Food and Drink for the Translator Fango to Frango Frito

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Standard fare: food and drink for the translator Fango to frango frito: translation in the food chain Localizing XML documents with ITS Multilingual speech processing challenges and solutions

Getting Started Guide: Going to China

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04 Idiom #85.indd 4 12/13/06 3 29:28 PM u ti in ua M l L g January/February 2007l Language | Technology | Business #85 Volume 18 Issue 1

Q Up Front Q Feature Articles Q 6 www.multilingual.com Q Industry Focus Q 7 Post Editing 31 Standard fare: food and Q News drink for the translator — Kirk Anderson Q 8 News 35 Fango to frango frito: Q 21 Calendar translation in the food chain Q Reviews — John Freivalds 22 A comparison of Q Business

translation QA products 39 Business metrics Up Front — reviewed by Andrei Gerasimov for language companies Q Columns and Commentary — Huiping Iler 43 Best practices 26 Perspectives — Andrew Joscelyne in vendor management & Jaap van der Meer — Sylke Denfeld 28 Perspectives — Lyra Spratt-Manning 74 Takeaway — Donald A. DePalma Q Languages 47 Multilingual DTP: Q 65 Buyer’s Guide Japanese line breaks — Philipp Strazny & Tim Nishimura 73 Advertiser Index Q Tech 49 Multilingual speech processing challenges and solutions About the Cover — Tanja Schultz & Katrin Kirchhoff The image was made from 54 Localizing XML the outside of a gate crafted of cut metal plate at the documents with ITS Kliniek Minnewater hospital — Yves Savourel in Brugge, Belgium. 58 Toward a cleaner The text cut into the gate is a poem in Dutch about life and information environment things past. — Garry Levitt Q 63 Basics

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05 Contents #85.indd 5 12/13/06 3:30:15 PM on the web at www.multilingual.com

Index of Chinese Characters George Bell’s With Attributes MultiLingual monumental In fully searchable pdf format and including Unicode #85 Volume 18 Issue 1 January/February 2007 A quick and Editor-in-Chief, Publisher: Donna Parrish INDEX OF CHINESE easy index

CHARACTERS WITH (FPSHF & #FMM Managing Editor: Laurel Wagers XJUI +PZ ;IBP 3PV[FS ATTRIBUTES, including Translation Dept. Editor: Jim Healey Unicode references, is Copy Editor: Cecilia Spence now available on CD News: Kendra Gray, Becky Bennett MultiLingual Press À Illustrator: Doug Jones in fully searchable © George E. Bell • All rights reserved PDF format. Production: Sandy Compton Cover Photograph: Doug Jones Index of Chinese Characters With Attributes contains characters found Webmaster: Aric Spence in the Xiandai Hanyu Cidian (XHC), a dictionary in common use in China. Assistant: Shannon Abromeit English translations of entries in the XHC and the Ci Hai, a larger all- Intern: Callie Welch Chinese dictionary, have been made by Joy Zhao Rouzer as necessary to complement the de¿ nitions found in the dictionary sources acknowl- Special Projects: Terri Jadick edged in the bibliography. Advertising Director: Jennifer Del Carlo This publication, a valuable resource for students of Chinese, is available Advertising: Kevin Watson, Bonnie Merrell from MultiLingual Press at www.multilingual.com/ebooks Editorial Board Jeff Allen, Henri Broekmate, Bill Hall, Andres Heuberger, Ken Lunde, John O’Conner, Free downloads Mandy Pet, Reinhard Schäler MultiLingual “Getting Started” Guides at www.multilingual.com/gsg. Advertising Choose screen-quality PDFs for slower connections or print-quality ¿ les [email protected] for best reproduction. Invaluable resources for clients, novices and www.multilingual.com/advertising professionals in need of refresher courses. Printed copies of some guides 208-263-8178 are also available (contact [email protected]). Subscriptions, back issues, Our RESOURCE DIRECTORIES AND EDITORIAL INDEXES at www customer service .multilingual.com/resourceDirectory. The 2007 Resource Directory and [email protected] Editorial Index 2006 will be available for download in late January. www.multilingual.com/subscribe Submissions, letters [email protected] Editorial guidelines are available at How to use www.multilingual.com www.multilingual.com/editorialWriter Reprints: [email protected] GO TO the home page to see daily news updates and links MultiLingual Computing, Inc. to new website content as well as current job postings. 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2 RESEARCH past articles by looking through our list of online articles at Sandpoint, Idaho 83864-1495 USA www.multilingual.com/featuredArticles [email protected] FIND a technology or service by searching our database www.multilingual.com of more than 1,600 industry resources: © MultiLingual Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction www.multilingual.com/industryResources without permission is prohibited. For reprints and e-prints, please e-mail [email protected] or call 208-263-8178. KEEP UP TO DATE with current industry news at MultiLingual (ISSN 1523-0309), January/February 2007, is published monthly except Jan-Feb, Apr-May, Jul-Aug, Oct-Nov for US $58, www.multilingual.com/news international $78 per year by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495. Periodicals PLAN your travels by checking the calendar of events at postage paid at Sandpoint, ID and additional mailing ofﬁ ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MultiLingual, 319 North www.multilingual.com/calendar First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495.

6 | MultiLingual January/February 2007

06 Web & MH #85.indd 6 12/13/06 3:31:26 PM Laurel Wagers Post Editing

A festive stew for the new year

Food — what’s more basic? Or more exotic? And how well does food translate? Not to mention the specialized languages of agriculture, gardening, food processing and serving. Agribusinesses and grocery conglomerates have certainly changed the way people in the United States are fed and how they think about food. Some days it seems Fthat any given vegetable, fruit, meat or grain can be a staple, a luxury, a prescription, a trap, an objet d’art or even a political statement, depending on where it came from, how it was grown, how far it has traveled, how long ago it was picked and by whom. This time of year is not so good for growing one’s own food in Idaho, except for the sprout crop on the windowsill. It’s more the pull-something-out-of-the-freezer/ pantry season, when thrifty gardeners are entitled to feel a little smug as they open home-canned peaches or defrost summer’s cherries, transforming stored sunlight into stunning pies. And, yes, knowing that the cherries were picked, pitted and frozen all on one hot summer day, and traveled less than a hundred yards from tree to freezer to winter stove, gives that pie a special fl avor. Maybe we can’t live entirely on food that was produced within a 100-mile radius, as one new movement aims to, but we have our pies, our moments. And that feeling’s special anywhere, whatever the local crop. So, in this issue’s Industry Focus, Kirk Anderson looks at food and drink as a specialty for translators, and John Freivalds describes the kinds of terminology and language questions that occur in the chain that brings food from mud to menu. In the business arena, Huiping Iler interviews language-industry managers about business metrics, and Sylke Denfeld describes a careful system of translation vendor management. On the technology side, Tanja Schultz and Katrin Kirchhoff outline multilingual speech processing challenges and some solutions; Yves Savourel gives a detailed look at localization of XML documents with the new Internationalization Tag Set, which is close to fi nal form; and Garry Levitt discusses a “clean” information management process. In the fi rst of a planned series, Philipp Strazny collaborates with Tim Nishimura to explain where lines of Japanese text may and should not be broken. Translator Andrei Gerasimov’s review compares three translation quality-assurance tools so that users can choose what will work best for them. Allowing our regular columnists a short rest, three well-known voices in the language technology industry sound off in Perspectives columns. First, Jaap van der Meer and Andrew Joscelyne share their views on the present and future of the translation industry in part 1 of a three-part series. Then, Lyra Spratt-Manning looks at the effects of mergers and acquisitions. In his Takeaway, Donald A. DePalma re-examines the question of whether internet visitors prefer to view sites in their own language — and fi nds the previous research understates the facts. Also in this issue, you’ll fi nd a “Getting Started Guide” on the topic of Going to China. Jacob Hsu, Libor Safar and Arturo Quintero outline some of the management and general business aspects of such a move; Elaine Winters and Sheh Adams offer fascinating cultural information. Carol M. Barnum describes how US and Chinese technical writing differ; and Tim Altanero shares his impressions of a Chinese city and the changes taking place there. Think of it as a primer to help you prepare for Localization World Shanghai in March! Welcome to a new year in the language technology world — and bon appétit! :

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07 PE #85.indd 7 12/13/06 3:32:44 PM Announcements of providing language services to technical Quality and Translator Satisfaction.” and scientiﬁ c, life science, health, legal and The winner of the LRC Best Scholar specialized industries, the company’s “Taking Award, sponsored by con[text], is Miguel Accuracy and Service Beyond Words” brand Bernal for his research proposal “The Trans- reﬂ ects the capabilities and culture of the lation of Video Games.” company and its reputation. The winner of the LRC Best Global Web- CCommunicaidommunicaid IInc.nc. [email protected] site Award, sponsored by Euro RSCG 4D, is www.communicaidinc.com the Danish Broadcasting Corporation for its website www.dr.dk/nordisksprog Translation Summit LLocalisationocalisation ResearchResearch CentreCentre scheduled for 2007 [email protected], www.localisation.ie

News ProZ.com platform aids in The Brigham Young University Center landmark subtitling project for Language Studies has announced the GALA pushes for ProZ.com, an enabling and sourc- second annual national Translation Summit language standards ing portal for language profession- to be conducted Monday, March 12, 2007, At its annual meeting the Globalization als, has announced that its new in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Translation and Localization Association (GALA) pressed online sourcing and vendor man- Summit brings together leaders from three for realistic, usable language standards and agement platform (available at this major sectors of the translation world: widespread implementation by language time only to charter customers) — in academia, government and industry. Coop- service providers. A survey of GALA mem- conjunction with its network of 160,000 eration among these entities is crucial to bers revealed a high level of interest and linguists — has been used in a landmark improving the translation process, building concern in technical standards such as TMX 100-language subtitling project honoring effi ciencies, reducing costs and establishing and Unicode. A working group chosen from Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen standards that are key to improved national the members will document GALA member Bank and 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Winner. competitiveness on the global stage. requirements for usable language standards. Ashoka, the global organization celebrating TTranslationranslation SSummitummit GALA will send this specifi cation to all stan- 25 years of supporting social entrepreneur- [email protected] dards-setting bodies and post it on the Wiki ship, spearheaded the project. Visa Interna- www.translationsummit.org for Standards (www.wikiforstandards.org). tional helped underwrite the project. ProZ The Wiki will create an open community for .com members — along with participants Translate.org.za wins African the discussion of standards and specifi ca- from Translators Without Borders, which ICT Achiever 2006 Award tions and will serve as a collection point provides translation to humanitarian orga- Translate.org.za has won the African ICT for all information about language quality nizations, and Eurotexte, a language service (information and communications technol- and technology standards. GALA will also provider based in France — completed their ogy) Achiever 2006 Award for bridging the establish direct representation within the translations online using dotSUB’s subti- digital divide in Africa by breaking down appropriate standards bodies. tling technology, which enables people to the language barrier. Its work has included TThehe GlobalizationGlobalization andand LocalizationLocalization AssociationAssociation translate fi lm or video into any language the translation of computer software into [email protected], www.gala-global.org from a browser globally with no software the eleven offi cial languages of South downloads. Africa using locally based translators and, PAEN passes ISO 9001:2000 audit Yunus shares his story in three fi lms (www more recently, the creation of the fi rst all- PAEN Communications Ltd. has had its .ashoka.org/100translations) produced by South African language keyboard. On the ISO 9001:2000 certifi cation renewed. PAEN Ashoka, which detail his unique approach to African continent as well as worldwide, was the fi rst translation agency in Austra- eradicating poverty and the next steps for Translate.org.za has provided help and lia and New Zealand to be awarded this a global microfi nance revolution. To honor support to other people wanting to start certifi cation. The company specializes in Yunus as one of the world’s greatest social similar initiatives for their mother tongue. translation and offers a range of language entrepreneurs, Ashoka and its contributing Now through the WordForge Foundation, services, from interpreters and multilingual partners, using dotSUB’s browser-based of which Translate.org.za is a founding staffi ng to voice-overs and typesetting. subtitling tool, embarked on a translation partner, it continues to help others in Africa PPAENAEN CCommunicationsommunications LLtd.td. project to ensure that millions of people, and the rest of the world. [email protected], www.paen.net regardless of what languages they speak, TTranslate.orgranslate.org. zaza [email protected] za have access to understanding the work of http://translate.org.za Language Weaver’s SMTS rates the 2006 Nobel Prize winner. highest in NIST evaluations PProZ.comroZ.com [email protected] 2006 LRC Award winners Language Weaver, a software company www.proz.com/employers The LRC has announced the winners developing enterprise software for the of the 2006 LRC Awards. The winner of automated translation of human languages, New branding and the LRC Best Thesis Award, sponsored by has reported that its software showed website for Communicaid Symantec Ireland, is Julian Wallis for his the highest accuracy among software Communicaid Inc., a provider of transla- thesis “Interactive Translation vs. Pre- programs that are commercially available tion, localization and interpreting services, Translation in the Context of Translation on the offi cial evaluation metric used in has completed the new branding of the Memory Systems: Investigating the Effects government-conducted evaluations. The company and website. With a 12-year history of Translation Method on Productivity, evaluations, called MT-06, were scored by

8 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

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the National Institute of Standards and subcommittee under its Government Rela- and the individual forms in this collection Technology (NIST), a nonregulatory agency tions Committee. can be customized to suit the needs of both of the US Commerce Department’s Tech- TThehe AAssociationssociation ooff LLanguageanguage CCompaniesompanies translators and translation clients. nology Administration. NIST conducts these [email protected], www.alcus.org mmuegge.ccuegge.cc [email protected], www.muegge.cc evaluations in order to support machine translation (MT) research and help advance Model translation contract INK Catalunya celebrates MT technology. available for download ﬁ fteenth anniversary LLanguageanguage WeaverWeaver Uwe Muegge, the author of Transla- The training and language services pro- [email protected] tion Contract: A Standards-Based Model vider INK Catalunya, S.A., has celebrated its www.languageweaver.com Solution, has announced the availability ﬁ fteenth anniversary. To mark this special of a PDF version of his book for immediate time for the company, INK Catalunya is download. The book is based on the most reworking its website and launching Word- relevant international translation standards, INK, an e-newsletter. INK Catalunya is also

ATA focuses on technology ATA Translation Tools Forum Thirteen vendors shared the dais at the Translation Tools Forum during the American Translators Association (ATA) conference in New Orleans on November 16, 2006. The two-part forum allowed each vendor a fi ve-minute, fi ve-slide presentation, with half of them presenting in the morning, half in the afternoon. Presentations were followed by question-and-answer sessions. The forum was organized by the Translation and Comput- ers Committee with chairman Alan Melby moderating. Idiom gives WorldServer to Tools under discussion ranged from dictionaries to translation memory and terminol- localization program at Chico ogy systems to translation workfl ow. Vendors participating were ATRIL (Déjà Vu); across Idiom Technologies, Inc., an independent (Language Server and Personal Edition); Beetext (fl ow, fi nd, term); Lingotek; The Language provider of scalable software solutions for Technology Centre (LTC Organiser); MultiCorpora (MultiTrans); MultiLing (Fortis, Semantis, accelerating and optimizing globalization Workfl ow Server, GoldenEye; SDL (SDLX/Trados, MultiTerm, Author Assistant, Synergy, initiatives, has made a gift of technol- Extract); STAR Group (Transit/TermStar, WebTerm, James, format checkers, GRIPS); SYS- ogy to California State University (CSU), TRAN (Translation Project Manager, Professional Premium 6); Terminotix (AlignFactory, Chico College of Business in support of the AlignRobot); Wordfast LLC (Wordfast); and WordFinder (WordFinder 9 Professional). school’s growing localization curriculum. Questions for the panelists addressed issues of interoperability; support of various CSU-Chico College of Business’ localiza- operating systems, Quark 7 and standards; the future of SDL-Trados tools (still two tion program offers courses to train students separate products — will be merged into a “best-of-both” product in 2007, according in international e-marketing, software and to spokesman Toby Newman, with support for previous versions); and tools for some- website localization, project management, one new to translation software (most have a “light,” personal or freelancer version; cultural customization and cross-national MultiLing has a single version and Wordfast is “designed for the lonely freelancer”). research, thereby preparing them to imple- All the participating vendors except MultiLing had spaces in the exhibit area, with ment and manage international websites representatives available to answer questions during the three exhibit days. and software applications after graduation. IIdiomdiom Technologies,Technologies, Inc.Inc. Language Technology Division meets to organize [email protected], www.idiominc.com Michael Metzger led the fi rst business meeting of the American Translators Associa- CCaliforniaalifornia StateState University,University, ChicoChico tion’s (ATA) new Language Technology Division (LTD, www.ata-divisions.org/LTD), which [email protected], www.csuchico.edu/localize was attended by 25 people at the ATA conference in November 2006 in New Orleans. A division of labor agreement was outlined, defi ning the roles of the ATA’s Transla- GSA joins ALC tion and Computers (TAC) committee and the LTD. TAC will organize the Translation The General Services Administration (GSA) Tools Forum at the ATA conference; promote standards; review proposals for the confer- has joined the Association of Language ence and proposed articles on technology for the ATA Chronicle. Members include Jost Companies (ALC). Federal agencies procure Zetzsche, Jennifer DeCamp, Sue Ellen Wright and chairman Alan Melby. The LTD will millions of dollars of language services from bring together technology users; encourage ATA members to submit articles for the companies that are on the GSA’s Language Chronicle; work with the professional development committee on regional professional Schedule. Nearly one-fourth of the ALC’s development seminars; and manage e-mail lists, forums and discussion groups. members are on the schedule. Prior to Activities that are proposed or have been implemented ranged from peer-to-peer sup- the 2006 annual conference in June, GSA port to helping shape the translation/interpreting industry and the standards that are being offi cials attended a special preconference developed. Continuing education seminars and a newsletter were also discussed. One goal is workshop on the GSA’s plans for revising the to offer a place in ATA for localization engineers and other people who are on the technical schedule. Similar workshops are expected to side of the language industry and not specifi cally translators or interpreters. Discussion also be held prior to the 2007 annual conference. centered on possible surveys; giving feedback to translation tool developers; and on how the In 2006, the ALC also created a new GSA division might be represented at Localization World and the next Translation Summit.

