The Guide from MultiLingual Computing & Technology OCALIZATION #57 Supplement L July/August 2003
4 The Evolution of Localization Bert Esselink
8 An Overview of LocalizationLocalization ToolsTools David Shadbolt
12 Localization Management: Practical Automation Solutions Damian Scattergood contents contents 18 Establishing Key PerformancePerformance IndicatorsIndicators forfor LocalizationLocalization Donald A. DePalma
21 Localization Project CaseCase StudiesStudies Dan Johnson GETTING GUIDE GUIDE STARTED GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION
MultiLingual Computing & Technology
Publisher, Editor-in-Chief Donna Parrish Managing Editor Laurel Wagers LLOCOCALIZAALIZATIONTION WORLDWORLD Translation Department Editor Jim Healey Copy Editor Cecilia Spence ConConffererencencee Research Jerry Luther, David Shadbolt News Kendra Gray, Becky Bennett Illustrator Doug Jones Production Sandy Compton
October 14-16, 2003 Editorial Board Jeff Allen, Henri Broekmate, Bill Hall, Seattle, Washington, USA Andres Heuberger, Chris Langewis, Ken Lunde, John O’Conner, Mandy Pet, increase your expertise Chris Pratley, Reinhard Schäler network with professionals Advertising Director Jennifer Del Carlo test the latest tools Advertising Kevin Watson, Bonnie Merrell Webmaster Aric Spence Interns Kyle Elsasser, Jennifer Lund
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MultiLingual Computing, Inc. 319 North First Avenue More information is available at Sandpoint, Idaho 83864 USA 208-263-8178 • Fax: 208-263-6310 www.localizationworld.com [email protected] www.multilingual.com GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED
Localizing Songs and Software
In this supplement to MultiLingual Computing & Technology,we explore the topic of localization. In its simplest form, localization means the process of orienting locally. We computer-age people tend to think that concepts we discover are new. But Robert Burns commented in 1796: “Songs are always less or more localised (if I may be allowed the verb) by some of the modifications of time and place.” Isn’t it interesting that songs, which were quite often used to tell stories and news before widespread print and literacy, were adapted to the local audience? That is, they were localized. And now we have entire industry built around localizing our newest forms of communication so that it is mean- ingful and acceptable to different cultures and countries. In this supplement, we feature five articles on the localization industry and its tools, the economics of localization along with some sample case studies of the local- ization process. Bert Esselink describes the evolution of localization as we know it today. His narra- tive begins with the ancient history of the 1980s and continues through predictions for the future. This is an interesting read, especially for someone new to the localization process. A localization professional could, if necessary, perform tasks one at a time and quite often repetitively. The job would get done, but in today’s competitive environment, the lack of capitalization on previous work and inefficiencies would be very costly. What sorts of tools and technology are available to help streamline the process? David Shadbolt takes a look at various localization tools and how they can be used. Moving to the managerial level, Damian Scattergood looks at localization tools and their use in a successful localization project. Don DePalma encourages us to look at localization as a “C” level executive would. And in so doing, he presents some impressive arguments for localization that can be taken to those “C” level people. How does a localization project work? Is there a menu-driven process that can be applied to most projects? Dan Johnson presents four case studies to show how various localization projects were accomplished differently. The important factor in these exam- ples is that a general project plan must be malleable to meet the needs of unique projects. While we like to think that our current day communications and products are much more sophisticated than eighteenth-century songs, we still find ourselves faced with the desirability, the necessity, of adapting them to a local audience.—Donna Parrish, Publisher
Donald A. DePalma Bert Esselink Dan Johnson Damian Scattergood David Shadbolt DONALD A. DEPALMA is co-founder of Common Sense Advisory and author of Business Without Borders.He can be reached at [email protected] BERT ESSELINK is global engagement consultant with Lionbridge and author of The Practical Guide to Localization.He can be reached at [email protected] DAN JOHNSON is director of sales and marketing at Lingo Systems. He can be authors authors reached at [email protected] DAMIAN SCATTERGOOD is managing director with STAR Technology Solutions. He can be reached at [email protected] DAVID SHADBOLT is a research editor at MultiLingual Computing. He can be reached at [email protected] 3 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION TheThe EvolutionEvolution ofof LocalizationLocalization
Bert Esselink
It seems like ancient history to me computer users now need software that to return the products to the development sometimes, but I entered the world of would enable them to do their work more teams to first build in support for localization localization just over ten years ago. In 1993 efficiently, but the software now also had or international computing standards. With I joined International Software Products in to reflect business processes that reflected these requests, the concept of international- Amsterdam, a small and specialized local- local standards and habits, including local ization was born. ization vendor that still exists under the language. Word processors, for example, Internationalization refers to the same name. I had recently graduated as a now needed to support input, processing adaptation of products to support or en- technical translator, using an article on the and output of character sets in other lan- able localization for international markets. launch of Windows 3.1 as my thesis sub- guages; language-specific features such as Key features of internationalization have ject. The seemingly incompatible marriage hyphenation and spelling; and a user inter- always been the support of international of language and technology has intrigued face in the user’s local language. The same natural language character sets, separation me ever since. Still, this is the core charac- expectations applied to hardware. For of locale-specific features such as translat- teristic of what today we have come to example, in 1985 the Spanish government able strings from the software code base know as localization. decreed that all computer keyboards sold and the addition of functionality or fea- In a nutshell, localization revolves in Spain should have the ñ key. tures specific to foreign markets. Without around combining language and technology Internationalize to localize? The inter- internationalization, localizing a product to produce a product that can cross cultural national expansion of software and hard- can be very challenging. and language barriers. No more, no less. ware developers automatically triggered Outsourcing localization. Initially, many In this article, I will explore the fun- the need to localize the products for inter- software publishers, such as Microsoft and damentals of localization: what it is, where national markets. Initially, software ven- Oracle, established in-house localization it started, how it progressed, what it is dors dealt with this new challenge in many teams who had to adapt the products for today and what it may be tomorrow. different ways. Some established in-house key international markets. A large portion Against this historical background I will teams of translators and language engi- of this effort was obviously the translation discuss developments in the localization neers to build international support into of the software product itself and support- services business, translation technology their products. Others simply charged ing documentation. US companies often and general trends. their international offices or distributors decided to place the localization teams in with the task of localizing the products. In their European headquarters, many of Where It All Started: both cases, the localization effort remained which were based in Ireland. The 1980s separated from the development of the Even though it seems that localization original products. Development groups vendors are now moving activities to many Desktop computers were introduced simply handed off the software code and locations across the globe, Ireland estab- in the 1980s, and computer technology source files for supporting documentation lished itself as the leader in the localization slowly started to make its way to users who to those responsible for localization. industry during the 1990s. Over the past did not necessarily have a background in This separation of development and 10 to 20 years, the Industrial Development computer programming or engineering. localization proved troublesome in many Authority (IDA), a semi-governmental The early 1980s also saw the first interna- respects. Microsoft, for example, asked its body, had the mandate to move Ireland tional ventures of US-based computer then-distributor ASCII in Japan to localize forward industrially by attracting foreign hardware and software firms. Sun Micro- Multiplan (predecessor of Excel) into investment. In the 1980s, a high concentra- systems, for example, began operations in Japanese. According to a Microsoft direc- tion of manufacturing companies started Europe in 1983, expanding to Asia and tor responsible for localization at that in Ireland, including some high-tech com- Australia in 1986. Microsoft had started time, “we’d finish the product, ship it in panies. The Irish government provided international operations earlier, opening the United States, and then turn over the what it called turnkey factories, where a its first overseas sales office in Tokyo in source code library to the folks in Japan, large multinational was offered a certain November 1978 and beginning its expan- wish them luck and go on vacation.” amount of government subsidy per em- sion into Europe in 1979. Not only was locating the translatable ployee, plus facilities, grants and a corpo- The shift of computer hardware and text embedded in the software source code rate tax rate of 10% as an incentive to software use away from corporate or aca- quite difficult, but the requirement for addi- invest in Ireland. demic IT departments to “normal” users’ tional language versions of the code made After some failed investments and the desks called for a shift in product features update and version management increasingly increased competition from manufacturing and functionality. Not only did desktop complex. Moreover, the localizers often had in cheap labor markets, the Irish government 4 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED switched its focus to research and develop- before new product releases, very quiet after Shortly thereafter, TRADOS released the ment and the high-tech, blue-chip compa- — contributed to this problem, as did the first version of its Translator’s Workbench nies, that is, a more long-term strategy. Most difficulty of keeping translators in another translation memory (TM) product. TRA- large software and Web companies now have country for a long time because localization DOS continued to establish itself as the a presence in Ireland, with the bulk of their really wasn’t very exciting (imagine two industry leader in TM technology through- localization being managed from there, months of translating on-line help files) and out the 1990s, boosted by Microsoft taking including Microsoft, Oracle, Lotus Develop- not always well paid. a 20% stake in 1997. ment, Visio International, Sun Microsystems, Software publishers increasingly real- Initially, TM technology could only Siebel and FileNET. ized that localization was not part of their deal with text files. Hardly any technology The key benefits they offered these com- core business and should ideally be out- was commercially available for the localiza- panies included a certain amount of money per sourced to external service providers. tion of software user interfaces. Most soft- employee, a 10% corporate tax rate and exemp- One of the first companies to realize ware publishers built proprietary tools, tion from value-added tax (VAT). All products, there was a service offering to be built around which were tailored to their own source including software, exported to Europe are this need was INK, a European translation code format and standards and used by exempt from VAT in Ireland. In addition, com- services network established in 1980. INK their internal teams. Development of these petitive labor costs, with social costs at approx- became one of the first companies in the tools was often quite ad hoc and un- imately 12% to 15% per employee, mean that it world to offer outsourced localization servic- structured. As a result, early generations of is cheaper to employ people in Ireland than in es. In addition to translation into all lan- software localization tools were usually many of the European Union countries. Com- guages required by software publishers, this quite buggy and unreliable. pared to the United States, development costs are still 1990s: An Industry lower in Ireland. And Ireland Established offered a young, well-educat- ed, motivated work force. Throughout the 1990s, a Approximately 50% of the large number of localization population was under 25 at service providers were born, the beginning of the 1990s. many of which were little more The Irish government than rebranded translation has invested a great deal of firms. For the IT industry, the subsidy in education. There sky was the limit, the globe was now is a strong push to offer its marketplace, and the local- additional computer courses ization industry followed close- to cope with the growing ly in its footsteps. demand for IT and localiza- After the initial pioneer- tion staff. This, combined ing efforts of translation com- with the fact that Ireland is an panies adapting to the new English-speaking