Posted on Mon, Feb 08, 2010
Lee Densmer wraps up her 3-part series on Translation Centralization today with the top ten reasons to centralize...
You may be using several language service providers (LSPs) to handle the translation of your content. If you are, you probably already know that it takes a lot of effort to manage multiple LSPs. As you add languages and products to your project list, it becomes more time-consuming and complicated to manage.
But why should you centralize? What are the benefits? Doesn't having more than one LSP provide more flexibility and better pricing?
Here are the top 10 reasons to centralize:
- Centralization can save up to 15% over multiple LSPs. One LSP can size up your entire program and develop program-level processes that bring costs down.
- An MLV (multi-language vendor) can look at your deliverables and give feedback on how to design them for optimal translation into all your program languages.
- Cost savings also come from lowered internal costs of translation: MLVs handle setup, terminology, preparation, desktop publishing, and query management all at once for all markets.
- Leverage is increased because translation memories are used on all projects; increased matching is realized and reflected in your project costs.
- Your staff has less to do so your internal management costs are reduced.
- Volume discounts are possible when a single provider deals with all your language requirements.
- Quality is consistently high due to unified processes, technology deployment, and QA procedures.
- There is only one language technology solution to implement.
- You have greater budgetary control.
- One invoice per month, rather than many
- Easily collated spend information
- Better collaboration with your vendor leads to increased consistency between languages.
- Queries on translation issues can be leveraged across languages, generating a consistent translation approach between the various target languages
- Schedule benefits
- Quicker time-to-market
- Consistent and predictable turnaround times
- Simultaneous release of localized versions
Three Things to Remember
- Working with several LSPs can be complicated and unnecessary.
- An MLV can help you get a handle on your company's localization spend, process, and quality.
- An SLV (single-language vendor) may be able to give you better pricing than an MLV on the language they provide, but your internal management effort is likely to counterbalance the savings.
Read the Full FAQ
For more information, read our Translation FAQ: "Why Would I Want to Centralize all my Translation?"
Lionbridge publishes Translation FAQs regularly, so:
Posted on Thu, Feb 04, 2010
Today is Part 2 of Lee Densmer's 3-part series on Translation Centralization. Miss Part 1 on Tuesday? Check it out, "Nine Issues with Decentralized Translation." Stay tuned for Part 3, "Top 10 Reasons to Centralize your Translation," coming next Monday.
Centralization involves giving all your translation and localization work to one LSP (Language Service Provider), most often an MLV (Multi-Language Vendor). The ideal MLV can handle all your languages, all your file formats, and your entire volume of work. However, many large companies may choose to work with two or three MLVs to ensure they have the resources needed to cover an extremely large volume of work.
Here are eight things to expect when centralizing with an MLV:
- Accountability and ownership through a single point of contact for your entire program (all languages and deliverables)
- Global offices that can handle requirements from different divisions in your organization
- Capability to handle large volumes
- Capacity in all your required languages
- Standardized, cross-language, cost-efficient processes
- Worldwide quality assurance; proven quality processes
- Preparation sharing across projects
- Centralized assets, accessible to all translators working on the account (glossary, translation memory, and style guide)
Read the Full FAQ
For more information, read our Translation FAQ: "Why Would I Want to Centralize all my Translation?" Learn the top 10 reasons to centralize.
Lionbridge publishes Translation FAQs regularly, so:
Posted on Tue, Feb 02, 2010
Today, Lee Densmer, Lionbridge Solution Architect, explains nine issues you might run into with a decentralized approach to translation...
You may be using several language service providers (LSPs) to handle the translation of your content. If you are, you probably already know that it takes a lot of effort to manage multiple LSPs.
The cost of maintaining several LSPs can be difficult to estimate because many of the costs are "soft" and not often considered in the calculation.
With multiple teams and LSPs, there will be separate price lists, separate processes, and separate people to talk with for each project and language. As you add languages and products to your project list, it becomes more time-consuming and complicated to manage.
Here are nine issues you'll face with decentralization:
- Communication challenges
- Inconsistency across markets
- Staggered deliveries; time-to-market variations per language
- Lack of collaboration between LSPs
- No sharing of assets and best practices
- Fragmented and differing processes
- Various billing and accounting methods; challenges in getting a handle on your total spend
- No central responsibility for quality
- Duplicated work; preparation not shared across LSPs
Read the Full FAQ
For more information, read our Translation FAQ: "Why Would I Want to Centralize all my Translation?" Learn the 8 things to expect when centralizing and the top 10 reasons to centralize.
