Forum posts to 'Job Center'

Conditional Text, and how to take advantage of it for cost savings

bmann — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 16:57:17 -0600

What is conditional text?

Per Wikipedia (correct in this case), "Conditional text is content within a document that is meant to appear in some renditions of the document, but not other renditions."

FrameMaker, and now InDesign, have the ability for the document author to create documents with conditional text.

As an example, let's say you have two similar products, one called Widget X1000 and the other, Widget X2000. Their product manuals might be 90% the same, except for a few added features and specs.

Rather than creating two separate manuals with 90% of the content copied and pasted into the other, it is much more efficient to create one conditional manual that contains all of the content and have the ability to hide the features you want to hide before outputting to PDF for the printer.

Furthermore, if the manual needs to be updated in part of the "unconditional" content, then you only have to update it in one place, rather than each manual. This ensures changes and updates appear completely and consistently in your product manuals.

And finally, by combining and reusing the content of two manuals into one, you are getting significant localization savings. If your two separate manuals are 90% similar, you still end up paying for "repetition", albeit at a very reduced rate. In a conditional manual, you have consolidated the repetitions and they only appear once to the translator.

Important things to consider:

Granularity—Applying the condition to the correct amount of text is critical. In one extreme, you don't want to have two sections of the document each with a different condition but with a lot of the same content. This would defeat the purpose of using conditional text. At the other extreme, you don't want to apply conditions to different words in a single sentence, as that becomes very difficult to manage, and especially difficult if not impossible to translate! The ideal application of conditional text is at the sentence or paragraph level.

Formatting—The formatting of the document must be well-defined enough that if you hide bodies of the text, you don't end up with widows and orphans or largely blank pages. The best way to handle this is to use the "Keep" options of the software to make sure headings stay with their supporting paragraph, bullets in lists stay together, figure captions stay with figures, etc. This is even more important as the document goes through the localization process. The change from English to a different language means text will expand to different pages or areas of the page. The Keep options make sure that when that happens, the correct bodies of text stay together. Avoid using Page Breaks as much as possible, as they can cause pagination problems when text "moves", such as large portions of pages ending up blank.

Spaces—It is easy to forget that a space in a sentence can be conditional. If you aren't careful, you could have some words "butting up" against each other when your conditional text is hidden. Our advice is to use underlining in combination with a color as a conditional indicator and always work in the document with conditional indicators showing. This will allow you to see where the conditional text is, and if a space is conditional it will show an underline, since a space has no color. It is always good to toggle the conditional text and review the document in all versions so you can see if there are formatting issues before final output.

Cross-Refs, TOCs, Numbering—When you show or hide text in the document, anything that refers to a page number or cross-reference will need to be updated again. Use the Update Book function from the Edit menu before final output.

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Re: Handling UI terms in your localized software documentation

Roman Mironov — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 01:05:15 -0600

In my experience, another good approach to handling the UI terms is a descriptive translation.

Example:
English: Check for proper ECG signal again on the Gating Control Window.
Russian: В окне управления синхронизацией повторно проверьте наличие надлежащего сигнала ЭКГ.

A descriptive translation is very appropriate in the two scenarios below:
1. The UI is not highlighted specifically in the sentence, e.g. by using a bold font or quotation marks.
2. The actual UI was already mentioned above and localized using a translation in brackets.

Benefits
The main benefit of a descriptive translation is that it doesn't directly refer the reader to a specifically named UI term on the screen. This almost eliminates the risk of potential confusion mentioned by Ben in the initial post—the end user looking for a non-existent name on the screen. Instead of looking for a specific UI term, the user would identify the necessary UI by using deductive thinking.

Another benefit is shortening and simplifying the translation. Instead of providing the source UI term + translation in brackets each time in your translation, you can provide the translation in brackets just for the first occurrence of the UI term and use the descriptive translation thereafter. As the text becomes shorter and therefore easier to understand, the end user will be happier with the documentation. The DTP team will be happier as well, because the length of the translation will be closer to the length of the source, resulting in less adjustments at the typesetting step.

The descriptive translation also helps keep the translation current, even if minor changes are introduced to the source UI afterwards. For example, a developer may decide to change “Gating Control” to “Gating Monitoring” in the next version of the software. If the old documentation translation included specific references to “Gating Control,” all of these will need adjustment. However, if a descriptive translation was used, little or no changes will be required, because such translation will normally remain valid for the changed UI term as well—the change is minor and doesn't affect the translation.

A descriptive translation isn't always appropriate though, so caution should be exercised when you consider using it in your current translation.

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Re: Layered, text-accessible graphics source files

bmann — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:53:14 -0600

If the source graphic file is not available, the flattened version can still be edited but it may take much more effort, and therefore time and cost. Flattened images can be edited in photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, where the pixels will have to be "erased" so that a text layer can be created over the image. The amount of text in the image and the background on which the text appears are major factors in the effort necessary to localize the image.

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Re: Translators education, backgrounds and experience

Roman Mironov — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:56:51 -0600

Has anyone had quality concerns when this may not have happened?
I have seen quite a few quality concerns associated with medical translations during my career as a translator/editor.

In my opinion, one reason behind this is the great variety of medical specializations. No translator can know them all. Some translators however assume that by achieving a certain degree of subject matter expertise in one or several specializations, they can easily translate any other field, and when they do so, they fail to do a good job. Other reasons are more general such as a translator being lured by an attractive price, while they do not have the appropriate knowledge or skills to do the translation.

Do you know for sure that the correct resources are being used on your projects
This is indeed an issue in the translation industry where a job can be pushed through so many outsourcing levels in pursuit of the lowest price that the ultimate $0.01 translator would not be qualified even to write a high school essay in the target language, let alone medical translation.

I think one way for a client or agency to be sure about a vendor is to carefully select and get to know your translator very well, then establish trusted long-term relations. This way, you will be confident that the translator is committed to the high level of quality you expect and will not outsource your work to someone unqualified to do it. Otherwise, you are at a great risk of receiving “anonymous” translations made by potentially unqualified people.

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Re: Strategies for quality translations

Roman Mironov — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 06:19:07 -0600

Thank you for this great summary. I could not agree more.

1: Providing training and reference material to the linguistic team before starting translation educates the linguistic team about the content they will be localizing, resulting in better quality translations.

