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Language Solutions

Cost cutting Tips

At VistaTEC, we enjoy an exceptionally high client retention rate, and one of the main reasons is that we consistently provide high quality business solutions that increase productivity and process efficiency, saving substantial cost.

While every customer is different, and we will work with you to ensure an optimized localization process, there are some common ways for you to help yourself to get the greatest bang for your localization buck. VistaTEC’s Productivity Solutions Group has compiled these ‘15 Top Tips’ to ensure that your company is achieving the maximum ROI from your localization investment.

If you would like to hear more about how VistaTEC can add value to your localization process please contact us at productivitysolutions@vistatec.ie for further information.

15 Top Tips

Reduce Content

Try to identify which content needs to be localized for which market. You may find that your organization only sells certain products in certain countries, so perhaps there is no need to get all your software, website, online help, and documentation localized into all planned target languages.

Although more difficult to ascertain, but certainly even more cost effective is identifying which parts of your website, online help, and documentation is rarely or never used by your customers and removing that from the content to be localized. A common rule of thumb: the more technical the content, the less need to localize. For example, you probably need to localize your User Guide, but you may be able to exclude the System Administrator’s Guide

Reduce word count

Following on from the point above, you can further cut costs by reducing word count in the content that is being localized. The cost of translation is typically calculated on the number of words. Being concise and straight to the point by cutting out unneeded text in the files to be translated will reduce word count and therefore substantially reduce translation costs. As an added benefit, your content will be easier to understand in any language, including English.

For example, rather than writing…:

If you wish to delete a contact, follow these steps:
1. First of all, select the contact you wish to delete.
2. Next, you need to click the Delete button.
3. You will see a confirmation screen asking if you really wish to delete the contact, to which you should click Yes in order to confirm the deletion.

…write:
To delete a contact:
1. Select the contact.
2. Click the Delete button.
3. Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.
The steps are easier to understand and your translation costs are reduced by 70%!

Consistent content

Ensure that different sentences that say the same thing are written the same way. Your translation costs are lowered because the sentence is only translated once and then saved to the Translation Memory, where it is automatically translated as a 100% match or repetition when it re-occurs.

For example, if you have a sentence that says “Click the Delete button.” make sure that it is written the same way throughout the content and not written as something like “Press the Delete button” or “Select the Delete button” elsewhere.

Repetition is not going to take anything away from instructional text by making it boring for the users. They are not going to read a complete manual or online help from ‘cover to cover’, but rather use specific sections as needed.

If you want to be ambitious and really make the most out of your English content, you should consider some version of Controlled English click here for more information. It will enable you to create the most unambiguous and localization-friendly source, and can also set you off on a path to Machine Translation (MT).

Re-use content

Similar to the last point, but on a topic level rather than a sentence level, you can also reduce translation costs by reusing the same content between online help and documentation where possible.

An effective way to implement this is by single sourcing. Single sourcing allows you to create multiple outputs such as online help and PDFs from one source of information. Various versions of generated output can also include unique content by utilizing conditional text settings. This delivers time and cost savings across the whole process; in writing formatting, review and publication. Not to mention the localization savings.
Today the most common single-sourcing format is XML.

Do not change source content

Try to keep content in your software, website, online help, and documentation the same between versions – if a feature has not changed, there is no need to change how it is described or how it should be used. This allows unchanged segments that were previously translated to be found in the Translation Memory. Making superfluous changes will result in those segments not being found or at best matched as a similar but not identical (fuzzy) match, increasing costs unnecessarily.

Another related tip is to isolate changes and updates to specific files. The fewer files that change and need to be processed, the more money you will save.

Do not change directory structure or file names

By keeping the directory structure and file names the same across version updates, VistaTEC can find and remove files that have not changed in code or content and eliminate them from the localization process. We can also run a Context Match process on the remaining files against previously localized bilingual files. This process not only saves time and money, but also helps to increase the linguistic quality of translations in the updated project as in-context exact matches are taken from previously reviewed bilingual files rather than potentially un-reviewed exact matches from the Translation Memory.

Change happens

Change, of course, is inevitable. While you should avoid making unnecessary content or stylistic changes, your software developers, web designers and technical writers will at some stage need to make necessary updates to your organization’s software, website, online help, and documentation.

Should these updates occur after localization has started, decide if the changes absolutely have to make it into the localized versions. Change orders can delay projects and bring up costs as the files changed need to go through the entire process once more from content mark-up, analysis, translation, review, possibly DTP, and testing. To cut the associated time delays and costs, decide if the updates can wait until the next release.

