Establishing a Technical Translation and Software Localization Professional Interest Committee  

Conservative estimates suggest that the translation market is currently over $1 billion and growing at a rate of 15% annually. The impact of an increasingly global economy continues to be felt by many business people, not the least of whom are the technical communicators who are charged with the mission of writing with international audiences in mind. Producing culturally appropriate, quality translations requires an awareness of how documents intended for foreign markets should be written. The purpose of the proposed Technical Translation and Software Localization PIC is to increase awareness of localization issues and to provide a forum for discussion, information exchange and education for those technical communicators who are involved in international communication.

Burns, Ann Lyn. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Language>Localization>Technical Translation

Facets of Software Localization

That information technology has revolutionized the translator's working environment is a fact so obvious that it no longer even bears mentioning. For the vast majority of translators and their clients, computers have long since replaced typewriters and reams of paper. Modems and e-mail have replaced manila envelopes, mass storage devices have replaced drawers full of folders, CD-ROMs supplement dictionaries and encyclopedias, and more recently the Internet and its resources more and more often save us a trip to the library, while various online communities have brought many translators out of their isolation. But information technology not only offers us tools. It is itself a field in which more and more translation work is actually executed. As in other fields, this is certainly true of marketing materials, packaging materials, advertising copy, and manuals. But in the case of information technology products, it is frequently the products themselves that need to be translated. Whenever a program or process displays a word or a phrase on the screen, this means potential work for one or many translators.

Dohler, Per N. SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software

Fast Online (Machine) Translation - But...?

Even if the attainable quality of automatic translation systems is insufficient under certain conditions, and despite careful preparation of the original text, nevertheless the translation provides a useful basis for a technical translator. The automatic translation greatly simplifies the production of a foreign language text and leads, all in all, to an efficient translation process. For example, the translation of a customer Website with the help of an automatic translation system (i.e. post-edited machine translation) cost us only a third of the time, which we had previously calculated as pure 'manual work'.

Thiele, Ulrich. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Following the Road Untraveled: From Source Language to Translation to Localization    

A-dec Inc. is a dental equipment manufacturer headquartered in Newberg, Oregon. A 40-year leader in the dental products industry, A-dec/spl trade/ has targeted the international market as their growth market. The change in scope has brought with it the recognition that the A-dec Technical Communications team must address how to align their content to support an international audience, as well as clearly communicate the company's core values. The process has been ongoing and dynamic as new discoveries occur. They faced the challenge of understanding the differences between translation and localization, which started their education in the area of necessary requirements for competing in the international marketplace. This case study discusses their journey towards creating a globalized product.

Ledet, Denise and Rahel Anne Bailie. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>Language>Translation>Localization

Formatting Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)

This article addresses all formatting concerns related to software localization. It discusses country and regional differences in addresses, currency, dates, numerals, paper sizes, telephone numbers, time and units of measure. Very thorough!

Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization

Global to the Core, or, Why IBM Can't Tell You How Much Money It Spends on Globalization

LISA is in the process of updating its Localization Primer, a publication read by people around the world interested in learning about localization. As part of this process LISA decided to update some figures about how companies spend their localization budget, so Mike Anobile called up Bill Sullivan of IBM to ask him how IBM spends its localization budget. Bill replied that he couldn't say, that he had no idea how much money IBM spends on globalization or what areas the money is spent in. What's more, he said that he was "delighted and indeed proud that [IBM does] not have that data".

Sullivan, Bill. LISA (2003). Articles>Language>Localization

Going International

For many people, setting up a Web site is their first experience with publishing documents for an international audience. It's true (for now) that most of the computers on the Internet are in the United States, but the Net includes computers in more than a hundred countries. If you put information on the Web, people from all over the world can read it. At least 15 percent of the visitors to the EEI Web pages are from outside the United States. In the first few days of the new year, pages were viewed by people from two dozen countries, including Croatia, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. It's not called the World Wide Web for nothing.

Ivey, Keith C. Editorial Eye, The (1996). Articles>Language>Translation>Localization

Going Online: Helping Technical Communicators Help Translators    

What can technical communicators do to design documents that are easier, and therefore less costly, to translate without sacrificing quality? Nearly all writers/designers concern themselves primarily with the users of the document, the primary audience, when considering translation while overlooking the secondary audience-the translators. If the source document is not written with translation in mind, translation costs can escalate. Writers/designers can, though, help reduce the translators' cognitive load by supporting them in solving language and cultural problems. In this article, we will explain why technical communicators should help translators, and we will offer some tips to creating 'translation friendly' documentation. We will also describe the research and design process involved in creating an online tutorial on writing and designing for translation which was developed for a local Twin Cities company. Although we discovered during the course of our research that there is not one generic approach

Flint, Patricia, Melanie Lord van Slyke, Doreen Starke-Meyerring and Aimee Thompson. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Language>Localization

How to Prepare a Localization Kit  

Today, companies need to localize their products in order to compete effectively in the global markets. Preparation of a complete localization kit is the first step in a successful localization project. A localization kit serves both client and localizer to streamline the process from the onset and allow for optimum allocation of resource, time and budget management.

Olcer, Sedef. STC Proceedings (2002). Articles>Language>Localization

How To Select the Right CAT Tool Solution

This article lays out a framework for selecting the right Computer Aided Translation (CAT) tool solution based on a number of characteristics of the translation environment.

SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software

The Importance of TMX for Translation Tool Buyers

In June of 1997, a small group of individuals representing the major buyers and providers of translation tools and services began a process that will have dramatic benefits for the users of translation tools. With the momentum of Microsoft behind it, that group began defining a standard for exchanging translation memory data between translation tools. This definition has been recently published by the Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) as the Translation Memory eXchange (TMX) standard. Defined as a Document Type Definition (DTD) in SGML, this standard defines vendor-neutral conventions for storing translation memories in a manner that allows them to be uniformly exchanged between any tool of any vendor adhering to the standard. So how will TMX affect the translation tool market and what does it mean to current and future users of translation tools?