This is indeed essential... but unfortunately happens rarely in my experience. Typically, I have had to find reference materials myself as a translator or editor. There have been even cases when I was provided with Workbench RTF files created from MIFs, but for some reason could not obtain the respective PDF files for reference.

3: If the customer is satisfied with the quality of previous or current projects, requesting that the same team of linguists be used across all projects will help ensure consistency and quality. (For example, this could mean that the same linguists should be used on all projects whether they are software, help or documentation.)

Absolutely. In my experience, the consistency can drop by as much as 50% when the team of linguists is changed. Because translation is inherently subjective and largely depends on individual translator's preferences, new translators often edit the existing translations heavily to make them look more like their own. I have seen only few translators who were disciplined enough to adhere to TM consistently and refrain from editing 100% and high-percentage fuzzy matches.

4: Creating and maintaining project glossaries helps to ensure consistent terminology across projects. It is also helpful if the glossaries contain definitions to help linguists better understand the meaning of each term.

Project glossaries are certainly an excellent way to maintain consistency. Aside from just requesting a translator to use them, it is important to also use them in a terminology checker such as QA Distiller in each job to make sure that the translator strictly followed a glossary. With long-term jobs, the glossary might grow to thousands of words, so this terminology check consumes much time in each job, but in the end of the day this effort is certainly worthwhile.

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Beyond Translation

Matt — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 12:21:19 -0600

It doesn’t always readily come to mind and is often easily forgotten, but one the most rewarding and encouraging aspects of translation in the medical field is the global impact on health. Just the thought that some of our translations enable life saving equipment and publications to reach more people around the world brings a certain amount of pride and satisfaction. Whenever the time permits, do a search on the internet with keywords such as "global health" and your medical specialty such as "cancer treatment" or "apheresis" or "endoscopy", etc. It could be that the French translation for a reference guide published six months ago is now allowing a physician to treat a child in Mali.

Here are a couple of sample results
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2003/pr27/en/
http://www.grandchallenges.org/Pages/default.aspx

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Strategies for quality translations

Mimi — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 15:06:06 -0600

There are several strategies that can take place before the translation, edit and proof phases start to ensure quality translations:

2: If previously localized materials and translation memories (TMs) are available, provide these to the team to use during the translation phase. Linguists can use these materials to reference already translated terminology and ensure consistency.

5: It is useful for linguists to ask questions to and receive input from in-country reviewers who are familiar with the terminology in their locale. This interaction can happen during any phase of the project (for example, glossary review, during the translation and edit phases). Establishing this kind of reviewer-linguist dialog may also reduce the number of in-country review changes later in the project.

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Could this initiative help reduce obesity?

swisschris — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 09:24:24 -0600

On Tuesday, March 23rd, President Obama signed a new requirement that will affect the entire nation. Restaurant chains—such as McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King—will be required to display calorie information on their menus as well as their drive-through signs. Well, McDonald’s seems to be ahead of the game. Back in 2005, McDonald’s launched the Nutrition Information Initiative (NII) with the goal of making nutrition information more accessible and understandable to the average consumer. Read the following white paper to learn more about this initiative: Creating a Language of Nutrition

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Implementation of Content Management and Globalization Management Systems

Yusuke — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:05:34 -0600

Balancing low cost, fast turnaround, and high quality output for localization is always a challenge. Especially in the Medical and Healthcare industry, the translation quality must not suffer over cost or fast turnarounds, but same demand on the cost and turn times exists none the less. With tool automation advancements such as Content Management Systems (CMS) and Globalization Management Systems (CMS), the localization industry is in a better place to achieve this ‘faster, better, cheaper’ goal, but it does come with some caveats.
You must invest financially as well as devote time for the careful planning, implementation, and maintenance into the CMS or GMS. Do you have 2 million words or 20,000 words of source content that requires localization? Do you require constant updates in the localized content? Do you require extensive layout automation? No doubt GMS implementation is the way of the future for rapid deployment of localized content, but current offerings can be cost prohibitive and resource intensive. Do a thorough analysis to make sure you invest in what suits your company's localization requirements/needs.

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Sanity and Smoke Testing

Nathen — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:12:47 -0600

In a perfect world, software and websites would be fully linguistically and functionally tested any time a change is made. Realistically, cost efficiency needs to determine the testing scope. Smoke tests and sanity tests give your software a cursory check when the risk/benefit does not justify the costs of deeper testing.

Whereas sanity testing is a targeted form of regression on a specific scope, smoke testing is broad and shallow to touch the entire application. Both of these quick, limited tests can be executed to idenitfy showstopping bugs before moving to the next phase of the project. Neither are exhaustive but are capable of exposing critical issues. These tests are especially crucial before a more costly testing effort is executed on a bad build.

For safety and customer satisfaction, full testing is critical. When these can be assured for minor changes, a carefully designed smoke or sanity test is a less costly option to assure the best quality and return on investment.

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Re: Virtual Medical and Life Sciences Localization and Translation Panel Discussion

SunnyCalifornia — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 15:42:02 -0600

Looking forward to this panel discussion. I'd be interested in learning / hearing more about:
- The in-country review process,
- Proper maintenance of multilingual glossaries,
- Do most medical and life sciences companies have a "dedicated" localization department,
- Working with an established (usually more expensive) US-based localization vendor vs. a (usually) lower-cost overseas (India, China, etc.) localization vendor.

Thanks!

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Virtual Medical and Life Sciences Localization and Translation Panel Discussion

swisschris — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:05:56 -0600

**Sorry, this event is not open to localization vendors**

Join ENLASO on Tuesday, May 11th 2010 at noon Mountain Time for a 60-minute virtual medical and life sciences localization and translation panel discuss.

The panel discussion will be moderated by Yves Lang, ENLASO’s CSO, and consist of 3-4 customer side localization professionals from the medical and life sciences industry.

The goal of the virtual panel discussion is to stimulate debate on medical and life sciences related localization and translation issues, including:

• Tools and technology
• Terminology and terminology management
• In-country review
• Writing medical and life sciences source content with localization/translation in mind
• Statutory and Regulatory Requirements
• Directives and Regulations
• Labeling
• Etc.

