Reducing Costs and Maximizing Localization ROI  

The percentage of revenue that companies are generating from global markets is increasing rapidly. Not only does the global nature of sales help to increase overall corporate revenue, it also aids in building global brand equity, maintaining competitiveness against global competition and reducing geographical market reliance. In today's challenging economic environment, though, international efforts are often given low priority within the corporation. With this backdrop, localization teams are forced to do more with less in order to meet global market needs. Consequently, achieving a high Return On Investment (ROI) from localization initiatives is more important than ever.

Shapiro, Tom. STC Proceedings (2004). Articles>Language>Localization

Reducing Translation and Localisation Costs

These days, staff in localisation departments spend their time essentially on project management, translation and quality assurance. However, by using one of the emerging systems that integrate content creation, localisation and content management into an efficient system, many of these activities can be automated or avoided all together. We are now seeing the emergence of technical content control systems that can be used to improve the turn-around time, translation costs and the quality of the translations themselves. In recent projects, where these systems have been implemented, organisations have seen substantial savings in localisation costs, with word count reductions and translation costs of around 30%.

Pratt, Ellis. Cherryleaf (2004). Articles>Language>Localization

Resources for Translators

This page contains a categorized list of resources that are especially relevant to translators and anyone wanting to gain an in-depth view of the translation industry and translation technology.

Trans-K (2004). Resources>Language>Localization

Ressourcen für Kollegen

Von dieser Seite aus erreichen Sie ganz konzentriert Angebote im Internet, die für Übersetzer und Technische Redakteure besonders interessant sind. Naürlich gibt es auch in dieser Linklisten, getrennt für Übersetzer und Technische Redakteure. Bei Bedarf erscheinen Themen auch in beiden Listen, Sie können sich also wohl auf eine der Listen konzentrieren.

von Obert, Alexander. Techwriter.de (2003). (German) Resources>Directories>Technical Editing>Localization

Results of the "Survey of Percentages for Documentation Written on the Topic of Controlled Language (CL)"

Here is a summary of a survey that I conducted in April 1999. These results reflect replies received as of 10 June 1999.

Allen, Jeff. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Glossary

SALTing the Alphabet Soup

The language industries are rapidly embracing the use of translation tools such as automatic terminology lookup, terminology mining, terminology consistency checkers, and machine translation. Authoring tools that involve access to a termbase are also appearing, at least in the context of controlled language, but will over time no doubt also be used in the authoring processes where the syntax is less controlled.

Wright, Sue Ellen. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Machine Translation

SAPHelp: A Multilingual Authoring Tool  

SAPhelp is a proprietary authoring tool for documenting and translating on-line. It allows development, documentation, and translation to function concurrently. Its documentation structure lessens the need for redundant storage of texts. It provides version and authorization control and assigns work to authors and translators.

Ladd, Dennis D. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Content Management>Localization>Machine Translation

Search Engine Visibility in China

With China emerging as an economic superpower, more and more companies are launching Chinese web sites to establish a presence. The Chinese language has the second largest share on the World's Internet market, with English in the top spot, and Japanese in third.

Iler, Huiping. WTB Language Group (2005). Articles>Web Design>Localization>Search

Selecting a Translation Agency  

The authors offer advice on choosing translation firms, with special emphasis on the interview process.

Potsus, Whitney Beth and Catherine Deschamps-Potter. Intercom (2002). Design>Language>Translation>Localization

Semiotics at Work: Technical Communication and Translation in a Multilingual Corporate Environment    

In this paper an attempt is made to find a unifying approach to the study of the translator’s praxis, assuming that translation is guided by certain, recognizable, semiotic processes. Computational, corpus-based methods intended to aid in the research of large text bases are introduced. Alignment of text segments from files in different languages contained in a corpus, where these text files are known to be mutual translations is described. Text encoding in order to allow comparison of the results of translation studies performed by different scholars is also demonstrated. One goal is to establish qualitative and quantitative variables, on the sentential as well as the textual level, which would permit generalizations about the concrete procedures performed by professional translators in authentic work situations, e.g. in multi-lingual corporate environments.

Larsson, Arne and Magnus Merkel. Linkopings Universitet (2002). Articles>Language>Localization

Should Documentation Be Written in English in Countries Where the Natural Language is Not English?

Though ours was quite an international group, we soon found that we shared similar experiences. Comparing our experiences led us to affirm that when non-native writers produce English documents, mother tongue reviewers are required.

Payne-Charby, Anne-Marie. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Localization

Single Sourcing for Translations    

OCLC Online Computer Library Center has reduced costs and improved quality by using single sourcing in the localization of its services. For its FirstSearch reference service (which provides access to 80 databases for 18,000 libraries in 64 countries), OCLC has been through three phases of localization. Each phase has increased consistency and efficiency and lowered our translation costs. In the first phase of localizing FirstSearch in 1999, we introduced French and Spanish versions. The translation included the user interface screens and the help system. During this phase, we had minimal reuse of text in the interface and help files. The next year, OCLC released a major redesign of that service-with three levels of searching and greatly expanded database help. A separate administrative service and help system were also included. The translation task became much larger, and we needed to optimize the opportunities for text reuse in the system interfaces, help systems, and documentation. In the interfaces, all text strings were categorized and defined as entity strings-reused as needed among functions, databases, and user levels. For help and documentation, the needed content was analyzed and defined in an SGML DTD. Scripts were used to generate 240 help topics from a few SGML files. This approach reduced translation costs and facilitated consistency. Now in the third phase of localization, we are integrating our tool set, implementing a content management system, and adding support for Asian languages. Through this phase, we expect to reduce translation costs and improve quality.