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embarking on a period of expansion that is fi nanced by the European Union and is the end of 2005 as a marketing campaign will help the company to meet its targets implemented on the basis of the Russian that both celebrated its anniversary and for the coming years. Agency for Support of Small and Medium- highlighted the work done in its local com- IINKNK Catalunya,Catalunya, SS.A..A. Sized Businesses in cooperation with the munity. Administered and judged by the [email protected], www.inkcat.es Russian Ministry of Economic Development Association of Marketing and Communi- and Commerce. The purpose of the project is cation Professionals, the MarCom Creative Tek Translation renews ISO to assist Russian companies in reaching the Awards is an international competition 9001:2000 quality certifi cation European market and to develop export that recognizes outstanding achievement Tek Translation International, a localiza- potential and increase trade. Additionally, by marketing and communication practi- tion solutions provider, has renewed its ISO TACIS offers support for professional training tioners whose work serves as a benchmark 9001:2000 certifi cation. Tek obtained this and development of Palex employees and for for the industry. certifi cate for the fi rst time in February fi nding business partners in European EEriksenriksen TranslationsTranslations Inc.Inc. 2003. Tek conducts internal audits every six countries. [email protected], www.erikseninc.com months. Its offi cial yearly audit is carried PPalexalex LLanguagesanguages & SSoftwareoftware out by the independent entity NQA. [email protected], www.palex.ru TTekek TTranslationranslation InternationalInternational [email protected], www.tektrans.com Moravia Worldwide implements ISO 27001 security principles AuthorIT listed on Moravia Worldwide, a globalization solu- Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 tion provider, is implementing ongoing ISO AuthorIT Software Corporation, a devel- 27001 information security management oper of software for authoring, content principles. The effort is being spearheaded management, publishing and localization, by Moravia’s Information Security depart- has been recognized as one of the fast- ment, which includes certifi ed information est growing companies on the annual systems security professionals, recognized Deloitte/Unlimited Fast 50 list. With a by the International Information Systems revenue increase of 185.4%, AuthorIT has Security Certifi cation Consortium, Inc. The seen huge growth over the past year cul- ISO 27001 standard is the fi rst in a series Vision Objects wins IWFHR 2006 minating in the position of 38 on the Fast of new standards to support information Vision Objects, provider of handwrit- 50. With a focus on international markets security and provides for a process that ing recognition and text input methods and a strong partner network, AuthorIT ensures the continuous verifi cation and for pen-based user interfaces, has been has fi rmly established itself in both the US improvement of all elements of the secu- awarded the fi rst prize in the International and European markets. 95% of sales are to rity system through audits and reviews. Workshop on Frontiers in Handwriting Rec- international organizations. MMoraviaoravia WWorldwideorldwide ognition (IWFHR) 2006 competition. The AAuthorITuthorIT SoftwareSoftware CorporationCorporation [email protected] IWFHR — a scientifi c conference that brings [email protected], www.author-it.com www.moraviaworldwide.com together researchers and engineers from all over the world from the fi elds of online and Palex to get TACIS support Eriksen receives creative award offl ine handwriting recognition — hosted a Palex Languages and Software has been Eriksen Translations has received a 2006 competition for the most accurate charac- included in the pilot group for TACIS support MarCom Creative Award for its twentieth ter recognition software. for an export-oriented innovation small and anniversary calendar. The calendar was Organized by Hewlett Packard Labs India medium-sized businesses project. The project created and produced by the company at and The University of Essex, United King- dom, the competition received 18 entries from university and industry research labs. Tamil was chosen as the competition subject as it is one of Asia’s most spoken languages. It was also the fi rst experience of Tamil recognition for most of the participants, including Vision Objects who currently supports more than 70 different languages. VVisionision ObjectsObjects [email protected] www.visionobjects.com

GlobalVision tenth anniversary GlobalVision International, Inc., a localization and translation services provider, has celebrated its tenth anniversary by renewing its commitment to its clients, partners and employees to deliver quality

10 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

08-21 News #85.indd 10 12/13/06 3:45:21 PM News

and innovation of service. GlobalVision has consultancies dedicated to language and Maxwell Hoffmann to manager of consult- expanded from a simple start-up operation translation technologies. ing and training solutions. in 1996 into four worldwide offi ces with IIdiomdiom Technologies,Technologies, Inc.Inc. EENLASONLASO CorporationCorporation a team of international professional local- [email protected], www.idiominc.com [email protected], www.translate.com ization engineers, linguists and specialists supporting all the commercial languages in SDL opens global hosting center euroscript expands in Romania Asia, Europe, America and the Middle East. SDL International, a provider of global Certitude, a company based in Roma- GGlobalVisionlobalVision International,International, Inc.Inc. information management solutions, has nia, will become a member of the euro- [email protected], www.globalvis.com opened an independent data center to script group. The organization, named provide enterprise customers and language Euroscript-Certitude S.R.L., with offi ces Oracle to acquire Stellent service providers with a secure hosting envi- in Bucharest and Sibiu, will be led by Stellent, Inc., has entered into a defi ni- ronment. SDL International teamed up with managing directors Carlos de Sousa and tive agreement that will allow Oracle to Carrenza to take advantage of computer- Irina Didoiu and will provide language and acquire Stellent through a cash tender offer. hosting services based at Global Switch, publishing services for the local markets. The acquisition of Stellent will comple- a data center. This facility provides high Based in Luxembourg, euroscript provides ment and extend Oracle’s existing content levels of reliability, availability and security customers with solutions for document life management solution portfolio. Stellent’s to major corporations across the world. All cycle management. Its full service offering Universal Content Management solution systems based at this center will be housed spans from consulting, system integration works with Oracle Content Database and independently and securely to provide the and business process outsourcing to tech- offers a variety of solutions for document integrity and complete segregation of cus- nical editing, translation and publishing management; web content management; tomer data. of documents, with special competence in information rights management; digital SSDLDL IInternationalnternational enterprise content management. asset management; records and retention [email protected], www sdl.com eeuroscripturoscript LuxembourgLuxembourg S.àS.à r.l.r.l. management; imaging; and governance, [email protected], www.euroscript.com risk and compliance. The transaction is ENLASO creates consulting subject to customary conditions and is and training solutions division Net-Translators in new facilities expected to close by the end of 2006 or ENLASO, a provider of enterprise lan- Net-Translators, a provider of transla- early 2007. guage solutions, has created a consulting tion and localization services, has moved OOracleracle www.oracle.com and training solutions division. Services into new offi ces in Or Yehuda, the heart of SStellent,tellent, IInc.nc. www.stellent.com from the new division will range from Israel’s high-tech zone. Net-Translators pro- XML consulting, localization engineering vides software localization — including GUI, Changes consulting, documentation conversion to online help and documentation into over FrameMaker, and optimization and training 40 languages, and globalization services for across now in Italy and Spain in several disciplines. ENLASO has promoted technology companies around the world across Systems, a spin-off of Nero AG and a manufacturer of corporate translation management software, has expanded its presence into Italy and Spain. Edoardo Pagnini is the regional manager for the new Italy location in Firenze. Federico López is the regional manager for Spain. aacrosscross SSystemsystems GGmbHmbH [email protected], www.across.net

Idiom expands European footprint Idiom Technologies, Inc., an independent provider of scalable software solutions for accelerating and optimizing globalization initiatives, has expanded its operations and business partnerships in Europe. The strategic push in Europe follows a recent increase in sales activity among European-based customers and a growing demand from US-based customers. To serve its growing customer base, Idiom also announced the opening of a European support center located in Belgium. Idiom is executing an aggressive sales strategy supported by its Idiom Global Partner Network that includes European language service providers and system integrators and

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— and specializes in translations of hard- gate39MEDIA expands operations software development team will move into ware, software and biotechnology material gate39MEDIA, a web and application the larger facilities. for compliance to international regulations. development, graphic design and localiza- AAdvanceddvanced IInternationalnternational TTranslationsranslations NNet-Translatorset-Translators Ltd.Ltd. tion company, has opened an offi ce in Novi, [email protected] [email protected] Michigan, to better serve Michigan compa- www.translation3000.com www.net-translators.com nies engaged in global sales and marketing, including the automotive, manufacturing Applied Language grows ALT goes to northeast Ohio and high-technology industries. and achieves BS EN 15038 Advanced Language Translation Inc. (ALT) Marie Peterson has joined the Detroit Applied Language Solutions, a translation has opened a regional offi ce in northeast gate39MEDIA team as business development services provider, has expanded with an Ohio to serve the Akron and greater Cleve- representative responsible for client relations offi ce in Barcelona, Spain. The company has land areas. Elena Dunne, who has relocated and exploring new opportunities. also added staff to its growing international from ALT’s headquarters in Rochester, New ggate39MEDIAate39MEDIA [email protected] team. Stacey Rose is the new marketing York, will lead the expansion. ALT, a provider www.gate39media.com and public relations executive, and Martine of translation and localization services, has Harney and Jack Primrose have joined the secured an ISO 9001:2000 Quality Systems AIT experiences growth, sales team as industry managers. Certifi cation. The company has over 12 opens second offi ce in Ukraine Applied Language Solutions has also years of experience performing translation Advanced International Translations (AIT), achieved the new quality standard BS EN into more than 40 languages for sectors a translation, localization and software 15038, the only accreditation designed such as industrial manufacturing, health development company, has established its specifi cally for translation services. It is care, medical-device manufacturing, and second offi ce in the Kiev city center. The one of the fi rst translation agencies in the plastics and polymers production. expansion enables AIT to accommodate United Kingdom to comply with the British AAdvanceddvanced LLanguageanguage TTranslation,ranslation, IInc.nc. current and future company growth. AIT Standard, the German and the European [email protected] Ukrainian and Russian translation teams Standard, DIN EN, for translation services. www.advancedlanguage.com will stay in the head offi ce, while the AIT AAppliedpplied LanguageLanguage SolutionsSolutions [email protected] www.appliedlanguage.com Collaboration TRANSLATED joins Clay Tablet’s Partner Program TRANSLATED, a translation service provider, has joined Clay Tablet’s Partner Pro- gram. The integration between Clay Tablet’s Good Growth client-side technologies and TRANSLATED’s translation collaboration platform enables Takes Care true “pushbutton” human translation. Using Clay Tablet’s Rosetta Gateway, the two companies’ translation workfl ow applications have been integrated to make translation projects fl ow between them automatically. CClaylay TabletTablet TechnologiesTechnologies [email protected], www.clay-tablet.com TTRANSLATEDRANSLATED S.r.l.S.r.l. [email protected], www.translated.net

Opticentre becomes part of Global Partner Network Idiom Technologies, Inc., an independent provider of scalable software solutions for accelerating and optimizing globalization initiatives, has announced that Opticentre, a pioneer of localization solutions, has joined the Idiom Global Partner Network, a group of technology companies, systems www.moraviaworldwide.com integrators and language service providers that deliver translation and localization ser- AMERICAS EUROPE IRELAND CHINA JAPAN vices, professional consulting and systems integration services and complementary

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products alongside Idiom. an innovative technology collaboration. Computing Technology in Peking, where IIdiomdiom Technologies,Technologies, Inc.Inc. The goal is joint research and development scientists are working to shape the future [email protected], www.idiominc.com of new language technology solutions to of Chinese computer linguistics. OOpticentrepticentre [email protected] make closer ties between Europe and China LLinguatecinguatec [email protected] www.opticentre.net www.linguatec.us

XTRA Translation to provide Avrasya partners with Multilizer technology ITP Europe, Borusan Oto Rex Partners Oy/Multilizer, a developer Avrasya Translation Management, a trans- of globalization technologies, and XTRA lation and localization company, has recently Translation Services, a German localization partnered with ITP Europe. Avrasya will be service provider, have signed a strategic responsible for the technical documenta- partnership agreement to deliver Multi- tion and localization in the automotive lizer technology to the German-speaking and related ﬁ elds for the English-to-Turk- market. With its technical background and ish language pairs for ITP Europe during understanding of the localization value the contract period. Established in Brussels, chain, XTRA can provide consulting, train- Belgium, in 1991, ITP Europe focuses on ing and end-user support for the German- promoting automation such as developing a speaking market. system of utilizing SGML and XML for docu- RRexex PPartnersartners OOy/Multilizery/Multilizer possible. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, ment creation to support the shortening of [email protected], www.multilizer.com an independent organization, specializes in lead times. the natural sciences and high technology Avrasya has also recently collaborated Corona Regional Medical Center and includes about 100 research organi- with Borusan Oto servicing the translation selects Language Access Network zations. One of these is the Institute of of the new Land Rover V8 Diesel model’s Language Access Network, Inc., a video interpretation services provider, has entered a new services agreement with Corona Regional Medical Center to provide video interpretation services in 150 languages. The service, known as Martti (My Accessible Real-Time Trusted Interpreter), will be free to patients in the medical center’s emer- gency department 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Corona Regional Medical Center’s most requested languages include Spanish, Farsi, Laotian, Cantonese and Taiwanese. LLanguageanguage AccessAccess Network,Network, Inc.Inc. www.languageaccessnetwork.com

Janus adopts across technology Janus Worldwide Inc., a provider of localization services, and across Systems have entered a strategic partnership. across manufactures the Corporate Translation Management software. The cooperation involves using across for the Janus translation projects and system integration and the customer-speciﬁ c adaptation of across for common customers. The software includes a TM, a terminology system, and project management and translation workﬂ ow monitoring tools. JJanusanus [email protected], www.janus.ru aacrosscross SSystemsystems GGmbHmbH [email protected], www.across.net

Linguatec and Chinese Academy of Sciences cooperate The German language technology specialist Linguatec and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have reached an agreement on

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workshop manuals. Avrasya specializes in growth for the year ending 2006. Jonckers Elisa Tormes as marketing manager. Also translation, localization, desktop publish- continued to expand its global presence hired were Iñaki Hernández-Lasa as head of ing and technical services for a variety throughout 2006. the linguistic engineering department and of industries, servicing more than 30 lan- In Europe, a technological localization Renato Pontes as director of operations. guages with a large database of translators center with the capacity for up to 70 Included as part of its growth strategy is highly specialized in their fi elds. people was opened in the Czech Republic. the Tek Collaboration Portal — a web-based AAvrasyavrasya TTranslationranslation ManagementManagement In Asia, new offi ces have been opened suite of services and tools developed at Tek [email protected] in the People’s Republic of China, South that will enable its enterprise clients to www.avrasyatranslation.com Korea and Taiwan, and the company has manage localization through centralized relocated to larger premises in Japan. information, data and workfl ow. Gullivers Travel Associates Jonckers has plans for its expansion to TTekek TTranslationranslation IInternationalnternational and Octopustravel select SDL eventually include the United States. [email protected], www.tektrans.com SDL International, a provider of global JJonckersonckers TranslationTranslation & EngineeringEngineering information management solutions, has [email protected], www.jonckers.com spanishbackoffi ce hires manager announced that Gullivers Travel Associates spanishbackoffi ce SA, a translation, desk- (GTA) and Octopustravel, subsidiaries of People top publishing and project management Travelport, have awarded SDL International a provider, has appointed Hugo Rizzi as quality contract to provide technology solutions to Lingo Systems appoints director assurance (QA) manager. Rizzi will lead the enable the delivery of their travel products Lingo Systems, a provider of transla- fi ve-person, in-house QA department based in eleven languages. The system will manage tion, localization and other globalization at the company’s Cordoba, Argentina, offi ce. the fl ow of around 25 million words per year services, has appointed Craig Meuser as spanishbackoffi ce SA is a medium-sized pro- across the complete translation supply chain director of sales and marketing. Joe Kuehn vider of Spanish project management and connecting to multiple language service has joined Lingo Systems as business devel- language solutions. providers used by GTA around the world. opment manager. sspanishbackoffipanishbackoffi cece SASA SSDLDL IInternationalnternational LLingoingo SystemsSystems contact@spanishbackoffi ce.com [email protected], www sdl.com [email protected], www.lingosys.com www.spanishbackoffi ce.com Financial Tek broadens management Geo Group adds account executive team and growth strategy The Geo Group Corporation has added Jonckers reports revenue growth Tek Translation International, a local- Ralph Reese as the new account executive Jonckers Translation & Engineering, a ization solutions provider, has hired two in its Cleveland, Ohio, offi ce. The Geo Group provider of software, e-learning and multi- professionals from the localization sector is a foreign language translation agency media localization services, has announced to its management team: Damian Archer providing translation, desktop publishing, a 30% increase in year-over-year revenue as director of enterprise architecture and AV/multimedia production, software localization, website localization, interpreting services, technical writing and US Hispanic consulting. TThehe GGeoeo GGrouproup [email protected] www.thegeogroup.com

Beetext appoints ﬁ rst vice president sales and marketing Beetext, a provider of project efﬁ ciency solutions, has recently appointed Bryan Montpetit as vice-president of sales and marketing. Montpetit will be driving the sales and marketing efforts of Beetext’s e-application suite. BBeetexteetext [email protected], www.beetext.com

New faces at STAR Servicios Lingüísticos in Barcelona STAR Servicios Lingüísticos, a translation services and linguistic technology company, has added staff to its Barcelona ofﬁ ce. Nuria Prieto has been hired as chief production ofﬁ cer. New staff recruited for the technical department include Jordi Sesé with experience as a system admin- istrator, analyst and programmer. Kai-Sven

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Bunk will team up with STAR’s ERP/CRM accelerating and optimizing globalization version of GCMS includes enhancements development squad and assist with web initiatives, has made enhancements to its to the online project submission portal, administration. The latest additions to the WorldServer product family, including new as well as several changes and updates to in-house translation department are Ana versions of the globalization management the Sajan Translator Management System Cañizares and Marta Pahisa. system (GMS) and Desktop Workbench, a (STMS) — an on-demand linguist manage- SSTARTAR SServicioservicios LingüísticosLingüísticos S.L.S.L. Windows-based desktop computer-aided ment system that Sajan built specifi cally [email protected] translation tool. The new version of the for translators. Like GCMS, the technology www.star-spain.com WorldServer GMS platform offers support for STMS is also offered for free — to cli- for Japanese as a source language. The new ents and linguists alike — with no software Products version of WorldServer Desktop Work- to install. bench features open standards support, SSajan,ajan, Inc.Inc. [email protected] MultiCorpora MultiTrans 4.2 tighter integration with WorldServer, and www.sajan.com MultiCorpora has launched MultiTrans 4.2 support for XLIFF-based and TBX-based — a tool that combines all the advantages translation kits. Free Welsh/English of conventional translation memory (TM) IIdiomdiom Technologies,Technologies, Inc.Inc. offi ce software available with a contextual TextBase TM approach. [email protected], www.idiominc.com Agored, a Welsh and English dual-lan- Enhancements in MultiTrans 4.2 include guage version of the OpenOffi ce suite TMX and Unicode compliant; processes and Hot Banana unveils used worldwide, has been developed over generates unclean translation RTF fi les; multilingual web CMS Module the past two years at the Mercator Centre, supports Word, WordPerfect, XML, HTML, Hot Banana Software, Inc., a provider of University of Wales, Aberystwyth. Agored PDF fi les and desktop publishing formats; web content management software for mar- represents a major investment by the Welsh enables centralized linguistic assets sharing keting, has introduced a multilingual content Assembly Government, S4C and the Welsh through a secure web application; and does management plug-in designed to automate Language Board in the provision of a free not require any up-front investment. the process of translating and publishing offi ce suite that is functional in both Eng- MMultiCorporaultiCorpora R&DR&D Inc.Inc. website content into multiple languages. lish and Welsh. All the commands and Help [email protected] Connexion Corporate Communications s.a., www.multicorpora.com a multilingual communications agency and integrator of web content management XML-INTL version 2.5 of XTM software, independently developed the mul- XML-INTL Ltd., a provider of authoring tilingual content management module. and localization tools, has released version Hot Banana, a ColdFusion Web CMS solu- 2.5 of XTM, its standards-based authoring tion, is built upon Adobe’s ColdFusion MX and translation suite of products. XTM technology and complies with the Unicode 2.5 has the capability of processing XML, language standard. HTML, Microsoft Offi ce, Open Offi ce and HHotot BananaBanana SoftwareSoftware Inc.Inc. FrameMaker fi les. It is also a solution for [email protected], www.hotbanana.com implementations based around content CConnexiononnexion CorporateCorporate CommunicationsCommunications s.a.s.a. management systems using the OASIS DITA [email protected], www.connexion.be standard. XXML-INTLML-INTL [email protected] Multilizer localization 1-2-3 www.xml-intl.com Multilizer, a developer of globalization technologies, has created a lightweight LogiTerm alignment tool now solo tool for localization of Delphi/C++Builder Terminotix’ LogiTerm alignment tool can executables. The new tool — Multilizer Lite now be purchased separately and integrated for VCL — gives users another choice for with an organization’s existing translation generating resource fi les used by Multilizer memory (TM) and full-text search software. localization components. Multilizer Lite for Three products are available — AlignFactory VCL introduces a new localization paradigm and AlignRobot for large organizations, called Localization 1-2-3. It reduces the project managers and translation depart- localization process into three steps: select ments, and AlignFactoryLight for freelance fi le to localize; select target language and translators already using TM or full-text translate; and build localized fi les. search software. RRexex PPartnersartners OOy/Multilizery/Multilizer TTerminotixerminotix Inc.Inc. [email protected] [email protected], www.multilizer.com www.terminotix.com Translator Management System WorldServer GMS platform Sajan has released its latest version of offers support for Japanese GCMS, a single platform solution to cen- Idiom Technologies, Inc., an independent trally manage the entire translation process, provider of scalable software solutions for from authoring to publication. The new

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messages are available in both languages, its fl agship product StringDB, a basic soft- photographs, and print single-sided cards and both language spell-check options are ware for developers who need a localization with bar codes, text, logos and more. available within the same document. solution. The latest version of StringDB is FFargoargo Electronics,Electronics, IInc.nc. AAgoredgored www.agored.com optimized for speed and size for different [email protected], www.fargo.com platforms, including .NET, .NET CF, Borland & CPSL fi le exchange tool FileBox Embedded Systems. StringDB gives develop- GCMS features fi rst CPSL, a translation, localization, linguis- ers the ability to update languages by simply French version of Linspire tic consultancy services and professional changing a binary fi le. Linspire, Inc., developer of the com- events organization, has launched its new SSWBOX.comWBOX.com [email protected] mercial desktop Linux operating system of fi le exchange tool FileBox. FileBox has an www.swbox.com the same name and primary sponsor of the unlimited capacity for sending fi les; it also IRMA (International Resource Management ensures confi dentiality. The FileBox tool Vasont extends software with Application) Project, a community-based is integrated in Meeting Point, thereby FrameMaker EDD Manager desktop Linux localization initiative, has allowing CPSL’s clients to consult the Vasont Systems has announced the avail- announced the release of Linspire French status of their offers, projects and bills ability of the FrameMaker Element Defi ni- 5. System builders interested in the French 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in complete tion Document (EDD) Manager as a software version of Linspire can sign up for free to confi dentiality. extension of Vasont, a content management the Linspire Builder Partner Program and CCPSLPSL [email protected], www.cpsl.com system that enables organizations to store gain access to Linspire French 5. multilingual content once for delivery LLinspire,inspire, Inc.Inc. [email protected] Lingobit Localizer 4.8 to print, PDF, CD-ROM and web formats. www.linspire.com Lingobit Technologies, a developer of FrameMaker EDD Manager gives Frame- localization software, has released Local- Maker users an organized way to manage, New Merriam-Webster izer 4.8 with features that extend its re-use and repurpose EDDs using the fea- dictionaries for UIQ 3.0 functionality with complementary work- tures of a content management system. Epocware/Paragon Software Group has fl ow management capabilities; automatic VVasontasont SystemsSystems [email protected] released three mobile editions of Merriam- translation of duplicated elements and www.vasont.com Webster’s dictionaries. Merriam-Webster new language simulations in Pseudo- English-Spanish and English-French bidirec- Translate; strong Delphi support; improved Fargo software localized tional dictionaries, as well as Merriam-Web- grid usability and usability in Translator Fargo Electronics, Inc., a provider of secure ster Medical Dictionary, are now available edition; and enhanced Text/CSV engine. technologies for card identity systems, has for Symbian UIQ 3.0 smartphones. LLingobitingobit TechnologiesTechnologies released its Persona Build-A-Badge ID card Epocware and Merriam-Webster have [email protected], www.lingobit.com software in multiple languages. Build-A- joined efforts to provide learners with a Badge is an entry-level software program mobile dictionary for travel and foreign SWBOX develops StringDB 2.1.5 now available in French, German, Spanish, books for reading and study. Merriam- SWBOX.com, a software development Italian and Portuguese. It lets card program Webster dictionaries for UIQ 3.0 facilitate company, has developed a new version of managers design ID cards, import or capture the process of word translation/defi nition

Season’s Greetings from milengo Brazil

Press Release Ha ha ha, come on! The truth about milengo Brazil, hard at work... I can only mag ne milengo launches what the staff is Global Project doing there… Management Center in Rio

milengo’s Global Project Management (GPM) Center in Brazil meets the growing demand for highly qualiﬁ ed localization professionals at a competitive rate. Brazil is an important hub in the globalization marketplace, with engineers, developers and project managers who have extensive experience in complex, multilingual projects. Take advantage of milengo GPM Centers on three continents.

