Although this article was written having in mind technical translation projects, it outlines the basic rules for success of any translation project.
Some of the key aspects the article points out are in line with our view on the topic and have been mentioned in previous posts (Follow the links to read previous posts about these topics):
1. Defining your audience is one of the most important aspects before starting a translation. It determines who your reader will be and therefore, structures the whole translation process from selecting a translator to the vocabulary.
2. Finding a Qualified Translator would offer that extra guarantee that you are hiring a person who’s knowledgeable and serious about translation.
3. Machine Translation (MT) usage will always depend on the scope of the project. Sometimes clients only need to understand the gist of a text and, do not require or want a high-quality human translation. In any case, MT should always follow a human post-editing step.
4. Proofreading is an essential step of quality assurance in translation. Your client will be impressed and satisfied that even the longest, most complicated document was delivered flawlessly.
JR Language created this blog for the general public to have a source of reliable information about the translation industry and the localization process. Following these recommendations will help the translation agency or translator have a better understanding of your need, resulting in a smooth translation process.
Last week we started with what will be a series of three posts about interpretation.The Interpreter: a writer or a talker?was the first one of the series. Now we will explore what been an interpreter entails by first explaining what is a mode.
By mode we understand, the setting in which the interpretation is performed.
These are the modes:
Conference- it takes place in a conference such as, UN congresses. It can be simultaneous or consecutive.
Juridical- simultaneous or consecutive. It comes with a high level of responsibility; a mediocre interpreter or one that has not been sworn could overrule a trial. This mode is more notorious since the 9/11 trials.
Escort- is a type of liaison interpretation. The interpreter accompanies a person or group to an interview or tour.
Marketing- the interpreter sits inside a soundproof booth and, with the help of headphones to hear the speaker; delivers the message in the target language. There is a mirror that lets the interpreter see the audience. He has to also imitate the tone, laughs and emotions of the speaker.
Public Sector- or community interpretation. There are several elements that can affect the outcome if this interpretation, such as: the emotional content; a hostile environment; stress or; the hierarchy levels of the subjects involved.
Medical- a subdivision of the Public Sector Interpretation. A thorough knowledge of medical terminology and practices is a must. They are usually formally instructed and certified. Medical interpreters allow the communication between the medical staff and their patients.
Media- The interpreter watches the speaker from a screen. Due to the nature of this kind of interpretation, it is done simultaneously and, can be very stressful because of many external elements such as: background noise, and technical difficulties in live broadcasts. We can see this kind of interpretation in the Olympics or interviews to politicians.
Sing Language- an interpreter with no hearing problems conveys the message to a non- hearing person through sing language, and vice-versa.
Now you have the necessary tools to ask for what you really need. Remember: the more you know, the more you save, in terms of time and money.
When I went to see the movie The Interpreter starring Nicole Kidman in 2005 I thought that for sure, the role of interpreter versus translatorwould be clarified. After-all, Nicole Kidman was the main character and lots of people were going to watch the movie, right? The movie had a large attendance indeed, but, I believe, there is still a general misunderstanding about an interpreter’s job.
As an interesting fact, note that even in the descriptive caption of the video in YouTube, they described Nicole Kidman’s character as a “translator” when she is actually an “interpreter”, hence the name of the movie.
Wikipedia defines language interpretation as “the facilitation of oral or sign-language communication, either simultaneously or consecutively, between users of different languages.” Oral is the keyword here! The main difference is that interpreters talk and translators write.
Interpretation is not limited to changing-over a message from a source language; rather it is executing the act of interpretation in different ways. These methods can vary greatly according to the job requirements including:
8 interpretation modes/classifications depending on the setting (ex. conference, court, medical settings etc.)
6 interpretation types/techniques used to perform the interpretation (ex. simultaneous, consecutive, etc.) Interpretation can also take place on-site, by phone, or video.
Team approach to interpretation
Interpreters sometimes work in pairs due to the extreme demands of the interpretation process. While one interpreter speaks the other may take notes, and they take turns performing the interpretation. This approach works best during an extended meeting where interpretation is required.
