I have an iPad ProPlus. I started using these apps on my iPhone as an interpreter, but was dissatisfied with the readability and upgraded the screen size one level at a time. Many of these apps are at least as up to date as my paper dictionaries. They are faster and more reliable than doing online research, so I now rely on them as a primary source. I consult these resources both on the road and at my office.
Translation apps
| Resource | Specialty | Language | Short description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Word Magic dictionaries | There is a collection of dictionaries: Legal, Medical, Unabridged, Business, Slang, Thesaurus | eng-spa | They are resident on my iPad. I have not found inaccuracies in these dictionaries. I don’t have to say what my source language is. |
| VOX | There are several in the Vox collection: Médico, Español, Español-Inglés, Español-Inglés médico, Español enciclopédico, Español general and sinónimos | Spanish | Vox is one of the best publishers in the Spanish-speaking world. |
| Diccionario de la Lengua Española descargable | General | Spanish | It has the complete dictionary at my fingertips. Published by RAE/ASALE. |
| Diccionario del Estudiante | General | Spanish | 40,000 entries with examples of usage. Published by RAE/ASALE. |
| Black’s 9th | Legal dictionary | English | This is the dictionary attorneys use, edited by Bryan Garner. The go-to reference for legal terms in English. |
| Wordbook XL | General | English | You can enable or disable the profanity filter. I disable it, because I am often interested in slang. |
| Merriam Webster | General | English | One of the stand-by references of many translators. |
| Merck Manual Consumer Version | Medical | English | Intended for patients. This is a reference app. |
| Merck Manual Professional Version | Medical | English | Intended for medical professionals. This is a reference app. |
| Oxford Learner's Thesaurus | General | English | A dictionary of synonyms. When we are drawing a blank on the word we need, this gets us there! |
Though the American Translators Association (ATA) does not allow the use of iPads or iPhones at its translation certification exam, most of our work is not done in that setting. When I am travelling, I like to know that I will be just as effective as when I am home, so I travel with my portable library. This is a sample of what I have. The combination of my laptop and my iPad Pro, where I can see the source document on a large screen and check my resources, almost duplicates my regular work environment, where I have two large screens to work with on my main office computer.
