ENGLISH TO CHINESE TRANSLATION SERVICES




Native Chinese speaker Be a translator since 1995


Master Degree (my certificates) Certified accountant


Website localization DTP (Desktop publishing)


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Experience


1995~present English-Chinese translator


2010~2014 Webmaster of usatouronline.com


1995~2002 Harbin university. Engage in the fields of accountancy, economics, business administration, marketing, etc.




Education


  • Master degree (2003), business administration, Harbin Institute of Technology (among the Top 10 universities in China ).

  • Bachelor degree (1995), accountancy, Harbin University.


Accomplishments


  • 1000+ projects completed since 1995

  • Recent projects:
a. AirAsia (200,000+ words) http://www.airasia.com/cn/zh/

b. KLM (100,000+ words) http://www.klm.com/travel/cn_cn/index.htm

c.Symantec(5000+ words) http://www.symantec.com/zh/cn/


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RATES


Translation0.06 USD~0.08 USD per source word (English or Chinese)


Editing 0.03 USD~0.04 USD per source word (English or Chinese)


DTP 10~12 USD per A4 page



CONTACT INFORMATION


Email: translator_li@hotmail.com MSN: translator_li@hotmail.com


TOM-Skype: translatorli2008 Cell phone :0086-13674676677




HOW TO GET STARTED (click here for more details)


Mar 27, 2007

How can I reduce the cost of printing foreign language versions of my brochure?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

All too often, we see designs for promotional literature where a simple change of text to a foreign language results in a complete set of 4 colour printing plates being required at great expense, not to mention the resultant 4 colour printing costs. If planned from the start, costs for a multi-lingual leaflet can be reduced by designing it such that all of the text which will be translated is black only and is separate from any photos or other graphics. At the initial printing stage, the print run would consist of 4 colour process printing, including the black text. If the printer has suitable facilities, the text can be run as a 5th colour and the text plate swapped to the foreign language version mid way through the print run, thereby minimising set up costs. If changes to the text are subsequently required, only one set of printing plates, i.e. the black text ones must be changed, rather than a complete set of 4 colour plates. Using such a technique, if the quantity requirement for foreign language versions is initially unclear, a number of blanks, i.e. Colour brochures minus text can be printed at the same time. This can subsequently be printed with the appropriate text in relatively small quantities on a simple one colour black only printing press at an economically attractive rate.

Will the play on words in my advert translate into Japanese?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
It is extremely unusual for plays on words, double meanings, etc., to work directly in other languages. This is where it is necessary to select a suitable translator and then to provide a brief which fully explains the messages which the original text is designed to convey. The translator will then write new copy which reflects the messages and style of the original but is essentially a new piece of copy in the foreign language, rather than being a direct translation.

How do translation agencies select translators?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Reputable translation agencies select translators based upon the following criteria;
Native language speakers who live in the country of their mother tongue so that they are current in the language, customs and attitudes which prevail there
Accuracy
Reliability
Speed
Qualifications: translators must have a recognised degree in translating
Experience and references
Area of specialisation: both working experience and degree (or higher) qualification level in the relevant field
Professional accreditation from their relevant national association

Why your overseas agent or distributor might not be a good translator.

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
It may appear to be ideal to use you overseas agent or distributor to do the translations themselves – they speak the language, know the product and don’t charge the same as a translation agency.

Unfortunately, the end result is usually a major disappointment for all concerned. All too often, such agents or distributors have their own ideas about what the promotional material should say and re-write it rather than translate it. They may also lack the fluency in English to fully understand technical terms, not to mention the fact that the typical salesman is not a professional writer who has the skills to ensure that document is grammatically correct. Finally, they have other responsibilities so it is unlikely that they will be able to undertake the translation within a reasonable time scale.

However, overseas agents or distributors are ideal for checking that a professional translation has the correct style and terminology that they are require for their market. Their feedback to polish the translation is invaluable.

Why not use more than one translator to speed things up?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
This is possible but is definitely not advisable for material which is to be published. As with any form of writing, each person has their own style and this can be seen in translations as well. Therefore, where uniformity of style is important, sufficient time should be allowed for one translator to undertake the task.

How much can one translator do per day?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
For straight forward translations, i.e. no specialised vocabulary or copywriting, or other factors which add complexity, a typical translator will be able to undertake approximately 2,500 words per working day.

Why not use translators who live locally?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Experience has proven that when you live in a country where the everyday language is not your native one, even after a relatively short period of time (6 months or so), you lose the edge off your mother tongue. This is because languages are constantly evolving with a surprising number of new words and phrases coming into and out of use. For promotional material translations, it is very important that the language used is the current version otherwise, the wrong messages can be conveyed. Only those translators who live in the country where their mother tongue is the main spoken language should be used therefore.

Why use a translation agency?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

A full service translation agency will take care of all the steps from discussing the design of a multi-lingual website or brochure, the handling of the actual translation through to typesetting and website registration with foreign search engines. An agency is in control of quality all along the way as well as of the budget and timeframe.

How does a professional translator actually work?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

To start the translation process the translator reads through the entire document to get a clear idea of content and style of the source text.

If the text contains specific vocabulary, technical terms or is of a very technical nature, this is the time when research will be done, translation memory software is used and it is also when you as a client can assist in the process by providing company specific vocabulary or existing material in the target language.

It is in the translators interest to keep translations as consistent and true to style and content as possible.

The first working translation follows. Usually, the translator puts the first draft aside for a short while in order to be able to review the work from a fresh viewpoint.

After the short break the translator works through source text and target text checking content, style and format.

Reading and checking the translation for consistency and fluency can take several runs and at this stage usually a second translator gets involved to proof read the translation before it is returned to the project manager.

Mar 25, 2007

Management of Memory Server

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

The memory server is a highly available, highly scalable database. It requires multiple user access over the internet so has high bandwidth requirements. Such a server has a high cost of ownership. Costs to be considered for such a server are:

  • Server software (typically 100,000 or more)
  • Hardware (database server plus web server)
  • Hosting and communications
  • Support for translators and vendors connecting (potentially 24 hour support)
  • training for translators/vendors
  • Administration of connection credentials (server software is licensed per concurrent user)

The running of the shared memory also places additional responsibilities on the owners of the system:

  • Maintaining 24 hour access to the service. A system failure could have disastrous consequences for the 2nd vendor.
  • Access rights and access dispute resolution (i.e. which vendors users have priority if any)
  • Censure for misuse removal of access rights (poor quality etc.). Who is responsible for this and what is the range of their powers?

