Language | Technology | Business

September 2012

Industry Focus: Medical

Training health translators from scratch Perception versus reality in medical translation Statistics as a medical translation specialization Language requirements for EU medical device labels Anticipating the EU medical device e-labeling opportunity

Theme: Reaching the Mobile World

Seattle, Washington, October 17-19, 2012, Bell Harbor International Conference Center

Know-how for Global Success

Keynote Speakers
Jamie Turner is an author, speaker and marketing thought-leader. He is the founder of The 60 Second Marketer, an online magazine that provides tools, tips and tutorials for marketers around the globe. Jamie is a regular guest on CNN and HLN on the topics of social media, mobile marketing and digital marketing. He is the author of How to Make Money with Social Media and Go Mobile. Bill Sullivan has worked for the IBM Corporation since birth. For the last 19 years he has been in the internationalization and globalization arena. He is currently IBMs globalization executive and director of globalization and translation with overall responsibility for all of IBMs software, hardware and service offerings. Bill also owns and manages the process and tools used by IBMs worldwide translation centers. Meet professionals from Fortune 500 companies and many more. See their presentations. Learn from them. Discuss. Ten Tracks for You: Global Business Translation Automation Localization Core Competencies Content Strategy Mobility Global Web Inside Track Advanced Localization Management Standards Unconference

Large exhibit hall with service and technology vendors.

Silver Sponsor: Bronze Sponsors: Dinner Sponsor:

Your Vision. Worldwide.

Information and Registration: www.localizationworld.com

Save the Dates! Localization World London, 12-14 June 2013

on the web at multilingual.com

MultiLingual
#130 Volume 23 Issue 6 September 2012

Want to know the upcoming magazine topics?

While MultiLingual always carries information of general interest concerning the language and localization industries, each issue features a focus on a special topic with several articles and targeted advertisements. Are you interested in writing for the magazine? Do you want to share your insights and wisdom with our readers? Do you need to choose which issues are appropriate for your advertising exposure? If so, check the home page editorial calendar at multilingual.com to see what we will be covering in future issues.

Editor-in-Chief, Publisher: Donna Parrish Managing Editor: Katie Botkin Editorial Assistant: Jim Healey Proofreaders: Bonnie Hagan, Bernie Nova News: Kendra Gray Production: Darlene Dibble, Doug Jones Cover Photo: Doug Jones Technical Analyst: Curtis Booker Assistant: Shannon Abromeit Circulation: Terri Jadick Special Projects: Bernie Nova Advertising Director: Jennifer Del Carlo Advertising: Kevin Watson, Bonnie Hagan Editorial Board Ultan Broin, Daniel Goldschmidt, Arturo Quintero, Lori Thicke, Jost Zetzsche Advertising [email protected] www.multilingual.com/advertising 208-263-8178 Subscriptions, back issues, customer service [email protected] www.multilingual.com/ subscriptionInformation Submissions, letters [email protected] Editorial guidelines are available at www.multilingual.com/editorialWriter Reprints: [email protected] MultiLingual Computing, Inc. 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2 Sandpoint, Idaho 83864-1495 USA [email protected] www.multilingual.com
MultiLingual Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. For reprints and e-prints, please e-mail [email protected] or call 208-263-8178. MultiLingual (ISSN 1523-0309), September 2012, is published monthly except Apr-May, Jul-Aug, Oct-Nov for US$58, international $85 per year by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495. Periodicals postage paid at Sandpoint, ID and additional mailing ofces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MultiLingual, 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495.

News from the language industry

Our news items are updated daily. The latest news is shown on our home page. Interested in historical information? We have a searchable database of over 4,600 news items dated from March 1994 to the present. You can check out a company or product history, or nd when it was announced that someone changed companies. The URL multilingual.com/ news is a quick link to this information. If you would like a free e-mail of news every two weeks, you can subscribe to our newsletter, MultiLingual NEWS, at multilingual.com/multilingualNews.

Subscriptions
The print magazine is mailed nine times a year (eight issues plus an annual resource directory/index) for $58 domestically, $85 internationally, and includes full access to the digital version of MultiLingual, delivered in a new interactive format. A digital subscription is available for only $28. Subscribe online at multilingual.com/subscribe. September 2012 MultiLingual

This NewPage paper has been chain-of-custody certied by three independent third-party certication systems MultiLingual is printed on 30% post-consumer recycled paper.

Katie Botkin

Post Editing

Medical learning

Because I grew up homeschooled by a doctor, drawing out math problems with pens emblazoned with drug logos on the backside of EKG reports, I feel at ease with medical jargon. Rumor has it that zygomatic arch was one of the rst noun phrases I uttered. It would be the height of arrogance, however, if I assumed that just because I had a background in it, I didnt need to keep learning about the medical eld in order to be able to comment effectively on it. In medical and life sciences, there is a pressing need to keep up. Not only is the baseline demanding and complex, but the extended learning can be time-

consuming as well. Legislation changes, clinical trials are updated and new devices are invented. With that in mind, we present you with some of the latest news and discussions in medical translation. Simon Andriesen starts the focus with a recap of Translators without Borders recent health translation training initiatives in Kenya. Kevin Foutoukidis and Nadge Young take a broader look at the business of medical translation, and Rebecca Ray and Vijayalaxmi Hegde add a sidebar on translation metrics. Luciana Celilia Ramos hones in on statistical jargon as it is used in medical translation, specically for Spanish

translators. Libor Safar, Helen Colquhoun and Cheryl Hill examine the new and upcoming language requirements for the European Unions medical device labels, and Kristen Giovanis has some further words on e-labeling. Additionally, Thomas Wamer reviews Alchemy CATALYST 10, and Elizabeth Coln reviews Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsches Found in Translation. Kate Edwards studies hand gestures, Lori Thicke looks at the translation process at Accenture, John Freivalds ponticates on outsourcing, Terena Bell discusses trust and Ultan Broins Takeaway covers user experience. Best of learning to you! W

60

Refactor y our

translatio n business !
www.kilgray.com [email protected]

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

MultiLingual
Language | Technology | Business
September 2012 #130 Volume 23 Issue 6

n Up Front
n n 3 multilingual.com 4 Post Editing

n Feature Articles n Industry Focus: Medical

28 Training health translators from scratch
Simon Andriesen

n News
n n 6 News 11 Calendar

32 Perception versus reality

in medical translation Kevin Fountoukidis & Nadge Young
36 A quick look at translation metrics for health care buyers

n Reviews
12
Alchemy CATALYST 10 Reviewed by Thomas Wamer Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World Reviewed by Elizabeth Coln

Up Front

18

Rebecca Ray & Vijayalaxmi Hegde

37 Statistics as a medical
translation specialization Luciana Cecilia Ramos

n Columns and Commentary

20 22 24 26 58
Off the Map Kate Edwards Enterprise Innovators Lori Thicke World Savvy John Freivalds Macro/Micro Terena Bell Takeaway Ultan Broin

43 Language requirements for

EU medical device labels Libor Safar, Helen Colquhoun & Cheryl Hill

47 Anticipating the EU medical

device e-labeling opportunity Kristen Giovanis

n 49 Basics n 51 Buyers Guide

About the cover:
Handmade ceramic plaques line the entry hall of the University of California, San Francisco, Womens Health Center, creating a gallery of multilingual pieces depicting beneficial medicinal plants each crafted by patients, staff and their families at the facility.

57

Advertiser Index

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

The IMIA launches the Language Access Leadership Academy

The International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) is an umbrella association that promotes all standards and best practices in the eld of medical interpreting. Founded in 1986, and providing interpreting services in over 70 languages, the IMIA is the oldest and largest medical interpreter association in the world. As an international nonprot organization of medical interpreters, it represents over 2,000 practicing medical interpreters as the ultimate experts in medical interpreting and as the best option for equitable care for minority language patients around the world. While representing medical interpreters as the experts in medical interpreting, membership to the IMIA is open to those interested in medical interpreting and language access. IMIA promotes language access as a human right. The IMIA has been attempting to professionalize the eld for over 25 years, developing the rst code of ethics, standards of practice, national and now international conferences on medical interpreting, and national certication. The latest accomplishments include developing the rst code of ethics for interpreter educators and an accreditation for medical interpreter educational programs. The IMIA contains the only free international registry of medical interpreters, which can be searched by language, state or country. The purpose of the corporation includes dening educational requirements and qualications for medical interpreters; establishing professional standards of practice and norms of medical interpretation; and promoting research into issues of cross-cultural communication in the health care setting. The IMIA is now launching a new program that aims to educate those who want to lead in the eld of language access in health care. The Leadership Academy will provide a specialized program that will enhance participants knowledge and skills in our sector, said Ira SenGupta, IMIA Board and co-chair of the Academy. We are excited to raise the number of individuals that are going to push this agenda forward in the next few years. The eight-month program runs from September 4 through May 1 annually, with 1.5 hour classes running every two weeks. Individuals who complete the program will become Leadership Academy Fellows. Leadership is not about exercising authority over people or by winning over people, but it is the ability to bind a group

News

The premier conference for learning about content management technologies for digital marketing, collaboration and web & mobile publishing
The 9th Annual Gilbane Boston Conference is organized into four clear tracks so whether you are responsible for marketing, IT, a business unit, or an internal function, you will be able to build a customized agenda to get the information you need for success.

Technology Covered Within the Four Tracks Includes:

W eb Content Management M obile Development Frameworks R esponsive Design & HTML5 D igital Marketing W eb & Mobile Analytics L ocalization & Multilingual Technologies M obile Publishing Worknows A pp Development Strategies S ocial Software Platforms D igital Asset Management B ig Data

Our Conference Tracks Focus on:

The InterContinental Boston Waterfront Boston, MA

HTTP://GILBANEBOSTON.COM

November 27-29, 2012

C ustomers & Engagement C olleagues & Collaboration C ontent Technology W eb & Mobile Publishing

Receive a Google Nexus 7 or an Amazon Kindle Fire with the ConferencePlus Package.
Sign Up Today - Use discount code GILBANE and save an additional $200!

Analyst Insight at Gilbane Boston!

Each ConferencePlus attendee receives ... a free 50-minute consultation with an industry expert to advise you on a current or planned project.

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

News
together, persuading and motivating them to seek dened objectives enthusiastically. Our eld, more than ever, requires leaders with the tools and vision to make change a reality. However, before we improve the world, we need to improve ourselves by acquiring the necessary leadership tools, said Lola Bendana, president of the IMIA. It took us almost a year to nalize the curriculum, ensuring the program demands are realistic for the working adult. The decision to make it an online program increased access and lowered the cost of the program for all, said Izabel Arocha, executive director for the IMIA and cochair of the Academy.

Letters
Dear Editor, Yesterday I read the July/August 2012 article Depicting the Falklands/ Malvinas by Kate Edwards. I liked the geographic references, but you failed to mention that in 1831 British pirates expelled the Argentine governor Luis Vernet from Malvinas. You omitted the most important historical fact, which explains the British presence in the South Atlantic Ocean. Thus, the article is very politically biased. Kind regards! Yaotl ltan, Yam Traduccines Dear Yaotl ltan, Thanks for your feedback, and it is always hard to fully cover such complex topics in such a short space. Edwards column did mention the event to which your refer, but in general terms: But by the mid-nineteenth century, the British had come to see the strategic value of the islands in the south Atlantic, ejected the Argentine presence and proceeded to establish a permanent base, much to Argentinas chagrin. The Editors

Spanish-English medical association grows

Tremdica posts to forums and shares job offers and other resources on a daily basis, usually in Spanish. The association also organizes conferences and workshops in Spain and in the Americas with the purpose of further assisting linguists interested in the life sciences arena. Speakers and professors share their knowledge with junior and senior members with the objective of continuously improving medical translation skills. Its electronic journal, Panacea, was the rst journal in the world dedicated to medical language and translation. The associations members gain access to terminological, linguistic and grammatical resources; discounts to attend conventions and seminars; a directory of professional linguists, where full members can post their information for prospective clients; a terminology forum; scientic journals; and so on.

Tremdica is an international nonprot association, founded in Washington, D.C., in December 2005 as a result of the growth experienced by the forum MedTrad. Tremdica is a resource open to medical translators, writers and interpreters. The associations main objective is to carry forward the legacy of quality and professional rigor for medical translation in Spanish-speaking countries.

Empowering
The Language Technology Experts

With up to
2012

3 levels of control

Translation Business Owners

3 2 1

MultiTrans Prism

5.5 NEW!
2011

MultiTrans Prism

MultiTrans

2000

USA/Canada: 877.725.7070 Europe: +32(0) 2.213.00.20

multicorpora.com

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 7

Resources
Commercialization fund project
Xcelerator Machine Translations Solution, creators of KantanMT, Dublin City University and the Centre for Next Generation Localisation have joined forces to participate in a commercialization fund project focused on commercialized data cleansing and visualization technologies for machine translation systems.
Centre for Next Generation Localisation www.cngl.ie Xcelerator Ltd http://66.84.8.249/kantan/index.php

News

for expats, international relationships and marriages, raising multilingual kids, localization of popular world legends, religion and the old American English versus British English debate.
HT Localization, LLC www.htlocalization.com

suite to help meet the international business demands of the Copyright Clearance Center.
Lingoport, Inc. www.lingoport.com

Revised edition of translation book

John Benjamins Publishing Company has published a revised edition of Translators through History. The new edition was edited and directed by Jean Delisle and Judith Woodsworth. Content has been updated, new elements introduced and recent directions in translation scholarship incorporated. The bibliography contains over 100 new titles, and illustrations have been refreshed and enhanced.
John Benjamins Publishing Company www.benjamins.com

Research says 21 languages needed to reach 90% of online audiences

Common Sense Advisory, Inc., an independent market research rm specializing in the language services industry, has released ROI Lifts the Long Tail of Languages in 2012. The report includes detailed calculations, metrics and concepts applied to 218 countries and territories and 84 languages.
Common Sense Advisory, Inc. www.commonsenseadvisory.com

People
Recent industry hires
Language Line Services, Inc., a provider of localization and interpreting services, has hired Scott Klein as president and chief executive ofcer. Accessible Translation Solutions, a provider of language services, has hired Meryem Errouiam as project manager for the Columbus, Ohio, ofce. Rubric, Inc., a provider of localization services, has promoted Franoise Henderson from chief operating ofcer to chief executive ofcer. Albaglobal Ltd., a language service provider based in Albania, has promoted previous lead translator Aldior Agora to project manager for the information technology translation team. Netwire, a provider of translation solutions including a glossary creation and management service, has promoted Carolina Tost to team leader of the quality assurance (QA) department. Netwire has also hired Mariel Azoubel for its QA department. Kilgray Translation Technologies, a developer of translation productivity tools, has hired Bernardo Manuel Pereira dos Santos as business development manager. IMTT, a language service provider, has hired Robert Bishop as director of business development and sales, North America. Clear Words Translations, a localization and translation company, has hired Carina Cesano as production manager. Milengo Ltd., a language service provider, has hired Britta Weber as senior business development manager. Welocalize, an integrated globalization services provider, has promoted vice president

Language Translations for Real Life blog series

HT Localization, LLC, a language service provider, has announced the new blog series Language Translations for Real Life. The series will explore life themes such as needs

Copyright Clearance Center internationalization case study

Lingoport, Inc., a provider of software internationalization tools and services, has released a case study outlining the internationalization of a multivariabled application

HIGHER S TA N D A R D S
Client-centric business orientation Focus on Central and Eastern European languages 16 years in the translation and localization market 5 branches in 2 countries (Czech Republic and Slovakia) Network of strategic partners across Central and Eastern Europe Worldwide client portfolio Comprehensive one-stop localization service Multimedia/Voice-over localization ISO 9001 and EN 15038 certied

[email protected]

www.aspena.com

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

News
of North American sales, Erin Wynn, to senior vice president of global sales. Language Services Associates, Inc., a provider of language translation and interpreter services, has hired Jim Freville and Jay Headen as strategic sales managers. Acrolinx GmbH, a developer of content quality software for companies in various industries such as software, high tech, manufacturing and life sciences, has hired PG Bartlett as senior vice president of product management.
Language Line Services, Inc. www.languageline.com Accessible Translation Solutions www.accessibletranslations.com Rubric, Inc. www.rubric.com Albaglobal Ltd. www.albaglobal.com Netwire www.netwire.com.br Kilgray Translation Technologies www.kilgray.com IMTT www.imtt.com.ar Clear Words Translations www.clearwordstranslations.com Milengo Ltd. www.milengo.com Welocalize www.welocalize.com Language Services Associates, Inc. www.lsaweb.com Acrolinx GmbH www.acrolinx.com

KERN AG branch ofce in Austria

KERN AG, a provider of language services and customized language courses, has opened a new branch ofce in Vienna, Austria. Headed by Daniel Wagner, the new ofce will also offer terminology management and corporate language training services.
KERN AG www.e-kern.com

Business
Gengo rebrand, partner program
myGengo, Inc., a human translation services provider, has rebranded itself as Gengo. The company has also announced a developer and channel partner program. New partners include Transifex, MD Systems, Dioscouri Design and Ocster.
Gengo, Inc. http://gengo.com

Acrolinx opens new US headquarters in Denver

Acrolinx GmbH, a developer of content quality software for companies in various industries such as software, high tech, manufacturing and life sciences, has opened its new US headquarters in Denver, Colorado.
Acrolinx GmbH www.acrolinx.com

Dublin ofce location for CULTURETRANSLATE

CULTURETRANSLATE GmbH, a provider of localization and testing solutions in the games sector, has opened an ofce in Dublin, Ireland. The company currently provides game localization support in 18 languages.
CULTURETRANSLATE GmbH http://culturetranslate.de

Products and Services

Across Language Server v5.3
Across Systems GmbH, a manufacturer of corporate translation management systems, has released version 5.3 of its Language Server.

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 9

News
The latest version focuses on working faster with the addition of new sorting and index algorithms. Areas affected are pretranslation, building and exchange of crossTank packages, and match rates in translation memory.
Across Systems GmbH www.across.net

customers with the ability to nd translators from the ProZ.com network of professional freelance translators.
Lingotek www.lingotek.com ProZ.com www.proz.com

PET: Post-Editing Tool

Wilker Aziz of the University of Wolverhampton and Lucia Specia of the University of Shefeld have developed PET, a stand-alone, open-source post-editing tool written in Java and designed to assist in post-editing and assess machine or human translations while gathering detailed statistics about post-editing time in addition to other effort indicators. Monolingual and bilingual dictionaries can be provided.
Wilker Aziz, Lucia Specia http://pers-www.wlv.ac.uk/~in1676/pet

Globalyzer 4.1 memoQ 6

Kilgray Translation Technologies, a developer of translation productivity tools, has released memoQ 6. The latest version includes new features for freelance translators and improvements for server users. Updates have also been made to memoQ WebTrans and qTerm.
Kilgray Translation Technologies www.kilgray.com

Lingoport, Inc., a provider of software internationalization tools and services, has announced the release of Globalyzer 4.1. Updates include added features to improve the scanning and ltering process and enhance resource le management
Lingoport, Inc. www.lingoport.com

Clients and Partners

Metaphrasis partnership develops new service
Metaphrasis Language & Cultural Solutions, LLC, a provider of language and training solutions, has announced a partnership with Bruce Adelson, former senior attorney with the US Department of Justice. The partnership developed the companys latest offering, Keeping it Legal Language and Accessibility Compliance Services.
Metaphrasis Language & Cultural Solutions, LLC www.metaphrasislcs.com

Machine Translation Module

ATRIL/PowerLing, a developer of computerassisted translation technology, has incorporated a machine translation module into the Dj Vu X2 application. Current providers available without installing add-ons are SYSTRAN Enterprise Server, Microsoft Translator and Google Translate.
ATRIL/PowerLing www.atril.com

TAUS Data matrix feature

TAUS Data, a neutral and secure platform for sharing language data, has applied a matrix feature to the data repository, increasing the volume of industry-shared translation memories from 4 billion words in 380 language pairs to 50 billion words in 2,000 language pairs.
TAUS Data www.tausdata.com

AnyCount v8.0
Advanced International Translations, a software development company, has released AnyCount v8.0. The current release supports word count in 37 le formats and supports character count, line count and text count in custom text count units.
Advanced International Translations www.projetex.com

Translation Marketplace
Lingotek, a developer of collaborative translation technology, has launched the Translation Marketplace, a complete inplatform translation stafng and workow system. The new system provides Lingotek

Certifications
Lexika s.r.o., a provider of legal, nancial and technical translations, has received ISO 9001 certication.

LEXIKA s.r.o. www.lexika.sk

InText Translation Company, with services focused on technical translation, localization, has received EN 15038 and ISO 9001:2008 certication.

STARt from pole position!

