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Asia and especially China is a great source of translation errors! Literal machine translations from here make for some very funny reading!
Welcome to the latest in the series of “Localization: The Definitive Guide”, a complete step by step guide to the localization of websites, software and it’s components. In this article we will deal with the translation of documentation associated with software. We have already dealt with the localization of software and Online Help. Again, the localization of software documentation ties in with the localization of the software or User Interface and the Online Help. The documentation of software may include User Guides, Quick User Guides, CD-ROM covers and Box text and any other marketing material. Just to refresh a SIM ship release is where the language versions of the product are released to their respective markets on the same date as the original version. As one can imagine cross referencing with other localization components is crucial ensuring that all components are consistent with each other. It’s also important to bear in mind how astronomical the cost of localization can become now, bearing in mind the amount of languages we need to deliver and the volume of words we have to translate. In many cases, companies often combat these astronomical localization costs by tying the Online Help in with the User Guides and Quick start Guides by having just one guide for all three and in some cases not even printing the User Guides. As already discussed we translate the user interface first, populate the translation memory and Glossary with the translated text and then run it against the Online Help and User manuals. However with a SIM ship version and the time constraint we need to translate the OLH and User manuals in parallel with the User Interface. The process for the translation of the documentation is very similar to the translation of a website, OLH or the User interface itself so, as mentioned previously in the OLH localization article please bear in mind that there will be some overlap between this article and the others in this series. We have already discussed the use of translation memories, resources and infrastructure and their respective influences on the localization work flow but in this article we will focus more on the formats of User Guides and an extra resource called Desktop publishing. In most cases the overlap between the Online Help and the User Guides is substantial if not the same however, the extra dimension of publishing introduced into the localization work flow causes costly and substantial changes.
The main formats of User Guide files are quark and frameMaker and a lot of translation memory environments can work directly with these formats.
Ok, so we send the translator the translation memory compatible files to translate or access to the centralized translation memory system portal , the most up to date Translation Memory (as they need to update it with their work) reference material such as Glossaries, previous User Guides…etc.. and the translator begins translation. As discussed in the previous paragraph one must bear in mind that the process can vary in many ways when we take into consideration that the translator may be in-house or external or the translation memory system we are using. What is key is that each resource always has a reasonably up to date TM to work with to avoid duplication of work. During this stage the translator’s job remit may overlap with the publishers in that he/she may be responsible for typical localization bugs such as resizing of strings as he translates or it may be the publisher’s job after translation. The end product is an 80 to 90% localized pilot version. What adds even more to the complications of the project is whether the documentation is revised by the translation company, the client or a third party. What if the client wants to revise the User Guides? What if the client does not wish to use the translation memory process
7.
- Software Localization: Background and Methodology
- Online Help Localization: Background and Methodology
- End User License Agreements Localization: Background and Methodology
- Software Documentation Localization(Quick User Guides and User Guides): Background and Methodology
- Website Localization: Background and Methodology
NOTE: Please note that translation and localization are used interchangeably in this article.
NOTE: Please note that documentation and User Guides are used interchangeably in this article.
DEF: Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text.
DEF: Language localization is the process of adapting a product that has been previously translated into different languages to a specific country or region. Source: Wikipedia
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Mark Kieran, CEO, One Stop Shop Translations
For our latest User manual translation rates click on this link or get an economically unbeatable User Manual localization quote here.
Remember that translation of software is not just simple straight forward translation but a complicated process that involves many stages and specialized expertise!