Re: How do you ensure the quality of translations?

["Gene Kim-Eng" <techwr -at- genek -dot- com>]

I pick my foreign-language SMEs the same way I pick my translators: 
native speakers of the target language, preferably in the target 
country, who can also read the source language.  They check the content 
of the translation against the content in the source language after the 
translators, who are native speakers of the target language, preferably 
in the target country, who also read the source language, have checked 
the copy.  I wouldn't want SMEs proofing grammar, spelling, etc., in 
other languages any more than I'd want them doing it in documents that 
are not intended for translation.

If documents are technical, SMEs would be technical people; if marketing 
documents, marketing people.

In cases where there are mutliple dialects of a target language, pick 
the one most likely to be used by the largest number of users and stick 
to it, unless you have budget for multi-country editions (I haven't ever 
had it yet); the process needs to be completed *sometime* before the end 
of the universe.

Gene Kim-Eng


From: Peter Neilson <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
<Sometimes that is not enough. Both Spanish and English have major 
issues
<of localization. While technical folks can usually deal quite happily
<with tyres, kerbs and colours vs tires, curbs and colors, translation 
of
<marketing materials must be checked by a team local to the target area.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help  
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices.
http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/

Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- web -dot- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- 

To unsubscribe send a blank email to 
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40web.techwr-l.com


To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to admin -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot-  Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/ for more resources and info. 

Please move off-topic discussions to the Chat list, at:
http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/listinfo/techwr-l-chat