Documentation Translation Publication
STAR your single-source partner for corporate product communication

InText Translation Company www.intexts.com

In memory of William Spencer Hall

We are saddened to report that Bill Hall passed away in July 2012. A brilliant software pioneer and internationalization evangelist, he was also a pilot and Mensa member. Longtime friend John OConner wrote, Bill is the one, the only one, that I thought knew all there is to know. Bill will be remembered by us here at MultiLingual not only as a long-time author and editorial board member, but also as a gracious and generous person and as a friend who will be missed.

star-group.net

10

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

September
Supercharge Your Sales Strategy
September 10, 2012, Boston, Massachusetts USA. September 19, 2012, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Common Sense Advisory, Inc., Selling Translations www.commonsenseadvisory.com/ProductDetails.aspx?pid=25

FEISGILTT 2012
October 16-17, 2012, Seattle, Washington USA.
W3C MultilingualWeb, XLIFF, Localization World Ltd. www.localizationworld.com/lwseattle2012/feisgiltt

Calendar Calendar

Localization World Seattle

October 17-19, 2012, Seattle, Washington USA.
Localization World Ltd., www.localizationworld.com

Subtitles and Language Learning

September 13-14, 2012, Pavia, Italy.
University of Pavia, www.unipv.it/sllconf

36th Internationalization & Unicode Conference

October 22-24, 2012, Santa Clara, California USA.
Object Management Group, www.unicodeconference.org

LRC XVII
September 20-21, 2012, Limerick, Ireland.
Localisation Research Centre, CNGL www.localisation.ie/resources/conferences/2012/index.htm

tcworld 2012 tekom

October 23-25, 2012, Wiesbaden, Germany.
tekom, http://beta.tekom.de/conference/tcworld12

Translation Forum Russia 2012

September 28-30, 2012, Kazan, Russia.
TConference, http://tconf.com

53rd ATA Conference

October 24-27, 2012, San Diego, California USA.
American Translators Association, www.atanet.org/conf/2012

Interpreting the Future

September 28-30, 2012, Berlin, Germany.
Federal Association of Interpreters and Translators www.interpreting-the-future.com

Translation and Interpretation in the Age of Globalization

October 25-28, 2012, Baia Mare, Romania.
North University Center of Baia Mare, The Technical University of Cluj Napoca, http://anniversaryconferences.ubm.ro

October
Technical Communication UK 2012
October 2-4, 2012, Newcastle, UK.
Institute of Scientic and Technical Communicators www.technicalcommunicationuk.com

AMTA 2012
October 28-November 1, 2012, San Diego, California USA.
Association for Machine Translation in the Americas http://amta2012.amtaweb.org

November
CAT Tools Workshop
November 12, 2012, San Francisco, California USA.
Northern California Translators Association www.ncta.org/displayconvention.cfm?conventionnbr=10702

ALTA 2012
October 3-6, 2012, New York City, New York USA.
American Literary Translators Association www.utdallas.edu/alta/conference/current-conference

TM-Europe 2012
October 4-5, 2012, Warsaw, Poland.
Polish Association of Translation Companies, www.tm-europe.org

International Conference on Asian Language Processing

November 13-15, 2012, Hanoi, Vietnam.
COLIPS, MICA, Vietnam Computer Chapter, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, www.mica.edu.vn/IALP-2012

ELIA Networking Days Budapest

October 4-6, 2012, Budapest, Hungary.
European Language Industry Association www.elia-association.org/index.php?id=ndbudapest

Languages & The Media

November 21-23, 2012, Berlin, Germany.
ICWE GmbH, www.languages-media.com/index.php

LavaCon Conference on Digital Media and Content Strategies

October 7-9, 2012, Portland, Oregon USA.
LavaCon, Inc., http://lavacon.org/2012

NTIF 2012
November 22-23, 2012, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Nordic Translation Industry Forum, www.ntif.se

Game Developers Conference Online

October 9-11, 2012, Austin, Texas USA.
UBM TechWeb, www.gdconline.com/conference/c4p/index.html

Gilbane Boston 2012

November 27-29, 2012, Boston, Massachusetts USA.
Lighthouse Seminars/Gilbane Group, http://gilbaneboston.com

TAUS User Conference

October 15-16, 2012, Seattle, Washington USA.
TAUS Data Association, www.translationautomation.com/ conferences/taus-user-conference-2012.html

Translating and the Computer 34

November 29-30, 2012, London, UK.
ASLIB the Association for Information Management www.aslib.co.uk/conferences/tc_2012/index.htm

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 11

Reviews

Alchemy CATALYST 10
Reviewed by Thomas Wamer Market leader continues to develop strengths

For more than ten years, Alchemy CATALYST has remained a successful and powerful localization tool for software and software documentation. From the early days, CATALYST focused on linguistic and layout quality using a visual approach.

Alchemy Software Development Limited was founded in Dublin, Ireland, by Enda McDonnell and Tony ODowd, the original developers and designers of its predecessor Corel CATALYST, in November 2000. CATALYSTs success allowed the small company to open new offices in the United States, Japan, Germany and China. In March 2008, Alchemy Software Development Limited was acquired by TransPerfect, joining the TransPerfect family of companies, and under the direction of McDonnell, CATALYST continues to be one of the leading software localization tools with an ever-growing customer base. Translators, engineers and project managers use CATALYSTs main interface to localize, test and engineer content with five main windows of the user interface. These can be adjusted to any workflow task and personal preference (Figure 1). In its standard configuration, the Project Navigator on the left displays all files in a CATALYST project file in a hierarchical tree view. The extension TTK is standard for all CATALYST projects and stands for Translation Tool Kit. The filter selection below the tree view allows you to display only strings that need your attention, such as strings that were machine translated. The center piece of the interface is the Project Workspace, which you can set up to display the content of each item in your Project Navigator either as (text) strings, visual or a combination. Immediately below is the Translator Toolbar the linguists control room. It consists of a two-field grid showing source and target strings for translation and the Reference Pane just below and to the right. This nifty companion displays translation memory (TM), machine translation (MT), glossary (terminology) and other reference matches as well as the properties

System Requirements: Alchemy CATALYST 10 runs on Windows 7, Vista (SP1) and Windows XP SP2. Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 is required. For Alchemy Language Exchange, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0 or newer is required. CATALYST Translator/Lite Edition allows translators to work on CATALYST projects without a paid license. Alchemy CATALYST 10 Translator/Pro Edition, designed for professional translators: 499. Alchemy CATALYST Localizer Edition, designed specifically for the software localization engineer: 3,999. Alchemy CATALYST Developer/PRO, tailored for large projects supporting multiple languages simultaneously: 6,499.

(such as width and height) for the selected segment. The Project Results bar to the right of the Project Workspace sends constant messages to the user about operations such as Leverage, Search and To-do items. Results bar entries are live, meaning you can go to the location of any reported item in your project file by simply doubleclicking on it. Arranged to the top and sides of the Project Workspace, you can display several Toolbars, which provide fast, icon-based access to important and frequently used functions and quick access to launching Alchemy CATALYST Experts that automate project analysis, translation, validation and tasks. This well thought out interface streamlines all tasks involved in the localization workflow, from project preparation to delivery.

Alchemy CATALYST since version 7

Version 8 enhanced the preparation of software localization projects by improving the Analysis Expert assessing the statistics of a project and including a new Thumbnail Pane for simpler navigation using small images of user content. The actual translation process was supported by the implementation of MT results that needed to be post-edited before they were accepted as target strings. Further improvements resulted from supporting virtually all TMs by means of TMX, and a Language Consistency Checker ensuring that the translation of reoccurring strings is consistent.

Thomas Wamer is an assistant professor at Siena Heights University in Michigan. Tom has been working as a translator, software consultant and multimedia developer since 1998. He has written numerous software reviews for German, Swiss and US magazines focusing on translation and localization tools. 12

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Reviews
language that might be easier and cheaper to localize into additional languages. The other major innovation for engineers is the display of size restrictions on target strings by drawing red boxes in the translation window if width or height extends the maximum size, or if character length in a defined font size is exceeded. Version 9 significantly enhanced the automation of project management using the Scheduler, which places language projects in a defined folder structure meaning tasks such as Leverage and Validation can be automatically performed on all languages with a single operation.

What is new in version 10

Project preparation is further assisted by implementing fully automated MT to populate target strings that are clearly identified to quality managers by being stamped as coming from MT. The segments can then be edited, and the stamp is subsequently changed to For Review. CATALYST 10s second major project preparation improvement is the new Terminology Harvest Expert, which generates terminology databases in the open standard TBX or CSV format by analyzing CATALYST projects using a combination of statistical methods, content examination and optional manual override thus identifying term candidates. Minor innovations are the new Project Division Expert, which streamlines and foolproofs distributed

Figure 1: The highly versatile graphical user interface of CATALYST 10 showing string view. An HTML le of a Help system is being localized.

Translators who also adjust (engineer) the user interface likely appreciated the new Layout Manager Expert that automatically adjusts dialogs to accommodate longer or shorter strings in the target language by resizing and repositioning boxes and buttons. The Layout Manager is a significant innovation that has not been matched elsewhere in the industry. For localization engineers, there was the option to lock important key words or parts of source strings to avoid unintended alteration by the assigned translators. Testing and quality management were enhanced by the option to automatically run validation checks while translating strings instead of doing this at the very end of translations. Project preparation in CATALYST 9 was boosted by a new Clean Up Expert to create target files and to create or update TMs to include your latest translations. Also added was CATALYSTs own new TM format (.TM) that is based on the industry standard XLIFF and is by design multilingual. Translating linguists were supported by two key features of the release: Translation Re-cycle and ezType Technology. Translation Re-cycle scans the project for already translated segments, and displays matches with concordance levels ensuring no segment has to be translated more than once. ezType Technology, on the other hand, enhances productivity by suggesting words found in the source, target or

attached terminology sources, while the translator types. Software engineers probably appreciated the introduction of Swap Languages to switch the original and target languages in a project. This is a simple function that many other tools neglect. It allows developers to base their translation on a target

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 13

Reviews
localization effort and a new connector to the GlobalLink Term Manager. As Alchemy CATALYST is part of the TransPerfect family of companies, it was only natural to include tighter integration between CATALYST and GlobalLink. Linguists will profit from the option to link strings to visual references in all supported file formats thus clarifying ambivalent or specialized terms by including a picture of the object (Figure 2). A second highlight for linguists is the option to link project TTKs with local or online content such as pictures. The other great improvement is the new Online Review Expert, which allows you to export parts of a project to an online service. This allows subject experts who do not own and are not familiar with translation tools to access and evaluate the content and suggest improvements. This, however, requires access to a GlobalLink Translation and Review Portal. Software engineers will appreciate the option to include links to any type of content relevant to segments, and by being able to automate the import of such links by attaching an XLIFF file containing the link information. Smaller enhancements include a much-improved Update Expert, which updates TTKs automatically if just a few files in large projects changed. This update process is designed to facilitate agile localization, keeping development and localization tracks in sync. The introduction of an Alchemy cloud server, which hosts third-party pseudotranslation scripts

Figure 2: Context Links and visual references in the new Reference Browser. Translations are optimized by displaying visual references. Here an icon displayed in the Reference Browsers top right shows what is meant by the string Align top.

and specialized file parsers that you can download and include into your user profile, allows users to advance collectively. Testing and quality management are now supported by an Adaptable Validation

Expert that allows you to define your own tests for consistency, valid translations or blacklisted terms. This engine is also hooked up to the cloud server allowing you to download tests defined by others.

Translation & Localization

Your German Language Specialist

I translation and localization I proofreading I post-editing services I project management

ding Outstan ion at Localiz

I company-specifc glossaries I desktop publishing

Cologne, Germany

Tel +49(0)221 801 928-0

www.rheinschrift.de

14

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Reviews
to connect to my online TM through Wordfasts free browser-based Wordfast Anywhere server, and the likewise free Wordfast VLTM (very large TM) that contains more than two million entries for the selected language pair. In addition, the Language Exchange Expert can be used to connect to Alchemys own centralized TM server solution (Alchemy Language Exchange, which requires additional licenses) or you can use another dialog to connect to an SDL Trados TM server. The options for local TMs are also plentiful and reach from other TTKs, Alchemys new multilingual XLIFF based .TM format, to Alchemy Publisher Projects, Wordfast TXML and TXLF, TMX, Trados Workbench, and a tab-delimited format as it is used in WordFast. I only had problems with the old Trados Workbench format, which did not allow CATALYST to retrieve batch results when leveraging translations. A minor inconvenience was that you cannot edit local or remote connection details and have to delete them from your list of attached references and then enter them again with the altered settings. In addition, I was unable to export tediously established remote connection details to my notebook that I used to verify my observations on a second machine. Another fantastic field of innovation for software localization is the establishment of a user-driven exchange platform for CATALYST extensions and settings files, fashionably called Cloud Interaction or Online Repository. This kind of user involvement was first established by SDL for its Trados TM products (OpenExchange) following suggestions in a lively hosted user forum (ideas.sdltrados.com). Alchemy is now the first software localizer to do something similar. At the moment, the cloud hosts userdeveloped pseudotranslation languages a great benefit to localizers in less common languages, validation procedures and file parsers. Though moderated by the Alchemy support team, it is not supervised or driven by an established forum, which would contribute to its further success. The third area of innovation I am really excited about is the ability to link context and visual references to any string. This can tremendously increase the efficiency of translators by avoiding arbitrary entries due to misunderstandings of the subject matter based on words alone. Linked objects are conveniently displayed in a new reference browser pane that is by standard hidden behind the Results bar to the right of the Workspace. It quickly flips in and out when

Figure 3: Result of scanning for terminology candidates using the new Term Harvest Expert. Term Harvest displays candidates satisfying the criteria set forth in the Statistics Control and Content Control boxes. The user can then manually approve or deny selected or omitted terms and export the list to a delimited text le.

In addition to CHM help systems, CATALYST 10 now fully supports MadCap Flare projects, and allows the localization of several mobile phone applications such as Google Android, Windows Phone and Mobile iOS (extracted source files). Other general productivity innovations are user requested features such as advanced search (search by ID, memo content, find and replace by regular expression, and search only last results), a reference browser to display context and visual links described above, and the addition of a memo/comment field into segments.

Usage and evaluation

As I had not used CATALYST for a couple of versions, I was truly amazed at the amount of innovation and sophistication that had been put into an already very powerful tool. I will mainly comment on version 10 features but include some of the most important new features from version 9. CATALYSTs interface became even more powerful, flexible and elegant. On one of my evaluation machines, I did notice some re-draw issues with the Translator Toolbar pane, though they were easily solved by re-docking the pane.

My favorite new feature in CATALYST is the option to send all segments automatically to Google Translate or PROMT (both free for CATALYST users) using the Leverage Expert, and retrieve MT matches for all translatable strings at once. I hope, however, that this useful feature can be supplemented by adding several other (partially) free MT engines such as WorldLingo (CATALYST indicated that there are plans in place to connect to WorldLingo, which is now also part of the TransPerfect family of companies), Microsoft Translator (two million characters per week are free), as well as SDL BeGlobal Community, SDL ATS. In addition, there are currently no connectors to desktop MT solutions such as PROMT and SYSTRANS. TM databases are selected in the same dialog as MT engines. Multiple TM and MT sources can be selected for use at the same time. There are four different TM servers to choose from, Idiom WorldServers (commercial, now part of SDL) and Wordfast servers. As the connection dialog to Wordfast servers was not explained in the Help file, it took me quite some tweaking and a support e-mail to the Wordfast team until I was able

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 15

Reviews
as links are created relative to a customizable root directory, they will not be broken when you move TTKs around on the same machine. A small but incredibly useful new feature is the option to swap languages in a TTK and make the target become the source. This is not only great for translators, allowing them to utilize TMs and terminology in the opposite language direction, but it also allows project managers to base multilingual projects on a common source language such as English, which usually reduces the price of multilingual projects tremendously. Project managers setting up terminology databases will surely appreciate the new Term Harvest Expert (Figure 3). It is a fast, configurable and simple way to statistically suggest, fine tune and manually select terminology candidates from multiple TTKs, and extract them into a spreadsheet. This is something that actually works better and is easier to handle than SDLs MultiTerm Extract. To become fully usable and not require a lot of trial-and-error, however, it needs better documentation. The other great novelty for project managers is the new Project Division Expert that allows larger projects to be split into several sub-projects, each with a certain amount of strings, in a highly customizable and extremely easy and fast way. The only strange thing is that the Project Division Expert is not accessible through the Expert Pane, as are most other Experts. As they are all called Experts, they should all appear at a central place, which logically would be the Expert Pane. The new Online Review Expert is another great novelty for quality managers and reviewers, as it allows them to send off CATALYST projects to reviewers and subject experts who do not necessarily own CATALYST or do not need to be familiar with it (Figure 4). After reviewing the material in a convenient web portal, results can be reimported into CATALYST and implemented by quality management. This is very convenient and elegant, but quality management will need to obtain access to a GlobalLink Translation and Review Portal as that is the only way this has been handled up to now. While this demonstrates the integration between Alchemy and GlobalLink brands, CATALYST may profit from an option to export strings that need review to a Microsoft Word file that then can be used by the external reviewer. The file could then be reimported into CATALYST, as is done in SDL Trados Studio. As the mobile application market continuously grows, CATALYST 10 features several

Figure 4: GlobalLink online review interface. An external reviewer does not need to own or be familiar with CATALYST to review, edit and comment on each segment.

you select a segment with a context link. This can be annoying, as you barely catch a glimpse of it and it is back hidden behind the Results bar. You then need to click on the Reference Browser tab to keep it in view, but it disappears immediately when you go back to edit your translation in the Translator Toolbar. However, you can also

permanently dock the Reference Browser instead of the Results Pane that is by standard to the right of the Workspace. Links can be online URLs allowing linguists anywhere in the world to see them, or local files. As the local files are not stored within the TTKs, the potential exists for these to get lost as the TTK is moved to other machines. However,

Trusted Leader for Czech and Slovak

Czech, Slovak and other CEE languages Financial, Technical and Legal translation Established in 1993

www.lexikasro.com
ISO9001:2009 Certied

16

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Reviews
price for the Translator/Pro version make it a good investment for freelance translators who wish to tap into the software localization market. On the high end, CATALYST remains the market leader for software development companies, big corporations and LSPs, for good reason. Alchemy software development listens to its customers needs and keeps its localization efforts at the top of the game. Last but not least, a flexible pricing structure offering any mix of desktop and server deployments contributes to Alchemy CATALYSTs welldeserved success. M

Check out the Great Program Now Available!

