Re: Controlling translation costs

[Barb Philbrick <caslonsvcs -at- IBM -dot- NET>]

One way to keep costs down is to have a well-prepared document.

A few years ago, there was an article in the STC journal titled
something like "Improving Translatability Using Syntactic Cues."

Unfortunately, I can't find the article in this mess I call an office,
but one of the things I remember was to leave in cue words that we
sometimes take out as native speakers. For example, we often leave out
noun markers such as "an" and "the. (There's also a situation where we
leave out "that," but I can't think of a good example right now.)

By leaving in all the cue words, you can reduce the number of
questions and potential mistakes the translator could make.

Another consideration is layout. If the translation firm is doing the
layout, make sure you leave enough room for callouts and in the layout
for potential increases in text length in the new language. I've heard
this is a particular problem with German.

That's all the wisdom I can scare up today.

Good luck,

Barb

On Sat, 8 Nov 1997 20:51:48 -0600, you wrote:

> Tom Lange wondered about how to control translation costs.
> Here's the best tip of all: edit the documents rigorously
> beforehand. A clear, easy to read and understand document
> is also easy to translate, and that means lower costs.
>
> --Geoff Hart     @8^)     geoff-h -at- mtl -dot- feric -dot- ca
> Disclaimer: Speaking for myself, not FERIC.
>
Barbara Philbrick, Caslon Services Inc.
Technical Writing


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