Translation Localization Services for High-Tech Companies | Software Localization, Website translation, Medical Translation, Product Localization, Technical Translation

As 2012 draws to its end, many professionals in the translation localization industry are making new resolutions and revisiting their skill sets looking for ways to increase their success chances in 2013.
Here are 10 skills to consider outside language-related learning.

1- Lean – workers and companies have become very lean over the past four years. Everyone expects more for less and these expectations will continue in 2013. Streamline and optimize your cost structures to help reduce your fixed and variable costs.

2- Negotiation – negotiation skills can help you stretch the pie.… Read More…

If you find yourself needing translation services, before you go to Google Translate or start looking for a translator ask yourself the following four important questions:

1. Is the translation needed for internal consumption, or to communicate with the outside world?
2. Is the translation volume outrageously large?
3. Is the translation needed instantly, or can it wait for a professional to do it?
4. What is your liability or opportunity cost if the translation is not done correctly?

If you are not sure how to gauge an outrageously large volume, please note that one professional translator earning a professional’s wage, can translate 2000-4000 words per day comfortably.… Read More…

Can language students be trusted with commercial translation tasks?  You probably heard of the $15M Series B financing to fund a web startup that is promising to use language students along with an online crowdsourcing methodology to disrupt the translation industry.

The new startup develops a language training platform for users to learn new languages for free. Part of their learning involves translating sentences from and into the language they are learning. Translations that correlate among students will then be sold to translation buyers.

To paraphrase a colleague, this is like taking differential equations problems and outsourcing them to a class of fifth graders hoping that if enough fifth graders derive the same answer, the answer can be assumed correct.… Read More…

Last week, we received the following email:

“Primarily we are trying to identify new, changed, deleted material.  Any leveraging of prior translations is a possible side benefit in a small number of cases, not the main goal.  At this point I am reconsidering and may just go to something like compare differences between the two branches in a CMS tool.

Now that we have just finished the huge task of getting all translated material synced with English we want to create a workflow that keeps us synced but does not involve a huge project every release.  

In the past we would only update a few books each release.  Books were selected which seemed most out of sync with English versions.  We were guided by user complaints but no hard data.  I’m looking for a more exact and sustainable methods that will keep our localization costs steady but give higher quality non-English documentation.  I imagine most of your software vendor customers face a similar problem. 

Since you are the experts your opinion is most valuable to me.”

With the advent of Translation Memory software and Hybrid Top-Down and Bottom-Up localization methodologies, technical writers and developers no longer need to keep track of what changes take place on their software and documentation.… Read More…

A recent call with a prospective client reminded me of the English TV show Mind Your Language.

If you are not familiar with Mind Your Language, it is a hilarious British sitcom from the 70s, where a young teacher by the name of Mr. Brown, acted by the late Barry Evans, tries in vain to teach a bunch of rowdy foreign students the proper use of the English language.

While doing so, Mr. Brown faces a multitude of cultural, political and communication challenges that made the show brilliantly funny and very successful.… Read More…

While in London at the Olympics, Al Roker from the Today Show on NBC had three trivia questions to Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and to the American audience in his daily “English Class”. They were the following:

When the British utter the following English words, what do they mean by them: Cheerio, Use your Loaf, and Porky Pies?

The answers were respectively: Goodbye, Use your Head and Lies. To our English speaking U.S. audience, would you have guessed these answers?

It is no secret that understanding the culture is a very important factor in ensuring proper communication.… Read More…

So, you have made the decision to translate - localize your product, chosen your markets, and decided upon a strategy. Now, you’re anxious to delve into the project! Before you do, make sure you familiarize yourself with the best practices for common translation – localization tasks – the do’s and don’ts of how to turn your efforts into a glowing success.

In this post, we equip you with insight into the industry that will help you evaluate each translation - localization provider for quality and value. You’ll also learn a number of best practices you can adopt in-house to ease the translation – localization process.… Read More…