June 2009L Language | Technology | Business #104 Volume 20 Issue 4

2009 Know-how for Global Success

Q8-10 June QHotel Maritim proArte, Berlin, Germany

QOctober 20-22 QSan Jose, California

2010

Q7-9 June QHotel Maritim proArte, Berlin, Germany

QOctober 12-14 QBell Harbor Conference Center, Seattle, Washington

NEW OPPORTUNITIES + NEW IDEAS + NEW TRACKS + PROVEN NETWORKING AND VALUE . . . IT ALL ADDS UP TO THE BEST GATHERINGS OF PEOPLE, PRODUCTS AND SERVICES!

www.localizationworld.com Q[email protected]

02-03 Trans.com & LocWorld.indd 2 5/19/09 3:11:52 PM HAVE YOU EVER BEEN MIFFED ABOUT MIF FILES? If you would like to eliminate countless DTP hours from your current process, turn the page.

LIFT HERE

02-03 Trans.com & LocWorld.indd 3 5/19/09 3:13:39 PM FRAMEMAKER LOCALIZATION WORKFLOW

LEGACY PROCESS*

FRM FRM FRM MIF STF STF STF STF STF ORG MIF FRM FRM FRM

Open in Turn off Update Save as Open MIF Use tagging tool Open Translate Save Merge Generate Open MIF in Apply fonts Save as FrameMaker change bars, cross MIF with to create tagged file in using translated translated MIF files FrameMaker FrameMaker hyphenation, and references tagging tool tagged and tagging tool tagging tool tagged file tagged and document conditional text format files format files and correct tagging issues

ORG ORG

Access stored *Actual process required when using a leading competitive TM tool format ﬁle

Alchemy Software Development is the world’s ALCHEMY PROCESS leading provider of visual localization tools. More than 80% of the world’s largest software companies rely on Alchemy CATALYST’s cutting edge technology to accelerate entry into international markets.

FRM FRM

Open Translate Save as Alchemy PUBLISHER was built to provide FrameMaker using FrameMaker document in PUBLISHER document PUBLISHER those same beneﬁts while working with documentation. In fact, Alchemy PUBLISHER supports over 150 ﬁle formats, including FrameMaker.

dialog To begin thinking outside the box, visit www.alchemysoftware.com.

04-05 Trans Mod.indd 4-5 5/29/09 12:33:55 PM FRAMEMAKER LOCALIZATION WORKFLOW

LEGACY PROCESS*

FRM FRM FRM MIF STF STF STF STF STF ORG MIF FRM FRM FRM

ORG ORG

Access stored *Actual process required when using a leading competitive TM tool format ﬁle

FRM FRM

dialog To begin thinking outside the box, visit www.alchemysoftware.com.

04-05 Trans Mod.indd 4-5 5/29/09 12:33:55 PM Stop waiting! Across Stop v5waiting! Enterprise Across isv5 available Enterprise now!

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06-07 Across-Contents #104.indd 6 5/20/09 9:04:11 AM AZ_multilingual_Across_end.indd 1 18.05.2009 17:00:58 Uhr u ti ingua M l L June 2009l Language | Technology | Business #104 Volume 20 Issue 4

QUp Front QFeature Articles Q 8 www.multilingual.com Q 9 Post Editing QRegion Focus 32 Website globalization for Argentina and QNews Brazil — Martin Spethman & Nitish Singh Q 10 News 36 Current ﬁ nancial crisis and Latin Q 17 Calendar American translation — Teddy Bengtsson QReviews 39 Latin America’s growing localization 18 SDL Passolo 2009 power — Fabiano Cid — Reviewed by Richard Sikes 42 Toward a uniﬁ ed Portuguese spelling Q Columns and Commentary — Marco S. de Pinto Up Front 22 Off the Map — Tom Edwards 46 Linguistic purism in Latin American 24 World Savvy — John Freivalds Spanish — Nataly Kelly 26 The Business Side — Adam Asnes QBusiness 28 Perspectives — Susan Remkus 50 Evolving global product content 30 Perspectives — Jessica Roland practices — Leonor Ciarlone 62 Takeaway — Ken Behan Q53 Basics

Q55 Buyer’s Guide 61 Advertiser Index

About the cover This ceremonial shield displayed at The Chicago Art Institute is from the Ti Wa- naku Culture of Bolivia and is dated 100 to 600 CE. The painted glyphs depict stylized warrior deities. The shield is fashioned of leather and cotton canvas over a stitched reed framework.

www.multilingual.com June 2009 MultiLingual 7

06-07 Across-Contents #104.indd 7 5/20/09 9:04:26 AM on the web at www.multilingual.com

MultiLingual Careers #104 Volume 20 Issue 4 June 2009 Editor-in-Chief, Publisher: Donna Parrish LOOKING FOR A NEW START IN THE INDUSTRY? Look no further Managing Editor: Laurel Wagers than the careers section at www.multilingual.com/careers Assistant Editor: Katie Botkin There you will ¿ nd up-to-the-minute job listings, with descriptions Translation Dept. Editor: Jim Healey and contact details. At press time, there were listings ranging from News: Kendra Gray translator to sales professional for North America. Check soon because Illustrator: Doug Jones the jobs are quickly ¿ lled. Good luck in your search! If you are reading Production: Sandy Compton MultiLingual and browsing www.multilingual.com, you are obviously well- Cover Photo: Doug Jones informed and will ¿ nd something in the near future. Webmaster: Aric Spence Technical Analyst: Curtis Booker On the other side of the equation, do you need to ¿ nd just the right Data Administrator: Cecilia Spence person to ¿ ll the new opening in your company? Get your job listing Assistant: Shannon Abromeit published right away on www.multilingual.com/careers and within two Circulation: Terri Jadick weeks in the newsletter, MultiLingual News. Savvy employers return Special Projects: Bernie Nova again and again to this resource — because it works! Advertising Director: Jennifer Del Carlo Advertising: Kevin Watson, Bonnie Merrell Editorial Board Jeff Allen, Julieta Coirini, Stay in touch Bill Hall, Aki Ito, Nancy A. Locke, Ultan Ó Broin, Angelika Zerfaß Keep up to date with all the news, thoughts and trends with Advertising MultiLingual. Current news is available at www.multilingual.com/news, [email protected] and the free biweekly newsletter, MultiLingual News, delivers this www.multilingual.com/advertising information to your inbox. 208-263-8178 Subscriptions, back issues, Want to hear the latest ruminations from our editorial board and customer service staff? Blogos (www.multilingualblog.com) is the place to look. [email protected] And, newest on the list, you can follow us on Twitter at www.multilingual.com/ www.twitter.com/multilingualmag subscriptionInformation Submissions, letters [email protected] Editorial guidelines are available at www.multilingual.com/editorialWriter Subscribe online at www.multilingual.com/subscribe Reprints: [email protected] MultiLingual Computing, Inc. MultiLingual comes in two great formats: print and digital, and you 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2 can subscribe to either online www.multilingual.com/subscribe Sandpoint, Idaho 83864-1495 USA [email protected] MultiLingual, the print magazine, is mailed nine times a year www.multilingual.com (eight issues plus an annual resource directory/index) for © MultiLingual Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction just $58 and includes full access to MultiLingual, the digital without permission is prohibited. For reprints and e-prints, please e-mail [email protected] or call 208-263-8178. magazine — delivered in a new, interactive format with MultiLingual (ISSN 1523-0309), June 2009, is published monthly except Jan-Feb, Apr-May, Jul-Aug, Oct-Nov for special features that allow you to read it ofÀ ine. A digital- US $58, international $85 per year by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495. Periodicals only subscription is available for $28. postage paid at Sandpoint, ID and additional mailing ofﬁ ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MultiLingual, 319 North Subscribe today and start keeping up with the fastest-growing industry First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495. on the planet. MultiLingual is printed on 10% post-consumer recycled paper.

8 | MultiLingual June 2009 [email protected]

08 Masthead #104.indd 8 5/19/09 3:20:25 PM Katie Botkin Post Editing

Cultural hats

Heat, mixed-race norms, low-cost fashion sense, fl uctuating economies, the prevalence of Spanish. What other places are beginning to experience more and more, Latin America already has a fi rm grasp on. Given these and other trends, is Latin America a homogenous culture within itself? Tom Edwards starts off the issue Haddressing this question, and Martin Spethman and Nitish Singh open up the focus with a similar look at the sometimes-differing, sometimes-similar online norms of Brazil and Argentina. The quick answer is certainly no, and the more countries one brings into this, the easier the reaction becomes. So another question: is Latin America an emerging, cutting-edge power? We love good coffee and cacao beans; we love the idea that by recycling paper or by talking about effi cient alternative energy, we may be saving the Amazon. We love that eating acai berry sorbet means we’re actually being “healthy.” We love the stories of the place, from the elegant to the exotic to the macabre. We like our Patagonia gear and our Mexican restaurants, even when neither have very strong ties to their namesakes. We love what South and Central America give us, and as it all seems relatively fresh, why shouldn’t it be an emerging power? Teddy Bengtsson and Fabiano Cid have differing approaches to this question as it relates to the South American market in these fi nancial times. Marco S. de San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, market. Though this could be just about anywhere, cultural details abound, from Pinto gives an in-depth fl ow of traffi c to season to paving material. explanation of the Portuguese spelling reform everyone’s talking about. Nataly Kelly presents a wealth of information on Latin American Spanish, revisiting that question about homogeny. But there are other current, pressing questions, cost and marketing to clients being two related ones. In Perspectives, Susan Remkus discusses how to approach marketing to clients, Jessica Roland has a few points about work-based pricing models, and the Takeaway by Ken Behan suggests ways to reduce word count. Leonor Ciarlone lays out The Gilbane Group’s latest study on upcoming trends in localization content management. Because everyone wants to know about the latest tools, Richard Sikes takes a look at SDL Passolo’s new update. Because everyone needs some fun, John Freivalds waves various red fl ags (on fl ags), and Adam Asnes relates how ten different globalization professionals got into their fi elds. Because the citizens of our fi eld seem a little unsure how much they’ll need to adapt to stay ahead, here’s some motivation in the form of a stack of Latin American hats. You, too, can look good wearing cultural difference. :

www.multilingual.com June 2009 MultiLingual | 9

09 PostEditing #104.indd 9 5/19/09 3:21:05 PM Yahoo! profi le intended for ‘central’ use MultiLingual recently discussed Yahoo!’s universal profi le with Mike Folgner, senior director of Yahoo! Profi les. Yahoo!’s universal profi le was launched in October 2008, and it still is relatively unknown, compared with other social networking giants.

MultiLingual: Why is it a “universal” proﬁ le? Folgner: Yahoo!’s latest proﬁ le is deemed “universal” as it allows people to manage their identity and represent

News themselves across all of Yahoo!, making it easier for people to connect and share with the people who matter most to them in a single and central place. MultiLingual: The profi le page allows users to make limited changes to their profi les, such as status updates, adding connections from their Yahoo! address book and so on, correct? How is it different from the social web platforms that are already out there? Folgner: With the universal profi le, you can edit status updates, add personal information and interests, manage connections, as well as control and view updates. Updates are summaries of user activity and user-generated content that enable Yahoo! users to have visibility into the online activities of their con- Yahoo!’s universal profi le has similar features as Facebook, nections across the Yahoo! network and other popular websites. currently the number-one social networking site worldwide, with Yahoo!’s goal is to infuse social relevance into the web experi- 200 million active users and over 1 billion visits per month. Yahoo!’s ences people use every day. We do not aim to create a new service stated goal is to bring a social dimension to their network of web or destination; rather, we are making all of Yahoo!’s services more features rather than to “create a new service or destination.” engaging for our users with social capabilities. Unlike other social web platforms already in existence, we view “social” as a dimen- almost 50 new languages to the Gmail Labs box it launched last year sion, not a destination. in English. Does this change anything in Yahoo!’s future? MultiLingual: How does the profi le improve Yahoo!’s offerings? Folgner: More than 500 million users around the world visit Folgner: The universal profi le extends Yahoo!’s Open Strategy Yahoo! each month. Yahoo! remains committed to providing access to make Yahoo! more open and social, serving as a foundation to to all users — regardless of language or location. In regards to our fuel socially-relevant elements across the network. It is a central universal profi le experience, the service initially launched in 18 dif- place for social activity, making it easy for people to manage their ferent languages to accommodate its 35 international markets and identity, activities, interests and connections. It also provides users has scaled to 41 markets. We are always looking for ways to expand with a consistent place to manage a single identity across multiple our offerings and to make it more widely available for all users. services. With a functional experience across the entire Yahoo! MultiLingual: Are there plans to release it in other languages? network, the universal profi les make all of Yahoo! — and eventually Folgner: While we don’t discuss specifi c future plans, we encour- the web — a more social place. age you to visit Yahoo! often to see all the exciting new things that MultiLingual: Google announced March 30, 2009, that it’s adding are coming up!

MemoQFest 2009 in Budapest, Hungary Conference proves informative, intimate Smaller conferences currently seem to be the events where memory provider, 23-24 April 2009. Kilgray had invited users members of the localization community meet and learn about and friends, and about 120 people came, enjoying tool presenta- standards and trends for the future. And this is not surprising, tions, talks and excellent evening entertainment. Budapest is a actually. In times of fi nancial pressure, companies are looking for charming city, the weather was great, and so was the company, the most attractive fi nancial ways to solve their need for informa- whether people were discussing newest technologies or local tion. Small conferences are fun and informative. They facilitate historical sites. It was nice to meet many satisfi ed users who had direct contact between all participants and contributors and allow actually travelled to Budapest in order to tell their peers about people to address their questions and comments directly to the the positive experiences they had with MemoQ, but also to chal- people they have just met. lenge the Kilgray developers to tackle their most important tool An event that fi t exactly in the above description was the requests. MemoQFest 2009, organized by Kilgray, the Hungarian translation -Angela Starkmann

10 | MultiLingual June 2009 [email protected]

10-17 News #104.indd 10 5/20/09 9:17:38 AM News

Business assignments for Kazakhstan and neighbor- Arancho Nordic Oy ing states such as Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and helsinki@fi .arancho.com, www.arancho.com Kilgray sets up German subsidiary Kyrgyzstan. SAS Institute, Inc. [email protected], www.sas.com Kilgray Translation Technologies, a devel- Janus Worldwide Inc. oper of translation productivity tools, has [email protected], www.janus.ru Resources set up a subsidiary in Bonn, Germany, to operate under the name Kilgray Deutsch- People Seventh edition of Guide land GmbH. to Translation and Localization Kilgray Translation Technologies Recent industry hires Lingo Systems, a Language Line Services [email protected], www.kilgray.com Q Meedan, a nonprofi t social technol- company providing translation and local- ogy company, has hired Anas Tawileh as ization services, has announced the publi- LTC introduces Agile, hires manager vice president of engineering. cation of the seventh edition of the Guide The Language Technology Centre Ltd. Q Acclaro Inc., a translation and local- to Translation and Localization — Commu- (LTC), a software developer and language ization fi rm, has hired Daniel R. DeFazio as nicating with the Global Marketplace. The service provider, has announced a major vice president, fi nance & administration, guide has been totally redesigned and con- restructuring of its operations. The com- for its global operations. tains new information refl ecting the state pany has introduced a new business entity, Q PROMT, a provider of automated trans- of the industry, technological advances, Agile Web Solutions Ltd. LTC will continue lation solutions, has hired Rui Monteiro-Claro and best practices. The new guide also to focus on its multilingual offerings, as director of business development for the features numerous guest chapters from whereas Agile will be an independent soft- entire Americas region. industry experts and pundits on subjects ware developer. Agile is making available a Q Arancho Nordic Oy, a provider of ranging from content management sys- localization kit for partners who want to translation and localization solutions, has tems and machine translation issues to an localize LTC Worx for their markets. hired Minna Palviainen as new business overview of the future of the translation Phil McConnell, a software executive, development manager and Kaisa Korhonen and localization industry. has been hired to manage engineering for as production assistant. Lingo Systems the new company. Q SAS Institute, Inc., a provider of busi- [email protected], www.lingosys.com The Language Technology Centre Ltd. ness analytics software and services, has [email protected], www.langtech.co.uk named David Hughes as vice president of WDL launched in multilingual format Asia Pacifi c operations. The World Digital Library (WDL), an online Commit opens San Diego offi ce Meedan cultural library, has been launched in multi- Commit, a language services provider, has [email protected], http://beta.meedan.net lingual format and includes materials from 32 opened a US offi ce, located in San Diego, Acclaro Inc. countries and cultures from around the world. California. The new offi ce will be headed [email protected], www.acclaro.com The navigation tools and content descrip- by Jack Kelly as director of US business PROMT [email protected], www.e-promt.com tions are provided in Arabic, Chinese, English, development. Commit [email protected], www.commit.gr

Allion opens Oregon test facility Allion Test Labs, a global information technology testing organization, has opened a new test facility in Portland, Oregon. ... the correct product information Allion Test Labs ... in the correct format and quality [email protected], www.allion.com ... in the correct language CPSL adds Texas offi ce, ... at the right location STAR Group was founded key account manager in Switzerland 25 years CPSL, a language solutions and documen- ... at the right time ago with the exclusive tation provider, has opened a new offi ce in ... for the right recipient focus of facilitating Dallas, Texas, as part of its international cross-cultural technical expansion strategy. Matt Barbour has been communications in all hired as key account manager for North languages. America. Capable?! The company has grown CPSL [email protected], www.cpsl.com Take yourself to the next level to be the largest privately Janus opens offi ce in Kazakhstan and contact held multilingual infor- Janus Worldwide Inc., a provider of mation technology and translation, localization and linguistic con- STAR Group – services company in the sulting services, has opened a new offi ce in Your single-source partner world with 42 offices

Almaty, Kazakhstan. The new ofﬁ ce will be for corporate product communication. www.star-group.net/casestudies in 32 countries. geared toward production and coordination

www.multilingual.com June 2009 MultiLingual | 11

10-17 News #104.indd 11 5/20/09 9:17:39 AM News

French, Spanish, Russian and Portuguese. Interview-based research on the Hong Kong-based branch of the Oxford Run by the Library of Congress, the WDL translation management systems University Press. involves contributions by partner institu- In its April 2009 report “Translation Man- Monotype Imaging, Inc. tions in many countries, as well as the agement Takes Flight,” Common Sense Advi- www.monotypeimaging.com support of the United Nations Education, sory, Inc., interviewed 30 companies about Scientifi c, and Cultural Organization and their translation management systems (TMSs) ForeignExchange METRiQ the fi nancial aid from a number of compa- to uncover how the systems are helping mul- ForeignExchange Translations, Inc., a pro- nies and private foundations. tilingual content producers meet demand vider of translation and localization services World Digital Library www.wdl.org and improve productivity. The results describe to the life sciences industry, has introduced the types of systems (from house to com- METRiQ, a proprietary tool designed to cap- mercial off-the-shelf), benefi ts and possible ture linguistic quality data at every step of a Since 1994 shortcomings with the TMS options available project. It identifi es improvement needs and and the factors driving TMS demand. provides data to measure improvements and Common Sense Advisory, Inc. effi ciencies. [email protected] ForeignExchange Translations, Inc. TURKISH www.commonsenseadvisory.com [email protected], www.fxtrans.com ARABIC ELRA Alcohol Language Corpus TranslatorsTraining The European Language Resources Asso- adds localization tutorials GREEK ciation (ELRA) has added a new speech cor- TranslatorsTraining, an online resource for pus to its catalogue. ELRA-S0299 Alcohol comparing and learning about computer- and more... Language Corpus contains recordings of aided translation (CAT) tools, has announced 88 German speakers who are either intoxi- the addition of new tutorials for major cated or sober. The type of speech ranges localization tools such as SDL Passolo and from read single digits to full conversa- Alchemy CATALYST. The new tutorials are Proven tion style. Recordings were done during designed to help subscribers discover what Proven a drinking test where speakers consumed localization tools actually do, understand Experience beer or wine to reach a self-chosen level the differences between localization tools Quality of alcoholic intoxication. In the intoxicated and CAT tools, and compare the localization state 30 items were sampled from each tools on a level playing fi eld. speaker, while in the sober state 60 items TranslatorsTraining were recorded. [email protected] Proven ELRA/ELDA [email protected], www.elda.org www.translatorstraining.com Reliability Products and Services SDL Passolo 2009, SDL Trisoft 2009 SDL, a provider of global information Long-Term MemoQ 3.5 management (GIM) solutions, has released Commitment Kilgray Translation Technologies, a devel- SDL Passolo 2009, the latest version of its oper of translation productivity tools, has visual software localization product. New Cost released MemoQ 3.5. The new version focuses features include QuickIndex technology, Effective on subsegment leveraging, enhancing support a complete history of edits to each string Service for Arabic, Hebrew and Slavic languages, and and the ability to roll back to previous ver- compatibility with other translation environ- sions of the translation. Blue-chip ment tools such as STAR Transit. SDL Trisoft, developer of content man- Kilgray Translation Technologies agement systems for technical publications, Client Base [email protected], www.kilgray.com has released SDL Trisoft 2009. The new release features enhanced integration with Monotype updates collection, SDL GIM technologies. customizes Chinese fonts SDL [email protected], www.sdl.com Monotype Imaging, Inc., a provider of SDL Trisoft text imaging solutions, has added more [email protected], www.trisoftcms.com than 100 fonts to its Monotype, Linotype and ITC typeface collections. The typeface Certifi ed Outsourcing collections range from an update of a Professional program classic industrial design to fonts that offer The Symbio Group, a provider of software unique personalities. development, testing and globalization China Type Design Ltd., the Hong Kong- outsourcing services, has introduced a new www.estr.com - [email protected] based subsidiary of Monotype, has licensed information technology (IT) and manage- +90 216 3268764 two Chinese fonts that were customized ment training program — Certifi ed Out- for the Oxford University Press China Ltd., sourcing Professional program — through

12 | MultiLingual June 2009 [email protected]

10-17 News #104.indd 12 5/20/09 9:17:39 AM News

its Symbio Technology Institute (STI). The series to give users demonstrations on spe- GlobalScript new program is intended to boost the skill cifi c features about the new Wordfast Pro LinguaLinx, Inc., a translation and com- level of Chinese IT professionals. According 6.0 and Pro +. New features include right- munications company, has announced the to Symbio, STI is currently the only profes- to-left language support and management formation of a new division — GlobalScript sional and educational training provider of translation memories (TM) assets with a — specializing in outsourced global docu- covering the outsourcing industry in China. new TM administration module. mentation solutions. The division also offers The Symbio Group [email protected] Wordfast LLC a full array of consulting and educational www.symbio-group.com [email protected], www.wordfast.com services, including content audits and assess- ments and a webinar series. K-12 Translate GlobalSight 7.3 LinguaLinx, Inc. viaLanguage, a translation and localiza- Welocalize, an integrated globalization [email protected], www.lingualinx.com tion services provider, has opened its K-12 services provider, has released GlobalSight education translation business unit, K-12 7.3. Recent updates include an expanded web Serna Free Translate. A new website provides district service application programming interface Syntext, Inc., a software development educators and administrators with an online functionality to provide access to the trans- company, has released Serna Free, a solu- translation project ordering system, tips on lation memory and the terminology database tion for XML authoring available free-of- how to communicate effectively with diverse from an external application. Welocalize has charge. It is intended for personal use at audiences, insight on best practices to help also published a complete Translator Train- home, documenting open-source projects, schools streamline translation activities, ing Guide that addresses these and all steps education and other noncommercial uses. case studies and other information relating specifi c to translators and reviewers using Features include Unicode support and mul- to K-12 education translation services, new GlobalSight. tilingual spell checking. legislation and immigration trends. Welocalize Syntext, Inc. [email protected] viaLanguage [email protected] [email protected], www.welocalize.com www.syntext.com www.vialanguage.com SYSTRANet updated GhostReader 1.6 tmmix SYSTRAN Software, Inc., a provider of AssistiveWare, a provider of accessibil- Grafi Data Groep BV, a provider of cross- language translation software products ity solutions for Mac OS X, has released media content publishing solutions and and solutions, has updated SYSTRANet. GhostReader 1.6, the company’s application services, has introduced tmmix — a fully The online translation service now trans- that allows the multilingual text-to-speech controlled data fl ow system built on data lates syndication feeds from around the reading of text documents. Current lan- that has already been translated. world and includes interactive translation guages include Arabic, Greek, Russian, Ital- Grafi Data Groep BV www.grafi data.nl capabilities. ian, Turkish, British and Norwegian. SYSTRAN Software, Inc. AssistiveWare [email protected] MediaSphere updated [email protected], www.systransoft.com www.assistiveware.com AppTek, a developer of human language technology, has updated its media monitoring solution MediaSphere. The updated version offers text processing with linguistic capabilities such as speech-to-text transcrip- tion, machine translation of transcribed text, information retrieval with query translation and automated name-entity detection. AppTek [email protected], www.apptek.com

TT-Software multilingual dictionaries TT-Software has developed a new kind of multilingual dictionary. There are eight source languages — English, French, Span- ish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, German, Dutch and Swedish — shown in one window, including the relationship and origin of the different languages. Each source language contains over 35,000 keywords with more than 350,000 translations in each language. TT-Software www.multilingual-databases.com

Wordfast Pro 6.0, Pro +, webinars Wordfast LLC, a provider of translation memory software, has designed a webinar

www.multilingual.com June 2009 MultiLingual | 13

10-17 News #104.indd 13 5/20/09 9:17:41 AM News

Glearch global search engine projects across multiple departments and The new system allows clients to directly A provider of website, software and docu- highlights overdue projects. post new requests and track projects online. mentation translation services, Globaliza- Vasont Systems OneDocument, S.L. tion Partners International, has developed a [email protected], www.vasont.com [email protected] new search engine, Glearch, for researchers, www.onedocument.eu international business professionals, travel- Lingvo x3 Mobile ers, students and anyone else who needs to ABBYY USA, a developer of language soft- TranslateMedia online gist translation search the web by language, by country and ware and document recognition and forms TranslateMedia, a digital document transla- by search engine. processing technologies, has created Lingvo tion provider, has introduced a new gist trans- Globalization Partners International x3 Mobile, a multilingual dictionary software lation tool on its website. SYSTRAN software [email protected] for mobile devices. Lingvo x3 Mobile sup- runs the tool that allows translation of text to www.globalizationpartners.com ports the translation of words and phrases and from English and Arabic, Chinese, French, from English, German or Russian into French, German, Italian and Spanish. Plaxo localization by vote German, English, Russian, Italian, Spanish and TranslateMedia [email protected] Social networking site Plaxo is expand- back. It also includes additional features such www.translatemedia.com ing its global network of sites by using the as audio pronunciations and the Lingvo Tutor technique “member sourcing” to produce tool for vocabulary training. TERMDAT online public version its localizations. Plaxo’s approach involves ABBYY USA The Federal Chancellery of the Swiss Con- a portal that allows users to suggest suit- [email protected], http://abbyyusa.com federation has released the online public able translations and then vote on the version of its terminology database TERM- alternatives, with the most popular making Lingobit Localizer 6.0 DAT. MultiTrans is the core technology that it to the live site, thus giving the site a local Lingobit Technologies has released Lin- drives TERMDAT and all of its features and feel and delivering content that is intended gobit Localizer 6.0 with enhanced features functionality, including searching, indexing, to be more appealing and relevant. such as new parsers for source code local- terminology approval and so on. MultiTrans Plaxo, Inc. [email protected], www.plaxo.com ization; multilingual rebranding support; is the fl agship product of MultiCorpora right-to-left languages localization; and a R&D Inc., a software language technology Vasont 12 translation hints panel. provider. Vasont Systems, a provider of compo- Lingobit Technologies MultiCorpora R&D Inc. nent content management solutions, has [email protected], www.lingobit.com [email protected] released Vasont 12. Enhancements include www.multicorpora.com a translation package that consolidates OneDocument management portal translation project information in one win- OneDocument, S.L., a multilingual lan- Clients and Partners dow and a project management window guage provider specializing in life sciences, that provides overall statuses of workfl ow has activated its new management portal. Manitowoc selects STAR STAR Group, a service provider for the entire life cycle of technical information, has been selected for its GRIPS multilingual information management technology by Manitowoc Cranes, Inc. The corporate technical communication platform will be used to produce serialized technical product manuals for all Manitowoc Cranes products MT Summit XII worldwide. A global perspective on translation automation STAR Group [email protected], www.star-group.net Ottawa, Canada Rogers, Canada Games Movement August 26-30, 2009 translates for JiveFusion JiveFusion Technologies, Inc., a provider http://summitxii.amtaweb.org of translation memory (TM) solutions, has been chosen by Rogers, a provider of wireless, cable television, high-speed internet and home phone services, to provide TM solutions to the Rogers language services department. JiveFusion has also provided its technology to the Halifax 2011 Games Host Society, a nonprofi t organization that works in partnership with the government, the private sector hosted by organized by and the sports community to enrich the lives