nation on paradigm of localization, the the edge of Europe that serves 1990s clearly saw the establish- as a gateway to Europe and ment of a true localization the Euro zone, made many services industry. Software and US-based companies decide hardware publishers increas- to base their European head- ingly outsourced translation quarters or distribution cen- A translator’s-eye view of XLIFF and localization tasks to focus ters in Dublin. on their core competencies. Translators, localization engineers service included localization engineering and The need for outsourced full-service local- and project managers were recruited from desktop publishing and, most importantly, ization suppliers was growing rapidly. all over Europe to be trained and employed the project management of these multilin- Within a localization services compa- as localizers in Ireland. For most transla- gual localization projects. ny,localization teams would typically be tors, it was their first introduction not only Translation technology. INK was also coordinated by a project manager oversee- to computers, but also to the concepts of one of the first companies to create desk- ing schedules and budgets, a linguist to software localization. top translation support tools, called the monitor any linguistic issues, an engineer Although Dublin in the late 1980s and INK TextTools, the first technology com- to compile and test localized software and early 1990s was a very attractive place for mercially developed to support translators. on-line help and a desktop publisher to localization experts, with many job opportu- As a historical note, the present company produce translated printed or on-line nities and a strong social network, software Lionbridge was “spun off from Stream manuals. A typical localization project publishers began to doubt the validity of the International, which itself had emerged consisted — and often still consists — of a in-house localization model. Not only did new from R.R. Donnelley’s acquisition of INK,” software component, an on-line help com- recruits face a steep training curve, but the said Lionbridge CEO Rory Cowan in 1997. ponent and some printed materials such as rapid growth of products sold internationally In 1987, a German translation compa- a getting started guide. and the content explosion also created large ny called TRADOS was reselling the INK To localize a software application, localization departments that were difficult to TextTools and a year later released TED, the localization engineers receive a copy of the sustain. Business fluctuations — very busy just Translation Editor plug-in for TextTools. software build environment, extract the 5 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION resource files with translatable text, prepare spread — or they could merge simply localizer to not only translate but also resize translation kits and support the translators because they had some money to burn. The and test the user interface. Examples of during their work. Post-translation, the list of companies that were acquired seems localization tools are Alchemy’s CATALYST engineers merge the translated files with the endless. From at least a dozen large multi- and PASS Engineering’s PASSOLO. build environments and compile localized language vendors in localization, we are By the end of the 1990s the Internet copies of the software application. This currently down to a handful, with the main had changed many things in localization, always requires some level of bug-fixing, players being Bowne Global Solutions, such as the introduction of globalization user interface resizing and testing. A simi- Lionbridge and SDL International. management systems (GMS). Riding the lar approach is taken to produce localized Consolidation also manifested itself dot-com wave, various companies offered versions of on-line help systems. The in the emergence of a relatively standard revolutionary new ways of managing source files, mostly RTF or HTML docu- production outsourcing framework. The translation and localization projects, stor- ments, are translated, and a compilation larger multilanguage vendors (MLVs) took ing and publishing multilingual content and testing phase follows. Most on-line on multilanguage, multiservice projects, and fully automating localization processes. help systems and printed documents con- outsourcing the core translation services Although this new technology had some tain screen captures of the software, so to single-language vendors (SLVs), one in impact on existing outsourcing models including pictures of the localized software each target country. SLVs normally work and processes in the localization industry, application can only be done once the into one target language only, from one or it became rapidly clear that although a application has been fully translated, built more source languages, and either work GMS could be useful for content globaliza- and tested. These dependencies and many with on-site translators or contractors. tion programs (for example multilingual others have always made the management Throughout the 1990s the localization Web sites), the world of software localiza- of localization projects quite a challenge. industry further professionalized, includ- tion still required a lot of “traditional” Consolidation and outsourcing. One ing industry organizations, conferences, expertise and dedicated teamwork. of the developments that characterized the publications, academic interest and gener- With Web sites containing more and localization industry throughout the 1990s ally increased visibility. Obviously, the more software functionality and software was consolidation.Localization service increasing number of companies jumping applications increasingly deploying a Web providers merged with others in order to on the localization bandwagon resulted in interface, we can no longer make a clear “eat the competition” or to add service fierce competition and increased pressure distinction between software and content offerings, to reach a wider geographical on pricing. As a direct result, benefits and when we discuss localization. The tradi- cost savings from the use of TMs, for tional definition in which localization only example, quickly shifted from the transla- refers to software applications and sup- tor’s desk to the localization vendor and porting content is no longer valid. Today, eventually to the customer. Today, no even producing a multilingual version of localization quote is sent out without a an on-line support system, e-business por- detailed breakdown of full matches, fuzzy tal or knowledge base could be defined as a matches and repetition discounts through localization project. the use of TM database technology. In other words, the turn of the century also introduced a new view towards localiza- From TM to GMS tion and translation.
TM technology plays a dominant role What Lies Ahead in localization for various reasons. First of all, most software companies aim for So, what is so different now in localiza- “simship” (simultaneous release) of all lan- tion compared to what we got used to during guage versions of their products. This means the 1990s? that translation of the software product and Not as much as you might expect. After supporting on-line documentation has to all, many localization projects fit the profile start while the English product is still under that we’ve grown accustomed to over the past development. Translating subsequent devel- years: Windows-based desktop software opment updates of a product is then greatly products with some translatable resource simplified by the use of TM technology. files, basic engineering and compilation Moreover, after general release, most soft- requirements, HTML files to use for the on- ware products are updated at least once a line help and possibly some product collater- year. These updates usually just add features al or manuals to be printed or published in onto a stable base platform, making it all the PDF format. more important to be able to reuse — or Even though these typical software leverage — previously produced content localization projects may still be the bulk of and translations. the work for many localization service Another type of translation technology providers, they are quickly being supplanted commonly used in localization projects is by new types of localization projects where software user interface localization tools. the focus is on programming and publishing These tools are used to translate software re- environments such as XML, Java and .NET. source files or even binary files and enable the Also, content translation projects are now 6 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED often considered as localization projects sim- may simply have been “distracted” by the centralized TM for client server environ- ply because of the complex environments in possibilities and the features the new tech- ments. Telelingua also introduced T-Remote which the content is authored, managed, nologies had to offer — all those file for- Memory, a distributed computing architec- stored and published. Most of today’s Web mats, all those compilers, all these new ture using Web services. sites contain so much scripting and software tools, all the output formats, all those cool Software user interface localization tools functionality that Web localization requires a graphics and layout features! If content now all offer support for Microsoft’s .NET pro- wide range of engineering skills. For Web management fulfills all its promises, con- gramming environment. According to a white sites based on content management systems tent creators may in a few years be writing paper released by Alchemy Software, “while (CMSs), the story gets even more complex: text in a browser template with fields pre- fundamental approaches to application design when content is continuously updated and defined by the CMS, and translators may remain somewhat consistent with the approach published in multiple languages, the transla- all be working in a TM tool interface that traditionally chosen by desktop application tion process must be truly integrated with the only shows them long lists of translatable developers, the localization service provider overall content lifecycle. segments, possibly partly pretranslated. community faces a daunting challenge of up- Apart from a renewed focus on con- We have come full circle: authors author skilling and retooling their localization teams tent localization, we have also seen various and translators translate. while embracing this new Microsoft technolo- other important developments over the Is this a bad thing? Not necessarily. gy.Coming to grips with the new open stan- past few years, such as the growing impor- Throughout the 1990s, one of the biggest dards and learning the nuances of translating tance of open standards. Examples of “linguistic” challenges was to maintain .NET technology will present both a financial open standards in the localization indus- consistency with “the Microsoft glos- and an educational challenge.” try are Translation Memory eXchange saries,” but today we see a new apprecia- Based on this comment and other sig- (TMX) and XML Localization Interchange tion of all the core translation skills and nals from experts in the field, it looks likely File Format (XLIFF). Many TM tools sup- domain expertise that we often considered that while translators will be able and port TMX for the exchange of TM data- no longer critical in localization. A local- expected to increasingly focus on their lin- bases between different tools, and XLIFF ization service provider translating an ERP guistic tasks in localization, the bar of tech- is being adopted by companies such as software package or an SAP support docu- nical complexity will be raised considerably Sun Microsystems and Oracle. A Sun ment had better make sure to use transla- as well. This applies not just to software Microsystems manager recently said, tors who know these domains inside out localization, but also to the wider context of “XLIFF allows our interaction with trans- and should not rely on translators just content localization. lation vendors to be much more efficient. looking at some glossaries. Localization So the question remains, what have we There is less need for translators to companies now need to face these new learned over the past 20 years of localiza- become engineering experts in the many challenges and higher customer demands. tion and do the lessons that we have learned different source file formats that are cur- still apply to today’s new realities of content rently being used — SGML, HTML, MIF, New Kids on the Block localization? It almost seems like two RTF and the numerous software message worlds are now colliding: software localiza- file formats. Instead, XLIFF allows transla- The year 2002 included one of the tion with a strong focus on technical skills tion vendors to concentrate on their core largest mergers in the history of localization, and technical complexity for translators on competency: translation of words.” as Bowne Global Solutions acquired Berlitz the one hand, and content localization with Back to basics? Does the popularity of GlobalNET to become the largest localization a strong focus on linguistic skills and tech- XLIFF signal a trend? Throughout the service provider. Various new localization nical simplicity for translators on the other. 1990s, the localization industry tried to organizations were launched. And on the With the Internet increasingly merging plat- turn translators into semi-engineers. Is it technology side, the main developments can form and content, the localization industry now expecting them to just translate again? be seen in server-based TM systems. TRA- will have to rapidly adapt its processes, qual- It certainly looks that way. For the past DOS, for example, recently released its TM ity standards and resourcing approach to decades, content authors and translators Server product, a new technology that offers these new requirements. Ω
7 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION AnAn OverOverviewview ofof LocalizationLocalization TToolsools
David Shadbolt
