The uptake of online tools and web-based language resources by freelance 
translators: implications for translator training, professional development, and 
research 
Dr. Heather Fulford 
Business School, 
Loughborough University, 
Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3TU, UK. 
Tel. +44 (0)1509 222435 
Fax. +44 (01)1509 223960 
E-mail: H.Fulford@lboro.ac.uk 
Joaquín Granell Zafra, 
Business School,  
Loughborough University, 
Loughborough, Leics, LE11 3TU, UK. 
Tel. +44 (0)1509 228842 
Fax. +44 (01)1509 223960 
E-mail: J.Granell-Zafra@lboro.ac.uk 
 
Abstract 
Freelance translators today have at their 
disposal an ever-increasing array of online 
tools and language resources, including search 
engines, electronic mail, dictionaries, 
document archives, and terminology 
databases.  A survey of working practices has 
been conducted among UK translators, with 
responses received to date from around 400 
freelancers.  Included in the survey was an 
investigation of the uptake of online services 
by translators, the findings of which are 
reported in this paper.  These findings indicate 
that freelance translators have adopted, and are 
making extensive use of, both general online 
tools, and more specialised online terminology 
resources.  Less use is being made, however, 
of mailing lists, document archives, and online 
machine translation.  The paper concludes 
with a discussion of the findings, together with 
a number of research questions arising from 
those findings.   
 
Keywords: Internet; freelance translator; 
translator training; online dictionary; language 
resources; multilingual database; terminology 
 
1 Background 
It has been suggested that the Internet is 
'significantly affecting the way translators work 
today', in both the 'way they handle orders' as well 
as 'how they search for linguistic and 
encyclopaedic information' (Austermühl, 2001:38).  
Indeed, Austermühl goes on to assert that the 
impact of the Internet on the 'research habits' of 
translators has been so considerable as to warrant 
being denoted a 'paradigm shift'.  Elsewhere, in a 
discussion referring specifically to translators 
working alone on a freelance basis or in small 
groups, the Internet has been hailed as a 'lifeline' 
for translators, rendered particularly attractive to 
them because of its cheapness and ease of use 
(Carter-Sigglow, 1999).   
 
It is certainly true that the advent of the Internet, 
and the World Wide Web in particular, has put at 
the disposal of translators an ever-increasing array 
of online tools and web-based language resources.  
These tools and resources offer opportunities for 
supporting translators at various points in their 
workflow, including work procurement, topic 
research, client liaison, terminology identification 
and verification, and the production of draft 
translations.   
 
As well as the increasing availability of online 
tools and language resources for the translation 
community, a number of other factors arguably 
point to the appropriateness of, and indeed need 
for, the Internet as a facility for freelance 
translators to utilise during various aspects of their 
work today.  Such factors include:  
 
Demand for translation services: 
It is widely acknowledged that the demand for 
translation services is growing (Andrés Lange and 
Bennett, 2000:203; Austermühl, 2001:4), fuelled 
by developments such as industry globalisation, 
'intensified international competition' (Austermühl, 
2001:4), efforts towards closer collaboration 
between European countries and the growth of the 
EU, the expansion of the Internet, software 
localisation initiatives, and technological 
innovations, such as DVDs with multilingual 
content.  In addition to the growth in demand for 
translation services, there are also increasing 
requirements made of translators to produce high-
quality translations in ever-shorter time periods 
(Andrés Lange and Bennett, 2000:203).  Online 
tools and language resources provide facilities to 
help translators produce and deliver their 
assignments more swiftly than was previously 
possible.  Moreover, the Internet access to an 
extensive range of document and terminology 
resources to help translators check and improve the 
quality and accuracy of their output.   
 
Knowledge growth: 
There has been a growth in knowledge in the 
past few decades, especially in the sciences, 
engineering and technological domains.  This 
growth has often been accompanied by a plethora 
of new terms, as well as an increase in the quantity 
of both paper-based and electronic texts produced 
to disseminate that knowledge (Fulford, 2001:260).  
The World Wide Web comprises a massive 
repository of documents and databases which 
translators can use for resolving terminology 
queries, and for identifying and verifying new term 
coinages and their foreign-language equivalents.  
Furthermore, it can act as a rich store of 
background information and reference material to 
assist translators in the subject field research tasks 
associated with the production of translation 
assignments.   
 