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search by adding features such as rapid energy, explosives and related items, genetic multimodal interfaces and speech process- word translation/defi nition; dictionary disorders, health, safety and environmental ing. The language is European English spoken installation on memory cards; installa- data. It also offers a newly designed web- by nonnative speakers. tion of several dictionaries at the same site with easier navigation among taxono- The CHIL (Computers in the Human time to secure more detailed translation; mies and classifi cation schemes; a new A-Z Interaction Loop) Project is an Integrated quick access to the translation of the lat- index for browsing; a new search function; Project (IP 506909) under the European est searched words; word explanations; up-to-date information about taxonomy Commission’s Sixth Framework Programme. usage examples; and cross-lookup feature references, resources, latest news and The objective of this project is to create between articles and directions. events; and links to professional associa- environments in which computers serve EEpocware/Paragonpocware/Paragon SoftwareSoftware GroupGroup tions and organizations for solutions to a [email protected] company’s taxonomy needs. www.epocware.com FFactivaactiva www.factiva.com 1UALITYISMORETHANJUSTAWORD Resources ALC develops model contract, contributes to resource guide Palex cooperates with The Association of Language Companies Tomsk State University (ALC) has developed a new model contract Palex Languages & Software and Tomsk for independent contractors that is suitable State University have signed an agreement for use with translators and interpreters on noncommercial cooperation in the sphere hired by language companies. The docu- of specialist training. In the course of this ment is available exclusively to ALC mem- cooperation, the university’s center for mar- bers. The document was developed as a keting research and communication will pick membership service in response to requests student resumes that meet Palex’s require- from members who expressed a need for a ments. Selected students will be eligible for document that would regulate the rights special training, including practical training. and responsibilities of translation compa- Palex experts have developed a plan of nies and their freelance translators and free lectures and workshops to get students interpreters. The standard contract provides &SSPS4QZ acquainted with the concept of localization, a baseline for use by ALC members. They technical translation principles, automation may customize the document to suit their 4HE QUALITY ASSURANCE SOFTWARE tools, translation agency work methods particular needs and the requirements of FOR TRANSLATIONS and other aspects of real-world translation the project involved. (OWCANYOUENSURETHATTHE TECHNICAL work. This partnership will result in both The National Health Law Program and TERMSOFYOURCOMPANYAREUSEDCORRECTLY ANDCONSISTENTLYINAPAGEMANUAL adapting students to real localization and the National Council on Interpreting in translation business needs and providing a Health Care have produced a new resource %RROR3PY CHECKS 0ROPER USE OF TERMINOLOGY possibility of employment. guide to improve access to health care for !CCURACY OF NUMBERS PPalexalex LLanguagesanguages & SSoftwareoftware limited-English-profi cient (LEP) individu- &ORMAT OF YOUR TEXTS [email protected], www.palex.ru als. The project team members included the #OMPLETENESS OF THE TRANSLATION )NTEGRITYOFTAGS ALC. Language diffi culties and inadequate ANDMUCHMORE Factiva enhances funding of language services are major %RROR3PY AUTOMATICALLY GENERATES Taxonomy Warehouse barriers to LEP individuals’ access to health ALISTOFERRORSAND Factiva has introduced its enhanced Tax- care and a serious threat to the quality of A CUSTOMIZED EVALUATION OF THE onomy Warehouse — a community directory care they receive. The country’s increasing TRANSLATION QUALITY and information source for taxonomies, diversity has amplifi ed the challenge for &ORMATS SUPPORTED thesauri and classifi cation schemes. It health care providers, who must deter- !LL4RADOSFORMATS24& 448 provides enterprises and academic and mine which language services are most 4RANSLATION -EMORIES 4-8 4RADOS government organizations with the infor- appropriate. "ILINGUAL TEXT lLES 4RANSIT lLES mation they need to categorize internal TThehe AAssociationssociation ooff LLanguageanguage CCompaniesompanies &REELANCE VERSION € and external data collections and answer [email protected], www.alcus.org &ULL VERSION € search queries with speed and precision. 0LEASE ADD LOCAL TAXES WHERE APPROPRIATE TaxonomyWarehouse.com lists more than ELRA adds resource, 3ERVER BASED VERSION ALSO AVAILABLE 650 taxonomies arranged in 73 subject moves online catalog domains, produced by nearly 300 publish- The European Language Resource Asso- ers in 40 languages and helps answer over ciation (ELRA) has added new language 10,000 user queries per month. Factiva also resources to its Language Resources Cata- offers a taxonomy consultancy. logue. CHIL 2004 Evaluation Package Semi- Factiva’s Taxonomy Warehouse enhance- nars (ELRA-E0009) and CHIL 2005 Evaluation $/' $OKUMENTATION OHNE 'RENZEN 'MB( ments include the addition of more than Package Seminars (ELRA-E0010) are scientifi c % -AIL INFO DOG GMBHDE WWWDOG GMBHDE s WWWMULTILINGUAL PRODUCTSCOM 100 new taxonomies, including alternative presentations given by students, faculty medicine, American industries, business, members or invited speakers in the fi eld of

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humans who focus on interacting with machine translation, in combination with interpreters need to perform their work other humans as opposed to having to a suitable controlled-language source text, competently. The standards set a bench- attend to and being preoccupied with the can produce an average of 85% compre- mark for minimum acceptable levels of machines themselves. hensible target text. In addition to making performance and defi ne what constitutes The ELRA-S0225 SALA II Canadian French translated versions of this website available professional competence in conference, database collected in Canada was recorded in Arabic, English, Chinese, French, German, business and public service interpreting, within the scope of the European project SALA Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and spoken and sign-spoken language inter- II. It is comprised of 1,000 Canadian speakers Spanish, it also lists 10 of the 35 rules of preting, training and education. (502 males, 498 females) recorded over the the CLOUT (Controlled Language Optimized CCILT,ILT, thethe NNationalational CCentreentre fforor LLanguagesanguages Canadian mobile telephone network. for Uniform Translation) rule set and pro- library@cilt.org.uk, www.cilt.org.uk ELRA’s online catalog has moved to vides an overview of international transla- http://catalog.elra.info tion standards. German online dictionary EELRA/ELDALRA/ELDA [email protected], www.elda.org mmuegge.ccuegge.cc [email protected], www.muegge.cc adds spelling reform Canoo has added the August 2006 spell- New website showcases Revised standards provide ing reform changes to its online German Google language tools new interpreting benchmark dictionaries and grammar at www.canoo Uwe Muegge, a translation and local- Language professionals, their employers .net. All entries affected by the reform have ization consultant, has recently launched and those responsible for training and edu- been updated to refl ect the new spelling. his new website at www.muegge.cc. The cation now have a new benchmarking tool With 250,000 entries generating more than website has been optimized for use with to help identify and build competencies in 3 million infl ected word forms, Canoo.net Google language tools, a free service that interpreting. The revised National Occupa- is positioning itself to be the most com- allows users of Google’s search engine to tional Standards in Interpreting are set in prehensive spelling dictionary and German machine-translate web pages between the United Kingdom by CILT, the National grammar resource available on the net. 20 language combinations. The goal of Centre for Languages, and provide details The new dictionary release features a Muegge’s project is to demonstrate that of the skills and knowledge professional number of new words, and several change requests and typos reported by Canoo.net users have been corrected in the dictionary and the grammar pages. It includes Swiss and Austrian spelling variants. The infl ection tables are useful to check the correct form of a word. There are numerous cross-references between the grammar and dictionaries. CCanooanoo EngineeringEngineering AGAG [email protected], www.canoo.com

Book on translation in China published Translation has a long history in China. Through the centuries translators, interpreters, Buddhist monks, Jesuit priests, Protestant missionaries, writers, historians, linguists and even emperors have all written about translation and from an amazing array of perspectives. Such a diversity of views, reﬂ ections and theoretical thinking about the art and business of translating is now brought together in a two-volume anthology, An Anthology of Chinese Discourse on Translation, edited with annotations and commentary by Martha P.Y. Cheung. Volume 1, From Earliest Times to the Buddhist Project, covers a time frame from roughly the 5th century BCE to the 12th century CE. It deals with translation in the civil and government context and with the monumental project of Buddhist sutra translation. Volume 2 spans the 13th century CE to the Revolution of 1911 and deals with the transmission of Western learning to

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China. Comprising over 250 passages, most Kiogima, Nguyen Bich Lan, Naguib Mah- Alchemy Language Exchange of which are translated into English for the fouz, Esther Martinez, Marvin Meyer, Orhan launched for test drive fi rst time here, the anthology is the fi rst Pamuk, Daniel C. Peterson, Barbara Reyes, Alchemy Software Development Limited, major source book to appear in English. Debbie Reynolds, Riverbend, Mayada Salihi, a visual localization solutions provider, SSt.t. JJeromeerome PPublishingublishing LLtd.td. and the 216 linguists killed in Iraq in 2006. has launched an industry test drive for its [email protected] Inttranet members voted online throughout Alchemy Language Exchange, a transla- www.stjerome.co.uk December 2006. The winners are announced tion asset repository that enables global in the fi rst week of January 2007. companies to centralize the storage of IInttranetnttranet [email protected], www.inttra.net any translation asset and help accelerate global product launches. Alchemy Language Services Exchange incorporates a service-oriented architecture-based repository that allows Tek expands LE offering companies to re-use previously translated Tek Translation International recently material in future localization projects. introduced its linguistic engineering (LE) Powered by either an Oracle or Microsoft solutions based on the latest technology to SQL back end, Alchemy Language Exchange solve the challenges companies face when uses web services to facilitate web-based going global and how its processes, roles sharing of translation memories and collabo- and tools help guarantee maintenance of ration between localization engineers, proj- Common Sense new business brand identity and integrity across products, ect managers and professional translators. It research report announced languages and regions. Tek’s LE department comes with a web services software develop- Content volume is increasing faster than maximizes re-usability and leveragability ment kit to enable integration with Alchemy any company or government can manage, of all linguistic assets (internal and client’s) CATALYST and other third-party tools such as much less translate into all the languages of by bringing them together in one location. Microsoft Offi ce, Microsoft Visual Studio and their employees, partners, customers or citi- Highlights of Tek’s LE offerings are enter- digital content management systems. zens. Faced with mass quantities of informa- prise technology management, develop- The industry trial program will run until tion written in their home-market language, ment of localization, desktop publishing February 2007. It will then be followed by most organizations choose not to translate and technical style guides, language quality the commercially available product, which most of that content, thus making it inacces- assurance, translation memory batcher and will consist of an Enterprise Edition and a sible to those “foreign” users. Common Sense terminology management solution, which free Community Edition. Advisory’s latest research report entitled is based on TekTerm proprietary software. AAlchemylchemy SoftwareSoftware DevelopmentDevelopment Ltd.Ltd. “Automated Translation Technology: Using TTekek TTranslationranslation IInternationalnternational [email protected] Machine Translation to Close the Translation [email protected], www.tektrans.com www.alchemysoftware.ie Gap and Fuel Information Discovery” helps information publishers determine the suit- ability of machine translation (MT) for making content available in other languages. It advises companies operating internationally to evaluate MT as a way to accelerate content availability in other languages for both communication and commerce. CCommonommon SSenseense Advisory,Advisory, Inc.Inc. [email protected] www.commonsenseadvisory.com

Inttranet ‘Linguist of the Year’ 2006 nominees announced Inttranet, a multilingual portal for a network of professional interpreters and translators in more than 40 countries, has announced the nominees for the Inttranet “Linguist of the Year” Awards for 2006. These honorary citations recognize linguists who have helped increase public awareness of the importance of linguists and languages. The nominees are Nour al-Khal, Melissa Axelrod, Dwayne Bailey, Mona Baker, Vern Christensen, Ricky Clousing, Rubén Cobos, John Elliott, Allan Enwiya, Timothy Gentner, Denys Johnson-Davies, H. Ali Kamil, Ray

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08-21 News #85.indd 19 12/13/06 3:48:51 PM ExpertisExpertise.e. FlexibilitFlexibility.y.

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08-21 News #85.indd 20 12/13/06 3:50:01 PM January PALC 2007 April 19-22, 2007, in Lódz, Poland. CE Marking: 7 Steps to Getting Started in Europe University of Lódz, [email protected], http://palc.ia.uni.lodz.pl January 11, 2007, audio conference. Calendar ForeignExchange Translations, Inc., [email protected] ITI - 21st Birthday International Conference www.fxtrans.com/resources/ac/future/ac20070111.htm April 21-22, 2007, in London, UK. Institute of Translation and Interpreting CustomerCentric Selling Workshop [email protected], www.iti.org.uk January 15-17, 2007, in Miami, Florida USA. Common Sense Advisory, Inc., [email protected] 2007 Localization Certiﬁ cation Program www.commonsenseadvisory.com/news/events.php April 25-27, 2007, in Marseille, France. CSU Chico Continuing Education Tenth International Symposium on Social Communication [email protected], http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize January 22-26, 2007, in Santiago de Cuba, Cuba. X Simposio Internacional Comunicacion Social May [email protected] International Terminology Symposium CIUTI Forum 2007 May 2-4, 2007, in Gatineau, Québec, Canada. January 25-26, 2007, in Geneva, Switzerland. Université du Québec en Outaouais, [email protected] Conference of University Institutes of Translators and Interpreters [email protected], www.ciuti.org www.uqo.ca/terminologie2007 March MultimeDialecTranslation 2007 May 10-12, 2007, in Forlì, Italy. Transadaptation, Technology, Nomadism University of Bologna at Forlì, [email protected] March 8-10, 2007, in Montréal, Québec, Canada. http://multimedialectranslation.sitlec.unibo.it Université Concordia, [email protected] STC 54th Annual Conference http://etfran.concordia.ca/conf07 May 13-16, 2007, in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA. Translation Summit Society for Technical Communication March 12, 2007, in Salt Lake City, Utah USA. [email protected], www.stc.org/cfp/cfp_generalinfo.asp Center for Language Studies at Brigham Young University eLearning Africa 2007 [email protected], www.translationsummit.org May 28-30, 2007, in Nairobi, Kenya, Africa. TAUS Summit ICWE GmbH, [email protected], www.elearning-africa.com March 15-16, 2007, in Taos, New Mexico USA. June TAUS, [email protected] www.translationautomation.com/meetings.php 2007 STC Israel Convention June 4, 2007, in Herzliya, Israel. DCCA 2007 Israeli chapter of STC, [email protected] March 19-22, 2007, in Irbid, Jordan. www.stc-israel.org.il/ChapterInfo/2007_Convention/2007IC_home.htm Jordan University of Science and Technology TAUS Executive Forum [email protected], www.cis.just.edu.jo/dcca2007 June 7-8, 2007, in San Francisco, California USA. Localization World Shanghai TAUS, [email protected] March 20-22, 2007, in Shanghai, China. www.translationautomation.com/meetings.php Localization World Ltd., [email protected] www.localizationworld.com/lwshanghai2007/cfp.htm 2007 Localization Certiﬁ cation Program June 12-14, 2007, in Chico, California USA. 8th Annual Comparative Canadian CSU Chico Continuing Education Literature Graduate Student Conference [email protected], http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize March 23, 2007, in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. Université de Sherbrooke, [email protected] Advanced Training in Localization Project Management www.pages.usherbrooke.ca/ccl2007 June 15-16, 2007, in Chico, California USA. CSU Chico Continuing Education April [email protected], http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize FIT Fifth Asian Translators’ Forum Localization World Berlin April 11-12, 2007, in Bogor, Indonesia. June 19-21, 2007, in Berlin, Germany. Association of Indonesian Translators/ Localization World Ltd., [email protected] Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia, [email protected] www.localizationworld.com

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08-21 News #85.indd 21 12/13/06 3:50:32 PM 22-25 Review -Gerasimov.indd 22 22 TQA tool. tuation), this mayresult inafalse error beingdetectedby the source sentence(suchasincorrect initialcapitalizationorpunc- is notalways the case. Ifthetranslator rectifi language settings is QADistiller. tion. Aswillbeseenlater, theonlyTQAtoolwhichhasdifferent ent grammatical rules—forexample, punctuationandcapitaliza- “understand” thatsource andtarget languagesmayhave differ- glossary beingused forthecheck. an inappropriate choiceoflanguageregister. or incompleteunderstanding ofthesource text,poorstylistics or | for herinvaluablecontributionto thisreview. (Russia). Hewouldliketothank Nathalie DeSutter English toRussianandamember ofATA, ITIandUTR Andrei Gerasimov isatranslatorworkingfrom optimal TQAtoolforanyparticularjob. help translators, project managers andproofreaders toselectthe order tofi T MultiLingual Q Q Q Q TQA tools have anumberofintrinsic limitations: Intrinsic limitationsofTQAtools This review compares three ofthemost popularTQAtools in latables andtags. number value/formatting errors; andincorrect untrans- cal tosource segments;punctuation,capitalizationand ect glossary; omissions; target segmentsthatare identi- that have notbeentranslated inaccordance withaproj- lation errors. Sucherrors includeinconsistencies; terms (saved in.doc,.rtfand.ttxfi compares source andtarget segments ofbilingualtexts Reviews Translation qualityassurance software (TQAtools) Comparison tools expect thesource texttobecorrect, which TQA tools oftendetectfalse errors because theydonot When TQAtools checkterminology, theyare limitedby the TQA tools cannotdetectmistakes arising from anincorrect nd outtheirstrengths andweaknessestherefore to aur/eray20 [email protected] January/February2007 A translatortestsTrados,WordfastandQADistillertools Reviewed byAndreiGerasimov A comparisonoftranslationQAproducts les) inorder todetecttrans- es a mistake ina equally bad.Howev order toimp tical inthesource textmaybetranslated indifferent ways in be translated consistently whilegeneral phrases whichare iden- require different translations dependingoncontext. words) containing asample source textfrom areal client(Volvo 0 means thatafeature is notprovided. is given inTable 2.InTable 2,Xmeans thatafeature is provided; 1, andacomparativecontained inTable list oftheirmainfeatures QAD, respectively). General informationaboutthesethree tools is ture; andQADistiller (hereinafter referred toasTrados, WFand minology Verifi Q In order to testtheseTQAtools, Icreated atest.docfi Detection offormalerrors The three TQAtools testedinthis studywere SDLTrados Ter- of threetranslationQAtools General descriptionandfeatures TQA tools workonthelogicthatallinconsistencies are rdsDevelopedbySDL. Trados A DevelopedbyYamagata Europe(Belgium). QAD FDevelopedbyYves Champollion. WF rove r rove er andQAChecker;Wordfast QualityCheckfea- eadability andstyle.Identicalphrases mayeven Protection: softkeylicensefi User interfaceused:TagEditor. Files thatcanbecheckeddirectly:.ttx. Plug-ins integratedinTrados TagEditor. Protection: licensecode. User interfaceused:MSWord. Files thatcanbecheckeddirectly:.doc,.rtf. A featureintegratedinWF. hours afterdisconnectingfromtheinternet). protection andthelicenseonlyworksforeight Protection: licensecode(requiresinternet User interfaceused:proprietary(QADUI). Files thatcanbecheckeddirectly:.rtf,.ttx,.tmx. installation ofTrados. A stand-aloneapplication.Requires er, Ithinkthatonlyspecial terminologyshould Table 1. le. le(1,373 12/13/06 3:51:11 PM Reviews

Name Details and explanation of the check carried out Trados WF QAD Terminology Target terms used are identical to those specifi ed in your glossary. X X X Forgotten and empty translations. Identical source and target text. Target segments that are shorter or longer than the source Segment by a specifi ed percentage. X0 X Target segments that contain more than a specifi ed number of characters. Target segments that contain forbidden characters. Inconsistency Repeated phrases translated inconsistently. X 0 X Different end-of-sentence punctuation in source and target segments. Spaces before punctuation. Only double Punctuation X X Double spaces. spaces Double dots. Capitalization Capitalization of initial words. X 0 X Numbers Are numbers identical in source and target segments. X X X Tags Are tags identical in source and target segments. X X 0 Automatically detects untranslatables (even those not included Untranslatables in your glossary) and checks whether they are identical in 0X 0 source and target segments. Bookmarks Source and target texts contain an identical number of bookmarks. 0 X 0 Other Features Trados WF QAD TQA check settings can be customized. X X X Customized TQA settings can be saved to fi le. X X X The results of a TQA check can be saved in a log fi le. X X X Checks are performed in real time during the translation session 0X 0 (not after translation is completed). Batch mode (the TQA tool can check multiple fi les during a single operation). 0 X X Indication of segment with detected error. X X X Possibility to add your own TQA checks (macros). 0 X 0 Fuzzy terminology checks (the TQA takes into account during the terminology XX X check that words may have various forms — case endings, for example). Language-dependent settings. 0 0 X License price (price of one user license). From €90.00 $895.00 $1,000.00 Technical support from the developers. X X X Table 2: X = feature is provided, 0 = not provided.

