Some Basic Questions

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

Hi all,
I'm trying to learn how to use access for something for work.
I work with a lot of translators with vaying skills.

Currently I have an excel sheet with the
Translators Name
Address
Phone
Mother Tongue
Target Language
Source Language

As the list increases I realise this is not the best way to manage my data.
I have access 2003, so I created a table with

Contact Details:
Translator_ID (unique)
Translators Name
Address
Phone

and a table with
Languages:
Mother_Tongue
Source_Language
Target_Language

Here is where I get stuck. Some translators Have multiple working
source/target languages and I don't know how to enter the details in access
so that a translator can be matched to multiple languages (and languages can
be mapped to multiple translators).

Can anyone help please.

Thanks,

Chris
 
Add another table to your design.

TranslatorLanguages
TL_ID (autonumber - primary key if you wish - this is an optional field)
Or use the next two fields as the primary key
TranslatorID (not unique)
Language (Not Unique)

Other Fields describing a translators skill level in the language
LevelWritten
LevelSpoken
....

You could keep Mother Tongue in the Translator table, since that should
not change. Better would be to store it in this table and identify the
level as Mother Tongue (or you could just add an additiona field to
store that information)

If you make the assumption that translating from A to B means you can
translate from B to A then there is no reason to store source language
and target language. If direction of translation was important then you
could modify this table to something like:

TranslatorID
SourceLanguage
TargetLanguage

Even if you don't use the multiple fields as the key field I would build
a multi-field unique index on the fields to keep from entering the same
combination of translator and language(s) more than one time.


At this point you would join your Translator table to the
TranslatorLanguages table on the translator ID.

I would also add a table Languages so I could ensure consistent entry of
the languages.


'====================================================
John Spencer
Access MVP 2002-2005, 2007
Center for Health Program Development and Management
University of Maryland Baltimore County
'====================================================
 
First, I would add Mother tongue to the first table as that is a one to one
relationship with each translator, correct?
Second table- Languages: LangID, TargetName, SourceName, TranslatorID (as
foreign key linked to first table).

I am guessing target and source are like German to English, French to Farsi,
that kind of thing, no? It would be a simple matter to set up queries to
get any combination of answers for questions like- what translators can do
Italian to English, etc. and conversely what languages can translator Jones
handle.

HTH
Damon
 
Back
Top