Lionbridge publishes Translation FAQs regularly, so:
Posted on Mon, Jan 18, 2010
From Tracey today, some thoughts on appreciating global holidays...
As we in the United States officially observe Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday today, it makes me again appreciate the influence his vision had (and continues to have) on our country, and the rich diversity of our communities. So when I sat down to write today's post, I started thinking about the diversity of the Lionbridge global teams.
One of the most fascinating aspects of my job is interacting with colleagues from other cultures and countries. With offices in 26 countries, I get plenty of opportunities to experience the breadth of Lionbridge's cultural diversity. In fact, in our US offices alone, we have more than 23 nationalities represented.
Because all of our offices work together to deliver localization projects for our clients, we are very interdependent on one another and good communication is so important. One very simple example: any time a country has a holiday coming up, the offices in that country send out a global reminder to the rest of the team, so that we can properly plan around holidays. Planning around global holidays can be really tough because our clients' business does not stop for every global holiday. So sometimes, when I get these emails, I cannot help thinking "What, yet another holiday somewhere?"
But as I was thinking about what to write in the blog, it occurred to me that the emails give us another chance to experience the depth of the cultural diversity at Lionbridge. Just this week, one of those emails came in. This one was from Brazil, where Carnival will be celebrated February 15-17. This infamous celebration just prior to Lent is known for rowdy partying with dancing in the streets. Find out some more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Carnival.
And this year, by coincidence, at about the same time, China, Taiwan and other places with ethnic Chinese will be celebrating Chinese New Year or Spring Festival. New Year's Day this year is Sunday, February 14, but China will celebrate The Year of the Tiger from the 13th to 19th. Spring Festival celebrations include the important reunion dinner, where families feast together on wonderful traditional foods and celebrate the start of the Lunar New Year and the coming of Spring. Of course, Spring Festival would not be the same without Lion Dancing and fireworks. Learn more at http://wiki.china.org.cn/wiki/index.php/Spring_Festival.
Another really fascinating holiday that I've had the chance to learn about recently is Deepavali (Diwali, for short) which is India's festival of lights, which falls in October or November. The Hindu festival lasts five days, with each day having a different significance. The first day is for decorating the home, while the fifth day is for family visits. Gifts, candy and good wishes are exchanged. Read more about it at http://festivals.iloveindia.com/diwali/index.html.
Of course, these are just a few of the holidays that Lionbridge colleagues celebrate... as the many emails each year remind me. Next time I get one of the holiday emails, I am going to think not just about the planning that needs to be done to keep projects on track, but also the richness that our cultural diversity brings to my work life.
Posted on Wed, Jan 13, 2010
Today we're hearing from Dawn Piper, Director of Operations for Lionbridge Interpretation Services. Dawn's clearing up the confusion between interpretation and translation...
Interpretation and translation. People often confuse them. While both services involve adapting from one language to another, there are five key differences.
- Spoken versus written
Interpretation is the transference of meaning between spoken languages, while translation is the transference of meaning between written languages.
- Real time versus delayed
Interpreting occurs in real time. It happens in person, on the phone, or through a television/video service. Because translation involves the written word, it typically takes place long after a text is created, which gives the translator time to access resources (dictionaries, glossaries, subject matter experts, etc.) to produce an accurate and effective end document (or website, help file, etc.).
- Level of accuracy
Interpretation and translation demand different levels of accuracy. Interpreting requires excellent memory skills to ensure a high level of accuracy, which can be challenging to achieve in a live conversation. Conversely, translators have time to evaluate and revise each word and sentence before delivering their product, so they can achieve a greater level of accuracy and greater fidelity to the original.
- Direction and fluency
An interpreter must be fluent enough in both the original language and the target language to be able to interpret in both directions, on the spot. Interpreters are highly qualified people, and the work is quite demanding! In an ideal setting, interpreters work in pairs and switch off every 20 minutes or so to prevent mental fatigue.
Typically, professional translators only work in one direction-translating into their native language. As such, translators do not have to be as fluent in the source language as an interpreter must be. The key skills of a translator are to understand the source language and to use their knowledge of the target country's cultural and language norms to create an effective translated product.
- Intangibles
Both translators and interpreters are faced with the challenge of making metaphors, analogies, and idioms understandable to the audience in the target language. However, interpreters must also capture tone, inflection, voice quality, and the other intangible elements of the spoken word and convey those meaningfully to the audience.
Despite the differences in the skills of translators and interpreters, both are bilingual professionals who share a passion for conveying meaning to people who would otherwise be unable to understand the information at hand.
Read the Full FAQ
For more information, read our Translation FAQ: "What's the Difference between Interpretation and Translation?" Here, we identify the five different types of interpretation and the qualities that make an interpreter effective.