Cars) and translated it with Trados in both MS Word and TagEdi- All special terminology in the target fi le was translated in tor. As a result, I had two identical bilingual target fi les (1,071 accordance with my Volvo glossary, although I did not perform a words) saved in .rtf and .ttx formats. terminology check at this stage of the study. At the fi rst stage (check of formal errors only) I added seven The settings in the three TQA tools were optimized experimentally typical formal errors to both fi les: to ensure detection of the maximum number of real errors and the 1. One sentence was kept in English (identical source and target minimum number of false errors (maximum “signal to noise” ratio). segments). The results of the TQA formal error check are given in Table 3. 2. A double space. As a result of carrying out this formal error check, the conclu- 3. One end-of-sentence punctuation different from that in the sions listed in Table 4 can be drawn. source sentence. 4. Repeated phrases translated inconsistently. Detection of terminology errors 5. Incorrect untranslatable (Volvo S60 in the source segment In order to test the terminology check features, I added four ter- changed to Volvo S60R in the target segment). minology errors to the test translation. First, I translated simulator 6. Incorrect number (350 in the source segment changed to as имитатор, rather than симулятор, and then I created glossaries 360 in the target segment). containing one record only (simulator > симулятор) in the formats 7. One closing round bracket “)” missing in the target segment. required by each TQA tool. Note: Russian is an infl ected language,

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22-25 Review - Gerasimov.indd 23 12/13/06 3:51:30 PM Reviews

Total number Number of Number of false Number of real errors Tool of errors real errors error reports not detected detected detected 6 of 7 (all 5 (mostly such as 100 Trados 11 1 (#5, untranslatable) except #5) translated as сто) 3 of 7 8 (mostly such as 110km/h 4 WF 11 (#2, 5, 6) translated as 110 км/час) (1, 3, 4, 7) 6 of 7 (all 14 (all were QAD 20 1 (#5, untranslatable) except #5) number errors) Table 3.

Tool Strengths Weaknesses Trados Detects the majority Checks only bilingual .ttx fi les (does not of real formal check .doc and .rtf fi les directly). errors (6 of 7). Does not detect errors in untranslatables (if they have not been included manually into the glossary). Not user-friendly. Learning curve is long. High number of false errors mostly associated with numbers translated by words (100 translated as сто) WF Highest user- Detected only 3 of 7 errors. friendliness. Does not detect real errors such as #1, 3, 4, 7. Learning curve is very short. The only TQA tool which automatically detects incorrect untranslatables not included in the glossary. QAD Detects the majority Failed to install on my desktop with Russian of real formal version of Windows XP (license code fi eld was errors (6 of 7). not displayed), but did install successfully Batch mode enables on my notebook with the same OS. translation companies Verifi es its own license code via an internet to check many connection and only works for eight hours fi les at a click. after disconnecting from the internet. Detects many false errors (14, mostly number values and formatting). Does not detect errors in untranslatables (if they have not been included manually into the glossary). Not user-friendly. Learning curve is long (compared to WF). Table 4. and my test translation contained various terminology checker. The user can set the forms of the word имитатор. level of fuzziness by using wildcards. The results of terminology check are QAD. The copy of QAD installed on my shown in Table 5. Comments on the data notebook failed to perform the termi- received: nology check. During the Analyze step, Trados. The false errors detected by the application returned the following Trados were caused by fuzzy matches. On error message: “A program exception both occasions, Trados suggested the use occurred.” of the glossary term simulator/симулятор for the verb simulate. The user has no Are TQA tools necessary control over such situations. The only for an experienced and option is to ignore such false errors. diligent translator? WF. This proved to be the most simple, As a freelance English-Russian translator accurate, user-friendly and controllable with 27 years of experience, I always take

24 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

22-25 Review - Gerasimov.indd 24 12/13/06 3:51:56 PM Reviews

Total Number Conclusion number Number of Number of of real 1. TQA tools do not replace human editors/proofreaders, but Tool of errors real errors false error errors not only help them. First and foremost, they help translators. detected detected reports detected 2. Each of the three TQA tools has its own strengths and weaknesses, as well as its preferable area of use. Trados 6 4 2 0 Q Trados is a good choice when you need to check .ttx fi les. Due WF 4 of 4 4 0 0 to aggressive marketing, Trados is a de facto industry standard. QAD no data no data no data no data Q WF provides the best check of terminology and untranslatables. Furthermore, the WF Developer offers the best technical Table 5. support to users. The program is, in my opinion, the optimum pride in my human QA methods. I proofread all my translations choice for price-sensitive freelancers who do not want to spend at least twice before delivery and frequently hire a proofreader or many hours learning to use a complex software. a technical expert to check my translations. Further information Q QAD is the only tool enabling you to check translation about my human QA methods can be found on my website at memories saved in .tmx format and to use language dependent www.erussiantranslations.com/Article9.htm settings. Unlike the current version of SDL Trados, QAD oper- Since 2000, I have translated about 700,000 words per year, ates in batch mode (checks many fi les at a click) which is a big and in the ten years before that I translated 56 novels. My advantage for translation companies/agencies. Therefore, QAD is sample translations were checked and approved by ATA, ITI probably the best choice for corporate users. and UTR. My clients are always happy with the quality of my 3. No matter how experienced the translator is and what human translations. QA methods he or she uses, TQA tools are able to decrease the num- However, are experience and human QA methods enough to ber of mistakes and improve the overall quality of translation. avoid formal and terminology mistakes? To fi nd the answer, I The results given above were achieved on my two PCs, a desktop checked a 10,000-word translation I did in 2005 before I started and a notebook, both running the Russian version of Windows XP to use TQA tools. I found two terminology and eight formal with SP and updates. Were the tests to be run on computers using errors, which is enough to suggest that TQA tools may be as a different operating system, there might be a slight variance in useful for experienced translators as they are for beginners. the results. M

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22-25 Review - Gerasimov.indd 25 12/13/06 3:52:41 PM 26-27 Perspectives J&A.indd26 26 he isaconsultantforTAUS. Commission languageengineering andtechnologyprograms.Today, industry andworkedasaconsultant andanalystfortheEuropean he covered theemergenceoflocalizationandtranslation for languagetechnologyover twodecades. As ajournalist, Andrew Joscelyne(upperleft)haswrittenaboutandevangelized large percentage ofstandard translation jobsintoanautomatic talizing on20years ofdigitalbitextproduction andtransform a industry-wide standard. a simple,transparent technology-driven process basedonan operations, banksmanagedtotransform moneytransfer into of pricey, paper-intensiveand person-intensive exchange kinds ofvalue-addedservices. will increase bymultiples,andtheindustrywillthriveonnew the performanceoftranslation automationsolutions.Effi bases, offeringmassiveleveraging anddramatically improving proprietary prisonstobeshared across publicandprivatedata- payment model.Languageresources willbeliberated from their continue tofalluntiltheyeventuallydisappearastheprimary driver, notadream. to termswith“user-defi benefi models, workhabitsandmindsets. but aboutdisruptivetechnologythatwillimpactourbusiness round ofchangewillnotbeaboutmergers andacquisitions to deliverinresponse toirresistible marketdemands.Thenext |

T Perspectives MultiLingual Similarly, thelocalizationindustry shouldbecapableofcapi- The bankingindustryoffers ananalogy. Aftercenturies Word-based pricesforlarge swathsoftranslation will In thenextfi Today, therelevant technologiesare maturing andpreparing the samepaceasotherindustries. from embracing andfi of creativity andcraftsmanship hasprevented it to acceptitsrole asacontentfunction.Aculture fragmented, labor-intensiveand oftenunwilling The translation industryhastraditionally been ts from machinetranslation. Thiswillinvolvecoming Andrew Joscelyne&JaapvanderMeer ve years, weshalllearnhowtogenerate real market forces Translation 2.0: aur/eray20 [email protected] January/February2007 ned quality,” andinnovationwillbea ne-tuning technologyat ciency and publishedoneofthefi Technology company inTheNetherlands1980 andpublished global languageindustries.Heestablished asoftwarelocalization Automation UserSociety(TAUS) anda25-year-plusveteraninthe Jaap vanderMeer(upperright)isfounderanddirectorofTranslation prospering from it. ensuing turmoil,share someideasaboutembracing changeand disruptive technologies;and,lastly, from theperspective ofthe look fi approach tocreating value. sharing mindset,supportedbyaninnovative,learning-oriented change from today’s protectionist, defensivestancetoanopen, “language transfer” operation. Buttoachievethiswemust those serriedranks ofmemorysilos. mative powerthatcancomefrom connecting andleveraging private, protected data.We are notyetharnessingthetransfor- memories (TMs).Butparticipationislimitedtosmallislands of leverage languageresources through server-basedtranslation through webportalinterfaces,andtranslators are startingto riphery ofthetranslation industry. Users cannowaccessservices resource repository forinventingnewmethodsofworkingtogether. contributors getmore outthantheyputin.Web 2.0isbasicallya system tothemultilingualWikipedia.Thebottomlinemustbethat of environments, from thedevelopmentofLinuxoperating parts, hasproved tobebothsustainableandlucrative inavariety ties, whereby anywholewillbegreater invaluethanthesumofits more peopleusethem.” Web 2.0ethosthisway:“Servicesautomaticallygetbetterthe of anetworkbyanorder ofmagnitude.TimO’Reillysumsupthe Metcalf(e)’s Law, whereby more users boosttheusefulness/utility participation, user-generated addedvalue,andthepowerof to some,butitactsasshorthandforaworldofenhanced In thisPerspective andonesforthenexttwoissues,weshall This ethicofcooperation hasjustbeguntoinfi This principleofmutualreciprocity withinextendedcommuni- Web 2.0andallitsworksmightsoundlikemarketinghype Collaborative intelligence rst atnewmarketforces impactingourindustry;thenat and Electric Word rst translationmemory softwareproducts. magazines. His company INK developed magazines. HiscompanyINKdeveloped Language Language ltrate thepe- 12/13/06 3:53:25 PM Perspectives

Most translators have grown up in a tradition of individual producing a complete translation of a manual in the “old” way, craftsmanship, relying on their own skills and resources. It is no it is now virtually disappearing. Deciding what and what not to accident that back in the 1990s, translation tools were originally translate is becoming even harder. designed to help individual translators, not corporate content The solution is to translate the bare minimum upfront and management processes. More recently, there have been efforts let further translation depend on what customers/users decide to aggregate TMs and glossaries and gain better leverage of the they need. That “bare minimum” may be dictated by regulatory myriads of bitexts produced by translator networks. These are and governmental requirements, such as labeling on medical fi rst steps towards a collaborative translation system, but are far devices, or by the obvious need for locale-based interfaces. For too restricted. The sum of the parts still adds up to less than the the rest, web users will plug in to software services that en- potential whole. hance information searches or press “translate” buttons to leap Bolder initiatives are, however, on the radar. The shared lo- across languages for the sections or chunks they need. Lon- calization of the Open Offi ce suite is one, bringing productivity ger-term scenarios suggest, even, that textual documentation software to languages the commercial market cannot address. may give way to online 3D fi lms of “how to do it,” completely The subtitling company dotSub has invented a new business bypassing words. model to remunerate translators working on visual media There is already clear evidence that some translation buyers through a web-based interface. The Cucumis network awards and providers are testing and deploying this new user-driven points to translators who do pro bono work for each other. But translation model, which critically leads to a change in the user the granddaddy of them all is almost certainly ProZ, founded in experience of translation quality. The publisher-centric model 1998, and now the world’s leading online translator marketplace has always insisted on high-quality translation; however, users with a network of 160,000 professional translators and linguists, are in many cases happy enough with useful translation quality driven by an ethic of mutual aid and underwritten by a collab- — that is, accuracy without the style. Intense pressure on costs orative incentives package. and delivery speed will force translation providers to explore We believe that the architecture of participation will soon new techniques for delivering this “good enough” quality, con- support much of the mainstream translation business. It will sistently and quasi-automatically. unleash the power of collaborative intelligence, and we shall We believe that the combination of new collaborative op- see the emergence of new marketplaces for the exchange of the portunities and user control over information is set to carry the industry’s fundamental assets — TMs and similar corpora — and online publishing, translation and localization sector into new the collective deployment of translation tools and resources zones of intense turbulence. This calls for continuous innova- on a truly massive scale. tion, both down in the infrastructure and in terms of appropri- Precursors include TM Marketplace, that brokers the buying ate business models. Are we ready for this? M and selling of TM databases; Lingotek, that takes the concept of sharing TMs a step further by offering a collaborative marketplace for chunks of useful language translations; and Lionbridge, This article and two forthcoming articles on the future the world’s largest language services company, which introduced of the translation industry offer a bird’s eye picture of real-time sharing of very large TMs with the launch of Logoport what’s happening around us and how the industry should in 2005. address the evolving needs for what is often grandly called These efforts at linking and sharing TMs will not, however, multilingual content management, also known as faster, amount to a Web 2.0 type translation platform yet. The collab- cheaper translation in a fully networked environment. orative leveraging of language data will require new approaches The ideas developed here draw on a “Vision Report” to searching and mining language resources. prepared for a fi rst meeting of executive minds to be held in March 2007 under the TAUS banner. This meeting has User power been called to forge an agenda for a new-generation As network services expand, users become a generative force. translation automation resource platform. The aim is As buyers, citizens, patients, taxpayers, consumers or voters, they to invent and collaborate around the sort of massively- now actively search the web to fi nd what they want, rather than integrated automated translation resources that large passively receive information from central command. Supported organizations will need over the next decade. by social software, they act as self-publishers, generating content The three articles in this series look at today’s market through blogs and e-mails that are having a disruptive infl uence forces, then at emerging technologies that address some on online business. The old publishing hierarchy is gradually being of these forces, and end with some suggestions about how replaced by a fl atter, more user-driven exchange of content. the translation industry will have to change to deliver such In the translation industry, user power will induce a cogni- services. All comments and suggestions will be naturally tive U-turn, from a dissemination to an assimilation model of welcome — eventually shared on the TAUS website — at datafl ows. Documentation managers already fi nd themselves in [email protected] competition with internal customer service organizations that can —Andrew Joscelyne and Jaap van der Meer provide instant access to information through call centers and online knowledge bases, that is, web-based customer self-service. In addition, the editors of MultiLingual encourage Customer self-service costs less for the “shop-owner,” so smaller you to share your comments, suggestions, visions and shops will either follow the big boys or go out of business. forecasts with other readers via e-mail to editor@ As a result, localization managers are starting to feel left on multilingual.com the sidelines. Although time was always in short supply when —The Editors

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26-27 Perspectives J&A.indd 27 12/13/06 3:53:42 PM 28-29 Perspectives Lyra.indd28 28 variation in capabilities. variation incapabilities. often focusesprimarilyonprice andeliminatesconsiderations for selection. for bothparties,itappears tobeamutuallybenefi ibility betweenbuyerandvendor. Whiletheprocess canbecostly an especiallyimportanttoolfordeterminingqualityandcompat- off-the-shelf software. From the buyer’s perspective, theRFPis ing andleveloftoolsophisticationwithinternallydeveloped or their hornsastocapacity, fi tion process. Itisanopportunityforlocalization providers totoot based solelyonpricingsheets. tion projects are awarded bycorporate purchasing departments line biddingscenarios.Goneare thedayswhen large localiza- from dauntingrequest forproposal (RFP)requirements toon- sophisticated toolsandsystemstoassistintheselectionprocess, adverts —better, faster, cheaper. Buyers oftenuseanumberof is service—ortheperceived lackthereof. We canallrecite the and automatedworkfl primarily aservice-basedindustryaugmentedbysoftware tools remaining players’ capabilitiesinmeetingtheirneeds? diminish? Whatmeasures dobuyers haveavailabletoassessthe are theintrinsicvaluesforbuyerasnumberofchoices the multinationals’globalrequirement forlocallanguages,what tion servicebuyer?Withfewerproviders capableofsupporting petual drumbeatofgrowth byacquisitiongoodforthelocaliza- |

T Perspectives MultiLingual This ispreferable totheonlinebiddingscenario.Thisprocess The buyer’s RFPmaybethefairest andmostrevealing selec- From thebuyer’s perspective, thelocalizationindustryis The businesscaseforM&Asiswellpublicized,buttheper- acquisition ofTRADOS,Welocalize’s M purchase ofBowneGlobalSolutions,SDL’s localization serviceproviders (LSPs)—Lionbridge’s with foursurvivingentitiesfrom anoriginalnine evidenced bytherecent consolidationactivity acquisition (M&A)pacecontinuesunabatedas purchase ofArchiText, tonameafew. Connect acquisitions,andTranslation.com’s The localizationindustrymerger and Lyra Spratt-Manning — goodnews orbad? Mergers andacquisitions aur/eray20 [email protected] January/February2007 ow systems.Thebasicquantifyingelement nancial stability, competitivepric- cial tool for cial tool for 2 and petitive biddingappears tobealessthansatisfactoryprocess. bidding process haveevolvedfrom theoriginal,butonlinecom- bandwidth evaluation.Somerefi in thattheprocess doesnotallowforanyreal-time capabilityor ment atrisk.It’s nomore reassuring from thebuyer’s perspective marginally profi the LSPmayhavejustassignedamajorportionofitscapacityto tion companies,thepotentialriskinthisscenarioishugethat a generally unsatisfyingexperience.Asreported bymanylocaliza- materials orbuyervalidationofLSPcapabilitiesbandwidth— customer-specifi The successfulbidderisselectedbylowestpriceonasetof working withthesamevendor. Thesepost-merger stresses maybe ization-ready” packages.Suddenly, thebuyerrealizes heorsheisnot workload ortheinevitablepush-backtoclientrequiring “local- providing fewerresources forqualityreview, larger project manager Post-acquisition trimmingisoftennecessary toremain competitive, metrics maynotbevalidinthelongerterm. solidation. Unfortunately, with continuingconsolidations,these LSPs’ continuedhighqualityandeffi vendors. Thegoodnewstodateisthatbuyers generally report heightens thebuyers’ satisfactionofworkingwithlocalization of buyerlists.Familiaritywithprocedures, expectationsandgoals future assignmentawards. Qualityandreliability standatthetop concerns drivethedecision. time-consuming process inlessthanthree years unlessbusiness tion made,buyers seemreluctant torepeat theexpensiveand the sizeofLSP’s operation. OnceanRFPistendered, selec- of acceptablecapabilityandvaluewithlittleconsideration to relationships withanLSPcontinuesasthemostreliable measure Outsourced World book, consulting. Portions ofthisarticleare taken fromherpending more than15yearsinexecutive managementandlocalization Lyra Spratt-Manninghasworkedinthelocalizationindustryfor As anLSP’s businessgrows byacquisition, overheadcostsincrease. Relationship historyremains theprimaryfactorindetermining A majorityofcompaniesinterviewedreport priorworking Relationships matter Tribal Knowledge —HumanProcessSurvivalinaDownsized table businessarrangement, thereby puttingfulfi ed services with no LSP validation of the actual ed serviceswithnoLSPvalidationoftheactual . nements tothisbest-price- ciencies of scalepostcon- 12/13/06 3:54:27 PM ll- Perspectives