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of young athletes through the Canada Games as the core module for the development of a worldwide markets. A case study of the pro- Movement. multilingual version of Le Grand Dictionnaire ject is available on Sitecore’s website. JiveFusion Technologies, Inc. Terminologique. MultiTrans TermBase is the Clay Tablet Technologies [email protected] fl agship product of MultiCorpora R&D Inc., a [email protected], www.clay-tablet.com www.jivefusiontech.com software language technology provider. MultiCorpora R&D Inc. www.multicorpora.com MAart Agency translating for CdT SDL combines technology MAart Agency Ltd., a language services with Language Weaver, Plunet Fluency forms partnership provider, has been awarded a contract by the SDL, a provider of global information with Translation Source Translation Centre for the Bodies of the Euro- man agement (GIM) solutions, and Language Fluency, Inc., a provider of online lan- pean Union (CdT) for English>Polish transla- Weaver, a statistics-based automated language access management tools, has part- tion for a chemical translation project. guage translation solutions provider, have nered with Translation Source, a provider of MAart Agency Ltd. announced a partnership to combine the multilingual solutions for business, govern- [email protected], www.maart.pl technology of Language Weaver’s statisti- ment and nonprofi ts. The partnership was cal machine translation engine with SDL’s formed to capture the synergies between Shufra signs reseller agreements free translation website and other SDL GIM Fluency’s online tools with the experience Shufra has become an authorized reseller technology. of Translation Source in providing multi- for the Boeing Company, offering the Boe- Plunet GmbH, a provider of business man- lingual solutions to health care providers ing Simplifi ed English Checker, a software agement software for translation services across the state of Texas. product that helps technical writers check and agencies, and SDL Trados Technolo- Fluency, Inc. gofl uently@gofl uently.com for compliance with the international stan- gies have signed a technology partnership www.gofl uently.com dard ASD-STE100, also known as simplifi ed agreement. Translation processes running Translation Source technical English. over the Trados TM server are now linked [email protected] Shufra has also signed a reseller agree- to Plunet’s business and workfl ow manage- www.translation-source.com ment with acrolinx GmbH to market and ment platform enabling translation agencies distribute the acrolinx IQ Suite. This soft- and in-house translation departments to Clay Tablet partners with Stokke ware helps to implement corporate style establish integrated translation manage- Clay Tablet Technologies, a provider of inte- guides governing spelling, grammar, style ment processes. gration software that connects any content and terminology usage in documentation. SDL [email protected], www.sdl.com management system (CMS) with any transla- Shufra www.shufra.com.sg Language Weaver [email protected] tion system or provider, was chosen by baby acrolinx GmbH www.languageweaver.com product manufacturer Stokke for its transla- [email protected], www.acrolinx.com Plunet GmbH [email protected], www.plunet.de tion needs. Clay Tablet 2.0 connected Stokke’s Sitecore CMS with Translated.net’s custom Déjà Vu distributed by PowerLing OQLF selects MultiTrans TermBase translation management system to translate Atril Software, a computer-assisted trans- The Offi ce Québécois de la Langue Française the numerous content assets required for the lation technology developer, has signed (OQLF) has selected the MultiTrans TermBase launch of new products and information into an agreement with PowerLing, a provider

Announces the 7th edition of the award-winning The Guide to Translation and Localization For your FREE copy visit: www.lingosys.com

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of translation and business management fi fteenth year of business. Recent activi- documentaries and other video content. solutions. PowerLing becomes the exclusive ties include expansion in the United States, The crowdsourced model allows TED to distributor for Déjà Vu in Germany, Austria, a new corporate image and membership continue its support of open-source solu- Switzerland, France, The Netherlands, Bel- in the business group “Leading the Crisis” tions and extend the reach of the project gium and Luxembourg. (“Liderando la Crisis”). beyond just a handful of major languages. Atril Software TSG — Glotas TED www.ted.com [email protected], www.atril.com [email protected], www.tsg-global.com dotSUB http://dotsub.com Ministère du Tourisme du Québec TED Open Translation Project Awards and Certifications chooses Nestor System Owned by The Sapling Foundation, a Nestor System Inc., a provider of mul- private nonprofi t foundation, TED stands Standards certifi cations tilingual management solutions, has been for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and Q CSOFT International, Ltd., a provider of selected by the Ministère du Tourisme du started out as a conference bringing together multilingual localization, testing and software Québec to translate and proofread new people from those three worlds. Since then development, has earned ISO 13485:2003 texts for the website www.bonjourquebec its scope has become ever broader. The certifi cation. The standard was developed .com into fi ve languages. group has introduced a new endeavor called to help medical device companies meet cus- Nestor System Inc. the TED Open Translation Project where tomer and regulatory requirements. [email protected] volunteers will be able to translate approved Q CyraCom International and its sister www.nestorsystem.com transcripts of their favorite talks into their company Voiance Language Services have native language. Approved translations will completed the audit process and received Announcements become available for free to the public as ISO 9001:2008 certifi cation. subtitles to accompany each talk. CSOFT International, Ltd. TSG — Glotas celebrates 15 years TED worked with partners at dotSUB — [email protected], http://csoftintl.com TSG — Glotas, a provider of localization developers of a user-generated, wiki-type CyraCom International and translation services, has entered its tool designed for translating subtitles for [email protected], www.cyracom.com

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10-17 News #104.indd 16 5/20/09 9:17:43 AM July September 6th ProZ.com International Conference 10th Brazilian Translation Forum & July 2-5, 2009, in Ohrid, Macedonia. 4th International Translation Forum Calendar ProZ.com and Hristina Dojcinova, www.proz.com/conference/91 September 7-10, 2009, in Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil. ABRAPT and Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto IATIS 2009 www.tolk.su.se/0907-12.html#7_sep_ouro_preto July 8-9, 2009, in Melbourne, Australia. International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies Interpreting the Future [email protected], www.iatis.org September 11-13, 2009, in Berlin, Germany. BDÜ Service GmbH, www.interpreting-the-future.com WORLDCOMP’09 July 13-16, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. GALA 2009 The University of Georgia, [email protected] September 14-16, 2009, in Cancun, Mexico. www.world-academy-of-science.org/worldcomp09/ws Globalization and Localization Association www.gala-global.org/conference International Literary Translation Summer School July 19-25, 2009, in Norwich, UK. Computers and Translation — TM Systems British Centre for Literary Translation September 14-18, 2009, in Saarbrücken, Germany. www.uea.ac.uk/bclt/summer+school Universität des Saarlandes, http://fr46.uni-saarland.de/fbs2009 2009 ATA-TCD Conference UA Europe July 30-August 1, 2009, in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. September 17-18, 2009, in Cardiff, Wales. American Translators Association — Translation Company Division Matthew Ellison Consulting, www.uaconference.eu [email protected], http://ata-tcd.com Computers and Translation — August Software and Website Localization September 21-23, 2009, in Saarbrücken, Germany. ACL-IJCNLP 2009 Universität des Saarlandes, http://fr46.uni-saarland.de/fbs2009 August 2-7, 2009, in Singapore. Chinese and Oriental Languages Information Processing Society AGIS ‘09 [email protected], www.acl-ijcnlp-2009.org September 21-25, 2009, in Limerick, Ireland. LRC, CNGL, NDP, SFI, www.agis09.org CETRA 2009 Doctoral Summer School August 17-28, 2009, in Leuven, Belgium. Technical Communication UK Centre for Translation Studies, [email protected] September 22-24, 2009, in Nottingham, UK. www.kuleuven.be/cetra/Summer_School/summerschool Institute of Scientiﬁ c and Technical Communicators www.technicalcommunicationuk.com 12th International Conference on Translation August 18-20, 2009, in Penang, Malaysia. LRC XIV Malaysian Translators Association, www.usm.my/ppa12 September 23-25, 2009, in Limerick, Ireland. Localisation Research Centre Workshop on Arabic Script-based Languages www.localisation.ie/resources/conferences/2009 August 26, 2009, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. CAASL, [email protected], http://arabicscript.org/CAASL3 October Machine Translation Summit XII TM-Europe 2009 August 26-30, 2009, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. October 1-2, 2009, in Warsaw, Poland. Association for Machine Translation in the Americas Polish Association of Translation Companies, www.tm-europe.org [email protected], http://summitxii.amtaweb.org 33rd Internationalization & Unicode Conference The Known Unknowns of Translation Studies October 14-16, 2009, in San Jose, California USA. August 28-29, 2009, in Leuven, Belgium. Object Management Group, www.unicodeconference.org/ml Katholieke Universiteit, [email protected] www.kuleuven.be/cetra/anniversary Localization World Silicon Valley October 20-22, 2009, in San Jose, California USA. International Conference on the Localization World Ltd., www.localizationworld.com Teaching of Computer-aided Translation August 29, 2009, in Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong. TAUS User Conference 2009 The Chinese University of Hong Kong October 27-30, 2009, in Portland, Oregon USA. http://cat.tra.cuhk.edu.hk/MACATconference09 TAUS, www.translationautomation.com/meetings

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10-17 News #104.indd 17 5/20/09 9:17:45 AM 18-21 Reviews#104.indd 18 18 from previous versions willimmediatelydiscover |

A MultiLingual big functionalstick. tradition ofwalkingsoftlyandcarryinga its previous andmuch-respected corporate tive new exterior, Passolo 2009continues pragmatic value. Thus, despite itsattrac- projects, willfi that users, especially thosewithlarge-scale tionality hasbeenaddedbelowthesurface the superfi beauty ofPassolo 2009doesnotstopat during thelocalizationprocess. Butthe various windows withwhichusers interact in docking,undockingandviewingthe with newicons andincreased fl face hasbeengiven anattractive facelift the 2009version, thePassolo user inter- known fortheirslick user interface.With the hood,previous versions have notbeen tool ofenormous agilityandpowerunder solo is, and hasalways been,alocalization there hasnever beenanydoubtthatPas- to betheexception tothatwisdom. While skin deep,butSDLPassolo 2009proves Adopters ofthe2009version wholoadprojects Reviews An old adage holds that beauty is only An oldadageholdsthatbeautyis only cial level. Powerful newfunc- and acofounder ofLocFlowTech. localization managementtrainer andconsultant Passolo Trainer since2006.Heisafreelance since 1989andhasbeenanindependent Certifi Richard Sikeshasbeenimmersed inlocalization ue20 [email protected] June 2009 nd tobeoftremendous New versionraisesthebarintranslatorusability Reviewed byRichardSikes SDL Passolo2009 exibility exibility projects withAsianlanguages. Windows XPisrecommendedfor XP orWindowsVista.Amultilingual application, canbeusedonlyonWindows SDL Passolo2009,aUnicode System requirements bundles createdwithTeamEdition. editor thatallowstranslatorstoedit Translator Edition:Afreedownloadable application withinSDLTrados. SDL PassoloEssential:Includedasan Edition. $4,650-$8,700 be processedusingthefreeTranslator number oftranslationbundlesthatcan Team Edition:Createandadministera sized projects.$2,550 localization ofmedium-sizedtolarge- Professional Edition:Suitedtothe SDL Passolo2009editions ed would betoeliminate orignore superfl match. Oneapproach tomatchingcharacter sequencessuchasthese such asthoseinthewords are typicalforsoftware user interfaces. indexing andsearching withinstringandcharacter sequencesthat In “classical” word-based TMfuzzymatching, character sequences File is notyet state-of-the-art. be considered ifpartnerinfrastructure 2009 Professional version, butshould lator version orhavingupdatedtothe to resources using thefree 2009Trans- for companiesthatoutsource projects versions. This neednotbeofconcern format cannolongerbeeditedinprior date thatfi project fi that changeshave beenmadetothe technology thatis specifi translation memory(TM)processing Index user-friendliness equation.Enter algorithms was neededtobalancethe nents, enhancement ofthesearching numerous fi gantly supportedlarge projects with prior versions ofPassolo already ele- central processing unitcycles. Because a time-consuming process thatdrains and concordances inlarge fi customer requests. have beenimplementedinresponse to Quick Index Passolo’s functionalityoffering,namely enable twopowerfulimprovements to and Searching for matches, fuzzymatches Quick index The newfi , an adaptation of subsegment , anadaptationofsubsegment &File le format. Thesechangesman- uous characters such asthe le typesandothercompo- and les converted to thenew … would not yield a fuzzy … wouldnotyieldafuzzy le formatwasrequired to History , both of which , bothofwhich cally tunedto les canbe Quick 5/20/09 9:46:00 AM Reviews

ampersand and the periods. In this Docking and undocking windows case, though, string information that In recent years, the availability of large could be valuable in the context of widescreen monitors combined with afford- a software user interface would be able ﬂ at-panel systems has drastically changed lost. In other words, these character how screen real estate is used for business sequences as they are could be very purposes. In the past, dual monitor systems valid and usable fuzzy matches. Pas- were usually seen only in software develop- solo 2009’s matching algorithms are ment cubicles, but serious computer users in capable of returning matches of this other disciplines are increasingly learning the Change history is recorded on a type from indexed project or glossary string-by-string basis and can be rolled back. advantages of spreading application windows ﬁ les. Aside from widening the choice across mul tiple monitors. In the world of of reusable material from existing translation lists, terminology man- visual localization, this is a no-brainer. Trans lators working on agement is enhanced. As a further example, consider a dialog entitled string lists in one window can immediately see their work ren- “Word wrap” and a corresponding tool tip sentence “To change word dered in context in another full-sized window placed to the side wrap settings, click the Options button.” Here, Quick Index might as opposed to having to scroll around or toggle back and forth suggest preexisting translations of word wrap and Options as well as other indexed subsegments, regardless of ampersands or other noise in the translation units (TUs). Windows can be unlocked History and moved Imagine having a history of all changes to a project on a string- to secondary by-string granularity. Now it is possible! Passolo 2009 tracks and monitors. stores textual changes, including coordinates and string proper- ties, comment changes and alteration of TU status, regardless of whether they originate from manual entry, updates, alignment, leverage, import or pre-translation. Not only is the change history recorded, but any alteration that can be made by a translator to the translation lists can also be rolled back. Rollback is available on a TU-by-TU basis, on a translation list basis, on a project basis or on a date basis. Enhanced productivity features Although the new Quick Index and History features of Passolo between windows. 2009 would justify an upgrade on their own, the program authors Passolo 2009 allows undocking have not stopped there. Numerous enhancements to usability and the working windows and placing them wherever the user desires translator friendliness are built in throughout the new version. to optimize usage of screen space. Windows can also conveniently

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be redocked in their original positions or some other desired con- Search and Terminology Markup. “Translation Providers” are sources fi guration. When the user drags an undocked window back over from which the Translation Helpers draw the data that they provide: the main program area, positioning markers appear to help guide TM, Projects and Glossaries. the moved window back into place. Access to and control over the usage of Translation Helpers and Working windows in Passolo 2009 can also be set to “Auto-hide.” Providers can now be set with greater specifi city. Usability is simpli- With this setting activated, the various windows slide in and out from fi ed through redesigned dialogs with checkboxes that alter the scope a hiding place at the side or bottom of the screen when the cursor of applicability. The fi ve available choices are auto-translation, fuzzy is placed over the relevant icon. This serves as another method of matching, concordances, terminology and blocked word check. optimizing available working space for localizers who have not yet The default order of Translation Providers, and hence the search invested in a second monitor. priority, can be changed in the Options dialog. The order can also be changed on a project basis in the Project/Glossary menu so that Filtering the order of searching through the various available sources can be One of the most useful features of previous Passolo versions adapted from project to project. has been the fi ltering of string lists. In Passolo 2009, fi ltering functionality has been broadened to support new ways to slice Terminology suggestion and dice the project and translation lists. Translators are naturally concerned with preserving termino- In the Project view, string lists can now be displayed by user- logical consistency. Here, Passolo 2009 also offers help. As a by- confi gurable constellations of fi le state, list state, date or basic product of the Quick Index feature, terms are identifi ed within expression. Additionally, they can be grouped or sorted by numer- string lists as matching terms from translation helpers such as a ous other criteria. Also, the columns can be easily rearranged by glossary, another place in the current string list, or another string dragging the headers to the right or left, and columns containing list. Terms are marked with a superscripted red line that translators fi le-level metadata displayed or will fi nd familiar from Trados. Right- hidden with a simple right-click clicking on an identifi ed term launches on the header bar. an in-context menu that lists possible In the string list view, three new translations of the term and offers a default fi lters — “Unchanged Trans- variety of choices as to how to use the lation,” “Bookmarked Strings” and translation. Currently, this function is “Replicates” — have been added. only available for glossaries and string The “Replicates” fi lter is of partic- lists, but according to a spokesperson ular interest to translators, as it will at SDL, Trados and MultiTerm will be quickly fi nd and display replicates added as translation helpers for this within translation lists. These are purpose shortly after the release of identical or nearly identical words Custom fi lters can be easily confi gured, imported and exported. upcoming new versions. or phrases that usually should be translated the same way for consistency, but occasionally defi nitely Parsing should not be (consider the word state — is it a geographical unit or Central to any visual localization tool is the ability to parse a status?). This fi lter was added in response to a feature in a com- localizable text, controls and other elements out of a wide variety petitive product that was right up front in that user interface, and of compiled program and resource fi le formats. Updates to these now the playing fi eld has been evened out in this regard. Gone from tools must keep up with evolution in programming languages and the default list is the “Pre-translated” fi lter, but this is easily found their corresponding resource fi le types. This can be a challenging in the “Filter Settings” dialog. Any user-defi ned fi lters can be easily endeavor for visual localization program authors, since provid- saved to the list of default fi lters, and henceforth they appear there ers of programming environments sometimes make architectural until removed by the user. Filters can also be exported and imported, decisions that are not necessarily localization tool friendly. The and thus can be shared among systems, projects and users. leading example of this is the .NET platform, in which inheritance of resource elements from one program module to another can Drag and drop sometimes wreak havoc for tools that attempt to recreate the Another usability enhancement is the extension of drag-and- intended look and feel of dialogs and controls for contextual dis- drop functionality to import source fi les and translation bundles. play that benefi ts localizers. In comparison to Quick Index or History, this One of the derivatives of the is a “minor” change, but it was requested by .NET framework is a specialized users and the program authors have again platform for web applications been responsive to the request. dubbed “Silverlight” by Micro- soft. Passolo 2009 now supports Translation Helpers and Providers this platform. Passolo also sup- The program authors have coined two new ports automatic mirroring for phrases in the user interface to describe aids and bidirectional localizations under sources for the translation process. “Translation .NET using the COM API. Fur- Helpers” are functions within Passolo that assist thermore, improve ments have translators to perform their work. These are been implemented in visualiza- Pre-Translation, Fuzzy Matching, Concordance The Pre-Translation function within Translation Helpers. tion of certain more problematic

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dialog types. Passolo has arguably version. Current emphasis appears to maintained an industry leadership be focused solely on the upcoming position in the .NET niche, and the new version of Trados. While Trados current improvements have served to has an undeniably wider market pen- strengthen this position. etration and is clearly a more substan- Other enhancements in parsing cap- tial cash cow than Passolo, Passolo abilities include support for Borland 2009 is conspicuously absent from Delphi 2009, and ODBC parsing con- advertisements for the current series nections to Oracle 11 including support of promotional road shows of SDL for Unicode columns in non-Unicode technology. This is a great shame, and databases. In the world of Java, Pas- Translation Providers can be easily confi gured with the product seems destined to remain solo 2009 now supports different tar- check boxes for a mix of Translation Helper functions. an unsung hero. get encoding and BOM settings as well Nevertheless, this author sincerely as the WAR fi le format. products such as CATALYST. Also, despite hopes that both SDL Passolo and its nem- Performance of the Passolo text parser the substantial improvement in handling esis CATALYST survive and prosper, and has been improved by reverting to buffer of terminology, a more granular display continue to provoke each other on the logic that was in previous versions, has of fuzzy matches coming from sources competitive playing fi eld to achieve big- proven to be more effi cient over time, and of translation analog to that available in ger and better functionality palettes that has been the result of considerable experi- Trados has not yet been implemented. will ultimately benefi t translators. Passolo mentation. Presumably, this demonstrates Another feature that has been asked for 2009 has raised the bar in several impor- that brand new and glitzy are not always by translators is the ability to ferret out tant areas of translator usability in the better! Another change is that text-based inconsistent translation within a single visual localization sphere. Primary among source fi les can now be embedded into translation list. Currently, the incon- these are the new Quick Index and His- projects and displayed visually in translation sistency check is only valid vis-à-vis a tory features, but equally important are bundles for the benefi t of translators. translation source such as a TM or a glos- smaller “convenience” features. Passolo sary, not internally within a string list. So, 2009 continues its traditional position as GDI+ the Passolo developers can’t rest on their a worthy competitor and standard-bearer. A fi nal new feature worthy of mention laurels quite yet. Anyone who is invested in visual localiza- is important for translations of user inter- From a technological standpoint, Pas- tion should devote due diligence to this faces with signifi cant space constraints solo 2009 is without doubt a formidable new release, regardless of SDL’s muted such as those for LCD displays on medi- arrow in SDL’s product quiver. This being promotional stance. Passolo 2009 is stable, cal devices or cell phones. These displays the case, as an outsider to SDL, one won- powerful, feature-rich, user-friendly and often use nonstandard font sizes, for ders why there has not been more noise well-supported. What more can a buyer of example, 8.5 points. Passolo 2009 now forthcoming to announce the new product translation technology ask for? M makes use of the GDI+ API to render font sizes containing decimal fractions and to check for string length violations in these less common sizes as well. SYSTRAN Premium Conclusion Passolo 2009 is without a doubt a very Translator 6 technical product and, as such, can be overwhelming for new users or less com- %FTJHOFEGPS5PEBZµT puter-literate members of the translator community. While power users and con- 1SPGFTTJPOBM5SBOTMBUPS fi guration management engineers may revel in the rich functionality, new API Streamline the translation workflow and NEW V6 and automation potential, neophyte rank- automate the human translation process and-fi le users will still have to plan on to minimize costs. a substantial learning curve. At a recent 50+ language pairs Optimize translations. get-together of Passolo trainers, criti- Desktop and server solutions cism surfaced regarding the number of Increase productivity. New and intuitive Translation Toolbar is Cost-effective. clicks required to dig down to certain always available on the desktop frequently-used areas of functionality. New Dictionary Lookup provides instant Visit us online at www.systransoft.com The numerous aforementioned improve- access to SYSTRAN, Larousse and ments to user-friendliness are likely to Chambers dictionaries be more attractive to long-time Passolo Enhanced customization tools to manage afi cionados as opposed to serving as an dictionaries, TMs, post-editing, and QA inducement for new users or those con- templating a switch from competitive

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18-21 Reviews #104.indd 21 5/20/09 9:46:02 AM 22-23 Edwards#104.indd 22 22 I | region ontheplanet.However, because ofthewidespread useof contains asmuchgeocultural sensitivityas virtuallyanyother the world’s population,iscertainlyavery diverse region that the earth’s landmassandcurrently containing about9%of

Column MultiLingual Latin America,anarea comprisingapproximately 14%of vastly different. discern orthecultural response tosuchissues made thelocallysensitiveissueseitherharder to in thecountryorregion thathave that there are otherforces atwork benign or“safe.”Itusuallymeans ples doesn’tnecessarilymeanitis easily-remembered, speciﬁ particular countryorregion lacks the reader thatjustbecausea to cite.However, Ishouldremind most contentiouskindofexample lot ofattentionandare oftenthe them, astheseissuestypicallygeta or theMiddleEast.Idon’tblame bly itwillbeanissuefrom EastAsia where intheworld,almostinevita- contentious cultural issuesome- them tonamea“disputedarea” ora political product canbesold.IfIask benign localeintowhichanygeo- Latin Americaisperceived asthis from friendsandcolleaguesthat I sometimesgettheimpression Off theMap Viva lageopolítica ue20 [email protected] June 2009 c exam-

and sorefl This mapisbaseduponaproducedinArgentina ects anArgentiniannationalpointofview. having humansonthelandscape. same potentialgeopoliticalproblems. It’s simplyaby-product of as itsseniorgeopolitical strategist. He previouslyspent13yearsatMicrosoft asageographerand consultancyforgeostrategic contentmanagement. Seattle-based Tom Edwardsisowner and principalconsultantofEnglobe,a America? Asusual,Icertainly cannot beexhaustivehere, butI’ll So whatkindofcontentissuesmightonefi Tom Edwards you willinevitablyfi ernments, landandboundaries, have differingcultures, gov- emphasizing thatwherever you anywhere else.No,I’msimply more disputesordangers than cultural region fraught with America asbeingavolatile not myintentiontopaintLatin I shouldstateclearlythatit’s being madeabouttheculture. some baselineassumptions as “relatively safe”becauseof people glossoverthisregion practice, I’ve stillseenmany from homogeneous. Yet in well thatLatinAmericaisfar localization fi magazine andworkinginthe think mostofusreading this a quasi-Spanishfl — justonegiantextensionof what homogeneousculture Latin Americatobeasome- that manypeopleassume the Spanishlanguage,Ibelieve nd inLatin eld knowalltoo avor. Now, I nd the 5/19/09 3:26:34 PM Column

instead highlight a few prevalent issues out a serious error. Being born and raised is also shown as an inset map. Such map to help illustrate. One of the fi rst and in Nicaragua, this person considered the depictions are often reinforced through foremost, which was initially brought to word hembra to be extremely derogatory various media, even including their appear- my attention by friends from the region when used to mean “human female,” since ance on national postage stamps. many years back, is the simple use of a this word usually describes female animals A perhaps lesser-known cartographic generalized description as a synonym such as, say, female dogs. Imagine a drop- issue pertains to the signifi cant portion for the United States. For some, it might down box with that selection in English. of Guyana that is claimed by Venezuela be too obvious a point to make, but this Needless to say, we started the process of — everything west of the Essequibo River can nonetheless be a sensitive issue. The fi xing the issue and replacing hembra with in Guyana, which equates to over 60% term America geographically refers to the more appropriate term mujer. Soon of the country. In Venezuela, the area is anywhere in the western hemisphere, after, we encountered other opinions from typically referred to as Guayana Esequiba, and thus it follows that Americans refers Venezuela, Colombia and elsewhere and and all maps produced in Venezuela to anyone living within the western quickly learned that hembra is a com- typically show this area as claimed by hemisphere. However, through time and pletely valid term for a human female Venezuela, using the Spanish phrase Zona historical circumstance, the terms have in some places. The lesson here, again, is en Reclamación on the map. Meanwhile, become almost exclusively associated that one should not assume linguistic and a long segment of the southern border in with the United States, both in North cultural homogeneity throughout Latin the high Andes Mountains between Chile America as well as the rest of the world. America. There are signifi cant differences and Argentina was long unresolved and You can imagine that from a broader between countries and subregions, even quite sensitive until late 1998 when the regional perspective, this might be quite with some of the most basic terminology. two sides ratifi ed a settlement. Almost offensive. Let me try this as an analogy: No region is complete without a few this entire border is now undisputed, imagine if the terms Europe and Euro- disputes involving boundaries, names and but there remains a small portion still peans had historically become associ- so forth, of course. Like most regions of pen ding demarcation. Given the rugged ated solely with the United Kingdom, the world, Latin America has its share of terrain, it’s not exactly easy to settle such so that whenever you heard Europeans contentious geopolitical issues that affect issues quickly. Peru and Ecuador likewise referenced, you knew that only British product content if trying to distribute in resolved a longstanding and conten- citizens were being described. Do you certain countries. Probably one of the more tious boundary dispute in 1998 in an think that maybe those of you in France well-known issues involves Argentina’s area known as Cordillera del Cóndor. or Germany and elsewhere in Europe persistent claim on the Falkland Islands, I haven’t really done Latin America might be somewhat offended? It would a dependency of the United Kingdom. justice in highlighting its geopolitical be a completely natural reaction; your Despite the results of the 1982 Falkland and cultural content issues in this continental adjective would have been Islands war, in which the United King- limited space. I hope the point is clear, hijacked by a single country! Now move dom maintained its hold on the Falkland however, that this is yet another region that sentiment over to the western Islands as a British dependency, Argentina’s that should be approached with the hemisphere, and it might be easier to government maintains its claim on the same level of diligence and prudence as understand how this can be a sensi- Falkland Islands (locally known as Islas you would anywhere else in the world. tive issue. My advice here would be to Malvinas) and fervently defends its claim Other issues within this region may be avoid using America or Americans when on a section of Antarctica. On a map pro- explored in future columns, but it should referring to the United States; the terms duced in Argentina, the Islas Malvinas are suffi ce to realize that any assumptions are only appropriate when the intended always shown as Argentine territory, and about the homogeneity within a country, meaning has a pan-American scope. often when space permits, the Antártida a region or wherever can be mislead- Another Latin American issue worth Argentina (the country’s Antarctic claim) ing and potentially problematic. M highlighting is the existence of strong cultural differences in the use of terminology across the same language. Again, for those who are from the region and those who are familiar with the nature of pan-locale languages (Spanish, French, Arabic, English and so on), this is likely not a surprise. One case I can point out is related to a project in which I was involved some years back, and it was the creation of a simple web form with various drop-down selection options. In the Spanish version, the drop- down selection box for gender contained the words hombre for male and hembra for female. Not being a Spanish speaker myself, I wouldn’t have seen any problem here. Fortunately, a native Spanish speaker with whom I worked immediately pointed

