| The
information cycle for a large company can produce poor results
if not organized properly. Good organization of the cycle
is a key element in simplifying the process. The information
cycle can be broken down into the following sub phases:
1) Technical Writing and Desktop Publishing
2) Translation
3) Terminology Management
4) Linguistic and Stylistic Quality Assurance
5) Revision Management
Suggestions
for streamlining the effectiveness of these phases are outlined
below.
1.
Technical Writing
Technical
Writing and Desktop Publishing (Tech Pubs) are the beginning
phases of the information cycle. The quality of the final
product and its future iterations is dependent on the initial
setup of the cycle.
Technical
writers and desktop publishing (DTP) specialists should
be aware that the initial layout will affect the appearance
of the translated documents. DTP specialists must take text
expansion into account for English documentation that will
be translated into other languages, as most other Latin-based
languages will represent at least a 20% increase of text.
A simple solution to overcome text expansion problems may
be to leave sufficient room on each page of the documentation
to allow for the expansion, especially if the translation
is to mirror the original document in appearance. Desktop
publishers should also choose an authoring program that
will be flexible and will allow for internal annotation
of the text. Such annotation will allow the technical writers/publishers
to give helpful information regarding the source text that
can aid in translation and DTP. SGML tools, such as FrameMaker+SGML,
will accommodate large documentation and are flexible enough
to be used in various environments.
Technical
writers should be familiar with the information found in
the documentation. This familiarity will assist them in
adopting the source text such that it can be neutral or
locale specific, depending on the purpose of the documentation.
Source text should always be written with translation in
mind. Idioms and other language or culture specifics should
be avoided when possible. Terminology should also be set
and defined by the engineers and technical writers of the
product, which is approved by a terminology manager. The
technical writers should strictly adhere to the approved
terminology when writing the documentation. If necessary,
a controlled source language may even be implemented, which
will also help streamline and simplify the translation process.
If computer-aided translation (CAT) tools are used by the
translation team, the source text can be revised and edited
independent of the translation in progress. Such CAT tools,
which are discussed later, will allow the translators to
translate the new or revised text and to reuse unaltered
material.
2.
Translation and Localization
If
possible, the technical writing phase for a particular iteration
should be completed prior to translation. The Translation
phase should consist of the following three stages: Pre-process,
Translation, and Post-process/Quality Control (QC).
2.1
The Pre-process phase involves taking the source material
and preparing it for translation. This preparation should
include terminology extraction, terminology translation
and definition creation, and pretranslation.
Before
a translation begins, the terminology manager needs to extract
new terms from the source text and define them for the translators.
As previously stated, this can be done with assistance from
the technical writers and product engineers. When the terminology
extraction phase is completed, translators should be sent
two terminology databases. One terminology set will contain
previously defined terms, while the other set will contain
newly extracted terms that may need to be translated and/or
defined. During the translation process, these new terms
will be translated, submitted to, and approved by the terminology
manager.
The
pretranslation phase involves comparing the new source text
against the previously translated text, and leveraging any
translations that have already been completed. The project
manager should do this leveraging through the assistance
a CAT tool, which will automatically translate all previously
translated sentences or "segments". This approach provides
several benefits, including increased consistency in both
style and the use of correct terminology. CAT tools also
allow the translator to reuse previous translations, which
improves throughput by the human translator. However, translators
should briefly review the pre-translated portions of the
text to verify quality and context, while also translating
the untranslated segments. This review will help them to
follow the style and language used in previous documents.
2.2
The Translation step should also be done using a CAT tool.
By doing so, the translator will be able to take advantage
of terminology databases and additional translation leveraging.
Most CAT tools include an integrated terminology program,
allowing the translator to search a terminology database
to find if a term is previously defined or translated. CAT
tools also allow the translator to take advantage of repetitive
segments by reusing the translations of segments within
a document, which also helps maintain consistency and saves
time during translation. The translation of the text should
be performed by in-country translators. This will ensure
high quality translations as the native speakers are current
with their "changing" language and maintain fluency on a
daily basis.
2.3
The Post-process/Quality Control (QC) portion of a translation
consists of a linguistic review. This review should be done
in conjunction with the terminology manager to ensure consistency
and desired quality. The Post-process phase also involves
a DTP review of the files. If the files are prepared with
translation in mind, this process should be relatively simple.
If items such as software screenshots are localized, these
screenshots should be placed into the translated document
during this stage. The Quality Control (QC) portion should
include checking the final documentation for DTP quality,
linguistic quality, and consistency between terms in illustrations/screenshots
and the body text.
3.
Terminology Management
As discussed previously, the terminology manager plays a
very important part of the entire translation process by
acting as a liaison between all parties involved in the
information cycle. From the beginning to the end of the
process, the terminology manager should be in contact with
everyone, assuring that the "information" maintains its
original and intended meaning. The translation of the documentation
should be outsourced to in-country translators, but the
primary project manager and the terminology manager should
be centralized so that they are constantly aware of and
can coordinate the progress of all activities.
Terminology
management should be maintained using a terminology database
program. Most CAT tools include terminology programs. Translators,
reviewers, technical writers/publishers, and engineers should
all have access to the terminology databases; however, the
terminology manager should approve all additions or changes.
4.
Linguistic and Stylistic Quality Assurance
A
final review performed by a native speaker who is familiar
with the product (generally located within the client's
company) will often give very useful feedback. Any recommendations
made by this reviewer and adopted by the translation team
should be implemented not only in the final documentation,
but also in the CAT tool translation memory database. The
project manager should coordinate these reviews and should
be responsible for the maintenance of the translation memories.
5.
Revision Management
Revisions
should be coordinated directly between the technical writers/publishers
and the project manager. As previously stated, the technical
writers may make revisions and updates to the documentation
while the translation is in process. Using existing translation
memories, the translation supplier can leverage previous
translations against the new set of documents, allowing
translators to focus their efforts in translating new segments
and reusing previously translated segments.
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