Welcome to the First 2010 Edition of the Rubric Localization Newsletter

In This Issue:
Upcoming Birds of a Feather: 7 April

Our seventh Birds of a Feather breakfast will be held 7 April at David's Restaurant in Santa Clara. The discussion will feature Ian Henderson, CEO of Rubric, and Adam Asnes, president and CEO of Lingoport, experts in localization and internationalization. It will focus on ways to improve communications and interface between internationalization and localization teams.

Worldware: Recommended Conference and Discount

Industry leaders discuss ROI of software internationalization.
Worldware Conference
March 16-18, 2010
Hyatt Regency
Santa Clara, CA
Enter this code when you register for a 10% discount: WW10RUBR

Translators without Borders and Rubric: Spreading Knowledge Worldwide

One of the byproducts of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, has been an enormous outpouring of support from the translation community. That interest in helping spread knowledge to people who need it through translation, is now being taken beyond Haiti by Translators without Borders, a not-for-profit humanitarian organization that matches volunteer translators with the translation needs of non-governmental groups around the world. Read how Rubric is supporting this effort.

Quality Article Featured in tcworld

Françoise Spurling recently published an article in tcworld in Europe on defining quality in the eyes of the customer. True to our overall perspective on quality translation, this approach will help you ensure that quality meets your criteria, not the standard criteria set up by your vendor.

Cleaning up the Mess Left by Internationalization

In a prelude to our Birds of a Feather discussion on 7 April in Santa Clara, Ian Henderson wrote an article for MultiLingual Computing on the role automated translation and localization plays in interfacing with internationalization teams. Read this article and then come to our Birds of a Feather breakfast with your questions for Ian and our internationalization panel members.

Rubric Ruminations: A Whiff of Scottish Whisky

We start a new newsletter feature this quarter…a little localized knowledge from Edinburgh on Scottish Whisky. One of Scotland's most celebrated and important exports is Scottish whisky…learn more about this favorite drink from our resident experts.


Rubric Birds of a Feather Series: 7 April, Santa Clara: Picking up the Mess Left by Internationalization

Internationalization is defined as an enabling process. Localization is then an adaptation process that prepares content for a specific target market globally.

Ideally, the two processes work seamlessly. Internationalization should ease the process of localization.

Yet the gaps between localization and internationalization often remain wide. In 2007, Lingoport, a leader in internationalization, conducted a survey of customers and vendors that identified a major gap between internationalization and localization teams. The survey concluded that the perception gap between I1N teams and L10N can adversely impact time-to-market deadlines.

Three years later, the significant crevice between internationalization teams and localization providers persists, and too often no one builds a bridge across. Yet time-to-market deadlines have shrunk even further and expectations for lower I18N and L10N costs continue to increase. Content providers and code developers who bring those teams together more effectively will reap sizable benefits as they roll their products and services out worldwide.

The latest Rubric Birds of a Feather Series event will address the gap between I18N and L10N with the panelists provide tangible, relevant solutions for better workflow. Our panelists include internationalization and localization experts, and a client manager whose job it is to bring the two teams together. The audience will consist of peers in the two disciplines who will have the chance to tell their own war stories, interacting with the panel and other audience members. The discussion promises to be lively, provocative and interactive: Don't miss this opportunity to improve your I18N - L10N workflow-and network with your peers as well.

The Birds of a Feather event is a free breakfast for invited guests. It will be held on 7 April at David's Restaurant, 5131 Stars and Stripes Drive, Santa Clara, CA, beginning at 8:30 AM and lasting about two hours. Space is very limited. Please email jeff.kiser@rubric.com to reserve your spot.


Worldware: Recommended Conference and Discount

The Worldware Conference focuses on the ROI of software internationalization, and many I18N industry leaders will be there, including speakers from these (and more) companies:

The target attendees for this conference are anyone interested in management or technical issues of I18N, especially:

The program is very strong.


Translators without Borders and Rubric: Spreading Knowledge Worldwide

One of the byproducts of the devastating earthquake in Haiti has been an enormous outpouring of support from the translation community. That interest in helping spread knowledge to people who need it through translation, is now being taken beyond Haiti by Translators without Borders, a not-for-profit humanitarian organization that matches volunteer translators with the translation needs of non-governmental groups around the world.