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22-23 Edwards #104.indd 23 5/19/09 3:26:38 PM 24-25 Freivalds#104.indd 24 24 I | litical fl look outmywindowinthemorningandseewhosepo- subsequent rallies toalsowavethered, whiteandblueUSfl were alienatingmainstream Americansandencouraged peopleat with thousandsofpeoplewavingMexicanfl lobbied forimmigration reform in2006.Organizers ofrallies exactly thewrong messagewiththeMexicanfl mediately told to takeitdown,theimageremained. soldier wasseenhoistingaUS fl dad andknockeddownSaddam Hussein’s statue,aUS Iraq whenitinvaded.WhenUStroops tookoverBagh- Corps volunteers were instructednotto gointothe“Zone.” ered thePanamanian onethathadbeen fl high schoolraised anAmericanfl began inthe1960swhenAmericanstudentsatCanalZone ning oftheendAmericanruleoverCanalZoneinPanama a democratically electedpresident shouldstayinpower. seized powerinamilitarycoupbecauseIhadstatedthat four daysinjailforbeingagainstagovernmentthathad fl Since IwasintheUSPeace Corpsanddidn’tfl of themilitary, whoseallegiancechangedwiththefl the fl Panamanians wouldhaveseveral fl

Column ag, Iwasalwayssuspect.eventually“detained”for MultiLingual I livedinPanama inatumultuoustimepolitically. Iwould Mexicans livingintheUnitedStates,onotherhand,sent sion, anditscultural savvyhelpedthemgetit. (green andblack).Occidentalwontheconces- ribbons representing thecolorofLibyanfl proposal togettheconcessionwaswrapped in some toughcompetitionfrom theoilmajors. Its yet abigplayerintheoilmarket,wasupagainst negotiations were diffi to getaconcessionexplore foroilinLibya.The And theUnitedStatesdidnot endearitselftomanyin The Panamanians were verysensitiveaboutfl In the1960s,OccidentalPetroleum wastrying ag ofthepartyinpowersoasnottoincurwrath ag wasfl World Savvy Flag frenzy ying toknowwhowasinpowerthatday. ue20 [email protected] June 2009 cult, andOccidental,not ag, andthoughhe wasim- ag attheirschoolandlow- ags intheirhousesandfl

ying there. USPeace ags sawthatthey y anybody’s ag whenthey ags. Thebegin- ags. ag ag. y going tobehappy, norwilltheformerFrench colonies. but ifyouputtheFrench tri-color, French Canadiansare not thing toclickFRifyouwantthescreen tobeseeninFrench; fl a strong current, andgreen meansit’s oktogointhewater. fl used usuallyinsetsofdifferent colors. Forbeachswimmers, ared many anarchists fl equipment. Ifyoufl the fl fl for signalingandidentifi fl vexillum lology used insomefuture nationalspellingbee?Theword is fi John Freivaldsismanagingdirectorofthemarketingcommunications Danes are said tohavetheoldestnationalfl that aroyal procession oramilitarycharge wascoming.The cultures carried proto-fl sages cultural andotherwisehaveforcenturies.Ancient cherished byallhearts,tobeupheldourhands.” colors blazing intheskymadefl blue forjustice,andaltogether—bunting,stripes,stars and the USfl Sumner, aCivilWar-era statesman,summeduptheallure of date Barack Obamawore ordidnotwearafl what ofacampaignissuewhetherthen-presidential candi- and theircolors becausefl rm JFAandthemarketingrepresentative forhisnativecountry, Latvia. ag meansyoushouldn’tswim,yellowcautionorthere’s ags representing Harley-Davidsonmotorcycles (meaningthat ag ismerely apieceofcloth,oftenfl ags asanavigationaldeviceformultilingualwebsites.It’s one And there isabodyofcultural activistsarguing nottouse OK, are youready foranobscure word thatwillprobably be Flags are all around usandconveyallsortsofpowerfulmes- During the2008presidential elections,itbecamesome- You exhibitsomeglobalsavvy whenyouare dealingwithfl Flag ier hasoneorwantstohaveone)andJohnDeere farm , whichisthestudyoffl ag whenhewrote “Whiteisforpurity, red forvalor, , meaningfl faux pas faux y ablackfl y arainbow fl ag orbanner. Butthebasicdefi ags madeofwood,oftenconveying cation. Lookingoutmywindow, Isee ag ag. InBuddhismprayer fl ags andcomesfrom theLatin faux pas John Freivalds ag, yousupportgayrights,and ag ofourcountrytobe own from apoleormast are asbad,ifnotworse, ag stillinuse. ag pin.Charles nition ofa ags are vexil- ags 5/19/09 3:27:49 PM Column

than a verbal one. Symbols speak — or Muslim leaders said it was bad enough I have my own quandary I face in being should I say shout — louder than words. to commercialize the prophet’s words nominated to be Latvia’s Consul in Iowa. I produced something called the Periodic on packaging, but even worse was the Should I fl y the Latvian fl ag along with Table of Languages, a poster depicting thought that the package would be the European fl ag, fl y just one, or fl y the 40 fl ags from around the world. To get crumpled up and thrown away. As the US, Latvian and European fl ags? And then the colors right, I called the cultural Saudi fl ag contains the Shahada (Is- maybe a Harley-Davidson fl ag as well. But I offi ce of the US State Department. The lamic Declaration of Faith), the Saudi live in the country, so I probably should be poor fellow I talked to was in charge government never allows its use for patriotic like the rest of my farmer neigh- of making sure he always had the right commercial or promotion purposes. bors and fl y the John Deere fl ag fi rst. M fl ag to honor visiting foreign dignitar- ies to Washington, D.C. He explained that the Latvian and Austrian fl ags are almost alike, but the stripes are differ- Translation services: Technical translations, Internationalisation and localisation, Terminol- ent shades of red; the Hungarian and ogy management, Country coordination, Multilingual layout, Publishing – Information pro- Italian fl ags are the same color, though duction: Technical documentation, Technical editing and proofreading, Technical illustration, Italy has vertical stripes and Hungary Medical Writing, Writing for translation, Documentation and document analysis – Global in- horizontal; and the Ecuadorean, Co- formation management: Information analysis and structuring, Documentation processes, In- lombian and Venezuelan fl ags all have ternational standardisation, Information lifecycle management, Software development, Project the same three colors in the same management and quality assurance – XML documentation applications: Consulting, design order. It was hard to keep straight. and implementation, Document type defi nition (DTD), Document management systems (DMS), It isn’t just the Americans who have Product information management (PIM), Data conversion, Database publishing – Medical fi elds: diffi culty getting the fl ags right, either. Medical technology and diagnostics, Regulatory affairs and pharmaceuticals, Dental medicine, During an offi cial visit to Poland in 2006, Chemistry – Translation services: Technical translations, Internationalisation and localisation, Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister to Poland, was greeted by the fl ags of Terminology management, Country coordination, Multilingual layout, Publishing – Information the Czech Republic — same colors as the production: Technical documentation, Technical editing and proofreading, Technical illustra- Russian fl ag but with a totally differ- tion, Medical Writing, Writing for translation, Documentation and document analysis – Global ent design. The Polish media lambasted information management: Information analysis and structuring, Documentation processes, the government for the mistake. The International standardisation, Information lifecycle management, Software development, Project Russians had a different take. The Ros- management and quality assurance – XML documentation applications: Consulting, design siyskaya Gazeta stated ironically that and implementation, Document type defi nition (DTD), Document management systems (DMS), the two countries’ discontinuity were Product information management (PIM), Data conversion, Database publishing – Medical fi elds: so prolonged that the Poles obviously Medical technology and diagnostics, Regulatory affairs and pharmaceuticals, Dental medicine, forgot what the Russian fl ag looked like. the medical information company Chemistry – Translation services: Technical translations, Internationalisation and localisation, Although the web is full of fl ag Terminology management, Country coordination, Multilingual layout, Publishing – Information misadventure stories, the one dealing with the 1994 World Cup seems to have production: Technical documentation, Technical editing and proofreading, Technical illustra- gained particularly egregious status. tion, Medical Writing, Writing for translation, Documentation and document analysis – Global The commercial degradation of the US information management: Information analysis and structuring, Documentation processes, fl ag over the years played a role. Sum- International standardisation, Information lifecycle management, Software development, Project ner would probably cringe at how the management and quality assurance – XML documentation applications: Consulting, design US fl ag is used today — as a design for and implementation, Document type defi nition (DTD), Document management systems (DMS), underwear, outerwear, headwear, on all Product information management (PIM), Data conversion, Database publishing – Medical fi elds: sorts of appliances and on motorcycle Medical technology and diagnostics, Regulatory affairs and pharmaceuticals, Dental medicine, gas tanks. About the only taboo left Chemistry – Translation services: Technical translations, Internationalisation and localisation, is that it shouldn’t be burned. For you Terminology management, Country coordination, Multilingual layout, Publishing – Information techno-patriots, one person has fi gured production: Technical documentation, Technical editing and proofreading, Technical illustra- out a program for his Palm Pilot that provides an image of the US fl ag and tion, Medical Writing, Writing for translation, Documentation and document analysis – Global plays the “Star-Spangled Banner” or “God information management: Information analysis and structuring, Documentation processes, Bless America” (www.goldenpaw.com). International standardisation, Information lifecycle management, Software development, Project Back to the World Cup. The faux pas management and quality assurance – XML documentation applications: Consulting, design occurred when McDonald’s and Coca- Cola decided to reprint the fl ags of each of the 24 countries that had qualifi ed for Values bring people together – Quality makes the difference. the tournament on throwaway packaging. The trouble was that the white and green Saudi Arabian fl ag contains the Koran’s sacred passage “There is no God www.mt-g.com but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet.”

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24-25 Freivalds #104.indd 25 5/19/09 3:27:51 PM 26-27 Asnes#104.indd 26 26 S | joke wassomewhataccurate asIinitially ended upworkingon in thewrong placeatthewrong time.”Andtoadegree that internally howweendedupworkingonlocalizationwas“I management role. Thejokeweusedtosaywhendescribing in thelocalizationarea oftheIBMservergroup mainlyina received tomyquestion. stayed becauseweenjoyit.Here are someoftheanswers I is thatmanyofushappenedintotheirglobalizationroles, but promised allkindsofnuances.Acommonthemeinourindustry when peoplestartedtrading goodsandseeds,yetithasalways when representing ourselves. Globalizationisasoldperhaps to ourorganizations. It’s animportantconcepttoremember complex solutionstoproblems, whichalsoprovide ahighvalue technology affects businessesexpandingtheir worldwide reach. tionalization software.Heenjoys investigatinghow globalization Adam Asnes isCEOofLingoport,developersGlobalyzerinterna-

Column MultiLingual I amretired now. However, inmylast15years atIBMIworked Roger Spee,retired localizationdevelopmentmanageratIBM Most ofusenjoyworkinginanenvironment thatrequires friends. I gotsomegreat responses aswellafewnew LinkedIn, alongwithmentioningitin globalization?” inacoupleofdiscussiongroups on post thequestion,“Howdidyougetstartedin product marketing.Ithoughtitwouldbefunto from localizationtointernationalizationandeven ing ofalltheaspectssoftware globalization, challenges varyfrom project toproject. I’mspeak- there are somanydifferent facetstoit,andthe Software globalizationisafascinatingcareer as The BusinessSide into globalization Career paths ue20 [email protected] June 2009 MultiLingual . low corporate taxrate forinvestors). refl spoke English,hadaninterest intechnologyandwantedajob, The ITsectorinIreland employedpeoplewhowere educated, experience, Oracle Corporation that area for thelasthalfofmyIBMcareer. was toIBMproducts, Igothookedonlocalizationandworkedin Once Iwasinthejobandrealized howimportantlocalization localization duetothetimingofamanagementjobopening. could getmypayment. When Iaskedhimwhattheform wasfor, he saiditwassoI appointment, oneoftheemployees gavemeaformtosign. might needhelp.KRMputmy nameonalist,andaftermyfi refugee organization offeringtohelpoutotherfamilies who When anon-French-speaking familycame instead,Icalledthe France, mycousinaskedifIwould“translate” forthefamily. Kentucky RefugeeMinistries(KRM).KnowingIhadlivedin church wassponsoringaCongoleserefugee familythrough until thatpoint.So,here Iam. was anactualandviableindustry, thoughIhadneverheard ofit moved toCalifornia,Ifoundoutthatthe“localization”business translator material.OncebackintheUnitedStatesandhaving the translation business.However, IknewmyRussianwasnot and alittleoutsideRussia.Thisfueledmyinterest ingettinginto academic exchange.Ialsotraveled extensivelyaround Russia having studiedabroad inprovincial Russia(Yaroslavl) onan In college,Igainedmyfi Ryan Essenburg, regional manager, SimulTrans LLC I startedinlocalizationbecausethat’s where thejobswere. Ultan ÓBroin, user experiencedirector, applications user I said,“Payment?” andacareer wasborn! I gotintothisbusinesscompletelybyaccident.Mycousin’s Terena Bell,CEO, In EveryLanguage ecting governmentpolicyoninward investment(helpedbya rst bigdoseofinternationalexposure, Adam Asnes rst 5/19/09 3:28:51 PM Column

David Irwin, software localization out — I told them, actually — that I I’d ever expect about satellite-based professional knew Spanish, German and French, so imagery, complex mathematics, computer I got started in localization when a they started putting me on airplanes to graphics, programming and so on, classmate from my MBA program, who conduct tech support training worldwide. though I had only basic programming was German and who had gone to work One day my boss said, “You’re not training in college. I preferred the for Microsoft, contacted me about doing technical support anymore. You’re company of developers and learned much doing some freelance work on a German going to run our localization effort.” about their issues and processes. In 1998 language version of Microsoft Chart “Great!” I said. “What’s localization?” I was recruited to perform sales for a (DOS version). I have an undergraduate “Go back to your desk and read your new start-up that was concentrating on degree in German, and at the time was e-mail,” he replied. software internationalization, a fi eld I teaching information systems courses at A few months later, I was sitting had never thought of prior to the call. a community college in the Seattle area. in front of three computers running I jumped in and quickly enjoyed my After just a few months, I decided I liked English, French and German versions of new customers and became fascinated working in the computer industry more our product, when I realized I’d fi nally by the impact globalization has on than teaching about it. married my linguistic side to my technical software development and organizations. side, and that there was a real career path I started Lingoport in 2001, and most of Mats Andersson, project manager to it. Suddenly, a remark uttered to me our development team, with one very One day in 1989, I held a degree many years before by a supply sergeant in accomplished exception who started out certifi cate in my hand for a B.S. in Berlin occurred to me: Für so eine Arbeit as a Russian translator, comes from a theoretical physics, and I suddenly haben Dich Deine Eltern erzogen (“This is software development background. realized I had to get a job one day. So I just the kind of work your parents raised I thoroughly enjoy the people, cultures studied programming, which was less fun you to do.”). Although there had been and businesses we all get to work with than I had expected. But I realized the an ironic twist when the sergeant said it, and serve in this industry. I hope this software and hardware manufacturers there wasn’t anymore. article brings our community a little were in dire need of help with their closer together as we see ourselves in manuals. Just as I got the Master of Loic Dufresne de Virel, localization our peers. M Science, Microsoft WPGI in Dublin had an strategist, Intel Corporation ad looking for localizers. I have worked I’m a civil engineer by trade. I got with programming at the European Space started almost 20 years ago, while Agency, and it was every bit as dull as I working in sales and marketing for imagined. Reuters Ltd in Paris and Monaco. I knew their products pretty well and was Inger Larsen, managing director, relatively comfortable with a PC. I got to Larsen Globalization Recruitment train our subscribers on a new version of I was studying technical translations in our products that ran on Windows 3.0. Kristiansand, Norway, in the early 1980s, Of course, all training material was in and to earn extra money I translated English, so I started to generate my own books for a publishing house. They sent documents for our French users. me several books on computing and A few years later, I got a contract with programming to translate. I didn’t have the United Nations to run a training a clue, and there were no dictionaries center in San Jose, Costa Rica, and got to available. I remember going around to practice my Spanish. Then, after moving the few computer shops I could fi nd to Oregon, I joined Intel because of my and asking the people working there language skills and started as part of what various things meant and what a real localization by QAing the Y2K the Norwegian translation was. The information that we published in French Are you looking for “translations” were mostly just English and Spanish on www.intel.com professional MEDICAL words with Norwegian endings. The publisher had an excellent proofreader, And then there’s me translators for your projects? so the end result wasn’t too bad. I loved I don’t come from any linguistic study ACP Traductera´s team of doctors, phar- working with software and fi rst worked background, but fi rst saw the world macists and medical experts can handle all your projects into CEE languages.

for IBM as a localizer and later on in mostly as a bike racer in the late 1980s. THE EUROPEAN REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND OF INDUSTRY THE MINISTRY FUND AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC SUPPORT TRADE OF FUTURE. YOUR INVESTMENT IN project management for Microsoft and For many years I sold and marketed sales for Xerox. highly technical data analysis and visualization software, which was used in John White, technology marketing applications ranging from pure science writer and localization project manager, to ﬁ nancial analysis. Because so many venTAJA of my customers were research-oriented I started in technical support with a and rather fascinating and eager to software company in 1991. They found share, I learned more conceptually than

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26-27 Asnes #104.indd 27 5/19/09 3:28:52 PM 28-29 Perspectives Remkus #104.i28 28 28 Y | metaphors thatsay“thebenefi quickly andare diffi offers initsprintmaterialsandonline. to undo.Theytypicallyappear in thecore messagingaservice These initialimpressions remain extremely powerfulanddiffi fi considers adequateinformation,thebuyermayviewasoverload. they’re makinganinformedpurchasing decision. tainly, yourbuyers wantenoughinformationtofeelconfi within yourindustryandcommitmenttofi Moreover, youwantyourbuyers torecognize yourexpertise should be.Whatyou’re sellingiscomplicatedandmultifaceted. marketing quandaryofteninvolveshowin-depththeexplanation service. Norcanyousumitupeasilyinafewwords. Part ofthe keting. You can’tsee,touchoradmire thecolororsilhouetteofa

Column rst impression, asnapshotviewofthebenefi MultiLingual Because metaphors are simple,theytendtobeassimilated Your industry’s standard metaphors supplyyourbuyers witha perpetuating buyerexpectations Your coremessagingmetaphors: A commonstickingpointresults: Whattheserviceprovider Service providers faceadauntingtaskwhenitcomestomar- the wall. to goonandoffwhenweturnthatlittleswitch process ofwiringourhouses.We justwantthelight of currents andvoltageorwhathasgoneintothe understand theprinciplesofelectricity, thescience ing lights,nodoubts,guessing.We don’tcare to know thelightwillgooneverytime—nofl words, wewanttheresults weexpect.We wantto light togoonwhenwefl stand howelectricityworks;wemerely wantthe You’ve heard itbefore: We don’tneedtounder- esetvs Perspectives Client-centered marketing ue20 [email protected] June 2009 cult tosupplant.Inthetranslation industry, t oftranslation compares toone ip the switch. In other ip theswitch.Inother ts youprovide them. eld. Cer- icker- dent dent cult cult degree inlinguistics, withaspecialization in psycholinguistics. degree inEnglish,withafocus ontextlinguistics,andamaster’s Susan Remkus,founderofCopywriting etc.,holdsamaster’s and you’re encouraging yourprospects andclientstobelievethat attention certaintermsorphrases need.Usethesetwometaphors back-and-forth nature oflanguageworkortotheextra timeand or theslogan.Theproblem isthatthere isnoreference tothe truly dostickwithyourreader. Theybecome thesnapjudgment of experience.Themetaphors youchoosetoexplainyourwork concepts thatwouldotherwiseholdnoconnectionforourworld we grasp conceptswe’re notfamiliarwith,howweunderstand fessionals, youknowthatmetaphorisnotwordplay. It’s how ing trueintoneandstylebetweendocuments. editors ontheverybestword choice,ortheintricaciesofremain- precision workyouprovide, thedebatesbetweentranslators and work oftranslation. Theyconveynothingwhatsoeveraboutthe prospects you wishbetterunderstood andappreciated thehard there. They mislead theveryaudienceyouwanttoeducate, your agencyispretty muchthesameaseveryotheragencyout conferring, nocomingtoagreement. ing out,overpoweringsomeinvisiblebarricade.Nosubtleties,no the catalystto“overcome barriers.” Again,manuallabor. Knock- than employingyears ofeducationandexperienceskill. fi instead suggeststranslation asstraightforward, step-by-step.A way todescribehowlanguageunitespeople,thismetaphor means to“bridgecultural gaps.”Intendednodoubtasapoetic eye” greatly diminishthetruenature ofyourwork. fell swoopoftransforming boundariesnotvisibletothenaked lling inofamissingpart.Piecework.Usingmanuallaborrather Metaphor ishowweunderstand ourworld.Aslanguagepro- These twometaphors domore harmthanmerely indicating The otherubiquitousmetaphorintheindustry:translation as Take, forexample, theindustryparadigm oftranslation asthe Susan Remkus 5/19/09 3:30:11 PM Column

your work consists of taking their text and churning it through Explaining your process is only one example, of course; this the word mill, rather than capturing nuances, voice, attitude and principle applies to all your marketing and advertising. You must technical specifi cations. fi nd the balance between explaining your business and focusing on your readers’ wants and needs. You’ll lose their attention Explaining your process: quickly if they don’t see ample benefi ts to be had. The advertising perpetuating assembly-line thinking world, particularly consumer product advertising, has fashioned More like a video than a snapshot, how you explain your pro- buyers into people with short attention spans. cess presents an example of where you must fi nd balance. Look at the “process” tab on most small and medium-sized agencies’ The light bulb moment websites or check their print collateral, and you’ll fi nd another Whether it’s developing a better metaphor to describe your way providers shortchange their clients. Instead of describing services or fi nding the right mix of information in your process at least a tiny bit of the work involved achieving consensus on explanation, all service providers strive for that light bulb moment terms, phrasing, technical explanations and when their buyers get it. There’s pure so on, the process is described along the satisfaction for both seller and buyer when lines of Language 1 simply being poured There’s pure satisfaction for purchasers understand what they’re paying out of one container and into the con- for, why they really need what they’re buy- tainer of Language 2. both seller and buyer when ing, and that they’ve indeed found the best It’s the “in one ear and out the other” provider for their needs. premise. Your reader believes you when purchasers understand what Sure, your clients do not want to under- you say your translators translate, then they’re paying for, why they stand translation to the degree that you do. hand over their work to the editors to edit, Back to basics, all of us just want the light who then hand it over to the proofread- really need what they’re to go on when we fl ip that switch. But I ers to proof. Assembly-line work; pass the suspect many if not most of us would pause project along when your part is done. It’s buying, and that they’ve for at least a split-second before we did no wonder their decision on which provider indeed found the best fl ip that switch to admire and appreciate to choose comes down to lowest bid. What the behind-the-scenes goings-on. I believe other choices are they given? provider for their needs. we’d be less inclined to gripe about our bill. Again, as with the metaphor situation, a I think we’d be much more willing to listen truer explanation of process requires more to suggestions from the power company or work — a lot more. But how else can you expect your clients to to heed the advice of the people working on our electrical wiring. If understand the real nature of what you do? It’s not up to them to nothing else, we’d no longer be able to take for granted the qualifi gure out how diffi cult your work really is or how much care and fi cations, resources and wherewithal that are drawn upon for that effort you put into their projects. You’ve got to be the one who benefi t moment (light on, light off) to happen; while we’d still not explains it to them. You’ve got to be the one who takes the initia- care to completely understand it all, we’d no longer be oblivious to tive on what to tell them, how much to tell them, and the best the spectacular nature of electricity. Surely, your end product merits way to talk to them. the same consideration. M

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28-29 Perspectives Remkus #104.i29 29 5/19/09 3:30:12 PM 30-31 Perspectives Roland#104.i30 30 30 O | are perceived asbeingabletopayand perhapshowdesperate they that raises visionsofindividualcustomers beingbilled onwhatthey by larger LSPsof“value-based”pricing.Among clientcompanies, viability. concerned abouthowtoreact topreserve theireconomic seem tobeheadedonapath to “free” and LSPsare naturally those atTAUS, thegeneral consensusisthattranslated words lower thanforhumantranslation. Indiscussiongroups suchas today are typicallybilledwithword rates thatare signifi popularity ofmachinetranslation (MT)andpost-editing,which overall indecreasing margins. Thisisaggravated bythegrowing lable basis,thedeclineofword rates outweighsthisandresults quality assurance (QA)andpublishingtasksonanhourlybil- exceptions totheword rate rule,LSPsbreak outengineering, rates, andsotheirmargins becomeever thinner. Evenwhen,as much more workintoprojects thanisrefl becoming increasingly commoditized.LSPsfi accurately refl that LSPsare doinganumberofvalue-addedtasksthatare not