Many vendors are prepared to make such investments as above, but cost of ownership increases by third party (other vendors) having access to the server. The question of who pays for this infrastructure (and how the payment is structured) needs to be considered.

It should be noted that where there are two or more vendors working for the same client and only one pays for the shared memory infrastructure, the others are at an advantage as they are in effect getting this, very powerful, facility for free.

From the clients' perspective this potential for dispute among sub-contractors can be very damaging and detrimental to projected workflow and may require the client to take a more "hands-on" role that was originally perceived.


Advantages of Memory Sharing

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

If managed correctly, translation units (sentences and phrases) created and managed by one vendor can be used by another vendor, reducing costs. Additionally by merging the memory resource there is no longer any duplication of memory maintenance overheads. Therefore there should be a reduction in the running costs of the memory.

There is a perception that by sharing memories on line (or otherwise) that this will make their contents available for general use, such as in the authoring process. It should be noted however that translation memory tools such as Trados are built for daily use professional translators; the software is not designed for ease of client use for this purpose.


How Memories Can be Shared

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Sharing Memory Files

Memories can be shared by having a central memory file that is managed by one of the vendors or the client.

When vendor 1 receives a translation job it would download the whole memory. It would do any necessary pre-processing, then analyse the job against the downloaded memory. Likewise when vendor 2 receives a translation job it would do the same.

On completion of the translation jobs the new or changed memory units need to be cleaned into the main memory. This job should be the responsibility of one of the vendors as the main custodian of the memory, or, if the specialist resource is available, the client.

Server-Based Memories

Memories can be made available through products such as Trados TM Server.

Following receipt of jobs from a client, the vendors will pre-process and analyse against the memory in the normal way, but will use the on-line memory for analysis.

Translation-ready files are passed to the translators with log-in information to access the on line memory. The translators then translate in the normal way, but instead of using a local copy or subset of the memory, they link to the full on line memory.

The memory server as above is based on a relational database and must be a high-availability system.

from:www.thebigword.com

Reasons for Sharing Memories

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
The reasons a client may want to do this are:

  1. To keep costs down by playing vendors against each other, with neither having a memory advantage.
  2. To enable two vendors that have different specialist areas (software, web sites, marketing) to share the translatable content.
  3. To spread the work and avoid having all eggs in one basket with complete reliance on one vendor.
  4. To feel in control of the memory database.

The reasons a vendor may want to do this are:

  1. To gain a commercial advantage over other vendors. As the custodians of the TM, the vendor should use this position as leverage to win further work with the aim of relegating other vendors to the role of subsidiary suppliers.
  2. To demonstrate technical advantages over other vendors.
from:www.thebigword.com

Using a Translation Vendor

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Using a vendor, such as thebigword, without the use of a GMS is described as follows.
If the translation vendor in the diagram is thebigword, it consists of the same elements as the GMS. In this case, the comparable elements are as follows:
Extraction
Files can be sent from a number of sources using thebigword's TranzManager™ suite. This includes connections to content management systems and databases, user interfaces that are either web based or integrated with the Windows desktop, as well as links with eProcurement systems such as Oracle and Ariba. This allows automatic access to content repositories where required and manual submission mechanisms in all other cases.

Filters

thebigword employs not only the latest industry standard filters for common file types, but also creates bespoke filters for client specific files.

Workflow

Workflows for each file and content type are managed by thebigword. It is our responsibility to ensure that these are the most efficient for each type. The client need not be concerned with these, but they are transparent should the client be interested.

Memory

thebigword manages the memory on behalf of the client. The memory is always owned by the client, but this is cleaned and maintained by thebigword. The memory is available as a download at any time on the translation portal hosted by thebigword and available to the client. Translators use this memory with their own CAT tools.

Vendor Management

thebigword manages the vendors that translate the files. These may be individual translators or single language suppliers.

Review

thebigword manages the review process with specifically designed tools and file formats.

Using a GMS (Globalisation Management System)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

A GMS is designed to allow a company to manage many parts of the translation workflow themselves. It allows them to deal directly with translators. It also allows them to deal with translation vendors but removes much of the project management, file handling and memory management resource so allows negotiation of much better prices, and allows much easier swapping of vendors.

A GMS generally consists of the following elements:

Extraction
The GMS is installed and configured to accept files from a number of sources. Sources could be content management systems, document management systems, databases, file repositories and anywhere else that translatable content exists. The GMS will generally advertise many pre-built 'connectors' for standard applications such as standard CMS (content management system) solutions.
Filters
As well as having the necessary technology for extracting the file out of its source repository, the GMS also has many 'filters' that, once the file is in the GMS, will extract the text out of the file so that it can be translated without breaking the file.
Workflow

The GMS has workflow capability that enables the GMS manager to set up a process flow for each file type, or each file type from each repository. An example of such a workflow might be:

  1. Extract File
  2. Filter File
  3. Leverage Memory
  4. Translate
  5. Proofread
  6. Back Filter
  7. In-Context Check
  8. Return File

Each of these stages is either performed by the GMS itself or is managed by the GMS. In the case of translate and proofread, for example, the GMS cannot perform these stages, but instead manages these stages by emailing the relevant parties, logging any work completed, and on completion, continuing to the next stage in the workflow.

Memory
The GMS has a built-in memory so when translators log in and choose to translate a file they are generally pre-leveraged. This means that the translator does not need any CAT (Computer Aided Translation) tools, and all translators receive benefit from the memory the instant a translator adds a new translation unit (typically a sentence).
Vendor Management
The GMS will generally have some translation vendor management facilities allowing translators or translation vendors to be added to the system. The system can hold price information and other details and allow the system manager to select the best translator or vendor for the job.
Review
Review mechanisms allow the reviewers, as part of the translation workflow, to log in and make annotated amendments to the translations.

Given the above functionality, it is possible to choose the cheapest translator for the job, and not pay for any of the add-on services of the vendor since all the extraction, filtering and memory management is done automatically. The aim of these systems is that the client only pays for the translation.

from:www.thebigword.com

Common Mistakes When Planning Website / Application Globalisation

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

When creating websites or applications which are designed to be multi-lingual, software developers who are new to globalization tend to make the same mistakes. Presented here are some of the more common mistakes we see on a regular basis.

