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

Managing Translations: Achieving Quality by Coordinating All Available Resources  

Technical communicators have many potential advantages for managing the translation process. When the translation process is outsourced, the technical communicator can ensure that the translators have access to all the resources necessary to achieve quality documents. The same resources used to create the source document will be valuable resources to a translator. Also, the SME team can become an essential part of ensuring the quality and completeness of the translated documentation.

Poiré, Elisabeth. STC Proceedings (2005). Articles>Language>Translation>Technical Translation

Outsourced Technical Translations: Assuring Quality  

Technical communicators who serve international audiences must prepare for and manage translations, yet they cannot read the outsourced translation, may have no knowledge of the target culture, and rarely have access to resident linguists who can verify the quality of the work. As well, the time frame in which material is translated is usually short and associated funding is vulnerable. Still, practitioners are expected to maintain corporate standards of language style, grammar, and accuracy. This paper examines the fundamental challenges of outsourcing technical translation, and offers tools and techniques that can be used to assure quality, at arms’ length, in the absence of access to a native speaker of the target language.

Douglas, Gordon J. and Sarah E. Eaton. STC Region 7 Proceedings (2002). Presentations>Language>Localization>Technical Translation

So You Want to be a Technical Translator...

Rapidly expanding international commerce demands multilingual product descriptions and instructions for users. Technical products require precise translations by knowledgeable translators to avoid costly or even fatal errors. These may range from simple business letters to legal documents, patents, scientific articles, service or end-user manuals.

Miele, Charles H. Boston Broadside (1991). Careers>Language>Translation>Technical Translation

Translating Software Manuals from English to Japanese  

Hitachi is importing more overseas software for sale in Japan as Hitachi products. Hitachi develops the Japanese manuals for this software by translating the English manuals. The Documentation Development Department (DDD) of the Software Development Center, Hitachi Ltd., not only translates the English into Japanese, but also rewrites the Japanese and reformats the manuals into the Hitachi manual style. To translate, the DDD makes an English-Japanese dictionary of technical terms for each manual. Hitachi often will contract professional translation companies to translate these manuals. The program-development department and the DDD mutually check the translation results to ensure the highest quality translation. When rewriting, the DDD changes the style and improves readability and referencing. We must improve the efficiency of developing manuals by using automation to convert manual styles.

Ogawa, Masazumi. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Localization>Technical Translation

Translation and Interpretation Work for the LNG Tangguh Project in Papua, Indonesia

Translation and interpretation are communication skills that a person acquires through involvement in actual translation and interpretation work. One who knows two or more languages is not necessarily a good translator or interpreter, because not only linguistic issues, but other communicative and cultural aspects are also involved. Accordingly, a translator or interpreter always faces linguistic and non-linguistic challenges in performing a job if they come to it unprepared.

Morin, Izak. Translation Journal (2005). Careers>Language>Translation>Technical Translation

Translation and the Technical Writer

As more companies sell in the global market and recognize the importance of customer service and satisfaction, they are beginning to realize the importance of translating software and documentation into foreign languages. Once your own company realizes that it needs to translate its documentation, to whom will it turn for project management? You, of course. The technical writer is in an ideal position to control the translation of documentation and the textual element of software.

Tunsley, Roger A. Boston Broadside (1993). Articles>Language>Translation>Technical Writing