Column MultiLingual At theTAUS meetinginEdinburgh, there wastentative mention The problem, summarizedhere from aclient’s perspective, is recently attheMarch TAUS SummitinEdinburgh. issue hascontinuedsteadilysincethen,including with thepricingmodeltoday.” Talk aboutthis that sameLocWorld, specifi translation rates. There wasasessionforLSPsat pany talkedaboutitsexperimentationwithhourly World inSeattle2007, aprominent software com- providers (LSPs)isnotworking.AtLocalization the current businessmodelforlanguageservice discussions inthelocalizationindustryabouthow Over thepastcoupleofyears, there havebeen esetvs Perspectives business models Work-based LSP ected byword rates, whichintoday’s marketare ue20 [email protected] June 2009 cally on“what’s wrong ected bytheword nd theyare putting cantly for EMC’s contentmanagement andarchiving division. Jessica Rolandmanagesinternational product operations spective, wouldbe:”HowdoIknow howmuchtimeatask content translation. la carte “menu” items,buttheconceptwouldbesame—different just anexample.There maybeotherlevelsofcontentor billed according totimespent,notperword counts.Thetableis an appropriate menuofvalue-addedservicesthatwouldbe elegance islessvital.Eachlevelofcontenttypematchedwith to “Lo-fi through precision-based “Hi-fi content, ranging from artisan-level“Creative content”down on thenextpage,isbaseddifferent types oftranslated billing forwork,notwords. Themodel,asexpressed inthetable of differences incontenttypewiththeconceptoftime-based interest toa larger audience.Themodelcombinestheconcept was discussedamongattendeesatTAUS Edinburgh maybeof is ephemeral. rally begreater thanfortranslation ofablogposting,whosevalue precision in translation isoftheutmostimportance,wouldnatu- medical instructionsorairplanemanualrepair procedures, where major role. The timeandattentionpaidtotranslating life-affecting product manual, where perhapsMTandpost-editingwouldplaya paper wouldlogicallybegreater thanforaroutine translation ofa and efforttobeautifullytranslate amarketingbrochure orwhite and thusdifferent associated“value.”Theamountofattention types ofcontentcouldinvolvedifferent amountsofLSPeffort different perspective, itseemsplausiblethattranslation ofdifferent are fortheir translated content.Butlookingatitfrom aslightly A natural concernwiththismodel,from acustomer’s per- In viewofthesedifferences intypesofcontent,amodelthat delity content,”where theneedforextreme precision or menusoftime-basedservicesfordifferent types of Jessica Roland delity content,”andfi nally down 5/19/09 3:31:22 PM à Column

should take?” There are several Content type Menu of time-based tasks to respond in that customer’s potential sources of input for paradigm. This sounds a bit this. Traditional metrics such as fi le prep / glossary creation / like the original value-based word counts, number of user- Creative content cultural review / linguistic review / concept of the LSPs, but it interface screens and number of creative services / publishing doesn’t change with every pages can still be used to help fi le prep / glossary creation / TM cleaning / project. The matrix for each size effort of some tasks. Inter- Hi-fi delity MT data prep / MT engine prep / customer would apply to all nal estimates on time required content post-editing / linguistic review / of his or her projects, so there to do the task in-house would engineering / testing / publishing would still be predictability. be another valuable data point. Lo-fi delity fi le prep / MT data prep / MT engine As long as LSPs are willing Getting multiple competitive content prep / engineering / testing / publishing to run the traditional and new bids provides additional insight, models in parallel for some time and, over time, perhaps there would be of general consensus on the various until customers achieve a general level of industry guidelines for costing out typical effort levels of content and the expec- comfort with it and are confi dent it does tasks. Companies moving to an auto- ted types of value-added services that not pose an economic risk, switching to mated procurement process with yearly would apply to each. But not every LSP a work-based rather than word-based bidding would need to have these metrics will need or want to offer every type of model could be relatively smooth and incorporated into their systems. But the value-added service possible, and some painless. Over the next few years, as metrics would be used to size the effort customers will have different numbers we meet again, let’s hope that instead of the value-added tasks, not to charge of content levels and types. Consensus of hearing the familiar refrain of “we for translation itself. If the current trends would be a success factor, but perhaps must do something about the broken of better and better free web-based MT not a ”critical” success factor. What pro- LSP business model,” we will be hearing and community translation continue, bably will matter most is that a matrix about customers and LSPs partnering to charging for words will become more like the above is clearly defi ned for each move forward to the new model, whether and more irrelevant, and LSPs will have customer, and that each customer can this or another like it, and let everyone to move toward this model anyway. get all the LSPs that bid on projects move on to making words “free.” M Another concern from the customer perspective might be: ”What if this new model costs us a lot more money?” A leap of faith is not the requirement here. True Partnerships I recall from my own team’s experience In whatever we do, we’re in it for the launching into use of MT via LSP long-term. That’s why we invest in lasting partnerships with our clients services, we were initially uncertain and suppliers, building customized about how much post-editing would be teams and solutions that best meet required and whether projects would end the needs of the day. Our clients can count on us as reliable extensions up costing us far more with MT than of their own teams. Our suppliers can without. At that time, our LSP partners beneê t from the open, cooperative told us they would give us two quotes partnerships and the development opportunities that Moravia provides. for each project: one with MT and post- Good partners achieve. editing, and one for human translation. They also ensured that the new model worked for us economically. That same approach would be sensible for LSPs to offer as they transition to the new business model. It’s fairly clear what is in this for the LSP — the chance to truly invoice according to effort applied to a project, not according to an outmoded, commoditized and increasingly unprofi table model. But what’s in it for the customer? At the high- effort end of the scale (marketing), there is an opportunity for improvement in quality, since LSPs will feel less pressured to skimp on a task when the rates are not commensurate with the work involved. At the Lo-fi delity end of the scale, there is an opportunity for cost savings. A success factor for this model to moraviaworldwide.com AMERICAS EUROPE ASIA work industry-wide would be some level

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30-31 Perspectives Roland #104.i31 31 5/19/09 3:31:23 PM Website globalization for Argentina and Brazil

Region Focus Martin Spethman & Nitish Singh

Brazil and Argentina represent two of the like French or Italian, though unlike other Romance languages, strongest economies in South America and also it has maintained the stressed vowels of Vulgar Latin. Brazilian encompass the two main languages of the con- Portuguese has been infl uenced both by native languages that it displaced and African languages that traders forced into Brazil. Btinent. Due to the fact that it has both abun- This is primarily in terms of vocabulary, but also in phonology dant natural resources and a well-educated and grammar. Current examples of words that originate from workforce, Argentina is one of South America’s the Tupi-Guarani and African languages include tucano and largest economies. The retail sector of Brazil is samba, respectively. The Portuguese language is undergoing a change in spelling considered the largest in Latin America and has rules to be implemented in the next several years. More than continued to expand rapidly since 2004. From 230 million Portuguese speakers are affected by these changes, 2000 to 2005, credit card use has doubled as the which has led to some controversy. Some Portuguese-speaking people claim that these rules are “Brazilianizing” the language result of partnerships with big retailers. or that the unifi cation will remove the cultural particularities Argentina is divided into 23 provinces and one autonomous existent today. Other members of the Portuguese-speaking com- city, Buenos Aires, which is the capital. Brazil, the fi fth largest munity believe that the new rules will actually bring cultures country in the world and seventh largest in terms of internet together by allowing an exchange of school textbooks among usage, is a federative republic consisting of 26 states and a the different countries. Brazil will be the least affected country, capital federal district called Brasília. While the culture of with a modifi cation in only 0.5% of the words, while in Portu- Argentina has been principally infl uenced and formed by its gal 1.6% of the words will change. European roots, Brazilian society has evolved from succeeding Currently, Spanish is the primary language of 21 countries, waves of migration both from Europe and from the African including Argentina, and one of the six offi cial languages of slave trade. the United Nations. Spanish is spoken by over 322 million Brazilian Portuguese is the offi cial language of Brazil and is people worldwide. Throughout the 21 countries in which Span- spoken by 154 million people. Portuguese is a Romance language ish is the primary language, there can be a difference in the dialect, vocabulary, accents and even grammar rules that need to be considered when translat- Martin Spethman is a managing partner ing materials into Spanish. The main dialect of Globalization Partners International. of Spanish spoken in Argentina is Rioplatense Spanish, also known as Silver River Spanish. The Nitish Singh is the author of The Culturally vocabulary that is used in the Rioplatense dialect Customized Web Site and assistant professor at the of Spanish has been minimally infl uenced by the John Cook School of Business, Saint Louis University. native populations of the area, such as Guarani

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and Quechua. Where Peninsular Spanish Power Distance vs. Individualism - Collectivism borrows words from UK English and 100 French, Rioplatense Spanish borrows words from US English. This leads to a x e

great difference in the vocabulary of the d n I

various Spanish dialects. m s i v i t c e l l Insights into consumer values o 50 Brazil C Argentina -

Both Brazilians and Argentines put a m s i l a

high value on appearance. Looking good u d i v i

is an integral and important aspect of d n their cultures. Whenever possible, Brazil- I ians prefer to purchase products made within their own country. Brazilians 0 enjoy saving money for larger purchases, 0 50Power Distance Index 100 Arab World Argentina Australia Austria Belgium such as a house; therefore, they often look Brazil Canada Chile China Colombia Colombia Costa Rica Czech Republic Denmark East Africa for a deal when purchasing other items. El Salvador Finland France Germany Guatemala The decision-making power of women in Hungary Hong Kong India Indonesia Ireland Iran Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Brazil has increased, which has resulted Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Panama Peru Philippines Poland in many companies tailoring products Portugal Russia Singapore South Africa South Korea and services to the interests and needs of Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Turkey U.S. Hispanic Market United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay this new group. Venezuela West Africa Argentine people value relationships and build networks of friends and contacts, Cultural maps adapted from The Culturally Customized Web Site: Customizing both for professional and personal use. Web Sites for the Global Marketplace by Nitish Singh and Arun Pereira (2005) Family ties, both nuclear and extended, and Culture’s Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and are extremely important to the consumers Organizations Across Nations by Geert Hofstede (2001). of Argentina. It is expected that people will share resources with their family. Masculinity - Femininity vs. Uncertainty Avoidance Culture and values 100 Argentina

Argentina is fairly traditional when x e d n it comes to gender roles and authority I e Brazil c n

ﬁ gures, while Brazil is a more heteroge- a d i o

neous society due to its diverse popula- v 50 A y

tion. Both societies are full of symbols, t n i a t

rituals, traditional values and contextual r e c n

elements. At a macro-level, the culture U of Argentina can be described using fi ve cultural values based on the work 0 of Professor Geert Hofstede, who con- 0 50Masculinity - Femininity Index 100 ducted perhaps the most comprehensive Arab World Argentina Australia Austria Brazil Canada Chile China Colombia Costa Rica study of how values in the workplace are Czech Republic Czech Republic Denmark East Africa Ecuador infl uenced by culture. El Salvador Finland France Germany Greece Guatemala Hong Kong Hungary India Indonesia Hofstede demonstrated that national Iran Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica and regional cultural groupings affect Japan Malaysia Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Panama Peru Philippines the behavior of societies and organiza- Poland Portugal Russia Singapore South Africa tions and are persistent across time. Hof- South Korea Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Thailand Turkey U.S. Hispanic Market United Arab Emirates United Kingdom stede’s research showed that cultural United States Uruguay Venezuela West Africa values such as individualism-collectivism, power distance, masculinity-femininity, Fast Facts Brazil Argentina and uncertainty avoidance can be used to categorize various national cultures. $1,067 billion $214.3 billion Gross domestic product Each of the two Latin American countries (www.eiu.com, 2007) (www.eiu.com, 2007) shows a different value set. For example, Growth rate 3.7% (www.eiu.com, 2007) 8.5% (www.eiu.com, 2007) Argentina rates moderately on four of the fi ve values and is a high-context Population 186.8 million 40.3 million culture. Brazil, on the other hand, rates Internet population 45.6 million 16 million signifi cantly on four values and shows a Future internet population 9% growth rate through 2011 35% by 2009 preference for masculinity.

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32-35 Spethman-Singh #104.indd 33 5/19/09 3:32:22 PM Region Focus

Icons and colors to pay attention The Cultural Customization Scorecard of the dreams, hopes and womanhood to include yellow, which represents for South America of Argentina. She completed a signiﬁ - either hope, hazards or cowardice to cant amount of charity work and Argentines; green, which represents spoke on behalf of the unions from new beginnings; and blue, which rep- when her husband Juan was elected resents depression, conservativeness president in 1946 until her death in and sadness. White represents brides, Values 1952. There are mixed feelings about angels, doctors and peace, and black her in Argentina due to some of the Avoidance Masculinity Uncertainty Collectivism Low Context High Context Individualism

represents funerals, death, rebellion Distance Power practices of the Perón government. and high fashion. In Brazil likewise it is associated with mourning, as is The cultural purple. In the Brazilian culture, hand- Cultural customization scorecard kerchiefs also symbolize grief and Scores Once a country’s predominant cul- mourning, especially when given to a Grading Scale tural values have been identifi ed, the person. >90% Excellent Customization on Cultural Value next step in customizing a website is In Brazil, the “fi g” is a good luck 70-89% Good Customization on Cultural Value to evaluate it on the relevant cultural sign, made by placing the thumb <70% Poor Customization on Cultural Value values. This can be done in the form of between the index and middle fi ngers the Cultural Customization Scorecard, while making a fi st. It is also considered the urban landscape at the beginning of shown on this page. The scorecard is a national symbol of Brazil. On the other last century with the infl ux of diverse produced by analyzing the site on the hand, the O.K. sign made by a circle of European immigrants. The tango was features that conform to the cultural the fi rst fi nger and thumb is considered also a moral threat for what it symbol- values of interest. a vulgar symbol. ized about women and the fact that it The cultural values of interest for The traditional icons of Argentina romanticized the male behavior that Argentina and Brazil are a combination are fairly well-known. The tango repre- kept them away from home. Eva Perón, of collectivism, masculinity, high power sents the profound transformation of also called Evita Perón, was the symbol distance and high context. The scores are calculated using “content analysis” of a given website. Internet and search engine marketing A search engine marketing campaign for South America should be multidimen- sional for both short-term and long-term success. Using Pay-Per-Click campaigns on targeted Argentine websites and search engines is one way to produce immediate results. It is also a way to become familiar with the consumer segment being targeted in Argentina or Brazil. The top level domain in Argentina is .ar. Other domains that are popular in Argen- tina are .com.ar, .com, .org, .net, .info and .biz. At present, there are approximately 2,159 internet hosts in Argentina. The top-level domain in Brazil is .br. Other domains that are popular in Brazil are .com, .org, .net, .info and .biz. It is advisable to have a local legal representative if a non-Brazilian company would like to obtain a local domain, such as .com.br. The domain needs to be registered at registro.br (www.export .gov/sellingonline/internet_environment/ brazil.asp). M

To obtain the complete reports on Argentina and Brazil, go to www.global izationpartners.com/white-papers.aspx

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32-35 Spethman-Singh #104.indd 34 5/19/09 3:32:23 PM Latin America Showcase

Examples of culturally customized sites in Brazil and Argentina

Linguistic Services

Professional language services crafted by Desktop Publishing an international team allow us to provide Localization a reliable service at a fair price and with a We provide high-quality linguistic, cultural Collectivism: Brazil is a collectivist culture. fast turnaround. Our Spanish and Brazilian Websites may be culturally customized by advisory and localization services in Spanish, as Portuguese translation, localization, interpreting well as multilingual-multimedia desktop publishing emphasizing collective themes such as family and DTP services are designed to cater to and community. For example, Häagen-Dazs and project management services. worldwide clients looking for tailored solutions has a section titled Imprensa in which it Our philosophy is to work in close collaboration features pictures of customers enjoying to their communication needs. Häagen-Dazs at their own social gatherings. with our clients by creating a long-lasting and Clear and efficient communication is the mutually beneficial business relationship based basis of our services. This premise is our way to on trust. help clients increase the effectiveness of their Our mission is to make our clients’ day easy messages. and meet their most demanding needs and expectations by providing smart solutions and the highest service level. Clear Words Translations Córdoba, Argentina Hispano Language Advisory [email protected] Córdoba, Argentina www.clearwordstranslations.com [email protected] • www.myhispano.com Masculinity: Argentina is a culture that leans towards masculinity. There are numerous ways that masculinity can be depicted on a website, including highlighting achievement, success and product durability, as well as adventure and fun. For example, Colgate has an interactive presentation on its Argentina site on how to preserve the smile. This is culturally customized due to the interactive nature and highlighting the achievement of Your Most Responsive the products, as well as ensuring that the Argentine need to “look good” is met. Global Partner Strategically located and professionally staffed, Ocean Translations S.R.L. has an 11-year Ever Wonder How You Can background offering an unbeatable combination Gain the Winning Edge of price, experience, quality, instant response and range of services, including software over Your Competitors? localization and internationalization, translation/ Partner with intextus Language Solutions for editing/proofing, MT post-editing, DTP, software the real advantage. engineering, transcriptions, interpreting, intextus is your resource partner for quality and Uncertainty Avoidance: Brazil is a risk-averse professional training and QA. From the southern on-time translation and localization services into society. It is important to reduce risk, anxiety western hemisphere to the rest of the world, we Spanish. We integrate superior industry expertise and uncertainty that Brazilian consumers provide the flexibility the global market needs might have shopping online. For example, with client customization and technology support Motorola Brazil has the product features of today. Contact us at [email protected] to deliver a reliable solution to all your Spanish the phone clearly listed along with a picture translation needs at competitive rates. of the product so that the consumer knows exactly what he or she is buying. Stating the Ocean Translations S.R.L. company’s business practices and offering Rosario, Argentina intextus Language Solutions online or live customer support are other [email protected] Córdoba, Argentina ways to build online shopping conﬁ dence. www.oceantranslations.com [email protected] • www.intextus.com

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32-35 Spethman-Singh #104.indd 35 5/19/09 3:32:25 PM Current financial crisis and Latin American translation

Region Focus Teddy Bengtsson

In the current global fi nancial crisis, Latin Brazil is one of the single biggest markets in the world, America has at least one advantage over most weighing in at around a whopping 200 million inhabitants, parts of the world. Crisis mode is the norm, who by the way conveniently almost all use the same language rather than the exception, and presumably this — Portuguese. Geographically speaking, it takes up almost half I of the space in South America, and also economically it is the means that people here consider what is hap- region’s powerhouse. It is the tenth largest economy in the pening to the world economy far less threaten- world and the ninth largest when it comes to purchasing power ing than people in Europe and North America. parity. It represents the “B” in the BRIC acronym of emerging superpowers, along with Russia, India and China, and the The region is also one step removed from the country has for quite some time been predicted for growth in closely interconnected economies of the western international signifi cance. Although this has perhaps taken world, which means that the impact of the crisis longer than expected to materialize, development in recent has taken longer to see tangible effects. But does years has indeed seen signs of a maturing economy with rela- tive political and economic stability. The country has under- that mean Latin America is a safe haven from gone a modern economic reform and invested signifi cantly in woes of the global fi nancial crisis? I think not. infrastructure development. The value of the local currency (the Brazilian real) has seen a roller coaster of a ride since it The two most infl uential countries in the region — Brazil was fl oated in 1999. Speculative short-term capital played a and Argentina — have more in common than traditionally role of it rising sharply against the US dollar, but in 2008 we representing the greatest threats to the success of European saw things going the other way to the tune of 25%. Infl ation football — soccer for those of you in North America — in world monitoring and control have generally been successful and tournaments. Both have had their fair share of political, social resulted in increased stability. and economic turbulence in modern times, and even in our With a population of about a fi fth of its northern neigh- own little world of translation and localization we detect some bor, Argentina is very much the little brother in comparison at interesting idiosyncrasies. Let me start by taking the pulse of least when it comes to its economic power status. Its current each one, starting with the larger of the two. position as number 61 in the world in terms of gross domestic product per capita puts it just below Libya and Gabon. This doesn’t speak well of the fi nancial management of the country, especially considering that Argentina was the tenth richest country in the world in 1910. A seesaw of military dictatorships Teddy Bengtsson is CEO and founding partner and democratically elected governments has left a mark on the of Idea Factory Languages (IFL). He previously nation’s development in every sense, from social to fi nancial. had management assignments with Oracle, 2001 saw the culmination of an economic situation spiraling Microsoft and Aldus Europe Limited. out of control, and when the local currency (peso) previously

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pegged to the US dollar was fl oated, operations in both countries. The it immediately crashed to a quarter main reason is that just as in Argen- of the value. Eventually it settled at tina, the industry is dominated by around three pesos to a dollar and small operators without a substantial has generally stayed at that level until infrastructure. The overheads of hav- recent months, when it came under ing in-house employees are even pressure. It is currently pushing 3.70. more prohibitive in Brazil than Argen- A key reason for this development is tina, thus resulting in most companies that, in contrast with Brazil, the gov- preferring to operate a model that is ernment has not been able to keep built on contract resources. This infl ation in check. Despite that offi - means they can avoid the costs asso- cial fi gures of annual infl ation point ciated with taxes, social fees and the towards less than 10%, independent many others associated with salaried data suggests the real fi gure is more positions. than double the numbers provided by This brings me to the effects of the the government. global fi nancial crisis in the region. What does all of that mean for We are certainly seeing substantial the language services industry in the price pressure, and my impression is region? Well, despite its smaller stat- that this is accentuated by the market ure from an economic power perspec- being generally responsive. This is tive, Argentina has a couple of things particularly true of operators with lim- in its favor. First of all, the national ited internal infrastructure, since they language is Spanish, one of the most can simply pass on price reductions to signifi cant and fastest-growing lan- contractors. It is, of course, consider- guages in the world with more than ably more complicated for companies 400 million native speakers. As such, it North America, and a growing reputa- with substantial in-house staff, since puts Portuguese fi rmly in its place. Also, tion in the industry means that Argentina employee overheads and other fi xed costs the country has a well-educated popula- has become the fi rst viable challenger to offer more restrictions towards fl exibility tion in general and translators in par- Spain’s dominant position as the leading in pricing. The recent weakening of both ticular, thanks to the many universities country for Spanish language services. local currencies only partially offsets the featuring translation programs. Riding Notably in this context, the most popu- pressure on pricing, with the remainder on the sudden cost effi ciency brought on lous of offi cial Spanish-speaking coun- likely to be made up by tighter margins by the 2001 crisis, Argentina has since tries — Mexico — does not have a single and variable cost reductions where it can experienced an evolution that has taken company that is a member of GALA, the be found. It seems certain, however, that it from a cottage industry of freelancers leading international industry associa- the global fi nancial crisis will decelerate and a few traditional agency style out- tion for translation/localization compa- the momentum of the last few years of fi ts to one that is beginning to resemble nies, whereas Spain has 18 and Argentina industry development. an industry, including companies with 12. That particular comparison also war- For example, a growing number of enterprise infrastructures and the trade- rants a look in the side mirror at Brazil, international companies are currently mark characteristics of jobs and career which lists a rather surprisingly low four joining local operators in hiring staff on opportunities. companies in total — or fi ve when con- a contract basis. By offering linguists and Although it continues to be domi- sidering that IFL has its own production other industry professionals “contract nated by individuals, freelancer groupings and small owner-operated agencies, the coun try currently has a handful of companies with more than ten employees. It is also signifi cant that opportunities are not solely the domain of linguists. An advanced translation project management training event held in Córdoba in 2008 and led by IFL’s production director was attended by around 45 project coordinators and managers from different companies, providing evidence not only of the size of the industry, but also of its growing maturity in terms of diversifi cation and specialization. The combination of a continued (albeit dim- inishing) cost advantage, a convenient time zone location between Europe and

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36-38 Bengtsson #140.indd 37 5/19/09 3:34:11 PM Region Focus

assignments” with a fi xed monthly com- production environment will inevitably with a larger infrastructure are certain to pensation, they can bypass legal obliga- create dependency on individuals who experience a reduced growth pattern and tions and commitments as an employer are only loosely connected to the vendor will be looking for ways to scale down and make a “cash-in-hand” offer that a organization, bringing about concerns operations to a smaller and temporarily local company with an in-house employee for the consistency and sustainability of more sustainable level. philosophy can not compete with. By and service levels and quality standards, not On a more positive regional note, the large, these assignments are performed to mention the security and integrity of crisis is also acting as a catalyst for some from the individual’s home and personal project data. All of this is contrary to end clients to reassess their supply chains computer, further contributing to running the best interests of customers as well and consider going directly to a local or an operation with minimal overheads. In as providers of language services and is regional supplier rather than accept the some cases, however, the practice is also counterproductive to a continued positive price premiums charged by multilingual deployed in offi ce environments, with industry evolution in the region. vendors. As such, clients are likely to either part or whole of the compensation The net effects are still to be fully felt value the characteristics of the larger being paid under the table. in Argentina and Brazil. No doubt free- operators with a strong infrastructure, Regardless, there are many fl ip sides to lance translators are feeling the push on and thus there is an opportunity for this practice. On one hand, it hardly offers prices, and many already accept lower leading companies to offset the negative the individuals in such roles an environ- rates as the amount of work is on the impacts of the global recession. I remain ment in which to develop professionally. decrease and competition for assign- confi dent in the underlying fundamen- It also indirectly encourages illegal and ments is stepping up. Smaller agencies tals and believe the language industry irresponsible behavior, as it is easy to may see opportunities to compete on has a bright future in Latin America. For circumvent taxation and other obliga- price, especially as subcontractors to the time being, we will focus on fi nding tions, such as pension and social secu- multilingual vendors, but need to be a way through the crisis just like most rity contributions. On the other hand, it cautious as this is often supported by others — by battoning down the hatches, introduces a multitude of risks to the end processing shortcuts that inevitably doing a great job for our clients and client of the services. The unstructured carry long-term risks. Many companies hoping for better days ahead! M

Latin America in Economic Crisis: How the Region Compares to the Rest of the World In a recent survey of Globalization and Localization Association members, South American language service providers (LSPs) were compared with providers from other regions of the world. Results show that South American LSPs were decidedly less impacted by the economic crisis over the ﬁ rst quarter of the year, but were also more pessimistic about the second quarter. “Workloads haven’t suffered too much yet. However, everybody is cautious about the future. Growth is mainly in the health care, consumer and ﬁ nance markets,” said GALA member María Gabriela Morales. Source: Quarterly GALA Member Pulse Survey, First Quarter 2009.

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Region Focus 5/19/09 3:35:30 PM MultiLingual cers of major corpora- magazine, one of the largest and most Veja rmed Bernhard Glock, vice president of Global Reserves of $200 billion still untouched six months after Competent and regulated banks with low exposure to risk Q Q In a recent interview to BBC Brasil, Jim O’Neill, the head of In a recent interview to BBC Brasil, Jim director to economist Marcio Aith, the executive According Global Economic Research for Goldman Sachs and the man who Global Economic Research for Goldman been a big slowdown in created the term BRIC, said, “There has contributions to global growth everywhere, yet if you look at countries are the only consumption, it is very clear that the BRIC Brazil, as it has been shown people that are in positive territory. framework for by this crisis, has a very good macroeconomic ofﬁ Chief marketing economic policy.” In March this tions seem to agree with O’Neill’s predictions. for a Conference of the World they gathered in São Paulo year, said Simon Clift, CMO of Unilever, Federation of Advertisers. the crisis and the Brazilian economy is healthy, that “for now, noted that Brazil is one has not hit the country so hard.” He also revenues to the next of the few countries to bring his company’s level. Competitors seem to agree. “Here there is a lot of poten- afﬁ tial to grow,” Media and Communication for Procter & Gamble. Despite the 3.6% drop of the Brazilian gross domestic product (GDP) for this announced in the same week of the event, multinational year, companies still have not suspended their investment plans in is one of as they believe that the Brazilian market the country, the few to not be so negatively affected by the crisis. “In Brazil, we are still hiring people and maintained our goals to have a executive two-digit growth in sales,” said Steve Rusckowski, vice president and CEO of Philips Healthcare. of economics of recognized Brazilian publications, there are a few reasons why Brazilians should be optimistic with the possibility of living through the 2009 world crisis with only a few scratches — and with robust growth: with heavy chances of emerging in 2010 the crisis exploded nally localization power localization Fabiano Cid Latin America’s growing Latin Fabiano Cid is the managing director of Ccaps, Fabiano Cid is the managing director of Ccaps, with a Latin American localization provider headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is also the chairman of the board of milengo Inc.

