Translating docs (was: Hiring and Tech Writing 101)

["Brierley, Sean" <Brierley -at- QUODATA -dot- COM>]

Hallo:

I have had to deal with the frustrating issue of translation in the
past, but it all really boils down to cost.

As Joaquim points out, the best way is to write the document well in one
language, educate the translator in the product, and translate using a
professional translator. Then, have a native-language technical writer
review the translation for accuracy.

As Joaquim points out, technical writers expect US salaries. Translators
do not have time to learn the product. And, the process of revision
takes time that cannot be afforded.

One solution is to pass the cost along to the customer. Unfortunately,
if the customer cannot or doesn't want to pay, you sell no
product--which is what it's all about.

So, what you are left with is a Portuguese native being offered
documentation in Italian or Spanish, neither of which fits the bill.

My experiences vary. One company decided three months before the EU went
ISO that it needed documentation in languages other than English. They
tried translation software. They tried affixing the necessary
certification stickers anyway, without the certification. Then, they
paid a European translation service $$$ to do the job. No such
requirement was in place for Asia, so they didn't translate for Asia.

Another company provided English documentation and source files to
Europe and Asia and required the overseas network of dealers to tackle
translation. The result was an unorganized patchwork of translated
documents that included no complete sets and was typically two versions
in arrears. The costs were low, however, and native speakers generally
created the documents by translating the English themselves.

A third company had all of its English documentation written by Italians
for the UK market. The US market was shipped UK materials. The
translators spoke and wrote English well but their sentence and
paragraph structure was quite Italian. Though the words were almost
always correct, and though the writer was intimately familiar with the
product, native English speakers (US in particular) had trouble reading
the documentation. For a while, this company did employ a US-based
native technical writer to create English documentation for the English
and UK markets separately, but an inability to provide timely technical
information across the Atlantic to this writer doomed the effort.

What's the answer? In my opinion write for your own audience first.
Write for English second--even if you do not sell to the US/UK, the
language is  relatively common globally. Write for your biggest markets
third, I always try for German, Japanese, Spanish, French, and Italian.
Followed by a Scandinavian language (was Finnish at one place and
Swedish at another) and Portuguese (being US-based, always for the
Brazilians, sorry Joaquim). Other Asian languages always stir debate
because there is a strong fear--whether it is justified I do not
know--of piracy.

Anyway, determine your markets, price point in each, costs, and
translate accordingly.

Good luck all.

Sean
sean -at- quodata -dot- com

>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Joaquim Baptista [mailto:px -at- EASYPHONE -dot- PT]

[very snipped]

>>>First, it is difficult to translate into Portuguese all the
>>>concepts of the
>>>product that we routinely use in English.

>>>You have to "educate" the
>>>translator.  When the translator does not really want to be
>>>"educated",
>>>because this is just one job among many

>>>you
>>>can't just "translate"; you must revise, again and again,
>>>and that takes a
>>>lot of time

>>>But we hired an native English speaker that revises the
>>>English in all our documents

>>>BTW, we tried to hire an American technical writer; however, we can't
>>>afford anything near the "standard rate" in the USA

>>>Most American companies do not bother to translate to
>>>Portuguese, even if
>>>it is the 7th most spoken language in the world.  When they do, they
>>>usually translate to Brazilian Portuguese... and that does
>>>not work for me

>>>And it gets worse!  UMAX thought that it was reasonable to sell me a
>>>scanner with Adobe PhotoDeluxe... with a choice of Spanish
>>>or Italian as
>>>languages!  I speak neither Spanish nor Italian


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