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Translation Why do I need professional translators for my product? I already have translation memory from a previous translation. Why would I need to pay again for the review of material that has already been translated? I don't have a translation memory, but I do have a previous version of my product translated. Can I save anything from the old translation? How long do translations take? What is a glossary and why do I need one? Linguistic Validation I have already paid for translation, why do I now need to have Linguistic Validation? Will Linguistic Validation also validate the products functionality? What resources are used for Linguistic Validation? Localisation Engineering If my product is Internationalisation friendly and properly resourced, why would I need Localisation Engineering? Are Localisation Engineers target language speakers? Translation Why do I need professional translators for my product? Anyone who has read a badly translated English manual for a product they have purchased will understand the need for professional translation. In a competitive market where an indigenous feel is vital for some products to thrive it is imperative that your material is translated by in-country, professional, industry specific translators. | TOP | I already have translation memory from a previous translation. Why would I need to pay again for the review of material that has already been translated? The simple answer is that you may not have to. If the same company that did the previous translation is doing the latest version, you should reasonably expect that they can achieve consistency without review. If, on the other hand, you are going with a new company, it will be impossible in most cases for them to maintain consistency with previous translations unless they take the time, and incur the costs, to review them. We sometimes like to think of the process as like asking a painter to paint the fourth wall of your room yellow, to match the three walls already done, without looking at the shade of yellow that has been used. Good translation style can be as subjective as shades of yellow!! You may also decline the option if there is a short shelf life for the latest version of the project (i.e. if it will be replaced very soon). | TOP | I don't have a translation memory, but I do have a previous version of my product translated. Can I save anything from the old translation? The short answer is yes. If you have the old translated version of your product and the corresponding English version, you can align the files to produce a memory. Then you can use the memory to propagate your new English files, to produce a partially translated version of the new product. Alignment is an engineering task typically charged in hours; the size of the task will be relative to the amount of material to be aligned. You should offset this cost against what you will save from the leverage to determine if this process is worthwhile in your particular case. | TOP | How long do translations take? Translation time will vary, depending on a number of factors. More disjointed material (like software terms) will naturally take longer than flowing text in a User manual. In fact, at the extremes it can take up to four times as long. A good yardstick to use for translation throughput is about 800 words per day per translator of finished software translation and about 1600 words per day per translator of finished Help or Documentation. As a rule the fewer the translators the higher will be the quality. | TOP | What is a glossary and why do I need one? A glossary is a table of key English terms with their corresponding translation. Glossaries are primarily used in two cases: 1. Where we are dealing with very specific terminology and a customer wants to see, review and approve key terms in advance of translation commencing. 2. Where we are dealing with a very large translation project where we need a large number of translators. In this case a glossary will help to ensure consistency across the various translators. | TOP | Linguistic Validation I have already paid for translation, why do I now need to have Linguistic Validation? Linguistic Validation usually pertains to the verification of translation in context. When a translator translate some software resources for example, it is often impossible for them to see the unit they are translating in its true environment i.e. how and in what context, it will appear when it is displayed in the product. Although there are some translation tools that help to minimise this disadvantage, they are limited in what context they can provide. It can therefore be necessary for the localised product to be validated once it has been put back together, to make sure that strings appear correctly (and are translated correctly) in their true environment and that features like context sensitive help are valid and working. It often occurs that as a result of this check, translations are changed and revised. | TOP | Will Linguistic Validation also validate the products functionality? While anyone doing a Linguistic Validation will report any functional bugs they see, this process should not be taken as a functional validation. These are two separate and distinct processes, though they can be done by the same person. | TOP | What resources are used for Linguistic Validation? Where possible it is best to have the translators doing the linguistic validation. Where this is not possible the validation is done by qualified linguists who are familiar with the terminology and product line. | TOP | Localisation Engineering If my product is Internationalisation friendly and properly resourced, why would I need Localisation Engineering? No matter how hard the localisation industry tries, code and links are always liable to be broken when translation occurs. The isolation of text for translation, the transferring of that text into a translator and memory friendly environment and the sensitivities of the product itself all contribute to a situation where translated text has to be "worked" back into a product and verified as functionally equivalent to the original product. | TOP | Are Localisation Engineers target language speakers? Typically Localisation Engineers are not target language speakers. While it is clearly an advantage to have an engineer who can understand the text they are working with, the real efficiency is in having the engineer work on different languages of the same product. | TOP | |
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