OT: Translation cost comparison (Alison Craig)

Sun Feb 27 04:35:16 PST 2011

Hi Alison,

Comparing the cost of translating Word files to translating FrameMaker files, it 
can be up to 30-50% cheaper to translate FrameMaker files due to the 
considerable short DTP time (FrameMaker files are better structured and 
formatted and this is the reason why you get better leverage with *.fm files 
than with doc files). Switching to DITA cuts the costs even more. The advantage 
is you can reuse the content for creating new manuals faster.

Alison, the difference in word count you got from your translation providers is 
very strange, there is no way you can get bigger word count in FrameMaker than 
in MS Word; and more, the 8,000 words difference is way too big (it is possible 
some LSP also counted the numbers which normally are not counted). 

I work for a reputable LSP which translates large FrameMaker medical manuals 
frequently (over 200 pages manuals into up to 30 languages). We even do file 
conversion from MS Word into FrameMaker. You can write me a private message and 
we can offer you the most accurate word count. It doesn't hurt to give it a 
shot.

 Regards,
Oana

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Subject: framers Digest, Vol 64, Issue 24

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Today's Topics:

   1. Re: OT: Translation cost comparison (beth.tripp at verizon.net)
   2. RE: OT: Translation cost comparison (Alison Craig)
   3. RE: Translation cost comparison (Bill Nilson)

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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2011 14:52:24 -0600 (CST)
From: beth.tripp at verizon.net
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: OT: Translation cost comparison
Message-ID: <477777258.182772.1298580744046.JavaMail.root at vznit170130>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

It is not the word count but the amount of time to "round trip" the document, 
engineering costs from Frame to xml and back. The second part of that is the 
DTP. Frame does a cleaner round-trip than word so less DTP time for cleaning up 
the formatting.

I hope that helps. We translate into 29 languages where I work and we cut the 
cost by about 30 to 50% using Frame and that was before we switched to DITA.

Just my .02,

Beth

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Message: 2
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:16:18 -0800
From: Alison Craig <Alison.Craig at ultrasonix.com>
To: "beth.tripp at verizon.net" <beth.tripp at verizon.net>,
    "framers at lists.frameusers.com" <framers at lists.frameusers.com>
Subject: RE: OT: Translation cost comparison
Message-ID:
    <17474827509158478EE10BC6B977A3E30ACD9A07AE at exchange.ultrasonix.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Actually, in my case, I was only talking about word cost. This was borne out by 
the detailed quotes I received. Other fees were accounted for under different 
line items (any reputable LSP should do it this way so you can see what is 
involved in a job and what the associated costs are).

I also did a large RFQ about 15 months ago with 11 different ISO qualified, 
medical device LSPs and even though they were all given *exactly* the same set 
of directions, the same TM and the same FM-based file set, the word counts were 
all over the place. Counts for New Words alone ranged from a low of 27,863 to a 
high of 36,305. That kind of discrepancy adds up quickly. 

FYI: The MS Word equivalent number was 28,239.

Alison

-----Original Message-----
From: framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com 
[mailto:framers-bounces at lists.frameusers.com] On Behalf Of 
beth.tripp at verizon.net
Sent: February 24, 2011 12:52 PM
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: Re: OT: Translation cost comparison

It is not the word count but the amount of time to "round trip" the document, 
engineering costs from Frame to xml and back. The second part of that is the 
DTP. Frame does a cleaner round-trip than word so less DTP time for cleaning up 
the formatting.

I hope that helps. We translate into 29 languages where I work and we cut the 
cost by about 30 to 50% using Frame and that was before we switched to DITA.

Just my .02,

Beth

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Message: 3
Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2011 15:26:34 -0800 (PST)
From: Bill Nilson <billnilson at yahoo.com>
To: framers at lists.frameusers.com
Subject: RE: Translation cost comparison
Message-ID: <276751.74066.qm at web112605.mail.gq1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Some translation houses charge extra for delivery in an additional output format 
besides the translated Frame files. Some years ago I had an estimate that 
included an extra 1K for a PDF manual but decided to create the PDF myself. In 
my case, it was for Japanese. If you're resourceful and it's convenient, you can 
install the appropriate version of Frame for your target language, get a native 
speaker to help you with the Frame menus, and create the PDF yourself to save 
the extra charges.

-Bill

Ampient, Inc.
Knowledge Is Power

On Thu, Feb 24, 2011 at 11:15 AM, Roy Lewis <roy_g_lewis at yahoo.com> wrote:

> I apologize for going off topic but can anyone point to figures that
> compares translation costs for Framemaker documents compared to MSWord
> documents. Someone told me Frame was generally cheaper, but they could not
> supply a source for the data.
> Thanks,
> Roy

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