The moderator will ask pre-submitted questions as well as questions from the live audience and manage a point-by-point debate between several panelists who focus in on what really matters to them. This will be an exciting point/counterpoint debate between panelists that are all very experienced localization professionals on the customer side. Hear their perspective on each issue as it relates to their role in managing medical and life sciences related localization projects.

The panel discussion is open to professionals from the customer side (sorry no localization vendors or competitors please) as well as to subject matter experts, linguists, and other professionals involved in the translation and localization of medical and life sciences content.

Our goal is to make this panel discussion as engaging and informative as possible. Do you have any burning questions, a hot topic that should get addressed during the panel discussion, or a comment you’d like to share? Make sure to add your input to this thread.

Click here to register for the virtual medical and life sciences localization and translation panel discuss.

For additional information, please contact Chris Raulf at chris@translate.com or call 720.259.8524.

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Re: Layered, text-accessible graphics source files

Susanne — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:00:32 -0600

Do you have any suggestions on what to do if the original artwork/source files are not available?

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Layered, text-accessible graphics source files

dhdunn — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:35:56 -0600

One of the items that is often missed when handing off files for translation to your translation / localization vendor are graphics files. Oftentimes, a company will provide flattened images that are not editable, such as .jpg (JPEG) files to their localization vendor. If graphics do not have text in them that requires translation, that's okay.

However, if the graphics do have text in them, your localization partner will need to receive the original, layered, text-accessible graphics source files that were used to create the original English graphics. This allows for translations of graphics text to be inserted in place of the English without the graphics having to be created from scratch. And thus, this saves both signficant cost and time, and is conducive to overall quality and consistency of look-and-feel of graphics throughout your documentation.

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Okapi Tools for Java - Update available

YS — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:37:09 -0700

Several updates and bug fixes have been made to the Okapi tools.

The latest stable version (0.5.1) is available here:
http://okapi.opentag.com/downloads.html (version 0.5.1)

Note that the latest development versions are always available here:
http://okapi.opentag.com/snapshots

That snapshot version is often the best to use as it contains all bug fixes.

-ys

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Centralized Terminology Lists

Matt — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 19:42:35 -0700

It is quite common for medical customers to have multiple offices, branches, divisions, etc. around the US and around the world (surprise!). In addition, it is often commen to see product lines or specialties divided among these locations and business units. Therefore, it probably comes as no surprise that terminology lists could change without the knowledge of all groups and could introduce errors across products.

Perhaps one of the most effective ways to maintain consistency between localization team members is to maintain a centralized location for all term lists, which are available to all parties involved at any time. Whether the lists are maintained on a translation management system, an FTP, or on a wiki page, it leaves little room to doubt that everyone is on the same page when it comes to important medical terms. Talk to your localization service provider to see what they can do to help you!

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Third-Party Review of Translated Medical Content

dsiegel — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:52:35 -0700

I have had several requests for Third Party Medical Reviews of translated content for various types of products. Usually the content being reviewed is for printed documentation. However, I recently had a request to conduct a third-party medical review for the content of website. In order to find the best way to proceed with this review, I did a bit of research. I thought this research and experience might help you if are planning for or are asked to conduct a third-party review in the future.

What is it?
For medical content, the purpose of a third-party review is to ensure that terminology and text are being used correctly in the context of the medical field. This is not an exercise to correct grammar, spelling, or other linguistic errors. These steps, including final QA, should have already been completed. The review should be conducted on the finished product that is ready for release.

Who should do it?
This depends on the product itself, and the needs of the customer requesting the review. Because this is a third-party review, it should not completed by any of the customer’s employees (developers, marketing team, doctors, or nurses). That type of review would be considered an in-country review. Nor should it be completed by any of the linguists (translation, edit, proof, testing) who worked on the project. Find a qualified medical linguist who has no connection to the original project. In my case, our Resource Manager had already assembled a pool of linguists who were certified medical linguists or had vast experience in the medical field. But if you do not have a resource pool to select from, check with organizations like the International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) to find linguists for your language.

How to do it?
Get a good understanding of the product that is being reviewed. How will it be used? Is it an operations guide for a medical device? Is it a health information system for the general public? Will it be used in a clinical setting? In the case of the website, I not only had to find linguists with a medical background, but non-English residents of the US.

Get a good definition of the target audience. Will the product be used only by medical personnel? Will non-medical people be using the product? If so, what grade-level should the translations be geared to? Will the users of the product be native speakers of the language? Will the users be US-based or in-country? All these elements will help the reviewers know if the terminology has been used correctly in the translations.

In the case of the website, the target audience was non-native residents of the US, who had little to no medical background, and were not educated beyond a high-school level. So we had to review the content from the medical perspective, but also from a layman’s perspective as well. For some languages, I was able to find linguists who were retired doctors who now resided in the US. For others, I used medical linguists for one pass, and US-based non-medical linguists (laymen’s perspective) for a second pass. The goal of the website was to help non-English speaking US residents find information about their medical care and about medicines they have been prescribed. People using it were likely to be be sick, facing surgery, or have a sick child. In that state, most people want reassurance and comfort, in addition to clear, simple information about their condition or the medicine they are taking. Therefore we asked the medical reviewers to make sure that the medical terminology used was the more common layman’s form, not the true medical form. (For example, "bruise" instead of "contusion".)

Also make sure you instruct the reviewers how to access the information (if it appears online), how to report their feedback (it’s a good idea to create a form for the reviewers to fill out), and give them a deadline. Ask them to provide back-translations for errors that they mark as severe.

What do you do if vast changes are suggested?
First of all, get a second opinion. Have multiple linguists, coming from various points of view, look at the portions in question. In my case, we found that one language was extremely problematic. We brought in other linguists with varying skill levels (a practicing doctor, a field medic, a student, a non-English speaking housewife, etc.) to give us input on the translation.

Second, make sure that the reasons for the changes are legitimate, and that you have examples. Highlight the questionable portions of text. Describe what the change should be, and why. Ensure that the changes are not stylistic. A third-party review is not the place for stylistic arguments.

Then, realize that you might need to be the bearer of bad news. In most third-party reviews, there are only a handful of changes suggested for each language. But in the case of the website, after several linguists reviewed the changes in the problem language, the consensus was that the terminology used would impede the end-user's ability to find basic (and correct) information. They also unanimously agreed that users of the website for that language would not gain the guidance, reassurance, and comfort that the system is designed to impart during times of medical need or uncertainty.

