Usually defined as the process of adapting content to meet the linguistic, cultural and technical requirements of a specific target market. If you’ve developed content or a product in English, the translated version should, to all intents and purposes, not be recognisable as a "translated" product, but appear as one that has been developed in that target market.
This has lead organisations to focus on producing "GLOCAL" content. Derived from a combination of GLOBAL and LOCAL, "GLOCAL" content maintains the corporate branding, image and meaning, but is tailored to the local target market audience as required.
Client Tips:
It is important to know exactly what you want in order for your translation partner to deliver.
Localization can often be different from what you expect. One of our recent experiences with a US government agency required text to be localized into various languages. The subject matter was the US tax system - so localization, in this instance, meant ensuring the text was suitable for users already resident in the US.
By using in-country translators we would not have delivered the best translations - these translators would not have been so familiar with US taxation jargon. The solution was to use qualified US-based translators on this localization project.
Translation is the first step of the translation process. A qualified document translator renders the source text into target language text, taking account of all client and end user requirements including glossary, style guide, character restrictions, end user expectations and delivery format.
Cipherion carefully selects its translators based on their knowledge and experience of specific subject matters. Each translator is a native speaker of the target language, educated to degree level, with a strong track record of translating within their own area of expertise. Equipped and knowledgeable in IT and cultural requirements, they provide only the first step toward our goal of providing highest quality translations.
Client Tips:
Source language texts can be translated to achieve different objectives - technical translations need to be accurate and concise. Marketing translations should be punchy and have flair.
Ensure to clarify exactly what type of translation you want: i.e. tell your translation partner how you wish to communicate with your target audience.
Your translation partner should then select the right translators to meet your requirements.
The second step of the translation process involves a second, qualified translator reviewing and revising the translated text against the source language. This editing step ensures consistency of translations.
Client Tips:
More than two translators can be involved in a project, especially larger projects. Time spent on glossary and style guide development can significantly increase the speed of editing and quality of the final text.
Thus for some extra initial cost, you can save time. Saving time ensures you release your product to market earlier. Saving time EQUALS increased revenues.
High quality translations should always go through a third proof-reading step. The proof-reader literally reads through the translation as if s/he were the end user, checking for any small changes that will enhance the translation.
Tools are often used during this process to speed-up the proof-reading step. Such tools include grammar and spell-checkers as well as automated terminology verification tools.
Client Tips:
When you have already taken the time and effort to create valuable English content, it is important to make a similar effort to ensure quality of translations.
Your target audience for the translations has similar high expectations for your translated content. They do not want to be disappointed by the translations. Especially when you have a brand that means quality.
The language sign-off step is the final step in the translation process. During this step all outstanding language-related issues are resolved to ensure that once the text proceeds to integration (into an e-learning application, or to a sound studio for recording if text is a script) no further language modifications are required.
Client Tips:
Allow and request the translation partner to spend time on this step. You will be rewarded later in the process when the QA phase proceeds without significant hold-ups.
This is a key step in the translation process that can save you both time and money. A good translation partner will take time at this stage, because they know that to skip it will only result in re-work at a later stage.
Many e-learning projects fail to comply with the quality expectations of their sponsors within the initial timeframes. Although re-work delivers on those quality requirements in the end, a more focused approach to language sign-off would avoid allowed this situation to be avoided.
By ensuring that a rigorous language sign-off has taken place, post-engineering language QA can be minimized. Ensure your translation partner is equipped to carry out this sign-off step.
Language QA refers to the quality assurance step carried out on content AFTER it has been re-integrated into its source context. For e-learning applications, this involves running the course in its entirety to ensure the localized version is ready for end use.
Client Tips:
Your translation partner needs to be thorough and rigorous during this step. Often, a different team of translators is employed to lend an additional set of eyes to this QA step.
Check to ensure your translation partner can provide Language QA resources on-site at your offices. Sometimes it is more effective to have the language QA resources sitting close to the engineers who are testing the product.
Multi-lingual Desk Top Publishing involves the re-design of your documentation for translated languages. Normally this involves re-flowing the translated text into the source template (QuarkXPress®, Adobe Framemaker® etc) however it can also involve re-creating images that need translation, re-pagination if translated text has expanded, re-generation of cross-references, Table of Contents and Index.
Client Tips:
If you are creating global content ensure to use an application that is localization-friendly. When used correctly, software applications such as Framemaker and QuarkXpress can help to minimize your DTP costs, Pagemaker on the other hand can add to costs.
Direct your content developers re-use as much content as possible from previous versions and ensure to allow for text expansion within document.
Engineering and Quality Assurance Testing involve re-compiling the translated User Interface strings, html or help files and testing the translated application to ensure that no language or functional bugs remain.
Very often language testing is integrated into the same cycle, with localization engineers compiling and re-building the software, linguists testing for language bugs, engineers fixing language bugs as well as any functionality bugs.
Client Tips:
Proper Internationalization of your application will ensure reduced costs at Engineering and QA Testing stage. Re-building the software or help system can be a straightforward process if your development team has taken care of the main internationalization issues.
Normally, however, over the course of two or three releases, most organisations will get to grips with the full extent of internationalisation. During these first few releases, you need a localization partner that will work closely with your development team to resolve any outstanding issues.
If you can provide your localization partner with test scripts, you are well on your way to saving your organisation significant amounts of money.
When it is not possible to deliver content for testing to a localization partner, Quality Assurance and Testing resources can be provided on-site to your facilities.
There are various reasons why you may require on-site QA and Testing Resources. Typically for games testing (product security) or large ERP applications (complex test environment), language testers as well as engineering testers will be located next to the development team to bug identify/fix cycles as short as possible.
By bringing resources on-site you can ensure that the QA and testing workloads prior to release can be met without the need to increase permanent headcount.
It is likely that the same QA and Testing resources will be available for the next release of your product, ensuring valuable product knowledge is retained.
Client Tips:
All that we need from you is a job specification and details on location where you require our testers to be located.
We have a large panel of testers / gamers who are only too ready to travel, whatever the length of time. We are more than willing to put you in touch with satisfied clients, they will tell you how good our resources are.
Internationalization is the key step of modifying or building software applications or content to ensure they can handle multiple character sets, currencies, language directions and other cultural or regional conventions.
By investing in the internationalization your product or content, you ensure that it is ready for the localization step.
Client Tips:
Although internationalization requires investment of both time and money, it is more cost-effective to ensure the source content or product is ready for localization than to have to fix multiple localized product versions.
Invest in up-front internationalizion to ensure a smooth global product release.
Having created content in one language, you now need to have it translated. But as a general rule, the translated text takes up more space than your source text - especially if your source language is English.
Allow for this text expansion in any products or documentation you are authoring - it will save you time and money during the localization process.
Client Tips:
If you are creating global content, allow sufficient "white space" around your text to allow the expanded translations to fit neatly into the required area. Remember it takes engineers and DTP-operators time to re-size and fit translated text into confined spaces. Leaving adequate blank space can sometimes save you a significant percentage of layout costs.
Solutions to a cluttered screen include using a reduced font size for translations or spreading the text onto another screen.
The English alphabet has 26 letters and can be represented within the ASCII character set. The Chinese language requires over 10,000 characters. These characters are called extended characters.
Client Tips:
If you are creating global content, ensure that the underlying application developers take into account the fact that extended characters will be used at a future date.
Developing software, web or e-learning applications in Unicode will ensure you minimize issues associated with handling extended characters.
For more information contact:
Telephone: +353 1 406 1588
Email: info@cipherion.com