Several Methods To Reduce Localization And Translation Costs
Companies with a global vision have realized that to compete in a global economy
, both they and their products have to speak their clients language.
Once you decide to localize for a certain market, measures should be taken to make localization tasks as efficient and effective as possible. Throwing the localization project over the wall to your distributors or just any third party is not the best way to go. You should be working with professionals that know how to reduce your localization costs, without sacrificing quality.
Every localization project begins with a spec and a plan. The spec is like a bill of material that references and quantifies all the components requiring localization. This includes the number of words to translate, words to review, words to leverage from previous translations, pages to layout or desktop publish, topics to compile and Quality Assurance (QA), art files to localize or recapture, tables and dialog boxes to resize and QA, software files to compile and QA, etc.
Since project timelines and costs are derived from this spec, it is essential that these specs result from the use of the most optimized process, translating into the most optimized costs and schedules.
Reducing long term localization costs should be the main goal. Investing in the correct process may increase upfront costs, but will tremendously reduce long term costs. Use of translation memory tools, glossary and style guide generation, use of professional translators and investment in quality assurance processes; will increase your upfront costs. They are essential, however, to reduce long term costs. There are many processes to consider and follow. A top-down localization process reuses text from translation memory and applies it to the new source files, while a bottom-up localization process compares or contrasts old and new source files, applying changes to the old target files. Depending on the level of change, it may make sense to follow one or the other. A hybrid methodology that combines both top-down and bottomup processes is the ideal methodology to implement.
Once the correct process is identified, look at optimizing the different components that comprise localization costs. It is no secret that translation contributes to over 50% of a localization projects costs, so any optimization you do to reduce the word count will lead to lower translation and localization costs.
Verbosity is therefore the enemy. Try to be concise and straight to the point. Eliminate unneeded and obsolete text. Not only will you save on localization costs, but your end-users will thank you for it.
In an effort to simultaneously release a product into many
languages, source files are often rushed to localization teams, shortening the edit cycle. While it saves time to start translation early, always make sure that the final source files are thoroughly edited, before they are submitted for localization.
Early optimization for localization and proper editing performed on the source files will reduce rework and result in savings multiplied by the number of languages that you localize into.
With the advent of new authoring tools, single-sourcing is finally becoming a reality. Anyone that reuses information throughout documents or needs to present it in different formats should consider single-sourcing. By consolidating recurring information and building final files from a common source, regardless of formats, translation-leveraging from translation memories is minimized and costs reduced.
Perhaps you have a product that works on various platforms or for various Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), and multiple user manuals are needed. In these cases, the majority of the content is the same. Rather than writing and maintaining three separate manuals, a low-level single-source solution would allow you to write the content once and "code" it for each adaptation. The same is true if you want to release the same information into many formats such as printed manuals, online help or context-sensitive help.
Many of the current authoring tools offer single sourcing options. Most of these options provide the basic functionality needed to convert docs to help, or vice versa.
While single-sourcing deals with consistency at the topic level, efforts should be made to ensure consistency at the string level. Improving consistency in your source language documents or applications minimizes the turnaround time and reduces
translation costs, especially when translation memory tools are used. Translators only have to translate any unique string once. If you are consistent in the use of common strings, the total strings count to translate is reduced by the number of consistently reused strings.
Consistency is probably the most important concept in instructional writing --such as help text, procedures and demos. To help maintain consistency, create a glossary for your terminology and a style guide to follow, and do follow them.
There is a price to be paid for quality. Always keep in mind whom you are localizing your product for. Cost-cutting measures should never steer your focus away from the user. The costliest localization project is the one that causes the user to shelve your localized product and, instead, use your source language product! All localization efforts and costs will then be lost.
A second translator review, in-country proof, or final quality assurance may seem unnecessary, but bypassing any of these areas will lead to inferior quality, having a negative effect on your companys image, reputation, product usability and end-user satisfaction.
When partnering with a localization vendor, you have decided to work with professionals that understand all the nuances of localization. You should expect professional results that your end-user will be thrilled to use. Quality comes at a price justifiable by its dividends- lower support calls, wider product use and satisfied clients. The cost of poor quality far exceeds its savings. Never accept anything less than a completely satisfied end-user.
Aunes Oversettelser AS has been in the business for 26 years, and we are specialized in technical translations. We are specializing in the Nordic languages, and can offer services into Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Icelandic. The premier translation agency for Norway and the Nordic region! Technical translation services for businesses in the Nordic countries and translation agencies world-wide.
by: carmen
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