Use tact when reporting the feedback to the customer. Make sure you have documented evidence of the necessity for the changes. Reassure them that you have taken measures (like checking with multiple reviewers) to ensure that the changes are medically necessary, and not preferential.
Here are some examples from my recent project:
English: Your reproductive organs are located in your lower abdomen (belly).
Language back translation: Your reproductive organs are located in your stomach.
This is a misleading and incorrect use of medical terminology.
Another example:
EN: Birth defects
Language back translation: Defects caused by birth.
Birth defects are physical abnormalities that are present at birth, and they may or may not be caused by the birth process. Therefore this is another misleading and incorrect translation.

Conclusion
The third-party review process provides reassurance that a medical product is ready to be sold, used, and distributed in the target languages. But it also can reveal flaws that need to be readdressed prior to release, as in the case with the website. It provides a solid safety and sanity check for each language. With the problem language for the website project, once the final errors were addressed, the customer was able deploy their translated system with certainty that the target audience will get the maximum benefit from it. And most importantly, the customer knows that the system now provides safe, accurate, and usable information.

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Allowing multiple 100% matches in TMs

Åsa — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:39:41 -0700

For the most part, we discourage the use of multiple exact matches when setting up translation memories. This is to ensure the latest and greatest translation is always picked and to easily overwrite any incorrect entries. It reduces the time spent managing the TM, but also the time translators have to sort through and pick the right translation.

However, within very specialized industries such as medical, it sometimes does warrant the use of multiple exact matches to ensure only a limited and approved amount of possible translations are used.

To minimize TM maintenance, one workaround is to make use of either attributes or userids - anything that easily identifies the most recent, best translations in your TM, and easily ignore any older, non-approved items that might have snuck in. Then, you can do a simple export into .tmx, do a search on the specific userid or attribute which shows the approved translations, and replace the corresponding change date attribute to be today's date. Now, reimport the .tmx and any older entries will come secondary to these approved entries.

I would love to hear other do's and don'ts on how to work with multiple-exact match TMs!

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Planning + Scheduling In-Country Reviews

Mimi — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:02:46 -0700

Planning for and scheduling in-country review cycles at the start of a localization project can help avoid timely delays once the project is underway.

The first point of discussion between customers and localization vendors should be to determine whether a glossary is being created and if it will be reviewed before the start of translation. Reviewing the glossary and providing feedback during this stage of the project helps establish a foundation for all subsequent terminology and potentially minimize the number of changes later in the project.

A second point of discussion should be to discuss the process for reviews, including how review comments should be returned to the localization vendor and what types of comments are included in the project budget (and which are not). It is also helpful to determine whether time should be set aside for the linguist and reviewer to discuss the changes and answer any questions. To make the process as straightforward as possible, the in-country reviewer should clearly mark what term should be changed, what the term should be changed to and whether the change is a one-time only change or whether the change should be applied globally throughout the materials.

Finally, it is critical to establish a timeline for the review. Although the duration will depend on the in-country reviewer’s schedule, most reviews are scheduled for five business days in order to complete the project as soon as possible. (In some cases, if materials are not very extensive, a shorter duration may be more appropriate. Or, if the materials are quite extensive, more than five business days may be needed. This can be determined on a project-by-project basis.)

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The smallest errors have big consequences

Nathen — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:10:07 -0700

Not only was the mistake embarassing for the Chilean government, there are no less than 3 spelling/grammar errors in CNBC's article reporting it!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35365771/

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Translation/localization vendor audits

dhdunn — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:51:11 -0700

Most FDA-regulated companies have built into their quality processes auditing of their various vendors. And, of course, this can include vendors who provide translation and localization services.

While audits are usually quite time consuming for both the client company and the vendor, they provide an excellent opportunity for both to enhance their business partnership. Audits provide not only a view into the vendor's business practices, but also into the receiving end on the client side. Translation/localization companies who take advantage of this opportunity stand to gain a great deal in terms of their knowledge of their clients.

And, as with any good audit, the opportunity for improvements are often excellent. Client-specific audits, as opposed to more general ISO-type audits, allow a vendor to see what areas of their process might be enhanced to meet and exceed their client's business needs.

Excellent communication is key to a successful audit, especially prior to the audit. A good understanding of the expectations of all parties involved is the foundation for the audit being efficiently executed, and for meaningful results to be gained.

Please post any experiences you may have had, either on the client side or the vendor side, of client-to-vendor audits. Thank you!!

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Re: Applying Crowdsourcing to Medical/Life Sciences

dhdunn — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:44:11 -0700

Rebecca, crowdsourcing is definitely an interesting concept in translations and localization. There are certain types of translation environments where crowdsourcing might make some sence - games for smartphones, for instance. Those types of applications are very small, and the translation quality, while it ideally should be very high does not need to be in order to maintain the health and wellbeing of consumers of that product.

Within the Medical and Life Sciences world, however, crowdsourcing would be at best a very difficult way to maintain any sort of quality standards when translating. At worst, the translations would be potentially dangerous.

Clients who do business within regulated industries, such as FDA-regulated companies, need to have a very clear idea who is doing what at all stages of product development, and that definitely includes translations/localization. Many of ENLASO's medical and life sciences clients require translation certification, and that requires, in turn, that we know what the qualifications of our linguists are.

When translation is done in a crowdsourcing model, that is almost impossible to control. There are many other aspects of the project flow that would also not be controlled in a way that would be anywhere near adequate to FDA-regulated, or EC-regulated, clients.

So, while crowdsourcing may be okay for things like small phone-based applications, for any content on whose quality end users' lives depends, it's just not a solution that would work.

Thanks!!

dhdunn

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GILT Industry Web sites

swisschris — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:59:39 -0700

The following Web sites offer a multitude of information about the localization of medical and life sciences content as well localization, translation, globalization, and internationalization in general:
http://www.gala-global.org/
http://www.lisa.org/
http://www.localisation.ie/
http://www.multilingual.com/
http://www.commonsenseadvisory.com/
http://www.clientsidenews.com/

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Re: In-country review “Tips”

bmann — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:05:25 -0700

Also, be very careful with "global" changes! Some reviewers overlook the fact that the global change they are suggesting might be context sensitive—whether it's capitalization, plurality, or gender context. If the change is context sensitive then each occurrence should be annotated.