Lionbridge publishes Translation FAQs regularly, so:
Posted on Wed, Jan 06, 2010
Please welcome Anja Schaefer, Director of Solution Development at Lionbridge, as she introduces our latest FAQ, "What is Localization? How does it Work?"
For companies and individuals at the beginning stages of localization, an introduction to the process is often helpful. Localization (also abbreviated as L10n) is the translation and adaptation of material for foreign-language markets. It involves changing words from one language to another. It also involves analyzing the semantics in the new language to make sure the right thing is said, as well as making sure the product "works" (functionally and linguistically) in the intended culture.
It is important to remember that the target market is different from the market for which the product was originally developed.
The end result of localization is a product that:
- Is appropriate for the target locale's business and cultural conventions
- Appears custom built for the end user's cultural and linguistic background
- Does not change the original intended meaning
Localization is best performed by a company that specializes in linguistic services, also known as a Language Service Provider (LSP).
The phases in a typical localization project are:
- Preparation
- Kick-off Meeting
- Glossary and Style Guide Development
- Project Execution
- Post-Translation
- Final QA Check
Localization is a complex process. Each phase consists of several steps and sub steps. Ideally, localization requires specialized expertise from a trustworthy, skilled partner who can offer intimate knowledge of the language, customs, and cultural biases of the target culture, as well as the technical aspects of the deliverables themselves.
Read the Full FAQ
I've merely scratched the surface here in providing you with an overview of localization. To gain a more thorough understanding of the process, read the newest Lionbridge Translation FAQ, "What is Localization? How does it Work?"
And be sure to join us on Wednesday, January 20 at 12:00 PM EST, 6:00 PM CET for our live webcast, "Localization 101: Getting Started with Localization" (click title to learn more and register). Here, my colleague Arnold Koh and I will explore the fundamentals of localization, provide an overview of what you need to know before getting started, and review best practices for successful implementation. We hope you'll be able to attend.
Lionbridge publishes Translation FAQs regularly, so:
Posted on Mon, Dec 21, 2009
Today Tracey Feick shares some observations about how trends in technology are impacting our lives, and specifically, how things are changing quickly in China...
I am continually amazed at how technology has changed our lives so much in a few short years. What did we ever do without e-mail? Without cell phones? Without instant messaging? Without social media?
The technology changes impact our personal lives: my daughter's school report cards no longer come in the mail. I have to log onto a website to see her grades. The technology changes impact our professional lives as well: I never thought I'd be blogging or inviting customers to join Lionbridge on Twitter. Those concepts didn't even exist a few years ago.
The changes are coming fast and furious. Every day there is some new technology to learn and adopt. And you never know where it will appear next. This hit home for me recently when I was moderating a Lionbridge webinars: "Designing and Localizing Websites for the Chinese Market," presented by Rebecca Ray of LISA.
I've had a passion for China since my family vacation to Hong Kong when I was a teenager. So, I was thrilled to host Lionbridge's webinar and fully expected to hear a lot of familiar content based on my experiences working in and with Asia, while also learning about the most recent market trends in China. Rebecca certainly delivered on all that. But, what really fascinated me were two technology trends Rebecca shared:
- First, the internet may be big, but mobile is the place to be with 640 million mobile subscribers in China today. Since I've recently upgraded my own mobile phone, I can completely understand how the new devices are revolutionizing how we interact. And I can see how that will have implications as companies are trying to reach their international customers.
- Then I learned how important micropayments, mobile coupons and virtual currencies are becoming in the Chinese market. If these are new to you, too, listen to Rebecca's webinar which can be found at the Knowledge Center on Lionbridge.com. Suffice it to say, the new technologies breed new ways of interacting with customers.
While staying abreast of the latest technology can sometimes be overwhelming, how exciting to be a part of the changing nature of global interactions that technology facilitates!
Listen to the Lionbridge Webinar replay, "Designing and Localizing Websites for the Chinese Market."
Posted on Thu, Dec 17, 2009
Jim Compton (our Innovation blogger), is posting in our Translation and Localization section today, proving that sometimes there’s a fine line between topics of innovation and good localization strategies...
...or, as they might say in Pseudoland, "Psëëùùdøø-løøçåålîîzååtîîøøñ Tëëçhñîîqùùëës."
Pseudo-localization (or as I've seen it written "pseudo localization" or "pseudolocalization") describes the practice of simulating the localization process before jumping headfirst into the real translation work. It can be an excellent, cost-effective, and well-worthwhile part of any well-designed localization strategy by helping ward-off nasty (and potentially expensive) surprises later, such as text expansion, character-encoding issues, and potential text clipping issues.
