DTP and Translation Memory

A couple weeks ago, Bill Kelts in Production wrote an introduction to Translation Memory (TM). With this post, I'd like to get into how TM affects your project on the publishing side.

Let's say we translated your sporting goods catalog last year. Here is how your top-selling product looked back then:


This year, however, you revamped the layout a bit and wound up with this:


Shouldn't matter, right? It's the same text, and it's already been translated, so we'll have 100% consistency, right? Not so fast!

How did your artist execute this runaround effect? Let's start by looking at last year's version, with all the layout marks visible in InDesign:


And this year?


Maybe the basketball graphic didn't have a proper clipping path embedded; maybe InDesign's "wrap to object" feature wasn't accurate enough; or maybe the person who did the layout doesn't know what either of those two terms even mean. Whatever the case, a TM tool does not perceive these as being the same sentences. In fact, they are so different the text in them won't even show up as partially leveragable "fuzzy matches," but as completely new text...potentially to be charged to you at the unique word rate.

Here's how the original and the altered text blocks look to a translation tool:


We went from one complete paragraph to 12 segments - with no text being recognized as repetitive or a close (fuzzy) match to text already in the TM. Repeat this problem throughout a 24-page catalog, and you've lost a lot of time and money. There is also a high risk of inconsistency between last year's catalog and this year's, which increases QA and revision time.

We in LinguaLinx's DTP department do everything we can to clean up files before they are run through the text-extract and translation process, but this takes time and adds production hours (and dollars) to the project.

In subsequent posts, I will address additional specific examples, as well as general strategies for creating localization-friendly layouts in InDesign and QuarkXpress.

Travel and translation

For some, traveling can be can be more hassle than relaxing escape - especially for those who don’t speak the language of the country they’re visiting. This can make even something as simple as asking for a restroom or bus station very confusing and intimidating.

In the U.S. alone more than 3 million citizens speak a language other than English, according to the 2000 Census. Think of all the untapped marketing resources! All that buying power being trapped by a language barrier! Translating and localizing travel materials can increase your audience; in this economic climate, who doesn’t need a larger audience?

This article by hotelmag.com gives tips for companies on tapping into the hospitality industry's revenue potential. The most important piece of advice they give is this:

“It is important to hire a reputable translation company that understands the semantics and nuances of different languages, specifically the language of your target country.”

Just remember, regardless of the industry or language, marketing materials should never offend the population you're trying to reach.

What is th@ called?

In the translation industry, consistency of terminology within a document is a desirable characteristic. To achieve a translation with the same consistency of terms/phrases that are important to one’s business, company, or institution, the source document should have uniformity as well.

However, as a lover of words, I appreciate how we as speakers and how language itself seem to resist uniformity. Take, for example, the multiplicity of words used for the @ symbol, found in everyone's email address.

English alone has many words for this symbol, including “atmark” or “commercial at,” terms that some have observed lack the romance or at least the visual provocation of @’s name in other languages:

In Italian, “chiocciola” (little snail)
In Dutch, “aperstaart” (monkey’s tail)
In Swedish, “snabel-a” (‘a’ with an elephant’s trunk) or “kanelbulle” (Swedish equivalent to a Chelsea bun)
In German, “eine Klammeraffe” (a clinging monkey)
In Yiddish, a strudel
In Finnish, a monkey’s tail
In Greek, a little duck
In Russian, a little dog

Some say it should be called the “ampersat,” to follow suit with & or “ampersand.” Others simply refer to it as the “at” sign, which is straightforward enough and gives a clue to its use over its appearance, but in my opinion is a bit banal. Other names cited in the Free Online Dictionary of Computing include: rare, each, vortex, whorl, intercal, whirlpool, cyclone, snail, ape, cat, rose, cabbage, amphora…

Certainly, when it comes to translation, consistent terms/phrases are desirable and necessary. However, if the @ symbol is any model, the immense variety and creativity of word options in language can present a powerful force.

Thanks to the “Odds and Ends” chapter in Word Watching by Julian Burnside for much of this information. See the on-line discussion and more words for @ on guardian.co.uk by clicking here.

Learn language

This blog is chock full of links for both learning and teaching languages (including English), many of them free. You can connect to language learning podcasts, social language learning networks (the modern pen pal), study-abroad programs, software applications for specific languages, etc. Of course, we recommend a “buyer beware” stance if using the page with links to free online translation!