Clarity and unambiguity are very important. Avoid creating comments like, "Change X to the same thing it was on the previous page", or comments that are not imperative like, "Maybe this should be X instead."

Finally, the preferred medium of in-country review is annotated PDFs. This makes it easy to find the location of the change and the reviewer does not have to try to explain the location, "page 145, 3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence, 4th word—change it to XXYY"

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PDFs and their usage in localization

bmann — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 17:40:33 -0700

PDFs can have varying degrees of usefulness in a localization project.

Here are some common uses:

1. Ballpark project cost estimate—The localization vendor can determine the approximate number of words, number of pages, and source document format to provide a rough estimate of the cost of localizing the original source file. The leverage against the translation memory cannot be determined, nor can the quality of the construction of the source document. Both of these factors can affect the cost significantly so it is always recommended to send the source document for the most accurate estimate.

2. Final English file for print or web output—This is the PDF that is used by your printer to create the hard copies or the PDF that you will host on your website or e-labeling. It is a good idea to send this to the localization vendor along with your source file(s) so that they can make sure the formatting of the localized version matches the English. This will also be used by the linguists as a visual aid when translating the content of the file.

3. Reference material for linguists—In a translation project, you may have an older version of your document already translated but not in translation memory software. A PDF of this document can be used by the linguist as a style and terminology reference for the new document.

4. Translation review—PDFs are the perfect document for linguistic review because they contain all of the required text, can be opened on any computer anywhere for free, and best of all—can be annotated extremely easily using Adobe Reader or Acrobat.

Here are ways PDFs are less likely to be useful:

1. As a source file—Using a PDF as the source file is not recommended unless your source format is Adobe Illustrator, which uses PDF as one of its native file types. For all other formats such as Microsoft Word, Adobe FrameMaker, Adobe InDesign, etc, the PDF does not contain the formatting information required to create a localized version of the document. Text from the PDF can, however, be copied into a Word doc and translated, if the formatting is not important in the localized document.

2. As a previous translation to be reused—Modern technology allows us to reuse previously translated content in the form of a database called a translation memory. This database is integrated into the translation project to create the efficient and low cost process that the localization vendor provides you. Previously translated content that is in another form, such as a PDF, is not efficiently integrated like the translation memory. Yes, the content can be used, but it has to either be converted line-by-line into a translation memory or simply referenced by the linguist during the translation process. Keep in mind that only content in a translation memory can be leveraged for cost reduction.

3. Scanned text—Most scanners can output right to PDF. This is great for hand sketches or your kids' watercolor paintings but when it comes to translation, scanned documents require an extra step in the process. Either someone will have to transcribe the text into a computer or, if the scanned document was created from a word processor, the image may be converted to text using Optical Text Recognition (OCR) and then edited.

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Helpful site for translating medical material

Nat — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 12:44:41 -0700

Here is a helpful site for the translation of medical material.
http://www.medilexicon.com/
You can search for acronyms/abbreviations, definition of medical terms and devices.
Check it out and let me know what you think.

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Localization Handoff Form

Susanne — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:57:06 -0700

I am creating a localization handoff form for a medical customer. It will be a template that contacts on the customer side can fill out including dates, deadlines, file types, deliverables, font and graphics information and other pertinent information regarding a medical localization project. They will hand this form off to their localization vendor when requesting an estimate and will ensure clean handoffs and will save time for everyone in scoping out the project. It is a great way to be more efficient and get the quality we want from the very start. This came about following a post-mortem meeting.

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Online courseware usage for the Medical and Healthcare industry

Yusuke — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 21:00:24 -0700

Online courseware is a very effective methods for trainings, setting up exams, and device simulations for the medical and healthcare industry. You can choose from web-based or Adobe Flash based courseware and companies may develop them internally or outsource to third party companies such as Simbionix.

The effort it takes to localize these online courseware varies depending on the internationalization level of the courses. Especially for Flash based courseware, the development can be done very efficiently or very challenging and increase costs significantly. The most efficient method would be to externalize all of the source content in XML files rather than embedding them directly into the Flash files. In very challenging projects, the source content is embedded inside the Flash files or inside non-editable graphics which are embedded inside the Flash files, and it takes considerable amount of time to extract, translate, and place the translated content back into the courseware.

Typically companies tend to choose in between the most efficient and challenging process, by having courseware components which have externalized source content in XML as well as additional content embedded inside the Flash or graphics files.

Because of the above reasons, Flash based online courseware could take considerably more time from start to completion compared to conventional localization of web sites or documentation. Typically the translation cost is relatively small and the Engineering effort is the majority of the cost. Additionally for conventional projects, In-Country Review of the translation is typically left towards the end of the project. However for online courseware localization projects, it is suggested to complete the In-Country Review of the translation prior to the actual Flash localization tasks in order to avoid re-work (additional costs) of the Engineering tasks.

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Re: The Advantages of Lexikon

Nathen — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:11:26 -0700

I believe audit trails are one of the most essential features of a terminology management system. It vastly improves quality and consistency to know why terms were put in place or updated.

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Okapi Tools for Java - Milestone 5 available

YS — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:58:54 -0700

The new release (M5) of the Okapi tools for Java is available.

You can see the list of the main changes since the previous version here:
http://okapi.opentag.com/changes.html

The download for the release is here:
http://okapi.opentag.com/downloads.html

Note that the tools are changing continuously and you can download the latest 'snapshot'
build at any time. That build is created about once a day and contains any changes since the last release (so today they are the same). You can find it here:
http://okapi.opentag.com/snapshots/

Cheers,
-yves

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Translation Services for South African Languages

Soso1 — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:50:28 -0700

Hi to everyone! First of all, I would to introduce myself. I am an approved professional translator and interpreter. I started out as a translator and interpreter in 1994, when I worked full time as such. Nevertheless, since 1998 I worked as a freelancer. And from 2003, I worked full time again, and have registered a company. I translate English into Xhosa, a major spoken indigenous language in South Africa. My company also handles Sesotho, Setswana, and Zulu.

