We've reverted back to an older model to get the site back up in the short run.  We've lost a little more than half of existing translations (don't worry they are still on our own database) but our current search platform cannot support the load.  So you'll see timeout issues again but rest assured, we're working to do search from scratch and will take care of it pronto.

So as I'm sure many of you noticed (and were extremely distraught over, of course), Middish was down for a week or so, while we sorted through some technical gobbledeegook. For anyone who's interested, we switched search plugins from Ferret to Websolr, but there were some issues with gem dependencies and blah blah blah.

Anyway, what's important is that it's back up and running now, so you don't need to cry yourselves to sleep anymore. I, for one, was overjoyed to see that expertly-photoshopped homepage background image once again. So be sure to check it out.

Happy translating,
Wayne

We're getting a lot of questions about Middish 3.0 so we thought we'd share the details of our next project.

We're working on a way for online publications and content providers (blogs, web news outlets, etc.) to leverage their own communities for translation.  Think TED Open Translation Project for written content (http://www.ted.com/index.php/OpenTranslationProject).  Early on in Middish, we realized it would be a stretch for us to try and match volunteer translators with the subject matter they were most passionate about.  However, if we gave the content providers the software/tools they needed to let their fan base submit their own translations on a volunteer basis, well then we might be on to something.  We could be of great value aggregating past translations and helping users by providing a database full of relevant translation examples.

What about the current Middish?  Well for now, we're keeping Middish as it is, Chinese only (unless someone with relevant knowledge wants to help us bring Middish to another language!).  Opening up Middish to other languages is definitely important to us, but not our immediate priority.  We think that what we're working on now is our real killer app.

Execution here is pretty important, and it's why our description is vague.  It's easy to whip something together and describe it the way we did.  That's why we're looking to talk to lots of bloggers and publishers to figure this out.  If you're a blogger interested in what we're doing/ think you might wanna test drive a beta, let us know @ beta@middish.com.

Matt

Middish 2.0 has finally arrived.  We've upgraded Middish by adding an open source dictionary, a database of example sentences, and annotation support for all Chinese words and phrases.

This is the kind of study tool I wish I had in China.

We decided to make these changes in response to some of the feedback we've been getting.  That's right, we actually listen.

We think this new update is pretty awesome, but don't take my word for it.  Try us out and see how you like it.  As always, we'd love to hear what you think.

Matt

In light of the upcoming relaunch of Middish, we are going to post a couple screencaps of the current site in all its glory. Just imagine, when you regale your grandchildren with stories of the website that changed your life, you can show them these images of our humble beginnings (as they scoff at your primitive two-dimensional web pages).

Enjoy the current site while you can, it won't be around for much longer.

Happy translating,
Wayne

Middish is responding to your feedback!
 
We're adding pinyin and dictionary support to all Chinese entries.
Expect to see an update on this soon. In the meantime, here's a look
into our life at the office.

On June 22nd, we launched within two weeks of getting to Middlebury, much faster than either of us had anticipated.  The idea was we'd put out a bare minimum product, take in feedback, and go from there.  If you follow software development trends, this is becoming a popular strategy and is painless to work with on our framework, Ruby on Rails.  Unfortunately, we're beginning to feel the strains of that process, of working faster than we thought possible.  Much of our code needs to be refactored (heavily) and our stylesheets are so ugly, all we want to do with them is make quick hacks and get out of the way.

We're waiting to get approval for official use of the site during Language School, so until then, we'll wait a bit before we unveil our awesome new redesign.

So what can you expect?

We're about to release tens of thousands of English-Chinese (and vice versa) translations to the database and we need to fix up our backend before we can do it efficiently.  This way, most search queries should result in at least one properly translated sentence.

Our redesign will make use of a lot of the white space we have right now to the right of queries and translations without being too cluttered.  We'll make it more obvious how to search and post, and why you should sign up too, but this is just the tip of the iceberg.

We've taken a lot of your feedback to heart and we're always open to new ideas.  If you'd like to see something added to our service, drop us a line at feedback@middish.com, or post it on our uservoice page at http://middish.uservoice.com.

Thanks!
Matt

We've been working non-stop to address complaints from the Middlebury Chinese School so we've rolled out the ability to view our service in different languages, ahead of schedule.  Anyone viewing the site from the College network should see the site displayed in simplified Chinese by default.  We've added an option to view in traditional Chinese if needed, as well as in English for our fans on campus.

Just a reminder, please do not use Middish to post Chinese School homework!  Instead, try us out for phrases you might come across in news articles you're trying to read in Chinese, or to learn how to say idiomatic phrases and complex sentences in English.

Happy translating,

Matt

 

The day that you've all been waiting for is here.

As of a few minutes ago, www.middish.com is up and running. If you forget the URL, don't worry because we're also the top hit on Google when you search for "middish" (woo). Those of you who have been following our development process may know that the site has actually been up on this domain for over a week while we developed it, thanks to you all for testing it out and keeping our "private" beta on the down low.  We hope think we got all the kinks worked out.

We hope you'll head on over to our site to check it out. We'd love to hear your feedback too, so be sure to leave any comments, feature requests, complaints, awesome ideas, etc. using the feedback tab on the right side of all the pages. Or just email us at feedback@middish.com if you're shy about leaving your comments out in the open.

Happy translating,
Wayne