an anomaly or may be common, but the buyer has no system avail- possess to work in this emerging new environment? able to monitor such events beyond the LSP’s assurances. One could suggest a modifi ed approach to the commonly used While consolidation benefi ts the buyer with expanded services RFP to address these issues. An RFP along with a localization and reduced pricing, with all good news there’s often a caution- industry standard rating developed and monitored by an inde- ary note. While the total cost of localization is less, there are pendent organization may be the answer. While these standards compromises along the way such as lower tolerance for not-so- are in the early development stage, the industry appears to be well-prepared fi les for localization. What is the staffi ng (cost) moving in this direction. The Localization Industry Standards impact at the buyer site in this new environment? Functions Association has formed an LSP accreditation standards work- previously managed by the LSP suddenly become the responsibil- ing group, and Common Sense Advisory recently announced a ity of the buyer. In the not too distant past a project manager certifi cation program for LSPs. This could benefi t the localization would never refuse a new project based on the customer’s lack of industry and buyers alike by establishing set criteria for quality, appropriate fi le preparation for translation — a frequent reality in quantity and service managed by an independent organization the competitive-priced time-sensitive LSP environment. for the overall benefi t of the industry. Everyone interested in the The buyer may not be appropriately staffed, or current staff development and reporting of established localization supplier may not be trained to “prep” fi les for localization. This impacts standards should make it a priority to participate. time-to-market as well as internal costs. There are many examples of standards established in response The changes in personnel inherent to consolidation also do to perceived risk, economic or individual. Historically, US con- not bode well for the established “tribal knowledge” of a long- sumer protection laws were written for the licensing of many term account. Defi ning tribal knowledge as the long-term ac- professions such as accountants, attorneys and physicians. These cumulated knowledge of an activity or operation by a person or professions develop and maintain standards in a self-governing group, disbanding that group can have signifi cant fi nancial con- forum in conjunction with regulatory (government) oversight of sequences if not anticipated. The personal, intimate knowledge their services to protect the consuming public. of each customer’s work environment, constraints and work- From an international standards perspective, the Department fl ow may be the critical element in meeting tight schedules with of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations Guidelines for a quality product in multiple languages. More importantly, the Consumer Protection, published by the United Nations (New customer-service aspect supporting the all-too-often last min- York, 2003), state there is a global responsibility to protect con- ute, complex, disoriented request handled with effi ciency is only sumers: “Governments should intensify their efforts to prevent possible from a supplier who understands the company from practices which are damaging to the economic interests of con- experience. The hidden costs that may be diffi cult to measure, sumers through ensuring that manufacturers, distributors and such as training new personnel, ineffective project workfl ow others involved in the provision of goods and services adhere to requirements and a myriad of other scenarios, could result in established laws and mandatory standards. Consumer organiza- lost effi ciency — hence, lower profi tability. The loss of this “tribal tions should be encouraged to monitor adverse practices.” knowledge” can be an expensive experience, signifi cantly reduc- The localization buyer will benefi t from a system that docu- ing anticipated cost and time savings. ments the capabilities necessary to produce the desired end Many smaller LSPs thrive in the current marketplace. While result. This would help eliminate much of the current selection some are limited in the number of language pairs supported and process guesswork and provide measurable assurances for critical automation tools used, these small LSPs, by defi nition, may be business decisions. A global standard would provide a reliable unlikely acquisition targets. This allows a long-term mutually venue for comparison shopping. This approach could be a valu- satisfying relationship to develop. Responding with descrip- able instrument in monitoring the constant reshaping of an LSP’s tive attributes such as “fl exible, responsive, dependable results,” capabilities. The LSP will also benefi t from the standardization buyers report a strong working relationship with their smaller process as an opportunity to validate capacity, service, tools and LSPs. NCS Enterprises, LLC, a small Pittsburgh-based LSP, reports quality in a mutually accessible and measurable environment. customer loyalties based on better accessibility to management The localization industry has matured in the past 20 years from when the inevitable problems arise, vertical industry expertise a cottage industry of individual translators and interpreters to and extensive customer support services. corporate LSPs capable of localizing multiple languages through Buyers also report cost savings in the new consolidated envi- the use of highly skilled professionals, new technologies and pro- ronment from large LSPs such as SDL which includes an impres- cesses. It is clear that bandwidth cannot be confused with capa- sive list of expanded products and services. Cost is often the bility. Many smaller LSPs demonstrate a higher level of customer deciding factor in selecting a localization supplier for a specifi c satisfaction than their larger counterparts. Conversely, a number large project with time-to-market a close second. Larger LSPs of larger LSPs sensitive to improving customer service report ag- may be best suited for these fast-turn mega-projects. gressive investments in user-friendly automated systems. For the buyer, it remains a problem of appropriate vendor selection — a New standards may help in choosing suppliers match of buyer requirements and vendor capabilities. With the industry appearing to continue its M&A march, Consolidation is certain to continue as the pressure for bet- perhaps we will fi nd the industry ultimately populated by the ter, faster, cheaper drives the industry. The benefi ciaries are all very small and the very large. The problem persists in knowing if who participate in the expansion of global commerce given an a supplier meets a buyer’s needs, particularly as each supplier’s environment of standards and reliable metrics. Whether you are profi le changes. a supplier or buyer of localization, an industry standards system How does the new combined entity’s work environment portends positive growth for all involved and perhaps the next infl uence future expectations? What capabilities must the buyer step in the logical evolution of the localization industry. M

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28-29 Perspectives Lyra.indd 29 12/13/06 3:54:47 PM BEIJING - BRNO - BRUSSELS - LONDON - SEOUL - TAIPEI - TOKYO YOUR LOCALIZATION HOTKEY.

30 Jonckers ad #85.indd 30 12/13/06 3:56:16 PM Industry Focus

Standard fare: food and drink for the translator Kirk Anderson

Like everyone else, translators need suste- beverage industry, most from Latin America and most involving alcoholic beverages. And I can attest to the fact that some of nance to keep the words ﬂ owing. But how often them can really make your head spin. is the translator’s “meat and potatoes” really Many countries are getting caught up in a sort of food and a text about meat and potatoes? Or, to put it beverage regulation frenzy these days. These initiatives are L often cloaked as public health issues, another way, can trans- but often seem to have more to do lators really bring home with protecting domestic markets the bacon by translat- and industries. Take the World Trade ing texts about pork? Or Organization (WTO) dispute, “EC — Approval and Marketing of Biotech even get a buzz from a Products,” for example. translation on wine? Regardless of their intentions, As the world’s food and bever- however, these standards and regula- age industries continue to whet our tions and the documents surrounding appetites, developing new products their development and application ever faster (while rarely managing — drafts, comments, enforcement, to address nagging little issues such disputes and more — pose a number of as global hunger), governments, interesting challenges for translators. non-government organizations and First among them is the language watchdogs scramble to establish of standards itself. Food and bever-

guidelines in an attempt to ensure Source: www.liffordwineagency.com/featured/2004/11/index.html age standards, in the most basic the safety of whatever it is we terms, are texts written to defi ne the choose to ingest. These standards, regulations, and the processes quantitative and qualitative characteristics of a specifi c prod- and negotiations surrounding them require large volumes of uct or range of products, and may include everything from translation. chemical analysis, permitted additives, and manufacturing I’ve had the opportunity to translate more standards, regula- processes to bottling or packaging requirements, inspections, tions and dispute submissions than I can count in the food and certifi cation and licensing obligations, not to mention, more often than not, copious references to other standards. Few individual translators are well versed in all — or even most Kirk Anderson is a freelance translator based — of these subject areas. in Surfside, Florida. ATA-certifi ed in translation Add to this the timeless challenge of translating food and from French and Spanish into English, and beverage terminology — and since most of these are national English into Spanish, he specializes in the standards and regulations, you have an added dash of regional- translation of texts on law, international trade, isms, and always at least one completely local food or beverage food and wine. that has no straightforward translation into English — and this

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makes for interesting work. And depend- require translation. In my experience, needed) of how much passion a tasteless, ing on the particular standard or regula- it is most often industry groups with an odorless spirit can inspire. Such disputes, tion in question, you’re likely to have agenda to push and a budget to push of course, most often international by some content in each of the following it that monitor these comments and defi nition, can also give rise to signifi - fi elds: law, public policy, chemistry, food sometimes have them translated. From cant translation budgets. and beverage manufacturing, packaging, a translator’s point of view, these are The fastest growing forum for such public health and more. wonderful clients to have, since you can disputes is the WTO’s dispute settlement often leverage the original translation body (DSB). If called upon to translate The language of standards materials related to such disputes, whether If you need to familiarize yourself by a government agency or an interested with the English language of standards, party in the private sector, one of the fi rst one of the best places to do this is the places to turn is the WTO’s dispute settle- ASTM website. ASTM International, orig- ment gateway at www.wto.org/english/ inally known as the American Society tratop_e/dispu_e/dispu_e.htm. Here, you for Testing and Materials, is one of the can search disputes by country — impor- largest voluntary standards develop- tant when you’re trying to fi nd the cor- ment organizations in the world. From rect English titles for various disputes www.astm.org, you can search ASTM inevitably referenced in any submission standards — though you can’t view the — by subject, by case and more. The complete standards unless you purchase WTO’s trilingual (English, French and them — and read up on the standards in Spanish) terminology database is also an their online publication Standardization excellent resource for essential WTO dis- News, which is also available from this pute terminology, which is often less site in Spanish (updated quarterly) and transparent than it seems. The best way Simplifi ed Chinese (updated semiannu- to access the database is under the Source: www.worldmarketentry.com/images/veggie_stand.jpg ally). Finally, under the ASTM Campus “Resources” tab at the top of the WTO link, Standards 101 offers a crash course of a standard into much more work, homepage (www.wto.org). in standards and allows you to view bits often dealing with the very same topic Once the translator comes to terms and pieces of several standards of differ- and often quoting the very standard you with the language of standards, a more ent types. translated. You can also quickly estab- daunting task ensues — one of the quint- The site of the International Organi- lish yourself as the expert translator in essential potential translation nightmares zation for Standardization (ISO, www the particular fi eld in question. — food and beverage terminology. “Beans” .iso.org) is also useful for terminological Standards, regulations and sometimes are never just “beans” when you’re trans- purposes, available and searchable in even the lack thereof can often give rise lating. And if you don’t know beans about both French and English. Depending on to disputes. The ongoing dispute on the translating food, you’d better get out of your search criteria and the particular defi nition of vodka — whether it can the kitchen before you get burned. standards involved, on occasion you only be distilled from potatoes and grain Chris Durban’s “Onionskin” column can also fi nd original language national or whether fruit and other ingredients (a regular feature of the ITI Bulletin, standards on this site, sometimes with can also be distilled to produce a product www .iti.org.uk, and the ATA Chronicle, English and/or French translations. called vodka — is a prime example of www .atanet.org) has highlighted some For a list of national standards bod- this and further evidence (as if any were fi ne examples of problems in food and ies (by no means comprehensive) beverage translation over the years with links to their websites, many — the primary culprit being machine of which are also searchable (some translation, as in the item, “Indigest- in multiple languages), see www.nist ible in Arizona”: “When company .gov/oiaa/stnd-org.htm president Jeff Johnson stumbled on search engine AltaVista’s free Standards in dispute online translation service Babelfi sh, Standards themselves, whether he jumped at the chance for world- national, regional or international, wide exposure. A few clicks later the are also political tools and, as such, site was available in fi ve languages: are subject to much discussion Spanish, German, French, Italian before, during and after the process and Portuguese. by which they are established. Many “‘It was free; I thought ‘why not?’ involve public hearings and open Johnson told the ‘Onionskin.’ The results periods for the submission of com- are delectable in their own way. Super ments. Of course, trading partners, easy to make! Low in fat, High in taste! industry groups, private companies becomes Supereinfaches zu bilden! and individuals often submit com- Tief im Fett, stark im Geschmack! for ments, and these comments often Source: www.hawleywine.com German gourmets (roughly Supereasy

32 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

31-34 Anderson food txLW1128.ind32 32 12/13/06 3:57:07 PM Translation Showcase

things to form! Deep in the fat, strong in taste!). French speakers are offered gateaux au fromage effrayants, literally frighten- ing or spine-chilling cheesecakes (original English: chilled). Europe’s No. 1 “Pastry chef Claude Petit, who works at Leading Indic Language the trendy Man-Ray restaurant near the Greek Localizer Champs-Elysées in Paris, was puzzled by Service Provider Since 1986, EuroGreek has been providing high-quality, the French version, which calls for cakes Braahmam, a market leader since 2000, has turnkey solutions, encompassing a whole range of client to be baked until business corporation in earned appreciation from its global clients for excellent needs, for the following language combinations: the middle (jusqu’à société au milieu/bis communication, quality, project management and fast • English into Greek Unternehmen in der mitte). He eventually turn-around time. worked it out (‘fi rm’), yet drew the line at • Greek into English We offer: stirring in chocolate puces (fl eas or com- • German into Greek puter chips) and applying the chandelier/ • Language services in Assamese, Bangla, Hindi, • French into Greek polish (administrer le lustre). . . .” [See the Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, All EuroGreek’s work is produced in our Athens full article, posted at http://cheesecake Oriya, Pushto, Sinhalese, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu production center and covers most subjects: .northwest.com/onionskin_article.htm] • Localization engineering and DTP using Flash, • Technical But these examples also put human HTML, XML, InDesign CS, FrameMaker, RoboHelp • Medical/Pharmaceutical translators, not to mention translation • Voice-over, dubbing and subtitling • IT/Telecommunications buyers, on guard against the hazards of • QA and testing services • Economics/Legal attempting to translate food. Foreign res- • Graphics, website and software localization All EuroGreek’s work is fully guaranteed for quality taurants worldwide abound with nutty • E-learning localization and on-time delivery. menu translations. And as I learned myself recently, even the most prepared transla- Braahmam Net Solutions Pvt. Ltd. EuroGreek Translations Limited tors cannot solve all the problems all the G-31, Ground Floor, Sector-3 EuroGreek House, 93 Karagiorga Street time. Menus, recipes, cookbooks, diet Noida-201301, India Athens 16675, Greece books, wine lists and cocktail instructions 91-120-3053174 • Fax: 91-120-2542287 30-210-9605-244 • Fax: 30-210-9647-077 all abound in shorthand, regionalisms, [email protected] • www.braahmam.net [email protected] • www.eurogreek.com catch-phrases and other untranslatables. When called upon to translate for global, rather than local, markets, the problem of using target-language regionalisms only The Tool complicates matters further. You Reach For Stocking the cupboard with resources More Often So, where can translators turn for ISO 9001:2000-certifi ed accurate food and beverage terminology • LogiTerm is offered in various versions at very that refl ects not only regional preferences, Translation Services affordable prices. Powerful search functions, a but also provides practical information on usage, and preferably details on how Idem Translations, Inc., is a full-service translation/ very robust alignment tool and very handy data any given ingredient may be used, or its localization company, specializing in the life sciences, conversion and deformatting tools. specifi c properties or origins? The answer, legal and IT industries since 1983. Our expert • LogiTrans has been designed to answer the I’m afraid, is that, apart from standard translation teams combine linguistic excellence with question you may often ask yourself: “Haven’t I strong backgrounds in a variety of fields. We maintain general dictionaries and a handful of seen this already somewhere?” It allows you to monolingual references, the cupboard specialized client glossaries and memory databases to is nearly bare — or at least not as well ensure consistent terminology. Our ISO 9001:2000- obtain even more added value from your bitext stocked as most translators might like it certified translation and quality processes guarantee and full-text documents. to be. a service that meets the highest industry standards. • LogiTermWeb — A fast and easy way to ensure On the multilingual front, there are We offer a unique combination of industry-specific consistent terminology and phraseology experience, knowledgeable translation teams and a few shining exceptions. One is Eta throughout your organization. Trabing’s outstanding Dictionary of friendly, client-oriented service. • TransSearch — A web-based bilingual concordancer. Foods & Cookery: English to Spanish (with Latin binomials) and a reference Idem Translations, Inc. section for Spanish to English, available 550 California Avenue, Suite 310 from InTrans Book Service at http:// Terminotix Inc. Palo Alto, CA 94306 240 Bank Street, Suite 600 intransbooks.com. This simply assembled 650-858-4336 • Fax: 650-858-4339 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2P 1X4 volume, conveniently available on CD, [email protected] 613-233-8465 • Fax: 613-233-3995 is a 365-page treasure trove of culinary www.idemtranslations.com [email protected] • www.terminotix.com

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31-34 Anderson food txLW1128.ind33 33 12/13/06 3:57:46 PM Industry Focus

terminology. The inclusion of Latin the main UN terminology page at binomials and plentiful cross-refer- http://unterm.un.org encing makes it all the more useful. Sometimes, good old-fashioned Though no food reference is ever monolingual books also can quench comprehensive, this volume has one’s thirst for terms. Sharon Tyler solved more problems for me than Herbst’s Food Lover’s Companion any other. It is also worth noting (Barron’s, 3rd ed., 2001) is a prac- that its particular strength is meat tical, manageable and accurate terminology. source of food terminology, and her Although the Eurodicautom is Wine Lover’s Companion (with Ron no longer updated, it still exists and Herbst, 2nd ed., Barron’s, 2003) is contains a wealth of information, a ﬁ ne companion indeed for any

much of it out of print elsewhere. Source: www.internationalhouseofcoffee.com/products.htm wine translation. It can be found at http://ec.europa On the subject of wine, internet .eu/eurodicautom/Controller. Examples of index_en.htm) provides access to a wide glossaries are plentiful indeed, but their some of the works it draws from include range of subject-specifi c glossaries — quality, depth and accuracy vary dramat- the Lexique de la vigne et du vin, pub- some multilingual — by searching for the ically, and unknown commodities should lished by the Offi ce International de la word glossary on its homepage. It has be handled with care. One good one is Vigne et du Vin, which, although out of also recently launched FAOTERM, a mul- the Trinor glossary in Spanish, English, print for years, is still among the most tilingual termbase in Arabic, Chinese, French and German (www.trinor.com/ comprehensive terminological works on English, French and Spanish. As of this wineen/winetermsen.html), compiled by wine in French, Italian, Spanish, German, writing, the site www.fao.org/faoterm/ professional translators working in these Portuguese, English and Russian. index.asp?lang=en existed, but was n’t languages for wine industry profession- The Food and Agricultural Organiza- entirely functional. Much of this content, als on a daily basis. Although limited in tion of the United Nations (www.fao.org/ however, is also readily accessible from scope and more a recommendation of the translators who compiled it than a comprehensive reference, it is accurate, easy-to-use and reliable. For the most part, however, the food and beverage translator will have to rely on his or her own wits and resourceful- ness to track down the most challenging terms. This can mean going back to the client for additional information or going to the source country or region of the term (or e-mailing someone there) for an explanation of the term in question. Food and beverage translation is not for the fi nicky or the faint of heart and might best be described as an acquired taste. Just consider the vast range of terminology surrounding any single food or beverage. Wine, one of my favorite subjects, has a specialized lexicon that spans the fi elds of agriculture, chemistry, production engineering, sensory percep- tion and market-speak, among others. The same is true of coffee and of a variety of distilled spirits, oils and chocolate. I’ve even seen a specialized glossary on bottled water. Although translating texts about food and beverages is always an interdisciplin- ary endeavor and no individual translator can be a master of all the various terminologies it encompasses, qualifi ed, experienced professionals who are up to the challenge can fi nd a veritable gravy train of work that will go a long way toward putting food on the table. M

34 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

31-34 Anderson food txLW1128.ind34 34 12/13/06 3:58:19 PM Industry Focus

Fango to frango frito: translation in the food chain John Freivalds

Most everyone has heard the term food chain. — pork chop. That took a while to get used to. And when I took It’s a rather academic way to describe how and one of many trips to Jamaica to build a soybean processing where food comes from, how it is grown, pro- plant, I learned that jerk pork was not a slur against pig meat cessed and delivered to our table. And in the but highly seasoned barbecue pork. M Microsoft recently launched its new operating system only to ongoing controversy over genetically modifi ed learn that vista means chicken or frumpy old woman in Latvian. organisms, the effort to describe the process has Microsoft Latvia is trying to get around the problem by playing up also brought out the phrase farm to fork. Vista’s positive aspects and the more positive, international defi nition of the name — such as view in Spanish, which is understood Having grown tired of both English descriptions, I went to and used in English. I hope this fi nally replaces that old fabricated www.answers.com to look for other linguistic alternatives. Most, story about the GM car, the Nova, which has been around at least however, were direct translations of food and chain. 30 years. You know, “no va means doesn’t go in Spanish.” Food chain in German, for example, is nahrungsskette (too Prus- Companies get around these issues by asking fi rms such as sian for my purposes). In Hungarian it’s tápláléklánc (sorry, too Landor Associates to “vet” a name in many languages to make many accents); in French, chaîne alimentaire (that French pronun- sure it doesn’t mean anything. Landor came to us once with a ciation is just too hard); and in Italian catena alimentare (a pasta name change for an Asian conglomerate, Lucky Goldstar, that dish or a bar that also serves food maybe?). The positively dreadful wanted to change its name to the initials LGS. We did and ran translation into Latvian, my native language, is barĦbas ƃďde (literally it through 40 different languages to learn whether it meant low-tech animal feed surrounded by an industrial strength chain), anything bad anywhere. It didn’t. and who can pronounce ƃďde outside of Latvia in any event? I think I found something in Portuguese. I helped set up an Translating the whole chain agricultural commodity export fi rm in Brazil and learned Portu- Insofar as one central point of understanding translations guese from lessons, by buying commodities and by visiting farms for the entire food chain, it doesn’t exist — at least not until or ports when not in He-O (the carioca pronunciation of Rio). we wrote this article. And no one fi rm specializes in fango-to- On those visits I learned about fango (slimy mud), and always frango translations; you have to divide up the sectors you are being hungry I learned about frango frito (fried chicken). interested in. For the purpose of this discussion I have chosen Fango to frango conveys the same concept as food chain, I think, agronomic, machinery, processing, retailing and menus. and sounds a whole lot better. The problem is that both fango and As interesting as the various niches of the food chain are, the frango are so euphonious (a $100 word meaning having a pleasant various vendors of translation and localization services offer as sound) that marketers have taken them for other products: Fango is varied an offering of services as you can have. We found fully a line of skin cream in the United States, and Frangos are mints. integrated fi rms offering a wide range of globalization services; How fango and frango are used points out many of the diffi - companies concentrating on translation of patents; simplifi ed culties in properly translating agricultural English; to localization for companies and food terms from one language into John Freivalds is managing that deal in one type of enterprise soft- another anywhere along the way. director of the marketing ware or even translations of menus. All Since food is always on people’s minds, communications fi rm JFA and seem to have made an effort to expand you never know how, where and why its marketing representative for his beyond their “unique selling proposi- terms will pop up. In Panamanian Spanish native Latvia. He has worked many tion.” Some were successful, and some slang, a common exclamation is chuleta years in agriculture journalism. just went back to their original niche.