During 15 years in the translation and interpretation business, I have been involved in major and serious translation projects like Bible translation, Sports Manuals, Pharmaceutical translation, Localization, Website translation, Teachers' and Learners' Guidebooks, Technical Manuals, etc.

If you happen to come across with any translation project for these languages, you know the right person to talk to:

sonwabile.cotiyana@gmail.com

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ENLASO Provides Healthwise With Localization Streamlining Solutions

swisschris — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:31:44 -0700

Learn how ENLASO was able to streamline Healthwise's localization processes in this case study. We discuss in detail how Healthwise utilized ENLASO’s services to help them localize the Healthwise Handbook, a 350 page publication with more than 33 million copies in print, as well as the Healthwise Online Spanish Health Guide, an online resource with more than 300,000 health topics, into Spanish for the USA. ENLASO also provided voice-over language solutions for their audio library:
Click here to read the Healthwise case study

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In-country review “Tips”

Nat — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:14:24 -0700

In-country reviews are one of the most crucial steps in the medical translation process but they are also one the most challenging steps. It seems like in most cases, the reviewers are medical or marketing specialists, but do not have formal linguistic review experience. So it is important to set clear goals and expectations as early as possible during the project cycle.

Here are just a few basic guidelines that should help with making the review process more efficient.
-   Make sure a start and delivery date is scheduled and agreed upon with the reviewer. It is important to send schedule reminders as the review task is usually not the reviewer’s main function.
-   Provide clear instructions to the reviewer on how review comments should be marked
-   Reviewers should not write any explanation of their edits in the target language. These explanations should be written in English.
-   Reviewers should adhere to the glossary, style guide, reference material and be consistent with their changes. These guidelines are even more important if more than one person is conducting the review
-   If there are more than one reviewer reviewing the same material, these review changes should be consolidated into one document

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Basic Guidelines for Creating International Documents

dsiegel — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:15:26 -0700

If you have been tasked with writing or designing a manual, pamphlet, or brochure that will be localized and distributed around the world, here are some tips to follow that will make the localization process run smoothly.

When writing and designing the document
• Use consistent terminology for all English text associated with a translation project:
software, online help, documentation, package labeling, etc. (As Åsa mentioned in her post about the importance of planning, create a rigorous glossary of terms and have translations approved by all subject matter experts involved. See http://rhonix.translate.com/engineering/show/101#post101.)

• Watch for subject/verb agreement.

• Provide syntactic clues that make the sentence structure and parts of speech as obvious as possible.
For example:
Wrong: Set default image types the camera sees.
Better: Set default image types that the camera sees.

• Always include pronouns (no telegraphic text).
For example:
Wrong: Type settings in boxes for horizontal and vertical resolutions.
Better: Type the settings in the boxes for horizontal and vertical resolutions.

• Clarify to which word a pronoun refers. (Avoid vague antecedents and dangling modifiers.) In many languages, the words “it” and “they” are translated differently depending upon the gender of the word they represent.
For example:
Wrong: To get the proper result, create a new setting that is calibrated for a specific printer and software application, and add it to the list.
Explanation: “It” here could refer to “proper result” or “printer” or “software application.”
Better: To get the proper result, create a new setting that is calibrated for a specific printer and software application, and add the new setting to the list.
Explanation: “It” is eliminated to prevent ambiguity.

• Maintain a singular voice. Don't switch between active and passive voice within a document.

• Avoid lengthy compound modifiers.
For example:
Wrong: Remove the light-filtering flexible lens cover.
Better: Remove the flexible lens cover that filters light.
Explanation: Unlike English, many languages do not allow for the creation of compound modifiers, which partially explains why translations into European languages occupy 15 to 30% more space than the original English. Sometimes complex compound modifiers are standard terms in a particular industry. If that is the case, provide their definition in an English terminology list or glossary.

• Avoid contractions.

• Avoid humor.

• Avoid slang, colloquialisms, or jargon.

• Avoid using trademarked terms (like Jello, Kleenex, or Bandaid). Keep such references generic.

• Define all acronyms upon first usage. Create a glossary for documents that use many acronyms.

• List units of measure correctly and consistently (for example, metric first, followed by US equivalent in parentheses).

• Define time zones, date formats, and monetary systems.

• Verify index entries. (Spot-check 25% of index entries for a generated index, 100% of index entries for a manual index.)

• Verify table of contents (chapter titles, subheadings, page numbers, and room for text expansion).

• Verify cross-references (textual elements, titles, figure references, table references, page numbers).

• Verify all hypertext links (make sure all are active; provide instructions to localization team for locale-specific URLs).

• Verify trademark references and accurate use of trademark symbols.

• Verify addresses and phone numbers. (If numbers are US-only, document should state so. Provide localization instructions about which numbers change for target countries, and where to find the country specific information.)

• Use EXACT document names and current part numbers. Provide translated document names to localization team, if they already exist.

For graphics:
• Anchor all graphics to text.
• Link all graphics to the document, regardless of application.
• Use numerical callouts, not alphabetical characters. (If the graphic has fewer than five callouts, use short text overlays.)
• Do not embed text in graphics.
• Avoid human figures because of race, gender, and stereotyping.
• Avoid using hand gestures in icons, graphics, or document styles (for warnings, hints, notes, etc.).

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Designing English labeling content for localization

dhdunn — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:37:07 -0700

While labeling of medical device consumables (e.g., packaging for immunohistochemical staining reagents) involves a small amount of text and a relatively small expenditure for both original source language authoring and translation, the importance of labeling in virtually all countries.

It is critical to create labels, in English for example, that will still accommodate the text expansion inherent in translation into most Roman alphabet languages. Thisi can sometimes create problems because of the very small amount of space available on an average-sized label.

Consult with your localization provider when composing and designing labels to ensure that your end product meets in-country regulations (e.g., FDA in the United States), and that the labels are usable for your customers. Designing the labels with localization in mind can help prevent not only production problems, but product release scheduling problems, and can help avoid regulatory nightmares.

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Handling UI terms in your localized software documentation

bmann — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 12:59:54 -0700

You take great care to ensure your medical software documentation contains step-by-step instructions on how to use the software, with screenshots. The clarity and readability of these instructions are essential to the end user and the lack thereof could lead to critical and possibly life threatening errors.

