This post is part of a series on the value proposition of localization strategies.
The source content you develop is your intellectual property. The translation of that source content is also your intellectual property, regardless of who performs the translation.
The ghoulish nasties I depicted two years ago in Content Strategy vs. The Undead continue to haunt content strategy implementations and information development projects.
They just… won’t… DIE!
However, they are not the only monsters that can terrorize your content strategy implementation.
This post is part of a series on the value proposition of localization strategies.
You can make localization “better” by taking a look at localization value. Quality and cost are important value factors, but improved time to market returns the greatest value.
Improving time to market for localized products and content is no easy task. It’s not as simple as adding more translators to the effort; that may cause more problems (and more delays). Improving time to market involves moving localization up the project chain, and to do so effectively requires a localization strategy.
This post is the first in a series about the value proposition of localization strategies. You can also see a presentation on this topic at LavaCon this October.
Localization issues are a primary reason companies seek help with a new content strategy. One of the most common questions we hear is, “How do we make our localization process better?”
When we’re asked this question, we turn the question around. What is wrong with your current localization process? What would you like to improve? How do you define “better?”
$0.21 per word.
That’s the average cost in the US to translate content into another language according to Slator, a translation news and analytics site. That number is not speculative; they analyzed the costs per word from over 80 actual proposals gathered by the US General Services Administration (GSA). You can view the source proposals here.
It takes considerable planning and effort to run a successful localization project, from following best practices to evaluating vendors to finding and fixing the weakest link in the localization chain. But the localization process does not end when you receive the translations. Localization testing is necessary for ensuring that your content and products are ready for a distributed global release.
Translating content for foreign markets can be an expensive and time-consuming endeavor. While it’s important to keep costs in check, the critical element to watch is quality. The only sure-fire way to ensure quality in translation is to build it into your source.
Perfect weather for flying! (image via Flickr: estudiante)
Just before the blizzard that crippled a significant portion of the East Coast, I was returning from a business trip. I did eventually make it home, but the return flight included a bonus three-day layover in Charlotte, NC.
I’ll spare you many of the details, but a few key events and situations really stand out from that trip. The lessons learned are applicable to any corporate strategy, content or not.
Content strategy implementations require substantial planning, coordination, and hard work. The effort involved in keeping planned work moving along can be difficult. Scope creep–discovering new requirements along the way–can potentially derail your entire effort if you’re not careful.
Last week I was working in my home office when I heard an odd hissing sound. Upon investigation, I found that my hot water heater had decided to empty itself onto the basement floor.
Fortunately I had some failsafes in place; the heater’s pressure release valve was doing its job by routing scalding hot water onto the floor, and my floor is slightly slanted toward a drain in the floor. This got me thinking (because my brain is oddly wired this way) about failsafes in content workflows.
