The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA): Applications for Globalization    

Translation of documentation has traditionally been a major expense in the globalization process, especially if translations are required for multiple languages. The Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) is an XML-based architecture for creating topic-based and information-typed content. It provides a number of features that, in addition to supporting high-quality information delivery, allows for more efficient and reliable localization of information. This article provides both an introduction to DITA and a discussion of DITA features that enhance document globalization.

Harrison, Nancy. IEEE PCS (2005). Articles>Documentation>Localization>DITA

Demystifying Unicode

The concept of the Unicode character set began in 1987, thanks to Joe Becker from Xerox and Mark Davis from Apple. The following year, Becker, Davis, and Lee Collins (currently of Xerox; formerly of Apple) began investigating the design and soon made the case for Han unification to ANSI, ISO. Unicode is, indeed, based on the historic evolution of the Chinese character set (Han). Several people from various high tech companies began holding bimonthly meetings in 1989. By the end of 1990 , an initial, full-review draft was created. In 1991, the group became the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit organization incorporated as Unicode, Inc. Version 1.0 became available to the public for the first time in 1992.

Vine, Andrea and Bill Hall. SDL International (1998). Articles>Language>Localization>Unicode

Designing a Multilingual Document: Lessons for the Manager  

During a very brief 6-month period of 1993, a small group of highly focused individuals undertook a major redesign of a critical piece of the Sun Microsystems Computer Company hardware documentation. We took the hardware installation document from a single language. 100 page book, written in a very 'chatty' style, to a terse, modular, highly graphical, and most importantly, multilingual document of 33 pages. Managing that effort was an exciting challenge, filled with many lessons that are described in this paper.

Hall, Peggy Traughber. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Language>Localization

Designing for a Non-English Audience

I've discovered that foreign language typesetting can be very challenging - even when using the right software and platform, or having the help of a very experienced foreign typesetter. Through solving the problems encountered in the process, I also developed a new appreciation for simple, 'internationalized' designs that are much easier to 'localize' than others. Many problems can be avoided if the graphic designer keeps in mind that the document may be later translated into other languages. Sometimes, an attractive and very professional design in English can be a nightmare for other languages.

Bratu, Felicia. WTB Language Group. Articles>Language>Localization

Designing Multilingual Documents: Some Principles, Observations, and Guidelines  

This paper summarizes some basic problems associated with designing, producing, and delivering multiple languages within one document, and our approach to resolving those problems, 'Multilingual in this context is defined as containing one or more languages within a page design, as opposed to 'internationalized' (containing universal symbolic or pictorial text) or 'serially translated' (repeated translated content) documents.

Lorence, Paul. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Language>Localization

Developing A Website for Users of Languages Other Than English

Today, the Internet is positioned to be an international mechanism for communication and information exchange, the precursor of a global information superhighway. For this vision to be realized, one important requirement is to enable all languages to be technically available via the Internet, so that when a society is ready to absorb Internet technology, the language capability comes prepackaged. This is a nontrivial multilingual-information processing problem. To appreciate the extent of this issue, it is enough to know that few years ago, English was the native language of 80% of web users. Today, English is the mother tongue of less than half of web users. However, statistics show that the language of about 80% of web sites is English with only about 8% could be classified as multilingual. From the numbers above, making a website universally usable is an important issue and ignoring it may lead to groups of users suffering isolation, rather than enjoying the true interoperability alluded to by the very name of the World Wide Web. However designing websites in languages other than English or multilingual websites confronts designers with many requirements. These requirements generally fall into three categories: data representation, data display and data input requirements. This paper studies these requirements, gives general recommendations for meeting them and provides a list of guidelines for web pages designers. It also gives examples of successful websites implemented in different languages.

Ghanem, Nagia M. Universal Usability (2001). Design>Language>Localization

Development of Japanese-Language CD-ROM Manuals Using SGML  

Fujitsu Limited publishes as many as 10,000 manuals a year. Efficient, standardized manual production is, therefore, indispensable. Our department has created a manual on CD - ROM as a pilot project of electronic publishing using the Standard Generalized Markup Language (SGML). The use of CD - ROM provides the manual with a convenient reformation search feature and high portability that can not be achieved with conventional paper manuals. This paper discusses our methodologies, problems involved in Japanese language SGML manual production, and how we solved them.