The world economy as a whole and our The world economy as a whole

In the past few months the global economy has gone through industry in particular create opportunities for industry in particular create opportunities power the birth of a true regional localization prices, geog- in Latin America. With attractive and resources, translation and economy raphy, miss creating localization providers should not to show clients an atmosphere of collaboration Latin American in the northern hemisphere that can ﬁ Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese become a language group of its own, represen- become a language group of its tative of this region. www.multilingual.com June 2009 such radical changes that everything seemed to be collapsing at another revolution has been going on for years now: once. Yet emerging economies, especially the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), have entered the global arena to play a much more important role than the one to which they were delegated a few decades back. What is more astonishing is that the superpowers in the northern hemisphere today are in a much more complicated situation than Brazil, the ever-promising giant that for decades has been praised by Brazilian politicians, economists and the people in general as “the country of the future,” yet until recently never accomplished its own messianic predictions. TT 39-41 Cid #104.indd 39 Region Focus

Q Absence of credit and real estate and unprecedented scenario? In the short Brazilian Portuguese and Latin Ameri- bubbles, with a high potential for growth history of localization, other parts of the can Spanish can and should be bought in these sectors globe have managed to create a niche of directly from the source, instead of rely- Q Strong domestic market with grow- their own based on the languages spo- ing simply on the well-established LSPs ing purchase power ken in these regions. We have seen the in Europe, North America and Asia. Q World’s “greenest” energy matrix, birth of FIGS (French, Italian, German Latin Americans do have quite a few while the country is no longer dependent and Spanish), CCJK (Simplifi ed and Tra- advantages when compared to other on imported oil ditional Chinese, Japanese and Korean), regions, such as attractive pricing, a Q Political stability with democracy and other language groups. Local com- favorable time zone, cultural similarities enthroned as a national asset panies successfully upgraded to a status and the most invaluable local knowl- Q Economic stability — imperfect yet of regional language vendors (RLVs) to edge. But how does one start fi ghting for predictable regulatory system compensate for the gap between multi- direct customers while based in a region Q Largest food exporter, guarantee- language and single language vendors. I that so far has been unable to prove ing volumes of external sales in any am not aware of all their individual his- itself to localization buyers as effi cient, scenario tories, but they probably started as local reliable and predictable? The answer Q Diverse external market, with buy- vendors, migrated to the position of RLVs lies in collaboration, innovation and ers from all over the world — goods and and fi nally became true global companies determination. commodities of growing added value with revenues that range from $30 mil- Q The same projections that point to lion to $120 million. Examples abound, Collaboration stagnation abroad forecast a GDP growth such as euroscript, LCJ, the Honyaku Think-tanks in our industry have been in Brazil for 2009 Centre and Moravia, all of which appear talking about crowdsourcing as one of the My personal experience refl ects this in Common Sense Advisory’s ranking of next things to look out for if one either positive scenario as well. After years Top 25 Language Service Providers. sells or buys language services. Not many struggling with an overvaluated local In the same report, Europe appears as LSPs have actually managed to imple- currency, my company experienced a the region with the largest market share, ment crowdsourcing into their workfl ow 70% growth in 2008, which was far followed by the United States and Asia, or as part of their service offering. Yet to higher than the industry average. This a trend that seems to persist for several open-source software developers, crowd- was not only due to the devaluation of years to come. Latin America, however, sourcing translation has been a reality for the Brazilian real, but was mostly the is included in the little exciting group quite a few years now. On the client side, result of an increased demand for Brazil- called ROW. Sadly enough, together with Google, Facebook and Sun Microsystems, ian Portuguese and Latin American ser- other regions we only represent 3% of companies that pioneered in this area, vices, which forced us to hire new people the market; we still are badly positioned were followed by Flickr, Hi5, iStockphoto and streamline our processes to meet the as the “Rest Of the World.” As language and others, and they have all succeeded in increased demand of our clients. Such service providers (LSPs), we obviously do their crowdsourcing attempts. This means demand has remained steady in the fi rst not have the power to change the world that potential clients are bypassing LSPs quarter of 2009, and we are expecting at economy and force corporations and the and doing the whole process by them- least a 40% growth for this year. public in general in our own countries selves, sometimes using amateur transla- to increase the demand for language tors. Who gains with that? Not us for Cutting the middle man services to a point that will secure us a sure! However, there are other forms of How can this outcome affect our larger piece of the cake. What we can do, collaboration available. industry and businesses and what can however, is to create awareness among Collaboration simply means working we do to make the most of this positive buyers that such important languages as together to achieve common goals. For example, take milengo Inc., which started as a network of European companies that were to form an EEIG (European Eco- nomic Interest Group) when other partners from Asia and South America joined the initial group of LSPs. At this point the shareholders decided to incorporate the company in the United States to better position ourselves, and today milengo Inc. has reached clients in the largest markets of the globe that we, as individual local players, would have a fairly hard time to acquire if we were to target them individ- ually. As a latecomer to the alliance, I saw the great potential that was opening for my business and became deeply involved with the company’s affairs. We share ideas, join forces and split costs. This has

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allowed us to not only build strength and sharing, community translation, open trans- tools and methods we have learned, and increase revenue, but has also made us lation platforms, localization and support show them what we’ve got. better professionals and individuals with convergence, continuous translation, and Just like Susan Boyle, an unemployed a better understanding of the market and personalization. The report was the result and unattractive Scottish lady who clum- of our colleagues. When you learn from of a March 2009 meeting in Edinburgh sily started her audition on the TV show your peers, you are more likely to retain with 50 decision-makers representing the Britain’s Got Talent, yet went on to prove the knowledge they share, and when you buy and the sell side of the market in that she had a beautiful voice and touched must deal with people who have differ- equal proportions, who gathered to dis- the hearts of those who never believed ent backgrounds and cultures but are at cuss the design of the localization future. in her potential, LSPs in Latin America the same hierarchic level as you, you are In a more recent April gathering in Cór- should make an effort and convince their bound to become a more fl exible person. doba, I had the pleasure of discussing “audience” that we are worth a try and that such ideas with industry peers during the we’ve got talent. To gain industry attention, Innovation IMTT 6th Language and Technology Con- we must create the “Susan Boyle effect” In terms of progress, the language ference. Events like these, whether they and show prospective buyers that their technology industry today is more or less have a local or global reach and fl avor, preconceived judgment should and will stuck in the Windows 95 era of personal are not only about networking and sell- be changed once we are given a chance to computers. A much-talked about and ing; they can also be fantastic opportuni- prove our professionalism and capability. controversial issue these days seems to ties to learn from others and let your Clients will not come knocking on be machine translation and how it will creative juices fl ow. our door. We must go after them and affect our industry, but we need to be show that there is life south of the Rio innovating more, not less. Take Trados, Determination Grande — rather intelligent life, in fact for example. As far as I can remember, All these actions can only be achieved — the kind that can help them succeed and this goes back to the mid-1990s, it if we are determined enough. Convinc- in their attempts to reach the custom- has had the same interface and has suf- ing prospects that we are up for the job ers in Central and South America they fered very little improvement in its most is never easy, regardless of where one is are so keen to acquire. We know the basic features. We are talking here about and what one has to offer. The fi rst thing region better than anyone else, we are the most widely used translation memory to do though is sell our services profes- aware of the strengths and weaknesses in this market! SDL has developed SDLX sionally and consistently. Make clients of the resources with which we work, we and later bought Trados and WorldServer. understand that we can deliver whatever can charge the very right price for high Yet what great improvements have they they might be looking for in a better way quality services, and over the years we created for each one of these tools? We than our competitors. We can play the have acquired the knowledge and skills still have to run completely different game. We have been in business for quite necessary to transform Latin American environments with no synergy between some time now. All we have to do is put Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese into a them. If mobile phone manufacturers our best practices in place, use all the language group of its own. M were as fast as language system developers, 3G technology would be a reality indeed only three generations from now. OK, maybe in Latin America we do not have as many investors promptly accessible or the necessary funds available at reasonable costs. We might not even have the desire or the skills to bring innovation to language technol- 4- MI8¬ ogy. That is fi ne then; let us innovate in 4HE¬LOSSLESS¬4-8¬ENGINE other areas. Customer service as family treatment, unusual pricing structures, s¬,EGACY¬TRANSLATION¬DATA¬ ¬STANDARD¬4-8 project management with a twist, shorter ª turnarounds at lower costs, some added- s¬%ASILY¬SWITCH¬TRANSLATION¬TOOLS¬AND¬VENDORS value service previously unheard of s¬0RESERVES¬ALL¬EXISTING¬METADATA — there are quite a few areas where we s¬%NRICHES¬4-8¬WITH¬NEW¬METADATA can exercise our creativity while offering s¬%MBEDS¬EXISTING¬CONVERSION¬PROCESSES a unique experience to our customers. s¬0REPARES¬DATA¬FOR¬3-4 Only then can we stand out from the s¬2EDUCES¬¬OF¬PROCESSING¬TIME crowd and bring the attention of translation and localization buyers to us. The Translation Automation User Soci- 6ISIT¬US¬AT¬@,OCALIZATION¬7ORLD ety (TAUS) has recently released a report ¬*UNE¬"ERLIN'ERMANY &OR¬MORE¬INFO¬ on the seven areas to look out for in terms -AKE¬AN¬APPOINTMENT¬WITH¬OUR¬3ALES¬MANAGER¬+UNG¬9I¬,IEM¬ ABOUT¬4- MIX¬VISIT¬ of innovation for the localization indus- ¬ WWWGRAl¬DATANL try: translation automation, language data

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39-41 Cid #104.indd 41 5/19/09 3:35:31 PM Toward a unified Portuguese spelling

Region Focus Marco S. de Pinto

Anyone who has been in contact with a lan- Chinese being a typical example. Even Western languages make use guage’s early literature will come to the conclu- of some kind of logographic system, especially scientifi c symbols, sion that languages are dynamic; they do not with their respective spoken equivalents changing from language to stay the same. That is why we cannot read The language. The other and more common writing system is phonologi- A cal, either syllabic, used in something like Amharic (the offi cial lan- Canterbury Tales in Mid dle English without re- guage of Ethiopia), or alphabetic. Here there is theoretically a direct course to a dictionary or a glossary. This happens correspondence between graphemes and phonemes, resulting in a because pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary far more economic use of symbols. It is hard to fi nd a language that change over time. Extreme phonetic variation may take place, leading for example to the modern French word eau /o/, which is ultimately derived from the Latin aqua. Some centuries ago, that French word was pronounced not as a single phoneme as it is today, but as three distinct phonemes: /eau/. Being highly traditional, French spelling lagged behind. Of course, spelling all depends on what grammarians give the most value to: etymological tradition, synchronic pronunciation or even a mix- ture of both. Similarly, from the sixteenth The world of Portuguese language speakers. to the beginning of the twentieth century, the speakers of the Portuguese language gave preference to ety- has a perfectly regular system, in which each grapheme corresponds mology, and thus we found pharmacia (from Greek pharmakeía) to one and only one phoneme. More usually, however, languages and diccionario (from Latin dictionarium) against their modern tend not to keep pace with this one-to-one correspondence, though counterparts farmácia and dicionário. Spanish, Finnish, Turkish and Hungarian, for instance, are notable Each language has a specifi c way of recording words. Some use and, some would even say, enviable examples of what a phonetic a logographic writing system, in which graphemes represent words, language should be like in its written form. No matter how little you know about grammar or vocabulary, if you are taught the spelling rules of such languages, you can easily read aloud anything written in it. At the other extreme, we fi nd languages such as English and Gaelic that display a high degree of irregularity. Portuguese is no Marco S. de Pinto holds a degree in Arabic exception when it comes to irregularity, although it does not have language and literature from the University hair-raising discrepancies as one fi nds in, say, the rather artifi cial of São Paulo and is currently a Ph.D. candidate English sentence “Though the rough cough and hiccough plough in philology and Portuguese language. me through, I ought to cross the lough,” in which the -ough- is

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pronounced differently in every single word. One diffi culty of Por- Historically, we can divide the Portuguese spelling into three main tuguese spelling is that g can have two different pronunciations, the periods: from the 1200s to the 1500s, based on a phonetic kind of so-called “hard” one as in guitarra or água, and the “soft” one. If orthography; 1500s to 1800s, characterized by a learned spelling; you drop the u after a g, its pronunciation becomes soft, as in gente and the modern spelling from the twentieth century until today. (people), but j shares the same pronunciation with it in many other Ever since the sixteenth century a need was felt that the written words such as jibóia (boa constrictor). The phoneme /s/ can have language was distancing itself from the spoken one, and many up to four different spellings: initially as c or s (cessar, sair), as xc grammarians started to write treaties about how to write ortho- (exceção), medially as ss or c (sessão, conceder) or ç before a, o or u graphically. Due to a complete lack of spelling rules, Portuguese (as in ação, moço and açude). writers adopted their own system when writing Portuguese. Luís de Camões (1524-1580), author of the sixteenth-century epic poem Linguistic origins and features Os Lusíadas, favored the phonetic spelling, while historian Alex- The countries besides Portugal that have Portuguese as their andre Herculano (1810-1877), favored the etymological one. His offi cial language are all former colonies of Portugal. Besides Bra- contemporary Almeida Garrett, in turn, gave preference to aesthet- zil, almost all the other countries are in Africa: Angola, Mozam- ics, while Camilo Castelo Branco, writing at around the same time, bique, Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, and São gave the least importance to such issues; he Tomé and Príncipe. In Equatorial Guinea, could not care less whether the word cear (to colonized by Portugal in 1474 and ceded to have supper) should be spelled either with a Spain in 1778, Portuguese became a third Human beings are often c or with an s, as in sear. offi cial language in 2007. East Timor and resistant to change, Brazilian authors also had enough reasons Macao are in Asia. to complain when it came to spelling. Poet There are countless words in the lan- particularly with tradition Mário de Andrade (1893-1945) claimed, for guage from ancient Iberian and Arabic, the or anything touching on example, that spelling had been one of the latter particularly numerous due to the Ara- main factors of the reigning mental disorder bic-speaking Moors who overran Spain and identity. It is no wonder in Brazil. The chief support for spelling up Portugal from 711 CE until 1492, when they until last century lay mainly on the origin were driven back to the Strait of Gibraltar. that such a reform, though of words, but that countless mistakes due During six centuries of Moorish rule, words it looks small in the eyes of to false analogy crept up. This resulted in such as álgebra, tâmara (date) and refém etymological monstrosities such as hontem (hostage) came into both Portuguese and someone who does not use (yesterday), which is ultimately derived from Spanish, enriching them so much that we the Latin ad noctem (last night), in analogy cannot express everyday, down-to-earth the language in everyday life, with hoje (today) in which the unpronounced words without their help. The language also has caused heated debate on h is justifi ed by the Latin hodie¯. adopted many Germanic words from the This apparent orthographic Babel lasted warriors who invaded the Roman territo- both sides of the Atlantic. until the beginning of last century, when ries, of which Portugal, on the west coast of the fi rst attempt to reform the spelling of the Iberian Peninsula, was one. That is one Portuguese came in about 1911, headed by reason why there are so many English cognates, such as roubar (to the Portuguese philologist Aniceto dos Reis Golçalves Viana (1840- rob), garantia (guarantee), rico (rich), trégua (truce), elmo (helmet) 1914) and other eminent fi gures in Portugal, thus initiating the and so on. third period of the history of Portuguese spelling. They proposed a Brazilian Portuguese, in turn, was enriched further by Tupi (also thorough simplifi cation, which caused much debate in Brazil and known as Tupinambá), a language of a member of a group of for both political and linguistic reasons was not adopted. American Indian peoples who lived along a broad stretch of the The fi rst reform that was welcomed both by Portuguese and Brazilian coast from the vicinity of Guanabara Bay to the mouth of Brazilians alike took place in 1931 and was offi cially organized by the Amazon River, until 1757 when it was banned by royal decree the Language Academies of the two countries. The purpose of the by the Portuguese statesman Marquês de Pombal (1699-1782). reform was to unify what lagged behind in preceding reforms. But, Today, however, we fi nd countless geographical, plant and animal as it turned out, this reform was not successful enough to bring the names in Brazilian Portuguese, such as abacaxi (pineapple), man- two countries closer together, at least in spelling. The main reasons dioca (manioc), caju (cashew), açaí, piranha and tatu (armadillo for such failure were the intense feelings of inertia and patriotism — which, incidentally, is a word derived from Spanish and means on both sides of the Atlantic. Brazil even insisted that its national little armed one). language be called “Brazilian Language” rather than Portuguese. If Besides infl uences from the natives’ languages, there was also we examine the base of this reform, however, which was to spell a great infl ux of words of African origin, mainly from the Bantu phonetically despite the clear-cut differences in the two varieties’ family of languages, spoken in central and southern Africa, from pronunciation, a natural feeling of inertia is justifi ed. the many slaves forcibly brought to Brazil from 1500 until 1850. One can get a better picture of this situation, chaotic to say Words from religion and cuisine were especially numerous. the least, in the words of the late Italian-born American linguist Mario Andrew Pei (1901-1978). Pei had just completed a brief Portuguese spelling outline of the Portuguese language sometime after the 1943 agree- It is interesting to note that Portuguese is the only Western ment between Portugal and Brazil, fl attering himself that he had language spoken by over 100 million speakers that has two offi cial used the latest offi cial orthography, when his Portuguese mentor spellings: the one used in Brazil and the other used by Portugal. breathlessly rushed up to him. The rules had been changed once

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more, and there might be enough time to Portugal and others correcto acto afectivo direcção eléctrico excepção catch the edition before it went to press to bring it up to date. Brazil correto ato afetivo direção elétrico exceção Pei was most likely talking about the Table 1: Spelling differences in Portuguese. results of the Conferência Inter-Acadêmica de Lisboa para a Unifi cação Ortográfi ca da Turkish language, which changed both its additional letters from words such as the Língua Portuguesa (Inter-academic Con- alphabet and much of its vocabulary, purg- ones in Table 1, which are not even pro- ference in Lisbon for the unifi cation of the ing it from foreign infl uences (read: Arabic nounced anymore. It is worth noting that spelling of the Portuguese Language), in a and Persian, in this order), the Portuguese the 1911 accord does not mention anything repeated attempt to make both spellings reform will still have wide implications. about the matter, with the result that ct into a unit. Two other proposals were put This will change 1.6% of the European and cç survived in Portugal and are in use forth both in 1975 and in 1986. Portuguese spelling, which is currently until today. On the other hand, Brazilian The latest proposal for unifi cation, used in the six other CPLP countries as spelling will do away with the ¨, known as called Novo Acordo Ortográfi co da Língua well, whereas in Brazil, 0.5% of the words the trema, used over the letter u to indicate Portuguesa, was put forth by lexicogra- will be changed. This change will strongly it has the phonetic value of /w/ in words phers in 1986 and voted for in 1990 by be felt by publishers, schools, presses, uni- such as freqüente or lingüista, which are to Portugal. As with the previous reforms, versities and other institutions that have be spelled frequente and linguista. this one too was apparently doomed to writing as an essential tool. Deadlines are Some words, however, keep their cur- failure, for in 1994, the year in which it fl exible, and the implementation is each rent spelling, for the letters mentioned was initially planned to be sanctioned, country’s responsibility. The new spelling above are still pronounced in both variet- Brazil had not yet ratifi ed it, doing so only will be obligatory in Brazil from 2012 on, ies of the language. Ficção, egípcio and one year later. It was delayed for a few though they are effective from January rapto are a few examples. This is one of years more when in 1998 the previous 2009, whereas Portugal stipulated that the the thorniest aspects of the current reform contract was canceled. Another protocol, changes would only be obligatory in that because although such words represent in 2004, determined that it would take country from 2014 on. only about 600 of the total corpus of the agreement of only three countries to 110,000 words, they are among the most uphold a reform. Thus, in 2004, taking the Proposed changes commonly used. Still other words, due to lead this time, Brazil agreed, followed by Just as Britain and the United States the fl uctuating nature of language, will Cape Verde and São Tomé and Príncipe in have a few diverging spellings — centre have two possible variant spellings: facto 2006. Portugal, on the other hand, okayed vs. center, labour vs. labor, travelling vs. or fato, amígdala or amídala, aspecto the agreement only on March 6, 2008. The traveling — so do Portugal and Brazil. or aspeto, depending on which variety remaining countries of the CPLP (Portu- Brazilian Portuguese, for example, long of Portuguese is used. This accounts for guese-speaking countries commonwealth), ago did away with the sequences cc/cç/ct about 575 words, and many common East Timor, Angola, Guinea-Bissau and as well as with the p in the sequences words are also on this list. Mozambique, had initially approved the pc/pç/pt, following the dictum nenhuma Another controversial point is the differ- reform, but did not offi cially ratify it. palavra se escreverá empregando conso- ence in pronunciation refl ected in the use of The accord consists of 21 sections ante que nela se no pronuncie (no word either a circumfl ex or acute accent in prop- explaining in detail the rules of the new shall be written with a consonant that is aroxytones (words having an acute accent spelling and the obligation of the signato- not pronounced), resulting in the current on the antepenultimate syllable) in Portu- ries to apply the rules to their languages. spelling situation. guese and Brazilian spelling, respectively. Even though we cannot compare the scope In this case, Portugal will have to reluc- Because of the pronunciation difference, of this reform to the 1920s reform of the tantly conform to the rules and drop the both spellings will be possible, depending on the user’s variety of Portuguese. Controversial future Human beings are often resistant to change, particularly with tradition or anything touching on identity. It is no wonder that such a reform, though it looks small in the eyes of someone who does not use the language in everyday life, has caused heated debate on both sides of the Atlantic. In the words of the eminent British linguist David Crystal, inertia and conservatism are probably inseparable. Besides, it is easy to enumerate a number of disadvantages to a spelling reform. It was estimated by the Câmara Brasileira do Livro (Brazilian Book Chamber) that the new spelling will affect the future of

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about 320 million books. Is it really worth Viaro. São Paulo: Globo, 2008. Silva, Maurício. O novo acordo ortográfi co the trouble for a minimal increase in Pei, Mario A. “Some Comments on Spelling da língua portuguesa: o que muda, o que não spelling agreement? Detractors also state Reform.” American Speech, 21.2 (April1946): muda. São Paulo: Contexto, 2008. that there was little public participation in 129-31. Viaro, Mário Eduardo. Por trás das the reform, and that only a small group of Pei, Mario A. The Story of Language. palavras: Manual de Etimologia do Português. academicians had a fi nal say on the mat- Philadelphia: J. P. Lippincott, 1949. São Paulo: Globo, 2004. ter. On a more linguistic level, detractors Penny, Ralph. A History of the Spanish Williams, Edwin B. “Portuguese and also say that the language will be mis- Language. Cambridge, United Kingdom. Brazilian Spelling.” Hispania, 25.2 (May shapen, for silent letters will be dropped, Cambridge University Press, 1991. 1942): 189-93. the number of homonyms will increase and there will be loss of etymological transparency of some words. Its defenders, on the other hand, perhaps exaggerating a bit, claim that such a reform will facilitate the exchange of cultural, educational and administrative information. Publishers would not need to adapt books to the diverging spelling (though the differences between the two SAVE THE DATE: varieties of Portuguese do not lie only in spelling) in order to have it published in the given country, since it is necessary to change about 10% of the contents of a book to adapt it to European Portuguese. Ideologically, it would no doubt be a boon, for it would contribute to the feeling that October 14–16, 2009 • San Jose, California all speakers of the CPLP share a linguistic Immerse yourself in cutting-edge topics heritage both past and present. Also, they argue, it would make things much easier and new technologies, all geared for the for the foreign learner of Portuguese, who internationalization community. would have more or less only one stan- The Internationalization & Unicode® Conference is the premier annual technical dard spelling to depend on. M conference focusing on multilingual, global software and Web internationalization. Each IUC conference features a variety of tutorials and conference sessions References that cover current topics related to Web and software internationalization, globalization, and Unicode. “Acordo ortográfi co Luso-Brasileiro.” Ocidente, 80 (1971): 411-13. The three-day conference will feature a full day of tutorials followed by two Crystal, David. The Cambridge days of presentations, panels and discussions. There will also be technology Encyclopedia of Language. Cambridge, United exhibits and demonstrations. There will be plenty of opportunity for networking Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 1997. at birds-of-a-feather special interest gatherings and at the meeting breaks, lunches and receptions. Sessions will cover a range of topics including inter- D’Eça, Raul. “Comentários Sobre os Acordos Ortográfi cos Luso-Brasileiros.” nationalization, globalization, the Web, security, and localization to name a few. Hispania, 30.2 (May 1947): 215-19. There will be a mix of case studies, panel discussions and technical discussions geared towards beginner, intermediate and advanced practitioners. Estrela, Edite. A Questão Ortográfi ca: Reforma e Acordos da Língua Portuguesa. The conference attracts industry leaders from across the globe including Unicode Lisboa: Notícias, n.d. experts, implementers, clients and vendors. The unique interactive format Garcez, Pedro M. “The debatable 1990 makes the Internationalization & Unicode Conference the best place to meet Luso-Brazilian Orthographic Accord.” and exchange ideas with the experts, discover the needs of potential clients, Language Problems and Language Planning, and gather information about new and existing Unicode-enabled products. 19.2 (Summer 1995): 151-78. Mariani, Bethania, and Tânia C. C. de www.unicodeconference.org/ml Souza. “Reformas ortográfi cas ou acordos MEDIA SPONSOR: políticos?” Língua e Cidadania: o Português no Brasil. Ed. Eduardo Guimarães and Eni Puccinelli Orlandi. Campinas, SP: Pontes, 1996. For up-to-date information or to register: Nimer, Miguel. Infl uências Orientais na VISIT: www.unicodeconference.org/ml Língua Portuguesa. 2nd ed. São Paulo: Edusp, 2005. EMAIL: [email protected] Unicode and the Unicode Logo are trademarks of Unicode, Inc. Noll, Volker. O Português Brasileiro: All other marks are the property of their respective owners. Formação e Contrastes. Trans. Mário Eduardo

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42-45 de Pinto Portuguese #104.i45 45 5/19/09 3:36:37 PM Linguistic purism in Latin American Spanish

Region Focus Nataly Kelly

While Spanish and Portuguese are the most widely spoken tongues of Latin America, the region is also home to between 550 and 700 Wlanguages spread among an estimated 56 language families. Many of these languages are indigenous to the land itself, such as Quechua, an offi cial language in Bolivia and Peru that is spoken by 10.4 million people. Since languages infl uence one another as they come into contact, words are borrowed and adapted, grammatical constructions take on new forms, and pronunciations carry over. This phenomenon often leads individuals to claim one variety of a language is superior to or “purer” than another. ‘Pure’ Spanish and why it does not exist As a manager overseeing a team of Spanish<>English interpreters, I recall a colleague who once became outraged South and Central America are rich in languages and language families. when she heard a newly hired interpreter use the term obstetriz. “This is not a real word,” she exclaimed. “The cor- pointing to the medical dictionary in front of her. In her haste to rect rendition of obstetrician is obstetra,” she declared, proudly fi nd fault with a term she had never heard before, she assumed the interpreter was interpreting incorrectly. Had she investigated a bit further, or even hesitated before jumping to a conclusion Nataly Kelly is a senior analyst at research about the quality or purity of the interpreter’s Spanish, she would fi rm Common Sense Advisory with a specialized have learned that in some contexts, obstetriz does not neces- interest in interpreting services. Her book, sarily mean obstetrician, but something more along the lines Telephone Interpreting: A Comprehensive of a professional midwife. Had the manager been interpreting Guide to the Profession, is the fi rst full- instead, she might have mistakenly asked the general practitioner length book ever published on the topic. for a referral to the wrong type of medical professional. Like

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46-49 Kelly #104.indd 46 5/20/09 10:11:43 AM Region Focus

many language professionals, Spanish is peppered with words she was raised and educated in Combination Result that came directly from another a system that taught her that Spanish father + Spanish mother Criollo language into Spanish without some regional variants of Span- Spanish father + Indian mother Mestizo any modiﬁ cation whatsoever. For ish were better — more pure example, ñaña (sister), arrarray — than others. Mestizo father + Spanish mother Castizo (expression to denote cold), hua- As an interpreter working Castizo father + Spanish mother Español sipichay (housewarming party) in the United States with indi- and many other similar words are viduals from every corner of Spanish father + African mother Mulato used as part of everyday speech the Spanish-speaking world, I Mulato father + Spanish mother Morisco by Spanish-speaking Ecuador- learned to “purge” my Span- ians. Other terms, such as ama- Morisco father + Spanish mother Chino ish of phrases such as dame rcar (to hold, from the Quechua pasando la sal (“please pass Chino father + Indian mother Salta atrás verb marcani), have taken on the salt”) when speaking with Salta atrás father + Mulata mother Lobo characteristics of Spanish as they people whose Spanish was not entered the language from Que- Ecuadorian. It was either that Lobo father + China mother Jíbaro chua. Such terms are unlikely to or try to convince them that Jíbaro father + Mulata mother Albarazado be found in the dictionary of the this particular morphological Royal Academy of the Spanish peculiarity is not incorrect, but Albarazado father + African mother Cambujo Language, and few people, even rather is a special verbal phrase Cambujo father + Indian mother Zambaigo within Ecuador, would consider in which dar is used to indicate these terms to be “true Spanish.” Zambaigo father + Loba mother Calpamulo politeness in conjunction with Why so? certain prosodic features and Calpamulo father + Cambuja mother Tente en el aire Much like many Americans results from prolonged contact Tente en el aire + Mulata mother No te entiendo assume the “Queen’s English” to be between the Spanish and Que- in some way superior to American chua languages in the Ecua- No te entiendo father + Indian mother Torna atrás English, many Spanish speakers dorian highlands. On the rare defer to the motherland as the Table 1: Racial hierarchy in Colonial New Spain. occasions in which I tried to source of the be-all, end-all, pur- Source: Michael D. Olien, “Las Castas: Mestizaje del México colonial o Nueva España,” offer a linguistic explanation, Latin Americans: Contemporary Peoples and Their Cultural Traditions, 1973. est form of Spanish. Within Latin it was usually met with either a America, some grant “pure” status yawn or a knowing look and a comment, Linguistic purism: why it exists to Colombian Spanish (in spite of hun- “Ah, that comes from an indigenous lan- Like regional varieties of Spanish in dreds, if not thousands, of terms from guage. It’s not really Spanish then.” many countries where native populations African and indigenous origin) and Where does this notion of “pure” vs. lived prior to colonization, Ecuadorian Argentine Spanish (notwithstanding the “impure” come from, and why is it so prevalent in the language industry, particularly in the case of Spanish? Peruvian sociologist Nelson Manrique points to a survey of young people in Peru showing that 45% of respondents believe that mixed-race Peruvians (indigenous and Caucasian) were more affected by racism than any other group, including native indigenous groups and Afroperuanos. The stigma associated with being of “mixed” ethnic origin dates back to a caste system that was used in Latin America during colonial times (Table 1). The notion carries over into culture to this day and into views of language. Of course, even though Spaniards and Criollos often thought of themselves as white and “pure-blooded,” this is highly unlikely, given that medieval Spain saw a tremendous amount of racial mixing between the Spanish people and Arab Muslims. In spite of this, words such as almohada (pillow) and arroba (the @ symbol) come from Arabic, but are seen as “pure Spanish” by most speakers today.

