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The Tatoeba corpus is stored as a set of sentences and a set of links between them. Whenever a sentence is translated, a link is automatically created between the source and the translation. Sometimes, however, a translation already exists in the corpus. In this case, the ideal thing to do is to link to that translation.

For advanced contributors, chain and scissor icons are displayed in the interface. Clicking on the chain icon links a pair of sentences, and clicking on the scissors icon unlinks it. However, this is only possible for indirect translations (a pair of sentences connected by an end-to-end series of direct translations). If a sentence is a valid translation for a newer sentence, but there is no series of direct translations connecting them (i.e., they are "unconnected sentences"), you must go beyond the standard Tatoeba interface to link them.

Use a Bookmarklet to Link Unconnected Sentences

The recommended way to link unconnected sentences is to install a bookmarklet on your bookmarks toolbar and then use it. This works for all browsers. The bookmarklet page gives instructions for installation, along with a sample workflow for using the bookmarklet to link unconnected sentences.

Use a User Script to Link Unconnected Sentences

A more problematic way to link unconnected sentences is to install a user script on your bookmarks toolbar and then use it. User scripts do not work on all browsers, they require installation of a separate add-on (e.g., Greasemonkey for Firefox), and they can cause mysterious bugs.

Manually Type a URL to Link Unconnected Sentences

Finally, two sentences can be linked by manually typing a URL in the address bar of the browser (namely, "http://tatoeba.org/eng/links/add/"+first_sentence_id+"/"+last_sentence_id). However, this is error-prone and laborious.

Duplicating as an Alternative to Linking

An alternative to linking to an existing sentence is to create a duplicate version of the sentence and wait for the periodically executed deduplication script to unify the sentences. This is less desirable since merging two sentences, their existing links, and their existing comment threads may create technical problems and confusion, and because the script must be run manually. For this reason, regular contributors are encouraged to leave comments asking advanced contributors to create links, rather than to create duplicate sentences.