Nakamura, Yuko. STC Proceedings (1994). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Japan

Development, Use and Profitability of Translation Memory Systems

Product life spans and documentation production times are becoming increasingly short and the expenditures for documentation are rising simultaneously with increasing product complexity. Hence, translation projects are becoming more costly as the parallel increasing documentation complexity.

Knauf, Ansgar. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Machine Translation

Different Types of Controlled Languages

There has been much discussion on the topic of Controlled Language (CL) in the past issues of TC-Forum. With several years of experience as a translator, as a trainer of Controlled English writing and translation post-editing, and as a developer of Machine Translation (MT) and Translation Memory (TM) systems, I would like to clarify some points that do not seem to have been presented in other articles. These points do not indicate all of the details of possible CL systems, but I hope that they open up the discussion to cover both past and recent developments in CL system and application research and development.

Allen, Jeff. TC-FORUM (1999). Articles>Language>Localization>Controlled Vocabulary

The Direct Road  

Firms that export to the USA are faced with the challenge of having to deliver accompanying TD that meets the requirements of that country. This is true not only in legal or safety-relevant terms, but also in terms of the language used. Production and translation of multi-lingual documentation are part of an overall process. Even while creating the source text, the technical writer must keep in mind the translation into the target language. Unambiguous rendering, consistency in the terminology, wording that is appropriate for the target group and reader-friendliness are some of the highest criteria which would justify the use of a controlled language.

Féneyrol, Christian. tekom (2005). (German) Articles>Language>Localization>Controlled Vocabulary

Editing for International Audiences    

To remain competitive, companies must increase content reuse and multilingual usability while reducing volume and eliminating culturally sensitive language. Rushanan shows how editors can increase their value to their employers by functioning as leaders in the translation and localization process.

Rushanan, Valerie. Intercom (2007). Articles>Editing>Localization>International

Eleven Commandments of Localization

Rapid global acceptance of ISO 9000 ensures that quality must be defined in each customer's terms.

Winters, Elaine. bena.com (2003). Articles>Language>Localization>ISO 9000

The Emerging Role of the Translation Coordinator  

Career opportunities for technical communicators are expanding by leaps and bounds. Ask a roomful of technical writers to define their jobs and you receive a myriad of answers, with responsibilities ranging from the specific and focused to the broad and encompassing. As the business world goes global and multilingual, technical communicators are being brought into this trend as translation coordinators, creating new opportunities and challenges. We’ll explore these new roles and possibilities from both the macro and micro perspectives—that is, the larger trend within technical communication, and the specific skillsets, methodologies and case histories from several positions in the work flow.

Romano, James V., Carol Peterson, Lynda Shindley and Bogo Vatovec. STC Proceedings (1998). Careers>Language>Translation>Localization

Enabling Language Translation with XML Tools and Standards  

Maintaining consistency between a source document and its translated counterparts can be complex and troublesome. Innumerable challenges can arise with character sets, version control, text in graphics, tables, expansion of text, updates, and so on. Using XML for translation can help overcome some of these challenges. In this article, I explain how XML tools and standards can help remedy tricky issues related to translation.

Schnabel, Bryan. ComTech Services (2003). Articles>Content Management>Localization>XML

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

European Language Resources Association

ELRA's mission is to promote language resources for the Human Language Technology (HLT) sector, and to evaluate language engineering technologies.

ELRA (1998). Organizations>Language>Localization

Externe Links

Wörterbücher, Glossare, Ausgangspunkte für die Recherche, weitere Links für Übersetzer.

Transline. (German) Resources>Language>Translation>Localization

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

Five Ways to Use Web Site Translation to Help the Bottom Line

In what aspects does the global web impact business? How can we use it to embark on new opportunities and save cost on running our existing business?

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

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