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46-49 Kelly #104.indd 47 5/20/09 10:11:44 AM Region Focus

many regionalisms used here result from languages who have fought to keep Eng- contact with Italian and Portuguese). In lish from “contaminating” their beloved many cases, a large Spanish-speaking tongues, but in the case of Spanish, which population with mixed-race, indigenous On the rare occasions in is widely spoken throughout the United or African origins has the opposite effect. which I tried to offer a States, the language contact is impossible Such places likely host a type of Spanish to ignore. that is viewed as undesirable by the rest linguistic explanation, it When training interpreters, I often of the Spanish-speaking world. However, had to remind them not to judge others’ when a person or group tries to classify was usually met with either Spanish, but to try to “localize” their its language variety as more pure or a yawn or a knowing look delivery to the best degree possible. Many “better” than other varieties, this is interpreters refused to do this, objecting, known as linguistic purism. Most often, and a comment, “Ah, that “Why should I use the word aseguranza? linguistic purists compare an idealized That’s an anglicism. It’s ugly, and I refuse notion of what a language may have comes from an indigenous to say that word. I will use the perfectly sounded like in the past with a version of language. It’s not really good word we already have in Spanish the language at present. Typically, the instead: seguro.” Of course, they were current form of the language is viewed Spanish then.” free to use the word seguro, as long as as less pure because of contact with other they were willing to accept the ambiguity languages and groups. This contact is and run the risk of it being misunder- often viewed as undesirable, either stood by a large number of speakers for because the other group is seen as domi- to the lowest castes possible because of social security instead of insurance, since nant or because the other group is viewed the Spaniards’ belief that these individuals the word seguro can have both mean- as inferior in some way. were ethnically inferior. However, purists ings, while the word aseguranza more Obviously, in the case of indigenous working in the Spanish language also commonly means the latter for many languages and Spanish, the colonial system have a problem with the use of anglicisms. US-based speakers. was designed to relegate the native groups This is nothing new for speakers of many Ways to circumvent linguistic purism There are a number of ways to coun- teract the negative consequences of dis- crimination against certain varieties of a Succeed Globally. language. The ﬁ rst step is to acknowl- edge that no one speaks a “pure” version Partner with the full-service experts of a language. Much like an automotive manufacturer produces different models in Localization and Translation. of vehicles, no two versions of a language are exactly the same, and there is also a great deal of variation within cars of the same model. Watching your coworker leave for his or her daily com- mute in a Model T Ford is as unlikely as seeing your teenage son or daughter Twitter in Ancient Greek. Beyond the colors, options and features that make these vehicles unique, once they are put to use, the differences continue to grow. How an owner cares for and operates the automobile can make a huge difference between one car Engineering Excellence and another, even if they look exactly the same. Language — a vehicle for com- The Right Choice municating ideas — is no different. And Made Once just as automotive manufacturers must evolve to meet consumer demands, language develops to meet the environment of its speakers. If a language doesn’t grow to accommodate changes in com- 30 Years of Localization and Translation Expertise munication needs, it becomes as useless www.PTIGlobal.com |+1 503-297-2165 to its owners as a gas-guzzling SUV in a time of rising fuel prices.

48 | MultiLingual June 2009 [email protected]

46-49 Kelly #104.indd 48 5/20/09 10:11:47 AM Services Showcase

Another way to prevent against pur- ist attitudes in the language workplace is to track which variety of a language individual linguists speak, to ensure that this information is transparent. It is mind-boggling that many language ser- Globalization Competence vice providers (LSPs) still do not log this for the Worldwide IT Industry information or even ask their freelancers Medical Translations Professional globalization requires experi- which variety of a language they speak. MediLingua is one of Europe’s few ence. Over the past two decades, we have Instead, they often divvy out projects companies specializing in medical translation. for “Spanish” without even asking the developed into a top international company We provide all European languages (36 today customer where the destination audience specializing in the precise tuning of your and counting) and Japanese as well as the is located, let alone asking the linguists documentation and texts to the standards and usual translation-related services. Our 250-plus what variety they speak. I can attest mentalities of the German-speaking world. translators have a combined medical and to this fact, having been asked to edit Our strength lies in our work for well-known language background. projects for Basque, a language I do not software and hardware manufacturers. speak, based on the fact that I happen We work for manufacturers of medical Furthermore, we also offer traditional transla- to speak a language that is also spoken devices, instruments, in-vitro diagnostics and tion services for the business, technology, legal in Spain. software; pharmaceutical companies; medical and medical sectors. Our team of competent Of course, many freelancers do not publishers; national and international medical employees provides the very best quality want to disclose which regional variety of organizations; and medical journals. within the respectively agreed time frame, a language is their native dialect. Many even if matters are a little more urgent. prefer to remain in the ambiguous category Call or e-mail Simon Andriesen or visit our of “Latin American Spanish” or, worse yet, website for more information. “Universal Spanish” (as if Spanish is spo- Rheinschrift Übersetzungen ken beyond Planet Earth), thinking that MediLingua BV this will put their names at the top of the Leiden, The Netherlands Best & Steigerwald GbR queue for any Spanish project. They’d be [email protected] Cologne, Germany right to think so, since many translation www.medilingua.com [email protected] • www.rheinschrift.de companies still do not actually take these differences into account when scheduling jobs, even if the client speciﬁ es that a given type of Spanish is desired and even when the LSP advertises the ability to support “all dialects of Spanish.” More often, translation companies just trust the linguist who says, “Sure, I can handle Peruvian Spanish. It has a lot in common with the way we Your Polish speak in Bolivia.” Likewise, many recruit- Localization Is ment sources such as online freelancer Production Center More Than Translation . . . portals and professional associations do Since 2000, Ryszard Jarza Translations has not offer users or linguists the option to Global challenges require flexible and been providing specialized Polish translation, professional service providers. Take advantage designate a given regional variant. localization and DTP services, primarily for life As buyers demand localized content of our experience and know-how and make your and become more mature in their knowl- sciences, IT, automotive, refrigeration and other product a worldwide success! SAM Engineering edge of translation in general, a greater technology sectors. was established in 1994 and provides localization number of translation agencies will real- We work with multilanguage vendors and services to IT organizations as well as translation ize the output is directly affected by the directly with documentation departments of and engineering services to vertical industries views of those involved in production. large multinational customers. We have built a through its network of translation partners, When those perspectives involve pur- brilliant in-house team made up of experienced specializing in the translation of Business ism, it is ultimately the buyer who risks linguists and engineers, who guarantee a Applications and Technical Documentation. inaccurate renditions due to people who simply do not know any better, or choose high standard of quality while maintaining SAM Engineering GmbH is located in Muehltal, to believe that their Spanish is superior flexibility, responsiveness and accountability. near Frankfurt, Germany. For more information, to that of the end client. Keeping an see www.sam-engineering.de open mind about language is the most sure-ﬁ re way to guard against purism Ryszard Jarza Translations SAM Engineering GmbH where translation is concerned. That Wroclaw, Poland Muehltal, Germany failing, consider the best interests of the [email protected] [email protected] customer. M www.jarza.com.pl www.sam-engineering.de

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46-49 Kelly #104.indd 49 5/20/09 10:11:49 AM Evolving global product content practices Business Leonor Ciarlone

The central premise of the global content value bad experience, up from 80% in 2007 and 68% in 2006. Across all functions and departments, managers are facing unprecedented chain (GCVC) is that value can be added to con- tension between the need to innovate business practices while tent as it moves along. GCVC investments should acting with fi scal responsibility. Companies are prioritizing what- be considered in light of what The Gilbane Group ever spending they are doing by looking at the “must-have” T investments to remain competitive. calls megatrends — trends in the broader business Global 2000 companies can no longer create long-term, environment that have direct impact on strate- sustainable competitive advantage on the basis of products and gies and tactics of Global 2000 companies. Based services alone and need to consider evolving competitive advan- on Multilingual Product Content: Transforming tage. The pace of technology innovation is rapid, which means that product life cycles are getting shorter and shorter. It is very Traditional Practices into Global Content Value diffi cult, if not outright impossible, to compete for any reasonable Chains, a report coming out this June, three mega- period of time on the basis of Version ABC of Product XYZ. The trends will likely shape content globalization basis for competitive advantage in the twenty-fi rst century has practices over the next two years. shifted to customer experience, brand and process know-how. These three megatrends are having a number of urgent and The fi rst megatrend is the shifting world economy. There’s no profound effects on the shape of content globalization practices. doubting the worldwide impact of current economic uncertainty. There is, for example, a stronger emphasis on continuous improve- However, some economies continue to expand, while others ments to content utility, the usefulness of end-user task support. — notably North American and Eastern European — contract. This This often shifts the focus of enterprise investments from inward- is causing Global 2000 companies to move into more or different facing operational effi ciencies to outward-facing, demand-based geographic territories and to shift investments into regions where customer experiences. they already have promising presence. The business emphasis is The survey also reveals a growing recognition that global on fi nding, attracting and serving the most profi table customers. content is tied to measurable business success through stronger Managing tension between innovation and fi scal responsibility and targeted customer satisfaction measurement and points to will also become increasingly important. Forward progress can’t a continuing evolution in the defi nition of monolingual and simply come to a halt without extreme risk. Customer expecta- multilingual product content itself, creating more dynamic infor- tions are recession-proof; customers are not willing to accept less mation linked to specifi c corporate goals and broader business because corporate budgets have been slashed. A 2008 poll by Har- trends. Last of all, we’re seeing departmental silos and traditional ris Interactive and RightNow Technologies indicates that 87% of processes transition to contemporary infrastructures and cross- surveyed consumers have ceased a customer relationship after a functional commitments that enable fl exible, agile delivery of global content. Within the world’s most forward-thinking companies, content globalization strategies are consciously aligned with business strategies. That does not imply, however, that the road Leonor Ciarlone, senior analyst at The Gilbane to alignment is either straightforward or effortless. It depends Group, focuses on the intersection of content greatly on corporate culture, organizational hierarchy and so and localization/translation management on. Reaching a corporate-wide, cross-functional acceptance of technologies and processes. global content as managed asset, customer-experience driven

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50-52 Ciarlone #104 2.indd 50 5/19/09 3:39:04 PM Tools Showcase

Trusted Windows Software Translation Tool AlignFactory

Translate your Win32, Microsoft .NET, Java Complement your existing TM and and XML software files into different languages full-text search software with this powerful quickly and easily with RC-WinTrans, used by alignment tool. Heartsome successful businesses worldwide since 1993. Complete localization environment supports Start aligning with speed and accuracy Translation Studio and increase the performance of your WYSIWYG display and layout editing for existing tools. • all new translation environment Win32/.NET files; dictionaries; automatic translation and related operations; quality • all open standards inclusive: TMX, TBX, assurance checks; source file changes indication • AlignFactory GMX, SRX, XLIFF and preview; secure project database update; • AlignFactoryLight • all new Mac- and Vista-style graphical user external translation accessories plus many other • AlignRobot interface features and functions to make your software international and expand your market. Schaudin.com Terminotix Inc. Heartsome Holdings Pte Ltd Gross-Zimmern, Germany Ottawa, Ontario Canada Singapore Seattle, Washington, USA [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] • www.schaudin.com www.terminotix.com www.heartsome.net

and global brand differentiator can take years for some and It’s time to put away the notion that operational functions such literally decades for others. as technical documentation and training are addendum processes and localization/translation falls somewhere “over there behind Still plagued by the after-thought syndrome? the curtain” — and absolutely time to “de-silo” these processes Part of Gilbane’s content globalization research agenda in 2009 from their natural counterpart, the level of content utility expected focuses on global product content, defi ned historically as informa- by consumers. tion about product use for manufactured products. Its outputs can The conversation’s gone on far too long; consider a rewind include technical documentation, online help, training materials, to 1996, when IEEE published The Effect of Documentation on customer support information, and a variety of pre- and post-sales Customer Perception of Product Quality. A snapshot of the results? materials such as datasheets. Within industries such as fi nance ser- The level of satisfaction with documentation plays a critical role vices, education and health care, global product content supports in customer satisfaction with primary product quality. So, 13 consumer services in addition to manufactured products. years later, how far have organizations come in overcoming the Traditionally, product content has a longer shelf life than other after-thought syndrome when it comes to global product content kinds of content, with close ties to software engineering principles practices? The proverbial answer is certainly “it depends.” How- and governance through style guides and glossaries. It also tends ever, our 2009 research shows signifi cant progress in areas such to be more rigorous in structure. Unfortunately, the “after-thought as structured content investments, promoting quality at the source syndrome” has plagued product content creation, localization/ through controlled language and translation-guided authoring, translation, and management processes despite decades of orga- and efforts to bolster cross-departmental collaboration. nizational experience. Global expectations for multilingual product communications Established and emerging champions accentuate the risks of the after-thought syndrome. Many large In 2007, we began talking about operational champions, multinational companies are already straining to produce product describing the role as one that often serves as the “glue” content in 25 to more than 40 languages. Small to mid-size com- between two or more departmental areas, working to achieve panies feel a comparable tension at 5 to 15 or more. Regardless executive and cross-functional visibility for global content of company size, methods for simultaneous shipment, regulatory through a bottom-up process. compliance and customer support quickly encounter scalability Operational champions have a clear perspective on how issues. It is simply inevitable that operations still dependent on content globalization activities support corporate goals and a siloed people, processes and technologies will not keep pace with distinct vision of the business drivers and expected return on the demand for relevant product content in multiple languages. investment for organizational investments. However, our 2008

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research revealed that creating an effective business case for those be infl uencing corporate language-tier models at a higher level. investments was diffi cult without a relationship with an executive Depending on geographical location, these SMEs also have great champion. Although that remains true in 2009, our global product infl uence on region-specifi c process and LSP choice, but are keen content research shows that building that relationship — and the to balance budget and resources with centralized localization and resulting business case — can be a far more concise process than translation departments. it used to be. Perhaps the most interesting result of our 2009 research is the The tipping point? When both parties communicate based on emergence of the cross-functional champion in the global enter- the evolving basis of competitive advantage: the shift from prod- prise. Born out of market disruptions and the undeniable relation- ucts and solutions to customer experience, brand and process ship between global product content and customer satisfaction, the know-how. Executive champions must understand and respond role takes the coordination of consistency, message and timeliness to the impact of shifting world economies. Operational champi- to new levels. Our 2008 research revealed deep organizational ons literally have the process know-how in their back pocket. challenges in achieving a balance of centralized and regional The domain expertise of our global product content survey operations focused on multilingual communications. 2009 reveals population includes subject matter experts (SMEs) from technical an emerging role that focuses on centralizing the vision and documentation (48%), customer support (30%), centralized local- maturing the balance. Cross-functional champions are facilitat- ization and translation (13%), and training (9%). Various titles ing people, process and technology approaches within the GCVC. such as User Assistance Expert, Customer Advocacy Manager, They usually gain the role from accomplishments as an operational Director of Information Manage- champion, whether recruited or sim- ment, and Vice President of Local- ply through natural evolution. They ization suggest an evolution from understand how to navigate critical traditional roles such as simply processes that are complementary (or “technical writer” or “trainer,” albeit redundant) across traditional product within conventional departments. content departments in addition to Every respondent subscribed to the foundational departments such as age-old mantra of a holistic focus fi nance, sales, and IT. They are in on people, process and technology, tune with global industry develop- each dependent on the others. ments, both economic and techno- Some roles are clearly cross- logical. They understand the impact ing domains through expanded that an in-country product manager responsibilities that affect numer- Figure 1: Research respondents plotted can have on the success or failure of ous departments. Examples would themselves on the GCVC Maturity Model. a product. Given that 2008 and 2009 include those who take on technical research shows that overall, a lack of responsibility for XML schema or DITA management from the interdepartmental collaboration is a signifi cant GCVC bottleneck, business perspective, those who centralize terminology manage- this talent will come in handy indeed. ment, those who take user assistance to an entirely new level, and those who see content and localization/translation management Toward an aligned GCVC as an integration requirement. Enterprise business strategies aren’t created in a vacuum. They The critical fi rst layer of a strategic focus on global content and are developed by directors and executives in response to market the value of its utility occurs when the roles of operational and conditions. Enterprise success is a function of how well corpo- executive champion converge and the SMEs within them truly rate management capitalizes on emerging revenue opportunities, collaborate. Why is this event only the fi rst layer? The emergence offers products and services that meet the needs of buyers, adjusts of two other champion roles comprises the next layer. Consider operationally to resource availability (or lack thereof) and posi- their perspective, understanding that collaboration among all four tions the company within its competitive landscape. roles is fundamental to overcoming the after-thought syndrome. In the January/February 2009 issue of MultiLingual, I also dis- Traditional roles such as in-country product and marketing cussed the GCVC Maturity Model (GCVC MM), which has proven managers are critical to the acceptance and success of geographi- to be a mechanism for organizations to evaluate their current situ- cal products. Although undoubtedly the SME at a local level, ation, decide where they need to go to align with top-line business 2008 research revealed that regional champions were either not objectives, understand which factors are most critical to moving directly tied to centralized decision-making on global brand and to that new state, and help champions drive conversations with content management (including language support and translation stakeholders. Our 2009 research asked respondents to plot them- depth) or they were left “to their own devices” in terms of sup- selves on this model. Their opinions are graphed in Figure 1. port, budgeting and technology investments. Regional champions Not surprisingly, two of the most pressing obstacles to advanc- understand that increasing localized/translated content volume ing along the GCVC MM are a lack of collaboration between as the sole means of global expansion strategy simply doesn’t departments and a lack of an overarching business process to do work. Embedded in and usually native to a particular region so. Despite impacts from shifting economic landscapes, however, and culture, they often crave more content relevancy than more 87.5% of respondents remain determined to keep the “global” volume. Historically, however, they too have been subsumed by in product content by moving a foundation of “collaborative,” the after-thought syndrome, characterized by little collaboration defi ned by streamlined content globalization processes based on with source content creators and minimal corporate collaboration. performance metrics and shared language assets between central- In 2009, however, the opinions of regional champions appear to ized and regional teams. M

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50-52 Ciarlone #104 2.indd 52 5/19/09 3:39:05 PM Basics Basic terminology

This section offers terminology, abbreviations, acronyms and other resources, especially as related to the content of this issue. For more definitions, see the Glossary section of MultiLingual’s annual Resource Directory and Index (www.multilingual.com/resourceDirectory).

BRIC. An acronym that refers to the fast growing and Geert Hofstede. An influential Dutch writer on the inter- developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. actions between national cultures and organizational cul- Central America. The central geographic region of the tures, and the author of several books including Culture’s Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the Consequences: Comparing Values, Behaviors, Institutions, and North American continent, which connects with South Organizations Across Nations and Cultures and Organizations: America on the southeast. Central America has tradition- Software of the Mind, co-authored with his son Gert Jan ally consisted of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Hofstede. Hofstede’s study demonstrates that national and Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. regional cultural groupings affect the behavior of societies computer-aided translation (CAT). Computer techno- and organizations and that they are persistent across time. logy applications that assist in the act of translating text globalization (g11n). In this context, the term refers to from one language to another. the process that addresses business issues associated with content management system (CMS). A system used launching a product globally, such as integrating localization to store and subsequently find and retrieve large amounts throughout a company after proper internationalization and of data. CMSs were not originally designed to synchronize product design. translation and localization of content, so most of them have globalization management system (GMS). A system been partnered with globalization management systems. that focuses on managing the translation and localization crowdsourcing. The act of taking a task traditionally cycles and synchronizing those with source content man- performed by an employee or contractor and outsourc- agement. Provides the capability of centralizing linguis- ing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in tic assets in the form of translation databases, leveraging the form of an open call. For example, the public may be glossaries and branding standards across global content. invited to develop new technology, carry out a design task, gross domestic product (GDP). One of the measures of refine an algorithm, or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data. national income and output for a given country’s economy. The most common approach to measuring and quantifying DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture). An XML- GDP is the expenditure method: GDP = consumption + gross based architecture for authoring, producing and delivering investment + government spending + (exports – imports). technical information. This architecture consists of a set of design principles for creating “information-typed” modules internationalization (i18n). Especially in a computing con- at a topic level and for using that content in delivery modes text, the process of generalizing a product so that it can han- such as online help and product support portals on the web. dle multiple languages and cultural conventions (currency, freelance translator. Also known as a freelancer, an inde- number separators, dates) without the need for redesign. pendent translator who sells his or her services to a client on Latin America. The region of the Americas where Romance a job-to-job basis or without a long-term commitment to languages — those derived from Latin, namely Spanish and any one employer. Portuguese — are officially or primarily spoken.

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localization (l10n). In this context, the process of adapting provides the translator a means of automatically searching a a product or software to a specific international language or given terminology database for terms appearing in a docu- culture so that it seems natural to that particular region. True ment, either by automatically displaying terms in the trans- localization considers language, culture, customs and the char- lation memory software interface window or through the use acteristics of the target locale. It frequently involves changes of hotkeys to view the entry in the terminology database. to the software’s writing system and may change keyboard translation. The process of converting all of the text use and fonts as well as date, time and monetary formats. or words from a source language to a target language. An machine translation (MT). A technology that trans- understanding of the context or meaning of the source lates text from one human language to another, using language must be established in order to convey the same terminology glossaries and advanced grammatical, syntac- message in the target language. tic and semantic analysis techniques. translation memory (TM). A special database that stores open-source software. Any computer software distrib- previously translated sentences which can then be reused on uted under a license that allows users to change and/or a sentence-by-sentence basis. The database matches source share the software freely. End users have the right to mod- to target language pairs. ify and redistribute the software, as well as the right to translation unit (TU). A segment of text that the translator package and sell the software. treats as a single cognitive unit for the purposes of establish- project manager. A professional in the field of project ing an equivalence. The translation unit may be a single word, management. He or she has the responsibility of the planning, a phrase, one or more sentences, or even a larger unit. execution and closing of any project. Key project management Unicode. The Unicode Worldwide Character Standard responsibilities include creating clear and attainable project (Unicode) is a character encoding standard used to repre- objectives, building the project requirements, and managing sent text for computer processing. Originally designed to the triple constraint for projects — cost, time and scope. support 65,000, it now has encoding forms to support more quality assurance (QA). The activity of providing evi- than one million characters. dence needed to establish confidence among all concerned that quality-related activities are being performed effectively. All those planned or systematic actions necessary to Resources provide adequate confidence that a product or service will ORGANIZATIONS satisfy given requirements for quality. QA covers all activities from design, development, production and installation American Translators Association (ATA): www.atanet.org; and its Language Technology Division: www.ata-divisions.org/LTD to servicing and documentation. Project Management Institute: www.pmi.org source language (SL). A language that is to be translated Translation Automation User Society (TAUS): into another language. www.translationautomation.com South America. A continent of the Americas, situated PUBLICATIONS entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the South- ern Hemisphere. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ethnologue: Languages of the World (15th edition), Raymond G. Ocean and on the north and east by the Atlantic Ocean; Gordon, Jr.: www.ethnologue.com/print.asp North America and the Caribbean Sea lie to the northwest. The Guide to Translation and Localization, published by Lingo Systems: www.lingosys.com statistical machine translation (SMT). A machine translation paradigm where translations are generated on the basis of Index of Chinese Characters With Attributes, George E. Bell, 2006: www.multilingual.com/eBooks statistical models whose parameters are derived from the analysis of bilingual text corpora. SMT is the translation of text from Globalization Handbook for the Microsoft .NET Platform, Parts I - IV, one human language to another by a computer that learned Bill Hall, 2002-2006: www.multilingual.com/eBooks how to translate from vast amounts of translated text. Translation: Getting It Right, published by the ATA: www.atanet.org/docs/getting_it_right.pdf target language (TL). The language that a source text is being translated into. Translation: Standards for Buying a Non-Commodity, published by the ATA: www.atanet.org/docs/translation_buying_guide.pdf terminology management. Primarily concerned with manipulating terminological resources for specific purposes REFERENCES — for example, establishing repositories of terminological CIA World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ resources for publishing dictionaries, maintaining terminol- the-world-factbook ogy databases, ad-hoc problem solving in finding multilin- Omniglot — Writing Systems & Languages of the World: gual equivalences in translation work or creating new terms www.omniglot.com in technical writing. Terminology management software Unicode, Inc.: http://unicode.org