Software companies and localization of easy-to-use and extensible visual editors. and localization processes can be automated vendors share the same objective: out- Our solution also provides real-time vali- through application programming interfaces performing the competition by getting new dation of translation and engineering (APIs) as required. software rollouts to market faster and more tasks. For example, it will alert the transla- The return on investment (ROI) of TM is competitively. For software companies, this tor or engineer if a dialog panel or menu measured upon the average reuse rate of trans- means delivering high-quality localized ver- has a duplicate hotkey. As this validation is lation. TRADOS claims most customers enjoy sions at a competitive price without undue real time, it cuts back on post-translation reuse rates in the range of 30% to 70%, and delay. For vendors or in-house localization testing, thereby reducing engineering time with time, as more translations go into the TM, departments, it means having the right soft- and cost considerably.” reuse increases, thus resulting in a greater ROI. ware tools to do this. Neophytes to global Localization tools also provide mecha- TM is not effective for every localization markets might find it useful to have an idea nisms for budgeting and controlling costs. SDL project. Gordon Husbands, vice president of of the tasks these tools perform and how International’s Localization Suite, for example, worldwide sales and marketing at Wordbank they help meet corporate objectives. includes tools for analysis, content extraction in the United Kingdom, says, “TMs have an and filtering. The filtering tool filters text from effective role to play but must be used as a Localization Tools various formats, thus allowing translators to rifle rather than as a shotgun. When a per- work in a common interface irrespective of the suasive message is required to differentiate a Localization tools such as WizArt’s Wiz- source document application. The analysis tool product or service from the competition, Tom or Alchemy’s CATALYST find and enables project managers to analyze single files repetition and mechanical translation just do extract text and graphics from the code and or batches of files to find out the exact word not make the grade, especially in marketing place it into a common format suitable for counts that need translating. communications (marcoms) material, which translation. This is usually an interface is our main area. showing translators both the original text Translation Memory “Major gains are possible,” Husbands and target text side by side in predefined seg- says, “by introducing smaller tactical content ments. Tools are used by developers as well Hedley Rees-Evans, marketing director at systems or databases to meet very specific as translators. SDL, says, “SDLX Translation Suite (a compo- needs and by reengineering the multilingual Jean-Patrice Isaac, general manager of nent of the Localization Suite) helps at a cor- marcoms production process to deliver proj- WizArt Canada, explains that “WizTom helps porate level by automatically reusing previous ects faster and more cost effectively. An both development and localization teams. translations where applicable for new docu- example of this is our development of a tool Developers don’t have to take into considera- mentation, thus reducing the time and costs to create multilingual product packaging tion the localization aspect when developing taken to carry out updates. The segments are labels, which removes the need to localize or updating their software. They just need to also color-coded to indicate to translators the and print multilingual packaging. All the maintain one single set of source files and a degree to which the translation memory (TM) necessary information such as the product single executable for an unlimited number of has already been used in the target text. The description, box contents, bar code and so on languages. In addition, functional testing of a ability to quickly filter the text from its origi- in the relevant languages are assembled and localized application is minimized as the orig- nal format into a common format suitable for printed on a customized label on a specialist inal application continues running beneath. translation aids project managers, as does the label printer. Savings here are huge — the Only the text visible by end users in the ability to provide a costing model by analyzing production and storage costs for packaging graphical user interface is changed to display the number of words needing translating. can be drastically reduced because only a few a different language. WizTom is not limited to Translators benefit because SDLX offers an master packages need to be designed and one programming language or development easy-to-use translation environment that gives print runs are much simpler.” tool and works with virtually any of them them previously complete and partial transla- While Wordbank seeks to develop and through dedicated extensions. Therefore, pre- tions to reduce the amount of effort required deliver nontraditional language vendor tools, vious translation work can be leveraged from to carry out a translation.” production processes still depend on the project to project and across environments.” Like SDLX, TRADOS tools are used by standard tools. Husbands says, “We rely on WizTom is available in versions for Windows, language vendors to leverage previous transla- three main strategies: tightly integrating Web, Java and XML. tions, supporting all aspects of translation- localization workflow with client content Tony O’Dowd, CEO of Alchemy, says, related activities from pre- and post-processing management systems using our own “CATALYST provides a visual localization of localization projects as well as the actual WordBase database and our XML handling environment that presents software applica- management, production and distribution of tool called WordWeb; harnessing TMs to tions to engineers and translators in a series localized content. All steps in the translation recover repeated content; and WAAB, a 8 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED workflow tool that automates the production managers and other language professionals. such as ABB, ADP,AGFA, AC Nielsen, Bosch, of multilingual artwork and high-resolution Bjorn Austraat, principal consultant and devel- DaimlerChrysler, Druck, Honeywell, Schüco PDFs for print on demand.” oper of GIA, says, “With GIA, users can quick- International and Siemens. In addition to the ly and easily analyze, annotate, transcribe, QA preparation of resource files by language Machine Translation and create reports for hundreds or even thou- engineers, it is used for the translation of 26- sands of graphics that are part of a Web, doc- bit, 32-bit and .NET Windows applications, Machine translation (MT) takes the ument, or help localization job. It covers the XML data and Microsoft databases and final- human element out of translation. Although complete localization life cycle from the quot- ly to adapt the layout setting — size and posi- it offers real-time translation at a low cost, ing-RFP-response stage through production tion of control elements of the user interface the imperfect translated result makes MT far and final QA. Language professionals can use — for the target language. AIT claims that from ideal for many situations. However, the image selection module to quickly scan Visual Localize .NET can reduce the time-to- integrating MT and TM technologies with a large directory structures for localizable market from several weeks to only a few days. tool that also extracts, processes and manages images, continue with the convenient analysis In addition to cost, minimizing the terminologies is an improved performance panel to categorize and transcribe images learning time is a key factor when evaluating option. One such tool is PROMT for TRA- with one-click ease, and ensure high-quality language tools. Schaudin claims that its RC- DOS by PROMT in Russia. Svetlana Svetova, deliverables by using GIA’s unique quality- WinTrans localization tool requires no spe- head of PROMT’s linguistics technologies assurance interface. Users can also readily cific training and that it is more important department, says, “Our tool forms a seamless share data with other team members by using that the user possess an understanding of the integration between TRADOS TMs and our GIA’s built-in XML support or the one-click software being localized in order to translate PROMT MT technology — which, together data export feature to Word and Excel.” it. The tool works as a graphical interface of with our terminology manager software, pro- Microsoft Windows Win32 and .NET soft- vides an efficient automated translation tech- Usability ware and Java properties. The next scheduled nology. It has proved especially useful for the release will offer support for XML/XLIFF translation of documentation, Help and As with most business sectors, the lan- files. Tracy Lucas, public relations director at training materials with our clients in the soft- guage industry has to keep abreast of new Schaudin, says, “Although RC-WinTrans is ware, telecommunications and oil and gas technology and applications. But according extensive and includes many features, it is industries. With SAP AG, Germany, for to Daniel Rissman, localization manager at essentially made up of Windows-like appli- example, which had already translated eight Applied Information Technologies (AIT), cations. There is also a comprehensive help million words into Russian, translation turn- “technology makes an unnecessary demand section containing descriptions and many around has improved by 30% and overall on translators who often lack the program- concrete examples. But training is available time and costs reduced by 40%.” ming skills to get translated words and upon request both for the specifics of soft- phrases back into the original software with- ware and for the tool itself for translators Other Tools out introducing malfunctions. Our localiza- who may be unfamiliar with software local- tion tool, Visual Localize .NET, works ization.” A single-user license for RC- Avral Tramigo software is a Flash local- directly with the executable files such as WinTrans costs $1,300; a group license tops ization tool that can be used by two categories .EXE, .DLL and .OCX and is independent of the scale at $3,400. Lucas says, “Volkswagen’s of users: Macromedia Flash developers and the source code, so no programming skills localization of its dealer software into 21 lan- translators. Andrei Link, director at Avral, are required. Due to the simple handling guages is one localization project.” explains, “It is a combination of a text filter and user interface, Visual Localize .NET is CATALYST ranges in price from free- and a translation tool that allows you to trans- perfectly suitable for translators who are ware for its Quickship model to $5,999 for late Flash MX .swf files into foreign languages. inexperienced in using software applica- its Developer/Pro version. “Training is pret- The SWF format is a leading multimedia stan- tions. Translators can learn the basics with- ty minimal since the product is so visual,” dard for on-line and off-line delivery. Files of in one hour.” O’Dowd says. “Translation context is always this format (.swf files) can be generated not Visual Localize .NET costs €639 to displayed in a Visual Editor — that is, a dialog only in Macromedia Flash but also in many €1,395. The product is used by companies panel will be viewed in Alchemy CATALYST commercial and open source products. According to Macromedia, over 98% of all Web users have a Flash player installed on their computers. This allows them to view .swf files delivered to them as Web content, a CD- based project or a desktop application. “Tramigo allows you to translate Flash MX .swf files into foreign languages in three simple steps: extraction of translatable text from a Flash MX .swf file into a translation project, translation of the text into the desired language, and generation of a new translated .swf file or an external text file with translations that can be loaded at run-time.” Globalization Image Assistant (GIA) from Austraat is an application specifically designed for translators, localizers, project 9 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION as it would appear in the running applica- Austraat says, “GIA’s intuitive interface Avral states that the key concepts of tion. The provision of visual context dra- is extremely user friendly. The included on- Tramigo are covered in two tutorials provid- matically improves ease of use, improves line help system thoroughly explains all pro- ed with the software, each of which takes quality and allows translators to focus on the gram components and provides step-by-step about 30 minutes to complete, and that the precision and accuracy of their translations explanations of image selection, analysis and software is priced to deliver a short payback rather than on the complexity of the transla- QA.Most users require less than 30 minutes period for the user. A single license costs $95 tion tasks. For the more advanced features of of training to be able to use all of GIA’s func- and a five-user license costs $335. PROMT our product, on-line tutorials are available. tions. Registered users receive free on-line systems range in price from $800 for a bi- “In addition to this, 25 colleges world- and telephone support.” The cost of a single- directional system to $1,500 for all language wide are teaching Alchemy CATALYST as part user license is $295. Bulk licensing options pairs. The company offers training courses of their computational linguistics degree and are available at $1,200 for a five-license bun- ranging from three to seven working days. diploma courses.” dle and $2,000 for a 10-license bundle. WizArt claims that it takes three days of training for the person in charge of integrating WizTom localization studio into the target application and one to two days of training for the translator. More than 120 companies in Asia, Europe and North America use WizArt technologies, including Baxter Healthcare, British Telecom, Unisys and Fiat. Costs range between $30,000 and $300,000.