20 Years
amta2012.amtaweb.org

Figure 5: Localization of Android APKs with graphic rendering in CATALYST 10. Like other binary formats, Android packages are parsed by Alchemy CATALYST and the constituent parts identied. The localizable elements are displayed in the Project Navigator.

improvements for the localization of such applications. In addition to source parsing, you can now also include regular Google Android application package files (APKs) directly into TTKs (Figure 5). There is not yet a true visual editor, but visual rendering gives you at least an idea how the string and its translation would look on an Android phone. Unfortunately, CATALYSTs split view to show strings and a visual representation of the UI does not work with this file format, but you can switch between string view and visual view to see how your translation influences the Android screen. Like all other PC-based localization systems, CATALYST 10 is not able to handle iPhone Apps directly but needs extracted resource strings, which can only be extracted on a Mac system. However, localization of iPhone resource strings in CATALYST is then subsequently unsurpassed by any other tool. CATALYST 10 fully supports Windows Phone as this OS is just another .NET clone. There are many productivity gains in CATALYST 10 (and 9). If you are used to paying attention to autosuggest features of Word or

your mobile phone, ezType will boost your typing speed and accuracy by intelligently pulling suggestions from source, target and references. There are several preconfigured accelerators feeding the review pane, such as internal functions like Concordance and Add Terms to your supplementary glossary. Additionally, users can add hooks to their own regularly used sources. Preconfigured sources such as dictionary lookup, thesaurus lookup, medical term lookup and currency conversion demonstrate the power available with this innovative addition. It is obvious that the developers of Alchemy CATALYST did not miss any of the major developments in the localization market or the innovations of their competitors. Instead, CATALYST continued to develop its strengths and areas of superiority over competitors, expanded into every new major technology, initiated promising novelties introduced by other major players for their own product and surprised all of us with entirely genuine features. CATALYSTs connectedness to other technologies and its reasonably low

Machine Translation in the Age of Globalization

San Diego, CA
October 28 - November 1

At The Catamaran Hotel

right after the ATA Annual Conference

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 17

Reviews

Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World
Reviewed by Elizabeth Coln Excellent book inspires appreciation of language industry

the surface of what interpreters and translators provide on a daily basis. My takeaway is that language is an intimate part of our lives; it is woven into the fabric of who we are and how we interact with each other. Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World is a fascinating read, giving those of us in the industry a new take on old ideas, and eye-opening for those new to language services. For interpreters, translators, linguists and trainers, anyone contemplating becoming an interpreter or translator, and professionals in businesses intending to reach new markets, this book is a must read. There are stories from amazing people As the reader, I found myself caught up in the in different industries, providing their perspecFound in Translation: How tale, wondering what was going to happen next tives on interpreting and translation, sharing how Language Shapes Our Lives and and how the story was going to end. I took a Transforms the World by Nataly their work has affected others or even themselves. moment to reflect that this was not a suspense Kelly and Jost Zetzsche. Perigee One such example is that of Carol Hidalgo, an story, but a real life situation of an interpreter /Penguin USA. 272 pages. interpreter at the Mayo Clinic, who was seeing doing her job to help people struggling in life and Paperback, $16. an increase in patients coming in with the same death situations. Starting off the book with such symptoms. She approached one of the doctors a powerful example, the authors paint a perfect picture of how and shared her observation. He did further investigating, and they language plays an integral role in real life situations. It illustrates found out that the patients all worked as employees at the same clearly how important interpreters and translators are. meat-packing company. Using interpreters to communicate, it was Working in the language industry for over a decade, as an discovered that the employees were evacuating animal skulls and interpreter, interpreter trainer, administrator and now business liquefying the brains. Unfortunately, they had not been wearing owner of my own language service company, I thought I had a shield masks, so they were inhaling particles that had a negative great perspective on how important language is in daily life. I effect on their nervous systems. Had it not been for the interpreter, was pleasantly surprised when this book gave me an even greater this matter could have turned into a life or death situation. appreciation that this industry is fascinating, intriguing and The book contains numerous interviews and first-hand accounts, rewarding. My own experiences and the work I do barely scratch mixed with research and valuable industry data. Through the lens of the translator/interpreter, readers will learn how those in the industry prepare for their assignments. From the examples and Elizabeth Coln founded Metaphrasis interviews readers will find that interpreting and translating are Language & Cultural Solutions, LLC in 2007. far from easy tasks, nor are they replaceable by machine. Chapter She is also the Midwests regional state after chapter, through interviews with interpreters spanning from representative for the International New York, Chicago, Finland and Brazil to The Netherlands and Medical Interpreters Association. beyond, readers are taken to various cities, hopping from country

I enjoy suspense as much as the next person, and Found in Translation: How Language Shapes Our Lives and Transforms the World, coauthored by Nataly Kelly and Jost Zetzsche, contains more than you might think. Right off the bat, theres a gripping story of when Kelly was a telephonic interpreter on a 911 emergency call. The victim feared for her life and was hiding from her attacker. At times, silence was heard.

18

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Reviews
to country. I was immersed in experiences centered around language encounters, from the Emmys to a sports arena. The book also took me on a journey of eye-opening facts. Facebook, Google and other technology companies learned early on that if they wanted to capture a markets attention they would have to speak the user bases languages. In an effort to reach more consumers, Facebook is now translated into 77 languages. We are educated on how translations, when conducted by non-professionals, can create costly mistakes for companies, resulting in loss of revenue. Sometimes, there is good old humor in a mistranslation. One of my favorite examples from the book was when a group of users in Turkey decided to change a few phrases on a Facebook page. What they got back was not the intended meaning, but for the select few who saw the translated phrase, it was definitely cause to laugh. They translated your message could not be sent because the user is offline into your message could not be sent because you have a tiny penis. No real harm came of this message because only a few received it, but it is a great example of how easily and quickly a translation can go very, very wrong. The authors deliver a clear and concise message on how language shapes our existence and transforms our world. I was riveted as to how they were able to capture so much information on how and why language is vital to what we do daily. Coming from the health care industry, where most of my client offerings are delivered, I am passionate about equal access to services for those who speak limited or no English. I know that the cost of not having a qualified interpreter could lead to serious consequences. Kelly and Zetzsche bring these facts to life in the book. For example, they recount the story of Willie Ramirez, the young man who used the word intoxicado, which was mistakenly interpreted as intoxicated. His case led to a malpractice lawsuit and the family was awarded $71 million. The same serious consequences that language has in patient interactions were also beautifully illustrated in examples given to readers about the earthquake in Haiti, and the H1N1 outbreak in Hong Kong. Theres a particular story in the book about a child who was born to deaf parents. He did not have the same opportunities and life experiences other children had. His parents could not read a bedtime story to him, have conversations with him or lend a soothing voice when he needed to be comforted. The voice he heard most was the television. However, he rose above the challenges presented by his unique life situation and embraced the lessons learned. I felt a personal connection to this story, since his situation reminded me of my own two siblings, both of whom can speak today, though they are about 90% deaf and require the assistance of a sign language interpreter. As I read further, I learned the name of this amazing person and current interpreter, whom I admired even before reading this book for his skills and delivery on the television show The Apprentice. His name is Jack Jason, and I often watched him and wished that I could one day do his job and get paid for interpreting for celebrities. He used the power of language from two worlds to assist his parents, embrace his personal challenges and turn it into a rewarding career. The book shares how in 2012, the market for language services is more than $33 billion and expected to grow. The Bureau of Labor Statistics states that the field of interpreting and translation is expected to grow by 40% by 2020. These numbers demonstrate that we as interpreters and translators are not going away, that although technology is replacing how we deliver our products; the interpreter is still a necessary part of the equation. Simply looking at the numbers, no one can dispute the need for languages. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is translated in more than 300 languages, Facebook has reached over 800 million users, the 2010 version of Microsofts operating system is available in 36 languages and depending where McDonalds is located, you will find different menu items to reflect the culture of the people of that country. Sadly, of almost 7,000 languages and dialects available, over 2,000 will no longer exist in the next hundred years. It was a bittersweet moment when I found myself nearing the end of the book. I didnt want it to end. I was hungry for more insight into our fascinating world of languages and the impact it has on people, communities and businesses. Kelly and Zetzsche could not have done a better job traveling the world through interviews and research to take the reader into the field of translation. Those of us who understand this field will gain a better appreciation for what we do, and those who have not worked directly with interpreters and translators will come to appreciate the value of how they can benefit from languages in their home, workplace, communities and even in outer space. I cannot say strongly enough, go get a copy! M

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 19

Off the Map

Kate Edwards

Column

Hand gestures

Throughout history, human society has found all sorts of ways to communicate with one another. Probably the most obvious form that comes to mind is the one with which this magazine is chiey concerned, the written and spoken varieties of human language. Yet as most of us are aware, ideas, stories, thoughts and feelings can all be conveyed in nonlinguistic ways. Perhaps because of its physical versatility and natural role as an additional outlet of human expression, the hand has accumulated a diverse vocabulary of its own that is as complex and diverse as many written languages.

Communication via the hands is as old as humanity itself; its as much an innate part of our mechanics as is our vocalized speech. As such, its sometimes difcult to separate the gestural component from the vocal because theyre so often observed as one combined act. Yet perhaps not too surprisingly, the study of human gestures also has a long history. We know that even as far back as ancient Rome, the use of hand gestures in rhetorical discourse was studied and catalogued because the motion and position of the hands were considered vital to conveying meaning. And of course on a more visceral level, during the same time period, were aware of the infamous thumbs up or down gesture used by the crowds in the Roman coliseum to indicate their desire to see a victim spared or killed. A plethora of studies in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries conrmed that hand and arm gestures arent just a secondary effect of verbal communication but in many contexts are an integral part of the process of understanding. Today, there are groups such as the International Society for Gesture Studies (ISGS) that are wholly dedicated to this particular area of study. While the spoken word alone can convey meaning, many studies within and beyond the ISGS have demonstrated that when coupled with hand gestures, the comprehension was almost universally faster and clearer.

Its not a surprise then that alternatives to spoken language are not a recent phenomenon. For example, research shows that as far as back as the sixteenth century when Europeans interacted with Native Americans, the latter were observed using a type of sign language (known now as Plains Indian Sign Language) that facilitated communication between tribes with different languages. As we all know now, this use of hand gestures as a primary form of communication evolved into mainstream alternatives such as American Sign Language in the nineteenth century and remains widely in use today among hearingimpaired individuals. And in work environments where hearing is difcult or impossible, all kinds of hand and body signals are often employed such as the many gestures used by operators on the ight decks of airports, naval aircraft carriers and so on. Because the nonverbal realm of gestures is so complex and geographically variant, its no surprise that the term body language is often used to describe the meaning conveyed by parts of the human body, because like spoken and written language, its complexity and diversity are vast. Hand gestures are actually considered just a subset of body language, as it entails other factors such as facial expressions, body position, motions by the arms and legs, and so on. The space here is insufcient to fully describe the intricacies of gestures, and there is a very extensive range of hand gestures across cultures, even for expressing the same concept. But lets at least take a look at some examples of common hand gestures and explore their meanings. Since I already mentioned this one, lets take a look at the thumbs up gesture. While it has a centuries old usage, its popular use in the United States as a positive afrmation can be traced to World War II. As historical research has implied, the American ghter pilots who were based in China in the early days of the war adopted the local Chinese custom of using the thumbs up gesture as a sign of

Kate Edwards is a geographer and the principal consultant of Englobe, a Seattle-based consultancy for geocultural intelligence and content strategy. Previously, Kate spent over 13 years at Microsoft as a geographer and its senior geopolitical strategist.

20

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Column
respect to convey excellent or youre number one. The pilots used the gesture on the airelds to indicate a plane was good to go for takeoff, and it readily spread as a generally positive gesture for a variety of contexts. The gesture spread among American forces and was used later in Europe and elsewhere. And of course now its an almost universal gesture in the United States to convey a positive feeling, while the gesture is used independently in many other countries. However, as with most gestures, for every positive usage theres inevitably a negative one used in some cultural and/or geographic context. Despite the fact that global media spreading from the United States has popularized the thumbs up as a more positive gesture, in many Middle Eastern countries the sign can be basically the equivalent of the middle nger or up yours! This is also true in various locales in South America, West Africa and the Mediterranean region. In India, the thumbs up can have both positive and negative meanings, but it depends on a very specic context. When used with a wagging motion, it can be seen as a sign of disapproval. Its also negative when used with a specic word insult. At the same time, theres a popular Indian soft drink called Thums Up that uses the thumbs up symbol in its logo. In the history of software, the thumbs up icon has often been used to indicate something positive, such as the popular use on Facebook to indicate a like of a post. Another often-used but problematic gesture is showing the palm, whether the ngers are open or closed. This is yet another often-employed software icon that is usually intended to mean warning or stop. However, in some cultures, the palm gesture can be yet another sensitive signal. With the ngers open, its known as the moutza gesture and is the general equivalent to the middle nger with some regional variations, all of which are negative. Used in certain contexts (Figure 1), the gesture might be quite a shock to people who hail from locales in which it carries an offensive meaning. In the United States and its popular culture, the display of a st with the index and pinky ngers extended is widely recognized as the Rock on! gesture (Figure 2), meant to more or less symbolize the sentiment Long live rock and roll! And even more specically, in Texas its readily considered to be the symbol of the University of Texas, mimicking their longhorn cattle mascot. However, in Italy this gesture is known as the corna and is an insult ashed to convey that the targets wife is being unfaithful. It has similarly negative connotations in the Iberian peninsula, in the Baltic Figure 1 (left): An open hand may have negative connotations in certain cultures. Figure 2 (right): The rock on gesture in the United States states and in parts becomes the corna in Italy, a gesture indicating a cheating partner. of South America as well. Of course, the absolute safest approach Obviously I could go on and on with is to simply avoid using gestures of any various examples of hand gestures, and kind to convey nonverbal meaning. as illustrated, its very likely that every If your end purpose absolutely requires one of them will carry both positive and hand gestures, then ensure that they negative meanings, all entirely dependent are those representations that can nd on the specic cultural and geographic nearly universal meaning across locales. context. The bottom line in regard to Or, if the content is to be locally tailored, gestures is that the vast unpredictability then a specic gesture may be more easof potentially sensitive contexts should ily leveraged since it will be conned to be enough for those dealing with such the appropriate cultural context. I realize content to take pause and reconsider that given our shared humanity and the use of gestures as viable nonverbal universal familiarity with gestures, it may cues for icons, symbols and so forth. seem odd to treat such a common thing Ive stated this previously in this column as a form of content risk on par with some years back but I think it bears maps, ags and so forth. However, in the repeating here: do not use gestures or broader scheme of business activity, marother forms of body language in your keting and establishing a global brand content design without fully understandpresence, the risk exposure via mispering the local market expectations for ception can be potentially signicant. M interpersonal contact and body language.

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 21

Enterprise Innovators

Lori Thicke

Column

Industrializing the translation process

communication. Today we are using machine transAccenture is a global Fortune 500 lation (MT) to manage internal communications of company providing management contechnical specications, which need to be translated accurately into English for the developers, then sent sulting, technology services and outback to clients in French or Spanish, for example. sourcing. Accenture has around 246,000 Thicke: So Accenture is using MT to translate employees and serves clients in more specications between customers and engineering than 120 countries around the world. teams. What was your process for deciding which engine to use? Michel-Etienne Liegard is the global Liegard: Our original goal was to understand how language translation capability lead at MT could be integrated into our process and to develop Accenture. He supports an industrialMichel-Etienne Liegard, this activity for our clients. Before deploying in 2009 Accenture. ized process for translation management we benchmarked a number of tools on the specic architecture and security that our clients need. We within Accenture in support of the combenchmarked ten to 12 tools, all the ones in the market. munications between Accenture customers and Thicke: What tool did you choose and why? their international development teams. Liegard: In the end we chose SYSTRAN as the tool that suits our purpose. First of all, SYSTRAN architecture is compliant with our internal security policies. Also, one of the strengths of SYSTRAN is that it is exible enough to allow distributed users access to easy tools for translation, as well as some advanced translation features for translators. Each and every one of our team is able to consult client proles, which are accessible everywhere. With SYSTRAN, a specialist is able to access a client domain, and a translator or an engineer in India is able to use the same terminology. Security of data is important to Accenture Accenture can not reuse documents from one client for another. To reuse existing content to build the statistical language model we would need the approval of our clients. Hybrid MT (statistical and rule-based) like SYSTRAN is a good alternative to statistical tools that could be difcult to use in our context. Indeed, a pure statistical engine would require an initial set of documents for good quality translation that we dont have when we start a new IT project.

Thicke: Coming from the development side, how did you end up leading language translation capability in Accenture? Liegard: I joined Accenture 22 years ago as a developer. In 2009 I moved to a team in the United Kingdom that was looking at methodology and tools for industrializing the process of applications development. Language was one of the areas we identied as having potential for improvement. Thicke: How did this language project begin at Accenture? Liegard: Accenture manages the externalization of IT activities for its customers. We realized a couple of years ago that translation is starting to take on more importance in this domain. More and more IT projects require language skills, and English is not necessarily a lingua franca in these types of projects where development teams located in India or the Philippines, for example, must understand IT project documentation from customers who speak Spanish, German, French or Portuguese. In 2009 we dened where we wanted to go with translation activity for projects. The purpose of this initiative was to allow complex IT projects to be developed in Accenture delivery centers in India or the Philippines. Our internal clients may have difculty communicating in English, so we needed the tools to facilitate this

Lori Thicke is cofounder and general manager of Lexcelera, cofounder of Translators without Borders and a member of the MultiLingual editorial board. [email protected]

22

| MultiLingual September 2012

Column
Thicke: How do you benet from using MT? Liegard: Our goal is to make language translation within the development process fully transparent by making sure that there is no bottleneck and language translation can be a bottleneck. We are limited by time when developing an application. There are different phases of delivery during the lifecycle of an application, and in each phase we make sure that the specications for the developer of the application will be translated smoothly and sent to the right person for the development. Our translation needs vary by phases. In some phases, a high volume of translation is needed to provide support materials to the team who is managing the development of the applications. We do have interpreters assigned to projects we have a pool of translators who y to support extra activities, and the most advanced are supporting client visits internally. We also provide systems maintenance. Our clients expect us to support the maintenance of their application. So in our process we have also integrated some translators able to manage to make the translation of ad hoc incidents. Whats important is how we manage to make the process seamless for the clients within the delivery lifecycle of an application. Thicke: How many translators do you work with in this process? Liegard: We work with around 120160 translators internally. Thicke: What roles do your translators play? Liegard: Normally the translators need to post-edit, but they also build client context through the creation of dictionaries and translation memories (TMs) that they need to revise and improve. Besides post-editing, they provide maintenance of the application, making sure that the TMs and dictionaries are up to date. Thicke: Do you measure post-editing productivity? Liegard: Yes. Our post-editors have been able to improve the engines to meet the target productivity. We are well above the baseline provided by external analysis, and are close to the target of 3,000-4,000 words per day. Thicke: Do translators like this postediting work? Liegard: We see a very interesting prole in our translators. We are used to working with people who have an IT prole, but we realized that linguists analyze sentences just as engineers do when analyzing a technical problem. Thicke: How important is MT to Accentures customers? Liegard: There is a real need for this. Whenever we have a misunderstanding where the people dont speak the same language, it generates signicant amounts of lost time, which can be translated into elevated costs. We compare this with doing the translation quasi-immediately. There are multiplication factors; the later any action is taken, the higher the costs will be. So the time costs with MT are much less for the client. And the process is much more accurate it is crystal clear. Thicke: Do you have SYSTRAN integrated into a workow process? Liegard: We use an internal engine. We started with customized SharePoint to push the documents to the translators. We also use our customers processes and tools to manage codes and documents in the same process. Thicke: Coming from the IT side, as a developer yourself, you are bringing a unique perspective to solving the language problem. Liegard: I dont know if its a unique perspective other IT companies are currently doing the same thing. But maybe not at the same scale. Also, translation had to be integrated right into the development lifecycle so the context is different. Thicke: How would you rate this work so far? Liegard: We consider this language translation initiative as a success. Last year we translated 32 million words in French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. MT allows us to supply more services to our clients. Language could be considered an issue for our clients. Now its no longer an issue. Thicke: What is your next challenge? Liegard: For clients who have understood the interest of having this industrial process in place for translation, we plan to go to the next step of increasing translation productivity by proposing an industrialized model for large translation volume. M

Every day more than one billion people worldwide use products localized by Moravia

moravia.com

Flexible thinking. Reliable delivery.

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 23

World Savvy

John Freivalds

Column

The challenge of outsourcing across cultures

Maybe if you had lived in a cave in a remote area of the world and had no bars showing on your cell phone, you would not know that the two presidential candidates in the US hurled insults at each other for outsourcing US jobs overseas. Mitt Romney allegedly did this while he was a principal of a private equity rm, and Barack Obama allegedly did this by putting money into companies that then shipped jobs overseas. Apparently, both sides even referred to the other as the outsourcer in chief. There is likely more ction than fact to either accusation, but it does reveal that outsourcing is not a polite term to use in business. You will now be more likely to be vilied than lauded if you use it in polite political conversation.

Many localization rms have joined other parts of American and Western business in outsourcing to nd a cheaper place to handle language work. It made total sense if language work was being done in the country that spoke a particular language (why do Latvian in Chicago when you can have it done in Riga?) but has become less so with manufacturing, medical transcriptions and IT work in general. And when the outsourcing craze started, America wasnt mired in a recession with high unemployment. But now it is a political issue. Finally, China and India are not as much cheaper as they used to be. Lower costs overseas were the prime motivator of outsourcing, of course, and better technology to communicate made it seem more feasible. McDonalds restaurants have even outsourced taking orders from the drive-thru. The shopper would push the button, give the order to someone elsewhere, not in the store, who would then punch in the order for the cooking and wait staff to see. To date, the call centers accepting orders have been in the United States, but in lower cost areas.

McDonalds noted that sending orders directly to a call center and back to the grill could also allow McDonalds employees to focus on delivering better customer service, according to the CBS News article Outsourcing Drive Thru? But by simply focusing on the cost, many companies learned that there are hidden economic if not social costs to outsourcing. For example, know what PDI is? It means Power Distance Index, and it is a measure on a scale of up to 120 of how a person in a country would react to an authoritarian gure. Countries with a high PDI would have people more willing to accept an authoritarian power gure in a paternalistic way. People in higher PDI countries are less likely to question authority and are more willing to accept instructions from those in higher positions. Here is a list of the top seven outsource-providing countries in 2009, and their PDI scores (originally put together at www. lessonsoffailure.com/developers/real-reason-outsourcing-fails) for the year 2009: India (77), Thailand (64), Mexico (81), China (80), Indonesia (78), Malaysia (104), Philippines (94). Western countries have much lower PDIs, with the United States at 40, Belgium at 60 and Austria at 11. Basically these indices mean that unless you recognize the cultural differences between high and low countries you are bound for disappointment. A project manager from a low PDI country might call and ask Will the project be ready by Thursday? The counterpart in a high PDI country might respond, Yes, it might be ready. But that doesnt mean it would be. Project managers in low PDI countries expect straight answers, however. In the vernacular, does maana really mean maana? A great cartoon I once saw illustrates this perfectly. The manager is seen talking to a bunch of his employees with a cheerful look on his face and tells them Now, Id like you all to know that as your boss Ive decided to outsource myself to India. That way, the likelihood of all my decisions being correct will be greatly enhanced.

