Author: Leonor Ciarlone (Page 4 of 13)

Our Gilbane San Francisco conference from June 18-20 extends our discussion of global content to the West Coast. We’ll be talking about the ability to create, define and manage a Global Content Value Chain within two distinct operational areas: customer service and brand management, both highly dependent on accurate, consistent, and contextual multilingual communications.

We’ll also provide content professionals with a succinct knowledge map of translation process and technology components, increasingly handy as the content and translation management worlds collide. Then, onto an update on system integration opportunities based on enterprise strategy rather than ad-hoc processes. Join us!

Globalization Track Lineup: (full grid is here)
GCM-1: Optimizing the Global Content Value Chain: Focus on Product Support Content
Wednesday, June 18: 2:00 – 3:30pm
Product support content includes technical documentation as well as the content that lives with a product or service in many formats and contexts, including pre-sales, post-sales, aftermarket, training, and service. The global economy adds languages as yet another output to the traditional multichannel formula, increasing content volume due to the nuances of dialect and culture. Speakers explain how to build global content value chains that combine core content technologies with heavy doses of authoring assistance, collaboration, automated workflows and project management to documentation and translation processes. Results include multilingual product content that satisfies customers, enables simultaneous shipment of products worldwide, and delivers cost and operational efficiencies.

GCM-2: Optimizing the Global Content Value Chain: Focus on Web Content
Thursday, June 19: 8:30 – 10:00am
Customer-facing Web content must consistently communicate an organization’s core brand regardless of the language through which the message is delivered. The integral role of company Web sites in engaging with customers worldwide means that effective management of multilingual Web content must be central to content and IT strategies. Effectively managing this content presents specialized considerations such as understanding the benefits of machine translation, integration with analytics and search engine optimization tools, and segment-based translation that keeps multiple Web sites in multiple languages in synch with customer expectations. Speakers explain how to build global content value chains that combine brand management techniques with web content creation, management and distribution processes. The result is multilingual Web content that ensures the best brand experience in any language, at any time.

GCM-3: Case Studies in Translation and Localization: Process and Technology Overview for Content Managers
Thursday, June 19: 11 – 12pm
The worlds of language professionals, content managers, program and product managers, and IT are colliding, driven by the growing demand for integrating content management, translation process management, and other processes and practices comprising the global content value chain. The collision can be managed more effectively if all participants understand what’s in the toolboxes of the other groups and how to put them to good use in the context of a total solution. In a case study format, language professionals explain their tools of the trade and show you how they add value to multilingual content. A session in partnership with Multilingual Magazine and Localization World.

GCM-4 & WCM-6: Case Studies in Integration: WCM & GM
Thursday, June 19: 3:30- 5pm
Content and translation management are core processes in the global content value chain. Integrating the systems that handle them is essential to streamlining processes, increasing the volume of language translations, controlling costs, improving efficiencies and ensuring customer satisfaction. To make the most of investment in people, process, and technology, integration of WCM and GM requires an enterprise strategy, not ad hoc processes that are recreated each time a new website is launched. This session uses real-world scenarios to walk you through different approaches to integration so that you can make an informed decision about strategies and practices that are right for your organization.

As the initial dust settles on the announcement of SDL’s acquisition of Idiom, we noticed a couple of interesting trends — some anticipated, some surprising, and some just plain troubling.

Expected trends? A steady outcry from the translation community, bemoaning the loss of the “Switzerland” of translation technology. A logical assessment, given that Idiom built an enviable brand as a pure technology provider and posed no threat to neither Language Service Providers (LSP) nor ECM players. OTOH, the neutrality factor left the status quo in place, leaving room for translation and content management players to handle integration needs as partnerships and in some cases, fairly loose integrations. Also expected? Fear-driven reactions inevitable to consolidation in any software segment, summed up by the “what now” debate.

Our take? Consolidation happens. The ECM market has demonstrated it for over 10 years — the Search and BPMS market are well on their way. The platform players, i.e., the Microsoft, Oracle and IBM’s of the world, have eaten more than their share, by some analyst accounts. So, consolidation happens. It is not really “what now?” that’s the most important question; rather it is “what’s next?” Consolidation is not always positive; it’s disruptive, no doubt about it. In addition, technology mergers and acquisitions are notorious for the length of time they take to strategically integrate what’s purchased. Some never do. Others have a plan from the get-go.

However, there’s room for upstream opportunity and technology metamorphosis within disruption, both of which the translation industry is in need of. By all accounts, this industry is overdue for major change, requiring innovation from technology, service providers, pricing, and from our perspective, “the corporate champions,” currently struggling to raise the visibility of globalization as an enterprise priority. We’re not ready to predict that this acquisition will bring positive changes to any of these elements. That’s for the new product roadmap to lay out — and our advice to SDL/Idiom would be to tackle this sooner rather than later.

At the end of the day however, our take hardly matters.

Whose does? Well, THE BUYER, silly. In terms of translation as part of the global content value chain, the documentation world is ripe and I dare say ready, for innovation based on solid knowledge of single sourcing and multichannel strategies. Add the ferocious uptake of DITA over the past 2 years, and you have a situation where a language can be an output rather than an overdue afterthought. Over on the “other side of the house,” marketing is still trying to prove the value of geographically-targeted web sites as critical to brand and new revenue. Though these audiences may currently search for different solutions to their problems, they are today’s buyers of translation and localization technologies.

Surprising trends? A lack of concern about tomorrow’s buyer. You know, the corporate champions who already view globalization as an enterprise mandate, but can’t justify an enterprise cost yet. The technology industry would be wise to “get ready,” so to speak and by some accounts, they are. According to the BDO Seidman 2008 Technology Outlook Survey, 73% of CFOs at leading U.S. technology businesses expect to post increased sales revenue in 2008 over 2007. Over 39% cited consumer demand for innovative personal technology as the greatest growth driver, closely followed by 32% who cited international expansion as the main driver. Promising, yes. But what about the corporate CIO’s? Many corporate champions we talk to still describe cultures that perceive translation and localization as the “black box” at the end of a larger process.

Troubling trends? The lack of response from the large US-based ECM vendors. It would not have been surprising for us — and we dare say more “savvy” than surprising — to see an ECM or WCM best-of-breed pick up Idiom. Perhaps SDL understands that value, in light of the Tridion acquisition as well as the Trisoft investment. We’ve been on the integration bandwagon for some time; there’s opportunity to squelch the ad-hoc, siloed approaches to content and translation management as the norm. Trouble is, the “conversation” has yet to rise to a level where a departmental challenge transforms to an enterprise initiative.

Consolidation happens. It doesn’t mean the end of a market, but its reshaping. From our perspective, the time is right for vendors and users alike to collaboratively define the transformation.

Integration versus Acquisition, that is. Certainly the latter does not preclude the former. And we expect that it will most certainly not.

SDL and Idiom are making a strategic industry announcement with this move, with both obvious and subtle impacts on both the translation and content management industries. Most obvious is the influence it can have on the impact of integrating workflows, a year-long discussion we’ve having with the Gilbane community. Bringing more visibility to the Global Content Lifecycle and hopefully, more conversation on adding value throughout is a positive event. Ramifications on the state of content management interoperability, LSP neutrality, and market uptake for Idiom’s deep investment in the SaaS approach will be more subtle impacts, which will be important for our community to understand.

We’ll keep you posted as always, but note today’s facts:

• This is not SDL’s first foray into merging the translation and content management technologies, demonstrated by May’s Tridion acquisition and the more recent investment in Trisoft, strengthening an already “deep” partnership albeit with no public announcement. Tridion caught the attention of marketing content management professionals; Trisoft should have caught the attention of techcomm content management professionals. Idiom will capture the attention of both.
• As we discussed in Gilbane Boston 2007, organizations that understand the impact of multilingual communications on efficiency, brand, and revenue are moving globalization strategies upstream to “bake in” quality at source content creation. One of my favorite quotes during our Quality at the Source session was from Richard Sikes from the Localization Institute, who reminded our audience that “the whip cracks loudest at the farthest end.”
• The acquisition announcement will trigger more conversation on topics included in our 2008 Globalization Wish List, in particular the idea of “closing the gap.”