ROI Even though internationalizing the code will reduce the costs of localization, vendors continue to find problems that result in delays and extra costs owing to the engineering rework required. Many potential problems can be avoided by verifying localization readiness with an internationalization testing tool. Rubric L10N Inspector is one such tool. Ian Henderson, director of engineering at Rubric, explains the advantages of the tool in two recent projects: “As part of Rubric’s standard process, we implement readiness testing at the beginning of the localization process. One customer relationship management (CRM) client recently handed off a new file convinced that it had fully internationalized its code, but L10N Inspector uncovered inter- nationalization problems right away. This enabled the customer to go back and resolve these prior to launching the localization process, averting the cost of rework and the opportunity cost from a delayed ship date.” Henderson points to another exam- ple: “For another customer, uncovering serious localization-readiness problems in the first week of the project enabled the customer to save more than $50,000 by avoiding a significant amount of potential engineering rework at the end of the process that otherwise would have result- ed.In addition to the cost savings, we worked out an alternative localization process that enabled us to commence local- ization on other components of the project concurrent with such internationalization work.This enabled us to ship the entire project within the original deadline.” O’Dowd at Alchemy measures ROI on two planes. “The first plane,” he says, “is the 10 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED amount of translation reuse created by using our ezMatch TM, which differs from traditional TM solutions in that it not only reuses translations but also the geographical layout information on dialog panels. A typi- cal product of 125,000 words would have an immediate ROI of six if you leverage 75% of Quality Assurance, your previous translations for a single lan- guage. If you’re working on five languages Efficiency and Reliability within a single release cycle, your ROI is 30 on your first leverage.” The Leader in Localization TargeTek provides quality and efficient localization Frank Capozzi, senior technical com- services for the traditional and simplified Chinese, municator at Rockwell, confirms the benefits SANITATION! Korean and Japanese markets. of translation reuse. “Whenever we come out We have successfully managed business-critical with a new product version using CATALYST Logrus International Corporation is focused on products for leading companies, like Siemens, Symantec, language capabilities, we can reduce a software localization and translation for the IT industry, Microsoft, HP, Philips, etc., and have also forged a 100,000-word project to a 1,000- to 2,000- as well as on multilingual engineering and testing. robust relationship with international L10N partners. • Unmatched business track record word project,” states Capozzi. Our services: O’Dowd says, “The second plane is the • Reliable, prompt, top-notch and affordable amount of time saved in reengineering your services • Software application localization product since ezMatch also reuses your layout • Thorough experience with large projects • Documentation translation and DTP information. This is where the most significant • Unique quality/price ratio for engineering and • Web site localization savings are created.”As an example, he referred testing services • Multimedia localization to Philips Medical Systems’ presentation at the • World-class project management May 2002 Internationalization & Unicode Con- ference regarding the productivity that the Logrus International Corporation TargeTek Co., Ltd. company has gained from the visual environ- Suite 305, 2600 Philmont Avenue No. 26 Lane 78, Sec. 2 Fu-Hsin S. Road ment provided by Alchemy CATALYST. The Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006 Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C. company had needed two weeks to sign off in 215-947-4773 • Fax: 215-947-4773 886-2-27086559 • Fax: 886-2-27084264 each of 10 language versions of its new hand- [email protected] • www.logrus.ru [email protected] • www.targetek.com.tw held medical device — a total of 20 weeks’ engineering. Using CATALYST 4.0 and a cus- tom localization environment, they reduced that time by half. Since that time, even further improvements have been recorded. While O’Dowd admits that “these gains may be at the top end of the spectrum,” he adds that “nobody will argue with the produc- tivity gains that are garnered from using truly visual localization solutions. Just look at the We Know Latin American development community and the gains they Global Presence, Local Feel have made using visual development tools and Spanish Markets … Quality you can trust in all languages. Fortune 1000 such as Visual Basic, Visual Studio and Bor- … and master the language nuances and cultural and savvy companies rely on us to localize their soft- land Delphi. I believe the same to be true with standards from A to Z. ware, Web sites and marketing communication. visual development tools for the localization iLanguage is your Rx for those aggressive timelines, industry such as Alchemy CATALYST.” Our 25 years of experience cover the entire complex projects and tight translation budgets. Isaac at WizArt offers an example of a localization process, from initial engineering to proven ROI for the use of WizTom: Baxter final DTP. • Translation, localization, cultural adaptation • Technical and PM expertise Healthcare, which localized its mission- Our streamlined operation means savings for our • Web site development critical software into 14 languages in just clients and longstanding relationships that enhance eight months. • Source files, help, DTP, graphics, multimedia our knowledge of their products, hence the quality • QA, testing, maintenance Localization tools have demonstrated of their localized versions. good — and in some cases stellar — results • Cost-effective and timely projects because they have improved management Without any doubt, we are the best unpretentious How do you say Rx in 12 languages? iLanguage and workflow processes, although not the provider for all your Spanish localization needs. has the answer in all industries, including high tech, IT, act of translating itself, which remains a software, medical, finance, media and marketing. highly skilled and time-consuming task. No doubt tools will evolve along with tech- Trans-Ar, Inc. iLanguage, Inc. nology in general. In the meantime, 86 Balmville Road 901 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 300 sophisticated and project-tested tools exist Newburgh, NY 12550 Santa Monica, CA 90401 to satisfy the needs of most corporations 845-565-0659 • Fax: 845-565-0242 310-899-6802 • Toll Free: 877-452-6455 or language vendors. Ω [email protected] • www.trans-ar.com [email protected] • www.ilanguage.com 11 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION LocalizationLocalization Management:Management: PracticalPractical AutomationAutomation SolutionsSolutions
Damian Scattergood
These are challenging times for the Mapping the Supply Chain task-based process map for file transfer localization business. There is downward and Localization Process procedures between a source team and pressure on costs and increased pressure on localization team. time-to-market. How can we manage to suc- Successful management of costs and Looking at the process in this manner, cessfully and consistently deliver? It’s a process across a global localization process one can see clearly that a quite a number of tough question, but many of us are asked it requires an understanding of supply-chain the tasks should be automated. every day. We are all well aware that deliver- management. When it comes to cost, most ing excellent results this quarter does not people look simply at what they spend inter- Project Management and File guarantee successful delivery next quarter. nally or how much they pay their vendors. You need to save money, manage people The true financial picture is much more Preparation Automation costs and maximize product output per dol- complex than that. Mapping out your top- lar (or euro). The solution may be to auto- level localization process end to end from Cost reduction exercises have tradition- mate your localization process. your site to the vendors and the many trans- ally focused on pure translation cost. This When it comes to automating your lators shows a complex map of interactions downward price pressure was mainly direct- process, there are a number of practical con- — the localization supply chain process map. ed at translation vendors and translators. cerns to review, such as repeatability, consis- Why is it important? Your localization This, however, is only a small part of your tency and scalability. budget is spent across this map. When you complete localization supply chain, account- Your process has many steps, which are spend your budget, each person in the ing for approximately 28% of the spending. repeated again and again for many projects. chain performs tasks that are paid for from The real cost savings come from reduc- And you pay for each transaction in that that budget. ing the costs across your entire process — process again and again. It is important to Having produced your supply chain Producer -> Vendor -> Translator model. understand what these steps are, where they are map, you next need to produce a map of When analyzing your localization sup- and how much they cost. Every ply chain, review the touch action you repeat costs money. points (how often the files are Doing projects once is • Producer (60% of my localization budget) opened or worked on); the one thing, but repeating them time spent waiting for infor- on a regular basis is another. mation exchange; and how You may have many language • Translation Vendors (28% of my budget) much time/cost is spent on products, and you may be project transitions between working with teams around global time zones. the globe. Can you remember When you total the cost of how each project was done? • Translators (12% of my budget) the many touch points and wait Do the projects use differ- times, it becomes apparent that ent processes? Would you be the transactional costs are very able to repeat a project next expensive compared to transla- month, next quarter or even Sample supply chain map showing localization budget spent tion costs. next year? How would you maintain the your task-based localization process. It’s Consider that every time a file is consistency in process, management, qual- important to walk through your process, touched in your process, you pay for that ity and translation? following a file from end to end, and map transaction, regardless of whether it is on Automation delivers the benefits of the tasks involved. Most companies will your site or the vendor’s. Workflow auto- delivering a repeatable, scalable and consis- say they perform a task such as “transfer mation reduces the transactional costs of tent process. A number of tools that can files to vendor.” The actual breakdown of your localization process. automate various aspects of your localiza- this task, however, produces a number of tion process are available today from vari- sub-tasks. This can include: check file sta- Automated File Transfer ous suppliers. I will discuss how you can tus, ftp or e-mail file to vendor, check sta- automate tasks in your localization process tus of all files received by vendor, verify and Project Management today. Understanding how automation instructions sent to vendor are received results can be achieved better arms us for and as a final check, if there is an error, do When you look at your localization sup- discussion with our tools suppliers for it all again. A simple task can have many ply chain and task maps, it is probably clear future product implementations. steps. The accompanying box shows a sample that a large number of repeat tasks center 12 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED
Thirty+ Years of Successful Localization From Performance Translation Solutions Programmers Is the Bottom Line! SYSTRAN’s translation technology enables the For Programmers creation of dynamic multilingual content for businesses We deliver on time, within budgets and meet to manage extensive amounts of information. Who wouldn’t be better suited to localize software the most demanding quality expectations. projects than a team of translators, authors and soft- We sell desktop translation software products and more While providing multilingual software and ware developers? We have programming experience in multimedia localization services to HP, Adobe, scalable solutions, all of which facilitate communication in C++ , Delphi, .NET, Java, etc. and can help you avoid 36 language combinations and 20 specialized domains. Microsoft, IBM and other industry leaders, we costly localization pitfalls. Highlights include: also address the globalization needs of medium- Corporations use SYSTRAN’s technology to solve • Translation German & English to/from all major sized and small companies, proving our dedication translation issues for CRM, e-commerce, intra-company languages to complete customer satisfaction. communications, content management and more. • Automated quality assurance with ErrorSpy A founding member of LCJ – a Microsoft Premier SYSTRAN’s expertise covers over 30 years of building (proprietary software application) Vendor, Jonckers demonstrates every day that customized translation solutions for corporations, • Terminology extraction performance is the bottom line! portals, governments and public administrations • Localization testing through open and robust architectures. • Authoring of user manuals SYSTRAN D.O.G. GmbH Jonckers Translation & Engineering 9333 Genesee Avenue, Suite PL1 Dokumentation ohne Grenzen GmbH Avenue Herrmann-Debroux 15a San Diego, CA 92121 USA Neue Ramtelstrasse 12, 71229 Leonberg, Germany B-1160 Brussels, Belgium 858-457-1900 • Fax: 858-457-0648 49-7152-35411-0 • Fax: 49-7152-35411-50 32-2-672-80-30 • Fax: 32-2-672-80-19 [email protected] • www.systransoft.com [email protected] • www.dog-gmbh.de [email protected] • www.jonckers.com
Localization for the Where Polish/EE Market Asian Localization Expert Documentation Ten years of experience allow Studio Gambit to Looking for a new localization partner for Meets Success routinely achieve exacting quality, budgetary and Asian languages? Mirrors will help you success- Comet Computer is the market leader in Germany time scale goals inherent to localization projects. The fully enter and navigate the fast growing Asian for technical documentation. Our team of technical company’s advanced technical infrastructure, talented markets, especially in Greater China and Japan. writers and translators provides efficient documentation employees and commitment to value-based management, solutions. Our strength is optimized time-to-market for With expertise ranging from Windows, Mac, even the most challenging time frames. coupled with the quality, depth and breadth of its UNIX, Linux to mainframe systems, we provide: knowledge and regional relationships, assure A full-service documentation provider: • Software localization/translation/verification customers with every accomplished project that they • Manuals have chosen the right partner to help them succeed. • Web content/documentation publishing • Online documentation Services offered: • Multimedia/game/eLearning localization • Translation/localization • Translation • Technical support and competency center • Single-source publishing • Software engineering and testing services • Training courses • Desktop publishing • Expert knowledge of standard tools, including • Voice recording FrameMaker and RoboHelp • Project management Mirrors International, Incorporated We work to ensure that your documentation is a success. 15F-1, 136, Jen-Ai Road, Sec. 3 Studio Gambit Sp. z o.o. Taipei, Taiwan Comet Computer GmbH ul. Matejki 6, 80-952 Gdansk,´ Poland 886-2-2707-9899 • US Office: 650-857-1299 Rueckertstrasse 5, 80336 Munich, Germany 48-58-345-3800 • Fax: 48-58-345-3800 [email protected] • www.mii-group.com 49-89-5445-6045 • Fax: 49-89-5445-6046 [email protected] • www.stgambit.gda.pl US Office: [email protected] [email protected] • www.comet.de
13 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION around the handover points between the How much project management time some 1.4 million manual transactions per various parties. How often are files FTP’d to would this free up? All of the laborious pre- year at a cost of some $466,667, assuming vendors? How often are translation kits work would be completed automatically, and that you pay an average of $20 an hour to manually put together? the project manager could focus on the more our engineers. This shows that if you can Here is one way to automate this value-adding activities of your process. automate even 50% of your manual tasks, process. You could have a single network What I’ve outlined here is a rudimenta- you can save more than a quarter of a mil- directory for incoming jobs. Watchdog ry automated localization process, but it lion dollars in spending. How much of software can be developed to check peri- proves the case that you can automate a num- your process can you automate? odically for incoming translation jobs ber of your manual tasks. So, just how much placed into this directory. An XML data do you actually spend on these activities? Consistency and Quality file could be used to store information about that job such as the client’s name, Transactional Cost Model In any sporting event, success is based target languages and so on. XML is a good on a single winner, but localization depart- storage medium because its text-based file To better measure how much automa- ment success is based around everyone cross- format makes it easily exchangeable tion can save you money, let us look at a sam- ing the finishing line together. You cannot between many tools. ple transactional cost calculator. Let’s say that afford any losers or late finishers. The watchdog software would then you are a mid-size software producer. You To achieve this, your automated system automatically pick up the files and import typically ship around 20 projects a year in must deliver consistent statistics across your that data into your current translation four languages. Nothing special there. How entire process. You should be able to moni- memory (TM) system. Using a script serv- much time and money do you spend on tor all your projects simultaneously. Items er to call your TM tool’s API can do this. those manual tasks? such as word counts should be consistent During this phase, documents are auto- It is probably typical that most process- across the supply chain, producer, vendor matically pre-translated from the TM es may have some 14 manual tasks involved and translator. store. This greatly reduces the project in producing a translated product. You will Consistent data is important, as you management and pre-engineering over- have this number from your process map. need to have visibility deep into the complete head in file preparation. supply chain to understand in advance Using an automated system such Transactional Cost Calculator where your costs and bottlenecks are. as this, you can automatically have Automatic “bottleneck alerts” can iden- your TM tool create the word counts Number of projects per year 20 tify potential issues early in the process, and file data required for purchase Number of languages 4 and “delay alerts” can warn if jobs are order (PO) generation. The next step Number of files per project 250 late. If you are alerted to issues early, would be to have that script tool pull Number of manual tasks in process 14 you can take the appropriate manage- translation cost information from a Average number of builds per project 5 ment steps to address them. vendor database and automatically cre- Average time per transaction (minutes) 1 The system described to automate ate a PO for approval. A simple mes- your file preparation kits and handle Number of yearly transactions 1,400,000 sage application program interface PO creation should also be mirrored in (MAPI) application could send this file Average manual transaction time (minutes) 1,400,000 your vendors so that when files arrive at to the vendor for approval. Average manual transaction time (hours) 23,333 a vendor for translation, the vendor The translation workflow system has Average engineering cost per hour $20 automatically receives the translation automatically produced kits to be sent to Total Cost of Manual Transactions (Annual) $466,667 kit with your word counts and with a the translators with the initial documen- PO ready for acceptance. Your auto- tation. Another watchdog server could monitor If you estimate an average of 250 files mated system could also have picked up a your e-mail system for PO approval. Once per project and if it takes about five builds document from the translation team with received, the new translation work is then auto- to ship a project, then the numbers begin translation instructions. matically distributed to the translators. to add up substantially. This would equal Did you not read the instructions? How often do files arrive back to you where someone along your process chain has not read the detailed localization and translation guidelines you sent? Measure the cost of rework and communication to solve these issues. Your workflow system should deliver instructions to everyone requiring them. XML-based or SQL data file stores can be used to link both instruction and trans- lation kits together. These databases main- tain the instructions with the task jobs so that they are always delivered with the job. You no longer have to worry if the transla- tion vendor has passed on the instructions to the translators. The workflow system should deliver this benefit and thus give 14 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED
Your One-Stop Four Companies. Localization Vendor CATALYST 4.0 One Solution. Alchemy Software Development is the market leader Eulipsis is a partnership among four of the best A world-class localization vendor since 1988, in localization technology. With over 8,000 licenses Localsoft provides fast and accurate localization, local service providers in the localization industry worldwide, Alchemy CATALYST is the dominant choice who are committed to providing quality translation ensuring the full integration of your products for the among professional development companies, localization international market. services and turnkey language solutions to their service providers and global technology leaders that clients. Localsoft uses the latest technology, professional need to accelerate entry into international markets. staff and expertise to produce outstanding solutions Alchemy CATALYST 4.0 boosts localization velocity, Eulipsis offers the professional infrastructure for your global presence. improves quality and reduces localization cost. and one-stop administration of a multilingual localization agency while providing the personal Whether you require simple translations or complex Supporting all Microsoft platforms and development languages (VB, .NET, C++, C#), Borland C++ Builder service and direct in-country support of a single- localizations, Localsoft offers the best localization language partner. service available today. and Delphi, XML/XLIFF and databases (Oracle, MS-SQL), it is an indispensable solution for software localization We know what matters most. After all, the For more information, please visit our Web site at helping clients achieve near-simultaneous release of success of your business is the success of ours. www.localsoft.net their translated applications. Eulipsis Localsoft Alchemy Software Development Ltd. Contact Version internationale Avenida de Bonn 13 Block 2, Harcourt Business Centre, Harcourt Street 70, rue Maurice Flandin 28028 Madrid, Spain Dublin 2, Ireland 69003 Lyon, France 34-917-251-762 • Fax: 34-917-251-764 353-1-708-2800 • Fax: 353-1-708-2801 33-4-72-91-77-77 • Fax: 33-4-72-91-65-53 [email protected] • www.localsoft.net [email protected] • www.alchemysoftware.ie [email protected] • www.eulipsis.com