Briggs, Brian M. SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software

Improving Translatability And Readability With Syntactic Cues  

'Syntactic cues' are function words and punctuation marks that indicate syntactic relationships. Research in psycholinguistics, reading, and reading in a foreign language has shown that readers rely heavily on these cues to help them analyze and predict sentence structure. Yet technical writers and editors routinely eliminate many of these cues from their writing in the mistaken belief that they are improving readability. This workshop will show you how to use syntactic cues not only to improve readability, but also to eliminate ambiguities that cause problems for translators. This approach does not require knowledge of grammatical terminology, and it will increase your sensitivity to many subtleties of the English language.

Kohl, John R. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Language>Translation>Localization

Improving Translatability and Readability with Syntactic Cues    

More and more technical writing is being translated from English into dozens of languages for use worldwide by readers who have varying degrees of fluency in English. More and more technical documents are translated using computer-assisted or machine translation and are then post-edited by human translators whose first language usually is not English. As a result, more than ever before, technical writers need to be aware of syntactic ambiguity in order to ensure the most accurate, timely, and cost-effective translation. This manuscript explores an approach to writing unambiguously that is based on research from several disciplines. In addition to facilitating translation, the syntactic cues approach improves the readability of technical documents for both native and nonnative readers of English. The manuscript discusses considerations for integrating the syntactic cues approach into established documentation processes and also provides a procedure that helps technical writers learn to use syntactic cues effe

Kohl, John R. Technical Communication Online (1999). Articles>Language>Translation>Localization

International Document Publication

The formatting work that's done after translation typically represents 30-40% of the overall cost of a localization project. Some ways to reduce that cost involve choosing an appropriate page layout application. One application can require as much as five times the labor required to do the same type of formatting as in another application. By choosing the right application, you can conceivably save hundreds of hours and costs over your set of target languages.

Bailey, Ase, Adam Jones and Dick Rude. SDL International (1998). Articles>Language>Localization

Internationalization and Translatability  

Internationalization prepares products and documentation for translation. It accompanies the production process, helping to ensure that all internationalization factors are considered. It prevents costly and time-consuming retrofitting and increases the chance of a successful product introduction into foreign markets.

Kumhyr, David B., Carla Merrill and Karin Spalink. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Language>Localization

Introducing "King Memo" (David vs. the Goliaths?)

I work as a freelance translator, mostly with Word and html files. I also regularly organize localization projects involving translations into the main European languages. When I looked around at the translation memory systems on the market today, I found them not only seriously overpriced but also laden down with so many features that I'd never expect to use in a month of Sundays.

Abele, Wolfgang. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Software

An Introduction to Computer-Aided Translation

Computer Aided Translation (CAT) is the broadest term used to describe an area of computer technology applications that automates or assists the act of translating text from one spoken language to another. Today CAT tool technology is being used by both business users and professional translators. Business users conducting business internationally are now finding benefit in tools when communicating across languages when a translator is not available and the user has limited multilingual skills. Professional translators are finding CAT tools highly effective in improving their translation productivity and quality for work that lends itself to the use of the different technologies.

SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software

Introduction to MLang

MLang implements a set of services that is designed to help make software that interacts with Internet data more international. More specifically, MLang helps solve problems presented by the multilingual environment that exists for software today. This article describes the services that are provided by the MLang Component Object Model (COM) object.

Microsoft (2003). Articles>Language>Localization>Microsoft Windows

Is Localization of a Product Essential to Ensure Usability and Customer Satisfaction?

Do you believe that localization of a product is essential to ensure usability and customer satisfaction?

Dick, David J. Usability Interface (2005). Articles>Language>Localization

Is Your Documentation Translation-Ready?  

Describes several ways technical communicators can prepare their documentation for translation.

Potsus, Whitney Beth and Kaarina Kvaavik. Intercom (2001). Articles>Language>Localization

Java Localization with Translation Memory eXchange Standard

One of the main concerns of internationalization consists of separating the main source code from the texts, the labels, the messages and all the other objects related to the specific language in use. This article briefly explain the TMX standard and a simple TMX Java bridge.

Asuni, Nicola. evolt (2005). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Language Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)

This article is a very good primer on the language issues involved in localization software. It touches upon topics such as language direction, capitalization, code pages, fonts and input methods, to name just a few. It gives a reader a solid understanding of the complexity and factors involved in localizing software into different languages.

Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization

Linguistic Issues in Authoring for Technology-Enabled Translation  

For many corporations, growing international is almost a must. Obviously, human translators play a key role in this difficult venture. A range of computer tools aimed at expediting the translation process are now being used by translators. However, whether or not translation tools are used, translators feel frustrated and blame technical writers for their flaws. Authoring does not seem to be done with translation in mind, and the linguistic issues to be solved up front are sometimes countless. An efficient, cost-effective, and high-quality translation requires the right combination of ingredients, and proper authoring will have a major impact on the entire process.

Rivas, Juan-Carlos. STC Proceedings (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

Localisation: Trendy Term or Legitimate Need?

Again and again we have seen how modern language use suddenly gives rise to new concepts or terms behind which, as closer observation shows, are simply the same old meanings. Whether it's the 'administrative assistant' who used to be the 'secretary', or the 'human resources manager' who has replaced the 'personnel manager' (or even ridiculous examples like 'domestic engineer' for 'housewife'!), such neologisms often generate little more than a smirk. Is there a similar situation when it comes to 'localization'?

Sturz, Wolfgang. TC-FORUM (1998). Articles>Language>Localization