Pseudo-localization represents not a technique but a collection of techniques. However the basic strategy behind them is the same:
Replace the localizable text within the material in question with something identifiable.
This can be done via script, macro, or through a tool, but shouldn't need to involve actual human translators. In fact, one of its values is in its ability to allow some level of linguistic testing by non-native readers of the target language. The various pseudo-localization techniques themselves range from the very simple to the quite elaborate, and should ideally target those areas of most risk and uncertainty.
Likely pseudo-localization objectives include:
- Getting a "feel" for what the localized versions will look like.
- Identifying text-expansion issues and other post-translation UI problems.
- Uncovering character-encoding problems with the translation process or character-encoding handling problems with the material itself.
- Discovering pre-processing errors with the translation process (i.e. not all translatable material is getting "pulled" for translation).
- Identifying erroneously hard-coded strings.
- Revealing latent functionality issues in the material itself (that only manifest after translation).
- Detecting problems with automatic sorting.
- Confirming that the files-to-be-localized have been correctly identified.
Now, some options. These techniques may be combined in order to address different pseudo-localization objectives:
Replacing Characters with Xs
This technique replaces all characters within a string with an "X" or similar easily-identifiable character. Since the return string becomes unrecognizable as a derivative of the source string, it really can be considered a form of greeking, its use limited to indentifying hard-coded strings and localization pre-processing errors.
The technique is reasonably simple to implement, and I've seen several tools that have such functionality built-in.
Pseudoese
"Pseudoese" is a fictional written language where Roman characters get replaced by similar-looking diacritical characters. All vowels are actually pairs of diacritical vowels, allowing Pseudoese to emulate the type of character expansion that is typical when English is translated into Western European languages. See the following "before and after" example.
The original string:
The same string pseudo-translated into "Pseudoese":
One advantage of using Pseudoese is that the source text is still readable, but easily identifiable as being localized. This technique would not be appropriate for identifying potential Asian-language-specific issues, however.
Lorem Ipsum
Lorem Ipsum is similar to the "greeking" technique, but is designed to emulate the look-and-feel of actual text. This technique is mostly useful in the context of document publishing, and can be used to help identify what impact the changing of text will have on the layout of a document. For example, will a +30% expansion of the text wreak havoc on the plan to keep a document as a single-fold brochure for all languages?
Note that since Lorem Ipsum text is composed of all Roman characters, the technique wouldn't be helpful for identifying potential encoding issues at all.
String Identifiers
This technique is especially useful for answering the question "where did this string come from?" when looking at a runtime version of a piece of software - especially if there are lots of potential places from which the string might be getting pulled.
Consider the following string from the file, "misc_strings.rc":
IDS_STRING_GET_COFFEE "This process is going to take awhile. Good time for coffee?"
Adding a string identifier to the string itself would transform it to something like this:
IDS_STRING_GET_COFFEE "misc_strings.rc:IDS_STRING_GET_COFFEE:This process is going to take awhile. Good time for coffee?"
If you create a runtime version from a set of resources that are processed like this, you'd be able to identify where the text in a runtime dialog was coming from. While potentially useful outside of the context of a localization project, this technique can also be useful during testing of a localized user interface by explicitly identifying which string from a series of identical-looking but unique strings need to be changed.
Note that adding string identifiers is probably best used in combination with other, more language-oriented techniques (like Pseudoese or Machine Translation).
Simple Prefixes / Suffixes
Similar to string identifiers, the addition of prefixes and suffixes to strings is probably a technique that you'd want to use in conjunction with something else. Its utility is most apparent for projects where translated strings are at risk of getting cut-off in the display - because their widths are being explicitly defined - and are at risk of going unnoticed by someone who may not read the language.
The same coffee string with a prefix and suffix:
IDS_STRING_GET_COFFEE "X_This process is going to take awhile. Good time for coffee?_X"
Machine Translation
Probably the closest thing to emulating what would actually happen during the real translation work - and the best way to test for Asian-language-specific issues - would be to run the text through an actual machine-translation pass. With the wide world of machine-translation options available (again ranging from the very simple to the quite elaborate), the actual details for this technique will be dependent on what machine translation tool is used.
Like all of these techniques, however, the manner in which machine translations are applied should try to be representative of the actual process that will be used during the actual translation work.
If translators will be translating XLIFF files, for example, it makes sense to introduce the pseudo-localization step on the XLIFF files as opposed to the source files themselves. If translators are going to be making use of translation memories, it may make sense to introduce the pseudo-translated string by way of a pseudo-translated TM.
