Isabelle: Multilingual Technical Communication
- 1. Multilingual Technical Communication tcworld India 2011 Conference, Bangalore Isabelle Fleury, Fleury & Fleury Consultants
- 2. Challenges • Number of document types increases MORE • Number of versions and variants grows FURTHER • Number of languages grows FASTER • Product life cycle gets shorter • Quality awareness grows BETTER • BUT: Budget does not increase accordingly © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 2
- 3. High Complexity Technologies Exchange Processes Develop Author Localize Test Launch Your Stakeholders Client organiza-tion Suppliers Exchange © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 3
- 4. Solutions: Reduce complexity and workload • Tools • Document structure Standardize • Text • Workflows • Communication • Data Centralize • Process steps • Exchange of data Automate • Administration © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 4
- 5. Two areas of leverage Technical Writing Localization © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 5
- 6. Technical Writing Localization © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 6
- 7. Objectives for Multilingual Technical Writing • Standardized document and information structures Enable reuse at a high level • Clarity of expression Avoid misunderstanding, queries, errors and rework • Consistency in style and terminology Reduce amount of new text, queries and enable reuse • Translation-oriented authoring Allow for market-specific contents and enable processing by CAT-Tools © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 7
- 8. Consider Cultural and Market-Specific Characteritiscs while Writing • Connotations: Cultural and historical references • Meanings of colors • Use of pictures • Formal requirements: norms and directives • Qualification profile of users © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 8
- 9. Mind the Interdependences between Writing and Localization • Command of authoring tools Impacts the degree of reuse of translated materials (match rate) • Authors are not native speakers Causes comprehension issues • Degree of completion at the start of localization Leads to rework and higher process complexity • Education and experience as technical writer Awareness and ability to write for various target groups © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 9
- 10. • Please enter start date before or equal to the end date. • Please enter a start date earlier than or the same as the end date. • Please enter an actual start date earlier than the actual end date. • The Start Date cannot exceed the End Date. • The End Date cannot precede the Start Date. • End Date must be later than Start Date. • End date must be equal to or later than the start date. • The end date must be later than or the same as the start date. • End Time must be later than the Start Time. • The valid grade's end date must be later than or equal to its start date. • Please enter an End Date that is later than or the same as the Start Date. • Competence end date has to be later than or equal to the start date. • The start date cannot be later than the end date. • The appraisal end date must be later than or equal to appraisal start date. • The Effective start date cannot be later than the Effective end date. • Date from cannot be later than date to. • The start date must be on or before the end date. • The Start Date cannot be after the End Date. • Your end date must be after your start date. • The end date cannot be before the start date. • Start date must be before end date. • Your start date must be before your end date. • Enter a Start Date that is on or later than &LL. • … © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 10
- 11. Best practices: Which rules are useful? • … © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 11
- 12. Technical Writing Localization © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 12
- 13. Tool Landscape Authoring Translation CMS Translation Memory Systeme Authoring tools CAT-PM-Tools MS Office Terminology-Tools Layout Tools Machine translation systems SW Development Quality control tools Image processing Online dictionaries tools © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 13
- 14. © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 14
- 15. Translation Memory Tools • Some TMS providers: SDL, STAR, across, MultiCorpora, Kilgray… • Advantages: – Never translate a sentence twice – Increase consistency – Context sensitive suggestion – Processing of various authoring formats – Knowledge-base available across departments • Risks: – More interfaces mean new sources of errors – Reuse of wrong translations – Too much faith in technology: Loss of criticism © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 15
- 16. Language specific aspects • Alphabets and their various special characters, some use double byte characters • Writing direction (bi-directional languages) • Punctuation • Dates and numbers • Measurement units • Text expansion ISO 639 Unicode © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 16
- 17. Parameters to Keep in Mind when Defining and Assessing Translation Quality • Languages are not homogeneous – Various registers: formal, informal – Dependable on target group: technicians, end users, teens, IT early adopters… • Terms are not always translatable as in source language – Umbrella term: snow, screw – No corresponding concept • Synonyms in source and target languages • Languages are subject to change • Language is highly subjective • Strong identification with own language © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 17
- 18. Process Landscape in Localization Projects CHANGE MANAGEMENT CLIENT CORRECTIONS LOCALIZATION Engineering Translation DTP Publication QUERIES DATA MANAGEMENT PROJECT MANAGEMENT Projektdefinition Definition Planning Controlling Closure Request Execution Delivery © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 18
- 19. Process Modules and Steps Translation DTP Engineering Proofreading of source Internationalization Internationalization Copywriting Textexport, import Pre- / postprocessing First translation Layout Functional Testing Peer-review Image processing Linguistic QA In-country review Linguistic layout QA Software development Subject Matter Expert In-country layout QA CAT Engineering © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 19
- 20. Criteria to Define Localization Process • Depending on Source document and objectives – File format of source and target document – Quality of source document (text and form) – Level of text complexity – Target group and quality objectives – Liability risks • Depending on Localization process: – Expertise and availability of resources – Cost and time frame – Translation technologies used © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 20
- 21. Specifics of International Teams • Different cultures (geography and company) • Language barriers • Different concepts of time • Acceptance and display of emotions • Handling of rules and instructions • „Yes“ or “No”? • Hierarchy and gender • Humor © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 21
- 22. Key Success Factors for Multilingual TC • Standardize documents and source text to support reuse of content and translation • Document the defined processes and procedures and deploy them across departments • Control application of defined rules and processes • Establish technical writing and localization as own steps in the product life cycle • Mind cultural and language specific aspects while writing and communicating © Fleury & Fleury GbR, www.fleuryfleury.com 22
- 23. All the best for your next multilingual projects! Isabelle Fleury Tel: +49 2104 8089920 E-Mail: [email protected] Internet: http://www.fleuryfleury.com