Rubric is supporting this effort in a number of ways. Immediately after the Haitian disaster, Rubric offered its project management expertise to Translators without Borders to help coordinate translation efforts. Scott Norel-Wilson, Rubric Project Administrator, has worked closely with TWB and ProZ.com, which created a tool for evaluating volunteer translators to ensure that all translations were of top quality. While this work was conducted very quickly to help with Haitian projects right away, it has a lasting impact and will ensure that translators are available for emergency projects throughout the world.

In fact, the very first project that Scott and the Rubric team completed for TWB was for a Geneva-based non-government organization that helps train doctors worldwide. The 80-page document on neo-natal care was translated pro bono by Hélène Greffard-Lambert, a freelance translator based in France. She showed a very high level of professionalism and commitment in translating the complicated text: Rubric and TWB thank her for her work!

Translators without Borders is now taking the momentum from the Haiti disaster and building an organization to spread knowledge to other parts of the world. As Lori Thicke, TWB founder states, "Knowledge is power. We need to increase access to knowledge in the developing world, and now with the commitment in the translation community, we will have more ability to do so."

As such, Lori has formalized the Translators without Borders framework by creating a board, developing a business plan and beginning to fundraise. Françoise Spurling, COO of Rubric, is assisting in the development of the business plan, and she and Rebecca Petras, PR and Marketing Specialist for Rubric, are serving on the board. We are excited to be part of this challenging, yet critical, endeavor. More to come soon.


Is editing a waste of time?


Françoise Spurling, Rubric

A Different Approach to Translation Quality by Françoise Spurling, Rubric

Customers want-and expect-quality. That certainly states the obvious! But probe a little deeper and you find that what that really means varies greatly from client to client and even from project to project within one client.

So why do language service providers define quality the same way for every client?

As the translation and language service industry has matured, quality management and workflow processes have been developed to ensure client quality. Chief editor roles have been created and editing departments have grown large. LSPs habitually measure quality in the same way for each client.

I challenge that approach. Quality should be defined by the customer, not by the LSP.

The Conventional View

Typically language service providers put together a quality management program that includes a standard process and three professionals for each translation. First a top-notch translator is employed for a first draft. Then an editor is used to correct mistakes. Next a reviewer approves the style and technical content. The translator or editor implements the changes and the content is then finalized with page layout and desktop publishing. Quality control is then generally conducted by a native linguist.

In this view of quality assurance, the role of each team member is carefully defined. The translator must be qualified with relevant experience. The editor is a second linguist who may be better or less qualified than the first translator. The reviewer is a third linguist in the process and is generally a subject specialist. Finally, the quality control role is conducted either by the editor or a fourth linguist.

The process in this conventional approach to quality requires a strong emphasis on editing as a guarantee that the translation is going to be of good quality. But this is a fallacy. All too often the editor lacks the in depth knowledge which has led the translator to make specific linguistic choices. The result is that they actually risk introducing errors in the translation. Furthermore, with three to four individuals involved in the process, no one can take full ownership of the quality of the final piece. Furthermore, this system is set up to work across the board for every client in the same manner.

New approach to translation quality

Instead of creating a one-size-fits-all quality process, it is important to have a flexible quality program that addresses each client's uniqueness.

It does not matter if translated material meets a pre-determined set of quality measures if the client is unhappy with the final piece. Or maybe the piece is factually 100 percent correct, but the quality process made it two days late, and the client had instead measured success on a simple understanding of the text, not a perfect translation. The context surrounding each project varies, and the needs of each client differ greatly, so quality measurement must always start with the client.

At the end of each project, we ask three questions to measure the quality of translated content:

To ensure a positive outcome for each of these questions, we develop a flexible quality process for each project that always includes the following ingredients:

Good translators

The first ingredient is self evident; it's what comes to mind immediately when judging quality. And the tendency is to blame the translator if the translation is bad. But even the best translators cannot achieve good quality in every circumstance. Working in isolation the best translator in the world may not be able to satisfy the three customer criteria identified above.

So to ensure that we provide the best translators possible, we work with our customers to clearly define their end user messages. If done so upfront, the impact on the quality of the translated product or website will be significant. We also work with our customers to forecast projects well ahead of time to insure that dedicated translators are booked in plenty of time and delivery expectations are met even before projects are started. Good translators are in high demand. Importantly, we also give the translators a lot of responsibility, which increases their investment in each project and, ultimately, improves quality.

Tools

Secondly, to ensure quality is to give translators what they need. Specifically, they require context, reference and knowledge. Translation is not simply a process of word substitution with the application of grammatical rules. If it were, machines would have been doing the job successfully for a long time and we would not be here today. A translator must understand the source text, digest it and then recreate it in their native language. Similarly the translator needs to understand fully in which context the words are being used. That context is provided by the client-it could be the software product in its native language, a marketing brief or another helpful document.

Reference materials help ensure that the translation meets customer expectations-one of the criteria mentioned above. Such materials include previously translated material, existing glossaries, style guides and translation memories.

The final but most important tool for the translator is specialized knowledge. Ideally, translators will interface directly with the clients, receiving training on products and asking questions. Those questions often highlight ambiguities or errors in source materials.

Checks and balances

Finally it is important to establish proven checks and balances of translated content. Those include 1) appointing the right reviewers, 2) managing the reviewers and 3) reviewing test scripts. We provide reviewers with questionnaires to be completed based on the content to be translated as well as supply them with clear guidelines on how to check for quality. However, the upfront work we put into finding the best translators possible means that the reviewer's job should be quite simple: The translation is already in good shape. Other checks and balances include checking with 'power users' in the target country, establishing review schedules for each project, and providing test scripts of all translated software and websites.

New definition of roles

In this refined quality process, the roles of each person involved differ greatly from the conventional method. Most importantly, greater expectation of quality is put on the original translator. The translators are given complete ownership of the translation piece. They are fully aware of the context in which the translation is going to be used and are concerned about the way it is going to be received by its audience. The process makes the best possible use of the combined competencies of the translator and the reviewer and the quality control step, which is conducted by the original translator, is an opportunity for them to review the piece in its final format. This sense of ownership has the effect of sharpening the individuals' attention to detail to the extent that the introduction of a second, third or fourth individual becomes unnecessary.

In this quality system, the translator is in control and the reviewer uses a detailed spot check form to evaluate the translation. Editing is not a separate function, but rather integrated into the role of translator and reviewer, both of whom are intimately aware of the customer's concerns and quality criteria. In more than fifteen years of providing high-quality translations to a myriad of clients, I have learned that the client is always right-and that a quality system based on the client's needs really works.



Ian Henderson, CEO, Rubric

Picking up the mess left by Internationalization

By Ian Henderson, CEO of Rubric Limited, an Edinburgh-based language service provider serving the technology industry Internationalization is defined as an enabling process: Making original content, such as code, ready for markets around the world. Localization is then an adaptation process that prepares content for a specific target market globally.

Ideally, the two processes work seamlessly. Internationalization should ease the process of localization. Many years ago-perhaps after the fiasco of Y2K when countless professionals scrambled to 'undo' two-character year fields-IT and product teams, especially in the software industry, learned that it is better to design code or content with the intent of presenting it globally than to have to retrofit it after the fact.

Yet the gaps between localization and internationalization often remain wide. In 2007, Lingoport, a leader in internationalization, conducted a survey of customers and vendors that identified a major gap between internationalization and localization teams. The survey concluded that the perception gap between I1N teams and L10N can adversely impact time-to-market deadlines.

Three years later, the significant crevice between internationalization teams and localization providers persists, and too often no one builds a bridge across. Yet time-to-market deadlines have shrunk even further and expectations for lower I18N and L10N costs continue to increase. Content providers and code developers who bring those teams together more effectively will reap sizable benefits as they roll their products and services out worldwide.

The Problem

Many times when we begin work as a language service provider, the internationalization process is fully complete. In the client's mind, it is now just a question of localizing the files and we can go to market. If localization was as simple as that, we would be out of work pretty quickly.