John Freivalds is managing director of the marketing communications rm JFA and the marketing representative for his native country, Latvia.

24

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Column
Medical transcription is a huge area of outsourcing. After doctors see a patient, they dictate their medical notes, including the prognosis. To save costs, hospitals outsource, but not without potential problems. Back in 2003, the San Francisco Chronicles David Lazarus noted that a woman in Pakistan doing cut-rate clerical work for UCSF Medical Center threatened to post patients condential les on the Internet unless she was paid more money. To show she was serious, the woman sent UCSF an e-mail earlier this month with actual patient records attached. While US laws maintain strict standards to protect patients medical data, those US laws are virtually unenforceable overseas. The American Association for Medical Transcription estimates that about 10% of all US medical transcription is being done abroad, though its hard to tell for sure seeing as how the outsourcing of medical transcription is often far down the chain. In this case, the transcription rm UCSF used sent this work to a subcontractor in Florida. She in turn delegated it to a guy in Texas, who got a woman in Pakistan to do it and then did not pay her properly. So, obviously, she got mad. The original subcontractor sorted it out, but this type of thing could potentially happen again, and not just in the medical industry. There is always the issue of intellectual property loss to consider in calculating the cost of outsourcing. Don DePalma of Common Sense Advisory said that from an IT outsourcing perspective, the biggest problem is that many companies went too far with outsourcing, sending a lot of intellectual property out the door with the applications that they outsource. What happens is that they outsource not only the development of an application or major IT component, but also the institutional knowledge about it. This has led to anxiety about the loss of critical IT competencies. Companies will have to recover that knowledge. And then there is the service aspect of outsourcing call centers. True story. I had to go to Columbus, Ohio, to give a speech. I called Holiday Inn Express and asked for a reservation at a hotel near where I was to be the next day. It was obvious that I was speaking to someone who was not local. He said, Im sorry, sir, but we dont have any rooms available in Columbus that night. But we have plenty of rooms in Cincinnati! That city is over 100 miles away. All is not lost, however. It is possible to take a balanced approach to this, especially if you know what youre doing. According to Ben Sargent at Common Sense Advisory, Lionbridge used to pitch the concept of smart-shoring a combination of offshore, onshore and near-shore resourcing to balance cost, expertise, proximity and geopolitical risk. McKinsey also talks about balanced global sourcing whereby you want to avoid any critical supply or capability from being overly concentrated in one country or another; for instance, dont become solely reliant on Chinese factories or Indian software developers. M

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 25

Macro/Micro

Terena Bell

Column

Better business through transparency

I was raised in Sinking Fork, Kentucky, a rural community so small that we didnt even have our own post ofce. It wasnt uncommon for people to leave their homes unlocked during the day, and even more shocking, some people would even leave their car keys in the ignition while they were at work. The philosophy behind this was that someone might need to move your car for some reason or to roll your windows up for you if it started raining. Needless to say, it was a very trusting, transparent environment. Everyone knew everyone else.

As an adult, Ive learned to be slightly less trusting. Ive had to. Where I live now is a very safe neighborhood, but if I left my keys in the car for someone else to move it, a thief might come along and move it clean out of sight. Id say the difference is a changing world, but the truth is, talking to others of my generation, Ive learned my experience was fairly unique. It made for a glorious childhood, but I often joke that being raised in 1980s rural Kentucky was like being raised in the 1950s anywhere else. Im a member of Generation X and the rest of us just arent quite as trusting as I was taught to be. And theres a reason why. What I see as changes have long been in place and the world just doesnt seem so trustworthy anymore. For those of us raised outside of Sinking Fork, Generation X is the generation that had to X-ray its Halloween candy. Were the generation that was told not to talk to strangers or wed wind up on our school milk carton. Were the generation whose Tylenol

Terena Bell is CEO of In Every Language and recently completed a two-year term on the national leadership council for the Association of Language Companies. 26

was recalled because someone poisoned the drug on the shelves, the generation that saw the advent of childproof protective pill-bottle caps and double-sealed, tamper-proof packaging. And now that were adults, a childhood of not being able to believe one another has made our society well unbelieving. Theres a reason that people who used to be called wholesome are now called gullible. What used to be a positive trait has become a negative one and as a society, we pride ourselves on cutting through the crap, for lack of a better term. Truth in advertising in the United States has always been more of an ethical plea than a legal obligation, but the Media and Public Health Act (formerly the Self-Esteem Act) currently wants to control how far the truth can be stretched for selling when it comes to how ads portray womens bodies. More recently, a March 6, 2012, class action lawsuit against Apple claims that the company has oversold Siri, so to speak, because iPhone 4S capabilities arent nearly as cool or as helpful as commercials make them out to be. My initial reaction to the Apple suit was that anyone who believes a piece of technology will do 100% of what it claims in a commercial would also still leave the keys in the car. But basically, what current events tell me is that we dont want to put up with dishonesty anymore. At this years Association of Language Companies (ALC) conference, Bob Donaldson of Carson Strategy Group said that one of the largest sources of internal tension between translation sales and project management (PM) is promises. Basically, its sales job to make promises. Its PMs job to keep them. The goal, Donaldson said, was to be the kind of company that does both. Donaldson is on to something. In The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey writes that theres no quick way to build trust. Whereas in Sinking Fork trust was automatic, in todays business world, trust must be earned over time. Its no longer enough to be honest; you must be willing to prove how honest you are. In fact, Covey says, Transparency will establish trust fast. . . . Transparent companies are constantly disclosing relationships, interests, and conicts ahead of time so that everything is always out in the open and no one can question

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Column
their agenda (p. 154). It all boils down to showing you are who you say you are. Not to get all religious here, but to quote from Matthew 5:37, Simply let your yes be your yes and your no be your no. The world has always had charlatans, dont get me wrong, but it seems as though now we pride ourselves on knowing that theyre there. Were taught to root them out, to not take candy from strangers, to pat down even little old ladies trying to board a plane. We automatically trust no one now and people are sick of being driven to this point. Deep down, humanity has a heartfelt need to trust and be trusted. People are tired of being lied to in business and in life, of being made promises that arent fullled. As surprising as it may have been to me personally, that class action against Apple was led. It exists. Our society is swinging back to one where a handshake isnt enough we want documentation, we want proof, we want transparency. And we will call you out if we dont get it. Show me you have nothing to hide and then I will believe you. When it comes to transparency our industry has two extremes. In my two years of serving on the national leadership council for the ALC, never once was I provided with a copy of our own nancials. On the completely opposite side of the spectrum, the Globalization and Localization Association makes its annual nancials available to any member upon request. I dont share this to pass judgment on either organization, but just to show how diverging industry perspectives on transparency can be. Both organizations are member-based nonprots, and both represent the industry as a whole on a larger geographic scale. One refuses to provide its own leadership with information; the other makes the same information available to any member who wants it, leadership or not. To say which is right and which is wrong isnt the point of this article. I write about the trends I see that shape and shift our society and then I try to predict how those trends will affect our industry and clients. But the trend Im noticing is that in this day of disbelief, its probably not healthy to hide anything. Im not saying every language service provider (LSP) or industry organization should make itself an open book. The opposite of hiding everything is hiding nothing. At the time of this writing, In Every Language, my LSP, is the industrys only certied B Corporation. What this certication means is that through independent investigation, weve proven ourselves socially ethical and environmentally sustainable in our business practices. As part of this investigation, B Corporations, which are all for-prots, are encouraged to make 100% of their accounting open and available to employees and clients upon request, just like nonprots are supposed to. Its not a requirement, but it is a suggested guideline. Do we do this? No. But the spirit behind this suggestion, which is far more essential than the suggestion itself, is something we do agree with: we dont do anything we have to hide. We are who we say we are and were not afraid for anyone to ask us to prove it. This is not a my way or the highway message. Im just explaining what we do and who we are. Were transparent. Were transparent because I was brought up in a world where it was okay to leave your keys in your car. Were transparent because we believe that if you are who you say you are and youre not afraid to show it, you will build trust with your clients, employees and partners. In his book, Covey goes on to say that from the standpoint of speed and cost, transparency makes enormous sense. You dont have to worry about hidden agendas. You dont have to second-guess. You dont have to waste time and energy trying to maintain an appearance or keep up with which approach you took with this person (p. 155). He claims that trust always affects two outcomes speed and cost. When trust goes down, speed will also go down and costs will go up (p. 13). Showing, building and having trust simply put is better business all around. Last but not least, were transparent because we emphatically believe that its the right thing to do. So how transparent are you? M

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 27

Industry Focus

Training health translators from scratch

Simon Andriesen

April 2, 2012, wasnt just another hot day in Nairobi, Kenya. It was the day Translators without Borders (TWB) started the pilot test site of its Health Translators Training Program, to train a team of Kenyans how to translate health information into Swahili. You may wonder Isnt TWB the web-based platform that facilitates the work professional translators volunteer to do for humanitarian organizations? So why training? Good questions, so let me explain.

TWB is indeed running such a platform, and it works extremely well. It was developed, donated and managed by ProZ. At the end of June, TWB had translated a total of well over four million words (with a street value of $800,000) since we started counting a year ago. These translations were done by 682 volunteer translators, for 84 humanitarian organizations, and 77 language combinations were concerned. For most European languages we have no problem at all in organizing this free service. However, for many other language combinations this is not the case. In some countries there are hardly any translators around, and those who are available may not be able to afford donating their time. This is especially true in areas that suffer from the unfortunate mix of poverty, a heavy health burden, a shortage of doctors, nurses and hospitals, and no translation infrastructure. In those areas health information is crucial, and simple instructions about, for example, what to do when your baby has diarrhea, can even be lifesaving. However, even if health information is available, it is often in the wrong language. English is a perfect example of such a wrong language. Whys that, you may wonder, when so

Paul Warambo, TWBs course instructor.

many people do speak English? Well, that is the point: many do speak English, but many others dont. And for people who dont speak the language, English health information is as effective as no health information. Simple as that!

Health information in the wrong language

A perfect illustration of this problem is Kenya, a country in East Africa with 43 million inhabitants. The ofcial languages are English and Swahili, and Ethnologue reports a total of 69 local languages spoken there. Around half of the population speaks English, which is great, but it means that the other half doesnt. Most health information is in English. So, here is the problem in Kenya: there are not enough doctors to treat patients, so health information in such a setting is crucial to bridge that gap. Because health information is available in English, it's in the wrong language for over 20 million people.

Simon Andriesen is CEO of MediLingua, which specializes in the localization and testing of health-related information. He is a member of the board of directors of Translators without Borders, with a focus on operations. 28

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus
were a lot of them, over a hundred, which meant that we had to spread our efforts over many people. We gave the course to six groups of between ten and 25 persons. With people who never translated before, you can, of course, barely scratch the surface of what translation is all about when you have only three or four days. One of the lessons we learned in this respect is that it seems to be better to recruit people with strong language skills and work with them for a longer period of time. One total surprise was that in Kenya people expect to be paid when they follow a seminar, course or training. Apparently this custom was introduced by large organizations such as the United Nations and the World Health Organization. These organizations initially paid the bus fare for participants, then also a bit of lunch, then more money, then a bigger lunch and so forth. The concept of paying people to follow our (free) course was so foreign to us that we initially refused to go along with it. Surely, we were prepared to pay

Masaai school teachers watching the video on cholera they jointly subtitled.

A logical solution would be to go through Swahili, the lingua franca spoken by 60-80 million people across nine countries in East Africa, including Kenya. Kenyans who have gone to elementary school have learned Swahili, and more people speak Swahili than English. So why isnt the health literacy gap solved by translating all health information into Swahili? Another good question! The Kenyan Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation estimates that only between 5% and 10% of all health information is available in Swahili. There are several reasons for this. In the past there was clearly a lack of understanding that translation is important, and to a certain extent this is still the case. On top of that there is the eternal lack of budget. And nally, there is the lack of translators. Most professional translators in Kenya translate into languages such as French or Russian, not into Swahili or into their own local language. And maybe they prefer to work for big Western companies and not for the government, fearing that they may be poorly paid, and late. Whatever the cause, the lack of local translators is a problem, and TWB decided that creating translation capacity would help solve this. Under the motto We no longer accept that people suffer or die because of lack of translation, we decided to train people to do this type of work. And it

does not concern complex information: no instructions for brain surgeons, no high-end medical equipment or anything like that. No, it is the easy-to-understand information for ordinary people that keeps them from getting infectious diseases, and from unwanted pregnancies or unsafe abortions. Such information is written for the average person, and therefore translators should not have any problems understanding it.

Pilot test
We concluded that the pilot was successful, although we did have some surprises and there were the obvious start-up problems. One of these was that the training location offered to us by the ministry was not ready in time, and by the time it was ready, we could only effectively use it for ve of the 20 course days. The location we temporarily used was a run-down classroom that was actually very charming and pleasant to be in, but the downside was that we could only use two PCs rather than the 25 we had locally purchased for the training. Another problem concerned the recruitment of trainees, which was done by an organization close to the ministry. Several participants proved to be very talented indeed, but there were others we do not expect to become the type of translator we have in mind. Also, there

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 29

Industry Focus
bus fare to people without an income, but not pay people with a job. However, it turned out that not paying the allowance is taken as an insult. Eventually we did pay, but small amounts and therefore not everybody was happy. During the recruitment for the August sessions we made it clear that we offer a free course and that this means You dont pay us, but we dont pay you," apart from bus fare and lunch, and that worked out ne. Trainees saw the value of the course, and the opportunity it offers to enhance their skills and learn a new profession. During the pilot in April and again in August, working with highly talented and motivated trainees was a great pleasure. In April, one of the highlights was the three-day training mission in Olosho-Oibor, a village in Massaai land. We worked with a dozen school teachers, a social worker, the dispensary manager and a few others. The dedication of this team was overwhelming and this group now takes care of the Massaai versions of health material that TWB in Kenya is asked to translate. In September, our course instructor will go back there to continue their training. The structure of the course and the course materials proved to work in April, although when preparing for the August sessions we revised some of the materials and we added an extensive two-day module on using translationmemory (TM) tools, as well as a few other modules. module, which includes translation methods, tips and tricks, an introduction to TM tools, and how to build and maintain glossaries. We also discuss the difference between translation and interpretation, give an introduction to subtitling, and provide basic instructions about word counting and spell checking, as well as on how to Skype and how to use search engines. Part of the course is dedicated to quality: how to write clear and error-free sentences, and how to check correct punctuation. I present the medical modules and Paul, who holds a master's degree in Swahili and translation studies from the University of Nairobi, focuses on issues around Swahili. In April he did a great job in leading the evaluation discussions. The medical modules focus on a range of Africa-relevant health problems. These are mostly disorders, such as pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and cholera, but also social health issues, such as malnutrition, unsafe abortion and female genital mutilation. Each of these modules take 30-45 minutes to teach and are followed by an exercise: participants translate a few sentences from a health information sheet and the results are projected on the screen and then discussed by the whole group. In April this proved to be a very powerful method and participants really seemed to learn a lot from these discussions. It was also remarkable how people who had never translated before started behaving like typical translators during the rst exercise, having heated debates about the meaning of a specic word, or the proper location of a comma. For the current edition of the program we have added a much more extensive TM tools module, which was not yet relevant in April, and we also expanded the module on subtitling health videos. During the April sessions we coached the translators in subtitling a health video on the prevention of cholera into Swahili, Masaai and the Sheng dialect widely spoken by young people. We used the dotSUB technology for this, which was generously donated to us, and what came out of it was the rst-ever health video to be subtitled for Masaai and Sheng. Somehow our training program attracted quite a bit of interest from the media, which can bode well for a start-up program. The Voice of America created a news item about our training program, and The Guardian carried an interesting article about us on their website, as well

The training program

Our course program starts with a half day introduction to translation, followed by a series of medical modules, translation exercises to be done in small subgroups, and class-wide discussions about these exercises. In certain respects it follows the concept of the MediLingua course Medical-Pharmaceutical Translation, although its simplied for people without experience as translators. Local course instructor Paul Warambo and I each present parts of the introductory

30

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus
and one third had varying backgrounds. These participants are extremely motivated, and the complexity level of the exercises could already be increased after week 1. We expect that many of these trainees will be able to function as a translator on our team. That is good, as some humanitarian organizations and health information publishers already expressed their interest in working with this trained team, and we have been discussing partnerships with several organizations. For the July/August sessions, we had moved our center from the compound of the ministry of Health to the campus of the East Africa Bible Translation Center of BTL, who are also hosting SIL (the publishers of the Ethnologue). Everybody on the BTL campus is somehow involved in translation, which makes it a rather unique location for us to be, and we feel very much at home there. During the guest lectures that several BTL and SIL staff have given, it was illustrated that the challenges of reaching equivalence between two language versions of the Bible or of health information are actually quite similar. For the rest of the year, the TWB Healthcare Translators Training Center will stay on this campus. Our training concept is working, and we are looking at making it available to other regions of the world that, like East Africa, have poor public health, an inadequate health system and hardly any translators around. M

Group of trainees in front of the training location. Seven of the participants came back for the advanced course in August.

as in the paper edition. An enthusiastic BBC World Service crew followed us for a day. On June 6 at Localization World in Paris, a 13-minute video was shown which can be seen on the TWB channel on YouTube. In July and August we returned to Nairobi to continue the program and to work with a group of 20 people,

and coach them into becoming members of our local translation team. We recruited participants with excellent English and Swahili skills. One third had a language background (recent Swahili graduates from the University of Nairobi), one third had a recent degree in Health Promotion (who are trained to generate health information)

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 31

Industry Focus

Perception versus reality in medical translation

Kevin Fountoukidis & Nadge Young

standards that were similar to our medical device clients and that is why we were certied not only for the EN 15038 translation standard, but, additionally, for the ISO 13485 standard, which is specically for the medical device industry. It is indeed becoming key for LSPs to have ISO certications, and it is now a common line item on request for proposals. Some life sciences companies will not even consider a supplier without ISO certications. Quality systems also play a big role in the supplier selection process, and a review of these systems is often performed at the supplier site. More and more, medical device companies are also auditing their LSPs on a regular basis to ensure that their quality systems are maintained and continue to improve. The gap here is that many companies do not In June of this year, however, Nadge Young joined our LSP adapt their audits to the specic service of translation unless after having worked most recently for Boston Scientic, a large they have the expertise in the service itself. Having spent time medical device company, and we compared notes on how our on the client side, we can testify that it is very reassuring to a perception of what these companies need compares to reality. client when a supplier can spell out each task in a workow, What we found interesting was that in some cases, as an LSP, along with the resource that performed it, for any project given we had a good understanding about medical device rms and to the supplier. The system has to be able to demonstrate that their needs, but in other cases we didnt have it quite right. the right workow and the right resources were utilized for The rst question we asked ourselves was how important each specic project. quality systems and traceability are. Since the medical device The second question we asked ourselves involved the imporindustry is so heavily regulated, we were quite sure that medical tance of training linguists on the products they are translating. device companies needed their vendors to have quality systems In our experience, one of the biggest challenges when translatin place and would require full traceability through each step ing highly specic content for the medical device industry is the in their projects in order to conform to their own quality stanneed to work closely with our clients. We believe that the more dards. When talking to such companies, we often emphasized training we can provide our linguists to help them understand that we had systems in place that would allow them to know the products they are working on, the better. In some cases who touched their les during each phase. We denitely felt we even request that our clients do YouTube video product that it was important as a translation vendor to have quality demonstrations that our linguists can access anywhere, at any time. From our perspective, we feel that we need to have a partnership relationship with Kevin Fountoukidis, the CEO of Argos Translations, these clients and that they invest the time to works out of the Krakow ofce. share product knowledge with the linguists. Nadge Young currently holds the position of director On the one hand, we are aware that this of operations at Argos Translations. She has been in the is time consuming on the client side, and localization industry for over 20 years, at Merrill Brink on the other hand, true linguistic quality International and Boston Scientic on the supplier side. comes when translators understand all the

Since we are a language service provider (LSP), we obviously approach our interaction with medical device companies based on our perception of what they need. Every LSP should be trying to offer a service that really satises the needs of its clients. Unfortunately, the reality is, what we as service providers consider important for these companies is not always critical, while we sometimes miss identifying needs that are truly crucial.

