learns your bilingual knowledge, vocabulary and translating style. Then, it creates translations with that knowledge and style.

Yes. Slate Desktop™ is really easy to use. The point-n-click application hides the powerful machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies. They run seamlessly on MS Windows and simplify custom machine translation for everyone.

You invested $269 in Slate Desktop™. Here are three ROI scenarios.

Slate Desktop™ runs on your PC. It works in the background and delivers machine-translated segments without sending your customer’s information to the Internet.

Slate Desktop™ is for one translator. Machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies are configured one translator, you. The online services configure their technologies for millions of users.

Slate Desktop™ does not instantly translate after you install it. You must first “teach” it how you want your translations by building a machine translation engine.

They’re easy. You configure your computer-assisted translation tool to use Slate Desktop™ just like it uses the online services.

They’re automatic. Your computer-assisted translation tool automatically shows you machine translated segments from Slate Desktop™ and the online services.

They’re advanced. Slate Desktop™ and the online services share mature machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.

They deliver a “brand” of quality. Some translators prefer the “Google brand.” Others prefer the “DeepL brand.” Some prefer the “Slate Desktop™ brand.” You get the idea.