Hysell, Deborah A. ACM SIGDOC (2001). Presentations>Language>Translation>Localization

Single-Source Content Management   

More and more businesses are expanding into international markets. A critical success factor for this expansion is high-quality, cost-effective and timely translated written content. Responsibility for this typically falls on internal translation departments or localization partners. Translation comes at a high price, exceeding the cost of writing the original content after only a few languages.

Trotter, Paul. tekom (2006). Articles>Content Management>Single Sourcing>Localization

Software Localization in the Windows Environment

Atsushi's presentation focused on two areas of Windows software localization: the internationalization of source code, and the actual localization of the user interface.

Kaneko, Atsushi. SDL International. Articles>Language>Localization>Software

Software-Localization

A threaded web-based discussion forum about software localization.

Manual Forum. Resources>Language>Localization

String-Related Issues (part of Globalization and Localization Issues)

This article discusses common occurring problems related to string resources include the text that appears in an application's user interface and tips on how to avoid them.

Microsoft (2004). Articles>Language>Localization

Subsidiary Reviews in the European Union  

Companies in many different industries are working at a feverish pace to produce translations of end-user documentation to meet EU deadlines, some of which are as early as December 2003. As a result of these deadlines, technical communicators in affected industries— such as medical devices and home appliances— are quickly overcoming many traditional translation hurdles. Documentation departments have formed solid relationships with translation agencies, streamlined documents to facilitate translation, and developed corporatelevel translation policies. However, challenges remain for documentation departments and translation agencies worldwide.

Balchunas, John. Intercom (2003). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Europe

Successfully Crossing the Language Translation Divide  

Going global is a familiar phrase in today’s competitive business environment. When we hear the phrase “going global” what comes to mind? Most of us think of products being sold in a foreign country. Providing documentation in your customer’s language gives your company the competitive advantage in the global marketplace. For those products to be sold successfully, a clear understanding and communication of the language is imperative. Language translation into each target language presents a host of challenges and choices that must be anticipated and resolved in the source language prior to translation.

Dilts, David W. ACM SIGDOC (2001). Presentations>Language>Localization

Technical Communication and Cross Cultural Miscommunication: Usability and the Outsourcing of Writing      

Writing is a culturally situated activity. When writing is outsourced to other cultures, because of a lack of knowledge of the users' culture and also because of influences from the writer's local culture, those doing the writing and designing, despite various strategies adopted for overcoming the disadvantage of not knowing the users' culture, may not know how to culturally situate writing. It is, therefore, important that bicultural people, who know the users' culture, as well as the culture of those doing the outsourced work, give writing teams feedback about the users' culture. Doing so can make outsourced writing more culturally situated.

Jeyeraj, Joseph. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>Language>Localization>Offshoring

Technical Communication in Sweden: Education, Certification and Internationalization

In spite of the limited population, Sweden is a highly industrialised nation with a number of globally well known industries. As the home market for these industries is far too small, they have to rely on the export markets to sell their products. This situation creates a rather special situation for technical communicators in Sweden. We have to translate the manuals into a large number of languages. And, as our own culture really does not have a dominating position in the world, we have to adapt the information to the target cultures on the different markets. Internationalization is a part of our everyday life.

Näsström, Johan. TC-FORUM (1999). Careers>Certification>Localization>Scandinavia

Technical Communicators for the Global Marketplace

Today, the translation of technical documentation is no longer a process which can be ignored until the source text has been produced. Translation issues need to be taken into account both prior to and during source-text production, and thus, to some extent, they become tasks of the technical communicator. This article gives an overview of current developments in the workflow patterns leading to multilingual technical documentation and outlines the consequences these developments should have for degree programmes in technical communication and translation.

Göpferich, Susanne. TC-FORUM (2000). Articles>TC>Localization

Technical Documentation for Europe: Belgium

Belgians do not have a language of their own. But the country has three equivalent languages instead: the partition of the Dutch language zones has been the result of a question of faith: With the freedom of Munster (1648), the first partition of the Netherlands took place, and, in 1830, Belgium was first founded as the catholic counterpart to the protestant Netherlands.

Reimers, Maja. tekom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Localization

Technical Documentation for Europe: Italian

Italian belongs to the family of Romanic languages. The traditional Italian alphabet has just 21 letters, but since recent times, five new letters j, k, w, x, y, have been added, thanks to the use of several words of foreign origin. Typical features are the use of the apostrophe ('l'amore') and the accent.

Manzin, Marisa. tekom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Italy

Technical Documentation in the Enlarged EU: First Round-Up on the Organisational, Technical and Economic Impacts

After the enlargement in May 2004, the EU has now 25 member states and 20 official languages (not taking into account 48 minority languages). What does the enlargement of the EU mean in the context of Technical Communication and what are the challenges of the on-going internationalisation in general? The industry has to find a way to make linguistic diversity compatible with efficiency within the set parameters of time, cost and human resources.

Wirtz, Ursula. tekom (2006). Articles>Documentation>Localization

Technical Translation: Craft, Not Commodity  

Describes the work of translators and suggests strategies buyers can use to find the best translator for their needs.

Cardillo, Louis M. Intercom (2004). Articles>Editing>Localization>Technical Writing