Re: Controlling translation costs

Subject: Re: Controlling translation costs
From: Betty Keddy <bkeddy -at- MC -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 11:40:08 -0500

About five years ago while I was writing for Digital Equipment Corporation's International Systems Engineering group (before I was "right sized"), they published "Developing International User Information," a book for writers, editors, and graphic designers. It provides help in planning for localization and translation, as well as designing, writing and illustrating international user information. The ISBN number is DP ISBN 1-5558-84-X if anyone is interested. I think it is still available. I know that another book from that group on developing international software, which was created about the same time, is still available.

Regards,
Betty

Barb Philbrick wrote:

>One way to keep costs down is to have a well-prepared document.
>
>A few years ago, there was an article in the STC journal titled
>something like "Improving Translatability Using Syntactic Cues."
>
>Unfortunately, I can't find the article in this mess I call an office,
>but one of the things I remember was to leave in cue words that we
>sometimes take out as native speakers. For example, we often leave out
>noun markers such as "an" and "the. (There's also a situation where we
>leave out "that," but I can't think of a good example right now.)
>
>By leaving in all the cue words, you can reduce the number of
>questions and potential mistakes the translator could make.
>
>Another consideration is layout. If the translation firm is doing the
>layout, make sure you leave enough room for callouts and in the layout
>for potential increases in text length in the new language. I've heard
>this is a particular problem with German.
>
>That's all the wisdom I can scare up today.
>
>Good luck,
>
>Barb
>
>On Sat, 8 Nov 1997 20:51:48 -0600, you wrote:
>
>> Tom Lange wondered about how to control translation costs.
>> Here's the best tip of all: edit the documents rigorously
>> beforehand. A clear, easy to read and understand document
>> is also easy to translate, and that means lower costs.
>>
>> --Geoff Hart @8^)
geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
>> Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
>>
>Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
>Technical Writing


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