Generating translated online help

[Combs, Richard]

Wim Hooghwinkel wrote: 
 
> The normal procedure is to get your FrameMaker files translated and
> handle the Robohelp project your self,  just like you'd do for English:
> from the localized FrameMaker files Robohelp can create a CHM in that
> same language.

That may be "normal" in some places. It's not how it's done here.
 
<snip
> 
> If you only let your CHM files translate, you won't be able to do easy
> updates in case the FM files change.

I don't think that's what the person Nancy quoted was suggesting (and certainly not what I'd recommend). It's a false alternative to suggest that the translation vendor either provides only translated FM files or provides only translated deliverables (whether those are CHM, HTML, PDF, or whatever is irrelevant). 

(In any case, if your source files change, there is no "easy update" of the target languages. The translation vendor will need to re-translate. Presumably, they're using translation memory so that only the deltas have to be translated. Whether the deltas are in the FM source or in the deliverable is essentially irrelevant.)

Our translation vendor takes the English FM source files and delivers back to us both the translated FM source files and the translated deliverables (in my case, just PDF, since the online help I author is for a network infrastructure product that isn't currently being localized; for other products, it's WebHelp). 

IOW, the vendor replicates our process to produce the same deliverables in the target languages that we produce in English. This ensures that translated deliverables don't have issues with formatting, line or page breaks, etc., which wouldn't be obvious to someone who doesn't understand the language. It's especially important, IME, for Asian languages. 

Of course, this requires a vendor able and willing to do the desktop publishing, help output generation, etc. And it's obviously going to cost more than simply getting translated source files and creating the deliverables yourself. But the quality will be better. 

So I guess the answer, as usual, is "It depends." :-) 

Richard G. Combs
Senior Technical Writer
Polycom, Inc.
richardDOTcombs AT polycomDOTcom
303-223-5111
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rgcombs AT gmailDOTcom
303-903-6372
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