Content strategy and DITA and localization, oh my! Our best of 2014
Yes, you need another “best of 2014” list to round out the year. Without further ado, here are Scriptorium’s top 2014 blog posts on content strategy, DITA, and localization.
Localization
Localization best practices (premium)
Localization—the process of adapting content to a specific locale—is a critical requirement for global companies. It’s often treated as a necessary evil, but this is shortsighted. The quality of localization efforts affects the company’s bottom line.
More than ever, products and services are sought, purchased, and consumed in multiple language markets. Proper localization practices are critical to drive sales, and they can save you time and money in production.
This article describes best practices for efficient, effective localization.
Adapting content for the U.S. market (presentation summary)
In this presentation delivered at tcworld 2014 in Stuttgart, Alan Pringle and Sarah O’Keefe discuss several factors that are required to adapt content for the US market. This presentation is especially relevant for European companies that want to enter the US market.
DITA localization for output (premium)
The first step in DITA localization is to translate the actual content of your DITA files. The second step is to address DITA localization requirements for your output. This article provides an in-depth explanation of the localization support in the DITA Open Toolkit.
Three factors for evaluating localization vendors
Localizing content can be a frustrating and expensive effort. In addition to per-word costs and turnaround times, keep these three key factors in mind when choosing a vendor.
Webcast: The Bottom Line: Globalization and the Dependence on Intelligent Content
In this webcast recording, Bill Swallow takes a look at intelligent content’s role in global markets, and how the entire content cycle directly affects a business’s bottom line (revenue).
Three cost-saving tips for localizing images
Translating your content can be an expensive and time-consuming process. While there are many cost-saving practices you can employ, perhaps the easiest and most cost-effective practice involves how you manage your images.
Content management and localization – finding the right fit
A CMS can be a powerful addition to your content authoring and delivery workflow or your worst enemy in translation. Or both.
Has your localization service provider (LSP) been naughty or nice?
Last month I posted about the five gotchas that will affect your translation turnaround time. That post focused on content quality, but I’d also mentioned how “a good LSP” would handle things. This month, let’s take a step back and look at five things that separate the nice LSPs from the naughty ones.
Five gotchas that will affect your translation turnaround time
Having worked at two translation companies and on many projects requiring localization, I appreciate just how nimble LSPs (language service providers) can be. Their ability to track down translators with the necessary subject matter expertise and handle a vast array of file formats is truly remarkable. That said, localization efficiency is dependent on you, the content provider.
Why publishing architecture matters in localization
“It’s not about the tools.” Except when it’s totally about the tools.
Cheap writers can be expensive
Given the choice between an inexpensive writer with a limited skill set and a professional technical communicator, which should you choose?
Webcast: Six easy ways to control your localization costs
In this webcast recording Bill Swallow, the manager of the GlobalScript division at LinguaLinx, discusses some of the ways you can cut your localization costs while still delivering quality content.
Update 9/26/2014: Bill now works for Scriptorium.
Webcast: Localization and the DITA Open Toolkit
Out of the box, the DITA Open Toolkit (OT) looks like it’s localization-ready. It handles the XML attribute xml:lang. It contains strings for more than 50 localizations. So it would seem that all you have to do is specify the language in your DITA files and maps and you’re good to go…or are you? In this webcast, I’ll discuss some of the issues Scriptorium has encountered while generating localized output from the DITA Open Toolkit—and how we solved them.
Adding new languages to the DITA Open Toolkit
The DITA Open Toolkit comes with support for many languages, but you can always find one that is not yet covered. Fortunately, adding a new language does not require any strange incantations.
Don’t forget localization
I was reading a list of seven tips for improving technical writing, and the first tip gave me pause:
1. Analogy – provide a comparison or analogy to describe how something abstract works.
Not everyone is as familiar with the system as you are. Try to help the reader along by giving as much direction as possible so they see the bigger picture.
Once they understand how the system works at a high level, they will have more confidence in reading the more technical details.