See our post on the main Gilbane analyst blog. And stay tuned.

In 2005, the White House Conference on Aging discussed the barriers to communication for a growing population of “Limited English Proficient (LEP)” adults. Not surprisingly, the creation of, funding for, and distribution of translated information was a predominant theme. To its credit, the WHCOA site now provides up to date information in eight languages (MT-powered.) Despite some progress in the U.S. over the past decade in areas such as prescription drug labels, quality is still a major issue, particularly in the medical and legal industries.

The U.S. is certainly not the only nation facing language barriers that have economic, health, and legal ramifications. Our interview with Karl Lonnroth demonstrated the enormity of work in progress within the European Union to deliver multilingualism as a fundamental right. In 2006, China discussed a lack of translators as a “major obstacle to China’s economic development.” In late 2007, the Daily News Analysis India ran an article that bemoans the lack of translators as well as infrastructure as major barriers to the availability of Indian literature.

Certainly an over-simplification, but…

Solution? More translation services.

Problem? Lack of translators. Demand exists, tracked monthly by TranslatorsCafe.com (also an excellent site for knowledge sharing and information on job opportunities.) Here’s a good start for our “Resources” contribution, with links to opportunities for certification, under and post-graduate degrees, grants, and research endeavors. Expecting the inevitable “you are missing this site, link, etc.,” we invite comments and additions for the list. We’ll republish updates as appropriate.

Industry Certifications

American Translators Association
Excerpt: ATA has established a certification program to enable individual translators to demonstrate that they meet professional standards. Translators who pass a written examination are certified by ATA in a specific language pair and direction (from or into English).

Institute of Localisation Professionals
Excerpt: The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP) has the primary aim to develop professional practices in localisation globally; offers the Certified Localisation Professional (CLP) program.

University Programs

California State University, Chico
Excerpt: The mission of the Localization Program is to provide education, training, and outreach in Localization and International E-Business, with the help of strategic partnerships and collaborations, to help students and businesses compete in the new global networked economy. Also offers the The Localization Certification Program with an updated 2008 schedule http://rce.csuchico.edu/localize/

Kent State University
Excerpt: The Institute for Applied Linguistics (IAL) is a research and training unit within the College of Arts and Sciences at Kent State. Affiliated with the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies, the Institute and its faculty coordinate the four-year Bachelor of Science Program in Translation, the 2-year Master of Arts in Translation and the Ph.D. in Translation Studies.

University of Limerick: Localisation Research Centre (LRC)
Excerpt: In 1997, UL established the world’s first dedicated postgraduate programme in Software Localisation and in 2001 the first International Localisation Summer School. The LRC also runs regular Professional Development Courses which are linked to the Certified Localisation Professional (CLP) programme established by The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP).

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Excerpt: The Master of Arts in Translation Studies is a separate track of the M.A. in Comparative Literature. Thirty-three credits are required. Most students take four semesters to complete the degree. Two languages are required (one may be English). Students will explore practical techniques and strategies of translation in addition to theoretical and cultural studies implications of their field.

Wake Forest University, North Carolina
Excerpt: The certificate in Spanish Translation/Localization (STL) teaches strategies of Spanish into English translation and introduces students to various software language applications; includes an internship in a professional translation environment.

Grants

Finnish Literature Society
Excerpt: Foreign publishers may apply for a grant for the translation of Finnish, Finland-Swedish and Sámi literature into other languages. Funding is awarded primarily for the translation of Finnish literature, though a number of grants are awarded for the translation of works of non-fiction dealing with aspects of Finnish culture.

Research

Translation Research Summer School
Excerpt: Each year between twenty and thirty students are admitted to the TRSS. Most are research students in the early stages of their projects, but some are experienced staff who want to go into translation and intercultural studies or who want to refresh their research skills. Two full scholarships (covering fees, travel and accommodation) are available; deadline for application is February 22, 2008.

