What is Omnigloss? Omnigloss is an application designed to provide professionals with a means of looking up terminology quickly and efficiently, with an emphasis in the field of interpretation and translation.

Omnigloss offers users a variety of features to make customization, management, and look-up of cross-referenced information as simple as possible:

• Add and edit entries in your glossary with data for each field: for example, a single entry could have fields for an English term, its Russian translation, its Spanish translation, an image, and a Web link for more information.
• Add new fields on the fly: simply add a new field to any single entry, and it will be available to fill in for every entry in your glossary.
• Tag entries with multiple customized categories and sub-categories: a single entry might be tagged under an Insurance tag, a Medical tag, and a Procedures sub-tag within the Medical tag. Tags are created as needed; add a tag to an entry, and it's added to your list of tags, available to tag any other entry in your glossary.
• Build your personalized glossary to fulfill your own work needs, entry by entry; import glossaries (or entries) that other users have created; share glossaries with other users.

How does Omnigloss work? Omnigloss is in development as both a mobile app and a browser-based application:

• Use the application online or offline: you don't need to be connected to the internet for Omnigloss to work.
• Save your glossary to the app or browser itself: any time you open Omnigloss on the same device, your working glossary will be loaded and ready.
• Export your glossary (or specific entries) as an Omnigloss file: you can then load that glossary into Omnigloss on a different device (or a different browser on the same device).
• Import glossaries into Omnigloss to replace your browser's working glossary, or append glossaries to add entries to the current working glossary.

How do you use Omnigloss? Once you launch Omnigloss, you have your working glossary at your fingertips. Look-up is fast and easy:

• Select a tag or sub-tag to narrow your list to only the entries you need right here and now: if you're interpreting a call between an auto mechanic and a customer, for example, you might click your Automotive tag to restrict your list to just the entries related to automative services.
• Type in search terms and instantly filter your list to show only the entries you need right away: for instance, start typing C-A-R and you'll see entries like "car rental" and "Medicare"; keep typing C-A-R-D-I-A-C to find entries like "cardiac arrest" and "cardiac surgery."
• Choose which fields to display, side by side, for direct and simple cross-reference. This means you could use Omnigloss as a French-German translation reference by viewing the French and German fields for each entry in your list of terms and phrases, or a chemistry study guide by viewing the element name, chemical symbol, and molecular weight of each entry in your list of elements. The possibilities are limited only by what you put in your glossary.
• Sort your list by any field (e.g., Polish or Portuguese) alphabetically or (if you specify a field as containing only numbers) numerically, or by the date you created each entry; whether alphanumerically or chronologically, you can sort your entries either forward or backward. You can also make sure the list begins with starred entries that you've designated as higher priority than others (because, for example, they come up more often in your work).

Why should professionals use Omnigloss? Omnigloss was designed specifically with remote (over-the-phone) interpreters in mind — professionals who don't have the luxury of time when they need to work out intricate translations on the spot, in fields that may include complex technical, scientific, legal, or financial jargon.

Professional interpreters and translators work hard to compile their own lists and look-ups, but that work can go to waste without a fast and easy way to sift through it for the exact phrasing you need, at the very moment you need it. Every new project or important call leads to copious notes, terms, and definitions, and it becomes a daunting challenge to keep it all organized, both on your desk and in your head.

Cleaning your workspace — and headspace — isn't just about having neater piles of notes; the information itself needs to be stored and retrieved without hesitation. That's not easy or productive when you've got loose paper, stacks of books, megabytes of PDFs, and a dozen useful bookmarked sites to scramble through.

Omnigloss lets you put your professionalism and diligence to good use; no research is wasted, because the glossary you build is as comprehensive as you need it to be, and accessible in seconds during even the most high-pressure conversations.

What advantages does Omnigloss have over an online dictionary or flash card application?

• Put it all in one place: more than just definitions, your entries can contain specific usage notes, idiomatic reminders, diagrams and images, and links to additional information — whatever you choose to add to your glossary. Sometimes, a mere definition isn't enough for professional interpretation and translation.
• Connect any concept to any other concept: more than a dictionary, Omnigloss allows you to define the relationships between any two (or more) terms or ideas. You can create entries that connect English phrases to their Finnish counterparts, entries that connect laws of physics to the mathematical equations that describe them, entries that connect assembly instructions to the diagrams that depict them — all of these and more can be applied, simultaneously, to any or all of the entries in your glossary.
• Improve your recall as you might with any flash card application with the test feature, but choose to test yourself on entries from within specific categories or fields only or on entries from your entire glossary. Need to brush up on, for example, your Cantonese legal terminology? Switch to the English and Cantonese fields, select your Law tags, and test yourself on only those entries.
• Find the right words in the moment: professionals often don't have time to look up obscure terminology or rarely used jargon, especially in the field of interpretation. Omnigloss's tag selection, instant search filter, and sorting features (including prioritization sorting options) give you exactly the entries you need, right when you need them.

Why should companies use Omnigloss? Any interpreter represents the company they're working for, and interpretation and translation companies want to be represented professionally and consistently. Keeping all your interpreters on the same page can be difficult; in the middle of a fast-paced call, interpreters don't have the time to look up the specific preferences their company has when it comes to particular idioms or formal protocols.

Omnigloss presents an easy solution: providing all of your interpreters with company-wide glossaries lets you present your clients with a consistent, professional workforce:

• Establish standard translations that you prefer over other, non-standard ones; once they're in your glossary, all of your interpreters will have instant access to your preferred translations, and be able to refresh their memories easily with a few simple clicks.
• Organize your glossaries to provide individual interpreters with only the data they need. For example, you might provide your medical glossary only to interpreters taking medical calls, your insurance glossary only to those interpreting for insurance companies, and your standard protocol glossary to all employees.
• Maintain and update your glossaries to keep your interpreters up to speed on the latest protocols and preferred translations.

Can you contribute to Omnigloss? Absolutely! Currently in beta, we're always happy to have professional interpreters and translators offer their skills and knowledge to expand our suite of glossaries. Interested contributors with a professional background receive a complementary installation key to use Omnigloss for free — along with credit for their contributions in the Omniglossary repository — in exchange for providing glossaries in their chosen languages and reporting any bugs in the application.

You'll be helping to improve the application itself, as well as helping others in your field develop robust and comprehensive glossaries of their own.

Interested companies are welcome to contribute as well — Omnigloss can certainly benefit from the input of companies that can discuss specific wants and needs in a reference application. Partnering with interpretion companies will benefit all involved.

To apply as a beta-tester or glossary contributor, please don't hesitate to provide your contact information below; you'll receive an e-mail notifying you of any updates or available software as soon beta testing begins.