Crazy situation: Customer responsible for translation

[John Garison]

Trina,

I was in a similar situation once. We were trying to distribute our 
application overseas, and we signed a deal with an in-country software 
distributor that required them to translate not only all the 
documentation and marketing material as part of their license to 
distribute and resell the application, but the actual software as well. 
Maybe this isn't an exact parallel, but it's at least close.

We sent them our source doc files which were in Word and Doc-to-Help at 
the time. We also sent them the resource files for the application. They 
(I'm assuming here) found an in-country company that did the actual 
translation, and it worked out pretty well.

So, all is not lost.

IMHO, I'd plan on sending them your source files. If - after sufficient 
shock is registered - your company decides to do such a thing despite 
the potential risks (they could steal your code etc.), then be a good 
soldier and be prepared to send them what they would need to do the job. 
That means source code, not PDFs. It also means that you'll need to keep 
them apprised of future changes, so start keeping track of that sort of 
thing as well.

Good luck!

My 2¢,

John Garison



Trina Pearce wrote:

>My company has decided that we will not translate our docs. Our
>customers will be responsible. 
>
>So now, our doc team is faced with the task of determining what type of
>files to provide our customers with so they can have the documentation
>translated.
>
> 
>  
>