Libreoffice Base: Database

Hello everybody!

I'm going to explain how to create your own database. This entry can be interesting for translators to compile terms and expressions, that possibly can be used in future translations. I personally have created databases for two of my subject in my degree, specifically for technical translation and legal translation from german into spanish.

First of all, in Libreoffice Base you will have to select “table” and then “use the assistant to create a table”. In this way, the program will show you exactly how to make the database step by step and you will able to personalize it.

Depending on your preferencies, you will select the category “business” or “personal”. In this case I will show the personal category. In the frame below, you will see the available fields. I will select three: “IDCount”, “NameCount” and “NumberCount”. Later I will change the name of these fields according to the subject of my database.  

The next step is the change of the field's name and the selection of if the field will contain numbers or text. I personally will make the following modifications:

1. The “IDCount” for “ID”. In this field type I will use numbers, to numer how many terms I have. I select “Number [NUMERIC]” and then in “Required entry”, I say “yes”.

2. In “NameCount”, I write “alemán” (german), because this is the language of my source text. Field type: Text [VARCHAR]. Required entry: yes.

3. In “NumberCount”, I write “español” (spanish), because this is the language of my target text. Field type: Text [VARCHAR]. Required entry: yes

In the steps 2 and 3 you can select too the lenght of the characters. If you are going to keep expressions in your database, you will need more characters than only for one word!  

The next step is the selection of a main key. This is necessary to introduce datums in the database. In this case you can select the option that you want.

Finally, you must give a name to your table.  

Now, you will have a new database!

This is an example of one of my databases:

That's very useful, because you can keep a lot of information and then you can find it quickly. Like in the last picture, you can write the word you want to find and the program will tell you where it is.