It is important that the user interface (UI) terms in the documentation of the software are consistent with the software itself. For example, the documentation may have instructions to:

"Press the Setup button".

The French documentation will say,

"Appuyer sur le bouton Configurer".

However, when the French end user looks on the screen, there is no button that says "Configurer" because the software is in English. The most common way to deal with this is to provide the English UI term with the translation in parentheses immediately following.

"Appuyer sur le bouton Setup (Configurer)."

The French end user now knows what button to look for as well as what it means.

Down the road you may decide to localize the software. In this case, you would need to remove the English UI terms from the documentation and add localized screenshots of the software. For screenshots, you can replace all of the graphics in the graphics folder with the new ones and then go into the document to resize them as necessary. If you took care to make the screenshot dimensions identical to the English, no adjustments would be necessary.

With the UI terms, it will take a desktop publisher time to go through the localized documentation, manually remove all of the English UI terms, and handle the reflow of the document text. However, if you are authoring in Adobe FrameMaker, here's an ideal way to create your English document with localization in mind:

Create and apply one condition to the English UI term, create a copy of the English immediately after and apply a second condition, and then use a third condition for the parentheses around the second instance and the space between. Note, this is one of the few times it is recommended to use multiple conditions in the same sentence.

In this example, the three colors represent the three conditions, the underscore represents a space:

Press the Setup_(Setup) button.

During translation, only the second instance will be translated. This will enable you to use the show/hide conditional text feature to switch between English only (blue), translation only (red), or both (red+blue+green) in the localized document. This provides flexibility and will save time and cost when you are unsure if the software will be localized.

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Choosing Features for Regional Release

Nathen — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:39:37 -0700

Penetrating a regional market depends on good localization. A free add-on will give your product an edge in the market. The add-on might even be distributed with a free introductory product as in inroad for accessory sales.

In the world of regulatory control, investing in good localization for a free product is an even harder ROI to calculate. The question becomes, how to justify the budget to localize features when faced with regulatory testing costs?

Take reporting software for medical devices as an example. With budget being spent on the regulatory testing for additional features, it can restrict what is left for quality localization. Testing a rarely used report can consume a budget until it will not allow work on consistent terminology or clear user interface elements confirmed by subject matter experts. If the feature will be rarely used, is it cost effective to include it when it will leave the customer without a clearly navigable interface?

Again, this problem is compounded with add-on software to a core product. It is difficult to justify localizing a successful "extra" if there is not a clear dollar value assigned to the ROI. This takes us to a core value of internationalizing the product: identifying regional needs. If a region is less interested in the feature being part of the product and more interested in quality localization, it is:

1) less money
2) better spent
3) higher ROI
4) more regions

Does anyone have experience making these decisions in choosing features for regional release?

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The importance of planning for Medical Device UI localization

Åsa — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 19:11:14 -0700

Medical devices tend to be notorious for limited space in their displays. At the same time, it is vital that there is no truncated text, that abbreviations are non-ambiguous, easily understood, and that they are consistent. This has its own challenges within the software itself, but when you add Online help and User manuals to the mix, it quickly can become a disaster of inconsistencies, misunderstandings, delays in project schedules and of course additional costs.

The only true way of dealing with this is PLANNING:
1.   create a rigorous glossary of terms and have translations approved by all subject matter experts involved
2.   review English screens for potential string limitations prior to translation
3.   provide screen captures of strings in context
4.   during translation, identify translated words that may need to be abbreviated in several screens
5.   during translation, decide on whether to find a shorter term, or whether there is an acceptable abbreviation that will work across several screens
6.   add approved abbreviations to the glossary
7.   test and regress software fully
8.   update glossary with any additional/changed abbreviations
9.   take any required screen captures used in help and documentation
10.   only now, start help and documentation translations, allowing for potential customizations of localized text to explain abbreviations used.
If your schedule allows for all the above, you have little to worry about. However, reality rarely allows for this generous of a timeline.

This does not mean you should not think through each and every step of the ideal process. By taking a couple of days to brainstorm and truly think through the challenges involved with your particular device, you can come up with smart compromises that will save you money, improve quality, and reduce stress on everyone involved. Also remember that for each target locale you add, the costs and delays caused by lack of planning multiplies exponentially.

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Communication + Flexibility During Projects

Mimi — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:37:01 -0700

The quality of medical translations should be the highest objective for both customers and localization vendors. However, from time to time, it is inevitable that a misalignment of quality expectations may occur during localization. When this happens, the localization vendor must work as a partner with the customer to take this feedback seriously and increase communication to uncover the root cause for the issue.

The key to a strong partnership between customers and vendors is to have a discussion about quality, style and in-country review objectives at the start of the project lifecycle to ensure the vendor clearly understands the customer's expectations. There are several ways to achieve this: arranging for a meeting with in-country reviewers and linguists at the project start, scheduling a glossary review to get feedback on terminology and providing materials to the linguists with context, style and terminology references.

Following these steps will usually ensure expectations are met, but it is possible that a gap may still exist. When this happens, the vendor should be flexible and consider changing the process to meet the customer’s expectations. Changing the process to move the in-country review cycle from the end of the project to after the translation and edit phase was a successful solution for one client. This allowed the reviewers to provide feedback earlier and minimized the need to re-do a lot of work toward the end of the project.

While quality issues should be avoided at all costs, they give the vendor the opportunity to improve communication with the customer, to move quickly to resolve the issue and to improve internal processes to ensure the issue will not surface again.

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Translators education, backgrounds and experience

Susanne — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 10:17:25 -0700

When selecting a translation vendor for medical projects, best practices include making sure that the linguists have either an education, background or experience in the medical field. You should be able to depend on the language service provider to select qualified linguists with the appropriate experience to translate medical content. Has anyone had quality concerns when this may not have happened? Do you know for sure that the correct resources are being used on your projects?

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Link to (multilingual) Medical Dictionaries in Print and Online

swisschris — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 15:56:53 -0700

The following Web page lists over 100 medical dictionaries in print and online. Languages include: English, French, Spanish, Dutch, German, Portuguese, etc.: http://www.interfold.com/translator/medbooks.htm

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Medical translation & competition

Matt — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:25:49 -0700

When it comes to the localization industry, there are quite a few vendors for companies to choose from. As in any competitive environment, there are trade secrets, processes, and philosophies that set one apart from another. These are the things that give vendors competitive advantage, or make one stand out over another. However, in the medical community localization vendors and linguists should carefully consider whether their “spirit of competition” is actually increasing costs and possibly having detrimental effects on the safety of patients.