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35-38 Freivalds FangoLW1128.indd35 35 12/13/06 7:14:29 PM Industry Focus

Agronomic inputs One account he is working on is a chemical product that helps Much language work is being done in this area because seed, preserve fresh fruit and vegetables and is used around the world. agricultural chemicals and fertilizers are produced in many The marketing aspects are constant problems for companies western countries and then exported to many parts of the devel- that try to sell agronomic inputs developed in one country into oping world. Farmers have to be instructed on how to use them another. Josée de Grandmont is vice president at the Canadian in terms they understand. And then, of course, we have the marketing company Modus Vivendi, one of whose clients is Syn- multilingual websites. Finally, agri-chemicals and other inputs genta, which markets in 90 countries. “It’s essential that an expe- have to be registered not only for use but for patents. And they rienced translator work with our account team,” de Grandmont have to be translated perfectly or the patent fi ling is useless. says. “We have specialists in translation for farm equipment, for RWS in London is probably the world’s biggest player in this pesticides and animal health.” market, annually translating 30,000 patents. It But there is a particular challenge for tried to get into the mainstream translations multilingual advertising. The vast majority of business in the United States, failed and went advertisements use some sort of catch phrase back to concentrating on patents. Number two oakies: to communicate messages. English ads that Since the Swiss own many of the fi rms need a French version are often sent to Modus doing this patenting and since Switzerland has a term common Vivendi already translated into French because four offi cial languages, you don’t have to work in cattle feeding, de Grandmont says it’s easier to work from the hard convincing those fi rms that those transla- French translation. tions are necessary. Don DePalma of Common unknown elsewhere De Grandmont recently worked to adapt a Sense Advisory says of the translation market campaign for NK seeds that hinged on a play in this area, “A lot of money spent in translation of words that include the letters n and k. The by the mega-agribusiness goes to lawyers and diffi culty was to fi nd French words that include think tanks. The former are dealing with defending their interest the letter k. “Visually the campaign was dependent on these let- in countries that don’t want genetically modifi ed crops and pro- ters. So, we decided to play with other letters, and we were able tecting their patents. The latter are promoting research on their to make a good French adaptation this way.” This process has products around the world.” become known as “transcreation” in global advertising. Software Translations serves that mega-agribusiness market. Hans Fenstermacher, now of Translations.com, started to pro- Many of the fi rm’s projects involve the implementation of SAP mote the trade association GALA by pointing out the success of systems of other enterprise software packages. They have trans- the “Got milk?” campaign to promote milk drinking in the United lated over 50 million words in 20 languages for companies such States. He wanted people to think what it would take to launch as Syngenta, BASF, Solvay and Roche. “Got translations?” But “Got milk?” didn’t work in a direct trans- The type of translation that DePalma described is defi ned with lation in other languages — it came across as “Are you lactating?” established glossaries, but if you are dealing with the world’s Enter transcreation. Siboney USA, a Spanish-language advertis- farmers, it gets more complicated. One research fi rm working for ing agency, came up with Mas leche, Mas logro — or in English, a multinational seed company sought to fi nd out farmers’ use More milk, More success. and planting of maize (corn in the United States) in Indonesia. The fi eld questionnaire was prepared in fi ve dialects of Bahasa. Agricultural and other machinery “It’s all about speaking dialects,” noted the research manager of So, we have all the inputs translated and sold, and now we the project. have to put them into the ground. I don’t know of an industry And it’s not just peasant farming where you fi nd local dialects that is further along in translation and localization than agricul- being used. A friend who runs Cactus Feeders, which feeds a tural machinery. Caterpillar was ahead of the game in machine million head of cattle a year, is invited by veterinary medicine translation (MT) and controlled English (Caterpillar Technical suppliers to travel to different parts of the world with the aim of English), and Ford New Holland and Deere & Company have introducing a cattle feeding industry there. He has been to China, brought new levels of project and content management to this South Africa, Argentina and Russia, to mention a few. sector of industry. The veterinary medicine suppliers provide an interpreter Steve Anderson is the manager of Technical Information whenever he goes. One question invariably is “What breed of Service for the Agricultural Equipment Division of Deere & Com- cattle do you feed?” With his Amarillo Texas twang he often pany. The goal is to develop a state-of-the-art, electronic-based replies, “Mostly number two oakies.” The interpreter is always technical information delivery system. Some of the metrics are perplexed in trying to translate that one. He then explains that amazing: around three million “pages,” 0.6 million PDFs, 2.1 mil- number two oakies is merely the expression they use in the main lion SGML, 5,000 SHML manuals, two million text objects and feeding area of the United States to defi ne mixed-breed cattle. three million graphics objects. Deere works in 71 countries and It’s amazing how common the term is in cattle feeding and how translates into 29 languages. unknown it is elsewhere. In a Google search, nothing came up. Deere has authoring sites in the United States, Mexico, Ger- You hire fi rms such as TippingSprung Associates to make sure many, Brazil, India and China and seems to have solved most you are understood in whatever cultural circumstance. Robert of the linguistic issues. Now, it’s a matter of getting all the parts Sprung, who ran Harvard Translations and later sold it to Lion- of the company working together. The goals of the technical bridge, is a partner in this New York-based fi rm, which uses a information program are to integrate the company and the dealer process called “cross cultural screening” to ensure that a market- infrastructure, cover all current and past products, support mul- ing approach and name works in other languages and cultures. tiple document types, deliver information to multiple hardware

36 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

35-38 Freivalds FangoLW1128.indd36 36 12/13/06 3:59:25 PM Translation Showcase

Your Polish Medical Translations Precise, Competitive and Production Center MediLingua is one of Europe’s few companies Effective Translation Since 2000, Ryszard Jarza Translations has been specializing in medical translation. We provide all providing specialized Polish translation, localization European languages (31 today and counting) and What makes One Planet different? A deep understand- Japanese as well as the usual translation-related ing of corporate culture. Our clients require accuracy, and DTP services, primarily for life sciences, IT, services. Our 100-plus translators have a combined measurable productivity and excellence in communication. automotive, refrigeration and other technology sectors. medical and language background. How can one firm specialize in areas such as high We work for manufacturers of medical devices, technology, medical products and technical manufacturing? We work with multilanguage vendors and instruments, in-vitro diagnostics and software; By blazing the path in translation since 1979, we utilize directly with documentation departments of large pharmaceutical companies; medical publishers; knowledgeable translators in the United States, Europe multinational customers. We have built a brilliant national and international medical organizations; and Asia in every field and every specialty. in-house team made up of experienced linguists and medical journals. • Technical translation and engineers, who guarantee a high standard of Call or e-mail Simon Andriesen or visit our website • Software localization quality while maintaining flexibility, responsiveness for more information. • Multilingual website development and accountability. Our customers from Ametek to Unisys like the fact MediLingua BV that we function as an extension of their teams. Poortgebouw, Rijnsburgerweg 10 Ryszard Jarza Translations 2333 AA Leiden, The Netherlands One Planet ul. Barlickiego 23/22 31-71-5680862 • Fax: 31-71-5234660 820 Evergreen Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15209 50-324 Wroclaw, Poland [email protected] 888-677-1010 • Fax: 412-632-1071 48-601-728018 • Fax: 48-71-3414441 www.medilingua.com [email protected] • www.one-planet.net [email protected] • www.jarza.com.pl

monitor platforms, support multiple languages, collapse publish- American and British English don’t even mesh well when it ing delivery time and consolidate tools. And one of the fi nancial comes to food. Few people here would eat bangers and mash goals is to reduce the time of the translation cycle and a “multi- (sausages and mashed potatoes) and order fi sh fi ngers (fi sh sticks). million-dollar reduction in annual translations cost.” And that’s for foods that we mutually eat. I’m not ready for a Deere uses a number of documentation, translation and local- scotch egg — a hard-boiled egg covered in sausage meat and deep ization suppliers including Arbortext, Merrill Brink and TRADOS, fried. But I imagine chicken fried steak, which is prevalent in the to mention a few. When Deere won a major contract to sup- American south and west, wouldn’t work in Scotland, either. ply machinery to Iraq, however, it chose Tedopres International And you have to notice where the language dictionaries are — based in The Netherlands — for the Arabic translations. published. When I fi rst heard the word garafon while in Panama, Tedopres, too, is a fi rm believer in simplifi ed English and has I consulted a Spanish–English dictionary published in London. Its been taking its mantra around the world wherever documentation defi nition of garafon: demijohn! What’s that? is being authored. Tedopres representatives give many presenta- I would have to say that US and European companies that sell tions, and they just appeared at a best-practices conference in San foods overseas have gotten much better. But according to Transper- Diego where both SDL and Idiom were also present. The company fect Translations, “companies are still not putting enough money works in many agribusiness machinery areas. One of its clients in into developing foreign-language copy.” In a June survey, 35% of Japan is Shikoku Kakor, for which it develops a simplifi ed English responders said food products are the worst offenders, and 12% program. Frans Wijma, director of language technology for Tedo- noted beverages. pres, notes, “In Japan, English remains a second language. At the But looking at the language action in China, the numbers are same time it is used as the source for translations into many other staggering. Eighty thousand US fi rms are doing business with China. languages. Simplifi ed English is the ideal solution for Japanese Some 500,000 expatriates live there, 150,000 of them Americans. companies exporting their products to the United States, Europe McDonald’s went out of its way to get its name right. The com- and Asia.” pany is known as Mai-Dang-Lao which is meant to phonetically approach the name in English. When McDonald’s was fi rst intro- Finally the frango duced in these areas, this caused some confusion because the three Now we have planted seeds, sprayed for weeds, tilled the land, Chinese symbols literally translate into wheat must labor. Another harvested and processed the food. When food gets to the consumer, name which McDonald’s used in Hong Kong was Mai Dang Nu that’s where the really interesting — and public — translations and which translates to wheat becomes slave. This name is no longer mistranslations come into play. About all you can say here is that used. McDonald’s apparently feels wheat must labor is preferable. you can’t be too careful. But while Americans struggle with Chinese characters, the West is

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35-38 Freivalds FangoLW1128.indd37 37 12/13/06 3:59:54 PM Industry Focus

suffering from bad, if not incomprehen- sible, Chinese-to-English translations. Can a business fi nd synergy in the food chain? Thousands, if not millions, of Chinese We’ve looked at the issue of globalization in different parts of the food chain and have are studying English — so much so that come to the conclusion that there is not much synergy. So, what about agribusiness itself? the Carlyle Group, which usually invests Several years ago, I got a phone call from the late Armand Hammer, at the time the in “strategic industries,” bought the Wall billionaire CEO of Occidental Petroleum, a major petroleum producer. A true capitalist and Street Institute, a language learning school character, Hammer got very, very rich when he won the exploration rights for petroleum in with 14 branches in China. Within the lan- Libya. One cross-cultural thing he did to win those rights was to scroll up the proposal and guage industry, Welocalize bought into the tie a ribbon — in Libya’s national colors — around it. He also promised to develop the Kufra action in China by buying Transco. Oasis in southern Libya for agriculture. Hammer had used his wealth to buy many businesses There are as many as 30,000 English in agriculture. Iowa Beef Processors — now part of Tyson Foods — was one. He invested in teaching schools in China, and we all know fertilizer, poultry processors, seed companies and so on. there is room for improvement as they rush Hammer wanted to meet with other people in agribusiness and see how it all fi t together. to get ready for the 2008 Olympic Games. So, I joined a group of investment bankers, stock analysts and the CEOs of his companies. We “Chingrish” is heard and seen everywhere, talked all day and concluded that although all the companies were part of the food chain, and the US television program Tonight there were no synergies either for the stock price or for the businesses. We recommended that he sell them off and concentrate on petroleum — which he eventually did. — John Freivalds Show with Jay Leno includes a regular feature on bad Chinese food packaging writing errors. But, in all fairness, how in use, and on my fi rst visit, I saw that the The company has translated and many Westerners know even one character dinner menu led off with ǺȍǿǼ (meat). prints more than 72 million menus into in Chinese? I know only ten. When I asked the waiter if it were chicken, 54 languages each year, and they have pork, lamb or number two oakie, he just been doing this since 1962. O’Sullivan has The world of menus shrugged. Later, I learned that camel, don- offi ces and plants in the United States and One fi rm that seems to revel in the chaos key, horse and other animals had entered the United Kingdom. Its resources are years of multilingual food packaging, label- the food chain. Since I was to be in Almaty in “culinary translating” and more than ing and meal translations in Chinese and for a long stretch of time, I never asked 1,400 culinary reference volumes. One many other languages is O’Sullivan Menu again and just enjoyed whatever was challenge is that chefs like to use French Publishing. This is the niche translation brought. But I did use a lot of A.1. sauce. or Italian expressions, which are diffi cult business at the end of the “food chain.” O’Sullivan Communications had to be to transcribe into Japanese or Chinese. My favorite cross-cultural menu experi- more discriminating in preparing its menu. And many languages are not supported in ence was in Almaty, Kazakhstan, a decade If you fl y in the United States, there is no QuarkXPress. Arabic, Chinese and Japa- ago. The Dostyk was the best hotel in town. need for menus, but on international fl ights nese are done in a different system from Although the Kazak language was making airlines still compete on the basis of their other languages. a comeback, Russian was and still is much service, be it SAS or Singapore Airlines. The company now is leveraging what it has learned to move into broader areas of international communications. So, instead of just going to trade shows such as airline We are serious about and catering associations, O’Sullivan may show up at globalization conferences. your success. They know about deadlines. As project manager Adriana Marton says, “When the plane takes off, the menu has to be on it.” McElroy can address your business objectives at all levels of responsibility, Future food and agribusiness from global strategic planning to For many years in the food business, resource management to the most companies developed products for the US market and did very little to change technical details of localization. them for international markets. Much of that has changed with the realization that food is personal, and agriculture is the most basic industry there is. That food is personal is clear from the reaction to genetic engineering. The McElroy Translation increased alarm of local sensibilities has fi ltered down to the translation and local- Call us for more information. ization efforts in the food industry, and the US & Canada: 800-531-9977 same realization has come about in basic International: +1 512-472-6753 agriculture. The farmer — or agribusiness- www.mcelroytranslation.com person — must be spoken to in a language that he or she can understand. M

38 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

35-38 Freivalds FangoLW1128.indd38 38 12/13/06 6:15:31 PM Business Business metrics for language companies Huiping Iler

When it comes to running a business, no one When Welocalize took over, all that changed. “At Welocalize, will deny that passion is a good thing, but passion everything is numbers based. Everybody’s time has a price tag,” alone does not make a successful business. Cold, said Pellet, who now serves as the company’s vice president. hard numbers may not be as sexy, but they are During a recent project, for instance, one engineer was able W to complete a task in two hours by writing a macro when the just as important. Just ask Andre Pellet, former budget was twenty hours. “He got a nice bonus — a percentage owner and president of M2 Limited. Pellet, who of the budget minus the actual — and everybody, including the ran the localization company that his parents client and management, was very happy,” said Pellet. started 27 years ago, had his eyes opened when Reliability of numbers his company was acquired by a com- So what exactly is the “management by numbers” petitor, Welocalize. He had always How can we approach? How can we complement the passion we been passionate about his business bring to our businesses with numbers management? complement the Are gut feelings not enough? and often went above and beyond Gut feelings are valuable, but they are not the call of duty just to appease his passion we bring always reliable. The only thing that is reliable is customers. Business metrics was not to our businesses cold, hard numbers. Without them, you could be his strong point. marching passionately in an entirely wrong direc- with numbers tion. Insurance companies, for example, live or die “Many language company owners like myself by the number of risks they insure. Is a wooden are passionate about our businesses,” says Pellet management? building a higher risk to insure than a brick one? during a panel discussion at this year’s Localiza- Your intuition may tell you yes, but data from tion World conference held in Montréal, Canada. actual claims proves just the opposite. “We love helping our customers, and we will hold their hands Numbers, or metrics as they are often called, bring logic and when we need to. But sometimes we do this at our own peril. clarity to decision making. They also help set clear goals and Sometimes we don’t realize just how much the handholding is reward progress, as well as point everybody on a team in the costing our business.” And that’s where business metrics come same direction. Smith Yewell, president and CEO of Welocalize, in handy. Pellet said M2 Limited’s top ten customers accounted says it was clear from the moment he started the company that for nearly 80% of the company’s revenue, a common scenario some key business metrics had to be in place. at many localization fi rms. It was the handholding of the other “It was obvious to me that without disciplined measurement, 20% that was killing the company. it is pretty hard to make decisions,” he said. Yewell, who served as a fi eld artillery offi cer stationed in Wurzburgfi eld, Germany, says Huiping Iler is the president of WTB Language that his army training infl uenced how he conducts business. “The Group, a translation service based in Ottawa, army has the best leadership training you can get anywhere,” Canada. A native of China, Huiping has lived in said Yewell. “Focusing on standards and metrics and applying Canada since 1995 and writes about language that to decision-making are very much a part of army training.” business-related issues, search engine marketing Yewell also worked in pharmaceutical sales for three years, an and cross-cultural web usability. industry where he claims the sales training was “top notch.”

