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Antoine Lefeuvre
This is a very interesting discussion indeed!
I wanted to add a few things regarding outsourcing and software.
Outsourcing translation is not much different than outsourcing graphic design or development. Say you need to hire someone to design a logo, are you happy with just sending a brief, not talking to the designer and receiving a logo with little room for change? This is called low-cost graphic design and you’ll find plenty “your logo for $100” offers.
Likewise low-cost translation is widely available: you send a document, you don’t talk to the translator and you get a translated document in return.
Is this the level of quality you’re aiming for?
At Novius we prefer to build lasting relationships with both designers and translators. If you choose to work with an agency, chances are you won’t have much interaction with the translator. Which is a shame as good translation—like good design—starts with team work.
About localization software and platforms, we have used and tried many different solutions. Yet we still haven’t found THE perfect solution which would offer all the following key features:
Collaborative translation and workflow. Translation like coding is a social activity. We need GitHub-like functionalities: comments, issue-tracking, version and quality control.
In-context translation, as discussed above by Langurius.
Translation memory. Don’t be mistaken, TM is not a translator thing. This is an important asset for your business. You want to be able to share it across different projects and export TMX files (Translation Memory eXchange).
Translator-friendly UI and developer-helping tools (e.g. APIs)
Further readings on “deconstructing these sentences is a translator’s nightmare”: “Working with Composite Messages”:http://www.w3.org/International/articles/composite-messages/Overview and “Re-using Strings in Scripted Content”:http://www.w3.org/International/articles/text-reuse/Overview
BTW, there are no accent marks in Russian language (except in dictionaries for non-native speakers). 4 ????????, 5 ???????.
I have been a translator and have worked with clients who run multi-lingual sub-domains using the Google translate app. No one it seems has the budget or the time to speak to anyone in their own language and yet they demand to have a web presence and the ability to collect payments. There is a big difference in speaking with one voice and having to use the only voice. Using proper, idiosyncratic local language increases ROI because it automatically shows respect and when someone is treated with respect…they tend to buy the product.
Great article. My other half is a translator and has often received spreadsheets of terms that are completely out of context and nigh on impossible to provide reliable Japanese translations for. And Japanese sentence structure works differently from English, so it’s not as simple as string replacement.
The suggestion to work directly with translators would be music to my partner’s ears: it would make the work much more interesting while cutting out the greedy middlemen agencies (if you find a good translator, re-hire them privately).
Excellent article. I was almost cheering along with you at times, because you said things that I’ve thought for years. And you said it in an extremely accessible way—one that I hope to share with stakeholders to help them understand my localization concerns.
Antoine: Your ‘wish list’ for collaborative language-focussed content multipurposing tool already exists. Our solution (qarto.com) is one of them, but there are a few others out there too.
What an amazing article, Antoine. I subscribe 101% of what you said. Having a localization specialist in the early stages of the development cycle is just essential nowadays.
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Back to the Articledevelopaweb
I would say this is a great article and discussion as well , I have learnt a lot here .
Hope to keep writing such a good article.
Antoine Lefeuvre
This is a very interesting discussion indeed!
I wanted to add a few things regarding outsourcing and software.
Outsourcing translation is not much different than outsourcing graphic design or development. Say you need to hire someone to design a logo, are you happy with just sending a brief, not talking to the designer and receiving a logo with little room for change? This is called low-cost graphic design and you’ll find plenty “your logo for $100” offers.
Likewise low-cost translation is widely available: you send a document, you don’t talk to the translator and you get a translated document in return.
Is this the level of quality you’re aiming for?
At Novius we prefer to build lasting relationships with both designers and translators. If you choose to work with an agency, chances are you won’t have much interaction with the translator. Which is a shame as good translation—like good design—starts with team work.
About localization software and platforms, we have used and tried many different solutions. Yet we still haven’t found THE perfect solution which would offer all the following key features:
Gunnar Bittersmann
Further readings on “deconstructing these sentences is a translator’s nightmare”: “Working with Composite Messages”:http://www.w3.org/International/articles/composite-messages/Overview and “Re-using Strings in Scripted Content”:http://www.w3.org/International/articles/text-reuse/Overview
BTW, there are no accent marks in Russian language (except in dictionaries for non-native speakers). 4 ????????, 5 ???????.
ecommerce_website
I have been a translator and have worked with clients who run multi-lingual sub-domains using the Google translate app. No one it seems has the budget or the time to speak to anyone in their own language and yet they demand to have a web presence and the ability to collect payments. There is a big difference in speaking with one voice and having to use the only voice. Using proper, idiosyncratic local language increases ROI because it automatically shows respect and when someone is treated with respect…they tend to buy the product.
gingerbbm
Great article. My other half is a translator and has often received spreadsheets of terms that are completely out of context and nigh on impossible to provide reliable Japanese translations for. And Japanese sentence structure works differently from English, so it’s not as simple as string replacement.
The suggestion to work directly with translators would be music to my partner’s ears: it would make the work much more interesting while cutting out the greedy middlemen agencies (if you find a good translator, re-hire them privately).
jrc.collins
Excellent article. I was almost cheering along with you at times, because you said things that I’ve thought for years. And you said it in an extremely accessible way—one that I hope to share with stakeholders to help them understand my localization concerns.
Gee Ranasinha
Antoine: Your ‘wish list’ for collaborative language-focussed content multipurposing tool already exists. Our solution (qarto.com) is one of them, but there are a few others out there too.
Get in touch if you’d like to know more.
Pablo Muñoz Sánchez
What an amazing article, Antoine. I subscribe 101% of what you said. Having a localization specialist in the early stages of the development cycle is just essential nowadays.
Keep up the good work!
Cheers,
Pablo