1. String Concatenation Problems

It is common amongst English-speaking developers to simply add an "s" to the end of a word expecting it to pluralise the word, but this should be avoided as it is an English only construct. Other string concatenation problems can occur, such as when constructing a sentence which may have masculine or feminine word endings in other languages. Because some cultures present a value at the end of the sentence rather than the beginning it's a good idea to use tokens to represent variables so that the sentence can be restructured by the translator depending on the language. The C# language provides the System.String.Format method for this purpose, but most programming languages have equivalent functionality.

int count = 30; string output = string.Format("{0} files processed", count);

2. Text Encodings

When creating Web pages or creating applications which write to the file system of a computer, it is important to use a text encoding which can support the wide range of character sets that you want to express. Many English speaking developers use ASCII or the Windows 1252 character set by default, however, a better choice is UTF-8 which can support Chinese, Japanese and other difficult languages while maintaining backwards compatibility with ASCII for English text. UTF-8 is the default text encoding of XML as defined by the W3C, as well as the default output encoding of ASP.Net. It's also important to consider text encoding when designing database structures, for instance by using Unicode database fields (which may take up twice as much space on the database for fixed width columns such as the Microsoft SQLServer nvarchar type) and marking the language used within a text field so that it can be easily identified later.

3. Graphics

When designing the user interface of an application, a common problem is that text in other languages can be longer than the English equivalent, causing text to be hidden by other elements or causing undesired wrapping effects. German, in particular, can be up to 50% longer than its English equivalent. When designing a user interface or when sending text for translation, it may be worth investing the time up front to provide translators with examples of where the text may be used, or designing the user interface to adjust elegantly to different text lengths. Problems with graphics can be far reaching, from country specific telephone numbers (forgetting to add the country code) to a lack of space to write the translation, whilst another common problem is simply forgetting to send graphical elements for translation.

4. Lack of Context

Sometimes, our customers send us lists of strings in XML format without providing any context around the list, such as a description of where the string is used (next to a text box for example). This causes many of our translators to ask for a description of where the label is to be used so that they can provide a proper translation, resulting in an increase in turnaround time. When creating a list of terms for translation, it is very useful for translators if the customer creates screen shots or writes a description of where the string will be used, especially if it is to be an urgent job.

5. Input and Output Styles

Many English developers are not familiar with the ways that other cultures express dates and numbers. For instance, in most of the world, the comma is used to express a decimal point, whereas in English, the comma is used as a thousand separator. This means that we see a lot of JavaScript where number parsing fails and a lot of confusion regarding the correct input method.

The .Net Framework provides the System.Globalization.CultureInfo class which you can use to express variables as strings, or parse input in a culturally sensitive way. You can set the System.Threading.Thread.CurrentUICulture to a CultureInfo, which will automatically force the ToString() method to output in the correct culture format, in addition, the month name will be expressed in the correct language. In Java, similar functionality is handled within java.util.Locale.

When sharing date formats between systems, the best format to use is the ISO 8601 date format, which is close to the Japanese date format YYYY-MM-DD. The use of the hyphen rather than the slash shows that the ISO format is to be used. For reference, the US expresses dates as MM/DD/YYYY whereas the UK expresses dates as DD/MM/YYYY which shows how different cultures which speak the same language can have different ways of expressing the same information.

Many developers use 3 drop down lists (combo boxes / select boxes) for date entry, but it is important to make sure that the method makes sense across all cultures, for instance, using 4 numbers to represent the year rather than 01,02,03,04,05 and by using month names rather than numbers, which could be confused with the day of the month.

from: Adrian Hesketh, Lead Systems Developer thebigword

Make room for expansion during the translation process.

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Planning to promote your product overseas? Watch out for your labeling—or you could be putting your buyers at risk.

Translating from English into practically any other language is tricky. Typically, multilingual document translations require more words than the original English document to communicate the exact same detail. This concept, called the "expansion factor," means that your original 250-word brochure may be 400 words after it's translated. And that can cause some issues if your design doesn't accommodate the additional verbiage.

Marketing departments of pharmaceutical, consumer products and biomedical firms must be particularly sensitive to the language expansion factor. Product and packaging labels are typically created for American English demographics, without thought to any language translation issues. When an Americanized product label is too small for the translated text, compromises happen.

"On packaging, where space is at a premium, one of two things happen when instructions are translated: the font gets smaller or the text gets edited," complains Mireille Messier, in her 2003 Globe and Mail article, Thinking on the side of the box: Zut alors! If your international customers can't understand your multilingual product packaging—or fail to follow your easy-to-follow directions, you'll frustrate them. And lose their loyalty to your brand.

Edited translations can be more than confusing—they can also be deadly. Biomedical and pharmaceutical packaging must be completely comprehensible, free from confusing translation discrepancies, tiny text or edited copy. When unclear labeling can cause product misuse, illness or death, why take a chance with white space? It's best to design your labels for translated text, accommodating the extra words.

What's your solution for a successful product label translation experience? Discuss any preliminary designs with your translation company. Your translation company will review your layout and help you determine how much white space you'll need. When you've planned a design to accommodate your global market, you'll have the peace-of-mind knowing you have an accurate, easy-to-read label in any language- free from embarrassing (or potentially dangerous) language translation issues.

Let your translation firm proofread your documents after typesetting.

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Finally. Your professionally translated pharmaceutical brochure proof is in your hands, ready to be duplicated and shipped to your global audience. Is your language translation work done?

Only if you are comfortable gambling with your firm's international reputation. Typesetting mistakes happen—even with English-language documents. Omitted words, spelling errors and incorrect punctuation are common even with the most careful typesetter. Fortunately, a quick proof usually makes mistakes simple to spot and change. However, when an English-speaking typesetter works with a translated document, the potential for embarrassing problems is increased.

Your graphic designer, typically an English speaker, cannot identify inconsistencies such as omissions, extra letters, missing accent marks, inappropriate hyphenation or capitalization in your foreign language copy. Unfortunately, your marketing department is just as unqualified to proof foreign language text. The result is often embarrassing, causing your company to look American-centric at best—and illiterate at worst—overseas. Your translation firm is the only group who can accurately proof your document, finding those errors you don't want printed. Typesetting errors become especially dangerous with foreign language biomedical translations or pharmaceutical translations. An unclear carton label—or a mistranslated TL (technical leaflet) can cause widespread consumer confusion. In the case of pharmaceutical brochures and product labels, any confusion can cause illness or even death.

Why not be absolutely certain your US-based vendors have perfectly typeset your meticulously translated text? Protect your investment by having your translation firm proof your typesetter's work. You'll have the peace-of-mind knowing that your document is error-free, clear and concise—and your end readers will clearly understand your document's original meaning.

from:www.languagealliance.com

Write your documents with your specific target audience in mind.

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

When is a sports pun not effective? When you use it in every other country outside of the United States. Creating copy for international clients means special care must be taken with every word. Acronyms, plays on words and national contexts sound stellar in an American-based brochure—but lose all impact when translated.


Your company can avoid cultural confusion by following certain guidelines during your copy creation process. After your text is created, your translation company will then confidently translate your carefully constructed prose for your target audience. Your result will be persuasive, concise and accurate documents that communicate your every nuance—clearly.

Implement these language translation guidelines during your writing process:
* Move away from metaphors: Think your overseas brochure is a "home run?" Think again. Metaphors—especially sports-based metaphors, can cause confusion in other cultures. The term "play ball" or "strike out" may sound powerful and compelling in U.S.-based copy—but it will surely "strike out" overseas. Additionally, your overseas readers will notice that the text is not targeted for their cultural sensitivities—and your carefully planned brochure will seem extremely exclusionary and frustrating.
* Puns aren't "punny" overseas: Sure, your puns are funny in your U.S.-based brochure, but take note: Plays on words become unfathomable when translated. Remember that appreciating a pun requires a certain mastery of the language. If a non-native speaker is faced with a play on words, the nuance will be lost—and the result will be confusing. If you find puns, delete them from your text.
* Remember that not everyone in the world lives in the United States: Why spend valuable white space printing your 800 numbers in your French-language brochure when an 800 number only works within the US? Or mentioning that you're on Pacific Standard Time in a brochure targeted for an Australian audience? Target your text to reflect your audience's local time and list phone numbers that your audience can actually access.
* Make sure you measure up: Exporting to Europe? The European Union is requiring all businesses to use the metric system for their European products by 2010. Companies exporting to Asia already face labeling guidelines. For guaranteed accuracy, all conversions should be made before you present your text to your translation company. According to an article in Export America, "Many non-metric U.S. products are not readily exportable to certain markets. More importantly, customers in other nations have lifelong experience with the metric system and expect products made to metric measures." Converting to country-standard measurements helps allay any confusion—and makes the packaging more attractive to consumers.
* Beware the alphabet soup caused by acronyms: Is your brochure TTYM (targeted towards your market)? Or, is it TAC (totally American-centric)? Depending on its context and the industry it's used in, an acronym could mean many different things. For instance, think about the acronym WCD. Does it mean Work Center Description? Working Construction Drawings? Weapons of Catastrophic Destruction? Don't expect your international readers to "guess" the meaning based on the context. Instead, spell out and clearly define all industry- and product-specific acronyms within your copy.

from:www.languagealliance.com

Mar 18, 2007

Analysis sample(wordfast)

(provided by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
ANALYSIS REPORT 04:20:56 2007-03-19

=========================================================
E:\英语\time management.doc
Analogy segments words char. %
---------------------------------------------------------
Repetitions 0 0 0 0%
100% 1 2 8 0%
95%-99% 0 0 0 0%
85%-94% 0 0 0 0%
75%-84% 0 0 0 0%
_0%-74% 31 438 2615 100%
Total 32 440 2623
(character count includes spaces)


Translation sample 2--What is Personal Time Management?

(Translated by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

English-Chinese

Source:

What is Personal Time Management?

Personal Time Management is about controlling the use of your most valuable (and undervalued) resource. Consider these two questions: what would happen if you spent company money with as few safeguards as you spend company time, when was the last time you scheduled a review of your time allocation?

The absence of Personal Time Management is characterized by last minute rushes to meet dead-lines, meetings which are either double booked or achieve nothing, days which seem somehow to slip unproductively by, crises which loom unexpected from nowhere. This sort of environment leads to inordinate stress and degradation of performance: it must be stopped.

Poor time management is often a symptom of over confidence: techniques which used to work with small projects and workloads are simply reused with large ones. But inefficiencies which were insignificant in the small role are ludicrous in the large. You can not drive a motor bike like a bicycle, nor can you manage a supermarket-chain like a market stall. The demands, the problems and the payoffs for increased efficiency are all larger as your responsibility grows; you must learn to apply proper techniques or be bettered by those who do. Possibly, the reason Time Management is poorly practised is that it so seldom forms a measured part of appraisal and performance review; what many fail to foresee, however, is how intimately it is connected to aspects which do.

Personal Time Management has many facets. Most managers recognize a few, but few recognize them all. There is the simple concept of keeping a well ordered diary and the related idea of planned activity. But beyond these, it is a tool for the systematic ordering of your influence on events, it underpins many other managerial skills such as Effective Delegation and Project Planning.

Personal Time Management is a set of tools which allow you to:

· eliminate wastage

· be prepared for meetings

· refuse excessive workloads

· monitor project progress

· allocate resource (time) appropriate to a task's importance

· ensure that long term projects are not neglected

· plan each day efficiently

· plan each week effectively

and to do so simply with a little self-discipline.

Since Personal Time Management is a management process just like any other, it must be planned, monitored and regularly reviewed. In the following sections, we will examine the basic methods and functions of Personal Time Management. Since true understanding depends upons experience, you will be asked to take part by looking at aspects of your own work. If you do not have time to this right now - ask yourself: why not?


translation(by wordfast after clean-up):

什么是个人时间管理?

个人时间管理就是控制使用你最珍贵的(和被低估的)资源.考虑这两个问题:如果你花费公司的钱象花费公司的时间一样缺少安全措施,将会发生什么?你最后一次审查时间分配在什么时候?

当你最后一刻还在赶任务的时候,会议被重复预定或一事无成的时候,日子不知不觉中度过毫无成效的时候,危机不知从哪里不期而至的时候,都标志着个人时间管理的缺失。这种情景导致过度压力和表现下降:它必须停止。

差劲的时间管理往往是过分自信的表现:工作内容和昔日在小项目中使用的技术,在大项目中被简单的重复利用。但是在小角色身上显得微不足道的低效率,在大角色身上就十分愚蠢了。你不能像骑自行车一样骑摩托,也不能像管小摊一样管理连锁超市。 当你职责扩大的时候,对高效率的需要、高效率的相关问题以及高效率的回报也随之而增长;你必须学会运用恰当的技术或者借助于那些会运用恰当技术的人。时间管理没能够有效实施的原因,可能在于它很少成为业绩评价和考核中的一部分;很多人恰恰看不到它与诸多业绩评价项目之间的密切联系。

个人时间管理包含很多方面。大多数管理者能够认识到几个方面,但是很少有人能够认识的很全面。人们会有个简单的概念,按照顺序写日记,并记录下行动的相关想法。但是除了这些,日志还是一种系统安排你如何影响事件的工具,它支持许多其它的管理技巧如有效授权和项目计划。

个人时间管理是一组工具,它可以帮助你:

·杜绝浪费

· 为会议做好准备

·拒绝过高的工作量

· 监测项目进程

·根据任务重要性分配资源(时间)

·确保长期项目不被忽略

· 有效制定每天计划

·有效制定每周计划

需要一点自我约束来做这些事情。

因为个人时间管理像其它的管理一样也是一个过程所以必须要计划、监督和经常的评价。在接下来的章节,我们将研究个人时间管理的基本方法和功能。由于真正的理解有赖于经验,你需要参考自己工作的诸多方面。如果你没有时间马上做这件事-问问你自己:为什么不?



Translation sample 1--Study: CEO, Outsiders Lead Financial Statement Fraud

(Translated by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

English-Chinese

Source:

Study: CEO, Outsiders Lead Financial Statement Fraud

March 8, 2007 (SmartPros) -- The overrides of internal controls leading to financial statement fraud is typically caused by a fraud network led by the CEO and aided by outsiders, according to a new study of financial statement fraud.








The study by the nonprofit Institute for Fraud Prevention (IFP), a consortium of universities dedicated to researching the causes of fraud and how to reduce it, found that these fraud networks cause extremely large losses that are far greater when the outside audit firm is alleged to have aided the fraud.

Robert Tillman and Michael Indergaard of St. John’s University in New York, working under an IFP grant, undertook a review of 834 firms that filed financial restatements between 1997 and 2002. By examining these companies, along with any class action lawsuits and SEC proceedings taken against them, they were able to extrapolate several trends in financial statement fraud.

Several of the study's conclusions corroborate those from other research, including that investor losses from financial statement fraud are of devastating proportions and that the most expensive frauds are almost invariably led by controlling persons, typically the CEO. (Criminologists refer to them as "control frauds.")

The CEO normally includes the CFO in the fraud network. Restatements are more common in so-called New Economy industries, such as information technology, energy trading, and telecommunications. However, the data also revealed some previously under-explored facets of financial statement fraud.

Paramount to the findings was evidence that these schemes are rarely solitary endeavors. The average number of parties connected with the alleged fraud cases studied was 7.2. Additionally, in over half of the schemes examined, a company other than the restating organization -- usually an investment bank, auditing firm, or colluding business partner -- was implicated as a participant.

One of the striking findings was that average shareholder losses were more than twice as large in cases in which it was alleged that the outside audit firm aided the control fraud.

The authors of the study recommended continued oversight of the financial reporting process and the maintenance of policies that require accountability on the part of senior managers, board members and auditors. The researchers opposes measures designed to limit the liability of auditing firms.

The full study is available for free download at: http://www.theifp.org/


© 2007 SmartPros Ltd. All rights reserved.



Translation(by wordfast after clean-up):

研究:首席执行官和外部人员串通导致财务报表舞弊

2007年3月8日(SmartPros)




--根据一项新的财务报表舞弊研究,由首席执行官领导的舞弊团伙,在外部人员的帮助下,无视内部控制制度,导致财务报表舞弊。


防范舞弊组织(IFP)--一个致力于研究舞弊成因和减少舞弊的非营利性大学联盟,发现当有外部审计组织参与舞弊时,这些舞弊团伙将造成更巨大的损失.

来自于纽约St. John’大学的Robert Tillman 和 Michael Indergaard,受IFP的委托,调查1997—2002年834家进行财务重报的公司。纵观这些公司,以及某些共同诉讼案和证交会的案件处理, 他们可以推断出财务报表舞弊的几个趋势.

此项研究的许多结论佐证了其它研究的一些观点,包括财务报表舞弊导致的投资者亏损占有巨大的比例,造成最重大损失的舞弊总是由拥有控制权的人造成的,通常是总裁.(犯罪学家把它们称作“控制舞弊”。)

总裁通常把财务总监拉进舞弊团伙。财务重报在所谓新经济产业中更为常见,如信息技术、能源贸易、和电信.然而,数据也揭示了以前没有被充分研究的财务报表舞弊的许多方面。

最重要的发现是这些舞弊计划很少出自一人之手。被调查的舞弊案件中,舞弊团伙平均人数是7.2人。另外,在半数以上被调查的舞弊计划中,某些公司(不是哪些进行财务重报的组织)——通常是投资银行,审计事务所,或者同谋的生意伙伴——牵连其中参与舞弊。

一项惊人的发现是当外部审计事务所参与“控制舞弊”时,平均股东损失逾两倍。

这项研究的作者建议,持续监督财务报告过程,修订高级经理、董事会成员和审计人员责任制.研究人员反对旨在限制审计机构责任的措施。

整篇文章免费下载: http://www.theifp.org/

© 2007 SmartPros Ltd.版权所有。

Mar 14, 2007

Wordfast training manual(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Why use a CAT tool?
CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) must be distinguished from Machine Translation.TM-based CAT rests on two essential methods: segmentation and translation memory. These two methods, each in its way, boost productivity.

Segmentation
With segmentation, the CAT tool displays source segments one after the other; a segment being an elementary unit of the source document, usually a sentence. Even in the absence of any translation memory, segmentation:
1. provides a more comfortable working environment;
2. avoids skipping text, which is often the case when translating from paper;
3. avoids having to re-create layout and style, except on rare occasions;
4. keeps source and target text in the same document, making revision a lot easier.

Translation Memory
A Translation Memory (TM) is a database of translated segments – mostly, a database of pairs of sentences. Translation Memory:
1. avoids having to re-translate anything that has been already translated;
2. allows work groups to share translation that were previously done;
3. allows translators to build up a precious database of translations.

Supplementary features
CAT can also offer supplementary features: terminology management, to make translation more consistent through large projects, quality control, quick access to reference, like dictionaries, document scanning etc.


. 37

Trados—Is It a Must?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

The aggressive marketing campaign of Trados makes us to believe that you can't be/stay successful/competitive on the worldwide translation service market unless you have/use this "industry standard" TM software. The objective of this micro-study is to check whether the above statement is true and, if so, to what extent. I believe that my case is quite representative, since I am a typical freelance technical/marketing translator translating about 500 thousand words from English into Russian per year. My clients (businesses and translation companies) are from all over the world—USA, Israel, Japan, Belgium, UK, France, Russia etc. These facts make my own case study typical enough for drawing valid conclusions regarding the truthfulness of the above-mentioned marketing campaign.

I was quite happy with Wordfast for a year when a lost job (use of Trados was a strict client's requirement) made me buy Trados 5.0. It was in January 2002. It took me two weeks (full-time) to learn how to use the tool (despite the fact that I was thoroughly familiar with the TM concept and had used DejaVu and Wordfast). By the end of the first month I was proficient enough in the use of Trados to translate various types of files. After that I sent notification that I owned/used Trados 5.0 Freelancer to about 2000 (two thousand) translation agencies worldwide, including my old clients.

By the end of the second month I returned to Wordfast in my daily work for several reasons. Some of them are as follows: IMHO, WF is much more user-friendly. My OS and applications (Windows 98, MS Office 97) never crash when I use WF. The last reason was purely psychological one: I did not feel obligated to migrate to Trados from WF only because I paid USD 745 for Trados and WF was licensed free of charge.

From January 2002 to August 2002 I did 125 small, medium-sized, and large jobs. Only three jobs required the use of Trados. In these 3 cases the source files were in MS Word format. The total word count of these 3 jobs was less than 3 percent of my total workload. I did these 3 jobs using WF 3.35, and no client noticed any difference. They were sure that I had used Trados 5.0 and were happy about my translation services.

Of course my experience with various TM software is a limited one. However my conclusions are as follows:

1. The use of TM software is a must for every freelance translator working on domestic or worldwide markets. TM software increased my output/productivity 30 percent on the average, in some cases 70 percent.

2. Theoretically buying Trados should help to win a higher segment of the worldwide translation market, since only six Russian freelancers have it. However actually the business advantages of buying Trados were negligible in my case.

3. The main conclusion—you can advertise yourself as a Trados user even if actually you use Wordfast. Wordfast is completely compatible with Trados files (bilingual and TMs). No client sees a difference. The difference is significant only to your wallet—Trados is licensed for about USD 700, and Wordfast for free.

4. Keep your head cool when you are attacked by overly aggressive marketing experts.

From Andrei Gerasimov, Ph.D., ATA member
www.erussiantranslations.com

Mar 13, 2007

Cautions(course-end)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Source must be electronic
• Can propagate errors if misused
• A memory is only as good as the maintenance it gets
• Not appropriate for all material
– ultra-long sentences yield fewer matches
– may tend to obscure nuances
– output may become monotonous

IV Advantages of TM(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Translator need not have the source application
• Leveraging and integrated termbase increase consistency
• Existing memories can be reused for similar projects
• Revisions are much easier to handle

TagEditor pros and cons(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Because it’s visual, real-time preview helps preserve look and feel of source
• The visibility of tags can alert the translator to problems with segmentation
• TagEditor can handle only one file at a time; batch mode can handle many small
files at once.
• Not easy to update for new file formats

Real-time previewing(course)


(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Tag protection(course)


(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• If the user fails to copy tags properly, Tag Editor issues a warning

Editing translatable text(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Tag Editor pops up a window for each successive translation unit, including tags
inside the unit

• The user is responsible for getting these copied, using the associated toolbar

Tag Editor and the TM(course)


(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

The View through Tag Editor(course)



(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

The Solution: Filtering(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• For batch-mode TMs, the translatable text is extracted and dumped into one
column of a
table for editing, as seen previously.
TradosTM uses a separate program,TagEditor, that runs together with the
Translators
Workbench memory manager. It offers a more graphical interface.




What needs translation here?(course)



(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

III Application of Trados to a Web(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• The problem with “tagged” texts
• Tag Editor--the Trados filtering tool
• Tag Editor works similarly to Word
• Protecting tags
• Real-time previewing
• Post-processing as usual

The cleaned translation(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

The final bilingual file(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Example of a fuzzy match(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

The Edit window(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Memory and Word launched(course)


(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Memory setup(course)


(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

II Application of Trados to a Word(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Memory setup
• Translation of the document unit-by-unit
– No match: translate conventionally
– 100% match: adopt
– Fuzzy match: adopt with edits
• Post-processing

Translation Memory Packages

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Trados (Trados Corporation)
• DejaVU / DVX (Atril)
• Transit (Star International)
• SDLX (SDL International)
• Above are all for the PC—THERE ARENO ENTERPRISE-LEVEL SUITES FOR
MAC OS, LINUX OR UNIX

Post-processing(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• Reassembling the deliverable formatted file from the translated filtered file
– Batch-mode TMs typically run a separate subprogram to transform the finished bilingual editing file into a target language file in the original format.

– For Trados™, TM entries are partially hidden in the work file. They can (and should) be stripped out (by the translator, the vendor, or the client) and saved, leaving behind the finished document. More details on the Trados™ method in part II.

Example of a Real TM (Trados)


(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Mar 12, 2007

Editing UI of a Batch-Mode TM

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

Editing with the TM(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• For both approaches, the editing work is basically the same for each TU:
– Translate it, if the TM provides no suggestion
– Accept the suggestion of the TM or
– Modify the suggestion of the TM

• Whatever the choice it will now be available in the TM for subsequent translation units.

Translation Memory Tools(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

With translation memory (TM) tools, blocks of text that have been previously translated can be saved and reused to speed up turnaround and enhance consistency. Projects that contain substantial duplication and revisions of previous translations are excellent candidates for translation memory.

TM tools are also helpful in web site localization. They allow translators to focus on content localization, and minimize their involvement in site structure analysis. The TM tool insures that code is hidden so that translators see and translate only the content intended for translation.

The Filtering Process(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)
PREPROCESSOR can extract text content from HTML pages.

Some TM systems perform this process for
all translation units in the source file (or
even in several files at a time) before the user begins translating.
– The list of translation units is the work file which the translator processes
with the aid of the TM.

– Systems using this approach include Transit,SDLX and DejaVu


The other approach, used by TradosTM, is more interactive.
– The system moves through the file, popping one translation unit after another
into an edit box.
– This interface will be examined in detail in part II.



TM = computer-assisted translation(course)

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

• A translation memory is a searchable collection of translation units
• A translation unit consists of the following:
Source Segment Target Segment Housekeeping Data*

TM Stage 1: Filtering
What needs to be translated here?
The TM
preprocessor removes and saves formatting codes and then presents the translation segments to the translator.
Raw file Filtered output


TM Stage 2: Segmentation
• probability of recurrence of linguistic units is inversely proportional to length
• an intermediate length is likely to yield the largest number of useful matches
• for an efficient algorithm, segment boundaries must be automatically detectable, so
TM SYSTEMS BREAK SEGMENTS AT SENTENCE BOUNDARIES OR END-OF-LINE
CHARACTERS

Why Use an Agency?

(Edited by freelance Chinese translator li – English to Chinese or Chinese to English translation services)

“It seems unbelievable that this huge project was accomplished on time. I was
asking a lot of you and you did a great job. Not only did it get done, you
managed to make me feel like it really could be done, which made me calm in a
sea of mounting pressure from my senior management. I have realized the
comfort of using professional services like yours. It really is true that when you
turn a big job over to the best, you can let some of your worry go.”

This quote is a marketer’s dream—it is an actual quote from a relieved and satisfied client. Perhaps you have also basked in glowing words of praise and effusive thanks from a localization requester in your organization. In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that the client who wrote these words is not a localization professional.

Still, her organization assigned to her the task of verifying labeling and packaging for a new product in a wide range of languages for use in an even wider range of locales. The materials presented to our project management staff were an assortment of master documents and derivative documents, and the client’s charge was to verify and certify the language and content of the text prior to printing.

This client did not possess the familiarity or level of comfort with foreign languages to either organize the project or even identify the languages in question. Her goal was quite simply to accomplish the task and move on to her area of expertise, which clearly did not involve determining that “Dutch” and “Netherlands” were a language and a country, respectively, rather than a language pair.

If You Don’t Want To Spend Your Life In The Salt Mines

This type of client and this type of situation are neither an uncommon nor an unwelcome part of our localization business. As a project manager, and, by extension, as a company, I take pride and satisfaction in our willingness and ability to rescue such clients from what can be a localization nightmare—uninvited,
unwelcome, and frequently baffling to the person targeted for the task.

The often uninitiated non-volunteer is grateful to find a vendor willing and able to provide a turnkey solution.

Of course, I also work with many client side localization professionals, and ultimately, I deal with clients at various points of the wide spectrum in between. These client professionals deliver years of experience and accumulated wisdom to the localization process. The “agency question" can and does arise: if your organization has invested resources in the training and creation of a
localization department/division, or even a single, knowledgeable point-of-contact within your organization, why invest additional expense in securing the services of a localization vendor?

After all, having accomplished the estimable task of planning for globalization, and preparing your product and materials with internationalization in mind, knowing your subject matter and knowing the market, it is basically a matter of perusing résumés, determining field of expertise and level of experience, then going forward with the localization step. Right?

It depends. While there are certainly cases and scenarios where these assumptions may hold true, these assumptions may deserve examination, and I strongly recommend that such examination include the following factors.

You Already Have A Job, Don’t You?
Whether internationalization/localization is your full-time profession or one responsibility among many, your involvement in the localization process may range from a charged responsibility to an informed participant; in either case, you represent the resource within your organization. Getting the job done demands your commitment to your company, your product, and the consuming community as a whole. A great many meaningful, productive, and cost-saving activities occur
under your watch. Whether you are a project manager, department head, or committed advocate for global access, you are engaged in a process that is difficult, often involves minimal buy-in from your corporation, and is the key to efficient and cost-effective globalization.

I am familiar with the specific tasks that confront you as a team lead or project manager in the internationalization realm. My knowledge base and suggestions stem from my experiences within one translation and localization firm since 1987. My position as a translation/localization project manager is undeniably full-time. The trips around the block have been many, and I’ve probably already faced all of the obstacles you might. I submit that you have better things to do with your time, and offer the following overview of some of the issues, ranging from challenges to
downright tedium, that are a daily part of my job.

A Critical Eye And A Good Sense Of Humor
Well before your project reaches a translator’s hands, I am charged with being your second set of eyes. In this phase of the project, my goal is to avoid misunderstandings, ambiguity, and the accompanying administrative and accounting nightmares by examining your materials and your project goals.

Since you probably live with your project and the associated product at least eight hours a day, you know perfectly well that the topic at hand is a digital imaging system, or a bone density scanner. I’m not a printer, medical technician, or technical translator, but if I encounter text such as:

Lift Arm (A) above Head (B) and discharge excess fluid and I don’t have a visual or textual explanation of what that means, I will be calling to ask you what it means (and to remove some rather disturbing images from my mind).

Similarly, if I hear you say:
I need this Quark documentation translated into Japanese with delivery as PDF, but I don’t have approval on the photos and am chasing down the bylines and will be back from a conference in time to submit the final changes. then I am likely to recommend that you consider EPS outlines placed in your Quark source file as
a more flexible alternative.

It is also my job to explore the assumptions brought to the project. Let’s say your source files are in Application X but some of the translators you have selected for your project either cannot use the application or cannot meet your deadlines if they do. But you know that all of them have the same translation tool that you have, which allows you to extract tagged text and package it, along with reference materials, previously translated material, and so on into a complete, efficient package. Unfortunately, it is only after having spent your time preparing this project, setting your milestones, and committing to a print date that you discover that, while the translators do indeed have the tool, they may have version 3 or 4, which do not support the features included in your version 6. Or they have a version that will handle the tagged text, but only if it is extracted using the previous release. The translators who do have the latest release have begun work, those using
version 4 are waiting for you to reinstall the old release on your machine and re-extract the text, and those using version 3 are waiting for you to provide them with Word files, and your project float has already been expended. You haven’t even reached the point where your production team faces completing the project using three separate methods.

In short, whatever disaster you may have inadvertently set your sights on, it’s likely that I have been through it and live to tell (you) the story and save you from the consequences.

The Heart of the Matter
Beyond the challenges of project preparation, the heart of the localization process resides with the translator. Setting aside the issue of the time involved in evaluating and selecting translators, the challenge lies in developing your evaluation and selection criteria. Years of experience have taught me that every project is a custom project, and the weight assigned to any given criterion will vary per project. Some of these factors include:
. Accreditation or certification
. Technical or educational background
. Availability and scheduling
. Ability to work within your application
. Access to compatible translation tools
. Accessibility (Able to use FTP? Able to receive overnight packages? Nine hours ahead of you?)

Which should carry the most weight? It depends. A significant advantage of using a translation company is their access to, and experience working with, a wide range of translation professionals.

What Can a Translation Vendor Offer?
They are uniquely able to determine the best translator for your project. This may sometimes mean that the agency will assume additional work and time to ensure that the translator who is best qualified for the project is assigned. For example, the very best match may not be able to work in your application, may be traveling and only reachable via cybercafes, or may not be degreed in the subject matter in question, but may have years of experience in that same subject.

They have clout that you don’t have. A handful of companies have localization departments whose structure and activity level mirror an agency. But chances are that you don’t schedule translations on a continuous basis; we do, and that means leverage when competing for resources.

They know which matches were made in heaven and which were not. Translators are human, of course. They are also professionals and justifiably proud of their skills,
and have their own individual philosophical approaches to their craft. They may or may not work well with others, or at least with some others. The best translator for the project and the best reviewer for the project may clash on issues of word choice, style, or even personality. You will likely only discover this when faced with pages of complete rewrites, passionate outbursts, and conflicting opinions. We know from experience which combinations will yield an efficient and effective review process. And in the worst-case scenario, we can call in any number of additional
consultants to serve as tiebreakers.

They have access to additional resources that you don’t.
Again, translators are human. They can fall ill, have family emergencies, or overpromise. How quickly would you be able to reassign work if one or more of your resources dropped out of the picture? Or if the scope suddenly changed? An agency should have the resources available to ramp up and save your project.

They can filter questions and manage the exchange of information.
Tina’s Law of Localization states that: The probability and volume of translator questions, missing and essential reference materials, and revisions to source text can be expected to increase exponentially with the number of translators, reviewers, and editors working on the project.

Do not underestimate the time involved in fielding translator questions and exchanging information. It is frequently the most time-consuming part of the localization process. Apart from handling the purely administrative task of distributing information (which may involve midnight phone calls to Russia, knowing which courier delivers to that small town in Argentina in fewer
than five days, and remembering when the translator traveling in Mexico will check in at the cybercafe), your agency’s editorial department is likely to be able to field quite a few of the questions and handle judgment calls that inevitably arise.

They can organize and manage your in-country review. in-country reviews can go smoothly. I have seen it happen. However, experience shows that when this is your expectation from in-country reviewers:
. Do not rewrite/editorialize source text.
. Use revision tracking.
. Do not rename electronic files.
. Do not handwrite revisions.
. Coordinate your review with your colleagues and send only one edited document.
. Send a finished electronic file as an email attachment.

you may well receive:
. Six additional paragraphs of translated text that do not correspond to the source text
. A rewritten document with no change tracking
. A file named DOCUMENT.DOC with no indication of the language/locale of the sender
. Several blotchy faxed pages with microscopically small handwritten comments
. Two, or possibly three, separate emails from different individuals in Spain, all of whom disagree with the others’ changes
. A text-format email written in the target language, lacking accents, and containing a
general critique of quality with no specific suggestions

This is the moment when you may find yourself wishing that you had partnered with an agency. Exactly how much of your time did you allot to the tasks associated with in-country review? It probably wasn’t enough. Almost no one who isn’t a full-time localization manager has that kind of time. Had you seen this coming, wouldn’t you have issued clearer instructions rather than assuming that your reviewers would present their comments clearly and logically? It is part of my job to warn you before it’s too late. And after it’s too late, I can assist you in untangling the mess.

They have access to tools and experience using them.
I am not a translator, I am a project manager. As such, I use localization tools but am not in any way a master craftsman. What I do have access to, however, is an in-house localization tool specialist, who is charged with bridging the gap between my theory and the translators’ practice, has developed an ongoing relationship with the product support staff, and helps ensure that the tool is utilized properly and that any problems can be quickly and efficiently solved.

They have localization-savvy graphic arts professionals on site.
Practitioners of multilingual desktop publishing occupy an important niche in the graphic arts industry, and deservedly so. The graphic challenges inherent in text expansion, font support, varying operating systems, and culturally appropriate graphics are beyond the experience of most art departments. Having such professionals on board and available during the planning and execution of the project can make the difference between a successful project and one that fails to
deliver. These professionals have the experience to ask the right questions so that your end user will be able to view and use the finished product, and they will provide post-delivery support to ensure that this is the case. They will also know that simply checking to be sure that Arabic reads from right to left does not mean that it is displaying correctly. Would your graphics department know that?

They have editorial resources who are familiar with your subject matter and trained to detect problems in target language text. Your localization provider will have an editorial staff trained in the stylistic conventions of target language text and in reviewing such text for omissions and additions. Your English-speaking
proofreaders and editors may introduce errors into a finished product by removing spaces before colons in a French translation, changing the words in a Spanish subheading to initial caps, or converting commas back into the source decimal points.

Steps to a Successful Partnership
Once you have made the decision to collaborate with an agency, how should you go about selecting one? That is a separate discussion altogether, but briefly, beyond pricing, turnaround time, and references, it is worthwhile to explore the following issues.

What is included in the price per word?
Does the figure quoted include just the translation, or does it also include a review by a second qualified translator, project management, editorial resources, and graphics resources?

Will you be working with someone who understands you?
If you are a project manager, will there be a counterpart at the agency? Will they be available to you on a continuing basis? Can they provide the reporting metrics you require? What tools do they have for project tracking and how quickly and effectively can they provide updates?

What kind of post-project support is available?
Your vendor should be willing and able to assist you in ensuring that the end user is satisfied with the linguistic quality, the interface, and usability.

How You Can Help
You can greatly increase the probability of a successful partnership by providing your vendor with the following:
. A clear picture of your project goals, including how you expect to process the work, a
definition of the end user, what resources they have available (operating system, font support, applications, and so on), and whether you plan an in-country review
. Your hoped-for timeline, with interim milestones, padding for dealing with the unplanned and unexpected, and flexibility
. Well-organized, logically named, and clearly identified source electronic files, with any corresponding hard copies also neatly matched
. Reference material, including visual references, English glossaries, existing translation memories or glossaries, manuals, and when appropriate, an English version of the software being localized
. Your expectations regarding project status updates and reporting, and in what format you would prefer to receive them

While I welcome any client who requires my guidance to escape localization doom and disaster, working with the sophisticated client who nodded sagely throughout this article is decidedly refreshing. And the bottom line is that I know that both can benefit from developing a relationship with a translation agency. With my project management skills and experience I personify part of the “value added” that agencies offer. But there are many more reasons that qualified agencies function far beyond the realm of translation brokers. The “value added” is worth the investment for most organizations in most scenarios. Which means I’ll probably get to
keep having fun in this industry for another 16 years.

This article was published in the December 2003 issue of ClientSide News.
By Tina Cargile, PMP, Project Manager, Ralph McElroy Translation Co.
Ralph McElroy Translation Company
910 West Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701
Phone 800-531-9977
512-472-6753
Fax 512-472-4591
www.mcelroytranslation.com