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53-54 Basics #104.indd 54 5/19/09 3:39:41 PM ASSOCIATIONS 55 Buyer’s Guide AUTOMATED TRANSLATION 55 CONFERENCES 55 NoBabel Suite maintains a familiar work environment. With ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS 55 ASSOCIATIONS NoBabel you lower costs and increase productivity. KCSL Inc. 150 Ferrand Drive, Suite 904, Toronto, Ontario, M3C 3E5 INTERNATIONALIZATION TOOLS 56 Canada, 416 -222-6112, Fax: 416-222-6819, E-mail: customer_info @kcsl.ca, Web: www.kcsl.ca See ad on page 9 LOCALIZATION SERVICES 56 LOCALIZATION TOOLS 58 PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS 58 Globalization and Localization Association PEECH ECHNOLOGIES Description The Globalization and Localization Association S T 58 (GALA) is a fully representative, nonprofit, international TAUS Data Association TM BROKERS 58 industry association for the translation, internationalization, Description TAUS Data Association (TDA) is a not-for-profit localization and globalization industry. The association gives member organization bringing together the translation memo- TRANSLATION SERVICES 59 members a common forum to discuss issues, create innova- ries (TMs) and terminology of the global translation industry. TRANSLATION TOOLS 60 tive solutions, promote the industry and offer clients unique, The resulting Language Data Exchange Portal is a high quality, collaborative value. open and secure language database for the benefit of all. We WORKFLOW SOLUTIONS 61 Globalization and Localization Association 23 Main Street, work on the basis of reciprocity — you store language data in Andover, MA 01810, 206-329-2596, Fax: 815-346-2361, E-mail: the platform and in return get access to the TMs and glossa- [email protected], Web: www.gala-global.org ries of the wider industry. The data is organized by industry powerful tools to support the project and workflow manage- domain, company, product line and language pairs, enabling ment of translations. Product manager, translator and proof- you to conveniently search and retrieve what you require. reader all work together within one system, either in-house TAUS Data Association Oosteinde 9-11, 1483 AB De Rijp, The or smoothly integrated with translation service providers. Netherlands, 31-299-672028, Fax: 31-299-672028, E-mail: Across provides several partner concepts and the Software [email protected], Web: www.tausdata.org See Development Kit for system integrators and technology part- ad on page 19 ners to allow the translation desktop to be integrated directly, Translation Automation User Society in order to include both preliminary and subsequent process Description TAUS is a networking community of users, devel- ONFERENCES steps. This results in more flexible and transparent processes opers and practitioners of translation services and technolo- C that benefit all sides. gies. TAUS organizes industry meetings, publishes reports, and Across Systems GmbH Im Stoeckmaedle 18, D-76307 Karlsbad, provides research and consulting in the area of translation Germany, 49-7248-925-425, Fax: 49-7248-925-444, E-mail: info automation and strategies. The organization is directed by @across.net, Web: www.across.net See ads on pages 6, 64 Jaap van der Meer. Translation Automation User Society Oosteinde 9-11, 1483 AB De Rijp, The Netherlands, 31-299-672028, Fax: 31-299-672028, E-mail: jaap The 33rd Internationalization & @translationautomation.com, Web: www.translationautomation.com Unicode Conference Description The Internationalization & Unicode Conference (IUC) is the premier technical conference focusing on mul- AUTOMATED TRANSLATION tilingual global software and web internationalization. Each IUC features a variety of tutorials and sessions that cover cur- Lingotek Collaborative Translation Platform Multiple Platforms rent topics related to web and software internationalization, Languages Supports all language pairs Description Lingotek globalization and Unicode. Internationalization and Unicode is a software company in Salt Lake City, Utah. We have devel- experts, implementers, clients and vendors are invited to oped the world’s first Collaborative Translation Platform. attend this unique conference. The interactive format makes The software platform incorporates translation memory the IUC a great place to meet and exchange ideas with leading storage and retrieval, terminology management, machine Human Language Technologies experts during birds-of-a-feather gatherings, find out about translation, project management and workflow engine, all Multiple Platforms the needs of potential clients, or get information about new sitting on top of a massive data warehouse of centralized Languages Arabic, Bahasa, Dari, Dutch, Egyptian dialect, and existing Unicode-enabled products in the exhibit hall. language data. We deliver our software to our customers in English, Farsi/Persian, French, German, Hebrew, Iraqi dia- The Unicode Consortium P.O. Box 391476, Mountain View, CA lect, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, 94039-1476, 781-444-0404, Fax: 781-444-0320, E-mail: kenberk@ a traditional enterprise software install and software-as-a- Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Traditional omg.org, Web: www.unicodeconference.org/ml See ad on page 45 service (SaaS) model via the web. In many ways, we’re enter- Chinese, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu Description AppTek is prise software with a social twist. We’re focused on deliver- a developer of human language technology products with ing commercial grade productivity software to companies to a complete suite for text and speech (voice) processing and engage their social and customer networks. recognition. AppTek’s product offerings include hybrid (rule- Lingotek 15 Scenic Pointe Drive, Suite 325, Draper, UT 84020, 877-852-4231, 801-727-1580, Fax: 801-727-1581, E-mail: sales@ based + statistical) machine translation (MT) and automatic lingotek.com, Web: www.lingotek.com See ad on page 16 speech recognition (ASR) for a growing list of more than 23 Localization World languages; multilingual information retrieval with query and Description Localization World conferences are dedicated topic search capabilities; name-finding applications; and in- to the language and localization industries. Our constituents tegrated suites providing ASR and MT in media monitoring are the people responsible for communicating across the of broadcast and telephony speech, as well as handheld and boundaries of language and culture in the global marketplace. wearable speech-to-speech translation devices. International product and marketing managers participate in TextBase meets Translation Memory AppTek 6867 Elm Street, Suite 300, McLean, VA 22101, 703-394-2317, Localization World from all sectors and all geographies to Fax: 703-821-5001, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.apptek.com Multiple Platforms meet language service and technology providers and to net- Languages All Unicode languages Description MultiTrans work with their peers. Hands-on practitioners come to share is an innovative tool that combines MultiCorpora’s unique their knowledge and experience and to learn from others. See TextBase TM technology with its best-in-class Terminology our website for details on upcoming and past conferences. Management System. MultiTrans customers use their full- Localization World Ltd. 319 North 1st Avenue, Sandpoint, ID 83864, text repositories of previously translated documents to pro- 208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310, E-mail: info@localizationworld .com, Web: www.localizationworld.com See ad on page 2 duce more accurate translations by eliminating ambiguity of terms through a context-based workflow that, unlike tradi- KCSL Inc. tional sentence-based TM tools that recycle whole sentences, Languages All Description KCSL has developed many suc- ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS matches text strings of any length. MultiCorpora leverages cessful commercial products including international spell and the expertise of its impressive client base to the benefit of its grammar checkers, electronic references, and multilingual worldwide user community. The majority of departments search engines. Licensing to hundreds of entities, including within the Government of Canada, international organi- Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, and the Canadian government, zations such as UNESCO, and enterprises such as Ford of has created a worldwide user base of over 200 million peo- Canada, Sobeys, Kraft, HSBC, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and ple. Integrating natural language processing, multilingual other Fortune 500 companies trust MultiCorpora for their search, and statistical methods, NoBabel™ Translator is a Across Systems GmbH multilingual asset management solutions. major breakthrough in computer-aided translation. Without Windows MultiCorpora 102-490 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec, human interaction, NoBabel creates new translation memo- Languages All Description Across Systems GmbH is a spin- J8Y 3Y7 Canada, 819-778-7070, 877-725-7070, Fax: 819-778- ries (TMs) as well as cleans, grades and increases leveraging off of Nero AG with its world’s leading CD/DVD applica- 0801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.multicorpora.com of existing TMs. Automatic and accurate, the easy-to-use tion. Across includes a TM and terminology system as well as See ad on page 63

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translation, DTP, engineering, QA and voice-over areas. ES has managed to increase its capacity, workload and number of customers every year, has a solid customer base, and is proud of its successful past assignments. ES has production offices in Turkey and Egypt for Turkish and Arabic languages and cur- STAR Group Alliance Localization China, Inc. (ALC) rently has 49 permanent staff. The most important asset of ES is Multiple Platforms Languages Major Asian and European languages Description its human resources. ES is a reliable, experienced, value-added Languages All Description STAR Group was founded in ALC offers document, website and software translation and regional supplier for direct clients and MLVs worldwide. Switzerland 25 years ago with the exclusive focus of facilitat- localization, desktop publishing, and interpreter services. We ES Localisation Services Ltd. Cenap Sahabettin¸ Sk. No: 29, Kosuyolu¸ ing cross-cultural technical communications in all languages. focus on English, German and other European languages to 34718 Istanbul, Turkey, 90-216-3268764, Fax: 90-216-3254859, The company has grown to be the largest privately held mul- and from Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian languages. E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.estr.com See ad on page 12 tilingual information technology and services company in the We use TRADOS, CATALYST, SDLX, Transit and other CAT world with 42 offices in 32 countries. Its advanced technol- tools, as well as DTP tools including CorelDraw, FrameMaker, ogy developments have propelled STAR to its current market FreeHand, Illustrator, InDesign, PageMaker, Photoshop and position. Core services include information management, QuarkXPress. Our customer-oriented approach is supported translation, localization, internationalization, globalization, by strong project management, a team of specialists, a large publishing and consulting. Core technologies include Tran- knowledge base and advanced methodologies. We always pro- sit (translation memory), TermStar/WebTerm (terminology vide service beyond our customers’ expectations at a low cost GrafiData, TMMIX management), GRIPS (corporate technical communication and with high quality, speed, dependability and flexibility. Description GrafiData brings decades of experience to local- platform), MindReader (corporate author assistance), STAR Alliance Localization China, Inc. Suite 318, Building B, Number 10 izing your documentation. We offer solutions for multilin- Xing Huo Road, Fengtai Science Park, Beijing 100070, P.R. China, 86- James (corporate process management), i-Know (corporate gual publishing by efficiently applying various translation learning platform) and SPIDER (electronic publication). 10-8368-2169, Fax: 86-10-8368-2884, E-mail: customer_care@ allocalization.com, Web: www.allocalization.com packages, translation memories, automatic formatting and STAR Group Wiesholz 35, 8262 Ramsen, Switzerland, 41-52- desktop publishing. GrafiData can also utilize IT solutions 742-9200, 216-691-7827, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.star-group.net See ad on page 11 that improve the process. Grafi Data Keulenstraat 16, 7418 ET Deventer, Overijssel, The Neth- erlands, 31-570-609797, Fax: 31-570-609850, E-mail: info@ INTERNATIONALIZATION TOOLS grafi data.nl, Web: www.grafi data.nl See ad on page 41 Beijing E-C Translation Ltd. Languages Asian Description Beijing E-C Translation Ltd., one of the largest localization and translation companies in China, focuses mainly on software and website localization; TextBase meets Translation Memory technical, financial, medical, patent and marketing transla- Multiple Platforms tions; and desktop publishing services. We use TRADOS, iDISC Information Technologies Languages All Unicode languages Description MultiTrans SDLX, CATALYST, TTT/PC, STAR Transit, Robohelp, Frame- Languages Spanish (all variants), Catalan, Basque, Galician is an innovative tool that combines MultiCorpora’s unique Maker, PageMaker, InDesign, QuarkXPress, MS Office and Description iDISC, established in 1987, is a privately-held TextBase TM technology with its best-in-class Terminology other graphic and DTP tools. Having more than 150 full-time translation company based in Barcelona that focuses on Management System. MultiTrans customers use their full- employees located in Beijing, Taipei, Singapore, Seoul, Shang- text repositories of previously translated documents to pro- hai, Hong Kong, Shenyang and Chengdu, we can handle duce more accurate translations by eliminating ambiguity of English/German into and from Simplified Chinese/Tradi- terms through a context-based workflow that, unlike traditional Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Thai. We guarantee that cli- tional sentence-based TM tools that recycle whole sentences, ents’ projects will be handled not only by native speakers, but matches text strings of any length. MultiCorpora leverages also by topic specialists. Clients can expect and will receive the expertise of its impressive client base to the benefit of its high-quality services, on-time delivery and low cost. worldwide user community. The majority of departments Beijing E-C Translation Ltd. 2nd Floor, Hua Teng Development within the Government of Canada, international organi- Building, No. 23, Xi Huan Bei Road, BDA, Beijing Economic- zations such as UNESCO, and enterprises such as Ford of Technological Development Zone, Beijing 100176, P.R. China, 86- Canada, Sobeys, Kraft, HSBC, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and 10-67868761, Fax: 86-10-67868765, E-mail: service@e-cchina other Fortune 500 companies trust MultiCorpora for their .com, Web: www.e-cchina.com multilingual asset management solutions. MultiCorpora 102-490 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec, J8Y 3Y7 Canada, 819-778-7070, 877-725-7070, Fax: 819-778- 0801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.multicorpora.com See ad on page 63 Binari Sonori LOCALIZATION SERVICES Description Binari Sonori is a leading provider of international media localization services since 1994, with a unique team of project managers, studios, engineers and selected linguists spread over 30 countries worldwide. Solid procedures and transparent relationships with clients guarantee high quality of text, audio and video, timeliness and flexibility. We are accustomed to working for global companies that ADAPT Localization Services need to reach a broad range of markets with their media and Languages More than 50 Description ADAPT Localization entertainment products. Specialized support for any media Services offers the full range of services that enables clients localization activity, from effective audio localization to inter- to be successful in international markets, from documenta- national content creation. Highly professionalized one-stop tion design through translation, linguistic and technical shop supporting today’s media localization projects. localization services, pre-press and publication management. Binari Sonori srl Viale Fulvio Testi, 11, 20092 Cinisello Balsamo, Milano, Serving both Fortune 500 and small companies, ADAPT Italy, 39-02-61866-310, Fax: 39-02-61866-313, E-mail: translate has gained a reputation for quality, reliability, technological @binarisonori.com, Web: www.binarisonori.com See ad on page 47 competence and a commitment to customer service. Fields of specialization include diagnostic and medical devices, IT/telecom and web content. With offices in Bonn, Germany, Stockholm, Sweden, and Barcelona, Spain, and a number of certified partner companies, ADAPT is well suited to help clients achieve their goals in any market. ADAPT Localization Services Clemens-August-Strasse 16-18, 53115 ES Localisation Services Ltd. Bonn, Germany, 49-228-98-22-60, Fax: 49-228-98-22-615, E-mail: Languages Turkish, Arabic, Greek and other regional languages [email protected], Web: www.adapt-localization.com Description Since 1994, ES has provided full-fledged localiza- See ad on page 34 tion services to industry leaders mainly in software localization,

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localization into all variants of Spanish (European, Latin latest tools on top-of-the-line equipment to produce a wide American, USA and Neutral) and the other languages range of projects in InDesign, FrameMaker, QuarkXPress, spoken in Spain (Catalan, Basque and Galician). Services Photoshop and Flash. We specialize in typesetting high-end range from translation and localization to engineering, marketing and communications-type material in difficult testing, DTP and consulting. Specialization fields are soft- and rare languages at very competitive rates. For a quote on ware localization, technical and telecom documentation, your next project, please visit us at www.linguagraphics.com. Moravia Worldwide ERP, automotive and related marketing material. We have You have our word that we will never compromise on qual- Languages All Description Moravia Worldwide is a leading all commercially available tools and experience using many ity and do the utmost to make your project a success. globalization solution provider, enabling companies in the different proprietary customer platforms and solutions; LinguaGraphics, Inc. 194 Park Place, Brooklyn, NY 11238, 718- information technology, e-learning, life sciences and finan- internal workflow portal-based tools to reduce manage- 623-3066, 718-789-2782, E-mail: [email protected], Web: cial industries to enter global markets with high-quality mul- ment costs and increase quality, consistency and on-time www.linguagraphics.com tilingual products. Moravia’s solutions include localization deliveries; and continuous support to the client PMs and and product testing services, internationalization, multilin- process optimization to achieve the best project results and gual publishing and technical translation. Hewlett-Packard, establish long-term honest partnerships. IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Symantec iDISC Information Technologies Passeig del progrés 96, 08640 are among some of the companies that depend on Moravia Olesa de Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain, 34-93-778-73-00, Fax: 34- Worldwide for accurate, on-time localization. Moravia 93-778-35-80, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.idisc.es Worldwide maintains global headquarters in the Czech Logrus International Corporation Republic and North American headquarters in California, Languages EE, EA, ME, WE, rare languages Description with local offices and production centers in Ireland, China, Logrus offers a full set of localization and translation ser- Japan and throughout Europe. To learn more, please visit vices for various industries, including top-notch software www.moraviaworldwide.com New markets for your engineering and testing and DTP for all languages, including products and solutions Moravia Worldwide bidirectional and double-byte ones. The company is proud USA 199 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, Janus Worldwide Inc. of its unique problem-solving skills and minimal support 805-557-1700, 800-276-1664, Fax: 805-557-1702, E-mail: info@ Languages Russian, ex-USSR and Eastern European lan- requirements. The company offers all European and Asian moraviaworldwide.com, Web: www.moraviaworldwide.com guages Description Janus provides translation, localization, languages as well as many rare languages through its offices Asia 86-25-8473-2772, E-mail: [email protected] DTP and linguistic consulting for Russian, Ukrainian and and established long-term partners. With its production site Europe 420-545-552-222, E-mail: [email protected] other European languages. Our deep expertise, flexibility, in Moscow, Russia, Logrus provides a winning combination Ireland 353-1-216-4102, E-mail: [email protected] of quality, experience and affordability. With over 14 years Japan 81-3-3354-3320, E-mail: [email protected] diversity and exceptional value of services are recognized by See ad on page 31 many industry-leading customers and partners worldwide. in business, the company has received multiple awards for Our uniqueness is a solid team of the best professionals in all excellence from its long-time customers, including IBM, relevant areas — localization engineers, language specialists, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle and others. QA officers, DTP and software engineers, and more. We do Logrus International Corporation Suite 305, 2600 Philmont Ave- it end-to-end — from servers to handhelds, from ERP to nue, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, 215-947-4773, Fax: 215-947-4773, automotive solutions and from interface specifications to E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.logrus.ru legal notices. Janus is ISO 9001:2000 certified. Company activities including translating, localizing, DTP and linguis- PTIGlobal tic consulting were subjected to audit. Languages All commercial languages for Europe, Asia and Janus Worldwide Inc. Derbenevskaya nab., 11B, Ofﬁ ce 113, Moscow the Americas Description PTIGlobal is committed to de- 115114, Russia, 7-495-913-66-53, Fax: 7-495-913-66-53, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.janus.ru See ad on page 13 veloping ongoing, long-term partnerships with its clients. Loquant Localization Services This means a dedication to personal service, responsive- Languages English, Brazilian Portuguese Description Loquant ness, high-quality output, and sensitivity to clients’ cost bases its operations on the experience of its founders and goals and timelines. Backed by over 30 years of experi- collaborators, professionals who closely follow the ongoing ence in technical translation, PTIGlobal provides turnkey evolution of technology and the latest processes in interna- localization services in 30 languages simultaneously for tionalization and localization of information. Adhering to software, web applications, embedded devices, wireless rigorous processes that were developed by the software local- applications and gaming technology. Projects employ our Lingo Systems, Translation & Localization ization industry during the last few decades, Loquant is able expertise in end-to-end project management; internation- Languages 170+ Description Lingo Systems, powered by to prepare the most diverse products for the primary world alization consultation; glossary development; native lan- Language Line Services, provides customer-focused sole-source markets. To do this, Loquant counts on the best project man- guage translation; multilingual web content management; solutions for global companies in 170+ languages. We special- agers, native translators, engineers and desktop publishers to translation memory maintenance; localization engineer- ize in the translation and localization of technical documen- guarantee a quality control recognized internationally by the ing; linguistic and functionality testing; desktop publish- tation, software, multimedia applications, training materials, main international standards organizations. ing, complete multilingual video and audio services, as e-learning solutions and online applications. Other globaliza- Loquant Localization Services Rua Luís Carlos Prestes, 410/114, well as onsite managed services. 22775-055, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 55-21-2104-9597, Fax: 55-21- tion services include quality assurance testing (hardware and PTIGlobal 4915 SW Grifﬁ th Drive, Suite 200, Beaverton, OR 97005, 2104-9597, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.loquant.com software), integration of content management solutions, inter- 503-297-2165, 888-357-3125, Fax: 503-297-0655, E-mail: info@ pretation (170+ languages), cultural training and assessment, ptiglobal.com, Web: www.ptiglobal.com See ad on page 48 and internationalization consulting. Lingo Systems has never caused a late release. No other firm makes this claim. For a free copy of our award-winning book, The Guide to Translation and Localization — Communicating with the Global Marketplace, visit www.lingosys.com or call 800-878-8523. Lingo Systems 15115 SW Sequoia Parkway, Suite 200, Portland, OR MO Group International 97224, 503-419-4856, 800-878-8523, Fax: 503-419-4873, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.lingosys.com See ad on page 15 Languages 40+ Description MO Group International, based SAM Engineering GmbH in Brussels, Belgium, is a firm dedicated to supporting inter- Languages All Description Global challenges require flex- national business needs. We understand the multilingual ible and experienced service providers. Take advantage of requirements of achieving international success and pro- our experience and know-how and make your product a vide you with the tools and services to achieve your unique worldwide success. Products and services can only be mar- business goals. In particular, we specialize in multilingual keted successfully if they have been localized to the local and search engine optimization (MSEO) and translation and cultural conditions of the target country. Our team of expe- localization of software, technical documentation, websites rienced project managers coordinates translators, software LinguaGraphics — Multilingual DTP; Web, and games. We hire leading people from around the world specialists and DTP experts, ensuring that the individual Flash and Software Localization; Engineering to manage our diverse range of solutions and provide first- localization processes are performed professionally for our Languages All, including Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Farsi, class customer service. MO Group International is the first clients. Using tried-and-tested project management methods Greek, Hindi, Hebrew, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Lao, multilingual SEO company to enter the localization industry and the latest TM technology, our team ensures that dead- Punjabi, Russian, Thai, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese and offer the combined benefits of SEO and localization to lines are met and budgets adhered to, while also providing Description LinguaGraphics is a leading provider in the our diverse client base. the highest standards of quality. area of multilingual desktop publishing and web/soft- MO Group International Gulledelle 94, 1200 Brussels, Belgium, 32- SAM Engineering GmbH Kirchstrasse 1, D-64367 Muehltal, Germany, ware/Flash localization engineering. Our seasoned DTP 2-771-19-12, Fax: 32-2-772-20-97, E-mail: [email protected], 49-6151-9121-0, Fax: 49-6151-9121-18, E-mail: sam@sam- professionals and localization engineers are working with the Web: www.mogi.eu.com engineering.de, Web: www.sam-engineering.de See ad on page 49

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and testing of enterprise, mobile and desktop applications. of your team, even those with little knowledge of software VistaTEC provides translation, technical consulting, engi- localization, and provides them with everything needed to neering and testing during the design, development and manage, exchange, translate and check software data. marketing cycles of software products. VistaTEC has head- Schaudin.com Software Localization Solutions quarters in Dublin, Ireland, and satellite offices in the United Europe Ritterseestrasse 29, 64846 Gross-Zimmern, Germany, 49- Tek Translation International States. Additional information on VistaTEC is available at 6071-951706, Fax: 49-6071-951707 Languages All Description Tek provides globalization solutions www.vistatec.ie USA 6900 California Avenue SW, #503, Seattle, WA 98136, 206- VistaTEC 935-5070, Fax: 206-935-5075, E-mail: [email protected], Web: that reduce the total cost of localization for life sciences, IT and www.schaudin.com See ad on page 51 manufacturing companies. Delivering services and solutions Europe VistaTEC House, 700 South Circular Road, Kilmainham, through our on-demand OneWorld Platform, Tek provides the Dublin 8, Ireland, 353-1-416-8000, Fax: 353-1-416-8099, E-mail: language management, business intelligence, open connectivity [email protected], Web: www.vistatec.ie USA East 2706 Loma Street, Silver Spring, MD 20902, 301-649-3012, PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOLS and worldwide collaboration necessary to drive globalization Fax: 301-649-3032, E-mail: [email protected] strategies. By leveraging maximum benefit from multilingual USA West 131 Shady Lane, Monterey, CA 93940, 831-655-1717, assets and localization technology investments, Tek’s OneWorld Fax: 831-372-5838, E-mail: [email protected] Solutions enable higher ROI when localizing products for sale See ad on page 44 to global markets. For more information, contact the office most convenient to you. Madrid, 34-91-414-1111, madrid@ tektrans.com; Los Angeles, 714-378-0989, losangeles@tektrans .com; Rio de Janeiro, 55-21-2263-5355, riodejaneiro@tektrans Projetex: Project Management Software .com; or Beijing, 86-139-1189-5740, [email protected]. for Translation Agencies Tek Translation International C/ Ochandiano 18, 28023 Madrid, Windows Spain, 34-91-414-1111, Fax: 34-91-414-4444, E-mail: sales@ tektrans.com, Web: www.tektrans.com Languages English, Bulgarian, Chinese (Simplified), Chinese WhP (Taiwan), Dutch, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Pol- Languages All European and major Middle Eastern and ish, Portuguese, Portuguese (Brazil), Romanian, Russian, Asian languages, including local variants Description WhP, Slovak, Spanish, Ukrainian Description Projetex 7.0 is a lead- a major supplier for the industry-leading corporations, ing project management and workflow solution employed by localizes software, documentation and web content. WhP 300-plus small and medium-sized translation agencies around has been benchmarked “Best Localization Vendor” by the world. Managing directors, project managers, accountants, Compaq. Clients specifically appreciate WhP’s dedication in-house translators, human resources managers and sales TOIN Corporation to high quality and strict respect of deadlines and, conse- managers dramatically increase their efficiency with Projetex. Languages Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, quently, entrust WhP with their most sensitive projects. Current deployments range from 2 to 100 workstations, with Korean, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese and European languages WhP also helps many fast-growing companies to get their tested capacities of up to 500. Use does not require additional Description TOIN is a solidly established Asian MLV with first localization projects smoothly off the ground. WhP’s components. It includes built-in AnyCount (word and char- more than 45 years’ experience. Our services encompass trans- flexible and open workflow technology adapts to any pro- acter count software) and CATCount (computer-assisted lation, localization engineering, DTP, MT post-editing, work- duction process. WhP’s high standards satisfy the most flow/process consulting and project management. TOIN offers translation tool for easy word count). Reasonable pricing, fast demanding globalization requirements. global reach and exceptional strength in Asia, with headquar- implementation and free technical support are included. WhP Espace Beethoven BP102, F06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, Advanced International Translations, Ltd. Suite 1, Tolstogo 15 Street, ters in Tokyo and additional operations in the United States, France, 33-493-00-40-30, Fax: 33-493-00-40-34, E-mail: info@ 01033 Kyiv, Ukraine, 380-44-288-11-45, Fax: 380-44-288-11-52, Europe, China and Korea. The company has been helping whp.fr, Web: www.whp.net, www.whp.fr E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.projetex.com Global 1000 companies in industries such as automotive, IT, telecommunications, life sciences, e-learning, computer software/gaming, semiconductors and consumer products. OCALIZATION OOLS PEECH ECHNOLOGIES TOIN Corporation L T S T Japan Shiba 1-chome Building, 1-12-7 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0014 Japan, 81-3-3455-8764, Fax: 81-3-3455-6514, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.to-in.co.jp North America Minneapolis, MN, 612-926-0201, E-mail: aki-ito@ to-in.co.jp, Web: www.to-in.com Europe London, UK, 44-20-8644-8685, E-mail: michael-stephenson @to-in.co.jp, Web: www.to-in.com China Shanghai, 86-21-3222-0012, E-mail: [email protected], Visual Localize AppTek Web: www.to-in.com Windows 98, NT, 2000, XP Languages Arabic, Bahasa, Dari, Dutch, Egyptian dialect, Languages All, including Eastern European, Asian and English, Farsi/Persian, French, German, Hebrew, Iraqi dialect, bidirectional languages using Unicode support Description Italian, Japanese, Korean, Pashto, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Visual Localize is a leading application that fully supports the Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Tagalog, Traditional Chinese, software localization process of Microsoft Windows applica- Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu Description AppTek is a developer tions (including .NET applications), databases and XML files. of human language technology products with a complete It dramatically reduces cost, effort and complexity of soft- suite for text and speech (voice) processing and recognition. Ushuaia Solutions ware localization. With its MS Explorer “look and feel,” it is AppTek’s product offerings include hybrid (rule-based + sta- Languages Spanish (all varieties), Portuguese (Brazil) Des- user friendly and intuitive to use. After a very short introduc- tistical) machine translation (MT) and automatic speech rec- cription Ushuaia Solutions is a fast-growing Latin American tion time, you will be able to handle all kinds of localization ognition (ASR) for a growing list of more than 23 languages; company providing solutions for translation, localization and projects. Visual Localize remembers all previous translations multilingual information retrieval with query and topic search globalization needs. Ushuaia Solutions is focused on being and thus maximizes re-use. With Visual Localize, no pro- capabilities; name-finding applications; and integrated suites creative and proactive to meet tight time frames with a high- gramming skills are required for localization. This makes it providing ASR and MT in media monitoring of broadcast and quality level and a cost-effective budget. Customizing its pro- applicable for everyone. A free evaluation copy is available at telephony speech, as well as handheld and wearable speech- cesses, Ushuaia assures project consistency and technical and www.visloc.com to-speech translation devices. linguistic accuracy, thus reducing clients’ time-to-market. AIT — Applied Information Technologies AG Leitzstrasse 45, AppTek 6867 Elm Street, Suite 300, McLean, VA 22101, 703-394-2317, Ushuaia combines state-of-the-art technology with top-notch D-70469 Stuttgart, Germany, 49-711-49066-431, Fax: 49-711- Fax: 703-821-5001, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.apptek.com experienced native translators, editors and software engineers. 49066-440, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.visloc.com Our mission is to work together with our clients, thereby creating a flexible, reliable and open relationship for success. ROKERS Ushuaia Solutions Rioja 919, S2000AYK Rosario, Argentina, 54- Software Localization Solutions by Schaudin.com TM B 341-4493064, Fax: 54-341-4492542, E-mail: info@ushuaia Windows solutions.com, Web: www.ushuaiasolutions.com See ad on page 37 Languages All languages supported by Microsoft Description Make your software multilingual with the extensive functionality, convenient quality control features and advanced translation support found in Schaudin.com’s RC-WinTrans software localizer, used by successful businesses worldwide since 1993. This tool makes it possible to quickly and easily translate soft- The Translation Memory Brokers ware GUI elements (for software created with Windows Win32, Languages All Description Central to most translation pro- VistaTEC Microsoft .NET, and Java software development platforms), cesses today is the database that contains previously translated Languages All Description VistaTEC is a leading provider while ensuring that the software continues to run properly in data: the translation memory (TM). The consistently growing of globalization services and specializes in the localization other languages. RC-WinTrans can be used by all the members size of the TM represents an ever-increasing value to you as its