Take for example a medical device manufacturer that routinely uses multiple localization vendors. The customer does not have in-depth knowledge of how translation memory works, so vendors A, B, and C maintain their own TM files according to their own methodology. Vendor A utilizes attributes in such a way that they are able to accurately apply relevant TM entries project after project, saving 15% in cost and time to complete the work. Vendors B and C do not apply any particular methodology and consequently often misapply TM entries which must later be fixed in reviews, adding time and cost.

Would it not be in the best interest of the customer for Vendor A to share their best practice with the “team” to ensure consistency between translations as well as reduce risk and cost? Or should vendor A keep their mouth shut and reap the rewards of their ingenuity?

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Quality Review of the Source Content

Yusuke — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:18:56 -0700

Medical and Life Sciences content is very specific and complex by its very nature. If the message of your source content is not obvious in English, it is even less likely to be understood when translated to a target language.
Prior to moving into the localization phase, we recommend customers to conduct an initial review of their source product–be it documentation, software, or websites, to analyze and make modifications as necessary. We encourage using simple grammar structures and word choices as much as possible. As stated above, the quality of the translated product depends on the linguistic and technical quality of the source content.
A form of internationalization, preparing the source product for improved localizability is a quality practice that is critical to the relationship of the customer and the Language Service Providers. For translation alone, any inaccuracy in the source material will be repeated in all target languages, affecting both written and graphic information. The extent of the internationalization to source materials can be as extensive as re-writing the content to use Simplified English, or may simply involve modifications to document layout conventions such as tables, graphics, and word expansion, or regional conventions such as time, date, measurement units, etc.

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ISO Ceritification for Language Service Providers (LSP)

Yusuke — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 19:08:10 -0700

Many companies are becoming formally registered as organizations that adhere to total quality management practices. Use of ISO 9001 certification is the most common international quality standard in localization. Companies participating in highly regulated worldwide industries including medical, pharmaceutical, energy and transportation, depend on the ISO 9001 certified localization services to comply with regulatory requirements.
ISO 9001 certification requires a Quality Management System, which includes a quality plan, documentation control system, process control, and quality and customer service measuring for continuous improvements of the Quality System. An institution of internationally recognized quality management process standards, the new ISO standard emphasizes continuous improvement, communication and customer satisfaction. ISO 9001 certification recognizes the LSP's rigorous linguist selection process, employee training, client-focused account and project management, and customer service practices. For localization quality, the benefits of using an ISO certified LSP include: business opportunities available to only registered organizations, profitability, increased market share, increase in customer satisfaction as the product most likely reflects the appearance of a locally offered product or services.

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Web site Localization 101 – Why and How to Prepare your Web site for Global Markets

swisschris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:25:32 -0700

With the global reach and ubiquitous presence of the World Wide Web, localizing a Web site has become the first line of attack for companies seeking to expand their customer base. Yet despite this simple goal, many companies are challenged by how to begin and whether more expensive tools to manage the localization of Web sites are necessary. CMS’s, TMS’s, and GMS’s can present benefits; however, they can also issue challenges that neither simplify the localization process nor reduce costs if implemented incorrectly or unnecessarily. Request Webinar Recording: http://www.translate.com/Language_Tech_Center/Webinars/Website-Localization-101-Why-and-how-to-localize.aspx

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Reducing Virtual Distance at ENLASO: Successful Collaboration within the Space of Flows

swisschris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:24:29 -0700

In this one-hour Webinar, collaboration and localization experts Alden Globe, Caroline Fritz, and Liesl Leary present a case study on ENLASO’s electronic collaboration, highlighting the tools and best practices driving global information sharing in the localization production process.
Managers with globally distributed teams struggle to find effective techniques for improving knowledge worker productivity, communications and product quality. ENLASO has developed its own approach to reducing the “virtual distance” separating its community of linguists located around the world. Request Webinar Recording: http://www.translate.com/Language_Tech_Center/Webinars/Reducing-Virtual-Distance.aspx

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An Introduction to the Okapi Tools

swisschris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:23:07 -0700

The Okapi Framework, an open-source project, provides a set of cross-platform components and libraries that assist the development of localization and translation-related tools.
The Framework allows tools developers and localizers to build new localization processes or enhance existing ones to best meet their needs, while preserving compatibility and interoperability. The Framework also provides developers with a way to share—and re-use—components across different solutions and promotes existing open standards. Request Webinar Recording: http://www.translate.com/Language_Tech_Center/Webinars/Okapi-Tools.aspx

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Tools and Practices to Internationalize and Localize Software

swisschris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:21:55 -0700

In this one-hour Webinar, internationalization and localization experts, Adam Asnes, Cary Clark, and Yves Savourel present effective ways to assist the software globalization process, discuss how to manage strings for localization, and showcase live examples of how to assess source code for proper internationalization. Request Webinar Recording: http://www.translate.com/Language_Tech_Center/Webinars/Tools_Practices_Internationalize_Localize_Software.aspx

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Use of Structure and Metadata in Localization

swisschris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:20:57 -0700

While structured content offers superior organization of data when compared to unstructured content, there is an equally-important advantage in providing the ability to codify information about the content in structured documents with metadata.
The localization process is one area that can be greatly improved and streamlined by including such metadata. These improvements can be seen in every stage of the localization process: authoring/publishing, file processing, and translation memory usage, both for actual translation work and translation memory management. Request Webinar Recording: http://www.translate.com/Language_Tech_Center/Webinars/Structure_Metadata_Localization.aspx

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Don’t Get Lost in Translation: Mobile and Wireless Localization Best Practices

swisschris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:20:00 -0700

The ubiquity of mobile applications is only eclipsed by the demand for these applications to come localized into a global consumer’s native language. Emerging markets present mobile companies with enormous potential for revenue but the road from here to China (or India, Russia, or even just Spanish speakers in the US) is paved with signs in other languages most mobile companies can’t read. Request Webinar Recording: http://www.translate.com/Language_Tech_Center/Webinars/Mobile_Wireless_Localization.aspx

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