More than words
Interpretation is not a word-for-word translation. Interpreters have a short window to perform their task, and there is usually no time for research. They have to rely on their experience and skills for speed and accuracy. The interpreter must convey the most important aspects of a speech in the shortest amount of time.
The right interpreter can make all the difference in reaching your intended audience. Preparation, training, experience, and areas of expertise are all things to consider when choosing your interpretation services to ensure you have the right outcome.
memoQfest 2012, the annual users’ meeting for the CAT Tool memoQ, was held at the Ramada Plaza on the Danube. Kilgray’s event was informational and fun. They provided different theme tracks throughout the day aside from great networking events every evening. There were a wide range of attendees from around the world; translation agencies, translators, developers for translation technologies and, big translation services’ users like Microsoft.
Trainings and presentations were full of information about the translation industry’s newest trends, in general, and Kilgray’s lastest developments, in particular. Speakers covered a variety of topics. For example, memoQ’s interoperability with products like Plunet, a project management platform. They discussed, for instance, how this merger facilitates content extraction from CMS’s to be uploaded into a translation environment like memoQ.
Other presentations addressed topics such as how to handle big and complex project in memoQ and how to integrate Microsoft’s Translator’s Framework with memoQ.
We also had the opportunity of joining memoQfest online on Friday and, we took advantage of that! Some of our employees woke up at the break of dawn to watch a presentation about Multilingual Project Management and Website Translation with memoQ. Kilgray will be posting the web recordings of the presentations in a few weeks.
Technical requirements are essential components that must be taken into consideration ahead of time. After deciding the preferences that suit your business best, amazing results are sure to come out of your newly localized multilingual website.
Think about the technical decisions:
1. Site structure, platform and navigation are key elements to consider before planning the localization of the site.
I. How are you going to host the translated version of the site: new domain, subdomain or subfolder? They all work differently according to your objectives and platform where you host your site (be aware of the limitation and implications of each option).
II. How are you going to navigate from one language to the other?
a. Are you going to use written text link for the choice of languages, or do you want to use images of national flags?
b. Will your user be directed to the main page upon selecting a different language, or will they be directed to the respective page where the language selection occurred?
c. How about the URL structure? There are different URL naming options in the target language that use specific extension to help users and crawlers identify the language in multilingual websites.
Examples: “en”=English and “es”= Spanish (Español)
2. Selecting the format of the working files and how to exchange content with the translation agency.
a. How will you supply the material to be translated: MS Word, html, xml, php, or others
b. Which of the above formats will be more convenient for your IT staff to receive the translated files
c. Revise your existing Content Management System (CMS). Look for answers to the question of structure and best practices to incorporate the translated content.
3. Website localization assurance is perhaps the most important step, as it is vital to proofread and test your website before it is open to the public. Always double-check connections, navigation and correct sequence within each language. By carefully reviewing the new site, you avoid the embarrassment of faulty navigation within your site that can render all of your efforts towards a multilingual page useless.
In order to market globally you must stop and ask yourself multiple questions to be successful in the planning and execution of a website localization project. Fortunately there are translation agencies, like JR Language, with the experience and know how to guide you in partnership to facilitate this complex process for you. JR Language has worked in multiple website translation projects. All of our work is edited and proofread independently after translation to ensure that your localized content appears original and attractive towards all your target markets.
If you have any questions about your multilingual website translation and localization, please contact us by leaving a comment or questions, sending us an email at info@jrlanguage.com, or calling at 1-866-389-5036. We will gladly address your question and see how we can help you.
The conference and its exhibitions set a participation record with 89,400 attendees this year. It was remarkable occasion to experience the enormous array of technology from organizations and corporations covering all aspects of the energy industry. Go to our Facebook page to view pictures from the event.
Networking opportunities were fantastic, and we were able to connect with old friends from the oil, petrochemical, and many other companies that service the energy sector.
We socialized and learned from clients about their future needs, and discussed our offering in translation solutions for the oil & gas industry.