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owner. By the same token, it becomes increasingly attractive and web environments in the domestic global marketplace. Translation Services. Hermes Traducciones also organizes to TM buyers from the same industry to either jump-start a With a worldwide network of over 5,000 linguists, a com- university courses on localization and translation. TM or complement it with proven, industry-specific trans- mitment to leading technologies, and an in-house staff Hermes Traducciones y Servicios Lingüísticos, S.L. C/ Cólquide, lations. Through TM Marketplace, this asset can now pro- dedicated to tailoring our proven project management pro- 6 - planta 2 - 3.oI, Ediﬁ cio “Prisma”, 28230 Las Rozas, Madrid, vide an immediate return on investment through licensing cess to the individual needs of each client, Eriksen is your Spain, 34-916-407640, Fax: 34-916-378023, E-mail: hermestr@ to other parties. As TM brokers, TM Marketplace connects globalization partner. hermestrans.com, Web: www.hermestrans.com See ad on page 23 corporate owners of translation assets with parties who want Eriksen Translations Inc. 32 Court Street, 20th Floor, Brooklyn, NY to license and benefit from those linguistic resources. 11201, 718-802-9010, Fax: 718-802-0041, E-mail: [email protected], TM Marketplace LLC 319 North 1st Avenue, Sandpoint, ID 83864, Web: www.eriksen.com 208-265-9465, Fax: 208-263-6310, E-mail: info@tmmarketplace .com, Web: www.tmmarketplace.com

KERN Global Language Services TRANSLATION SERVICES Your language partner Languages All Description KERN Global Language Services Follow-Up Translation Services is a leading provider in the area of global communication Languages English, Brazilian Portuguese Description Our with over 35 offices worldwide. With more than 30 years of company was founded in 1989, with the purpose of offer- experience, our services include translation and interpreting ing pure translation work (in technical and scientific areas). in all languages; software, multimedia and website localiza- ACP Traductera Along the way, we have developed several other skills in the tion; terminology management; multilingual desktop pub- Languages From all the world languages to languages of translation world, which involve specialized knowledge of lishing; and individual and corporate language training in all Central and Eastern Europe Description ACP Traductera IT resources and localization tools. We also master patent major languages. KERN has established itself as a preferred is a translation agency based in the Czech Republic. Our translations in fields such as biochemistry, mechanics, medi- insourcing and outsourcing solution provider for language local experience in Central Europe and our strong focus cine, pharmaceutics, oil and gas, and telecommunications. services. We serve clients in all industry sectors, including on appropriate language use make us the reliable partner Today, we are capable of taking on virtually any translation/ the automotive, medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, IT and for providing high-quality translations into Bulgarian, localization project from English into Brazilian Portuguese, financial services industries. To learn more about us, please Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, and we treat each and every customer with the maximum visit www.e-kern.com Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian and Ukrainian. care and attention. Our clients’ trust is our greatest asset and KERN Global Language Services Document translation service, translation, proofreading, our greatest pride! USA 230 Park Avenue, Suite 1517, New York, NY 10169, 212-953- 2070, Fax: 212-953-2073, E-mail: [email protected] review, independent specialist review, legal certification of Follow-Up Rua Visconde de Pirajá, 351, Sala 815, Rio de Janeiro, Europe Kurfuerstenstrasse 1, 60486 Frankfurt/Main, Germany, 49- translated documents, website and software localization, RJ 22410-003 Brazil, 55-21-3553-7223, Fax: 55-21-3553-7223, 69-7560730, Fax: 49-69-751353, E-mail: [email protected] localization engineering, testing, documentation localiz- E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.follow-up.com.br China Right Emperor Commercial Building, Unit B, 11/F, 122-126 ation, graphic design, DTP operations and pre-press review Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong, SAR China, 852-2850-4455, and printing. Our team of more than 1,000 professional Fax: 852-2850-4466, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.e-kern.com translators, proofreaders, terminology specialists, graphic designers, IT engineers and, last but not least, experienced project managers is our most significant asset. ACP Traductera Na Vysluni 201/13, Prague 10, Czech Republic, 420-384-361-300, Fax: 420-384-361-303, E-mail: info@traductera .com, Web: www.traductera.com See ad on page 27 ForeignExchange Translations Languages 42 languages and growing Description Foreign- Exchange is the global leader in providing translation Lido-Lang Technical Translations services to life sciences companies. We work with many of Languages All Description Established in Poland in 1991, the biggest pharmaceutical companies, medical-device man- Lido-Lang has expertise in technical translations into Central ufacturers, biotech companies and CROs. Our proprietary and Eastern European languages. We also possess in-depth Multilingual Compliance Process combines expert linguists, experience in the following fields: economics, law, medicine best-of-breed technology and measurable translation qual- and IT, providing translations in nearly all European and CETRA, Inc., Language Solutions ity in a process that is both robust and completely scalable, Languages All Description CETRA gives you peace of mind Asian language combinations. Our global network of more ensuring your projects are finished on time and within bud- than 1,000 approved and highly qualified translators, our because it delivers high-quality, on-time, cross-cultural com- get. For more information on how we can help meet your munications and professional, friendly, responsive service. comprehensive project management processes that cover translation requirements or for a quote on your next transla- translations, proofreading, editing and desktop publishing CETRA follows the ASTM Quality Assurance in Translation tion project, please contact us directly or visit our website at and Language Interpretation Services standard guides. As (QuarkXPress, InDesign, PageMaker, FrameMaker), and our www.fxtrans.com experience with CAT tools (TRADOS, SDLX) allow us to a member of the US delegation to ISO, CETRA is actively ForeignExchange Translations 411 Waverley Oaks Road, Suite 315, involved in developing an international translation qual- provide a premium quality service in accordance with the Waltham, MA 02452, 866-398-7267, 781-893-0013, Fax: 781- provisions of ISO 9001:2000 standard to which we were certi- ity standard. CETRA is involved in the language industry 893-0012, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.fxtrans.com at the highest level, with the company president serving in fied in May 2005. leadership positions at the American Translators Association, Lido-Lang Technical Translations ul. Walerego Slawka 3, 30-653 Krakow, Poland, 48-12-2546-123, Fax: 48-12-2546-122, E-mail: American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation, ofﬁ [email protected], Web: www.lidolang.com and Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs. CETRA, Inc. 7804 Montgomery Ave., Suites 8-10, Elkins Park, PA 19027, 215-635-7090, 888-281-9673, Fax: 215-635-6610, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.cetra.com Hermes Traducciones y Servicios Lingüísticos, S.L. Languages Spanish, Portuguese (Continental and Brazilian), LinguaLinx Language Solutions, Inc. English, French, Italian, German and other languages on de- Languages All Description LinguaLinx is a full-service trans- mand Description Established in 1991, Hermes Traducciones lation and localization agency specializing in the adaptation is a leading Spanish translation company, specializing in soft- of marketing and communications materials into most of the ware and hardware localization and also undertaking a broad world’s languages. Our enterprise language solutions range Eriksen Translations Inc. range of other translation projects. Comprehensive in-house from glossary development and maintenance to translation Languages All Description Eriksen Translations Inc. is a translation teams include translators, reviewers and linguists memory deployment and global content management. In leading provider of multilingual services, including trans- with an expertise in Spanish and Portuguese, a knowledge today’s highly competitive global environment, it is becoming lation, interpreting, typesetting, project management, web of CAT tools, and a commitment to deliver cost-efficient, increasingly difficult to differentiate one translation agency localization and cultural consulting. For over 20 years, reliable and high-quality services to customers. Hermes from another. We stand apart by taking the most proactive Eriksen has helped a broad range of organizations in both Traducciones is a member of the International Committee approach to quality in the industry, utilizing stringent project the public and private sectors excel across print, desktop for the creation of the European Quality Standard for management procedures, offering one of the most aggressive rate structures available and applying a sincere dedication to providing the best possible service. LinguaLinx Language Solutions, Inc. The LinguaLinx Building, 122 PDFs of Getting Started Guides are available at www.multilingual.com/gsg Remsen Street, Cohoes, NY 12047, 518-388-9000, Fax: 518-388- 0066, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.lingualinx.com

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the past two decades, we have developed into a top international company specializing in the precise tuning of your documentation and texts to the standards and mentalities of the German- speaking world. Our strength lies in our work for well-known software and hardware manufacturers. Furthermore, we also offer traditional translation services for the business, technology, SpanSource Medical Translations Only Languages Focus on Spanish and Portuguese, other language Languages All European languages and Japanese Description legal and medical sectors. Our team of competent employees combinations through partners Description SpanSource pro- MediLingua is one of the few medical translation specialists provides the very best quality within the respectively agreed time vides translation, localization and related services from Western in Europe. We only do medical. We provide all European lan- frame, even if matters are a little more urgent. European languages into all regional varieties of Spanish as well guages (36 today and counting) and Japanese as well as transla- Rheinschrift Übersetzungen Best & Steigerwald GbR Rolshover Strasse 99, 51105 Cologne, Germany, 49-221-80-19-28-0, Fax: 49- as other language combinations through our network of select tion-related services to manufacturers of devices, instruments, 221-80-19-28-50, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www SLV partners. Our domain focus is on software and hardware, in vitro diagnostics and software; pharmaceutical and bio- .rheinschrift.de See ad on page 49 heavy machinery and automotive, legal and financial, medical technology companies; medical publishers; national and and life sciences, oil and gas, corporate training and educa- international medical organizations; and other customers in tional materials. Our comprehensive service portfolio includes the medical sector. Projects include the translation of docu- unparalleled desktop publishing and multimedia localization mentation for medical devices, surgical instruments, hospital engineering support for e-learning materials. Our in-house equipment and medical software; medical information for staff of 35 includes project managers, senior linguists, desk- patients, medical students and physicians; scientific articles; top publishers, software engineers and graphic designers, who press releases; product launches; clinical trial documentation; prove to be fundamental in SpanSource’s centralized, customer- medical news; and articles from medical journals. Translation and localization into Polish centric approach. MediLingua Medical Translations BV Poortgebouw, Rijnsburger- Language Polish Description Ryszard Jarza Translations SpanSource SRL Santa Fe 1264, 1B Rosario, S2000ATR Argentina, weg 10, 2333 AA Leiden, The Netherlands, 31-71-5680862, Fax: 31- is an established provider of specialized Polish translation, 54-341-527-5233, Fax: 54-341-527-0035, E-mail: info@span 71-5234660, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www localization and DTP services, primarily for life sciences, IT, source.com, Web: www.spansource.com .medilingua.com See ad on page 49 automotive, refrigeration and other technology sectors. We work with multilanguage vendors and directly with documentation departments of large multinational customers. Our in-house team (12 full-time specialists) is comprised of experienced linguists with medical, engineering and IT backgrounds. We guarantee a high standard of quality while maintaining the medical information company flexibility, unparalleled responsiveness and reliability. Ryszard Jarza Translations ul. Barlickiego 23/22, 50-324 Wroclaw, Syntes Language Group, Inc. mt-g — the medical information company Poland, 48-601-728018, Fax: 48-71-3414441, E-mail: info@jarza Languages All Description Syntes Language Group is a lead- Languages All Description mt-g is the leading provider of .com.pl, Web: www.jarza.com.pl See ad on page 49 ing quality provider of customized language solutions to translations and global information services dedicated to the business, government and professional clients. We deliver a medical science. We specialize primarily in medical technol- full line of services in translation, interpreting and conference ogy and diagnostics, regulatory affairs, dental medicine and coordination; product, software and website localization; other specialist medical fields. We offer a range of professional desktop publishing; multimedia production and voiceovers; services covering translation, information production, global and consultation in both project-specific and long-term plan- information management and XML documentation applica- ning for the incorporation of foreign language elements into tions. At its head office in Ulm and its branch in Munich, 36 your business. For 19 years, we’ve offered proven expertise in salaried staff deliver solutions for information processes in Localization and Globalization Partner all major fields of industry, delivered by accomplished, experi- medical science. More than 680 medical and pharmaceutical Languages 50, including English, Chinese, Japanese, Korean enced professionals. All of this means that you get the ultimate experts in over 100 countries are engaged in translating, pro- Description Saltlux was founded in 1979 as the first localiza- in customer care and the best value for your project dollars. ducing, managing and documenting medical information. tion and globalization service provider in Korea. With over 30 Syntes Language Group, Inc. 7465 East Peakview Avenue, Centennial, mt-g medical translation GmbH & Co. KG Eberhard-Finckh- years of accumulated experience and know-how, Saltlux is an CO 80111, 888-779-1288, 303-779-1288, Fax: 303-779-1232, Strasse 55, 89075 Ulm, Germany, 49-731-17-63-97-0, Fax: 49-731- ideal and esteemed global technical communications partner. E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.syntes.com 17-63-97-50, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.mt-g.com See ad We specialize in multilingual translation and DTP, technical on page 25 writing service, software localization, web globalization and so on. We provide our clients with a one-stop production line, starting with the authoring of documents, and going on to localizing, designing, editing and digital publishing. With this business direction, we are striving to grow into and excel as a leader based on IT solutions such as CAT and Workflow TripleInk Multilingual Communications in the global technical communications market. Languages All major commercial languages Description As a Neotech Saltlux Inc. Deok-il Bldg., 967 Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul multilingual communications agency, TripleInk has provided Languages From major European languages into Russian, 135-848, Korea, 822-3402-0081, Fax: 822-3402-0082, E-mail: industrial and consumer products companies with precise Ukrainian, Kazakh and Azeri Description Neotech is the [email protected], Web: www.saltlux.com translation and multilingual production services for audio- largest translation company in Russia and CIS countries, visual, online and print media since 1991. Our experience in offering a full range of linguistic services to global corpora- adapting technical documentation and marketing communi- tions. Neotech is the first translation company on the Russian cation materials covers a wide range of industries, including market that has certified its quality management system to biomedical and health care; building and construction; finan- international ISO 9001:2000 standards. Neotech’s key areas cial services; food and agriculture; high-tech and manufactur- of expertise are in the oil and gas industries, auto manufac- ing; and hospitality and leisure, as well as government and turing, information technologies and telecommunications. Skrivanek s.r.o. The business techniques introduced and applied by the com- nonprofit organizations. Using a total quality management Languages All, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe process and state-of-the-art software and equipment, our team pany currently serve as the best practice within the transla- Description Skrivanek is a world leader in providing a wide tion industry. Neotech is leading the drive to continuously of foreign language professionals delivers the highest quality range of language services, specifically translations spanning a translations in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. develop translation market standards and to implement new multitude of languages and the effective localization of prod- levels of business and interpersonal communications into the TripleInk 60 South 6th Street, Suite 2600, Minneapolis, MN 55402, ucts on international markets. Established in 1994, Skrivanek 612-342-9800, 800-632-1388, Fax: 612-342-9745, E-mail: info@ translation industry within Russia and abroad. has managed to dominate the European translation market, tripleink.com, Web: www.tripleink.com Neotech 23/1 Matrosskaya Tishina, Moscow, Russia, 7-495-787- creating a network of 53 branches covering 14 countries. Its 3331, Fax: 7-495-787-1189, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www well-stocked staff of professional translators, experienced .neotech.ru project managers and dedicated software engineers and DTP TRANSLATION TOOLS specialists has enabled Skrivanek to provide outstanding quality translation and localization services in any conceivable lan- Heartsome Translation Studio guage and volume, creating an enviable clientele representing Multiple Platforms major leading corporations in various industries. Skrivanek’s Languages All Description Heartsome is a new generation quality of service is backed by EN ISO 9001:2001 certification. language technology and service company with a product Rheinschrift GbR Skrivanek s.r.o. International Project Management Centre, Na strategy that is founded on our four cornerstones of effi- Language German to/from major European languages Dolinách 22, CZ 147 00 Prague 4, 420-233-320-560, Fax: 420-241- cacy: genuine compliance with all open standards; com- Description Professional globalization requires experience. Over 090-946, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.skrivanek.com pletely cross platform; user-driven innovation; and no-frill

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minimalist approach towards product embodiment design and in 20 domains. With over three decades of expertise, includes business management as well as process and docu- and packaging. Heartsome CAT tools went through a research and development, SYSTRAN’s software is the choice ment management and integrates translation software, complete overhaul to bring the deployment of language of leading global corporations, portals and public agencies. financial accounting systems and existing software envi- technology open standards to a level far beyond those of Use of SYSTRAN products and solutions enhances multi- ronments for LSPs, translation and documentation depart- similar products in the marketplace. The all new Heartsome lingual communication and increases user productivity and ments, organizations, institutions and government agencies. Translation Studio (previously known as Heartsome XLIFF time-savings for B2E, B2B and B2C markets as they deliver Plunet BusinessManager impresses with its significant time Translation Editor) will provide a whole new experience in real-time language solutions for search, content manage- and money savings, unrivalled high adaptability to individ- computer-aided translation. ment, online customer support, intra-company communica- ual workflows, optimal quality control and effective project, Heartsome Holdings Pte Ltd 190 Middle Road, #19-05 Fortune Centre, tions and e-commerce. time and contact management. Functions include quotation Singapore 188979, 65-68261179, Fax: 65-67220655, E-mail: info@ SYSTRAN Software, Inc. costing, order/job/workflow management, schedule manage- heartsome.net, Web: www.heartsome.net See ad on page 51 North America 9333 Genesee Avenue, Plaza Level, Suite PL1, San ment, document management, invoicing, financial reports, Diego, CA 92121, 858-457-1900, Fax: 858-457-0648 contact management and customer acquisition. Europe Paroi Nord - La Grande Arche, 1, Parvis de la Défense, 92044 Plunet GmbH Prenzlauer Allee 214, 10405 Berlin, Germany, 49-30- Paris La Défense Cedex, France, 33-825-80-10-80, Fax: 33-1-46-98- 322971340, Fax: 49-30-322971359, E-mail: [email protected], Web: 00-59, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.systransoft.com www.plunet.de See ad on page 21

TextBase meets Translation Memory Multiple Platforms Languages All Unicode languages Description MultiTrans is an innovative tool that combines MultiCorpora’s unique TextBase TM technology with its best-in-class Terminology Solutions for Translation, Terminology, Management System. MultiTrans customers use their full- Full-text and Bitext Management XTRF Management System text repositories of previously translated documents to pro- Windows and Web Multiple Platforms duce more accurate translations by eliminating ambiguity of Languages Windows: All Roman alphabet; LogiTermWeb- Languages All Description XTRF is a global management terms through a context-based workflow that, unlike tradi- Plus: Unicode Description A single software package to system for translation agencies. With built-in cutting-edge tional sentence-based TM tools that recycle whole sentences, manage your terminology and databanks. Efficient and effec- Java technology, XTRF is a flexible, customizable and web- matches text strings of any length. MultiCorpora leverages tive consultation of terms and texts. The most robust align- based software, enabling web access for a company’s suppliers the expertise of its impressive client base to the benefit of its ment tool on the market. More consistent use of terminology and customers. It’s designed to help translation companies worldwide user community. The majority of departments and phraseology in-house and by freelancers. Internal and to streamline all of their daily activities, and it guarantees within the Government of Canada, international organi- external repetition detection and pretranslation. The web smooth management of the company while reducing admin- zations such as UNESCO, and enterprises such as Ford of version allows access to your terminology, bitexts and docu- istrative costs. Project management, invoicing, quotations, Canada, Sobeys, Kraft, HSBC, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble and ments by translators, writers and subcontractors from any- ISO 9001 reports and CRM are the main fields covered by other Fortune 500 companies trust MultiCorpora for their where in the world. the system. Designed by translation and localization profes- multilingual asset management solutions. Terminotix Inc. 240 Bank Street, Suite 600, Ottawa, ON, K2P 1X4 sionals and created by the best IT team, this powerful tool MultiCorpora 102-490 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, 613-233-8465, Fax: 613-233-3995, E-mail: termino@ will reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and increase a J8Y 3Y7 Canada, 819-778-7070, 877-725-7070, Fax: 819-778- terminotix.com, Web: www.terminotix.com See ad on page 51 company’s effectiveness. 0801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.multicorpora.com XTRF ul. Walerego Slawka 3, 30-653 Krakow, Poland, 48-12-2546- See ad on page 63 126, Fax: 48-12-2546-122, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.xtrf.eu WORKFLOW SOLUTIONS

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SYSTRAN about the global Multiple Platforms Plunet BusinessManager Languages 52 language combinations Description SYSTRAN Multiple Platforms language industry at is the market leading provider of language translation soft- Languages All Description Plunet BusinessManager is the www.multilingualblog.com ware products for the desktop, enterprise and internet that complete management solution for the translation and doc- facilitate communication in 52 language combinations umentation industry. On a web-based platform, the system

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ACP Traductera 27 Idea Factory Languages, Inc. 40 PTIGlobal 48 Across Systems GmbH 6, 64 Internationalization & Unicode Conf. 45 Rheinschrift GbR 49 ADAPT Localization Services 34 intextus Language Solutions 35 Ryszard Jarza Translations 49 Association for Machine Translation 14 Janus Worldwide Inc. 13 SAM Engineering GmbH 49 Binari Sonori srl 47 KCSL Inc. 9 Schaudin.com 51 Biro 2000 29 Lingo Systems 15 STAR Group 11 Clear Words Translations 35 Lingotek 16 SYSTRAN Software, Inc. 21 E4NET 56 Localization World 2 TAUS Data Association 19 ES Localisation Services Ltd. 12 MediLingua Medical Translations BV 49 Terminotix Inc. 51 Graﬁ Data 41 Moravia Worldwide 31 Translations.com 3-5 Heartsome Holdings Pte Ltd 51 mt-g medical translation GmbH 25 Ushuaia Solutions 37 Hermes Traducciones 23 MultiCorpora 63 VistaTEC 44 Hispano Language Advisory 35 Ocean Translations S.R.L. 35

www.multilingual.com June 2009 MultiLingual | 61

55-61 Buyer'sGuide #104.indd 61 5/19/09 3:41:01 PM Ken Behan

Reducing cost by reducing words Takeaway

One of my sales team knocks on my door, roja and el monitor es rojo. Standardize the terminology and you’ll get higher ROI from the translation memory (TM). requests two minutes of my time, and says he has Q Consistent in-line formatting offers an opportunity to this huge sales opportunity. Would it be possible reduce cost. The mismatch of an emphasized word appearing in to reduce the word rate by a few cents to make both italics and bold, for example, decreases fuzzy matches. O Q An internal project management team may be performing the deal more attractive to his prospect? tasks that the vendor could easily do or is already doing. Review Since entering our industry, I have continually encountered the process fl ow between client and vendor. the challenge of getting the price right for a client and ulti- The fi rst two examples may require investing time in deve- mately lowering the total cost of localization. Since the end loping style guides by which clients can limit the way their goal in many buyers’ minds is to get their product translated at authors develop source content and automatically can reduce minimal expense, they focus on word price because many still the number of new words that need to be translated. There are believe that the process of localization consists of substituting a number of symptoms that normally indicate there is potential content strings in one language for an equivalent string in to lower your total cost of localization. Internally, we may see another. But closer examination shows that while words are the a lack of good TM re-use caused by multiple vendors having “common currency” of our industry, we really need to sur- updated the TM in a non-unifi ed way. This may result in TM round those words with technology and processes that enable management not being executed well, with inconsistency across a corporation to maximize its return on investment (ROI) in products, versions, divisions and departments. We may also be localization. hearing comments from in-country reviewers about previous Something else often tainted by controversy is the effect changes not being refl ected in the latest TM. Externally, clients word rate reduction has on the earning potential of the free- may be seeing costs escalating due to rework caused by the lance translator performing the work. Much has been written above symptoms or be receiving complaints from marketing regarding the correlation between the reduction of word rates that corporate terminology is out of sync with current local and the decrease in translation quality. This in turn creates a messaging. Clients may also see a difference between what further problem of longer review cycles, resulting in delayed they thought needed to be translated and what their vendor is shipments and lost revenue opportunities. telling them. If the goal is to lower the client’s total cost, how can this be There are numerous other areas where savings can be found, achieved without slashing word rates? Part of the solution is the and though process improvement may require an initial invest- way we look at words in relation to cost. Typically, word cost ment, your ROI should be favorable. Keeping this in mind, the makes up 70% or more of spending, so setting goals around next time the salesman is asking you to reduce the price, chal- reducing the number of words clients have to pay for has to lenge him instead to shave the words that need translating. M be priority number one. Vendors should be able to help clients identify ways to improve the control of your source content, maximizing re-use and minimizing new words that need to be Ken Behan leads Tek’s worldwide sales operations and has translated. Here are three simple money-saving examples: more than 20 years of sales experience in Europe, the United Q Across client content, terms such as monitor and LCD could States and in senior positions in the localization industry. be used to describe the same thing, so the client could end up paying for two almost entirely different sentences, as in la pantalla es To offer your own Takeaway, write to [email protected]

62 | MultiLingual June 2009 [email protected]

62 Takeaway #104.indd 62 5/19/09 3:43:07 PM EXPERIENCE THE DIFFERENCE ADVANCED LEVERAGING TM TECHNOLOGY MAKES

WHY REPLACE OR COMPLEMENT YOUR EXISTING TM WITH MULTITRANS?

Reason number 25 (We can prove it — our clients use it!): MultiTrans Advanced Leveraging TM has the benefit of being field-tested by globally renowned brands. The adoption of MultiTrans by companies with billion dollar revenues like RR Donnelley, Toys “R” Us, Ford Motor Company, and numerous government and multilateral organizations like UNESCO only demonstrates how this software is setting the new industry standard.

*For more reasons, visit www.multicorpora.com/reasons

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63 MultiCorpora ad #104.indd 63 5/19/09 3:44:06 PM Always a step ahead!

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A64Z_ AcrossAcross _#104.inddV5_Scha c h64_Multilingual.indd 1 18.055/22/09.2009 1 711:55:31:05:37 U AMhr