Electronic business developments: 
A final factor worthy of mention with regard to 
translators and Internet is the rise of electronic 
business in the past few years.  It has been widely 
reported that owners and managers of small 
businesses have been particularly keen to embrace 
e-business developments, such as setting up web 
sites, communicating with clients and suppliers via 
e-mail, and conducting business transactions 
online.  These developments have given them an 
unprecedented opportunity to compete on a level 
playing field with larger enterprises (Daniel, 
Wilson and Myers, 2002:253), to engage in low-
cost marketing activities, and to extend their 
geographical reach to a wider (potentially 
worldwide) customer base (Aldridge, Forcht and 
Pierson, 1997:161; Herbig and Hale, 1997:98; 
Kiani, 1998:185).  For the freelance translator, the 
Internet provides a means to liaise with clients, to 
advertise their translation services via web sites, 
and to attract clients from a wider geographical 
area.  The text-based nature of the ‘translation 
product’ renders it a particularly suitable candidate 
for electronic business operations.  
 
Whilst the various factors outlined above 
indicate the potential usefulness of a number of 
online tools and language resources to translators, 
there is, in fact, very little empirical data available 
to indicate which of the various online services are 
actually being employed by translators.  The 
purpose of this paper is to help address this gap by 
presenting some empirical evidence of Internet 
adoption by freelance translators.  This evidence 
has been gathered by means of a major survey 
conducted among translators based in the UK, to 
which some 400 responses have been received to 
date from freelance translators.  The findings point 
to some important implications for the design of 
curricula for trainee translators, for continuing 
professional development provision for practising 
translators, and for further research into the design 
and development of online services for translators.   
 
The survey reported here forms part of a wider 
three-year research project into the adoption of 
ICT (Information and Communications 
Technologies) by UK translators.  The project is 
funded by the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical 
Sciences Research Council).   
 
The paper is structured as follows: first, an 
overview of the online services available to 
freelance translators is provided (section 2).  The 
survey methodology is then outlined (section 3).  
An overview of the findings of the part of the 
survey relating to Internet use is presented in 
section 4, followed by a discussion of those 
findings (section 5).  Finally, some concluding 
remarks are made and some indications given of 
areas for further research (section 6).  
2 Internet services for freelance translators: 
an overview  
As Austermühl has noted, translators have 
'heterogeneous information needs'  (Austermühl 
2001:53).  For freelance translators, such 
information needs might include specialist 
terminology, background information about 
particular subject fields, client details, information 
about colleagues and their translation specialisms, 
and details of potential future work providers.  In 
today's Internet era, there are many Internet 
services available to translators to help meet those 
wide-ranging information needs.   
 
The Internet services available to translators may 
be divided into three broad categories: 
 
� Data and information repositories: 
These include, on the one hand, 
repositories of linguistic and/or 
terminological data, such as online 
dictionaries, glossaries and 
terminological databases.  On the other 
hand, there are, on the World Wide 
Web, repositories of information 
encoded in language, including for 
example, online documents such as 
newspapers, specialist journals, publicity 
material, and organisational web pages.   
 
� Information retrieval and processing 
programs: These programs include 
search tools (e.g. search engines) for 
tasks such as terminology query 
resolution and document searching.  
Included also are online machine 
translation systems for producing draft 
or information-only translations.   
 
� Communication tools: These tools 
include e-mail and messaging programs, 
file transfer applications, and online 
discussion groups.   
 
Within each of the above three broad categories, 
there are first, tools and resources that have been 
designed and developed specifically for translators 
to use during the process of translation (e.g. 
multilingual terminological databases produced for 
translators).  Second, there are tools and resources 
that have been designed for non-translation 
purposes (whether general or specialist purpose), 
but which may, nevertheless, be incorporated by 
translators into their workflow.  Included in this 
latter group are general-purpose dictionaries, 
specialist journals, search engines, and e-mail 
applications.  A comprehensive study of the 
adoption of Internet services by translators, such as 
the one presented in this paper, needs to consider 
both the translation-specific and the more general 
tools and resources available to translators.   
 
