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Subject:Re: Translations From:"Michael A. Lewis" <lewism -at- BRANDLE -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Fri, 7 Nov 1997 14:59:03 +1100
Tom Lange wrote:
<selected excerpts>
> One of the areas I must investigate is a way to reduce or limit the
> words we use in our documentation set. I know that some years ago
> several companies used a limited set of words for their documentation
> efforts. Examples of these word sets were basic English, fundamental
> English, and structured English.
The closest I have seen to this recently has been the use of standard
translations for standard terms. This is helpful if it's restricted to
technical / trade terms; it's potentially disastrous if it extends to
normal language.
The reason is that it more-or-less encourages an excessively literal,
word-for-word approach to translation. Effective translation really
happens at the level of the clause, only dropping down to the level of
phrase or word within the clause context. A good translator will ask
"How would a user of the target language normally express this meaning?"
-- and the primary meaning is expressed at clause level.
> Questions:
>
> What do you do to reduce or control your translation costs?
Wrong question. This is like controlling documentation development
costs: you should look at the total cost, including the consequences of
poor documents. I've seen companies running huge support operations find
that 75% or more of the support load is directly attributable to defects
in the documentation. Poor translations have exactly the same effect:
inflated support costs, inflated warranty claims, loss of repeat
business, etc.
> What other methods do you use to control translation costs?
With the right methodology, you can avoid translation of output
documents entirely. You can develop documents concurrently in all target
markets, using a common structural design for outputs, and sourcing from
a shared input set of specs, interviews, etc. The inputs may have to be
translated, but the quality of the translation isn't critical so long as
the factual content is preserved. -- Perhaps I can interest you in
buying such a methodology? :-)
--
Michael Lewis
Brandle Pty Limited, Sydney, Australia
: PO Box 1249 : Suite 8, The Watertower :
: Strawberry Hills, NSW 2012 : 1 Marian St, Redfern 2016 :
: Tel +61-2-9310-2224 : Fax +61-2-9310-5056 :
