The Global Advisor Newsletter - Writing and designing documents for translation. Supporting the Translation Process. Handling Acronyms and other helpful tips. Translation Bloopers.

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Features articles of interest on language translation and localization, culture, language technology and other related topics. The goal of the Global Advisor Newsletter is to inform and entertain.

Other Editions

Fifth Edition

Writing for Translation

Designing for Translation

Supporting the Translation Process

Acronyms

Translation Bloopers

Other Helpful Tips

"In the early stages of product launch it is important to provide the best service and customer support,
including training and operating instructions accelerate placements and continue sales momentum. Poor training or customer operational errors due to misunderstood information can slow down that momentum." (A Project Manager)

Writing for Translatability

Most documentation is translated by translators whose mother tongue is the target language and English their second language. Therefore, it is very important that the English source material be very translatable. Simple mistakes, ambiguity or inappropriate choice of terminology will result in unnecessary questions and increase the probability of errors, which will require the revision of multiple versions of the product.

Clear, succinct and internationally relevant copy results in shorter review cycles for translated materials, reduced translation costs and enhanced quality.

Try to think “international” from project start and include appropriate localization staff in project planning and in the documentation review process.

Do’s

	Follow the standard English word order
	Plan samples and scenarios with localization in mind
	Consider the international meaning of symbols and metaphors

Don’ts

	Ambiguity
	Long and complex sentences
	Wordiness and jargon
	Idiomatic or colloquial expressions

Helpful tips

	Choose one term for each concept and use it consistently.
	Do not omit articles and prepositions when they help to clarify the meaning.
	Avoid wordiness - wordy sentences tend to be unclear and difficult to translate.
	Develop glossaries of frequently used terminology.
	Use state-of-the art tools to support the translation process.

Designing for Translation

Designing for translation is creating the format of a publication with the rest of the world in mind. Localized versions of documentation should follow the US version as closely as possible as to wording, organization, art layout and so on. The clearer and more internationally correct that you can make the source material, the smoother the localization process will be.

Helpful Tips

	Research the meaning of icons before you adopt them. Some may have a negative connotation in other cultures.
	Reduce the variety of formatting styles in the English copy.
	Select samples, scenarios and art that are compelling and culturally appropriate.

The Language of Colors

Although it is customary to describe colors in terms of flowers, the meaning may be misinterpreted by the translator. For example, to an American, “periwinkle” means blue, because we appreciate the light blue hue of the periwinkle blossom. However, to a German, it means “immergrün”, because they value the dark green leaves of the plant.

Brand Naming

Be careful of not selecting a brand name that has a negative meaning in another language.

Numbers

Decimals are set off by dots according to the US and UK practice or by commas (Continental practice).

Supporting the Translation Process

Glossary Development and Maintenance

Developing and maintaining glosses of frequently used terminology is highly recommended as a way to improve consistency in the translation and reducing cost.

Translation Memory

A tool that compares two versions of the same document or similar documents and identified which terms (words, phrases, sentences or paragraphs) have been translated already into the desired language(s) and do not need to be retranslated. The match does not need to be exact.

Machine Translation

The computer constructs a translated sentence based on an input source language sentence to generate a document of draft quality to be post-edited by a translator. The quality of the output depends on the accuracy of the software used and on how well the user maintains glossaries and dictionaries.

Acronyms

Note that the order of the letters may change from language to language.

OAS: Organization of American States
OEA: Organización de Estados Americanos

UN: United Nations
ONU: Organisation des Nations Unies

US: United States
EE.UU: Estados Unidos

HIV: Human immunodeficiency virus
SIDA: Syndrome immunodéficitaire acquis

Translation Bloopers

Seen on the door of an elevator:

The lift is being fixed for the next few days. During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.

Can you guess where this came from?

The vodka is strong, but the meat is rotten.

Other Helpful Hints

If you invite a business associate from the UK to a meeting on 10/5/97, he or she may arrive to the meeting on May 10, 1997. It is best to avoid the numerical date format to avoid international confusion.
Generally, text in other languages is longer than English text. In some cases that difference can be very significant. Be sure to include enough "white space" in tables and other such formats to provide for text expansion during translation.

It is best to avoid formats that force frequent hyphenation, as it is distracting to the reader.