Virus has infected Polish-Lithuanian dictionary

LIETPOL is the first Polish-Lithuanian online dictionary. For 12 years it’s been helpful for people working in different fields, such as translations or diplomacy. Unfortunately, the web page hasn’t been working for one month now. It is the virus that has infected the software.

‘It was certainly noticed by many users that before having been switched off the dictionary web page wasn’t working very fast but on 18 September I received the information that the server was overloaded with the PHP processes. The site has been infected by the virus which started to – figuratively speaking – perform its own activity and paralysed the work of the server. Why did it happen? It’s simple. Technology still develops whereas the system protections – which were good several years ago – are not sufficient any more – explained Krzysztof Kolanowski, dictionary’s creator and initiator.

K. Kolanowski pointed that LIETPOL has always been based on the positive energy of its enthusiasts. ‘During these 12 years many people, apart from me, have been helping to develop and build up the dictionary; they shared their opinions and were pointing errors. Leszek from Gdańsk, a good friend of mine, has absolutely unbeatable contribution to our work’.

Currently, the initiator of LIETPOL works abroad and has some problems with administering the site. ‘Apparently we are now in the situation where I’m no longer an engine but an inhibitor of LIETPOL’s development. It’s not only the case of my job in Moldova and losing touch with Lithuanian or Polish language. The current job’s nature requires greater expenditure of time than the previous one. Much as I am glad of new professional challenges, LIETPOL has unfortunately become their victim’– explained Kolanowski.

The idea of launching Polish-Lithuanian dictionary began to emerge 12 years ago at the time when– in spite of the ‘strategic partnership’ – there was lack of such dictionaries. ‘The dictionary was created in 2001 in slightly different context than it has today. At that time there were not many Polish-Lithuanian dictionaries in a book form, online translators didn’t exist while the dictionaries were available only of the most popular languages. Being interested in Lithuania I gained some practice at Polish-Lithuanian Chamber of Commerce in Mariampol. When I returned, I spoke Lithuanian at intermediate level and I wanted to share that knowledge in this particular way. Additionally, I was inspired by a similar English-Belarusian dictionary written by my friend from studies – said to zw.lt K. Kolanowski.

Electronic translators don’t prove to work correctly

I chose first 12000 words on the basis of a Lithuanian-German dictionary while other words were added every time I came across it in media, literature or when somebody was so kind to send me a suggestion to put a particular word in the dictionary’ – said the creator of LIETPOL.

Talking to zw.lt, Krzysztof Kolanowski said he was happy about the initiative. ‘ The results have surpassed my expectations – I would never expect that the site would exist in 2013. I thought that the electronic translators at the time when they appeared would soon have such a good quality that a regular dictionary wouldn’t be necessary any more. But it didn’t prove to happen – especially when it comes to the less common languages’ combination, the translators  which use English additionally, don’t work correctly, I guess’ – explained K. Kolanowski.

Help from the outside

‘LIETPOL has become a reliable dictionary, I would even say – a better one than some of the available book editions. And the fact that in the electronic dictionary you can easily correct a mistake is its advantage over a traditional dictionary. Yet when it comes to the technical side, many things could have been done better. The dictionary could work faster, more steadily, even an algorithm for translating whole sentences could be written but from Lithuanian into Polish directly and the other way round and not via English. It soon turned out though that it wasn’t easy to find more time than the amount which we have for the usual updates’ – concluded author of the dictionary.

That’s why the author and the initiator of the dictionary asks those who would like help with the technical issues. Anyone willing to help is welcome to write: lietpol@onet.eu.

‘We need some help from the outside now. We have to get rid of the virus and update the Joomla! system. I need someone who knows how to administer web sites and who speaks Polish (since the administration panel is in Polish). I’m ready to pay for help. Apart from that – as I said earlier – I’m rather an inhibitor now, not the engine of LIETPOL, so it’s high time to pass the site to somebody else, who would like to continue my job’ – Krzysztof Kolanowski added.

Source: http://zw.lt/litwa/wirus-sparalizowal-polsko-litewski-slownik-internetowy/

Tłumaczenie by Elżbieta Szafarz w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Elżbieta Szafarz within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.