32

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

intricacies of what they are translating and can see them in context. Now, it would be absolutely great if all linguists could be trained on all products they are translating, but the reality is that it does not happen much. Very large companies have so many products that it would be logistically and nancially impossible. Of course, there are ways to minimize the effort and concentrate on the most important products or the products with the greatest sales. We have personally seen and been part of several product training sessions on site at clients facilities, and the benets can be priceless. A couple of decades ago, information was not readily available on the internet, and there was a eld trip to Harley-Davidson with fellow translators to spend time in the company's shop with mechanics. We had a chance to identify parts and see how they work, take components apart and put them back together, working with real product experts. Another benecial exposure to the product, which we recommend whenever possible, is a client site tour of the manufacturing plant, be it Boston Scientic or John Deere. Being able to follow an assembly line and see the products being created rsthand, whether youre talking about a stent or a tractor, gives the translators valuable experience. Unfortunately, in our modern world, this type of training and physical exposure to the products does not happen very often. The global make-up of translation agencies tends to make such events challenging and costly. The upside is that with so much information available through the internet, there are ways to help our linguists understand the products. Asking clients to participate via videos is asking a lot, but they may have other training materials they might be willing to share. The LSP project manager can always do a little research and send relevant links to the translators. We personally know some dedicated linguists who will take the time to research products not familiar to them. However, the clients collaboration is needed when products are new and not yet launched. The next best thing after product training is glossary creation, approval and usage. It cannot be stressed enough that this is the rst step to quality. Product training or no product training, glossary creation should be part of every project.

www.multilingual.com

33

Industry Focus
Whether the client pays for it or not, it will be benecial for the supplier at every linguistic step. If clients can approve glossary terms with their own subject matter experts in country, it is a huge advantage. The only thing left, of course, is to ensure that the linguists will use these glossaries. Thirdly, we looked at the importance of translations for medical device companies about to enter new markets. Whether medical device companies are entering new markets for the rst time or whether they are expanding into additional foreign markets, the perception we had was that translation was not the foremost thing on these companies minds. This is particularly true when you talk to companies that are expanding globally for the rst time. There are many other things they need to consider apart from actual translations. First and foremost, they are going to be trying to understand the regulatory requirements of the countries they are entering. They are going to be thinking about costs and how having a multilingual manual might change their needs with respect to packaging devices. For example, when you have your instructions in English, everything might t nicely into your package, but once you have a multilingual instruction manual, which is obviously going to be thicker than the English one you suddenly realize that because of translation and going global, you need to rethink your packaging strategy as well. In addition, companies entering new markets are going to be thinking about support and whether there should be local country support or regional support. Will they use a local distributor network? Whose budget will the translation belong to? These are just a few issues, but they illustrate that companies entering new markets and particularly medical device companies due to regulatory requirements have a lot of issues to tackle and translation is only one of them. As a result, it is not surprising that the question of how to actually do the translations and what the needs are for a translation supplier are not high on the clients priority list. Thus, we need to have patience. Medical device companies will get to the translation problem in due course. However, since some of our client side experience with medical device companies was directly connected to translation and localization, we would say that for sure, at least at some companies, translation is taken very seriously. Translation can be one of the key factors considered when entering new markets. In the last few years, translation and localization even became an integral part of planning. In our experience on the vendor side, though, we denitely have noticed different levels of importance placed on translation and localization based on the size of the company in question. The smaller the company, the more likely it is that there is one department, and sometimes one person, managing all aspects of the international expansion. As a result, the translation component may be only one piece to the larger puzzle of how to move into new markets, and it becomes an afterthought. The fourth thing we considered was how important having your own translation management system (TMS) is. Translation companies love to talk about their translation systems. We work in a translation company and we know its true. We do it ourselves. We often want to differentiate ourselves by pointing out that our system does this and that, while our competitors systems have certain limitations. We spend a lot of time on positioning ourselves in terms of TMSs. The reason we do that is we believe that medical device companies, and other companies as well, assume that such systems are absolutely critical. The reality is that medical device companies are getting familiar with TMSs because they are given elaborate presentations about these systems. Some clients are talked into purchasing the TMS for themselves and end up managing the translations in-house. These clients have to be ready for the effort and cost associated with the new process. New resources will be needed to manage the system and maintenance will be required. Most clients, however, believe that the TMS is the suppliers responsibility, part of the core service being offered. Medical device companies that have been around for a long time have become familiar with TMSs as their suppliers (and their competitors) are keeping them aware of improvements, new functionalities and features of their systems. As the clients are getting savvier about the systems, if they have someone or a department who owns the translation process, the LSPs will need to open up and expose these magic systems to be audited. In the United States, it is becoming standard practice, as mentioned earlier, to audit translation suppliers. These clients know it is crucial that the suppliers operate from a system linked to their quality system and they understand that such a system is a benet to them from both a cost and quality perspective. M

34

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Medical Focus Showcase

Prescribing Information
AccentPharm is a medical translations pain reliever with established efficacy for Russian and Ukrainian target languages. AccentPharm is used to treat many conditions such as clinical trial translations insufficiency, medical devices localization disorders and more. An overdose of AccentPharm can cause significant discounts. Adults should avoid ordering more than 30,000 words per day. Taking more can cause addiction. Warnings and precautions: Keep AccentPharm out of reach of competitors. Share AccentPharm with your partners.

The Language People Speak

Times change and new challenges arise every day. We keep growing at a steady pace, thanks to our client-oriented work philosophy and efficient project management solutions that enable our clients to increase revenue and create effective communication channels with their audiences. We are your best medical language partner in a highly demanding world market as our leadership spirit helps our clients to achieve sustainable businesses and reach out in every language.

ISO Certied Full-service Language Agency

Affordable Language Services is an ISO certified, female-owned family company that provides translation, interpreting and transcription services to clients across the US. With more than 600 interpreters and capabilities in 200-plus languages including American Sign Language, Affordable works with leading clients in health care, education, legal and government sectors to help people who cant speak for themselves at critical times in their lives. As translators we use expert linguists, many of whom are ATA certified.

AccentPharm Medical Translations

Kyiv, Ukraine [email protected] www.accentpharm.com

Clear Words Translations

Crdoba, Argentina [email protected] www.clearwordstranslations.com

Affordable Language Services

Cincinnati, Ohio [email protected] www.affordablelanguages.com

Medical, Pharmaceutical, Scientic Document Translation

We offer translation services in any language for medical, pharmaceutical and scientific fields. Subjects ranging from drug monographs, clinical trials, launching and marketing of new drugs, PowerPoint presentations to sales reps, surveys from doctors and patients and so on. We give free quotes for any project, and we always meet our clients deadlines. Unlike many competitors, we also carry professional liability insurance that is absolutely vital to protect your interests.

Putting the exe in exemplary

Are your medical translations giving you headaches? Seek professional medical help. The symptoms may be alleviated by our team of medical professionals, collaborating with our translation experts on every project we do for the worlds medical leaders. Are you interested in Central and Eastern European languages? Medical translation is not for everyone. Consult exe before using any of the remedies available on the market today.

Medical Translations
MediLingua is one of Europes few companies specializing in medical translation. We provide all European languages and the major languages of Asia and Africa as well as the usual translationrelated services. Our 450-plus translators have a combined medical and language background. We work for manufacturers of medical devices, instruments, in-vitro diagnostics and software; pharmaceutical companies; medical publishers; national and international medical organizations; and medical journals. Call or e-mail Simon Andriesen or visit our website for more information.

Dussault Translation Ltd.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada [email protected] www.dussault-translation.com www.multilingual.com

exe, spol. s r.o.

Bratislava, Slovakia [email protected] www.exe.sk

MediLingua BV
Leiden, The Netherlands [email protected] www.medilingua.com September 2012 MultiLingual

| 35

Industry Focus
A quick look at translation metrics for health care buyers
How much do health care companies spend on translation? What is the typical volume of their projects? In a recent study on translation performance metrics, market research rm Common Sense Advisory collected data from localization teams at health care rms to learn more about their requirements. Survey respondents belonged to medical device, life sciences, pharmaceutical and health care organizations. The survey revealed that spending on translation is on the rise at most health care rms. Firms reported revenue ranges between $100 million and $2.9 billion in the survey. Around 45% of the total sample had revenue of $1 billion or more. The largest single group had revenue of $10 billion or more (22.22%). However, the majority of health care company respondents, regardless of total revenue, had localization budgets under $5 million for 2010. Spending among health care companies on translation was reported to be trending up in 2011 and 2012 because of increasing volumes of content and numbers of languages. Average spending was expected to increase by 24% from $3.1 million to $3.8 million between 2010 and 2011. Respondents reported that their outlay would rise by 46% between 2010 and 2011, from $1 million to $1.46 million. The majority of translation projects of health care rms involved documentation (30.67%) and software (21.33%), along with lesser amounts of marketing (10.67%), packaging and labeling (8%), and web content (8%). This sector produces more localized packaging, labeling and advertising content than most other sectors, but less web, marketing and legal material. The number of projects managed by health care rms per month ranges from one to 150, with most companies processing 25 projects or fewer each month. Average turnaround time per project was three months, which reects the high number of documentation and software projects. Health care organizations predicted that they would translate between 500,000 and one million words in 2012 into an average of 12 languages. The largest group of survey participants overall (31.76%) predicted that they would translate into 21 to 50 languages in 2012. take a step back to gure out which metrics are needed to help you meet the challenges presented by each one. Reach out to vendors. Life sciences companies expect their language service providers (LSPs) to be more than just providers they demand trusted advisors (How Life Sciences Firms Buy Translation, Common Sense Advisory, October 2010). Any supplier with expertise in benchmarking or in designing metrics dashboard(s) can provide great value to customers in these areas. Seek out mainstream metrics initiatives. As translation budgets fail to keep up with requirements for local market coverage, its critical for in-house language service teams to be measured in the same way as other business functions. Over time, this helps ensure that funding remains consistent for local market support. Health care companies expect their language service suppliers to become highly specialized in life sciences and to focus more on expanding markets around the world. There are several ways that LSPs can use metrics to ramp up their services to businesses in this sector. First, sell your metrics expertise as a separate service. Take your knowledge in designing your metrics dashboard and package it as a service to shorten the learning and implementation curve for clients. Metrics can also be used as a springboard to offer translation process audits. Next, in addition to volume, turnaround time and cost, LSPs can help clients track the quality of original content, compliance regulations in new markets, the speed with which a clinical trial group provides feedback versus traditional in-country reviewers and so on. And, nally, prepare for mergers and acquisitions. Make sure that you have the right data to show how you can ramp up to deal with expanded product lineups, along with the ability to keep localized products rolling out the door, even as internal teams are made redundant. Metrics help shift the focus away from translation cost and back to revenue enablement. So, whether you buy or provide translation and localization, start tracking metrics today. Rebecca Ray & Vijayalaxmi Hegde, Common Sense Advisory

Health care companies expect their language service suppliers to become more highly specialized in life sciences
Localization teams at buyer organizations can use metrics to make the case for translation to their higherups. Here are a few pointers on building metrics: Measure what matters most. What is it that is most important to meet your business goals: cost-saving strategies? The need to ramp up Asian languages? Are the odds high that your company or division will be acquired the next year? Whatever the most likely scenario(s),

36

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus

Statistics as a medical translation specialization

Luciana Cecilia Ramos

In our daily living as laypeople, irrespective of our involvement in the science of statistics, we often observe, probe, consult, research and make a hypothesis before reaching a decision, looking for the highest benets possible, at the minimum risks and under the most cost-efcient circumstances. We may do this without thinking about it, or we may be the type who makes lists of pros and cons.

Set the goal (hypothesis)

Design the study (protocol)

Carry out the study (organization)

Likewise, when a medical professional prescribes treatment to a patient or looks for an authoritative approval, he or she should be reasonably certain of the efcacy of such therapy, knowing anticipated pros and cons. Since the late 1990s, the trend dictates that any medical procedure, either for preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, prognostic or rehabilitating purposes, should be dened based on its level of scientic evidence so called evidence-based medicine. In the medical arena, statistics plays a predominant role as a subeld of medical specialization, in particular in the branches of epidemiology and clinical trials. Clinical trials are research studies that prove the effect of new clinical approaches in humans. The investigator inputs and controls variables, and patients are randomly assigned to the different treatments being compared. Clinical trials attempt to answer scientic questions and search for the best practices in order to prevent, explore, diagnose or treat a disease or condition. Often, clinical trials compare and contrast new treatments against other already cleared by the US Food and Drug Administration (or any other relevant agency, based on the geographical location) and available in the market. Each clinical trial is ruled by a particular protocol or action plan, and statistics is a core component of data analysis and testing. It is not part of the hypothesis, as it is usually mistakenly believed, since hypotheses are elaborated by the investigator based on his or her ndings. As a research method itself, the clinical trial should reect the steps shown in Figure 1, and translators should be able to

Draw conclusions (clinical interpreting of results)

Analyze data (statistical analysis)

Figure 1: Steps of a clinical trial.

understand and identify each link of this chain to proactively spot the terminological focus germane to each step, and plan for research and documentation efciently, and in advance. In clinical trials, cases (or events) are usually complex and variable, and tend to be inuenced by multiple causes and linked by diverse relationships. The role of science is observing facts appropriately and identifying consistent elements. The scientic method tells us whether a hypothesis should not be rejected or should not be accepted, and it comprises a set of principles

Luciana Cecilia Ramos is a freelance ATA-certied English-Spanish translator and interpreter, professional trainer and industry advisor. Thanks to Mara Anglica Ferrandi, BA in statistics, for her help on this article. September 2012 MultiLingual

www.multilingual.com

| 37

Industry Focus
English
Furthermore, relating the proportions of maternal complications, maternal near miss and maternal deaths (i.e. mortality index or case fatality ratio) would be useful to assess the quality of care that women with severe complications receive. A set of indicators was developed to complement the maternal near miss assessment. The relationship between the use of these interventions and the maternal and perinatal outcome will be evaluated by calculating odds ratio (crude and adjusted) with 95% condence intervals.

Spanish
Ms an, relacionar las proporciones de complicaciones maternas, complicaciones maternas agudas graves y muertes maternas (es decir, la tasa de mortalidad o de letalidad) sera til para evaluar la calidad de la atencin que reciben las mujeres con complicaciones graves. Se desarroll un conjunto de indicadores para complementar la evaluacin de las complicaciones maternas agudas graves. Para evaluar la relacin entre el uso de estas intervenciones y los resultados maternos y perinatales, se calcularn los cocientes de posibilidades (brutos y ajustados) con intervalos de conanza del 95%.

Table 1: Statistical terms as part of a medical text.

and procedures for systematically yielding knowledge. There are two key words in the denition of science: knowledge and method. Knowledge refers to what is being searched for, and method refers to how knowledge is yielded. Within the context of any research, putting an issue or hypothesis under consideration and drawing conclusions from observed cases derived from clinical data, diagnoses or treatments, using the appropriate method, is of essence.

Thus, the need of sieving data through a scientic methodology and statistical analysis becomes apparent in order to avoid misleading conclusions based on the desire that the case turned out to be of a particular fashion or as subjectively seen by the investigator. Hence, complex terms from statistics, sometimes senseless even for linguists, pour into our source text of biomedical content. As linguists, we should value the relevance of this science in the sphere of

Skrivanek takes your message to a galactic audience: Sophisticated software localization solutions with testing in target countries Website globalization and multimedia localization for multiple platforms Product adaptation for any international market State-of-the-art technology and QA procedures

www.skrivanek.com
[email protected] +1 (212) 858 7561

clinical trials, and become aware of and interested in deepening our knowledge to make full sense of the information being conveyed. Many linguists truly versed in biomedical translation just aim at getting the correct rendering and the grammatical aspects of such terms and conjugate them appropriately in their target language. Notwithstanding that this approach may work for some minor jobs, digesting the concept beneath the superuous term may pave the way toward language specialization. When you, as a translator, embark upon researching concepts beyond target equivalents, you will not only learn a term but also its shades of meanings, its synonymies, terms exchangeability and additional related lexical components of the discipline, which in turn will build your strengths in the subject matter. Statistics poses the advantage that its application in clinical trials is rather systematic; therefore, the time invested in your initial research will prove valuable for any further translation on the eld of epidemiology or clinical research. We will cover some basic statistical terms as used in clinical trials, with their equivalents in universal Spanish. In Table 1 you can see statistical terms embedded as part of the medical text to translate into Spanish. Obviously, highlighted terms emerge from the science of statistics and are sometimes used vaguely both in source and target texts. And of course, looking them up in the appropriate bilingual glossary may guide the translator to their Spanish equivalent, but being aware of what the concept means, what calculations lie underneath or what specic shade of meaning the term has may help the translator have a clearer idea of the course of the investigation or its ndings. This would put him or her in a better position to render the meaning accurately and comprehensively rather than just delivering a word-per-word translation. We will dissect a few of such terms for illustrative purposes. For example, every ratio is a quotient (the result of the division of one number or quantity by another); its mathematical expression is c = a/b. In general, the term ratio is used in a broad sense, like an umbrella term encompassing the concepts of rate, proportion and percentage. However, in epidemiology or genetics, it may have a more constrained meaning,

38

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus
as in 1:3, expressing the relationship between one male and three females, or one hospitalized and three non-hospitalized patients. In Spanish, this should be translated as razn. There are other terms frequently used, such as relacin, but in this case it should never be translated as proporcin. Why? Lets elaborate a bit more on the concepts of proportion and percentage. It is worth mentioning that proportion (in Spanish, translated plainly as proporcin) is a ratio in which the numerator is included in the denominator; it is part of the whole. Then, why is it so frequently, and correctly, translated as percentage (porcentaje)? Proportions are usually expressed as percentages, but for a proportion to become a percentage, it has to be multiplied by 100. This is a common practice since percentages depict a clearer idea both for the specialized and the lay reader. So, when youre aware of how the proportion has previously been expressed or will be shown in the text you are translating, you may be entitled to translate proportion as porcentaje in Spanish. If the proportion is one in every ten women, it is a tenth. If we multiply a tenth by 100, you get the percentage gure for that proportion, which is 10% of the women in that population. Both in epidemiology and demography, a rate (in Spanish, tasa) is dened as a relative measure expressing the relations of a demographical event (marriages, births, deaths and so on) in a dened population during a specic period of time. However, it is worth insisting on the fact that even though all rates are quotients, not all quotients are rates. I dare say this term, as plain and simple as it may seem, results in a great deal of inaccuracies. For instance, the expression case-fatality ratio should be translated as tasa de letalidad, which is the Spanish term for expressing the proportion of recorded deaths among people suffering from a particular disease during a specic period of time. The translator should be cautious so as not to use it interchangeably with fatality rate in English, which refers to the proportion of deaths recorded for a set of individuals affected by one single event for instance, people involved in the same catastrophe. In Spanish, both case-fatality ratio and fatality rate are translated equally. And from this example, tasa de letalidad, a quotient calculated based on the number of deaths due to a particular disease, I will try to point out the differences between the Spanish terms ndice (index) and tasa (rate), which also tend to be translated indistinctly. Rate, in this eld of specialization, is calculated by dividing the number of deaths due to a particular disease by the number of people who were suffering such condition during, for example, the rst semester of 2011. To make that rate easy to understand, it has to be multiplied by a constant number (such as 10,000, depending on the denominator, to avoid nonsensical gures such as 0.03 people). This can be illustrated as follows: if 15

NEW FUNCTION: Localization of smartphone and tablet apps

UP TO 40 PERCENT TIME SAVINGS WITH

ACROSS v5.3
All listed brands, trademarks, and registered trademarks are property of their lawful owners and are used here for description only.

Up to 20 times faster thanks to new sorting and indexing algorithms Pre-translation now up to 20 percent faster Building and exchange of crossTank packages up to 100 percent faster Significant improvement of the match rates in the translation memory Find out more at www.across.net/newversion

Contact us today: [email protected]

www.across.net

Follow us on

@Across_Systems

Language Technology for a Globalized World.

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 39

Industry Focus
English
The median number of days to reach undetectable serum hCG levels A reduction in the incidence of dystocia (dened as a period of at least four hours, after 3 cm cervical dilatation has been attained, during which the mean rate of dilatation is less than 0.5 cm per hour) was observed among women in the amniotogmy group in the one study where this outcome was assessed).

Spanish
Mediana del nmero de das para alcanzar niveles de hCG srica no detectable Se observ una reduccin en la incidencia de distocia (denida como un perodo de al menos cuatro horas despus de lograr 3 cm de dilatacin, durante el cual la tasa media de dilatacin es menor a 0,5 cm por hora) entre las mujeres del grupo de amniotoma pertenecientes al estudio donde se evaluaba este resultado).