In order to illustrate the range of Internet 
services available to translators today, a summary 
is provided in Table I below of some of the online 
tools and language resources that might be 
integrated into various stages of the freelance 
translator’s workflow.   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Finding linguistic or terminological data 
Online dictionaries 
Merriam-Webster Online 
YourDictionary.com 
 
Meta dictionaries 
Onelook 
 
Terminological databases 
Eurodicautom 
TIS (Council of the EU) 
 
Search engines 
Google 
Metacrawler 
 
Finding background information (topic 
research) 
Encyclopaedias 
Encyclopaedia Britannica 
Encarta 
 
Newspaper archives 
Worldnews 
 
Databases 
CORDIS 
 
Resource gateways 
RefDesk 
 
Search engines 
Google 
Metacrawler 
 
Producing draft / information-only translations 
Online machine translation  
Babel Fish Translation 
 
Finding translation work 
Online marketplaces 
Aquarius 
Proz 
 
Promoting translation services 
Web site creation software 
Dreamweaver 
MS Frontpage 
 
Communicating with colleagues 
Electronic mail 
MS Outlook 
Eudora 
 
Electronic mailing lists & discussion groups 
LANTRA-L 
 
Table I: Online services for translators 
 
3 Survey context and method 
The survey discussed in this paper forms part of 
the exploratory phase of a larger three-year study, 
which has been established to gain insights into the 
contemporary working practice of translators, 
considering in particular their adoption of ICT into 
the translation workflow.  The project aims to 
identify and examine translators' strategies for 
integrating computer-based tools and language 
resources into their workflow, and to assess the 
impact those tools and resources are having on 
translation working environments.  The specific 
focus of this paper is on those parts of the project 
survey relating to the adoption of Internet services 
by freelance translators. 
3.1 Questionnaire development and validation 
In order to conduct the survey, a draft 
questionnaire was developed.  This questionnaire 
was based on a review of the relevant literature to 
identify the range of tools and language resources 
available to translators today.  Since there are few 
published academic papers explicitly addressing 
the adoption of information and communications 
technologies (ICT) by translators, the literature 
was used primarily as a guide to generate ideas and 
insights, rather than as a source of specific 
questions and item measures that could be utilised 
directly in this study.  The resultant questionnaire 
was organised into the following sections:  
 
Translator profile:  demographic data; details 
of translator training and qualifications; ICT 
knowledge and skills.   
 
ICT uptake and usage:  tools and language 
resources adopted to date.   
 
Internet usage: uptake of web-based 
technologies, and general Internet tools to date.   
 
ICT strategy: perceptions of general ICT; 
perceptions of translation technologies; 
business planning and strategy issues.   
 
The draft questionnaire was initially validated 
through a series of pre-tests, first with some 
experienced researchers, and then, after some 
modifications, it was re-tested with some 
translators.  The pre-testers were asked to critically 
appraise the questionnaire, focussing primarily on 
issues of instrument content, question wording and 
validity, before providing detailed feedback.  The 
pre-tests were very useful, as they resulted in a 
number of enhancements being made to the 
structure of the survey and the wording of specific 
questions.  Having refined the questionnaire, a 
pilot study exercise was also undertaken, which 
provided valuable insights into the likely response 
rate and analytical implications for the full survey.   
3.2 Questionnaire distribution 
There is no official register of translators in the 
UK.  Consequently, an exhaustive list of UK 
translators was not available for use in the study.  
For the purposes of this study, however, the sample 
used for the survey was drawn from a database of 
1400 UK-based translators obtained from the 
membership database of an appropriate 
professional body.  Questionnaires were mailed to 
the translators in the database of that professional 
body.   
4 Survey Findings 
To date, 590 responses to the survey have been 
received and logged.  Of these responses, 152 were 
eliminated during a pre-screening exercise on the 
grounds that the respondents reported that 
translation is not currently their principal activity, 
but rather an activity they combine with other 
undertakings, such as teaching, training, or 
interpreting.  Of the remaining 438 responses, 390 
were from freelance translators, and it is the 
responses of these freelance translators that are the 
focus of the discussion in this paper.  In 
comparison with other studies of translators 
undertaken in recent years, both the response rate 
to this survey and the sample size generated for 
analysis were encouraging: the sample for 
Translator's Workbench Project survey, for 
instance, comprised a total of 110 translators 
(Fulford, Höge and Ahmad, 1990); and the more 
recent LETRAC project survey sample consisted 
of just over 100 'individual translators' (Reuther, 
1999).   
 
In this section, some of the findings of the 
survey are presented, beginning with an overview 
of the respondents in the sample.   
4.1 Profile of survey respondents 
With regard to educational background, 92% of 
the respondents had university-level qualifications, 
with 53% of them having postgraduate-level 
qualifications.  A high proportion of the sample 
(82%) had specific qualifications in translation, 
such as a first degree, master's degree, or a 
postgraduate-level diploma in translation studies.   
 
With regard to the length of translation 
experience, responses ranged from 1 to 51 years 
(median: 12 years) spent working in the profession.  
The most common subject areas translated were 
business/commerce (78%), technical domains 
(54%), and legal issues (53%).  Productivity varied 
considerably, ranging from 50 to 100,000 words 
per week (median: 6000 words).  A further 
measure of productivity showed variations from 
0.5 to 84 hours per week (median: 25 hours) 
dedicated to translation-related tasks.  The findings 
relating to length of translation experience and 
translator productivity are summarised in Table II 
below.   
 
 Mean Median Mode 
Years established 13.95 12 4 
Translated words/week 7284 6000 10000 
Hours translating/week 25 25 40 
Table II: Length of experience and productivity 
 
In addition to translation services, some of the 
translators in the sample offered other services 
such as linguistic consultancy (15% of the sample), 
subtitling/dubbing (15%), website localisation 
(14%), or language training courses (provided by 
24% of the respondents). 
 
The majority of translators in the survey sample 
were female (63%), and the distribution of ages in 
sample was as follows: 20-29 years (4%), 30-39 
years (23%), 40-49 years (30%), 50-59 years 
(26%), and 60 and over (17%).   
4.2 ICT skills 
Responses to questions about ICT knowledge 
revealed that the vast majority (85%) of the 
translators in the sample were self-taught, and most 
had no formal ICT qualifications.  Among those 
who had formal ICT qualifications, half of them 
held a professional certificate, while only a few 
(15%) had a degree in computing or an ICT-related 
subject.  These findings about ICT skills seem to 
accord broadly with those reported in the LETRAC 
project survey (see Reuther 1999). 
4.3 ICT uptake and usage 
Whilst the focus of this paper is on those 
findings of the survey relating to the uptake of 
online tools and resources, a brief summary is 
provided here of the respondents’ general ICT 
adoption and usage. 
 
All of the freelancers in the sample were using 
computer-based tools to support document 
production processes (such as word processing 
software), and 40% were making use of tools to 
support business management processes (such as 
spreadsheet packages, databases or accounting 
applications).  Approximately one third of the 
translators in the sample were using tools to 
support terminology management and translation 
creation (including packages for creating and 
managing personal terminology collections, and 
computer-assisted translation tools, such as 
translation memory).  There was little evidence 
from the findings of translators supporting 
collaborative work with the use, for instance, of 
groupware or project management software. 
4.4 Internet connection 
Of the 390 respondents, 97% used an Internet 
connection or some other network service giving 
access to the Internet.   
 
The majority (66%) of freelance translators in 
the sample accessed Internet services via a dial-up 
connection, with only 31% using broadband 
services or a LAN connection.  Figure 1 below 
summarises these findings. 
Total: 390
None
3%
Dial-up 
connection
66%
LAN
1%
Several 
connections
5%
Broadband
25%
Figure 1. Types of network connection 
Further analysis of Internet connections 
indicated that there was no significant relationship 
between the types of Internet connection employed 
and the extent of usage of online tools and 
language resources. 
4.5 The uptake of online tools and language 
resources 
In this section, the findings relating to the uptake 
of online services are presented.   
 
The overriding majority (93%) of freelance 
translators in the sample used e-mail.  A high 
proportion (85%) used online search engines.  A 
small minority of respondents (3%) were making 
use of online machine translation systems.  A few 
were using usenet groups (6%), and a similar 
proportion (6%) were making use of specialist 
gateways.  There was widespread use of some 
web-based language resources, such as online 
dictionaries and glossaries (78%), and multilingual 
terminology databases (59%).  Furthermore, quite 
extensive use was being made of document 
archives, such as newspaper archives (51%), but 
less use of other online resources such as academic 
journals (30%), and electronic libraries (27%).  A 
number of possible reasons can be advanced for 
the differences among the respondents in their 
uptake of, for example, newspaper archives (51%) 
and academic journals (30%), including cost 
issues, levels of resource awareness, and factors 
such as perceived usefulness of each resource.   
 