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39-41 Biz metrics Iler.indd 39 12/13/06 6:17:57 PM Business

What to measure their salary, add things such as employer What kind of things can we measure taxes, benefi ts, offi ce rent divided by the in the language industry? “We look at number of employees. Don’t forget train- key performance indicators,” says Yewell. ing cost if they go to seminars or attend Events “We also look at key fi nancial metrics conferences. You add all these up, and down to particular service offerings, par- you will know how much per hour each ticular projects — all aspects of our busi- employee costs,” he said. ness. We then grade our performance both Comparing the ratio between billable internally and externally.” According to and un-billable hours is also a good Yewell, customer satisfaction should be gauge in the effi ciency of your business. Managing Global Websites one of the fi rst things to focus on for all “In many large law fi rms, your billable and eCommerce Conference companies. Many localization companies hour percentage has to reach a certain are already doing that and use the survey target before you can be considered for a results in their advertising. For example, partnership,” he explains. MANAGEMENT Portland, Oregon-based Lingo Systems Another useful metric is new-to-old cli- quotes customer satisfaction data in its ent ratio. Sid Saleh, a marketing consultant marketing collateral. based in Boulder, Colorado, says repeat cli- But what about internal operational ents are an important measure of customer ROUNDTABLE metrics? “Gross margin is extremely satisfaction. “If you are not developing Localization important to the company,” says Yewell. ongoing relationships,” says Saleh, “you Management Roundtable “We analyze that at the project level and are spending too much time and money also at the account level. It is spread over on fi nding new clients. But you also don’t a period of time just to make sure that we want to be locked up by a few clients who are earning a certain target margin. If we monopolize all your resources.” are not, we need to understand why that According to Saleh, a ratio of 1:1 is is. Is it because we scoped the projects healthy. You are doing well if, for each incorrectly? Is it because we are not effi - new project from a new client, you have cient enough? Is it because we need inno- one from a repeat client. The numbers Internationalization vation in our process to improve certain approach can also be applied to activities Roundtable things? Or is it because, frankly, there is related to fi nding new customers. One too much pricing pressure from the client common metric is measuring cost per and we just cannot operate profi tably?” lead. Take the total cost for a marketing He adds that company managers take all initiative such as advertising in a trade this information into account and review journal and divide it by the number of the numbers — and every time a project calls or e-mails you receive from this Seminars is completed, the company looks at the source. The result is what is called cost budget versus the actual cost. per lead. “One of the more successful “We look at quarterly numbers, marketing activities is our annual golf monthly numbers,” Yewell says. “We tournament,” says Yewell. “The results of tie those to our staff, and we also com- that are measured through the leads we municate some of this information to generate and the closure rate on those our clients so that everybody’s expecta- leads. So you can mathematically calcu- Certification Program tions are in line. Roles, responsibilities, late our return on investment.” expectations and standards then all start to click together. The result is that you Toolbox for measuring have a happy client, and you have got Once you have determined what a successful and fi nancially healthy numbers to measure, you must look company.” deeply at the records you keep to fi nd Other than gross margins, additional the numbers to analyze your business. Localization World metrics can be used to measure the oper- The idea may seem a bit intimidating at ational and fi nancial health of a com- fi rst, but Yewell says it’s not as diffi cult pany, according to Ray Pearmain, a as one might think. “Fundamentally,” The management consultant based in Ottawa, he says, “it begins with discipline and Canada. A graduate of the Wharton time tracking. It is hard to get an entire Localization School of Business, Pearmain has been company to be disciplined about doing advising his clients on how to improve that. People have to track their time. Institute operational effi ciency for more than 20 There are categories of time. Some are 4513 Vernon Boulevard, Suite 11 years. Pearmain says you should have a billable categories; some are not bill- Madison,WI 53705 USA clear understanding of how much your able categories. Employees have to be Phone 608.233.1790 employees’ cost is to your business. “Take disciplined in the way they assign their Fax 608.441.6124 www.localizationinstitute.com 40 [email protected] | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

39-41 Biz metrics Iler.indd 40 12/13/06 4:01:25 PM Business

hours into the categories. We calculate Clear expectations attract understand where they fi t and that they our numbers by summing the totals. The and retain employees are contributing to the company.” hard part is to get everybody to do it. In an environment where the manage- After that, it is automatic because the ment is crunching all kinds of numbers Use the data to make system does it.” and employees are busy time tracking, decisions with clarity Many law and accounting practices is there a danger that people are losing Once equipped with key business data, track time by ten-minute intervals. They their creativity? you must act. Data in itself is useless unless keep detailed records for phone calls and Not so, according to Yewell. He thinks it leads to informed decisions. “The hardest e-mails to support their billing. A good clear expectations help employees in decisions we make that are based on these practice is to update a time tracking record their work: “Organizations are very numbers involve looking at our client base,” once a day while one’s memory is fresh. healthy when roles, responsibilities, Yewell says. “We look at our accounts, and expectations and standards are clear and we scrutinize those in a very candid way. Time to measure time well understood. It is when those are not What kind of gross margin did this account One of the dangers of taking this clear that people run into problems, and generate throughout the year?” approach is that you may end up they leave.” If an account has fallen below target spending too much time on getting the levels, the company is active in determin- numbers. In that case, the expense may ing why this has happened. If it’s decided outweigh the benefi ts. Organizations are very that pricing pressure is the culprit, the “That is where most companies run company will have a heart-to-heart talk into problems,” says Yewell. “The fi rst healthy when roles, with the client. Sometimes this results in thing you have to do is have an underly- letting the client go. “You’ve got to be ing system that will give you those num- responsibilities, expectations fi nancially healthy in order to continue bers. I did not start with it right out of and standards are to have a strong company,” says Yewell. the gate, and getting the numbers took too much time. That is when we started clear and well understood. Conclusion to push for some automation.” As the saying goes, you cannot man- Welocalize uses Microsoft Project Server age what you cannot measure. Passion- and Microsoft Solomon Accounting sys- He points out that his company has fi lled company owners in the language tem, which are integrated with each other. a performance compensation program industry need to manage their companies The company also has its own workfl ow which involves the entire company. If the well in order to achieve sustained success. system, which is on a SQL database so that fi nancial metrics and key performance Business metrics are the compass on the it can communicate with the other systems. indicators are met, then employees journey. They are good tools to assist in “We can pull information from projects, receive a performance compensation on the decision-making process. Don’t rely fi nance and resourcing to get backlog pipe- a quarterly basis. “It is very important,” on gut feelings alone, and don’t let pas- line utilization, resource availability and tie he adds, “to have key indicators well sion blind you from the importance of all those together,” says Yewell. identifi ed and measured so that people cold, hard numbers. M

www.multilingual.com January/February 2007 MultiLingual | 41

39-41 Biz metrics Iler.indd 41 12/13/06 4:01:41 PM 42 Star ad #85.indd 42 12/13/06 6:00:13 PM Business Best practices in vendor management Sylke Denfeld

Vendor selection, vendor per- are going to work with them for formance evaluation and track- long periods of time. However, ing, and vendor development they should not act on behalf of — or substitute themselves for — a Vare widely recognized as pillars dedicated vendor manager. Good of any successful localization vendor management relies on practice. Vendor management clear and transparent communication within the company, as well is, however, sometimes reduced as with the clients and vendors to frantic fi refi ghting due to themselves. time constraints and exces- sive administrative procedures. Vendor selection Our fast-moving industry means This article is intended to help we have to constantly anticipate. prevent arbitrary measures or Project lead times are generally randomly executed procedures, short and do not allow for proper and illustrates vendor manage- recruitment. When starting work with new clients, new product lines, ment best practices for a mid- new language pairs or unplanned sized localization company. projects, we cannot necessarily call on existing resources that may Vendor management should apply to already be assigned elsewhere, or all outsourced services, including desktop be insuffi ciently qualifi ed. The publishing (DTP), engineering and multi- purpose of vendor selection is to media activities, but also review, testing create and develop a pool of new and technical writing. This article focuses referenced resources that are ready A sample page from a vendor management database. on translation since it is our most fre- and prepared to start at any time. quently outsourced task. Vendor selection does not mean simply “looking for new Vendor management needs to be centralized. Project man- translators,” choosing from among several thousand transla- agers (PMs) like to choose their translators, especially if they tors listed in various databases or advertising on the internet. For vendor management to be effi cient, it must adhere to the company’s global strategy and anticipate future needs. A well- organized selection process should start with a defi nition of Sylke Denfeld, vendor manager at WHP, has more the business areas, subject matters, main language combina- than 12 years of localization experience in the tions and types of services that need to be covered. industry as a linguist, team lead, language group During the selection process, translators pass various stages manager, project manager and vendor manager. before being authorized to work on a project. Proceeding from

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43-46 Vendor mgmt SylkeD.indd 43 12/13/06 4:05:33 PM Business

If considered suitable, candidates are granted access to the “antechamber database” to enter their details. These details include general contact details and specifi c information on qualifi cations, services offered, available capacities, subject matter expertise, tools used and technical setup. At this stage, the vendor’s selection status is “candidate.” Depending on the strategic focus, potential candidates will then move on to the third step in the selection process. A minimum of three and a maximum of fi ve client references are checked using a set of tailored questions, weighted according to their importance for the potential assignation. At this stage, the vendor’s selection status is “checking references.” A vendor performance assessment page in the vendor management database. During the next step, the translator will “candidate” to “approved,” the successful vendor will even- be tested. By now, the vendor manager should have an idea tually be admitted for a probationary period. The selection of the candidate’s potential assignment to one or more spe- process may last several weeks, and a vendor manager may cialist subjects, for example, enterprise software, general IT, have dozens of candidates at various stages. medical marketing, or legal texts. Depending on these assign- Due to the large amount of data stored during this selec- ments, the vendor will either receive a simple translation test tion process, the use of an effi cient database is vital. As well to verify general translation quality or more complex tests as providing each candidate’s that will also test the candi- status classifi cation, the data- date’s reactivity, perceptive- base should make it possible to ness, professional attitude, produce analytical reports on technical experience and so each translator. Some of the on. Review criteria are based data also should be accessible on the LISA QA model. to PMs. Tests, however, have a lim- Most translators use the ited value. Not only can they be internet to promote their ser- manipulated, but they are also vices, but good translators are never performed under pressure. selective. There are various ways Linguistic quality alone is only to attract them: at exhibitions part of the complex require- and conferences; through rec- ments inherent in a working ommendations from employees relationship. Tests serve more or fellow translators; via a good as a fi lter. Poor results will website, articles or publicity in This graph provides visual support for vendor performance analysis. defi nitely eliminate the can- professional magazines. didate, while positive results Maintaining a network of contacts in universities and profes- will promote the candidate to the fi ve-project trial period. sional organizations gives a company sustained high visibility. Translators who fail the test will need to wait at least one year WHP receives an average of 10-15 unsolicited applications each to re-apply. week. Nevertheless, specifi c language combinations and subject During the fi fth step of the selection process, administrative matters require special searching via dedicated databases or and fi nancial matters will be discussed. Prices for the vari- translator association portals. ous project types (documentation, software, legal, marketing, The fi rst step in the selection process is based on available hourly rates and so on) will be negotiated openly to avoid documentation concerning the candidate (résumé, cover letter, any future ad hoc discussions. Nondisclosure and frame agree- references, endorsement and so on). A checklist containing ments will be signed. At this stage, the vendor selection status the required criteria or profi le should always include native will be price negotiations and nondisclosure agreements. speaker competency; formal education or training as a trans- Once this fi nal step has been successfully completed, the translator, with suffi cient experience in the required business areas, lator is pre-approved and enters a probationary period spanning as well as other project requirements; expertise with transla- fi ve projects. The candidate will achieve the fi nal approved status tion memory (TM) tools; and a familiarity with the various fi le only upon successful completion of this phase. Over the course of formats to be handled. these projects, the translator will be scrutinized. Only translators Obtaining additional information by telephone or e-mail with pre-approved or approved status are visible to PMs in the during this pre-selection phase may provide further details database when searching for new resources. about the candidate’s general communication skills and busi- Active vendor selection provides a buffer of potential trans- ness experience: Is the candidate responsive? Does he or she lators, ready to start whenever needed. Although we favor have a professional attitude? long-term assignments in which the same translation team works

44 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

43-46 Vendor mgmt SylkeD.indd 44 12/13/06 4:05:51 PM Business

for the same client or product line for many years, we need to be prepared for emergencies: large fl uctua- tions in volumes, new client requests (language pairs or subject matters), specifi c tool expertise, or the replace- ment of defi cient translators. Vendor performance tracking and evaluation As soon as translators start This series of graphs allows vendor comparison. working for you, no matter how long they have been in activity, they represents an important improvement Multilevel linguistic should be evaluated. All data collected over conventional vendor management, quality assurance for the vendor performance tracking and where control mechanisms were limited All translations delivered to the com- evaluation process should be kept in the to samples and were therefore neither sys- pany are proofread by the translator; same fi le, along with the information tematic nor particularly representative. cross-reviewed in teams (mostly virtual gathered during the vendor selection All results are grouped by translator to teams working on the same project); process. establish an annual rating of the transla- and read by an independent third-party Our PMs will evaluate every single tor’s performance on a scale from 1 to 5. reviewer provided by the client or by task performed on each project, based on The vendor performance tracking and WHP if required by the client, and if three criteria: task quality — for example, evaluation process reveals the services time and pricing conditions allow. the linguistic or functional quality of the and benefi ts a translator can bring, and In addition to this three-tier system, a actual work produced; service quality serves to establish the best possible client- regular statistical sampling is scheduled — includes responsiveness, troubleshoot- translator match. It shows whether a for all translators who exceed a volume ing capabilities, communication, profes- translator contributes to the overall suc- of nnn words/year, where nnn depends sional attitude, proactiveness and so on; cess of a project, or whether he or she on the client, subject matter and project and adherence to deadlines. could or should be re-assigned to other type. Furthermore, PMs can request QA The PM will estimate if the value should accounts where he or she would bring on the work of any of their translators be Exceeds, Meets or Below Expectations greater added value as a result of his or whenever necessary. The reviewers are (see illustration). This information will her specifi c expertise. It also highlights independent and have a special reviewer later be compared to client feedback and specifi c needs, such as training on new contract to avoid confl icts of interest. logged with the project and the vendor products, technologies or tools, and They perform the actual QAs without record. serves to defi ne a targeted response to knowing the translator, and the translator The default entry is Meets Expecta- these needs, for example, providing sup- is not aware of the control. The statisti- tions, which is by far the most common port, information or training. cal QA is compliant with ISO 9001:2000 evaluation. The default entry allows The overall rating results are used to certifi cation. for faster evaluation by PMs managing establish a translator ranking, which may large teams that may deliver more than lead to a change of assignment or ulti- Vendor development 10,000 tasks per year. The PM is never- mately to a translator’s exclusion. While Vendor development reveals the theless prompted to confi rm or change this has not happened to date, it would be fi nal logic inherent in vendor manage- the entry to Below or Exceeds Expecta- possible if any serious professional mis- ment. The aim of vendor development tions including a short comment. conduct were revealed at this stage. is to create stable relationships with our Automated statistic processing of this data allows for constant monitoring of the translator’s performance. A performance report including fi gures and graphics will show variations. If quality decreases, we will immediately contact the translators to fi nd out the reason: Did they accept too much work? Are they having diffi culties with particular project requirements? Did they delegate the job to someone else without informing us? By taking action at a very early stage, potential problems can usually be remedied without any noticeable disturbance to the project’s overall fl ow. The introduction of automated data processing and tracking mechanisms Reviewers conduct blind QA tests of translation vendors’ projects using this form.

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external translators based on clear expectations, mutual trust We consider external teams (such as translators) and internal and confi dence, and sharing of information. teams (employees and onsite contractors) as being part of the This approach involves practical measures such as ongoing same company. A translator approved for a certain client will support and training; technology transfer; supported setup of be assigned to this client until he or she requests a change. teams; and an automated purchase order Although the reasons for this are obvious and invoicing process. (maximum effi ciency, improved quality, Based on the results of the vendor A new client-translator reduced cost), unfortunately this practice evaluation and performance tracking, we relationship requires is far from common in our industry. can identify potential needs and provide A new client-translator relationship the appropriate training, tools, macros time and mutual requires time and mutual investment. or process improvements, which may be investment. The learning curve can be shortened, either general or project-related. but never avoided. Changing translators Translators need to keep up with tech- The learning curve frequently implies additional cost and nological changes. We encourage the use effort and incurs loss of time and quality. of new technologies, such as webcasting can be shortened, For these reasons, we strongly object to or voice over internet protocol telephony but never avoided. “vendor swapping” or its fi nal form, “job to improve communication without rais- auctioning,” which seems to have become ing related costs. We also help and sup- increasingly popular for low-level job port the teaming up of freelancers by offering higher workloads assignments. Our prices are agreed on upfront and are never to virtual groups, and strengthening existing relationships. As a used to put translators in competition with one other. result, availability and continuity are improved, which in return has a positive impact on quality and cost. Plans and developments Our automated purchase order and invoicing system ensures Our current plans are centered on two objectives. First is a a reliable payment cycle of 30-45 days maximum after invoic- vendor portal allowing subcontractors to access personal data, ing. Purchase orders (POs) are based on a standardized fi le project-related information and general information such as analysis (using TRADOS, for example). The PO is then generated reference material, TMs, terminology, style guides, Q&A data automatically and details the tasks, word count, unit and overall and so on. The portal should dramatically reduce e-mail com- prices. It has a unique ID. Once the job has been delivered and munication and free up project management time. approved, which usually happens within 24 hours, the invoice Second, we seek to add more precise availability and work- authorization (IA) is automatically prepared on the basis of the load indications to our vendor database. On a voluntary basis, PO and then sent to the translator. The translator simply cuts translators will be able to directly enter their current and and pastes the IA data on his or her letterhead and then returns future capacity and availability. it by mail. Payments are made twice a month. The entire system Finally, we are working on a best vendor program to reward is error-free and transparent for all parties. It makes payments the ongoing excellence of our best collaborators. We would of jobs easily traceable and avoids almost all administrative like to formally acknowledge the efforts behind outstanding work for the translator. performance, as this is the driving force in our industry. M

46 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

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Multilingual DTP: Japanese line breaks Philipp Strazny & Tim Nishimura

Any text document consists of content and layout. The document translation process aims at recreating a document in the target language Athat is equivalent to the source document in both content and layout. Thus, the document translation process has two main subprocesses: content translation and layout adjustment. Content translation must be — and since this is apparent to most people, it generally is — performed by native speakers of the target language. The situation is different in the case of layout adjustments. Modern translation tools are so good at extracting the translatable text portions from source documents while protecting the non-translatable formatting elements that layout adjustments may not even be needed. This is typically the case for the translation of web formats such as HTML or XML. Since web layout is rather fl uid, with a large part of the actual presentation controlled by the web browser, it is generally suffi cient to simply replace the source with the target text. If the goal is to produce translated print documents, however, the translated text often has to be forced into a predetermined, fi xed layout. Due to time constraints, cost considerations or other logistic factors, desktop publishers often fi nd themselves confronted with the task of touching up a document of which they are unable to read a single word. Figure 1: A page from www.e-gov.go.jp Although one may deplore this situation as a violation of best showing left-to-right, top-down layout. practice, it is nevertheless common enough to warrant treatment as an integral part of the translation process. As such, it requires sup- know, Japanese books are traditionally read from right to left, in port material to help non-readers in their layout adjustment task. a top-to-bottom column format, but scientifi c and technical pub- In this issue, we will look at Japanese. The fi rst concern a lications, including user manuals for hardware and software, are desktop publisher may have is text directionality. As many people always written left to right in the same format as English documents. The web appears to be spreading this Philipp Strazny is a localization specialist at The Geo Group format still further (see Figure 1 for a sample and editor of The Encyclopedia of Linguistics (2004). from a Japanese government website). Thus, when English-language technical documen- Tim Nishimura, whose fi rst career was in business, tation is translated into Japanese, the source has translated many technical documents text should simply be replaced with Japanese, for The Geo Group and other clients. and the document layout should stay as is.

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47-48 MLDTP.indd 47 12/13/06 4:08:40 PM Languages

When space is tight in print documentation, it is often neces- ヨラリルレロワャュョィェォンガギグゲゴザジズゼゾダヂヅデ sary to adjust line breaks manually. For a non-reader, Japanese ドバビブベボパピプペポヴ text appears daunting at fi rst glance, since words are often not separated by spaces. However, written Japanese has a number Katakana are used for transcribing foreign words and names. of surface characteristics that can provide useful guidance. In some cases, as in product names or entity names, Japanese First, Japanese uses punctuation marks to delimit sentences also uses Western script, and Arabic numbers are commonly (period: 。), subclauses (comma: 、) and insertions (parentheses). used in Japanese just as in English. Thus, just as in English, it is always safe to insert a line break Since these fairly easily distinguishable symbol sets are used after a period, or a comma or a closing parenthesis, or before an for such different purposes, it is possible to make some useful opening parenthesis. When foreign words are transcribed into generalizations for basic layout adjustments. Japanese script, spaces are indicated either with the ・ character Q Try not to separate adjacent kanji symbols — that is, adja- or a one-byte space. Inserting a line break immediately after cent kanji should stay together as much as possible. However, this dot character or the space is acceptable. when a long series of kanji (three or more) extends beyond the The Japanese writing system uses three different sets of charac- line limit, you may separate them. ters, each one for a specifi c purpose. Chinese characters called kanji Q Fewer than three adjacent hiragana and adjacent katakana are used to convey concepts or word meaning; they are logographic should always stay together. Any series of three or more hira- symbols. Thus, kanji carry the main meaning of Japanese texts. gana or katakana characters can generally be separated. The Kanji are fairly easy to recognize, since most of these symbols look only exception is a character combination that forms a single fairly intricate, for example, 控訴審判決. Since Japanese uses syllable. These character combinations, however, are also easily many hundred kanji, a complete listing is impractical. identifi able, as the second and third characters are smaller in size Hiragana are symbols of Japanese origin that form a syl- than the fi rst one, for example, チェッ, ちぇっ, タッ or たっ. Fur- labary. This means that, like English letters, each symbol stands thermore, the long vowel sign ー that is attached to hiragana or for a speech sound rather than a word meaning. However, while katakana — should never be separated from the preceding char- English letters generally represent a single sound, hiragana rep- acters because this sign constitutes a part of the same syllable. resent a whole syllable. This is the complete set of hiragana: Q Never separate kanji/katakana/Western script from immediately following hiragana. あいうえおかきくけこさしすせそたちつてとなにぬねのはひ Q Never separate Arabic numerals from immediately follow- ふへほまみむめもやゆよらりるれろわゐゑをんがぎぐげござ ing kanji. じずぜぞだぢづでどばびぶべぼぱぴぷぺぽゃゅょ Q You can separate Arabic numerals from immediately following hiragana/katakana/Western script. Hiragana are used to represent grammatical information Q You can separate hiragana from immediately following — that is, they roughly correspond to English prepositions, con- kanji/katakana/Western script/Arabic numerals. junctions and similar function words. Hiragana are generally Q You can separate katakana from immediately following attached at the end of a word — that is, hiragana typically form kanji/Western script/Arabic numerals. a unit with preceding kanji. Q You can separate kanji from immediately following Katakana look like an “edgier” form of Hiragana: katakana/Western script/Arabic numerals. Q You can separate Western script from immediately follow- コサシスセソタチツテトナニヌネノハヒフヘホマミムメモヤユ ing kanji/katakana/Arabic numerals. M

In this sample text, all kanji are shown in blue, katakana in light blue, hiragana in green. 神奈川県の米軍厚木基地内の工事を巡り、談合により入札価格が不当につり上げられたとして、米政府が日本の建設会社など１３社に総額約６億８０００万円の損害賠償を求めた訴訟の控訴審判決が５日、東京高裁であった。テニス・ＡＩＧオープン第４日（５日・有明テニスの森公園＝ＡＩＧグループ特別協賛、読売新聞社後援）――男子シングルス３回戦は、世界ランク１位のロジャー・フェデラー（スイス）が、昨年優勝のウェスリー・ムーディ（南アフリカ）を圧倒し、８強入り。 Here is the same text again, with # inserted to mark possible line breaks.