Table 2: Bolded text shows statistical terms within a clinical study.

deaths are recorded among 1,250 people suffering from breast cancer, the resulting quotient is 0.012; this value is then multiplied by 1,000 to obtain a rate to be expressed as 12 out of 1,000. In this sense, rates (tasas) are not expressed as percentages, and this is a key concept the translator should understand. What about index? By denition, indexes (ndices, in Spanish) are numerical indicators that resort to a formula usually based on two or more indicators. The index is the gure expressing the relation between a series of data, which allows for conclusions. Index variation, not the index itself, is expressed as a percentage. Even though in the eld of medical research rates are the val-

ues most commonly used, once again, knowing the concept will lead you to the most accurate equivalent. Looking at an example of the price index will help you understand the math beneath the concept. A pocket bilingual dictionary costs $80 in 2012, while in 2011 its price was $75. Price index is calculated dividing 80 by 75, and the quotient is then multiplied by 100. Thus, the index is 133.3. To interpret and communicate the variation in a meaningful way, the operation 133.33 - 100 is done to explain that the dictionary increased by 33.3% in 2012 compared to 2011. That 33.3% is not the index, but the variation, and denitely not a rate.

In the context of clinical trials, the term index drifts to other semantic areas, which have nothing to do with quotients, such as is the case of index group, which can be translated as grupo experimental, grupo indicador or grupo control among other alternatives depending on the type of research. This is not a novelty: the more versed you are on the topic, the farther you get from error, so there is no excuse for not drilling down a bit more in statistics. Even a simple and transparent term as indicator (indicador in Spanish) a value that summarizes or reects a particular aspect of a population at a certain place and at a certain moment may require that the translator clarify when needed, when he or she knows how such indicator is presented in the paper, since the most frequently used indicators are rates, ratios and proportions. This term is also used as an adjective in English, in phrases such as indicator variable, as a synonym of dummy variable, both translatable as variable indicadora. Even though the term indicator is no longer explicit, the savvy linguist will be able to bridge this concept with relevant gures in the scope of the text. The term outcome refers to the event, value or measure (in Spanish, acontecimiento, valoracin, valor, medida) found in a subject or a therapeutic unit from the clinical trial, either during such trial or as a consequence of it. It is used to assess the safety and efcacy of the investigational treatment. In the context of clinical research, this term is commonly seen as outcome variable (or implicitly in the term endpoint), referring to the appraisal criterion (criterio de valoracin), and it is usually combined in expressions such as primary outcome (criterio principal de valoracin), surrogate outcome (criterio indirecto de valoracin), to name a few. In other medical and pharmacological contexts, it may be translated into Spanish as desenlace, benecio, consecuencia, efecto, evolucin, puntuacin, reaccin adversa, acontecimiento adverso, respuesta and so on. As seen from these examples, this term is highly polysemic, demanding a shrewd eye. Table 2 shows some other terms whose denitions will empower the translator to convey a message clearly. Mean, median and mode are three types of averages (promedios) and, in

40

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Tools & Services Showcase

Europes No. 1 Greek Localizer

Since 1986, EuroGreek has been providing highquality, turnkey solutions, encompassing a whole range of client needs, for the following language combinations: English into Greek Greek into English German into Greek French into Greek All EuroGreeks work is produced in our Athens production center and covers most subjects: Technical Medical/Pharmaceutical IT/Telecommunications Economics/Legal All EuroGreeks work is fully guaranteed for quality and on-time delivery.

Medical Translations
MediLingua is one of Europes few companies specializing in medical translation. We provide all European languages and the major languages of Asia and Africa as well as the usual translationrelated services. Our 450-plus translators have a combined medical and language background. We work for manufacturers of medical devices, instruments, in-vitro diagnostics and software; pharmaceutical companies; medical publishers; national and international medical organizations; and medical journals. Call or e-mail Simon Andriesen or visit our website for more information.

Your Polish Competence Center

Since 2000, Ryszard Jarza Translations has been providing specialized Polish translation, localization, marketing copy adaptation, and DTP services. We focus primarily on life sciences, IT, automotive, refrigeration and other technology sectors. We have built a brilliant in-house team made up of experienced linguists and engineers who guarantee a high standard of quality while maintaining flexibility, responsiveness and accountability. Our services are certified to EN 15038:2006.

EuroGreek Translations Limited

London, UK Athens, Greece [email protected] www.eurogreek.com

MediLingua BV
Leiden, The Netherlands [email protected] www.medilingua.com

Ryszard Jarza Translations

Wrocaw, Poland [email protected] www.jarza.com.pl

Bespoke Transcreation for Automotive Industry

How to Be World Savvy
International Marketing Communications Market Research Marketing Omnias team of project managers centrally manage the entire process for you, liaising with multiple stakeholders, from corporate marketing and creative agencies to local market reviewers and transcreators, to ensure a seamless and painfree service. Hand-picked creative writers, many with journalism backgrounds in the automotive industry, adapt your content to deliver information that is both technically accurate and culturally sensitive for your target audience. For appealing content that speaks your audiences language, contact Omnia today.

Translation Services Provider in SEE

CIKLOPEA is one of the leading translation and localization services providers in the region of South East Europe (SEE) specialized in translation projects, interpreting and localization into the languages of the region (Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Albanian, Bulgarian and Romanian). Our fields of specialization are: Manufacturing, consumer products, engineering, industry, technology, IT Medical, pharmaceutical, health services, life sciences, law Economics, business, finance, insurance Marketing, PR, communication, tourism CIKLOPEA is certified in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 and EN 15038:2006.

JFA Marketing
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA [email protected] www.jfamarkets.com www.multilingual.com

Omnia Group
Italy United Kingdom Germany France USA [email protected] www.omnia-group.com

CIKLOPEA d.o.o.
Zagreb/Rijeka, Croatia Belgrade, Serbia [email protected] www.ciklopea.com September 2012 MultiLingual

| 41

Industry Focus
fact, it is not rare to see them translated simply as such. We cannot claim this to be incorrect, but it is certainly too vague for certain contexts. In the eld of statistics there are several types of averages, and these are the most frequently used, particularly in the sphere of clinical trials and protocols. Some basic concepts that the translator should know about them are the following: Mean (in Spanish, media) can be used both as an adjective and a noun. It is the one most frequently translated as average, and it is obtained by adding up all the gures in the set and dividing them by the amount of gures. In statistics, it generally relates to the arithmetic mean (media aritmtica), but the translator should bear in mind there are several different statistical means: geometric mean (media geomtrica), harmonic mean (media armnica) or the quadratic mean (media cuadrtica), to name a few. A frequent phrase from statistics in the context of clinical trials is mean dose (dosis media), which should not be mistaken for median. Median (in Spanish, mediana) is also translated as centil 50 or porcentil 50 (please note that percentil is not correct in Spanish). It is a measure of central tendency; it reects the value taken by the central item of the sample ordered from the lowest value to the highest one the value in the middle of the scale. To calculate the median, values should be sorted in ascending numeric order. Mode (in Spanish, moda) is a measure of central tendency, representing the most frequent value. If there are no repeated values, there is no mode. Range covers the stretch from the maximum to the minimum value taken by the variable. In Spanish, this concept can be perfectly described as amplitud de la variable, but the most frequent jargon equivalent is rango. Needless to say, translators are not usually fond of statistics, and likely after reading this article not a single one would dare think of taking up algebraic calculus. I do not mean we will have to do estimates rstly, because we are not paid to, and, secondly, because respectable researchers have been busy enough juggling with them, in a gurative sense of speaking. But, being aware of the fact that these terms are not exchangeable may help the translator convey the message clearly and accurately even when the source is not so explicit. In any case, if changing terminology or deviating from a glossary is not an adequate step to follow, the versed translator will be wellinformed to sense there is too much play in the set of ideas presented by the author and therefore will be capable of asking for a precise and straightforward clarication for his or her doubts, increasing the chances of getting a relevant and useful reply from the content owner. Even though concepts from statistics may seem too awkward at rst sight, just as in any kind of learning experience, comfort comes as you practice. The appetite for real-life examples is the best way to start digesting them. The array of sciences involved in the eld of biomedical translation that linguists face is vast and challenging statistics is only one of those sciences. M

American Translators Association

53rd Annual Conference

Hilton San Diego Bayfront October 24 --- 27, 2012 San Diego, California

Get Ready To Go!

Get Ready To Network!

Connect with over 1,800 colleagues from throughout the U.S. and around the world. Renew your motivation by meeting people with similar interests and sharing your experiences. Build potential partnerships that will help you personally and professionally. Listen to the buzz among freelancers, project managers, business owners, and government representatives.

Register Now and Save!

To see the savings and register today, visit www.atanet.org/conf/2012/register.htm.

Register by September 21 to save 20%

Get Ready To Learn!

Book Your Room

Choose from over 175 sessions that feature a variety of languages, topics, and skill levels. Focus on practical skills and theory, or join discussions that examine the current state of your profession or offer a look to the future. Be inspired and challenged to consider new ideas. Discover the lessons learned from colleagues who have dealt with the exact problems you are currently facing.

Hilton San Diego Bayfront

1 Park Boulevard, San Diego, California, USA 92101

ATA Rates: Single=$259/ Double=$279 (exclusive of tax)

ATA rates include complimentary Internet. Rates are available until October 1, 2012, or as space allows. Book online at www.atanet.org/conf/2012/hotel.htm. Or call +1-800-HILTONS and ask for the special ATA rate.

Visit Us Online at www.atanet.org/conf/2012

42

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus

Language requirements for EU medical device labels

Libor Safar, Helen Colquhoun & Cheryl Hill

It's now two decades since the European Commission established the current regulatory framework for marketing medical devices in Europe. This framework, through the individual directives, has also dened the language and translation requirements for medical device labels.

Although the system is well-established, its practical application is not completely clear-cut. In practice, a certain degree of latitude exists for medical device manufacturers, while application in individual European Union (EU) countries may also vary in certain situations. In addition, the system is likely to undergo possible changes, as all three EU medical device directives are currently under review. Medical devices in the EU are regulated by three main directives: the Medical Device Directive (MDD) from 1993 (MDD 93/42/ EEC), the In Vitro Diagnostics Devices Directive (IVDD) from 1998 (IVDD 98/79/EC) and the Active Implantable Medical Devices Directive from 1990 (90/385/EEC). They all have been amended since the original directives were published, but all three provide the same option to EU member states to require medical device labeling to be in the ofcial language of that state. It is worth highlighting that labeling of medical devices has a much wider meaning than is perhaps the case with medicines. A label would be any written, printed or graphic material that is afxed to a given medical device or any of its containers or wrappers, any materials accompanying the medical device or any materials related to the identication, technical description and/or use of the medical device. So in practice this would

include labels, packaging, instructions for use, user interface or display screens, as well as marketing materials, patient literature or technical information. While the wording in individual directives differs, each essentially stipulates that member states may require specic information related to the use of medical devices to be in their national language(s) or in other community language(s). The MDD directive goes on to specify that this applies regardless of whether the device is for professional or other use. The majority of member states exercise this option through their local legislation, and require that information on how to use the device be presented in the ofcial language of the state where the device will be marketed. Derogations (exemptions) from the competent authorities which enact the directives within their territory and which can specify one or more notied bodies to act as third-party assessors of product compliance are possible, but not guaranteed. Medical device companies must apply to the competent authorities in a given country and present compelling evidence in order to receive a derogation.

Medical devices vs. medicines

Overall, this makes the regulatory process for medical devices and its translation requirements different from the more centralized and unied approach that exists for medicines. The latter is more recent, with the marketing authorization procedures for medicinal products based primarily on the Directive 2001/83/EC and Regulation (EC) No 726/2004. These specify a more direct requirement for translations of pharmaceutical labeling and package leaets the specic information must be provided in the ofcial languages of a given member state (rather than may be required"). In addition, the

Libor Safar is marketing manager at Moravia Worldwide. Helen Colquhoun (center) is senior vice president at CROMSOURCE. She is a physician with more than 20 years' experience in the pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device industries. Cheryl Hill is the regulatory manager for CROMSOURCE. She holds a graduate certicate in advanced regulatory affairs and has worked in the medical device industry since 2000 and in regulatory affairs since 2006.

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 43

Industry Focus
Country Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy EU Since 1995 1952 2007 2004 2004 1973 2004 1995 1952 1952 1981 2004 1973 1952 German Dutch, French, German Bulgarian Greek, Turkish Czech Danish Estonian Finnish, Swedish French German Greek Hungarian Irish, English Italian Language Country Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom EU Since 2004 2004 1952 2004 1952 2004 1986 2007 2004 2004 1986 1995 1973 Latvian Lithuanian Luxembourgish,* French, German Maltese, English Dutch Polish Portuguese Romanian Slovak Slovenian Spanish Swedish English Language

*Although Luxembourgish is the national language of Luxembourg, it is not an ofcial language of the EU.

Table 1: Countries and ofcial languages of the EU. EU established the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which administers the centralized procedure for marketing authorization. This allows direct access to all EU and European Economic Area (EEA) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries via a single application, whereby the product information such as summary of product characteristics, labeling and package leaets needs to be submitted in all EU languages plus Icelandic and Norwegian. The agency is also a hub of the European medicines network, which comprises over 40 national competent authorities in the 30 EU and EEA-EFTA countries, and plays a role in the other decentralized or mutual recognition procedures, which allow for a marketing authorization in a selected number of countries.

Roadmap 2012
As things stand, a number of deciencies exist in the EU medical device regulation, which the European Commission is currently trying to address. The current system is seen as too fragmented and difcult to follow, not reecting the advances brought by new medical devices and technologies. Last but not least, it is hampered by the national variations as well as incoherent interpretation and implementation in individual countries. The objective is a fundamental revision of the existing directives, and the current Roadmap 2012 outlines some more or less radical possible approaches, while there are calls for a new centralized EU body to oversee medical devices, not dissimilar to the way the EMA works for medicines. Although the new direction for the EU medical device regulation is expected to become clearer during 2012 and will take years to implement, it is safe to assume that it will provide for a more centralized and simplied process, which will also affect the language and translation requirements.

Risks of noncompliance
Medical device labeling materials contain information on the intended use and the safe operation of the device. Prevention of injury is one of the driving factors behind the language requirement for device labels. Should injury occur due to a misunderstanding of the intended use or the

44

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus
Country Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Italy Latvia Lithuania Netherlands Portugal Romania Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Required Language German Dutch and French a,b Bulgarian Czech a Danish Estonian c Finnish, Swedish e French a German Greek a Hungarian c Italian Latvian Lithuanian Dutch Portuguese Romanian a Slovak Slovenian d Spanish a Swedish device from the market to criminal prosecution of corporate executives.

Where English is acceptable, and where it's not

At the moment, the EU is composed of 27 member states. There are 23 ofcial languages spoken in the EU (Table 1). As part of the research, the contract research organization Pleiad (now CROMSOURCE) reviewed the websites of every competent authority in each of the 27 member states in order to determine the language requirements for labeling a professional-use only medical device in their state. In ve cases the websites contained the necessary information in English, and no additional conrmation of the authorities was required. In 22 cases, the competent authority was contacted. 17 authorities responded, and ve (France, Greece, Romania, Spain and Czech Republic) did not. The majority of member states, 21, require medical device labeling to be in their ofcial language regardless of whether the device is intended for layman use or professional use. However, six member states will accept labeling provided in English as long as the device is for professional use only. In addition to Ireland and the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta and Poland will accept English for medi-

a Conrmed by industry sources. b Mixed responses regarding whether or not the labels must be provided in German. c Technical information, professional literature and user interfaces do not need to be translated into the member state ofcial language. d If a medical device is intended solely to be used for performing a registered activity, the instructions for use can be written in the language understandable for the user. e Instructions and other information accompanying medical devices must be in Finnish, Swedish or English. Information intended for users or patients to safely operate a device must be in both Finnish and Swedish.

cal device labeling as long as the device is for professional use only. Devices for layman use must be translated into the ofcial language of the state as indicated in Table 1. The competent authorities in the countries shown in Table 2 require medical device labels to be translated into their national language regardless of the end user. Although Table 2 attempts to streamline the labeling language requirements, the medical device manufacturer is advised to discuss the language requirements for its specic device with the competent authority. Several authorities have indicated a willingness to limit the national language requirement to the device identication label and to operating and safety information. User interfaces that include standard symbols may not need to be translated. Also, technical information such as maintenance procedures as well as professional literature may not need to be translated. In addition to the 27 member states, the EU also has areas known as outermost regions. An outermost region is a region that is part of the EU and is associated with a member state but is located outside of the EU. EU laws, including the device directives (MDD, IVDD and AIMDD) and the associated translation requirements, apply to these regions. There are seven outermost regions. Medical devices marketed in these

Table 2: Required language according to country. operating instructions, the consequences could be traumatic for the end user, the patient or both. The consequences of improper device use can range from minor injury to more catastrophic ones, and possibly death. Penalties for noncompliance are determined by the individual member states and can range from removal of the

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 45

Industry Focus
regions should have the labeling translated into the appropriate language as noted in Table 3. As summarized in the tables and text, the majority of member states exercise the option given to them by the directives (MDD, IVDD and AIMDD) and require labeling materials to be submitted in the ofcial language of the member state regardless of the intended user of the device. However, medical device companies may apply to the competent authorities for derogations or exemptions from the translation requirements of the directives. The competent authorities will review the application and may grant the derogation if presented with a compelling reason. Translating labeling for medical devices designed for lay users is, for the most part, a given and effectively nonnegotiable. However, nuances do exist. For example, according to Annex I, point 13 of the MDD, instructions for use do not need to be included with Class I and Class IIa devices as long as those devices are able to be used safely without instruction. This research has conrmed that in the case of medical devices for professional use only, a certain degree of latitude exists in the EU for medical device manufacturers. In practice, many manufacturers choose to translate labeling for all EU countries in which they market their medical devices for professional use, regardless of whether Member state France Outermost regions French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Runion Portugal Spain Azores Madeira Canary Islands Spanish Portuguese Ofcial language French

E-labeling
Electronic labeling or e-labeling is an option for manufacturers of certain medical devices, and one that is set to enjoy a wider adoption supported by a new regulation in the EU. The Commission Regulation (EU) No 207/2012 applies to certain professional devices under MDD or AIMDD and will come into effect on March 1, 2013. E-labeling promises to reduce the costs of delivering labeling information to professional users in the EU, which may otherwise rise, especially in the case of updates and changes. It should also ensure users always have access to the most up-to-date information. Another benet of e-labeling is that it will allow for the use of animation or video, which may increase the understanding of the proper use of the device. However, the use of video may increase the cost of translation if the member states require e-labeling to be translated. Before implementing an e-labeling program, device manufacturers must conduct a risk assessment demonstrating that providing materials in electronic format either maintains or improves the safety level. E-labeling can be provided on portable electronic storage media, such as a CD, or on a website. If provided on portable electronic storage media, a website address should be included to inform the user where updates to the instructions will be posted. This new e-labeling regulation does not set any specic language obligations. These are governed by the laws of individual EU member states, but it does state that manufacturers that provide instructions for use in electronic form need to indicate on their websites in which EU languages those instructions are available. One thing that medical device manufacturers need to bear in mind is that e-labeling processes should be reviewed by a notied body during conformity assessment. Much in the medical device industry revolves around risk assessment and risk reduction. Translation of medical device labeling is mostly a legal requirement in the EU, but in some situations, it is more of a risk-related or marketing decision. The upcoming changes in the EU medical device regulations are hoped to bring more clarity to the decision-making and more consistency across individual EU member states. They should help put the whole system on a new level that will reect the recent advances brought by new medical devices and technologies. M

Table 3: EU member states and their outermost regions. this is actually a requirement, despite the additional costs. It is another way of minimizing the potential risks associated with using their products and so a sound risk-reduction measure. It is also a strong marketing tool. While professional users of medical devices tend to be, by denition, welleducated and to possess a good knowledge of English, many will still prefer information to be provided in their native language. Last but not least, the way health care systems work in the EU, there is typically a wide range of buyers or other inuencers in the purchasing process. For them, availability of information in their own language may be a factor.

46

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Industry Focus

Anticipating the EU medical device e-labeling opportunity

Kristen Giovanis

In less than a year, in March 2013, the European Union (EU) e-labeling regulation will come into full force. Whether companies love it or hate it, the regulation represents an important path toward modernizing labeling. The regulation also opens the potential for improved safety and increased efciency.