When applying the “one word” phrase to translation or localization processes, the “it” can be either accuracy or complete gaffe. Given the velocity of the Internet, an offensive or comical translation of just one word can proliferate faster than the designers of the age-old Faberge commercial could have imagined.

In fact, just one skewed word changes meaning, invites misinterpretation, and erodes quality. One inaccuracy; many consequences. Terminology Management (TM) should be a no-brainer, right? Unfortunately, we’ve seen TM listed toward the bottom of the priority list — or not at all — when discussing imperatives for the global content lifecycle within the content management community.

When I read SDL’s report on the TM benefits realized by the European Institute of Romania (EIR) during their accession process, I thought it was an impressive story. 158,000 pages of translation; 54,000 terms covering more than 8 languages; 23,000 validated terms submitted to the EU’s terminology database, Inter-Active Terminology for Europe (IATE). Hmmm. A collaborative, jointly-managed, and centralized terminology database with more than 8 million terms? Even more impressive.

Intrigue led me to SDL’s Christie Fidura, Senior Product Marketing Manager, which led me to Karl-Johan Lönnroth, the Director General of The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Translation (DGT). The Faberge commercial in action.

Described as one of the largest translation services in the world, the DGT provides translation services for all 23 of the European Union’s official languages, has a permanent staff of 1,750 linguists and 600 support staff, and currently translates over 1.7 million pages per year. If that’s not impressive enough, my interview with a very cordial Lönnroth provided even more insight in the EU’s commitment to citizen expectations for translated content, the value of TM, and the impact of cross-country collaboration.

Lönnroth began the interview with a simple, but compelling statement: “The support of 23 languages equates to 506 possible language combinations. Managing this is impossible without terminology management.” In managing the DGT as a service provider based on supply and demand, he also noted the continuing rise in expectations for translated content and with it, Web access to that content. Echoing the theme of the Globalization Track at Gilbane Boston 2007, Lönnroth’s message was that EU citizens are less and less tolerant of institutional and legislative information that is not in their native language.

So how does the IATE fit in? Lönnroth sees the multi-year effort as both a government and public service in “reinforcing the EU’s global interest in providing quality translations.” Over the last year, the merger of all European term banks resulted in a remarkable — and free — knowledge repository comprising 50 years of work. The repository is essential for candidate countries seeking accession and faced with the requirement to translate the EU’s Acquis Communautaire into their native language according to mandated deadlines. Such was the case for Romania and Bulgaria, which became Member States on January 1st, 2007.

As the Director-General of the DGT since 2004, Lönnroth is steadfast in promoting the EU principle of “unity in diversity” as well as the fact that multilingualism is essential. His focus on translation management is a critical part of the DGT blueprint for a multilingual European Union.

As we close our first year of the Gilbane Globalization blog, we looked back at our initial goals to help readers meet the challenges of multilingual business communications. Three conversations stood out as emerging themes that we felt were critical then — and now:

• Understanding the impact of globalization on customer experience and brand management

• Viewing the global content lifecycle as a strategic business practice

• Closing the gap between content and translation management processes

Communicating the importance of each drove our 2007 blog entries, our conversations with corporate users and technology vendors, our globalization-specific case studies and whitepapers, and the design of the Globalization Track at Gilbane Boston 2007. As we did so, our favorite mantra continued to bubble up as the ultimate success criteria: A holistic focus on the People, Processes, and Technology that create, translate, manage, distribute, and consume global content.

Our conversation wish list for 2008 is very “PPT”-driven. In fact, we can’t think of any theme that does not require a collaboration of people, an interoperability between processes, and an integration of technologies:

• The power of single-sourcing to redefine “multi-channel” as more than device-driven outputs.

• The impact that human + machine translation combinations can have on the availability and quality of multilingual content.

• The value of terminology management in combating the proliferation of insulting translations.

• The potential of multilingual social networking.

And last but not least, the availability of “the wisdom of the crowds,” or from our take, global access to shared best practices that enable organizations to learn from each other in attaining quality multilingual communications. We’ll aim to make sure that goal is ongoing.