As with many studies conducted in an 
organisational context, the adoption of the survey 
format restricts the range of issues and constructs 
that can be explored.  It must also be recognised 
that the results of a survey of this kind are based on 
statistical analysis and are, therefore, identifying 
general trends, and measuring 'association' rather 
than 'causality'.  These limitations highlight the 
need for further research to be conducted that 
adopts different methods.  In particular, there is a 
need now for a more qualitative study that will 
allow the statistical patterns and relationships 
identified in this survey to be more fully explored, 
and it is hoped, explained empirically.  It is 
precisely this sort of qualitative investigation that 
forms the next phase of the present research 
project.   
 
The analysis of the responses is currently being 
extended to permit the identification of groupings 
of translator types according to their adoption of, 
and familiarity with, a range of online tools and 
language resources.  This analysis is being 
undertaken using the statistical technique of cluster 
analysis, broadly facilitating the allocation of 
individual translators to one of several clusters (or 
groups) in which cluster members tend to share a 
number of characteristics in common with other 
cluster members (or are considered in statistical 
terms to be closely aligned to that cluster).   
 
To date, the following three clusters of 
translators have been identified in the analysis of 
the uptake of online tools and language resources 
(based on 241 responses deemed to be valid for 
cluster analysis purposes):  
 
Cluster I: Translators make extensive use of e-
mail, and some use of search engines and online 
dictionaries and glossaries.  They show some 
awareness of a broad range of other online 
terminology resources (such as multilingual 
terminology databases or online encyclopaedia) 
and document archives (77 translators in this 
cluster).   
 
Cluster II: Translators make extensive use of e-
mail and search engines, and some use of online 
dictionaries and glossaries, terminology databases, 
mailing lists, and to a limited extent use document 
archives.  They show some awareness of a range 
of other online terminology resources, online 
communication tools (such as online discussion 
groups and online translation marketplaces), and a 
wide array of document facilities (such as 
academic journals, archives, electronic databases, 
and electronic libraries), but do not demonstrate an 
awareness of online MT systems (81 translators).   
 
Cluster III: Translators make extensive use of 
e-mail, search engines, and online dictionaries and 
glossaries.  They make some use of a wide range 
of other online terminology resources (such as 
multilingual terminology databases and online 
encyclopaedias), document facilities (such as 
academic journals, archives, electronic databases, 
and electronic libraries), and online 
communication tools (such as online mailing lists, 
discussion groups, and translation marketplaces).  
They also show some awareness of online MT 
systems, usenet newsgroups and specialist 
gateways (83 translators).  
 
Further analysis of the three clusters revealed, 
perhaps inevitably, that the younger, least-
experienced translators holding a university 
qualification in translation (particularly a 
bachelor's or master's degree) were more likely to 
be found in cluster III.  No clear statistical 
relationships were found between membership of 
the clusters and levels of productivity, such as 
weekly word counts.   
4.6 Translator homepages 
The survey also included a section enquiring 
about the use translators are making of web sites to 
promote their own translation services.  The 
findings here showed that only 21% of the sample 
had their own home page.  One might suppose that 
newcomers to the translation profession would run 
a home page in order to establish themselves in the 
freelance arena and attract clients, whereas those 
who had already been operating an established 
translation business for some years might not need 
to do this.  The data from this survey, however, did 
not show any such relationship.  Indeed, further 
analysis of the data here revealed that the uptake of 
home pages varied little with length of translation 
experience.  Similar findings were found when 
looking at relationships between home page and 
age of translators in the sample.   
 
Having presented a summary of the survey 
findings relating to the uptake of online services, a 
brief discussion of those findings is provided in the 
next section of the paper.   
 
5 Discussion 
As indicated in the summary of findings above, 
the three clusters contained a broadly similar 
number of translators.  They suggest three 
groupings of translators: first, those who largely 
utilise general-purpose online tools for 
terminology retrieval purposes, and who make 
some use of online versions of conventional lexical 
and terminology resources, such as dictionaries 
and glossaries.  They have not ventured far into 
exploring new resources and new tools.  Second, 
there are those who use general-purpose online 
tools and quite a broad range of online resources 
for terminology retrieval; they also, to some extent, 
use other specialist facilities such as mailing lists, 
but again have not ventured far into the exploration 
and adoption of these.  Third, there are those who 
use general-purpose online resources, a broad 
range of online terminology resources, and who 
also utilise online document archives, as well as a 
range of different collaborative tools such as 
mailing lists, discussion groups and online 
marketplaces.  Those in the third grouping thus 
show a greater awareness, and higher level of 
uptake, of a broad range of resources than those in 
grouping one or two.  This suggests that those in 
the third grouping are incorporating online services 
into a greater range of tasks and processes in their 
workflow.   
 
