The following example illustrates the use of automatic Thai to Lao translation to translate the following Thai text copied into a Word document from a Thai news page:
ชื่อประเทศและชนชาติที่อยู่ในเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ มีพรมแดนติดต่อกับลาว เขมร มาเลเซีย และพม่า, ชนเชื้อชาติไทยมีหลายสาขาด้วยกัน เช่น ไทยใหญ่ ไทยดำ ไทยขาว
To try translation, set Thai to Lao Word selection (in the Advanced Settings dialog) to Default (or first), then select and copy this text into a Microsoft Word document.
Select the paragraph, then choose LaoScript 8 - Thai to Lao Translation - Automatic from the pop-up menu.
The result should appear as:
ຊື່ປະເທດແລະຊົນຊາດທີ່ຢູ່ໃນເອເຊຍຕະເວັນອອກສຽງໃຕ້ ມີເຂດແດນຕິດຕໍ່ກັບລາວ ເຂມຣ ມາເລເຊຍ ແລະພມ່າ, ຊົນເຊື້ອຊາດໄທມີຫຼາຍສາຂານຳກັນ ເຊັ່ນ ໄທໃຫຍ່ ໄທດຳ ໄທຂາວ
If you wanted to edit the result later and choose from alternatives, you would set the Thai to Lao Word Selection option to Insert all instead, which would result in:
ຊື່ປະເທດແລະຊົນຊາດທີ່ຢູ່ໃນເອເຊຍຕະເວັນອອກສຽງໃຕ້ ມີ{ເຂດແດນ,ຊາຍແດນ}ຕິດຕໍ່ກັບລາວ ເຂມຣ ມາເລເຊຍ ແລະພມ່າ, ຊົນເຊື້ອຊາດ{ໄທ,ອິດສະລະ}ມີຫຼາຍສາຂາ{ນຳກັນ,ດ້ວຍ} ເຊັ່ນ {ໄທ,ອິດສະລະ}ໃຫຍ່ {ໄທ,ອິດສະລະ}ດຳ {ໄທ,ອິດສະລະ}ຂາວ
allowing a later choice of the appropriate Lao word to use in each case.
Interactive translation allows the translator much more control of the quality of the translated document. In most cases, when using interactive translation, the Insert all word selection option will be used. If we take the same text, and select interactive translation, then the following dialog will appear:
Choose the word you want from the list by double-clicking it. As there are no more words to be slected in the first part of the text being translated, LaoScript 8 then checks the Lao spelling and finds an unrecognized word:
The reason for this is obvious - the transliteration of the Thai word เขมร is not recognized as a Lao word. In this case, the best way to correct that will be to add the Thai word and its Lao equivalent to the Thai-Lao word list. An easy way to do this is to select the Thai word in the Thai text field, then click the Thai - Lao word list button:
then enter the appropriate Lao word and save the entry:
On returning to the interactive translation dialog, press Repeat to re-translate the Thai text. The Thai word เขมร will now be correctly translated into Lao.
You can add a Lao entry for พม่า in the same way. Each paragraph will be treated in the same way, then copied back to the Word document to replace the original Thai after the translation has been corrected and/or confirmed.