If your content is going to be localized, comparisons and analogies are going to be problematic because they are often culturally specific. Here’s a good example of how an analogy had to be changed in marketing material so that it made sense to audiences in different parts of the world:
When the Walt Disney World Resort created promotional material for a North American audience, it stated that the resort is 47 square miles or “roughly half the size of Rhode Island.”
Outside of North America, many people don’t know about Rhode Island, and this analogy would have no meaning. Walt Disney wisely chose to customize the material for each target market. For instance, in the UK version, the material states that the resort is “the size of greater Manchester,” and in Japan, the resort is described as the size of the subway system.
Disney may have the deep pockets to pay for rewriting marketing content for various audiences, but I suspect there are few technical documentation departments these days that have the money or resources to reformulate analogies for different regions. You’re better off avoiding analogies altogther when writing technical content.
Lost in translation (and in my brain)
Last night, a bit of spam managed to worm its way through the filters on a personal email account, and I have to admit I glanced at the content while scanning previews of messages. That’s when I spotted a paragraph that really jumped out at me:
They have good management systems, product quality inspection system. And international speedboat (EMS) is the door – door accurate! Soon!
My thought process was, What’s up with the international speedboats? And why are emergency medical services (EMS) using these speedboats? I knew that the person who wrote the content was likely not a native English speaker, but I could not figure out what the writer was trying to communicate.
This morning, I finally realized what the message was trying to say: the company uses EMS worldwide delivery services for prompt and accurate delivery to my door. My brain must not have been firing on all cylinders last night when I thought EMS meant “emergency medical services.”
I don’t think I’ve ever spent as much time thinking about a company’s marketing message, but my thoughts weren’t about using the company’s services–I was merely trying to comprehend the message itself. That’s not what the company intended, I’m sure.
Marketing for a global audience–particularly one that associates EMS with “emergency medical services”–is not an easy thing!
Think global
We are joining with a couple of other technical communication companies to form the TechComm Alliance:
Three companies—Cherryleaf Ltd., HyperWrite, and Scriptorium Publishing—are forming TechComm Alliance to help us handle technical communication projects around the world. We are located in the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States, respectively, and each company has customers in both its home location and in other countries. TechComm Alliance will make it easier to work with global companies that need services worldwide.
How will this work? We expect to:
- Work together on large projects that require support in multiple locations. For instance, Scriptorium might be implementing structured authoring for a U.S. company that also has operations in Europe and Australia. During rollout, instead of sending a Scriptorium consultant around the world, we partner with Cherryleaf for the training in Europe and with HyperWrite for the training in Australia. The result? Our customer saves on travel expenses, and our consultants spend less time in airplanes.
- Refer projects to each other. Each company has (and will continue to have) clients around the world. When we feel that a local presence would benefit the customer, we can refer the project to our alliance partners.
- Produce webinars and other events together. I’d like for Scriptorium customers to benefit from the expertise of our partners, and we are working on joint webinars.
Building efficient multilingual workflows
STC Intercom, April 2009
A common argument for XML-based workflows is that they automate production and localization tasks. With XML, localization can be reduced to a fraction of its original cost, but how exactly does that happen?
Sarah explores automization in localization and two technology standards used in multilingual workflows: The Extensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) and XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF).
Download the PDF 
(125 K)
We’ve been localised
Over the years, I have worked on manuals that were translated, and I have helped clients with their localization processes. Despite those experiences, I’ve never been part of a project in which US English was localized (well, localised) into UK English–until now.
Cherryleaf has adapted material from our Technical Writing 101 book in its new Basics of Technical Authoring self-paced course. Cherryleaf is based in the UK, so the course is tailored for those accustomed to British English, but the content is helpful to any English speaker who wants to learn the basics of technical writing. Cherryleaf has also included exercises so students can get some experience applying the techniques explained in the course content.
(Full disclosure: Scriptorium is compensated for sales of Cherryleaf’s course.)
Internationalizing XML
Via Cafe con Leche (Elliotte Rusty Harold), the first public working draft of Best Practices for XML Internationalization has been released by the W3C Internalization Tag Set Working Group.