神奈川県の#米軍厚木基地内の#工事を#巡り、#談合により#入札価格が#不当につり#上げら#れた#として、# 米政府が#日本の#建設会社など#１３社に#総額約#６億#８０００万円の# 損害#賠償を#求めた#訴訟の#控訴審判決が#５日、#東京高裁で#あった。# テニス・#ＡＩＧ#オープン#第#４日#（５日・#有明#テニスの#森公園＝ＡＩＧ#グループ# 特別#協賛、#読売新聞社後援）#―男子#シング#ルス#３回戦は、#世界#ランク#１位の# ロジャー・#フェ#デラー#（スイス）#が#、昨年優勝の#ウェス#リー・#ムーディ#（南# アフリカ）#を#圧倒し、#８強入り。#

48 | MultiLingual January/February 2007 [email protected]

47-48 MLDTP.indd 48 12/13/06 4:09:04 PM Tech Multilingual speech processing challenges and solutions Tanja Schultz & Katrin Kirchhoff

In the past decade, the performance of automatic speech processing systems, including Challenges speech recognition, text and speech translation, What is the current status of multilingual speech technology? and speech synthesis, has improved dramatically. The availability of speech technology for different languages I closely mirrors the level of research effort and funding in dif- This has resulted in an increasingly widespread ferent countries over the past two or three decades. Out of all use of speech and language technologies in a languages, English has probably had the largest share in speech wide variety of applications, such as commer- technology research and development (R&D). This is not only due cial information retrieval systems, voice-oper- to the amount of research funding in English-speaking countries, but also due to the fact that early efforts towards standardiza- ated cell phones and car navigation systems, tion of language resources concentrated on the English language. personal dictation and translation assistance, Another factor is the impact of benchmark evaluations in a range as well as applications in military and security of different speech processing applications organized by the US domains. National Institute for Standards and Technology. These evaluations have been held annually since the early 1990s and regularly One of the most important trends in present-day speech tech- attract non-US participants. Large R&D efforts also exist for nology is the need to support multiple input and output languages, major European and Asian languages, such as German, French, especially if applications are intended for international markets or Chinese, or Japanese. linguistically diverse user communities. As a result, new models When trying to determine which languages are going to play and algorithms are required that support, for instance, the simul- a signiﬁ cant role in speech processing for the foreseeable future, taneous recognition of mixed-language input, the generation of the most important predictors are the number of speakers, the output in the appropriate language, or the accurate translation economic potential of the countries where those languages are from one language to another. The challenge of rapidly adapting spoken, and the information technology needs of the population. existing speech processing systems to new languages is currently Clearly, the level of speech technology will never be the same one of the major bottlenecks in the development of multilingual for all languages; commercial developers of speech technology speech technology. will only invest in a given language when there is the prospect This article gives a brief overview of the state-of-the-art of of investment return, which in turn depends on market demands multilingual speech processing, summarizes the major challenges and cost effectiveness. and presents possible solutions. Two main topics are addressed: the challenges for current speech processing models posed by different languages Tanja Schultz is associate director of the Inter- and the feasibility of sharing data and system national Center for Advanced Communication components across languages and dialects of Technologies at Carnegie Mellon University. related types. In addition, the article surveys Katrin Kirchhoff is a research assistant signiﬁ cant ongoing research programs as well as professor in the electrical engineering trends, prognoses and open research issues. department at the University of Washington.

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Based on purely economic consider- estimates rather than precise counts. or third-language speakers. According ations, it is probably safe to say that current Generally, the number of languages in to the Ethnologue, 5% of the world’s “mainstream” languages will continue to be the world is estimated to be between languages are spoken by 94% of the of major interest to speech researchers and 4,000 and 8,000. The most recent edition world’s population, whereas the remain- developers and that Asian and Southeast of the Ethnologue, a database describing ing 95% are distributed over only 6% of Asian languages will become increasingly more important. However, speech technol- Speakers Speakers ogy research has much to contribute even # Language # Language to those languages that do not fall into this (in Millions) (in Millions) category. First, languages with a relatively 1 Mandarin Chinese 867.2 11 Wu Chinese 77.2 small number of speakers and few lin- 2 Spanish 322.3 12 Javanese 75.6 guistic resources may suddenly become of interest for military reasons or because of 3 English 309.4 13 Telugu 69.7 a catastrophic event requiring international 4 Arabic 206.0 14 Marathi 68.0 rescue efforts, such as the 2004 tsunami 5 Hindi 180.8 15 Vietnamese 67.4 in Southeast Asia. Second, a large number of languages are in danger of becoming 6 Portuguese 177.5 16 Korean 67.0 extinct, but ongoing projects for preserving 7 Bengali 171.1 17 Tamil 66.0 them could benefi t from speech technology. 8 Russian 145.0 18 French 64.8 Yet, at the time of writing, state-of-the-art speech technology is not even available 9 Japanese 122.4 19 Italian 61.5 for the 20 most widely spoken languages 10 German 95.4 20 Urdu 60.5 in the world (Table 1). If speech processing systems could be ported to new languages Table 1: The 20 most widely spoken languages in the world, according rapidly and at a reasonable cost, speech to the number of fi rst-language speakers (Gordon, 2005). applications could be made available for a much larger number of languages. all known living languages, lists 6,912 the population. Asia and Africa have the known living languages, a classifi cation largest number of languages, while the Language characteristics established based on mutual intelligibil- most widely distributed languages are and peculiarities ity and ethnolinguistic identity. those of Asia and Europe. How many languages exist in the Table 1 shows the number of speakers When building speech processing world? The perhaps surprising answer for the 20 most widely spoken languages systems, various challenges can occur at is that the exact number is not known; — note that this only includes fi rst- different linguistic levels. These include any published fi gures only represent language speakers, not second-language differences in: Q sound system — for example, small, simple systems versus those that contain complex consonantal clusters, diph- thongs and triphthongs, as well as word discrimination systems using tone, stress or duration; Q writing system, such as logographic scripts (Hanzi, Kanji) versus segmental (Roman, Cyrillic), syllabic (Devanagari), or featural (Hangul, Kana) phonographic scripts; complications such as those posed by the Semitic writing systems (Arabic, Hebrew) that mostly omit long vowels; and, fi nally, languages without any written form at all; Q the relationship between sound and writing system, that is, the ease of map- ping letters to sounds and thus generating pronunciations; Q word segmentation system, that is, languages such as Chinese, Japanese and Thai that lack a segmentation of sentence- level character strings into individual words and thus require pre-processing to extract units suitable for text and speech processing;

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Q morphology — contrasting languages writing system. The lack of a standard- themselves with the language or train with a very rich morphology (Korean, ized written form signifi cantly hinders an unskilled language expert. Social and Turkish, German) with languages having a web-based harvesting of large text cor- cultural aspects may further complicate small number of derivative forms (English) pora, automatic text processing, or the the process — for example, native speak- or no derivation at all (Chinese). The mor- construction of pronunciation dictionar- ers may not wish to have their voices phological structure has a large impact on ies and lexicons. To enable speech pro- recorded — or communication between the vocabulary growth within a language cessing for Arabic dialects, for example, native informants and non-native devel- and thus on the out-of-vocabulary rate. writing systems had to be standardized, opers may be diffi cult. We have also Each of these factors — as well as and transcribers had to be trained to experienced an interesting intercultural several other factors not discussed here, apply them consistently. This procedure issue: native speakers may be eager to such as syntax or word usage — may have has been used, for example, in recent US help but are reluctant to identify fl aws a large impact on model quality, as well government-funded projects for Egyptian in the system. Consequently, one of the as on the amount of resources, time and Arabic, Pashto and Iraqi Arabic. central issues in building systems for new effort needed for system development. languages is to bridge the gap between Gap between language language and technology expertise. Algorithms and and technology expertise lack of resources With a suitable amount of data and Solutions For more than 20 years speech rec- well-defi ned standards, the development How can we bridge this gap between ognition has been dominated by statis- of speech processing components might be language and technology expertise? How tically-based modeling schemes, such considered to be a rather straight forward can we accelerate the process of learning as Hidden Markov Models (HMM) and task. However, it turns out to be surpris- and teaching? And how can we over- n-gram language models. Both modeling ingly time-intensive and cost-intensive to come the ever-existing problem of data schemes have turned out to be very suc- build well-performing speech processing sparseness? cessful in speech recognition despite their systems for new languages. As pointed Rapid language adaptation. At pres- limitations. Recently, statistical models out above, this is partly due to language- ent, the standard way of building a speech have also become the predominant para- specifi c peculiarities, but another reason application for a new language still is to digm in speech synthesis and machine is the lack of language experts, especially collect a sizable training corpus and to train translation. for low-density languages. statistical models for the new language The core algorithms applied in statisti- The “TransTac 100-day challenge,” a from scratch. Considering the enormous cal modeling are mostly language inde- current US government project on rapid number of languages and dialects in the pendent and have indeed proven to work development of an English-Iraqi Arabic world, this is clearly a suboptimal strategy, reasonably well for a variety of languages. speech translation system, revealed that which highlights the need for more sophis- On the fl ip side, statistical modeling the most crucial factor for timely devel- ticated modeling techniques. relies heavily on vast amounts of train- opment was the lack of language and It would be desirable to develop mod- ing data for robust parameter estimation. cultural expertise. It turned out to be els that can take advantage of similarities For high-end performance, thousands of extremely diffi cult to fi nd native speakers between dialects and the same language hours of (quickly) transcribed audio data who simultaneously have enough insight or languages of the same type and that and hundreds of millions words of text into their own language and the neces- can share data across different varieties. data are typically used. sary technical background. Without such This would have two benefi ts: (1) leading Lack of data. As the public interest a skilled language expert, speech process- to true multilingual speech processing and turns towards less widespread languages, ing developers face the time-consuming (2) providing models that are more robust it becomes clear that the traditional situation of having to either familiarize toward dialectal and language variations. approach to system development is prohibitive for all but the most widely spoken, widely read and economically viable languages. To date, large-scale data resources have been systematically collected and distributed for fewer than 50 languages. Furthermore, very few data collections emphasize uniform collection scenarios across languages, which are crucial for truly multilingual systems. One of the few exceptions is GlobalPhone, a standardized multilingual text and speech database that currently covers 20 languages. Lack of language conventions. A surprisingly large number of languages or dialects do not have a writing system or only an ill-defi ned (that is, unsystematic)

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These multilingual shared models can recognizer development using acousti- acronyms and capitalization. In pronun- then be used as seed models to jump-start cally heterogeneous data sources. ciation development, phone sets need a system in a new language by effi ciently Multilingual dictionaries. For most to compromise between pronunciation adapting the seeds using limited data from automatic speech transcription systems, accuracy and modeling constraints. In the language in question. We refer to this multilingual pronunciation dictionaries are a monolingual setup, rare phones often development strategy as rapid language still collections of monolingual dictionar- have to be eliminated since they do not adaptation. ies, which contain over 500,000 words occur frequently enough in the train- Multilingual acoustic modeling. Over per language in today’s speech processing ing corpus to allow for reliable model the course of the last decade, extensive systems. However, it has been observed estimation. A multilingual setup may research has been done in building mul- that the proportion of imported words at least partially solve this problem as tilingual speech recognizers bootstrapped — words shared with other languages the chances are higher to see them more from language independent acoustic mod- frequently. However, a fi ner distinction els. Here, acoustic models for new target Lexical development in the phone set requires more human languages are estimated by borrowing data effort to ensure dictionary completeness from various source languages for which involves various steps: and consistency. such data is more plentiful, while using In the future we are likely to use huge only very limited amounts of adaptation (1) the choice of lexical units; multilingual word lists of millions of data from the target language itself. (2) the selection of a entries. A signifi cant part of the vocabu- Language adaptation of acoustic mod- lary can then be shared among languages, els is performed in three main steps. First, vocabulary; and (3) the while language-specifi c lexical entries a language-independent, universal sound can be limited to some tens of thousands set is defi ned by applying data-driven generation of word of items. These aspects have not yet been methods and building upon the defi ni- pronunciations. addressed but offer new perspectives to tions of similar sounds across languages multilingual speech processing. as documented in international phonetic Multilingual language modeling. The alphabets such as IPA. Second, multi- — increases with vocabulary size. For main objective of statistical language lingual, language-independent acoustic example, in European languages such as modeling is to reliably estimate the prob- models are trained for the sound classes English, French or German, 10% to 20% abilities of word sequences in the context of the universal sound set by sharing of the most frequent 50,000 words in of a particular language and/or domain. data across languages. Third, these lan- broadcast news texts are typically shared Many approaches have been proposed to guage-independent acoustic models are with other languages. Proportions are tailor language models towards particular adapted to new target languages using particularly high for languages of small domains by text selection or various inter- very limited language-specifi c data. These countries which more easily incorporate polation schemes. But what if a language three steps require extensive multilingual words from other languages. model has to be created for languages speech recognition experience, access to Lexical development involves various where only few data resources are available multilingual text and speech data, and a steps: (1) the choice of lexical units; (2) or time and cost limitations require a rapid collection of monolingual speech recog- the selection of a vocabulary; and (3) deployment? One promising approach is nition engines for a variety of languages. the generation of word pronunciations. crosslingual language model adaptation Much of this research has been performed Normalization procedures are required as proposed by Sanjeev Khudanpur and on the above-mentioned GlobalPhone to ensure viable lexical coverage, in Woosung Kim. The algorithm fi rst identi- data set. Recently, similar procedures particular with respect to the treatment fi es text data in a resource-rich language have also been applied to cross-dialectal of punctuation, numbers, abbreviations, similar to the target language, then extracts useful statistics from those text corpora, and projects the statistics back into the target language. This approach Been getting some ghastly uses information retrieval methods to fi nd results in your medical contemporaneous articles of source and target languages, derives a corpus aligned translations? set of corresponding articles, and uses text translation to fi nd semantically related At Nova Language Services, our teams specialize translation pairs. in medicine, pharmacy, chemistry and veterinary Another approach applicable to small medicine, meaning that we deliver top-quality results. domains is the use of grammar-based recognizers. Results of multilingual language modeling for multilingual speech www.nova-transnet.com interfaces indicate that some text-based knowledge such as named entities might Còrsega 371, planta 5, be sharable across languages. Using 08037 Barcelona SPAIN Tel: +34 93 412 65 00 multilingual grammars would therefore be one way to transfer knowledge across

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languages. Grammars and statistical lan- recognition and synthesis; this includes thus stimulating the development of more guage models could also be intertwined phone sets, pronunciation dictionaries, robust modeling approaches. Third, due to to rapidly bootstrap larger domains from acoustic models and text resources. the need for language experts trained in knowledge on smaller domains. User studies are under way that indicate speech technology, we are forced to think Multilingual speech synthesis. Speech how well speech systems can be built, how about speech and language technology synthesizers in new languages are typi- well the tools support development efforts education in general. cally built by collecting several hours of and what must be improved to create even Last but not least, the high demand for high-quality recorded speech from a single better systems. Furthermore, archiving the speech-driven systems in a wider variety speaker in the target language. An alter- data gathered on-the-fl y from many coop- of languages encourages the development native method is to follow the direction erative native users signifi cantly increases of tools and methods that automate the taken by multilingual acoustic modeling, the repository of languages and resources. building process of speech processing that is, using acoustic data and models By keeping the users in the developmen- systems. M from an existing synthesizer in a differ- tal loop, SPICE tools can learn from their ent language and adapting the models on expertise to constantly adapt and improve. a small corpus (20-50 sentences) in the This will hopefully revolutionize the system References target language. Recently, several studies development process usable by novice users. Black, A., and T. Schultz (2006). “Speaker have been published within the HMM- Data and components for new languages Clustering for Multilingual Synthesis.” based synthesis framework that focus on will become available at large to let every- MULTILING – ISCA Workshop, Stellenbosch, the selection of appropriate speakers from body participate in the information revolu- South Africa. a large set of candidates through voice tion, improve the mutual understanding, Gordon, R.G. (2005). Ethnologue: clustering techniques such as ClusterGEN. bridging language barriers, and thus foster Languages of the World. SIL International, Since the HMM-based modeling approach educational and cultural exchange. Dallas. effectively averages automatic label units Khudanpur, S., and W. Kim (2004). in one speech database, it is more robust Conclusion “Contemporaneous Text as Side-Information in Statistical Language Modeling.” Computer to common noise errors found in speech Multilingual speech processing provides Speech and Language 18, pp. 143-62. recordings and allows combining mul- a great opportunity to revisit lingering Kirchhoff, K., and D. Vergyri (2005). tiple languages and speakers into single questions. First, current algorithms are fre- “Cross-Dialectal Data Sharing for Acoustic models. However, latest results indicate quently challenged by the peculiarities of Modeling in Arabic Speech Recognition.” that factors such as lack of data, accuracy many languages, which increase the prob- Speech Communication 46, pp. 37-51. of labels, heterogeneity of speaker sets, ability of detecting inappropriate model- Schultz, T., and A. Waibel (2001). and the complexity of multilingual phone ing assumptions. Second, the recognition “Language Independent and Language inventories still pose major challenges to of multiple languages, especially their Adaptive Acoustic Modeling for Speech multilingual speech synthesis. simultaneous recognition, can be viewed Recognition.” Speech Communication 35, as an extreme instance of data mismatch, pp. 31-51. Interactive learning systems for rapid language adaptation Speech processing systems have been developed for a number of languages in recent years. However, in spite of well- developed toolkits, it is still a skilled task requiring signifi cant effort from trained individuals. Deciding on a phone set, con- structing a pronunciation lexicon, creat- ing acoustic and languages models, and designing databases that cover variations in languages still require more effort than many are willing or able to devote. The primary focus of SPICE (Speech Process- ing — Interactive Creation and Evaluation Toolkit for new Languages), a three-year NFS-sponsored program, is to overcome this limitation by providing innovative methods and interactive web-based tools to enable novice users to develop speech processing systems, to collect appropriate data for building these models, and to evaluate the results allowing iterative improvements. Building on existing projects such as GlobalPhone and FestVox, knowledge and data are shared between

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Tech documents with ITS Yves Savourel

Six years ago the idea that some kind of standardized XML vocabulary was needed to help to internationalization and localization. ITS defines several data categories that are essential to the localization process. We are localize XML content started to take shape. (See going to look at three of them: Translate, Elements Within Text Sthe review of my book, XML Internationalization and Localization Notes. and Localization, in MultiLingual Computing & Technology #45 Volume 13 Issue 1, January/ Expressing translatability First, let’s create a small XML document to which we can February 2002.) The first concrete results of this apply ITS. long process are about to emerge. The W3C Inter- nationalization Tag Set (ITS) is at the stage of last-call, working-draft and is moving toward Zebulon Fairfield becoming a candidate recommendation — that is, version 12, revision 2 - 2006-08-14 a finalized description of a new technology, wait- horseappaloosa ing for implementations and final endorsement. articles-6D272BA9-3B89CAD8 It is important to realize that ITS is not geared toward localization. ITS is meant to address the internationalization aspects of XML, one of them being improving the process of localization. So even if this article focuses on that limited aspect of ITS, it’s

important to keep in mind the broader goal of the specification. Appaloosa Also note that while the information presented in this article

The AppaloosaThe name comes from is up to date at the time of writing, some details may change "Palouse horse" in reference to the Palouse slightly in the final specification. Make sure to refer to the latest River in Northern Idaho. are rugged specification when using ITS. horses originally bred by the Nez- ITS is a set of elements and attributes that can be used in a Perce tribe in the US Northwest.

stand-alone file or within an existing document via the XML

They are often characterized by namespace mechanism — a way to mix different XML vocabu- their spotted coats, as shown here: Appaloosa horses

implement various properties — called data categories — related

Yves Savourel is a localization solution architect at ENLASO Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, and chairs the Such a document, like many others, contains parts that W3C ITS Working Group. should be translated and parts that should not be translated

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— the latter highlighted in yellow. Sometimes non-translatable Defining ITS rules is not too complicated. The main hurdle parts apply to all documents of the same type — such as the is probably the need to have a basic knowledge of XPath. But content of here; at other times they are specific anyone who really wants to work with XML has many incen- to one given document — for instance, the choice tives to learn this powerful language. It is used in of not translating the