AppTek Linguistic Why Should You Software Capabilities One Strategy, Work With WH&P? • Machine Translation Systems (TranSphere): Many Languages Parsing statistics, special dictionaries Our network of dedicated localization experts is • Languages: English/Arabic/Turkish/Persian/ Founded in 1997, Commit is a leading multilingual used to tight deadlines, high-end technology and Korean/Chinese/Pashto/Dari. Arabic- services provider with offices in Athens, Greece. top quality…you have read that before. French/Arabic-German/Turkish-German Commit delivers localization/translation/DTP services Well, we do it consistently: WH&P has been • Translation Memory: Statistical parallel corpora at the most competitive local market prices. A team benchmarked “Best Localization Company” system decoupled/integrated MT of native speaker experts and the use of leading-edge for the second time in 3 years! • Webtrans: Web page translation hyperlinks/ tools ensure that customer requirements are met Based in Sophia Antipolis, France, WH&P is images/applets, MT-API integration located in the heart of Europe. Since 1994, we • Name detection (no capitalization) efficiently both from a technological and a linguistic NameFinder: have provided turnkey localization services to • point of view. Long-term relationships with our MLIR (Multilingual Information Retrieval): Fortune 500 corporations. Browse/search/retrieval of multilingual content, clients/partners, combined with flexibility and a per- including query translation, morphological, thematic sonal touch, have been translated into continuous We help them to enter the complex and very searches (geographic/personal/corporate/other) growth and success. demanding European market smoothly – and to name/event combinations. Name normalization, stay on top. transliteration, romanization algorithms Commit WH&P Applications Technology, Inc. 10-12, 28 Octovriou Street Espace Beethoven BP 102 1420 Beverly Road, Suite 350, McLean, VA 22101 GR 142 31 – N. Ionia, Athens, Greece 06140 Sophia Antipolis, France 703-821-5000 • Fax: 703-734-5703 30-210-2712082 • Fax: 30-210-2712618 33-493-004-030 • Fax: 33-493-004-030 [email protected] • www.apptek.com [email protected] • www.commit.gr [email protected] • www.whp.net or www.whp.fr
15 LOCALIZATION you greater control over your entire supply projects. When the files have been returned, chain from end to end. they leverage the translation from the old System-supported quality checks. We DLLs into your current ones. They carry your use various tools in the business to maintain translation asset forward but ensure that you quality checks in the localization process. To are always working with the correct code. name just a few, we perform word counts at STAR Transit, for example, can be called many stages; we perform CRC checks on from the command line to extract word- files; and we test files against original and count data and project data. This can be used previous translations. The majority of the to verify that returned projects are correct. time we perform the same tasks each time Producers quite often have their own sets before we begin our work. We even go to the of file quality checks that they perform on extreme of performing them on translation receipt of files to/from vendors. With a config- urable system, you • Total localization expenditure Internal cost vs. External cost can add your own system-supported • Software Publishers quality checks to 60% 40% • 60/40 split the process. It is a good idea to ensure that any tools you • Localization Vendors 30% 70% develop in-house • 30/70 split can be called from other systems. Two Top 20 MNC’s Software Publishers simple ways to do €481 million spent Industry focuses on only this are providing a €289 million spent 28% spent command-line interface or Web- service-enabling Industry cost analysis (Source: Key Performance Solutions Study 2002) your tools. It’s a kits both before and after we send them to good idea always to consider the possible the translation teams. future use of any tools you develop. Open Couldn’t this be automated? architecture enables integration with lead- Here,again, we return to our script ing-edge workflow systems such as STAR servers. First, we need to understand one Proactive, which takes advantage of such key element about quality. The majority of APIs for custom automation solutions. errors is introduced manually. How often If you use the same tools on both the have you seen a forgotten file or missed line vendor and producer ends of the supply in a translation kit? With automation, chain, the value of file integrity is protected. manual errors are greatly reduced, and Your automation system talks to the vendors, quality automatically improves. Before you and you both have matching targets and add your system support quality checks, quality has Content producer Vendor Translator already gotten better. We already have seen PM ENG FTP ENG QA FTP TRANS how to build our kits auto- matically. Just as we have a watchdog software to watch Localization cycle Localization cycle Localization cycle for new kits, we should develop one to monitor incoming kits. When a new kit arrives from a transla- How many times is a single file opened (touched) in your process? tion vendor, your tool only needs to perform a number of simple results. Once your QA checks are completed, tasks. First, it should call your TM tool or the translated files can be automatically rein- other error-checking tools to get the pro- tegrated into the TM system through calling ject’s current status. We already know from your TM’s API again. The resulting file infor- our XML-based data stores what languages mation and quality-check data can then be were requested and how many words were returned to your project’s data store. to be translated. By comparing the new Scalability, quality and elimination of data with old, we have verified kit integri- risk. Automation delivers the benefit that after ty from the translators. you have performed an action once, that action Tools such as Alchemy CATALYST allow can be repeated again and again. This elimi- you to verify DLL integrity of software nates the risk of introducing human error. 16 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED
The benefit that scalability brings to builds and quality tests performed. Wherever communication, workflow support and stabil- your organization is future consistency. there is a direct relationship in your process ity, and file transfer integrity and security. Once a task is done right, it will always be between any two tasks, you will pay the full Performing the translation work in a done right. A project completed weeks, costs for growth. Automated workflow sys- timely manner is one thing, but you also months or even years ago can be updated at tems allow you to break this one-to-one rela- must ensure the security of your assets for minimal cost. tionship. The more consistent the process, future versions. Traditional quality assurance processes the fewer bugs are introduced and the less Using an automated system such as the focus on ensuring that elements of a project rework and testing are required. Exponential one I have outlined ensures that all your project are not broken. They essentially find prob- quality improvements are achieved. data is centralized. You still maintain full con- lems introduced during the task stages. This Imagine that a customer in Japan needs trol of your project assets. It always delivers the costly task is repeated each time a product is a file translated and sends it to you at 6:00 benefit that centralized data can be always updated. Testing in this manner maintains a p.m., just after you leave the office. Your updated and available to everyone in the supply direct relationship between the number of workflow system should now be able to pick chain. A Web interface could easily be devel- the file up, perform a TM scan and new- oped to allow users to log in and check the sta- Sample Process Map word-count check, and send the file automat- tus of their projects. XML- or SQL-based data ically to your vendor or project manager for stores ensure that you have complete ownership Here is a sample task-based process quotation. When you arrive for work the next of your data in an easily accessible format. map for localization kit transfer: day at 9:00 a.m., you would then have a pre- Posing and answering the questions in 1. Prepare Alpha-build environment for translated file and translation kit and a quote this article should help you along the way in transfer to localization engineering site. ready for your approval. How long does this measuring the cost of automation and the 2. Certify Alpha-build environment before process take via e-mail or phone in your returns it will bring to your organization. You release by independent load and test. organization today? can benefit from consistency, improved quality 3. Notify localization engineer of readiness for and faster time-to-market with higher-quality transfer of Alpha-build environment. Asset Security products. Global projects will be started and 4. Monitor for a response from localization completed much earlier. Your overall total cost engineer requesting transfer of Alpha-build Workflow automation systems must of ownership will be better, and you will ensure environment. function 24x7x365 in a global environment. It the security of your investment in technology 5. If response is not received within three is key to understand the factors around global and translation. Ω working days, elevate to project manager. 6. Transfer Alpha-build environment via network. 7. Monitor for acknowledgment of receipt of Alpha-build environment. 8. If response is not received within three working days, elevate to project manager. - 9. Monitor for positive feedback that remote- build execution yielded identical executables. 10. If response is not received within three working days, elevate to project manager. 11. Prepare Beta-build environment for transfer to localization engineering site. 12. Certify Beta-build environment before release by independent load and test. 13. Notify localization engineer of readiness for transfer of Beta-build environment. 14. Monitor for a response from localization engineer requesting transfer of Beta-build environment. 15. If response is not received within three working days, elevate to project manager. 16. Prepare shipping Master-build environment for transfer to localization engineering site. 17. Certify shipping Master-build environment before release by independent load and test. 18. Notify localization engineer of readiness for transfer of shipping Master-build environment. 19. Monitor for a response from localization engineer requesting transfer of shipping Master-build environment. 20. If response is not received within three working days, elevate to project manager.