However, this potential is not without challenges and opportunities for helping clients move toward incorporating the regulation. The regulation has actually been in motion for some time. In 2007 a tiny change in the regulation text from accompany to be provided opened a window of opportunity: it allowed that labeling could be something other than the traditional print format. Four years later, in June 2011, the European Commission issued a draft regulation on e-labeling for medical devices. Then in September 2011, the nal draft version of the Regulation was sent for adoption. The draft was adopted in March 2012. Companies have had about 12 months to understand and tease out the implications of the new regulation. As you might expect, the nal regulation limits e-labeling to medical devices dened as professional use only, along with those accessories also intended for use in specic conditions. The draft is very specic about the conditions in which Instructions for Use (IFUs) may be provided electronically rather than in paper format. Given the risk-averse medical device industry, the potential for risk tops the list of conditions to watch for when preparing for a change in labeling. The regulation requires a manufacturer to document its risk assessment as a necessary precautionary measure. This risk assessment must demonstrate that the use of electronic instructions will maintain or even improve patient safety compared with paper-formatted IFUs. In fact, the regulation requires the risk assessment be updated further with information and experience gained from the post-market surveillance phase. After documenting the risk assessment, the regulation includes a number of safeguards for the end user, which include:

Creating an on-demand system to make printed IFUs available on request at no additional cost to the user. This system must account for the time period for delivery of instructions noted in the risk assessment (less than seven calendar days). Providing an alternative IFU website repository. Even when delivered with or within the device electronically, manufacturer websites must meet specic requirements for instance, ensuring users have access to all previous versions for use in their electronic form and their date of publication. Protecting personal data that individuals might provide when accessing IFU information on a website. Providing a system to indicate when an IFU has been revised. The system must tell each user of the device if the revision was necessary for safety reasons. The benets of e-labeling are fairly intuitive: e-labeling allows the medical device industry to pull together technology, regulatory approval and customer acceptance in a viable, costeffective and care-effective communication option. E-labeling has the potential to improve patient safety with a more efcient method for storing, controlling and distributing information. E-labeling can also reduce time-to-market for new and revised information. And e-labeling can also reduce the medical device industrys environmental footprint by reducing printing, shipping materials and costs. End users will benet from e-labelings technical features such as integrated animation. These and other features have the potential to reduce the risk of misinterpretation. But there are challenges. There are a few difcult-to-predict variables that surround how the end user engages with the IFU. A major concern is how e-labeling shifts responsibility from the manufacturer to the user: the end user must now take action to retrieve the labeling information versus passively receiving a printed piece.

Kristen Giovanis is CEO of KJI, a localization service provider based in the United States. Giovanis holds a JD with a focus in global regulatory law from William Mitchell College of Law, and frequently advises life science manufacturers on global labeling and language compliance. September 2012 MultiLingual

www.multilingual.com

| 47

Industry Focus
Maybe that action looks like loading and printing a CD-ROM. Maybe it means visiting a secure website or using a mobile device. The knowledge and experience of the intended user magnify the complexity and potential risks of this challenge. For instance, what access do users have to electronic resources? Will users have unlimited access to electronic resources? If there are limits, what different ways will the information be made available? The information must be available to the right users but with only the necessary levels of security, to ensure the information is easy to access but also secure. Also, provision must be made for a thorough backup of information, including redundant information. Paper is required for emergency situations. What emergency situations might require quick access to the information or IFU? Manufacturers rushing to meet the demands of the regulation may be tempted to hurry past needs that are somewhat less visible. This presents an opportunity for prospective rms that partner with these manufacturers racing toward e-labeling. They can help by clearly identifying the users needs and capacities. Surveys and other forms of market research, along with qualitative and even anecdotal information can supplement the manufacturers initiatives and processes. Partners can help remind manufacturers to look broadly at how the user engages. Partners with translation and localization pedigrees can answer that question on multiple local fronts as well. This is the precision manufacturers need in order to answer the question of engagement. It is also the answer that will help users get the most from e-labeling. Clearly indicating when IFUs have been revised is a must for all manufacturers. The regulation imposes a mandatory vigilance obligation because manufacturers must inform each user of the device of all IFU revisions especially if the changes were necessary for safety reasons. However, the mandate does not state (or give any requirements) about how users should actually be informed. This is the challenge. Informing users of revisions could be difcult because of the many factors to consider. What sort of notications are required and to whom must they be provided? Is it an opt-in system? A system of web-based registration? Should notications go out by standard, physical mail, and if so, how do you ensure its been received? Meeting these challenges requires basic denitions about who gets what information and when, and will likely be in ux over time. The opportunity for partnering organizations is to recommend communication language, methods and channels that specically make sense for each manufacturers sets of users. Localization experts will prove invaluable at drilling down to identify each markets dominant languages, identify which methods will yield the best results when communicating with the target audience and bring to the discussion the market idiosyncrasies collected from their local channel contacts. Partnering rms that have opportunity to respond to revision notication messages as they develop will help make the initiative concrete. But this can only happen if partnering rms have early and upfront access to the manufacturers process. This upfront investment helps make the initiative as efcient and effective as possible. Unless justied by the outcome of the risk assessment, e-labeling must be handled the same for each member state. After all, if labeling is not consistently accessible, viewable, sharable or explicable by all users, it cannot fulll its purpose of making products safer and easier to use. Partnering organizations can help by comparing the manufacturers proposed e-labeling process with the state of language and communication infrastructure in each EU member country. Due diligence in analyzing risk will prove useful for the e-labeling initiative. The regulatory world turns slowly while technology moves quickly. Companies moving toward technologicallyenhanced labeling solutions today face far different options and capabilities compared to three to ve years ago. Implementing an e-labeling initiative is a complex task, especially when working across departments such as information technology, regulatory and legal. While one team may have thought long and hard about the move to e-labeling, and even worked through the details and formed conclusions, colleagues in other departments may not have given it a thought. It is critical to consider all the stakeholders involved in the e-labeling decision-making process, to create a claried e-labeling message, and to make sure the timing is known and understood. The opportunity for those partnering with manufacturers is to be a voice of reason and to provide an informed, third-party perspective, both on the details of the regulation as well as the impact on customers. M

48

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Basics

Basic terminology
This section offers terminology, abbreviations, acronyms and other resources, especially as related to the content of this issue. For more definitions, see the Glossary section of MultiLinguals annual Resource Directory and Index (www.multilingual.com/resourceDirectory).

application programming interface (API). A software interface that enables applications to communicate with each other. An API is the set of programming language constructs or statements that can be coded in an application program to obtain the specific functions and services provided by an underlying operating system or service program. content management system (CMS). A system used to store and subsequently find and retrieve large amounts of data. CMSs were not originally designed to synchronize translation and localization of content, so most have been partnered with globalization management systems. crowdsourcing. The act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call. For example, the public may be invited to develop a new technology, carry out a design task, refine an algorithm, or help capture, systematize or analyze large amounts of data. desktop publishing (DTP). Using computers to lay out text and graphics for printing in magazines, newsletters, brochures and so on. A good DTP system provides precise control over templates, styles, fonts, sizes, color, paragraph formatting, images and fitting text into irregular shapes.
www.multilingual.com w m n a m

diaspora. A dispersion of a people from their original homeland or the dispersion of an originally homogeneous entity, such as a language or culture. Extensible Markup Language (XML). A programming language/specification pared down from SGML, an international standard for the publication and delivery of electronic information, designed especially for web documents. gamification. The use of game design, game thinking and game mechanics to enhance non-game contexts. globalization (g11n). In this context, the term refers to the process that addresses business issues associated with launching a product globally, such as integrating localization throughout a company after proper internationalization and product design.

internationalization (i18n). Especially in a computing context, the process of generalizing a product so that it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions (currency, number separators, dates) without the need for redesign. localization (l10n). In this context, the process of adapting a product or software to a specific international language or culture so that it seems natural to that particular region. True localization considers language, culture, customs and the characteristics of the target locale. machine translation (MT). A technology that translates text from one human language to another, using terminology glossaries and advanced

A UNIQUE LANGUAGE INDUSTRY EVENT

ELIAs Networking Days www.networking-days.org

ND Budapest 0 4 - 06 Oc tober

PRODUCED BY

September 2012 MultiLingual p m 1 M i g

9 | 49

Ba cs Basics asics
grammatical, syntactic and semantic analysis techniques. quality assurance (QA). The activity of providing evidence needed to establish confidence among all concerned that quality-related activities are being performed effectively. All those planned or systematic actions necessary to provide adequate confidence that a product or service will satisfy given requirements for quality. QA covers all activities from design, development, production and installation to servicing and documentation. return on investment (ROI). In finance, the ratio of money gained or lost on an investment relative to the amount of money invested. The amount of money gained or lost may be referred to as interest, profit/loss, gain/loss or net income/loss. rule-based machine translation (RBMT). The application of sets of
largest The worlds the ade fair in tr cal ea of techni ar n mmunicatio co

Jahrestagung
and
2012

23th25th October 2012 Rhein-Main-Hallen Wiesbaden, Germany

www.tekom.de/tagung
50

linguistic rules that are defined as correspondences between the structure of the source language and that of the target language. The first stage involves analyzing the input text for morphology and syntax and sometimes semantics to create an internal representation. The translation is then generated from this representation using extensive lexicons with morphological, syntactic and semantic information, and large sets of rules. simship. Simultaneous shipment of a product to different markets worldwide, as opposed to releasing in the home market first and in other locales later. source language (SL). A language that is to be translated into another language. statistical machine translation (SMT). A machine translation paradigm where translations are generated on the basis of statistical models whose parameters are derived from the analysis of bilingual text corpora. SMT is the translation of text from one human language to another by a computer that learned how to translate from vast amounts of translated text. target language (TL). The language that a source text is being translated into. terminology management. Primarily concerned with manipulating terminological resources for specific purposes for example, establishing repositories of terminological resources for publishing dictionaries, maintaining terminology databases, ad hoc problem solving in finding multilingual equivalences in translation work or creating new terms in technical writing. Terminology management software provides the translator a means of automatically searching a given terminology database for terms appearing in a document, either by automatically displaying terms in the translation memory software interface window or through the use of hotkeys to view the entry in the terminology database.

TKK. Stands for Translation Toolkit. The native bilingual format for Alchemy CATALYST translation tools, which supports previous versions of Alchemy CATALYST project files. translation. The process of converting all of the text or words from a source language to a target language. An understanding of the context or meaning of the source language must be established in order to convey the same message in the target language. translation management system (TMS). Sometimes also known as a globalization management system, a TMS automates localization workflow to reduce the time and money employed by manpower. It typically includes process management technology to automate the flow of work, and linguistic technology to aid the translator. translation memory (TM). A special database that stores previously translated sentences which can then be reused on a sentence-by-sentence basis. The database matches source to target language pairs. Translation Memory eXchange (TMX). Based on XML, an open standard that has been designed to simplify and automate the process of converting translation memories from one format to another. translation unit (TU). A segment of text that the translator treats as a single cognitive unit for the purposes of establishing an equivalence. The translation unit may be a single word, a phrase, one or more sentences, or even a larger unit.. TXML. Tracker eXtensible Markup Language. An XML-based pivot format. The translation memory environment Wordfast Pro uses TXML. Unicode. The Unicode Worldwide Character Standard (Unicode) is a character encoding standard used to represent text for computer processing. Originally designed to support 65,000, it now has encoding forms to support more than one million characters.
o m l u o [email protected]

| MultiLingual September 2012 l n a e m r 1

MultiLingual

Buyers Guide

AssociAtions conferences enterprise solutions locAlizAtion services locAlizAtion tools nonprofit orgAnizAtions trAnslAtion services trAnslAtion tools
Across Systems
Multiple Platforms

51 51 51 51 54 54 55 57 57

AssociAtions

and to learn from others. See our website for details on upcoming and past conferences. Localization World, Ltd. 319 North 1st Avenue, Sandpoint, ID 83864,
208-263-8178, Fax: 208-263-6310, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.localizationworld.com

See ad on page 2

enterprise solutions
Globalization and Localization Association
Description The Globalization and Localization Association is a fully representative, nonprofit, international industry association for the translation, internationalization, localization and globalization industry. The association gives members a common forum to discuss issues, create innovative solutions, promote the industry and offer clients unique, collaborative value. Globalization and Localization Association 23 Main Street,
Andover, MA 01810, 206-329-2596, Fax: 815-346-2361, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.gala-global.org

trAnslAtion MgMt systeMs 54

Business for sAle

TAUS
Description TAUS is a think tank for the translation industry, undertaking research for buyers and providers of translation services and technologies. Our mission is to increase the size and significance of the translation industry to help the world communicate better. To meet this ongoing goal, TAUS supports entrepreneurs and principals in the translation industry to share and define new strategies through a comprehensive program of events, publications and communications. TAUS Oudeschans 85III, 1011KW Amsterdam, The Netherlands,
31-299-672028, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.translationautomation.com

Languages All Description Across Language Server is the worlds leading independent linguistic supply chain technology. It provides a central software platform for corporate language resources and translation processes. The all-inone enterprise solution includes a translation memory, a terminology system, and powerful PM and workflow control tools. It allows end-to-end processing so that clients, LSPs and translators collaborate seamlessly. Open interfaces enable the direct integration of CMS or ERP solutions, among others. Across clients access the Language Server via LAN, WAN or web, or as a hosted service. Across customers include Volkswagen, HypoVereinsbank, SMA Solar Technology and hundreds of other leading companies. Across Systems GmbH Im Stoeckmaedle 13-15, D-76307 Karlsbad,
Germany, 49-7248-925-425, E-mail: [email protected] Across Systems Inc. Glendale, CA 91203, 877-922-7677, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.across.net See ad on page 39

Transit (translation memory), TermStar/WebTerm (terminology management), GRIPS (product information management), MindReader (context-sensitive authoring assistance), STAR CLM (corporate language management), STAR CPM (corporate process management), i-KNOW (competence management) and SPIDER (Interactive Electronic Technical Manual). STAR Group Wiesholz 35, 8262 Ramsen, Switzerland,
41-52-742-9200, 216-691-7827, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.star-group.net See ad on page 10

Big solutions for small languages

Multiple Platforms

conferences
The 36th Internationalization & Unicode Conference
Description The Internationalization & Unicode Conference (IUC) is the premier technical conference focusing on multilingual global software and web internationalization. Each IUC covers current topics related to web and software internationalization, globalization and Unicode. Internationalization and Unicode experts, implementers, clients and vendors are invited to attend. Meet and exchange ideas with leading experts, find out about the needs of potential clients, or get information about new and existing Unicode-enabled products. The Unicode Consortium P.O. Box 391476, Mountain View, CA
94039-1476, 781-444-0404, Fax: 781-444-0320 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.unicodeconference.org/ml See ad on page 60

MultiCorpora
Multiple Platforms

Languages All Unicode languages Description As language technology experts since 1999, MultiCorpora is exclusively dedicated to providing language technology software solutions to enterprises, language service providers and governments. Its flagship product, MultiTrans Prism, offers an innovative and complete turn-key translation management system. MultiTrans Prism is an enterprise client-server application that consists of four core components which together, or individually, enable communications in more than one language; they are business management, project management (workflow), advanced translation memory and terminology management. RR Donnelley, Nomura, the Translation Bureau of Canada, UNESCO and many others rely on MultiTrans to manage their mission-critical translation operations. MultiCorpora 102-490 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec,
J8Y 3Y7 Canada, 819-778-7070, 877-725-7070, Fax: 819-778-0801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.multicorpora.com

Languages Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, German as well as Nordic and Eastern European languages Description Tilde is a leading European technology developer and language service provider. Tilde offers machine and human translation services in addition to spelling and grammar checkers, and voice technologies for minor languages. Tilde is a top localization service provider in our core Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Russian languages as well as Nordic and other Eastern European languages. Tilde LetsMT! is an innovative, unique, easy to use build your own custom machine translation portal. Tilde is also known for the EuroTermBank, the largest free online term database for industry professionals. Tilde innovations, professionalism and high quality. Tilde Vienibas gatve 75A, LV-1004 Riga, Latvia
371-67605001, Fax: 371-67605750 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.tilde.com See ad on page 33

locAlizAtion services
ADAPT Localization Services
Languages More than 50 Description ADAPT Localization Services offers the full range of services that enables clients to be successful in international markets, from documentation design through translation, linguistic and technical localization services, prepress and publication management. Serving both Fortune 500 and small companies, ADAPT has gained a reputation for quality, reliability, technological competence and a commitment to customer service. Fields of specialization include diagnostic and medical devices, IT/ telecom and web content. With offices in Bonn, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden; and Barcelona, Spain, and a number of certified partner companies, ADAPT is well suited to help clients achieve their goals in any market. ADAPT Localization Services Clemens-August-Strasse 16-18,
53115 Bonn, Germany, 49-228-98-22-60, Fax: 49-228-98-22-615, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.adapt-localization.com See ad on page 30

See ad on page 7

STAR Group
Localization World
Description Localization World conferences are dedicated to the language and localization industries. Our constituents are the people responsible for communicating across the boundaries of language and culture in the global marketplace. International product and marketing managers participate in Localization World from all sectors and all geographies to meet language service and technology providers and to network with their peers. Hands-on practitioners come to share their knowledge and experience
Multiple Platforms

Languages All Description STAR Group was founded in Switzerland 27 years ago with the exclusive focus of facilitating cross-cultural technical communications in all languages. The company has grown to be the largest privately held multilingual information technology and services company in the world with 42 offices in 32 countries. Its advanced technology developments have propelled STAR to its current market position. Core services: information management, translation, localization, publishing, on-demand printing and consulting. Core technologies:

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 51

Buyers Guide
Alliance Localization China (ALC)
Languages Major Asian and European languages Description ALC offers document, website and software translation and localization, desktop publishing and interpreter services. We focus on English, German and other European languages to and from Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian languages. We use TRADOS, CATALYST, SDLX, Transit, Wordfast, memoQ and other CAT tools, as well as DTP tools including CorelDRAW, FrameMaker, FreeHand, Illustrator, InDesign, PageMaker, Photoshop and QuarkXPress. Our customer-oriented approach is supported by strong project management, a team of specialists, a large knowledge base and advanced methodologies. We always provide service beyond our customers expectations at a low cost and with high quality, speed, dependability and flexibility. Alliance Localization China Suite 526, Building B, No.10, Xing
Huo Road, Fengtai Science Park, Beijing 100070, P.R. China, 86-10-8368-2169, Fax: 86-10-8368-2884, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.allocalization.com

E-C Translation Ltd. is now EC Innovations, Inc.

Languages All Description E-C Translation Ltd., the technology-driven language services company with a mission to provide high-quality localization solutions, is pleased to announce the rebranding of its business to EC Innovations, Inc. Over the past 14 years, EC Innovations, an ISO 9001:2008 certified organization, has grown to over 200 full-time employees, providing multilingual and interdisciplinary services worldwide. The new name and image are a reflection of our completeness as a fullfledged localization solutions provider. Hereafter, EC Innovations will continue to focus on providing our customers with the highest quality of language and technology solutions while maintaining our reputation for being a customer-centric organization. EC Innovations, Inc. 501 Silverside Road, Suite 105,
Wilmington, DE 19809, 617-775-3506, Fax: 508-762-5304, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.ecinnovations.com

Future Trans
Languages All Middle Eastern and African languages Description Future Trans is an ISO 9001:2008 certified language service provider and the leading translation and localization agency in the Middle East and Africa. Weve been in business since 1994 and currently employ more than 90 inhouse professionals, with branches in Egypt, the US, Turkey and South Africa. We have developed extensive industry specific expertise in IT, telecommunication, automotive, financial, medical, legal and many other fields in translation and localization. Currently we provide translation in all Middle Eastern and African languages. Future Trans offers translation, typesetting, technical writing, localization, multilingual project management, audio production, consulting and testing. Future Trans LTD 10th Abdul Rahman El-Rae St. Dokki, Giza 12311,
Egypt, +202 33350040, Fax: +202 37608966, E-mail: egyptinfo@ future-trans.com, Web: www.future-trans.com

hiSoft End-to-End Localization Services

Binari Sonori
Description Binari Sonori is a leading provider of international media localization services since 1994, with a unique team of project managers, studios, engineers and selected linguists spread over 30 countries worldwide. Solid procedures and transparent relationships with clients guarantee high quality of text, audio and video, timeliness and flexibility. We are accustomed to working for global companies that need to reach a broad range of markets with their media and entertainment products. Specialized support available for any media localization activity, from effective audio localization to international content creation. Highly professionalized one-stop shop supporting todays media localization projects. Binari Sonori S.r.l. Viale Fulvio Testi, 11, 20092 Cinisello Balsamo,
Milano, Italy, 39-02-61866-310, Fax: 39-02-61866-313, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.binarisonori.com

EuroGreek Translations Limited

Language Greek Description Established in 1986, EuroGreek Translations Limited is Europes number one Greek localizer, specializing in technical and medical translations from English into Greek and Greek into English. EuroGreeks aim is to provide high-quality, turnkey solutions, encompassing a whole range of client needs, from plain translation to desktop/web publishing to localization development and testing. Over the years, EuroGreeks services have been extended to cover most subject areas, including German and French into Greek localization services. All of EuroGreeks work is produced in-house by a team of 25 highly qualified specialists and is fully guaranteed for quality and on-time delivery. EuroGreek Translations Limited London 27 Lascotts Road, London, N22 8JG United Kingdom Athens EuroGreek House, 93 Karagiorga Street, Athens, 166 75
Greece, 30-210-9605-244, Fax: 30-210-9647-077, E-mail: production @eurogreek.gr, Web: www.eurogreek.com See ad on page 41

Languages Supported: All Description hiSoft offers full end-to-end globalization services, which include software localization, localization testing, community translation, multimedia localization, agile localization, software engineering, desktop publishing, multilingual web production and consulting services. We can provide follow-the-sun capabilities with 21 offices in the US, Spain, Sweden, China, Singapore and Japan, for true global reach combined with local expertise. With hiSoft, youll gain a technically proficient outsourcing partner to maximize your return on investment. We have been recognized both by our partners and industry specialists for helping our clients win in todays versatile global marketplace. hiSoft Technology International Limited 33 Lixian Street,
Qixianling Industrial Base, Hi-Tech Zone Dalian, China 116023 +86-411-8455-6666, +1-866-777-6104, Fax: +86 411 8479 1350 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.hisoft.com See ad on page 34

See ad on page 46

Gateway to Asia TOTAL SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS

WHY

iDISC Information Technologies

Languages Spanish (all variants), Portuguese (European and Brazilian), Catalan, Basque, Galician, Valencian Description iDISC, established in 1987, is an ISO-9001 and EN-15038 certified company based in Barcelona with branches in Argentina, Mexico and Brazil that focuses on localization into all variants of Spanish (European, Latin American, USA and Neutral), Portuguese (European and Brazilian) and the other languages spoken in Spain (Catalan, Basque, Galician and Valencian). Specialization fields are websites, software localization, technical documentation, business, automotive and marketing materials. All commercial tools are available. Internal tools help reduce management costs and increase quality, consistency and on-time deliveries. Continuous support to the client achieves the best project results and establishes long-term, honest partnerships. iDISC Information Technologies Passeig del progrs 96, 08640
Olesa de Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain, 34-93-778-73-00, Fax: 34-93-778-35-80, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.idisc.es

Languages: Major Asian languages, including Korean, Japanese, S-Chinese, T-Chinese, Thai, Malay, Indonesian and Vietnamese Established in 1995, E4NET is a leading provider of high-quality localization and globalization services. We also provide the full scope of linguistic testing services in Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Unix, DTP services, and audio recording/video script translation. Our accumulated experience and know-how have allowed us to successfully accomplish many major projects for clients such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, LG Electronics, SAP, Digi-key, Panasonic and more. We specialize in the elds of IT such as ERP/CRM/DBMS, consumer software, hardware/equipment, OS, server application, management and storage. In addition, our service expands to other industries such as medical/healthcare, travel, fashion, game, automation and automotive.

