Translation Made Easy STAR Group Top 10 Lessons for Translators January 20 th 2006

Translation Made Easy Agenda 1. STAR Introduction 2. Top 10 Lessons for Translators 3. Q&A

Translation Made Easy STAR Group… Europe's largest privately held translation vendor. –Headquarters Switzerland, Founded1984. –800 employees in 35 global offices. –One of the top 3 global translation companies. Leading Translation Software since 1994 –Translation Memory, Workflow, Publication –SGML / XML publishing technology Unique Focus on Technology and Services –Single source for translation services and tools.

Translation Made Easy STAR Top 10 Lessons for Translators 1.Never miss a deadline 2.Specialise 3.Focus on customer needs 4.Analyse Terminology first 5.Organize your TM structure 6.Check segmentation before translation 7.There is no perfect translation 8.100% Matches are not perfect 9.Proofread in context 10.Check your files before returning them. Translation and Process Factors Business Factors

Translation Made Easy Lesson 1 Never Miss A Deadline Understand the reasons behind why translators can miss deadlines. Time Required is more than a factor of word count. Deadline considerations.. –Project Managers can move some deadlines… More to follow. –What is driving the PM’s deadline… –Need it now!, need it right!

Translation Made Easy Lesson 2 Specialise Specialise. –In an industry. –In your native language. You get more work from being a specialist in a particular area. Agencies like to work with the same translator for projects/industry/customers. You build up expertise in that area including TM’s and Terminology. You become an asset. You will actually rated on 3 key areas….

Translation Made Easy How agencies rate translators 1) Translation Skills 2) Technology & Process Skills 3) Industry Skills

Translation Made Easy Lesson 3 Focus on customer needs Its all about your customer needs! Clients can have particular idiosyncrasies –Terminology –Writing Style –Formatting Guidelines –Spelling –Languages –It is all about meeting the needs of your customer (not the best translation!) (slider bar – accuracy and style) you have to be able to move that bar as required. Accuracy Style

Translation Made Easy Lesson 4 Analyse terminology first! How do you translate … “Wire by Wire” Words you take for granted may not be so… –Borough Council Head… –“Rates of Payment” Form…. a)Be translated literally b)Remain in English as it refers to a specific form? c)Translated with English term left in brackets (Rates of Payment) Legal … “Leave to Remain”…(Will end up in court) Don’t deliver the project with lots of questions…(Deadline) Asking questions up front earns credit…

Translation Made Easy Lesson 5 Organize your TM Structure Have multiple translation memories. Single TM’s can fragment and get slower as the grow. –Customers can driver TM’s to fragment… –Context can drive this also…

Translation Made Easy Organizing TM Have ability to use your TM’s any way you need to.

Translation Made Easy Organizing TM Transit has the ability to search TM’s in a variety of ways. Client Marketing Technical General

Translation Made Easy Lesson 6 Check segmentation before translation Check your segmentation first ! In word files! new lines, etc… Segmentation issues…. –1) make your TM valueless (fragments….) –2) make translation difficult for you.(context…) –3) harder translation – impacts deadlines… An example…..

Translation Made Easy Lesson 7 There is no perfect translation Translation is not about words – its about meaning and usage. –What is the purpose of the translation… –Ask what the translation will be used for. –Information, publication, use in court. –Medical translation (doctor, training information, surgical) –Who is the target readership? –Do we have to meet any standard ISO, other industry standard? –Will my work be proofread afterwards? –Any special terminology required? –Is the client going directly to print?

Translation Made Easy Lesson 8 100% matches are not perfect A 100% match is not perfect! (TM’s can fragment) Topical issue right now –some agencies pay you to proof them, others do not. They are only suggestions from the translation memory. Options –1) Reuse the existing text exactly. –2) Partly Reuse. –3) Reject it entirely.

Translation Made Easy Lesson 9 Proofread in context Proof read in context where possible –Remember someone has to read your final text!. –Readability and Style are just as important as perfect strings. –Always check against your reference material. Finish the job the next day. –Your mind will be in a different frame. –So your quality will be better.

Translation Made Easy Lesson 10 Check your files before returning them Do your QA Checks before returning files. Transit (TM Tools) have built in checks. –Spell checking –Formatting codes –Terminology check Client specific requests… –What type of page layout is required? –Any special instructions given?

Translation Made Easy STAR Top 10 Lessons for Translators 1.Never miss a deadline 2.Specialise 3.Focus on customer needs 4.Analyse Terminology first 5.Organize your TM structure 6.Check segmentation before translation 7.There is no perfect translation 8.100% Matches are not perfect 9.Proofread in context 10.Check your files before returning them. Translation and Process Factors Business Factors

Translation Made Easy Contact STAR TS. Docklands Innovation Park, East Wall Road, Dublin 3, Ireland Phone: