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Re: Looking for totally subjective opinions on HATs
Subject:Re: Looking for totally subjective opinions on HATs From:Lisa M. Bronson <lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 10 Mar 2005 17:02:45 -0600
Posting for Bill Swallow (techcommdood -at- gmail -dot- com), who, because of a
list hiccup, has exceeded his max messages for the day one message too
soon. *grin* (Thanks for your commitment to the list, Bill!)
<begin>
I got my start in translation and have worked with localization
efforts ever since, and am very involved with my current company's
localization department.
Most translation companies retain translation memory if you are a
recurring client but they may not indicate it (to get more $ from
those who don't know better). It happens.
> Submitting *only* the changed sections as an XML file that is
> automatically inserted into the updated docs upon return is far more
> efficient, and there is little argument about what work was involved
> in the translation.
No, then you get issues with missing nuances due to fuzzy matches not
being completely identified. It's how "all your base are belong to us"
can happen.
> Hewlett Packard has reported that in the first year following their
adoption of a
> CMS (Documentum), they saved about $6 Million on localization costs
alone.
CMS can help, but a strong adherence to style and an organized
approach to writing is the key (this is something that CMS imposes,
but it's not unique to CMS). Rather, if you're good about not tweaking
paragraphs to get them "just so" all the time and use translation
memory, you're good to go. I don't need a corporate profile to tell me
that, as I've lived the ROI over the past 10 years on my own.
> It should also be noted that in some shops, new kinds of documents may
> be prepared that contain bits and pieces from others. If these, too,
> must be localized, again it represents a major cost savings.
Correct, but that has nothing to do with CMS or not if you organize
contant correctly. CMS facilitates the effort, but it's not required.
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