Software localization costs should be lower than opportunity + Liability

We recently received the following email from one of our European prospective clients: “Apart from the UK, we are currently active to varying degrees in a number of overseas markets including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Australasia. Where translations have been required, we have hitherto conducted this activity in partnership with our agent resident in the territory in question.

While this approach has yielded satisfactory results, however, it has to be said that the timescales have generally been unacceptably protracted. This has been due, in part, to the fact that the translator invariably has other day-to-day responsibilities and cannot devote his or her entire attention to the task and to the rather haphazard approach they have to proof reading, which then combine to totally disrupt workflow on other projects.

Of course, not only does accurate and timely translation make good business sense, within the ever enlarging EC it is a legal requirement – albeit a rather poorly policed one - and I constantly worry about the implications of being found wanting in whichever territory we are failing to provide the correct documentation.

Having been responsible for technical publications service for twelve years, during which time I have made myself something of a tiresome burden with regard to this particular issue, it would be true to say that there has been a distinct lack of enthusiasm to pursue things in a more professional manner.

Recently, however, I have received approval to investigate the costings for translating our documentation. This is still a long way from where we should be and no promises are being made but perhaps it represents some cause for hope.

With this in mind and as a means of keeping the concept as high on the agenda as possible, I should be grateful if you would cost the attached operator’s manual. With this project being at such an early and, dare I say, tender stage I hope you will appreciate that I can offer little confidence that a real task will be immediately forthcoming. But if we don’t push it, nothing will ever happen until some EC apparatchik lowers the legislative boom on us and that could make the cost of translation look like very small beer indeed.”

I decide to publish his email almost in its entirety because it is very well written and it accurately represents the mood towards localization for many companies. It also confirms our writings in earlier articles and white papers when we suggested applying the following decision-making algorithm:

IF Localization_Cost < Opportunity + Liability
THEN Localize
ELSE Invest_elsewhere
ENDIF

In short, always remember to factor in the liability component when making your case for product localization. It doubles your chances of doing what is right for your company and its clients!

Do’s And Don'ts When Localizing Art

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Yet many companies balk at the cost of localizing art work, despite the fact that each one costs far less than translating a thousand words. Art file localization can add substantially to the localization cost of manuals, documents and help files. The following are principles you can follow to help minimize these costs.

Do use art only when necessary. Often (particularly with online help), the user is running software simultaneously to the help file. Having dialog box bitmaps displayed in the online help is redundant, since the software is already displaying that dialog box. By minimizing the use of dialog box art, recapture in all necessary languages is minimized, as is the associated cost.

Don't incorporate unnecessary information (into the art files), that could change with each release. More specifically:

1. Remove the product's version number or name from the dialog box header and body.
2. Avoid using special Windows themes. Stick to standard ones. Making dialog boxes independent of the version of your software or Windows will enable you to reuse them as-is in future updates of your software.
3. Only capture the part of the dialog that is pertinent to the context, as opposed to the entire dialog. This will minimize the chance of change and subsequent recapture.

Do save all necessary files and steps used to create artwork. If you are generating dialog boxes from your software, make sure you archive all the necessary project files that are used in the process. If there is a way to also record a macro, do so. You are more familiar with your requirements and software than the person who will be tasked with generating localized art. Making all the initial project files available will simplify the recapture process, reducing its time and cost.

Don't embed graphics in the documents. Art should always be linked to the main document. Although this creates more files to manage, it also gives each art file its own identity, enabling easy reuse in future updates. Furthermore, this will make the main document size much smaller and manageable by translation memory tools that process it during localization.

Do use callouts whenever possible outside the graphics. Art that does not contain text may require no localization efforts at all. Culture-sensitive art is the exception, but this is not often found in technical manuals or software help. Minimizing text in a graphic will reduce the localization cost. Callouts can be easily translated with the rest of the document.

Don't mix art you are localizing with art common to all languages. Separate art files into two folders, “localizable” and “common”. This will optimize disk space, since only localizable art will be duplicated for each language. Also, apply a time stamp to art files to indicate their release dates. Having files separated and stamped will facilitate reuse of localized art from previous releases. It will also reduce the time needed for sorting and generating work estimates.

Don't discard source files where sophisticated art has been created in vectorized formats (such as EPS, AI, WMF, etc.), and then saved in bitmap formats (GIF, BMP, JPG, etc.). When text is embedded in bitmap files with complex background colors or graphics, it is often impossible to replace source text with target text, without disturbing the background graphics. Having the vectorized format files available will preserve all background information, and enable simple replacement of the text with the necessary translations.

Do use art where necessary, to facilitate the user's understanding and use of your product. After all, it is the end-user you are ultimately tasked to communicate with, not your localization service provider.