TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
I'd appreciate any advice or anecdotes on the following problem...
Over the past three months, my company has created an online help system
using RoboHelp. Our help system will be run from the menu bar, and we also
plan to have context-sensitive dialog box help. Most of our users speak
English, but our German, Spanish, and French customers have seen demos of
the new help system and are starting to grumble that it's in English.
Our application is easily internationalized, but our paper documentation has
never been translated due to cost. Now that the online help system is part
of the application, our customers may want to translate the online help.
While the customer is responsible for the translating, we want to make it as
easy as possible.
This is a new arena for me.
Has anyone encountered this kind of problem before? What was your solution?
Do you know of any good resources for writing international documentation?