Overall, the findings seem to suggest that the 
translators in the sample are making more use of 
online services for information retrieval, 
particularly terminology retrieval, purposes, than 
they are either for supporting collaborative work, 
or for marketing and work-finding purposes.  
Possible reasons for this are being explored in the 
next phase of the research project.   
 
It was evident from the findings that younger, 
less experienced translators holding university 
degrees in translation tended to be using a broader 
range of Internet services than their more 
established counterparts.  Assuming that these 
newcomers to the profession acquired their 
knowledge of Internet services through their 
university training, it is clear that universities have 
been adapting and tailoring their courses to reflect 
the increasing availability of Internet-based 
facilities to support various aspects of the 
translation workflow.  Given the changing nature 
of the translation profession, coupled with general 
advances in online services and virtual working 
environments, it will be important for these 
academic institutions to continue to adapt and 
innovate in order to prepare their student 
translators for future web-based collaborative 
workflows.  Examples here might include group 
translation projects and the use of shared 
translation memory.   
 
Whilst the findings of the exploratory survey 
presented in this paper have helped to provide a 
picture of the adoption of Internet services by UK-
based freelance translators, they raise a number of 
questions regarding reasons for adoption or non-
adoption.  Such questions include:  
 
� Cost issues and availability of free 
services: is cost a motivating factor for 
freelance translators when selecting an 
Internet service? 
 
� Perceived usefulness: what is the 
perceived usefulness of various Internet 
services, and how does their usefulness 
compare with more conventional tools 
and resources? 
 
� Ease of use: how easy do freelance 
translators find Internet services to use?  
What problems have they encountered 
when using them to date?  Do their 
experiences to date influence their 
willingness to adopt further services? 
 
� External factors: to what extent do 
clients require, or encourage, the use of 
certain Internet services?  What role do 
team-working environments play in 
encouraging the adoption of Internet 
services?   
 
� Online translator communities: what role 
do online translator communities play in 
encouraging the adoption of online 
services?   
 
These questions are among those now being 
investigated using a more qualitative-based 
study, including in-depth interviews with 
individual translators.   
 
The findings of the survey indicated that 
although some translators are aware of a number of 
Internet services, they have not adopted them into 
their workflows.  This discrepancy between usage 
and awareness highlighted another area for further 
investigation in the next phase of the research 
project: why have translators not moved from 
awareness to usage?  Furthermore, the survey 
findings suggested that translators tend to be aware 
of some Internet services and not others.  From the 
point of view of translator training and ongoing 
professional development, it will be important to 
identify the factors that influence awareness of 
each type of service: how have translators become 
aware of certain services, for example?   
 
A final issue that the survey raises is that of the 
benefits being gained by translators from the 
various Internet services they have adopted.  
Again, this is now being explored in the next phase 
of the project.  It is anticipated that the findings 
regarding benefits will be of particular importance 
to translator trainers and providers of ongoing 
professional development materials to help guide 
and inform their future planning of courses or 
modules on Internet services.  Moreover, a wider 
understanding of benefits being realised from 
Internet services could be useful for sharing 
successful practice strategies among existing 
professional translators.   
 
Whilst the survey has focussed on UK-based 
translators, it is envisaged that the survey 
instrument now designed, developed and validated, 
could be employed for replication studies among 
translator communities in other countries.  Indeed, 
undertaking comparative studies among translators 
in other countries would represent an interesting 
avenue for further research.   
6 Conclusions 
In this paper, an overview of online tools and 
language resources for translators was presented.  
A study was outlined in which the uptake of these 
online services by freelance translators in the UK 
was explored.  The findings of that study suggested 
that translators are making more use of online 
services for information retrieval, particularly 
terminology retrieval, purposes, than they are 
either for supporting collaborative work, or for 
marketing and work-finding purposes.  Further 
research in this area will include the deeper 
exploration of the reasons for uptake (or non-
uptake) of various online services by the 
translation community in the UK, as well, it is 
hoped, as further comparative studies of uptake 
beyond the UK.   
 
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