The issue we face as an LSP coming up to speed to get a product to local markets around the world is that the I18n effort has frequently been completed without involving an experienced I18n team, Rubric, or any other LSP for that matter.

Take for example Synaptics, a leading worldwide developer of human interface solutions for mobile computing, communications and entertainment devices.

Previously Synaptics updated their multilingual RC files by adding new English strings at the end of each language section. This was a manual, error-prone and time consuming process for the client. An added complication was that not all languages were in sync, so the English strings added varied from language to language.

At Rubric's end, we had to extract the English strings from each section, translate them and patch them back into the multi-lingual files. As before, the engineering process was laborious and time consuming.

Streamlining the Process

Ideally, the I18N team and L10N team, whether external or internal, work closely together regularly. We have found that the ability to streamline is directly correlated to the volume and frequency of work.

In fact, when we work with a client to streamline and reduce the effort (and cost) of the localization process, it is imperative that there is high volume and frequency of work as we often undertake these cost reduction exercises without passing the cost on to the client. Once that relationship is established, we work with the client in the following areas.

File formats

It is surprising how many clients believe that if all localizable text is put into Excel or XML files during the internationalization process, then the problem is solved.

Unfortunately this is not the case. All serious localization companies will use translation tools when localizing files, but these tools will only support standard file formats, such as rc, resx, properties and xliff. If you come up with your own XML schema or Excel spreadsheet, you can be pretty sure some engineering effort will be required to separate translatable from non-translatable text. Fixing file format structure during the internationalization process speeds localization.

File names

Next, we work with clients to ensure the file naming scheme follows a recognizable and consistent pattern. Typically translation tools retain the name of the source file for the target file, but put the target file in a different folder. For example a source file called: /en/resources.rc may end up as /fr/resources.rc. Alternatively translation tools may rename the source file by adding or replacing language identifiers at the end of the file. For example: /res/props.properties may become /res/props_de-DE.properties.

We frequently get files dumped on us, which are a mishmash of file naming conventions. Handling these is not a problem in itself; but it adds time and increases cost as somebody needs to make sure the translated file names conform to the required pattern.

Language and country codes

Using standard language and country codes reduces the risk of errors. We have one client who uses gr to denote German, whilst another client uses the same gr for Greek. Because of this confusion, in one instance when we had a rush from one of the clients, we actually delivered the wrong language. Using standard ISO codes, such as de for German (Deutsch) and el for Greek (Ellinika) alleviates that problem.

Another client of ours uses bs-ID for one of their languages. This is not Bosnian as spoken in Indonesia; but, in fact, refers to Bahasa Indonesia (id-ID in ISO terms). Similarly bs-BS is neither Bosnian nor Bahasa as spoken in the Bahamas; but Bahasa Melayu (ms-MY in ISO speak). Straightening out these differences-using the ISO codes from the very beginning-streamlines the entire process.

Escaping the character

When working with software files we often encounter the issue of having to escape characters. In many cases there will be no escaped character in the source phrase, so deciding how to escape an apostrophe character (') in French, for example, can be a challenge. For example should it be: "j'ai", "j''ai", "j\'ai", "j\\'ai" or "j\\\'ai"? We often see multiple different examples even in the same file!

Fiddling with content

Within RC files there is usually some language specific content. For example, the highlighted text below is not usually presented to the translator as a translatable text as translation tools will make these changes automatically.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// English (U.S.) resources
 
#if !defined(AFX_RESOURCE_DLL) || defined(AFX_TARG_ENU)
#ifdef _WIN32
LANGUAGE LANG_ENGLISH, SUBLANG_ENGLISH_US
#pragma code_page(1252)
#endif //_WIN32

 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Japanese resources
 
#if !defined(AFX_RESOURCE_DLL) || defined(AFX_TARG_JPN)
#ifdef _WIN32
LANGUAGE LANG_JAPANESE, SUBLANG_DEFAULT
#pragma code_page(932)
#endif //_WIN32

RC localization tools are aware of this and will change the content accordingly; however, we have also seen instances where content needs to be introduced into the translated file. This can be addressed, but it requires additional effort, time and cost.

