About hiring an L10N vendor Was: RE: Translators and Word vs FM

[Diane Gaskill]

Every once in a while, someone on the list asks about L10N vendors, and
usually a few people graciously recommend the vendor they are using.
Nothing wrong with that, but I'd like to offer a little caveat to anyone
considering hiring a L10N vendor.

While it's all well and good to recommend a specific vendor because they did
a good job for a particular company, that does not necessarily mean that the
particular vendor can do a good job for everyone.  I would encourage anyone
who needs L10N services to screen and hire a localization vendor the same
way you would screen and hire a technical writer.  A good technical writer
can write, but you also need to hire a writer that has technical knowledge
in the product area that your company makes.  For example, would you hire
someone who has lots of experience writing repair manuals for jet engines to
write a software manual for a network management application?

Similarly, the linguists who localize your documents should have technical
knowledge in your company's product area, and it would be helpful if they
have knowledge of how your customers use the products.  Linguists do not
translate word-by-word.  Instead, they translate sentences, paragraphs, and
ideas, and they need to understand something about the source material to do
that.

Most established L10N vendors have a pool of linguists with both language
specialties and technical specalties.  Check with the vendor and make sure
that they have the right combination of linguistic and technical experience
to do the work you need.

Diane
=========================

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+dgcaller=earthlink.net at lists.frameusers.com]On
Behalf Of Daniel Doornbos
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 9:37 AM
To: mathieu jacquet; smcurtzwiler at sbcglobal.net;
framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Translators and Word vs FM


I agree with Mathieu that translators in Europe tend to be substantially
less expensive.
But if you live in the US, it's hard to get them on the phone when you want
to discuss an issue.
And many want payment in Euros, which, for my accounting department, is a
major problem.
I also use MultiLing, which has given me excellent service at a competitive
price.
We translate our manuals and UIs into 9 languages.

Daniel


-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces+danield=promise.com at lists.frameusers.com
[mailto:framers-bounces+danield=promise.com at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf
Of mathieu jacquet
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:52 AM
To: smcurtzwiler at sbcglobal.net; framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: Translators and Word vs FM


I'd like to recommend mine in France (much cheaper!), but I won't do any
advertising on this forum. ;o)

Mathieu.


>From: Susan Curtzwiler <smcurtzwiler at sbcglobal.net>
>To: FrameMaker <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
>Subject: Re: Translators and Word vs FM
>Date: Wed, 3 Jan 2007 18:00:25 -0800 (PST)
>
>I would like to recommend a translator service in Provo, Utah,
>MultiLing,
>Corp. They prefer FM, but they also work with Word. Ask for Emmanuel or
>Jeremy and you can use my name as a reference, Sue Curtzwiler.
>
>   This summer, I used MultiLing, Corp, to translate English to German
>for
>a hardware installation manual, graphics included. The only thing I left in
>English was any text on screen captures.  The manual was in Word and about
>65 pages.
>
>   They did a great job -- after preliminary estimates and Purchase
>Orders
>were in place, the turnaround time was about 2.5 to 3 weeks.
>
>   Sue Curtzwiler
>   Technical Writer _______________________________________________
>
>
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