Continuing with our sequence of postings on the elements to consider when planning for website translationand localization, this post will teach you about the most important factors during the actual translation process. Keep in mind that at this point you should have made certain decisions about your audience and your budget. For more information on your audience and budget, read our previous posting Planning your website translation and Localization I: Audience, and Planning your website translation and Localization II: Budgeting.
Think about the translation process:
To achieve great results you have to work with professional translators and editors like that ofJR Languagewho have experience in researching keywords and competitors in the new market, and have a deep linguistic understanding of that culture.
Find an experienced translation agency that can help, advise, and support your company effort with the localization of your content to different markets and languages. For your website to resonate with your localized audience, it must speak the local lingo and create copy that reads like it was originally written for that language.
Localize your website appearance and metrics. The images, currency, and overall message must be appropriately adapted for the new audience. Additionally, different cultures expect different features from a website, based on what is customary for them. Try to maintain the overall look and feel of your original site, if possible, by retaining the same colors and style that your company has branded.
All the graphics and multimedia elements need to be localized. Graphic translation and subtitling or voice-overs of videos are important for the overall experience of the user.
When translating into other languages, text expansion within your website is common. Plan for this growth by leaving extra room or enabling text boxes to expand automatically. For example, in German and Spanish the increase of the translated text is about 20%-30% longer compared to English. Your webmaster may need to adapt the layout in order to fit everything needed.
The translation and localization is the fundamental process, impacting the success of your new multilingual site. If you have any ideas or concerns about the translation process while planning for your own website localization, please leave a comment, write us an email to info@jrlanguage.com, or call to speak with one of our project managers experienced in website translation.
JR Language will be present at Memoq Fest 2012 in Budapest, Hungary from May 8th to the 11th. Memoq Fest is the annual user group meeting for Memoq, the translation tool developed by Kilgray Technologies. Memoq is an integrated translation and localization environment that aids project managers, translators, and editors in their productivity and quality assurance tasks.
Memoq is a Computer Assisted Translation tool or CAT tool that helps interact with translation memories and terminology bases and is one of the products that JR Language has in its arsenal of resources to aid productivity and quality for translation projects.
Sergio and Michael from our company will participate in the Train the trainer course, in workshops and will attend the 2 days conference. They are both looking forward to visit Budapest for a week of fun and interaction with the Kilgray team and Memoq customer base from around the world.
The two day conference is starting with a keynote presentation with the The Impact of Machine Translation on the Language Services Industry, topic that is in line with the content and trend discussed in the Globalization and Localization Conference in April of this year.
Sergio and Michael are looking forward to Memoq Fest and excited about the opportunity to interact and discuss ideas with colleagues and connect with other users from around the globe.
JR Language attended Monaco 2012 for the GALA’s 4th annual conference. GALA stands for Globalization and Localization Association.
Needless to say we had a great time and had fantastic exchange with people from all over the world in a great setting. It was a good opportunity for attendees to sense trends in technology supporting the translation industry, clients’ needs and how some companies like Dell, Paypal, and Lego are handling their multilingual content.
There were representatives from different sectors within the translation industry, namely: language technology developers, translation agencies, localization providers, consultants, and clients. Presentations focused on “the language of business and the business of language”, the slogan of the conference.
Machine translation was an important topic of discussion and the theme of several presentations. The evolution of machine translation and technology was tackled from the point of view of: providers, users, and researchers. There was a lot of concern regarding quality, turnaround time, and language combinations. JR Language will be evaluating providers of this technology in the upcoming months.
Another highlight of the conference was the importance of Localization Standards for the industry and all its players. There were several relevant initiatives that were discussed that are worth mentioning:
Gala Standard Initiative is focusing its approach in two core projects:
(1)Lingoport (The Language Interoperability Portfolio)which is defining standards for sending and receiving translation material to help overcome the fragmentation in which each tool has its own packaging format and, (2) model serviceelements and continues activities to educate about key standards bodies.
W3c Multilingual Web founded by the European Commission to best practices and standards that are aimed at helping content creators, localizers, tools developers, and others meet the challenges of the multilingual Web.
The conference gave us a boost in creative fuel that will improve the strategies and priorities of JR Language Translation Services as an industry leader in 2012 and 2013.
