By Theodora Landgren
In the global marketplace today, wise companies are learning an important fact about TRANSLATION. Survivals in today's international environment means not making translation an afterthought. You gain precious competitive advantage if, as you develop your product and its accompanying documentation for simultaneous release in international markets, you plan for translation from the outset.
Plan Early
Plan for translation from the very beginning, as soon as you know (or even suspect) that your product will be marketed abroad. This will save money, and help alleviate the time-to-market crunch down the line.
With buy-in at the corporate level, you might be able to assign a translations coordinator at the outset. This person would act as a liaison between technical writers and your translation vendor, anticipating problems as well as solving them before they arise.
Involve your tech writing team long before actual translation begins. A conscientious vendor can alert you to some surprising ways to cut costs. In the design stage, acquaint software designers, technical writers and editors with the implications of writing for localization, including translation into foreign languages.
Design with the rest of the world in mind
While planning format and layout, consider design where each page will adapt to eventual reproduction in international sizes, and is not locked into 8-1/2" x 11" format. The majority of the international market uses the A4 size, which is a little longer and narrower than the U.S. format. Also, international ring binders vary in different numbers of holes and different hole spacings than in the U.S. -- important to know if you plan to issue revisions for a maintenance manual, for example.
Colors (colours in U.K.) can be pleasing to some audiences while offending others. Be sure to reference a listing of international color significances available in some books.
When using icons it is important to be aware that while these differ across borders, there are many international symbols that are universally acceptable. (A mailbox in the US looks very different from a mailbox in the U.K.)
Date and Address formats differ from locale to locale. Many countries use the 24 hour clock, and the day/month/year...order is the internationally accepted date format outside the US.
Numerical values are presented different in various languages, e.g. $1,222,333..00 in English, $1.222.333,00 in German or Spanish, and $1 222 333,00 in French.
Some "do-it-yourself" localization
Cull all "logistics" information that is not applicable outside the US, such as "800" telephone numbers, hours of operation for support services, lists of your U.S. local offices, U.S.-specific warranties and regulatory information. Each country will have it's own corresponding replacements. Your local representatives in each country should provide you with this local specific data.
Remember the principle for clarity is ONE WORD = ONE MEANING. Since words can have several meanings, try to simplify your text by keeping the words with one meaning isolated and use this term consistently throughout the text.
Product nomenclature and service terminology may or may not be translated. This is often determined by the corporate culture. International companies often keep the product name in the source language. Marketing should decide whether the product name is appropriate in the target country.
Language expansion
Many important languages of today's marketplace require more space than English. This means that the foreign-language equivalent of an English word, phrase or entire document tends to "grow" by anywhere from 10% to 100%! Asian languages, however, tend to be shorter since the hieroglyphic may contain several words.
Allow plenty of "white space" on every page, to accommodate copy expansion in the foreign language. A general rule of thumb is to leave 30% white space per page, with consideration also given to the matching of text and graphics on certain pages.
Avoid constrictive framed, boxed, or columnar copy (in tabular column headings, include extra vertical space)
Design as much extra character space as possible in the display, software prompts and messages. Otherwise, the translator may have to resort to awkward abbreviations and stylistic acrobatics, sacrificing the readability and user friendliness of the original.
Terminology
Avoid creating new technical terms where adequate ones already exist. Strive for succinctness and consistency. When baptizing a new component, process or feature -- set a limit of two or three words. Develop a glossary of your product and company specific terms, giving a clear definition of each. Using a program with indexing features during the writing cycle will allow you to tag important terms as you write, then collate them afterwards as your base glossary, to which you add definitions. Include this glossary as an appendix to your document, and use the glossary terms consistently throughout your writing.
Avoid abbreviations and acronyms wherever possible. They can be confusing to both your reader and your translator. When acronyms are a MUST, remind yourself of the standard rule: On first occurrence of the abbreviation or acronym, give the full phrase, followed by the abbreviation or acronym itself in parentheses.
Example: Select the Calibration Sub-Menu (CSM).
Many military and defense (defence in U.K.) documentation is riddled with acronyms that are essential to its material understanding. In such cases, the acronym definition list is crucial, and could be translated ahead of time, e.g. while a Bid Proposal is being prepared in parallel. You can either merge this glossary with your general glossary of technical terminology or preferably include it as a separate appendix to your document.
Provide reference materials to the translator with any and all marketing literature, specification sheets and engineering notices related to your product. Previously approved high quality translations should also be made available for the translator's use. The more reference material you provide to the translation vendor, the better the job they will do for you. Make this a partnering effort rather than a client - supplier relationship.
Provide all artwork, including illustrations, photos and other graphics components of your to-be-translated document, even if they don't have any text in them. This provides the translator with a critical visual reference tool. If the graphics need to be edited, be sure to provide the graphic files in their original format., e.g. Corel or Illustrator. Try to keep your text outside the graphics, or in text boxes, to allow for easy editing and translation. Editing bitmaps can be both timely and costly.
Let's Focus On Some Tech Writing Specifics
Translators are your most avid readers. They will scrutinize your document thoroughly, with every word and phrase being digested and recomposed in a version of their language that is to convey the proper meaning and nuance of your original work. Be clear and succinct in writing, avoiding passive voice and ambivalent dependent clauses that might be misconstrued. Use a direct, simple writing style and short sentences. The additional benefit of this methodology is that a good portion of any initial translations, already available when you are updating the document, can be recycled easily. This is facilitated through the use of automated translation memory tools (topic not included in this article).
Which brings me to the next issue: the cost of translation. The cost of translation is based on a number of factors, some of which are affected by the technical writer. To name a few important ones:
The volume of words
Attention given to international issues: address, time and tel formats, colors, icons
Quality of glossary
Layout and spacing
Words in graphics (NO)
Desktop publishing package used
Amount of reusable information
Thus, I propose that clear, direct prose, short sentences, simple vocabulary, consistency of terminology, separation of text and graphics, avoidance of the passive voice and careful use of punctuation are a few of the elements that make a document conducive to translating.
If you diligently implement these basic guidelines for good writing, your documentation will translate easily, accurately and with relative speed and cost savings. There remain, however, some extremely important additional points that apply specifically to writing that is to be translated.
Avoid "Translation Hazards"
Do not use upper case letters to emphasize a particular action, especially in noun phrases;
in the German language all nouns are capitalized.
Avoid "telegraphic English." Write full sentences including all articles, unless there is absolutely no alternative. Avoid U.S.-specific references and examples wherever generics will do.
Instructions such as: "Monday morning quarterback" is meaningless to your foreign end-user. Your translator will spend needless time coming up with appropriate re-wording.
Avoid jargon, slang and buzzwords.
If a term is not listed as acceptable in a current reputable dictionary or specialized glossary, don't use it.
Avoid "modifier strings" (also known as noun strings, stacked modifiers, etc.). This is the most common form of grammatical ambiguity. Break these long uninterrupted strings of nouns and adjectives into "bite-sized" pieces before they reach your keyboard.
Example: "plastic tip fastener clips"
Avoid "invisible plurals." These are usually two-word phrases (noun + noun), in which it is not clear whether the first noun is meant to be singular or plural.
Is 'program update' an update of one program or a general procedure for multiple programs? Another good example is 'file retrieval', where the reader is not clear whether you are retrieving one or all of the files.
Avoid using the slash (/) as casual punctuation meaning "and" or "to".
Avoid using ambiguous modal auxiliary verbs like 'may' or 'might'. Instead, you should use a phrase such as "It is possible that...".
If you plan to open the translated desktop published document that you received from your translator, on your computer, stick to a dtp program that incorporates international dictionaries so that your hyphenation will not be distorted. Made any changes?-Let your translator proof it before printing.
Foreign languages punctuation differs from English. Do not inadvertently make changes to punctuation in a translation without consulting your translator.
e.g French uses spaces before and after colon marks.
Finally, be prepared to work together with your translators, teaming up your expertise concerning your company's vision and products with their expertise in cross-cultural localization and linguistic processes. It can be an exciting collaboration. This global thinking will give you an edge in producing timely, cost-effective, high-quality documentation that will carry your image and your message to customers around the world.
For further information contact Theodora Landgren @ A2Z Global
by phone: +1 856 910 0300
via email: tlandgren@a2zglobal.com
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