That's the high-level tour! As always, Lionbridge is willing and able to help you to develop and execute an appropriate pseudo-localization strategy for your next localization project. And remember to visit the Lionbridge Knowledge Center whenever you're looking for more translation and localization strategies.
Your feedback is encouraged and appreciated. Thanks!
Posted on Wed, Dec 16, 2009
Please welcome a newcomer to our Translation Team Blog: Stuart Sklair, Lionbridge Solution Architect. Stuart covers Machine Translation today, and introduces the latest Lionbridge FAQ, "What's Machine Translation."
Machine Translation is the use of computer software to translate one language into another. It's been around since the 1960s, with several ups and downs in terms of research and development. Fictional stories abound of the early days of MT with phrases such as "out of sight, out of mind" being translated as "blind fool," and "the spirit is willing but the body is weak" becoming "the vodka is strong but the meat is rotten."
Today, MT is gaining public exposure as the Web has become an essential part of global commercial communication. MT "engines" are being incorporated in browsers and search engines. Improvements in MT's output quality have helped in this resurgence, both for general purposes and for use by professional language service providers (LSPs).
MT systems first came about as a combination of some computational linguists' attempts to understand human language through computer models and the US Department of Defense's need to translate Russian documents into English during the Cold War. Since then, a number of different approaches to MT have emerged:
- Rules-based. In this approach, just like you might have learned to diagram the grammatical structure of sentences in school, the software attempts to deconstruct the grammar of the input language to build a grammatical model of each sentence. The grammatical model of the input language is then mapped to the grammatical model of the output language.
- Statistically-based. Here, the MT engine is trained based on large volumes of existing content and its translation known as "bilingual text corpora." The MT engine uses the large volumes of data to create statistical rules. These rules determine the appropriate selection based on the probability that given a certain word, phrase, or sentence in one language, a particular word, phrase, or sentence is the correct translation in the target language. While this approach is not language specific, large volumes of electronic text of similar content are required to get the best quality output from the MT engine.
- Example-based. Similar to the "statistically-based" MT approach, a bilingual text corpus is required. However, in the example-based approach, the corpus is used as a knowledge base to derive translations directly from examples of parallel structures of source text and translation found in the corpus.
Although there are frequent, heated debates about which MT philosophy is more effective, when it comes to MT for commercial translations, it's probably not worth getting too hung up on which approach is used. Typically, language service providers use MT as one element of a complete quality translation process.
Read the Full FAQ
To learn more about MT and how it works, read our latest Translation FAQ, "What's Machine Translation?"
Lionbridge publishes Translation FAQs regularly, so:
Posted on Wed, Dec 09, 2009
Lee Densmer, Lionbridge Solution Architect, provides the context around translation glossaries, and introduces the newest Lionbridge FAQ, "What is a Translation Glossary? What Benefits Does it Provide?"
Every business has its own language. For example, consider the term "drive." As a verb, it can describe several different actions, such as operating a motor vehicle. In many companies, however, it is used as a noun to describe a computer device that stores data.
Choosing the right word is a deliberate decision. Making sure everyone in your company uses the same term for the same concept requires discipline. All of this becomes even more complex as you attempt to provide this same information in multiple languages. If a word has multiple meanings, translating terminology from one language to another can be extremely complex, time consuming, and expensive. That's why approximately 15 percent of all translation project costs arise from rework, and the primary cause of rework is inconsistent terminology.
A Glossary is Your Reference for Proper Terminology
The glossary is a tool or document that helps you mitigate this consistency problem. The glossary contains your key terminology in your source language (typically English) and approved translations for that terminology in all your target languages. The glossary also contains other metadata such as the definition, context part of speech, and approval/review date. It is one of the key tools, along with a style guide and Translation Memory, to assure that all translated materials meet your quality expectations.
The glossary helps your translators make sure that each time a defined key term appears, in any language, it is used consistently and correctly. For example, the terms "laptop" and "notebook computer" are synonymous, but you should choose to use just one of these terms for all materials supporting your new product. If you enforce that standard on your technical authors, you should enforce it among the translators and their materials as well. Moreover, the glossary becomes even more important for consistency if you use more than one translation resource. This is especially true in the case of tight deadlines when many translators may be working on various elements of a project simultaneously.
By helping to eliminate uncertainty in the translation process, the glossary will enforce consistency, shorten the time it takes to translate a document, and reduce the overall cost of translation over time.
Read the full FAQ and learn five best practices for developing an effective translation glossary: "What is a Translation Glossary? What Benefits Does it Provide?"
Lionbridge will publish Translation FAQs regularly, so: