We act as the liaison with your translation firm of choice and manage the process for you from start to finish. We ensure your content is optimized for efficient translation, coordinate the translation effort, reduce the costs of translating updated content and capture translated images.

In a typical translation project, we perform the following activities.

Optimize content

We ensure your content is optimized for efficient translation (e.g. the terminology is consistent; snippets, variables, and conditional text are used appropriately; styles are used instead of inline formatting; there are no page layout or formatting issues). Ensuring the content is well-structured before translation can eliminate time-consuming clean-up tasks afterwards.

Engage a translator

We can make the initial contact with the translation firm, explain the general project requirements and arrange for the appropriate resources (i.e. a translator with experience in the target language and industry who can work with your documentation in its existing format, such as Word or HTML). We can work with any firm you choose. We recommend working with an established firm that is able to handle all languages rather than independent translators for each language. This provides the advantage of a single point-of-contact and consistent processes regardless of language.

Facilitate the quoting process

We arrange a call between your team and the translation firm to discuss the project requirements in more detail. This call allows you to address any questions and concerns you may have regarding the translation process. The translation firm will also have questions, such as: Has the user interface been finalized? Has the user interface been translated? Can you provide the translator with access to a demo environment or with screenshots?

If desired, we can arrange for a sample translation allowing you to judge the translation quality. We then obtain an estimate for your review and approval. This estimate should include timelines for translation of the user interface and the documentation. Note that as a best practice, the user interface should be translated before the documentation. If the user interface has been translated in-house, the translation must be provided to the translation firm (ideally with a spreadsheet of the labels in English and in the target language).

Prepare a glossary

We develop a glossary of key terms found in the user interface and documentation and provide the glossary to the translator. The glossary is translated and approved by you before the full translation effort proceeds.

Manage the translation process

We deliver the files to be translated to the translator. We also provide the translator with the final version of the English documentation for comparison purposes. As the translation effort progresses, we are in touch with the translator to answer any questions they may have and to ensure the translation is proceeding on schedule.

Verify the translated files

Once the files have been translated, we perform a QA check (e.g. ensure there is no English remaining, there are no broken links or cross-references, and the formatting has not been affected). We also perform any tweaks needed (e.g. for a help system, the size of the Contents tab may need to be increased to accommodate the translated text). We cannot review the actual translated text; however we will compare it with the original English text to ensure there are no obvious omissions or errors. We also replace the English screenshots with localized versions of the images. This requires access to a demo environment or a resource who can provide the images.

Facilitate the review process

We provide you with the translated files for review. The quality of the translation should be reviewed by a native speaker of the target language to ensure the terms used are correct and appropriate for the material and audience. We then send your review comments and changes to the translator, and we manage any questions that may arise from the changes.

Finalize the localized documentation

We perform a QA check on the updated files provided by the translator, then provide you with the files for a review of the translation quality. Once you have approved the files, we create the final customer-ready documentation for you in the appropriate format (Word, PDF, HTML, etc.).