Localization, XML, and Content Management

[Harvey Greenberg]

Dear all,

While localization with FrameMaker has been done successfully, this is a
problem that, at some scale, suggests both XML and a content management
system (CMS).

CMS vendors approach the "chunking" problem differently. Our solution
(Content@) allows you to specify the chunk level, with most of our customers
establishing minimum revisable units (MRUs) at the section/subsection/topic
level. During the typical editorial process, a collection of objects (think
chapter with sections) moves through a workflow. The CMS knows what objects
get touched, so without doing anything the amount of stuff translators even
see drops by a considerable amount. If your translators use translation
memory (such as the SDL Translation Management System, with which we have
integrated), the job shrinks further since the software is able to highlight
changed sentences. The identification of objects needing translation, the
push to the translation software, and the fetch back can be as automated as
you want. Workflows for simultaneous language release or staged release
(e.g. source first than targets, or source, then targets on demand) have
also been done, since business needs vary.

Happy to discuss this further on list (generic) or off list.

Harv Greenberg
XyEnterprise, Inc.
Reading MA