17 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION EstablishingEstablishing KeyKey PerPerforformancemance IndicatorsIndicators forfor LocalizationLocalization
Donald A. DePalma
Several months ago Renato Beninatto and Talking to First, the good news –— here are two I, the principals of Common Sense Advisory, data points from our research that should interviewed the vice president responsible for Localization Buyers show up in every analysis of localization ROI. training at a company that operates offshore Interested in progressing beyond the Global business means greater profita- oil rigs around the world. He told us “we found conventional wisdom that justifies localiza- bility. The companies whose managers we out the hard way that workers prefer being tion projects, we interviewed 50 managers interviewed derive an average of 46% of trained in their own languages.” responsible for setting or implementing their worldwide revenue from outside the Fortunately his firm learned this lesson localization strategy at US-based organiza- United States. How do they compare to other through evaluating post-training test scores tions. We spoke only to companies that evi- businesses? According to the 2001 Oxford and knowledge retention, not by some huge denced some global business activity on-line Templeton Global Performance Index, a blowout of a rig that polluted the North Sea or in print, aiming for an equal split detailed financial analysis of 246 of the top when a Russian roughneck couldn’t read the between services and manufacturing sec- 500 multinational companies, global busi- English manual for shutting off the flow of oil tors. Our respondents included people in ness accounts for an average 40% of assets at from a damaged well. The potential for disas- automotive, chemical, technology, publish- large companies, but 45% of corporate prof- ter in oil exploration, chemical production ing, pharmaceutical, hospitality and retail its. The actual contribution of non-US rev- and other businesses dealing with hazardous organizations. In our discussions, we asked enue varies by industry sector. materials obligates them to translate training them how they justified their efforts to Localization does not cost a lot of courses, regulatory requirements, process localize products documentation and Web money. Our interviewees spent between models and other critical materials into the sites to support both off-line and on-line one-quarter of one percent and 2.5% of languages of the workers who use them. operations. We then reported on these inter- their non-US, non-Anglophone-market Those of us in less dangerous professions, views in a recent report entitled “Beggars at revenue per year to localize product docu- though, struggle with convincing our managers the Globalization Banquet,” complementing mentation, user interfaces, Web sites and that localization makes good business sense. their experience with our analysis of how service-related materials for six to ten Absent the potential of a crashed Mars Lander they could optimize the ROI of localization markets. The cost to enable products or or Chernobyl-like disaster but faced with a across the enterprise and help communicate services to be sold in multiple internation- failed retail transaction or the loss of a prospec- its value to executives in the corner office. al markets represented on average a mere tive customer because she fraction of the resulting couldn’t read your packag- revenue. These ratios ing, we throw around tradi- should grab the atten- tional evidence such as the tion of anyone wonder- increased likelihood of pur- ing about the value of chase from prospects that are buyers in global mar- addressed in their own lan- kets. Ideally, managers guage. We complement this would present localiza- sketchy return on investment tion as a vital part of the (ROI) analysis with some business landscape. vendor-supplied data about the decreased cost of localiza- Most Localizers tion attributable to effective use of translation memory Don’t Make a or a globalization manage- Convincing Case ment system. Ironically, in the final analysis, many of Most of these man- those responsible for sophis- agers, however, don’t suc- ticated communication to ceed in making the case. customers and prospects While the cost of local- have been unable to convey ization happens to be this value to the executives very small compared to who sign the invoices and Global 80-20 Rule — Verticals Earning 20+% of Revenue Outside the United States the big international rev- their paychecks. Source: Common Sense Advisory, Inc. enue it can help generate, 18 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED it will be no surprise to some readers of this article that most firms shortchange their localization budgets. Even though their work constitutes a relative bargain, practi- tioners still have to prove their value to cor- porate budgeters mindful of post-Enron accounting scrutiny and the morning-after Rowing Together Internet malaise. Fast, Accessible, High-Quality A select few formally quantify return. With the Customer Only 26% said that they could formally Brazilian Translations measure and calculate the return on their Awarded with ISO 9001 certification, CM provides multilingual services of the highest quality. We have localization investment. Most simply ap- Wish to work with a company plied direct multipliers on the initial cost as the necessary skills and equipment to deliver excellent • in the technical translation and software localiza- products. Our services are based on quality and a way to measure return. For example, they tion market for 14 years? wanted $30 or more back for every dollar adaptation to our customers’ needs. • with strong project management and quality they spent localizing. Few of those who • Software localization measure ROI do so for the long haul, never assurance policies? • Web site localization cycling back to reevaluate earlier decisions • which counts on latest translation and localization • Multimedia products localization or actual performance. technologies and tools? • Technical and institutional translation Most don’t measure, but feel they have • in which all professionals, besides being experts • Language consultation no choice but to localize. Seventy-four per- in their areas, are highly motivated? • DTP cent of our respondents had a much less So work with us! Because our work is teamwork. concrete sense of what their investment yields, often citing localization as “just a cost We have much more to offer! Because we know that we are in the same boat of being a global business.” Pressured by with the customer. competitors or the needs of their customers, Follow-Up they know they must support global markets Rua México 31 / 403 Comunicación Multilingüe, S.L. although they might not be able to perform Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 20031-144 Castelló, 24 – 5º, 28001 Madrid, Spain a cost/benefit analysis for their bosses. 55-21-2224-0225 • Fax: 55-21-2507-2170 34-914354938 • Fax: 34-914319025 We found that few firms have developed [email protected] • www.follow-up.com.br [email protected] • www.cmultilingue.com a foundation for sophisticated ROI analysis. Because the incremental cost for localization is so low, many interviewees told us that they do not separately list localization in the cost of goods. One respondent told us that trans- lation is a line item in many different budgets and almost impossible to roll up into a single corporate number without some major inter- nal work on a variety of financial systems. Solutions for Bi-di When cultural expertise, thoroughness and Furthermore, while our interviewees have a reliability are paramount, call Language Intelligence. good handle on their external localization Software Localization costs, very few consolidate their localization Since 1988, we have been serving innovative numbers among applications, business units Eiry Global Solutions specializes in software localization companies on global frontiers with complex or country-units. and technical translation for bidirectional languages such technical translations (40+ languages); software as Hebrew and Arabic. Intriguingly, we found that no one and Web site localization; content globalization; QA could really tell us what it actually cost to Our services include: and testing; and culture and language training. The create the original owner’s manuals, mar- • Translating and localizing software ingenuity of our technical services is legendary. keting materials and Web sites that get • Functional and linguistic QA localized. Most firms bury these presumably • On-line help Language Intelligence’s structure combines enormous costs in the product develop- • Flash presentations the synergies of superb linguists, cultural ment process. Localization, on the other • Web sites experts, IT specialists and project managers in hand, is a very visible tail wagging at the • Marcom materials an ISO 9001-2000 compliant system for quality end of a development project. Eiry has experience with most file formats and a wide and friendly service. variety of operating systems. Our experienced team The Business uses state-of-the-art tools and rigorous procedures to Value of Localization provide you with world-class service and full satisfaction. Language Intelligence, Ltd. 16 North Goodman Street Eiry Global Solutions Rochester, NY 14607 After interviewing our 50 subjects, we 112 Hevron Road, Jerusalem, Israel 585-244-5578 • Fax: 585-244-7880 pondered what they told us. Most companies 972-2-673-44-46 • Fax: 972-2-673-44-47 [email protected] don’t measure ROI systematically. When they [email protected] • www.eiry.com www.languageintelligence.com do, few make a concerted effort beyond the 19 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION
The Cost of Not Localizing Across the Sales Cycle Lost opportunities.Companies should eliminate the hidden use tax that unlocalized Audience Prospect Buyer Customer products levy on international customers — the diminished usability that increases the Your Interaction Marketing Sales Support total cost of ownership for those customers. Frustrated customers; For higher GDP markets such as Germany and Limited reach of Sales are limited to those Impact of Not bad reputation for Japan and their demanding customers, com- marketing programs who are comfortable in Localizing usability; brand damage; prehensive localization will become a basic — prospects don’t the nuances of the or higher support costs; cost of doing business. Lower GDP markets know what English language; Bad Localization expensive problem such as the Czech Republic will insist less on you’re selling incomplete transactions resolution through perfection today, finding satisfaction in your call centers sincere albeit sometimes mediocre efforts. However, we predict that even these more tol- Local, regional and more localized international competitors gain share at erant markets will become less forgiving over your expense; you experience a sudden loss of market share; Bottom Line time as they move from being prospects to customers develop loyalties to a competing brand buyers to users to supported customers. Source: Common Sense Advisory, Inc. Avoiding Miscalculation initial calculation. Only a handful tally up marginalize localization as a tactic for sup- localization costs company-wide. No one porting international marketing, sales and Reading the reportage of what I think really knows what it costs to create the source customer support. Localization owners need of as this year’s US-led “militainment,” writ- content so that if they do measure the cost of to accept that reality and demonstrate payback ten by “embedded” journalists, I encoun- localization, they do so against a phantom in accepted, quantifiable terms such as these: tered a phrase that summed up the biggest baseline. Decisions and knowledge get pushed Key performance indicators (KPIs). If problem with localization — “incestuous far down the management stack. every other unit in the company talks about amplification.” According to Jane’s Defense Our conclusion: it’s time for localization ROA (return on assets), RONA (return on Weekly, this is “a condition in warfare where practitioners and suppliers to communicate net assets), OPEX (operating expenses), one only listens to those who are in lockstep their value in business terms. Most companies EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, agreement, reinforcing set beliefs and creat- depreciation and amortization) and so on, ing a situation ripe for miscalculation.” you should pull out your Devil’s Dictionary Practitioners both inside companies of Acronyms and get with the program. and at the firms that supply their localization Other measurable business goals.While service and technology needs often justify “more revenue” typically tops the list in ROA their existence and paychecks to each other, analysis, nuanced KPIs such as productivity each building on the same arguments and gains, customer satisfaction and cost reduc- data. Few appeal in terms that budget own- tion will rule. Localization teams should ers can understand, thus compounding the measure performance against goals such as irony of people responsible for communica- boosting the profitability of international tion being unable to communicate. operations, grabbing share from competi- I’m aware that it is hardly necessary to tors, improving customer loyalty, increasing make a case for localization to the language- lifetime value of customers and pumping up industry professionals who read MultiLingual brand awareness in target regions. For firms Computing & Technology,but I hope that dealing with hazardous products, avoiding readers can carry the arguments contained the front page of major newspapers might be herein to the corner offices where decisions a reasonable goal. are made. Ω
20 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED LocalizationLocalization PrProjectoject CaseCase StudiesStudies
Dan Johnson
The key to achieving high-quality, con- review of the localization (by interfacing test lab. Testing included product install, sistent results in localization is process. Since directly with the company’s overseas market uninstall, startup and shutdown; patient and localization involves multiple platforms, staff). Twelve weeks is an ample timeline for physician setup and test cases; meter data publishing media, software tools, and of translation and testing, but the project team transfer (supporting nine meters); data entry course languages, the consistent use of a must be well organized and disciplined in and import; report generation; and help links robust process takes much — but not all! — executing terminology and in-country and other logging functionalities. of the mystery, variability and risk out of reviews of the materials. Timeline: Eight weeks for initial product complex, multilanguage, multicomponent localization, two weeks for localized product projects. One of the most interesting testing, followed by two weeks for in-country features of the localization Analysis of review and change implementation. Kick-Off Source Material business is that no two pro- Pre-Sales Process: Advanced and unique to the jects are the same. worldwide diagnostics market, the Patient The common denomi- Analysis Tool product is designed for use Preparation of Terminology Scheduling and nator in localization is the trans- Source Material Setup by consumers and healthcare profes- lation of text from the source Budgeting sionals. It was developed using language to target languages, Glossary Visual C++ and uses three dif- but the architecture and func- Translation ferent third-party software tional nature of a software packages to supplement application dictate the method Screen Software Software Software its functionality. and approach used by the Captures Translation Engineering Testing After a period of localizer. Finding the right extensive preparation Online Help Engineering/ combination of the appropri- Product QA and planning between Translation Testing ate computing platforms, tools and Delivery the Acme and Lingo and process is key to successful Systems teams, we deci- Documentation Desktop software localization. Translation Publishing ded on a process which The descriptions in this featured three distinct Steps in a basic localization Project Closure article represent a variety of process. From A Practical Guide to phases: internationaliza- actual Lingo Systems projects, Localization by Bert Esselink. Used by permission tion, localization and but identifying details have been then functional testing. removed. They expand on or are adapted from The product: Acme Medical, Patient Internationalization: Because of the case studies published in Lingo Systems’ book Analysis Tool v1.0. This is a PC-based consumer extensive use of this third-party software and The Guide to Translation and Localization. product localization. ActiveX controls, our team had concerns that Project scope: Languages: European some of the text requiring localization might Product: Medical Device English, German, Spanish, Italian, French, not be found in our first translation pass. Dutch, Swedish and Polish. Time-to-market was a concern for Acme, and Situation: In 2001, Acme Medical devel- User interface: 34,000 words in .rc file for- its project timeline was aggressive. To address oped and released a revolutionary new con- mat for Visual C++, for the platforms of this potential problem, the Lingo Systems/ sumer product, the Patient Analysis Tool v1.0. Windows 95 through XP. Acme localization teams determined that a The Patient Analysis Tool is a Windows-based Help: 25,000 words, 250 topics, authored pre-localization test was necessary to ensure program that provides an easier way for patients in RoboHelp, compiled help file deliverable. the product was sufficiently international- to better manage their diabetes. It offers easy-to- Tutorial and documentation: 27,000 words, ized prior to localization. read charts and graphs that help the user better 100 pages in Microsoft Word format, 50 screen As a dry run, we converted the applica- monitor and understand the course of blood captures from graphical user interface, taken as tion’s English strings to a linguistic markup sugar readings. .bmp files. language, then replaced English with pseudo- We have twelve weeks before the prod- Testing: Functional testing of the graph- German translation knowing that German is uct is scheduled for release at a product ical user interface (GUI) on native language a language that grows substantially over launch meeting with overseas sales and mar- operating systems, full testing for each lan- English. Following the pseudo-translated keting staff. guage and operating system combination, fol- build, our testing team found several areas of Because the product is brand new, we lowed by regression testing. Testing was per- the GUI that remained in English as well as assist Acme in coordinating in-country formed on-site at Lingo Systems’ localization areas where text expansion led to real-estate 21 GETTING
GUIDE STARTED LOCALIZATION issues in buttons and menus. This indicated process, which includes translation, then Functional testing: Due to product com- that our markup process was incomplete, and copyediting of the files, followed by a full lin- pliance requirements with both FDA and CE a minimal amount of interface redesign was guistic on-line review of the draft target-lan- marking, Acme had already developed a de- necessary. Our team reconvened with Acme guage build. For each language, this process tailed testing plan. We modified this plan to to create a process for extracting text from features three individual linguists and a also review localization functionality require- several of the third-party applications and design that meets the stringent quality ments. Full functionality testing was required identified problematic GUI areas where siz- requirements of medical device localization. for each language and operating system combi- ing was inadequate. These issues were Following the delivery of files for the target nation. Supported Microsoft operating systems addressed prior to the start of localization. language builds, the in-country review included all commercially available versions of Localization: Following the final sched- process took place. Acme’s timeline did not Windows from 95 through XP. Defect report- uling, project scope and budget finalization allow extensive “fine tuning” and stylistic ing and resolution tracking were provided and budgeting steps, we began the overall changing of the translations. However, Acme using a customized tool, Word-based template localization process with terminology list has a strong reputation for quality in foreign at Lingo Systems. Testing of the target lan- development and approval. The Acme team markets, so the product must be clearly guages was performed at the Lingo Systems nominated reviewers for each target language understood and easy to use in order to mini- testing lab in Portland, Oregon. Any language- who reviewed our lead-linguist’s translation mize downstream support use. In-country specific defects were typically resolved by Lingo of the product terminology list, suggesting review changes were received and incorpo- Systems engineers, while system-wide, cross- changes where appropriate. From there, we rated into the application during the initial language defects were resolved by the Acme used our standard three-step translation steps of functional testing. development team. Product: Application Faculty of Continuing Education Situation: The client’s banking software package has been available in the United Certificate in Localization States for several years. The software company needs a localized version of the product A cutting-edge approach to localization studies. A unique multidisciplinary university- release for Latin America. The product con- level program for language specialists, IT professionals, and potential project managers. tains a combination of legacy code and new Courses in French only at this time, but don't let this stop you. Perfect a language, acquire global skills and internationalize your career. modules that meet current customer needs. Content for translation is mostly isolated in Information resource files; some content is still mixed with Rita Damiani, Translation Program Director 514.343.6090 or 800.363.8876 legacy code modules. [email protected] Project scope: User interface: 150 .rc files. www.fep.umontreal.ca/localisation C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville Some content may come from legacy code. Montréal (Québec) CANADA H3C 3J7 Total word count is approximately 12,000 words. Help files: 35,000 words in HTML Help file format. Documentation: Leveraged from help files using RoboHelp 2002 (providing 100% leveraging from the Help files). Timeline: Six weeks for initial localization, then two weeks of localized product testing. Process: We “pseudo translate” the .rc files to examine all the user interface screens and determine whether the user interface con- tent is limited to the .rc files or comes from legacy code. We insert machine-translated Spanish content into the user interface; then the client provides a built version to test for areas that are not yet translated. Next, we pro- vide a list of areas that were not translated by the machine translation. The client can imple- ment minor code changes to externalize that text into .rc files. This two-week phase is fol- lowed by our normal localization process. Product: Operator Manual
Situation: The client company produces construction cranes and similar equipment. For the past six years we have provided localized operator manuals for 15 overseas markets, creating and maintaining translation memories 22 GETTING
LOCALIZATION GUIDE STARTED
(TMs) for each target language. The client’s Product: Process: We adapt our normal three- localization costs are typically one-third of what Training Materials step translation process to meet the client’s the company would be paying without the TMs. requirements: a high-quality translation, Up to 80% of a given operator manual’s content Situation: A large corporation is imple- staying within budget and meeting the train- is shared with previously written manuals. menting a global, corporate-wide enterprise ing schedule. We design a two-step process, a Project scope: A typical manual is written resource planning (ERP) system. Company virtual assembly line, to deliver each course using a standardized template in FrameMaker authors have written training courses to exactly one week prior to the “teach-by” date. and consists of 15,000 to 25,000 words to be teach the staff how to exploit the features of Our in-house desktop publishing and QA localized into 15 languages. Timeline: Because the system. The company has spent months teams and the in-country translation teams of the high amount of leveraging across the of effort and millions of dollars on the imple- are fed a steady stream of courses, thus company’s product documentation, delivering mentation. In order to maximize its return enabling our project team to balance this a 25,000-word manual in 15 languages takes on investment, staff in each country requires large project and maximizing our efficiencies five to seven weeks. substantial system training. over the seven-week timeline. Process: We modify our localization Project scope: Source content has been process to maximize the benefits of leverag- written in the United States using Microsoft Conclusion ing across various products and review the Word and PowerPoint. The training is seg- English master document in order to confirm mented in courses, to be taught in target lan- All localization projects follow similar that the writers adhered to the style template. guages over twelve weeks. The total word count project process steps, but each individual Then we leverage the source text against our is estimated at 350,000 words of English source project presents an opportunity to adapt the TM by language. These pre-translated files text, but may increase or decrease because all localization process to precisely match are forwarded to each target-language trans- courses have not been completely written at desired outcomes. Because each project is lation team. Once the team has translated the the project start. unique, a “cookie-cutter” approach to local- new text and copyedited the new and lever- Timeline: All course content is to be loca- ization does not work. The fundamentals, aged text, the files are formatted and proof- lized over seven weeks. Two weeks of localiza- represented by the localization processes read and go through our quality assurance tion are planned for each course, and each described in this article, must be malleable (QA) review before delivery. After delivery, course is to be delivered to the in-country enough to meet the requirements for each we update each target-language TM with the training teams one week prior to its “teach- client so that budget, timeline and quality newly translated materials. by” date. objectives are met. Ω
Multilingual • Skills • Experience • Worldwide Translation Technology • Software • Services e-nabling global business
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This supplement introduces you to the Wide Web for e-mail, for purchasing more complex. Leaders in the development magazine MultiLingual Computing & services, for promoting your business of these systems explain how they work and Technology.Published nine times a year, or for conducting fully international e- how they work together. filled with news, technical developments commerce, you’ll benefit from the informa- and language information, it is widely tion and ideas in each issue of MultiLingual Internationalization recognized as a useful and informative pub- Computing & Technology. lication for people who are interested in the Making software ready for the interna- role of language, technology and transla- Translation tional market requires more than just a good tion in our twenty-first-century world. idea. How does an international developer How are translation tools changing prepare a product for multiple locales? Will Language Technology the art and science of communicating ideas the pictures and colors you select for a user and information between speakers of dif- interface in France be suitable for users in From multiple keyboard layouts and ferent languages? Translators are vital to Brazil? Elements such as date and currency input methods to Unicode-enabled opera- the development of international and formats sound like simple components, but ting systems, language-specific encodings, localized software. Those who specialize in developers who ignore the many interna- systems that recognize your handwriting or technical documents, such as manuals for tional variants find that their products may your speech in any language — language computer hardware and software, industri- be unusable. You’ll find sound ideas and technology is changing day by day. And this al equipment and medical products, use practical help in every issue. technology is also changing the way in which sophisticated tools along with professional people communicate on a personal level; expertise to translate complex text clearly Localization changing the requirements for international and precisely. Translators and people who software; and changing how business is done use translation services track new develop- How can you make your product look all over the world. ments through articles and news items in and feel as if it were built in another coun- MultiLingual Computing & Technology MultiLingual Computing & Technology. try for users of that language and culture? is your source for the best information and How do you choose a localization service insight into these developments and how Managing Content vendor? Developers and localizers offer they will affect you and your business. their ideas and relate their experiences with How do you track all the words and the practical advice that will save you time and Global Web changes that occur in a multilingual Web money in your localization projects. site? How do you know who’s doing what Every Web site is a global Web site, and and where? How do you respond to cus- And There’s Much More even a site designed for one country may tomers and vendors in a prompt manner require several languages to be effective. and in their own languages? The growing Authors with in-depth knowledge Experienced Web professionals explain and changing field of content management summarize changes in the language indus- how to create a site that works for users and global management systems (CMS and try and explain its financial side, describe everywhere, how to attract those users to GMS), customer relations management the challenges of computing in various lan- your site and how to keep it current. (CRM) and other management disciplines guages, explain and update encoding Whether you use the Internet and World is increasingly important as systems become schemes and evaluate software and sys- tems. Other articles focus on particular countries or regions; translation and local- To subscribe, use our secure on-line form at ization training programs; the uses of lan- guage technology in specific industries — a wide array of current topics from the world wwwwww.multilingual.com/subscribe.multilingual.com/subscribe of multilingual computing. Nine times a year, readers of Multi- Be sure to enter this on-line registration code: Lingual Computing & Technology explore sup57 language technology and its applications, project management, basic elements and advanced ideas with the people and com- panies who are building the future. 24