#The file Contains the property Values. Please read \ as escape characters on the left hand side. For example Test\ Literal= should be read as Test Literal
#Fri Aug 28 18:32:04 IST 2009
Start\ Receipt=Start Receipt
On\ Case\ Pre\ Receipt=On Case Pre Receipt
Change\ Shipment\ Status=Change Shipment Status
Blind\ Return\ Receipt=Blind Return Receipt
#The file Contains the property Values. Please read \ as escape characters on the left hand side. For example Test\ Literal= should be read as Test Literal
#Fri Aug 28 18:32:04 IST 2009
French=Fran\u00E7ais
Start\ Receipt=Proc\u00e9der \u00e0 la r\u00e9ception
On\ Case\ Pre\ Receipt=Sur pr\u00e9r\u00e9ception de caisse
Change\ Shipment\ Status=Modification d'\u00e9tat d'exp\u00e9dition
Blind\ Return\ Receipt=Re\u00e7u retour sans autorisation

Lack of context

Translating out of context invariably leads to a lower quality product and is the biggest challenge facing linguists as clients try to reduce the localization cost. When all contextual information is stripped out and translated pieces are reduced to an Excel spreadsheet, the challenge for the linguist is considerable. What clients do not realize is that stripping out context may actually be more expensive, as more time has to be spent testing and fixing the translated strings in context after translation.

Multi-lingual files

Multi-lingual files add to the workload, as they need to be split into mono-lingual files and reassembled after translation. When we can work with the internationalization teams, we can limit the impact of multilingual source files on the localization process and cost.

Summary

Having worked in the software industry, localizing documentation and code for more than 15 years, I have seen it all. When we started, internationalization was not really recognized as an important step in delivering content globally. Now it is, but there is still room for improvement, making sure I18N and L10N are not in silos. When we step out of our silo and work together, the streamlined process reduces costs all around and speeds content to market.

I would like to return to Synaptics.

We decided it would be best to create a master list of all English strings which had been translated in one or more languages. The cost of translating the complete master file for every language, even if the strings were not required in a particular language, turned out to be much cheaper than maintaining a separate list of English strings for each language. Once the master files have been translated, Synpatics merges all the languages into multi-lingual RC files by using automated scripts.

Synaptics has been open to implementing suggested changes and eliminating wasted effort - in order to streamline the process. As a result of reducing the overall effort, they get their translations much quicker than before and at a much lower cost.


Rubric Ruminations: A Whiff of Scottish Whisky

In our new feature on one of Scotland's most celebrated exports, we will provide a little localized knowledge of Scottish Whisky from our expert, Ian Henderson (with a little help from the Internet)…

First, since we are in the business of translation, localization and, more generally, words…a word about whisky vs. whiskey: Which is correct? While both spellings are correct in Word programs, they should not be used interchangeably. Whisky is the older form of the word and is still used to describe Scottish and Canadian whiskies. However, distilleries in the U.S. and Ireland use the new form of the word…whiskey. We will be using whisky because we are specifically talking about Scottish distilleries.

Pick of the Quarter: This quarter, our whisky pick is Tamdhu, a single malt Scotch whisky and a Speyside whisky distillery, located in Knockando in Banffshire, Scotland. The distillery was founded in 1897.

Unlike many other distilleries, the Tamdhu distillery has no roof-shaped pagoda above its malt furnaces. This is one of the last distilleries to always malter all of its barley on the spot by a mechanical saladin.

Tamdhu is a lighter, younger whisky than counterparts. It is a great middle-of-the-road drink: a great choice for aficionados and whisky newbies alike.

But the main reason we choose this distillery this quarter is that, after more than 100 years, the distillery is closing in April. We highly encourage nabbing a bottle before it is too late. The Whisky Exchange online has a number of high and low-end choices from Tamdhu.

While we are very sorry to see Tamdhu closing, all is not doom and gloom in the Scottish whisky world. There are actually a number of distilleries opening. We will be trying some of these out and can give reviews in the future, but if you cannot wait until then, check out the list of new distilleries here.