Do not use slang or jargon

Using slang or jargon in your content can increase your localization costs as translators may not understand the slang or jargon well enough to translate it. This leads to extra queries and inevitable delays. Even after the slang or jargon terms are explained, the term used may not have the desired meaning or impact in a foreign language.

For example, American business documentation tends to use sports-related jargon such as "Step up to the plate", which in baseball would mean to take your turn at bat, often in a clutch situation, whereas a translator would not know that in a business sense this means to confront a problem and make a crucial decision to go the extra mile when it's safer or more convenient not to. Likewise, few Americans would understand what “own goal”, a term taken from soccer, means. This is commonly used when conducting business in Europe to mean making mistakes that are no one’s fault but your own.

Fully test the products you are going to localize

Each problem that needs to be fixed in your software, website, online help, and documentation after the localization process has started is multiplied by the number of languages you are localizing your products into. By ensuring that the source versions are fully tested and proofread, you will help to ensure your localization project stays on schedule and within budget.

Build a Translation Memory

Translation Memories (TMs) have been mentioned several times "in previous points. These are databases that store source sentences (known as segments) along with their translated equivalents.

VistaTEC utilizes Translation Memory technology across the board, on every project to keep your localization costs down. Each project TM is merged into a client or client Business Unit specific Global TM for all projects your organization has localized with VistaTEC so that future projects can leverage any existing translations.

TMs are also able to find similar – or ‘fuzzy’ – matches. While these require further editing by a translator, they are still less costly to translate than completely new or changed text.

Create a Termbase

Inconsistent terminology, be it in English or any other language, confuses the end users. This in turn leads to higher after sales product support costs, usually resulting in an overall negative user experience: your customers will be less likely to return to your website or to buy new versions of your software.

Therefore, many organizations decide on optimal or preferred terminology to utilize in customer communication, which forms such a critical part of how they are perceived in the marketplace. The use of a Termbase, which is a repository of approved terms that also contains terminology data in different languages, alongside your existing translation environment ensures that you produce more accurate and consistent translations.
To start benefitting from a Termbase Management Solution contact VistaTEC today.

Continue to use the same tools

Translation Memories will save markup and styling information tags in the middle of segments, but the tags that are saved can be specific to that authoring tool. By using the same tools to create your organization’s website, online help, and documentation for as long as possible, you can save translation costs by optimizing the leverage from previously translated material.

Eventually of course, better processes and tools become available and your organization may decide that it is more cost effective to create the company website, online help, and documentation using different tools. However, bear in mind that this may impact the leveraging available from previously translated material, even for source sentences that have not changed. They could become fuzzy (similar) matches rather than exact matches.

Having said all that: if you are considering moving to XML, you should still do it. The potential once-off localization cost hit will be minor compared to the money you will save in every other area of publishing and localization going forward. We will be happy to discuss any XML transition you are considering, and explore any possible avenues to avoid some of the fuzzy matches and extra cost.

Use localizable screenshots and graphics only where necessary

Screenshots and graphics in your online help and documentation can be used to better communicate how your software works, and enhance the look of your company website. But localizing screenshots and graphics costs significantly more than localizing text. Try to keep them to a minimum where possible. If they need to be used, there are more cost-effective ways of including screenshots and graphics. For example, when creating graphics, it is far less costly to use text-based call-outs that are referenced in the graphics where the content is included in the normal text flow.

  • A graphic that requires localization:
                   
  • graphic that does not require localization:
    •               

                  

In the second graphic, the content that requires localization is now part of the flow of the document and is therefore less costly to translate. The table that houses the text also allows for horizontal text expansion, which may be needed for some languages. German, for example, is often 20% longer than the original English text.

Your authoring package – e.g. FrameMaker – may also allow you to create graphics callouts in the textflow itself.

Should you need to include screenshots in your online help and documentation, VistaTEC offers Automation Screenshooting, which can reduce your screenshooting overhead up to six times.

Convert to metric

Only the United States, Myanmar and Liberia use the English system of measurement. All other countries have converted to metric. To further reduce costs and time-to-market of your software, website, online help and documentation files, include metric measurements with your imperial ones for dimensions, distances, speeds, and weights before you hand off files for translation.

Provide context

Where necessary, provide information on how terms will be used if no other context is available. For instance, if you need a spreadsheet of terms or UI strings translated, also include information on how each term will be used as the same words could mean different things in different situations. For example, without context, the word ‘current’ can mean two very different things, and that difference can be critical.

Find out more…

VistaTEC can help to reduce your organization’s localization costs even further and work with you to implement an efficient localization process that will meet your tight localization budget and deadlines.
Email productivitysolutions@vistatec.ie today for a free consultation with a member of the VistaTEC Productivity Solutions Group.

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