L 10 N @ e 4 n e t . n e t w w w. e 4 n e t . n e t Tel: 822-3465-8500 Fax: 822-3465-8502

52

New markets for your products and solutions

Janus Worldwide Inc.

Languages 80 and growing Description Janus is a leading provider of language solutions to the worlds most global

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Buyers Guide
companies. Our flexible, scalable and proven approach enables our team to deliver services with top-quality results both on-time and on-budget. Industries we serve include IT, telecom, life sciences, energy, financial and automotive. Some of the services we offer are: functional and linguistic testing; software, website and multimedia localization; and technical, e-learning and marketing translation. Our processes are backed by the ISO 9001:2008 quality certification and our clients include Microsoft, IBM, Siemens and Volkswagen. We have nine offices in Asia, Europe and the US to facilitate communication globally. Janus Worldwide Inc. Derbenevskaya nab., 11B, Ofce B208,
Moscow 115114, Russia, +7-495-913-66-53, US 855-526-8799, Fax: +7-495-913-66-53, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.janusww.com See ad on page 13

Greek Localization Experts Since 1983

Language Greek Description Founded in 1983, ORCO S.A. is a leading translation and localization service provider, specializing in software localization and technical translations (IT, telecommunication, medical, automotive, engineering, marketing, financial). ORCO deals primarily with Englishinto-Greek projects, although translation from several other European languages can be taken aboard. With its experienced in-house personnel, ORCO offers all language services at the highest quality level, including localization, product testing, engineering, DTP and so on. Our client list includes many IT companies such as Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft and Oracle, as well as international corporations such as Abbott, Ford, Nokia, Sony, Kaeser and Hitachi. ORCO S.A. 6, Vas. Soas Avenue, 106 74 Athens, Greece,
30-210-723-6001, Fax: 30-210-7249124, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.orco.gr

PTIGlobal
Languages All commercial languages for Europe, Asia and the Americas Description PTIGlobal is committed to developing ongoing, long-term partnerships with its clients. This means dedication to personal service, responsiveness, high-quality output and sensitivity to clients cost goals and timelines. Backed by over 35 years of experience in technical translation, PTIGlobal provides turnkey localization services in 30 languages simultaneously for software, web applications, embedded devices, mobile applications and gaming technology. Projects employ our expertise in endto-end project management; internationalization consultation; glossary development; native language translation; multilingual web content management; translation memory maintenance; localization engineering; linguistic and functional testing and desktop publishing. PTIGlobal also offers in-house state of the art voiceover and video services as well as onsite managed services. PTIGlobal 4915 SW Grifth Drive, Suite 200, Beaverton, OR 97005,
503-297-2165, 888-357-3125, Fax: 503-352-0729, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.ptiglobal.com

Moravia Worldwide
Languages All Description Moravia Worldwide is a leading globalization solution provider, enabling companies in the information technology, e-learning, life sciences, consumer electronics and telecommunications industries to enter global markets with high-quality multilingual products. Moravias solutions include localization, product testing, multilingual publishing, technical translation, content creation, machine translation and workflow consulting. Adobe, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and Toshiba are among some of the leading companies that depend on Moravia Worldwide for accurate, on-time and economical localization. With global headquarters in Brno, Czech Republic, Moravia has local offices in Europe, the United States, Japan, China and Latin America. To learn more, please visit us at www.moravia.com. Moravia Worldwide USA 810 Lawrence Drive, Suite 210, Newbury Park, CA 91320,
805-262-0055, Fax: 805-375-8292, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.moravia.com Europe 420-545-552-222, E-mail: [email protected] Ireland 353-1-709-9822, E-mail: [email protected] Asia 86-25-8689-6500, E-mail: [email protected] Japan 81-3-3354-3320, E-mail: [email protected] Argentina 54-341-481-2992, E-mail: [email protected]

Pangeanic & PangeaMT

Languages Spanish (all variants) and all Spanish state official languages, EN/FIG/other EU languages, all other languages including Asian ones on demand Description Pangeanic is an independent Spanish LSP with sister offices in Tokyo and Shanghai working for the global enterprise market (major accounts in the electronics and computing fields) as well as for smaller organizations, MLVs and crossnational institutions. We offer a wide range of GILT services always adhering to stringent quality standard procedures EN 15038 and ISO 9001. Pangeanic has an experienced team devoted to MTPE (post-editing of machine translation output). PangeaMT, our customized open-source SMT technology, enables us to offer domain-specific MT engines that are fully tailored to the clients needs, helping them become more productive cost-effectively and rapidly. Pangeanic Trade Center, Profesor Beltrn Bguena 4, Suite 106,
46009 Valencia, Spain, 34-96-338-5771, Fax: 34-96-338-5772, E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Web: www.pangeanic.com, www.pangea.com.mt

Localization and Globalization Partner

Languages Korean, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese and other Asian languages, European languages Description. Saltlux was founded in 1979 as the first Korean technical translation company. Our services encompass translation, localization engineering, DTP, MT post-editing, planning and writing of technical manuals. We have extensive experience in medical and pharmaceutical products and equipment, IT, software, electrical, automotive and technical industry, and so on. With 32 years accumulated know-how, Saltlux will be your ideal global communication partner. To learn more, please visit www.saltlux.com. Saltlux, Inc. 5~7F, Deokil Building, 967 Daechi-dong,
Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-848, South Korea, 822-379-8444, Fax: 822-379-5996, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.saltlux.com

See ad on page 23

Your Vision. Worldwide.

Full-service Translation, Localization and Multilingual Testing

Languages Over 60 Description Net-Translators provides turnkey translation, localization and multilingual testing services and customized strategy-to-deployment localization solutions. For over ten years, theyve helped technology companies and medical device manufacturers prepare their products and services for global markets. For software applications (GUI, online help and documentation), marketing materials, websites and more, Net-Translators customer-focused, professional teams deliver consistent, accurate results in compliance to international regulations. Their one-of-akind Multilingual Testing Center is specially equipped and staffed to offer the ultimate testing environment for localized products. ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003 certifications and a long-standing reputation for quality have earned NetTranslators the trust of industry leaders worldwide. Net-Translators USA Cupertino, CA, 800-320-1020,
E-mail: [email protected]

USA Marlborough, MA, 617-275-8128,

E-mail: [email protected]

Europe London, England, +44-20-3393-8385,

E-mail: [email protected]

Middle East Or Yehuda, Israel +972-3-5338633,

E-mail: [email protected] South America Posadas - Misiones, Argentina, +54-3764-487029, E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.net-translators.com See ad on page 59

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 53

Buyers Guide
nonprofit orgAnizAtions
TOIN Corporation
Languages Japanese, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Korean, Malay, Thai, Vietnamese and European languages Description TOIN is a solidly established Asian MLV with more than 45 years experience. Our services encompass translation, localization engineering, DTP, MT post-editing, workflow/process consulting and project management. TOIN offers global reach and exceptional strength in Asia, with headquarters in Tokyo and additional operations in the United States, Europe, China and Korea. The company has been helping Global 1000 companies in industries such as automotive, IT, telecommunications, life sciences, elearning, computer software/gaming, semiconductors and consumer products. TOIN Corporation Japan Shiba 1-chome Building, 1-12-7 Shiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo
105-0014 Japan, 81-3-3455-8764, Fax: 81-3-3455-6514, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.to-in.co.jp North America Minneapolis, MN, 612-926-0201, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.to-in.com Europe London, United Kingdom, 44-20-8644-8685, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.to-in.com China Shanghai, P.R. China, 86-21-3222-0012, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.to-in.com

WhP International
Languages All European and major Middle Eastern and Asian languages, including local variants Description Since 1994, WhP International has offered a set of linguistic and technologic solutions, dedicated to each clients needs. WhP has become a renowned actor in the translation and localization world. By placing clients needs at the forefront and by carrying out huge efforts and best practices for each individual client, WhP has gained the loyalty of international accounts such as Oracle, Dell, IBM, Crossknowledge, Total, Amadeus and HP in the fields of software, online applications, training and e-learning, video games and so on. WhP maintains its headquarters in France with local offices and production centers in China and Slovakia. WhP Espace Beethoven BP102, F06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex,
France, 33-493-00-40-30, Fax: 33-493-00-40-34, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.whp.net

The Rosetta Foundation

Languages All Description Access to information is a fundamental right. We want to relieve poverty, support health care, develop education and promote justice through access to information and knowledge across the languages of the world. The Rosetta Foundation supports the not-for-profit activities of the localization and translation communities. It works internationally with those who want to provide equal access to information across languages, independent of economic or market considerations, including localization and translation companies, technology developers, not-forprofit and non-governmental organizations. The Rosetta Foundation Unit 13 Classon House,
Dundrum Business Park, Dublin 14, Ireland, +353-87-6736414, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.therosettafoundation.org

Xlated Ltd.
Languages Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Russian Description Xlated is a young and dynamic localization service provider, founded and managed by translators with 15+ years of specialization in software localization. Thanks to a proven knowledge of internationalization and localization processes, a team of highly skilled and motivated professionals, and an intelligent use of the most recent translation technologies, we offer a wide range of multilingual services for small to large and complex software localization projects. Services include terminology management, translation of GUI and user documentation, linguistic and functional quality assurance, engineering, multiplatform DTP and consulting. Xlated Ltd. Riverbank, Kells Business Park, Kells, Co. Meath, Ireland,
+353-(0)46-9250005, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.xlated.com See ad on page 31

Translators without Borders

Languages English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Arabic, Chinese, Swedish Description Translators without Borders is an independent registered nonprofit association based in France that assists non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by providing free, professional translations. Founded by Lexcelera in 1993, Translators without Borders has provided over two million dollars worth of free translations. Thanks to the funds saved, NGOs are able to extend their humanitarian work. Translators without Borders Passage du Cheval Blanc, 2 rue de la
Roquette, 75011 Paris, France, 33-1-55-28-88-09, Fax: 33-1-5528-88-09, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.translatorswithoutborders.com

Ushuaia Solutions
Languages Spanish (all varieties), Portuguese (Brazil) Description Ushuaia Solutions is a fast-growing Latin American company providing solutions for translation, localization and globalization needs. Ushuaia Solutions is focused on being creative and proactive to meet tight time frames with a high level of quality and a cost-effective budget. Customizing its processes, Ushuaia assures project consistency and technical and linguistic accuracy, thus reducing clients time-to-market. Ushuaia combines state-of-the-art technology with top-notch experienced native translators, editors and software engineers. Our mission is to work together with our clients, thereby creating a flexible, reliable and open relationship for success. Ushuaia Solutions Rioja 919, S2000AYK Rosario, Argentina,
54-341-4493064, Fax: 54-341-4492542, E-mail: info@ushuaia solutions.com, Web: www.ushuaiasolutions.com See ad on page 44

locAlizAtion tools

trAnslAtion MAnAgeMent systeMs

Alchemy Software Development VistaTEC

Languages All Description VistaTEC is a leading provider of globalization services and specializes in the localization and testing of enterprise, mobile and desktop applications. VistaTEC provides translation, technical consulting, engineering and testing, language review, transcreation and brand integrity services during the design, development and marketing cycles of clients products. VistaTEC Europe VistaTEC House, 700 South Circular Road, Kilmainham,
Dublin 8, Ireland, 353-1-416-8000, Fax: 353-1-416-8099
Multiple Platforms

USA East 2706 Loma Street, Silver Spring, MD 20902,

301-649-3012, Fax: 301-649-3032

USA West 1800 West El Camino Real, Suite 108,

Mountain View, CA 94040, 408-898-2357 Fax: 408-898-2362 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.vistatec.com

Languages All Description Alchemy Software Development is the leading provider of software localization tools. Alchemy technologies are the worlds most recognized software localization solutions with 80% of the worlds largest software companies using Alchemy CATALYST to accelerate entry into international markets, improve revenue growth opportunities and reduce their costs. With over 25,000 licenses worldwide, Alchemy CATALYST is the dominant choice among professional development companies, localization service providers, professional translators and global technology leaders such as Siemens, Corel, Philips and Canon. Alchemy Software Development Block 2 Harcourt Business Centre,
Harcourt Street, Dublin D2, Ireland, +353 1 7082800, Fax: +353 1 7082801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.alchemysoftware.com See ad on page 19

MultiCorpora
Multiple Platforms

See ad on page 36

2012 Resource Directory available to download at www.multilingual.com/resourceDirectory

54

Languages All Unicode languages Description As language technology experts since 1999, MultiCorpora is exclusively dedicated to providing language technology software solutions to enterprises, language service providers and governments. Its flagship product, MultiTrans Prism, offers an innovative and complete turn-key translation management system. MultiTrans Prism is an enterprise client-server application that consists of four core components which, together or individually, enable communications in more than one language; they are business management, project management (workflow), advanced translation memory and terminology management. RR Donnelley, Nomura, the Translation Bureau of Canada, UNESCO and many others rely on MultiTrans to manage their mission-critical translation operations. MultiCorpora 102-490 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, Quebec,
J8Y 3Y7 Canada, 819-778-7070, 877-725-7070, Fax: 819-778-0801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.multicorpora.com

See ad on page 7

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Buyers Guide
trAnslAtion services
Plunet BusinessManager
Multiple Platforms

Description Plunet develops and markets the business and workflow management software Plunet BusinessManager one of the worlds leading management solutions for the translation and localization industry. Plunet BusinessManager provides a high degree of automation and flexibility for professional language service providers and translation departments. Using a web-based platform, Plunet integrates translation software, financial accounting and quality management systems. Various functions and extensions of Plunet BusinessManager can be adapted to individual needs within a configurable system. Basic functions include quote, order and invoice management, comprehensive financial reports, flexible job and workflow management as well as deadline, document and customer relationship management. Plunet GmbH Prenzlauer Allee 214, D-10405 Berlin, Germany,
49-30-322971340, Fax: 49-30-322971359, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.plunet.com

BENEXtra Korea
Languages Chinese, Japanese, Korean Description BENEXtra Korea, one of the top quality localization/translation vendors in Asia, enjoys an excellent reputation and wide recognition among world-class players such as Dell, IBM, Microsoft, CA, Google, Autodesk, Cisco and the California state government. With our hands-on, practical experience in IT marketing collateral translation, software localization, Asian language localization, and our accumulated expertise in audio translation, we are ready to work together with you, helping you sustain growth and create and capture new value. BENEXtra Korea Second Floor, Gukdong Building 1163-7,
Gaepo-Dong, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul 135-960, Korea, 82-2-5724987, Fax: 82-2-3462-4987, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.benextra.com See ad on page 21

languages with a strong focus on Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian). Our experienced team is able to handle projects of any complexity. We guarantee a professional and personal approach to our clients needs, the use of state-of-the-art industrial technology, quality management at all stages of a project, on-time delivery, competitive rates and flexibility. We have extensive expertise in the following industries: IT, software, hardware, telecommunications, medical equipment, medicine, pharmacology, accounting, finance, automotive industry, electronics, legislation and EU documents. Diskusija Seimyniskiu g. 1A, LT-09312 Vilnius, Lithuania,
370-5-2790574, Fax: 370-5-2790576, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.diskusija.lt

Follow-Up Translation Services

Languages English, Brazilian Portuguese Description For 23 years, Follow-Up has been one of the best single-language translation companies in Brazil. Were equipped with a large network of professional translators, effectively trained project managers and state-of-the-art technology resources. Were capable of working locally and on the cloud. Our areas of expertise include IT, finance, pharmaceutics, medicine and marketing. Follow-Ups main partner and founder, Luciana Lavr, is a certified localization professional by California State University. Another partner at the company, Ana Beatriz Fernandes, is an official public sworn translator. Therefore, under her supervision, we also have a legal translations department. Follow-Up Rua Visconde de Piraj, 351, Sala 815, Rio de Janeiro,
RJ 22410-003 Brazil, 55-21-3553-7223, Fax: 55-21-3553-7223, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.follow-up.com.br

Translation Services Provider in SEE XTM: Better Translation Technology

Multiple Platforms

Languages All Unicode languages Description XTM is a fully featured online CAT tool and translation management system available as a pay-as-you-go SaaS or for installation on your server. Built for collaboration and ease of use, XTM provides a complete, secure and scalable translation solution. Implementation of XTM Cloud is quick and easy, with no installation, hardware costs or maintenance required. Rapidly create new projects from all common file types using the templates provided and allocate your resources to the automated workflow. XTM enables you to share linguistic assets in real time between translators. Discover XTM today. Sign up for a free 30-day trial at www.xtm-intl.com/trial. XTM International PO Box 2167, Gerrards Cross, Bucks, SL9 8XF
United Kingdom, +44-1753-480-469, Fax: +44-1753-480-465, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.xtm-intl.com

Languages English, German, Italian, Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Albanian, Bulgarian and Romanian Description CIKLOPEA is one of the leading translation and localization services providers in the region of South East Europe (SEE) specialized in translation projects, interpreting and localization into the languages of the South region (Croatian, Slovenian, Serbian, Bosnian, Macedonian, Montenegrin, Albanian, Bulgarian and Romanian). Our fields of specialization are manufacturing, consumer products, engineering, industry, technology, IT, medical, pharmaceutical, health services, life sciences, law, economics, business, finance, insurance, marketing, PR, communication and tourism. CIKLOPEA is certified in accordance with ISO 9001:2008 and EN 15038:2006. CIKLOPEA Medimurska 21, Zagreb10000 Croatia +385-1-3751736,
E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.ciklopea.com

Lexika Translation Services

Languages Czech, Slovak and Eastern European Description Lexika has been providing translation services since 1993. Our clients come from various business areas, however, for the past several years we have been focused on translation of legal and financial as well as technical documentation. Our major working languages are Czech and Slovak along with other CEE languages. Lexika is ISO 9001:2009 certified and utilizes SDL Trados and memoQ server. LEXIKA s.r.o. Dobrovicova 10, Bratislava 811 09, Slovakia
421-2-5010-6700, Fax: 421-2 2-595-5965 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.lexika.sk See ad on page 16

See ad on page 41

See ad on page 40

When it comes to translation, we hear you

Languages English and FIGS languages into Polish Description Vendor managers, project managers, directors and CEOs of LSPs have worked with CONTRAD since 2005. A common concern of MLV executives is difficulty finding appropriate vendors for Polish. Appropriate means not only focusing on Polish language, culture, subject matter being translated/localized, sticking to project instructions, terminology, deadlines or covering turnaround demands, because these are obvious. Appropriate means more. It means having certain qualities that reach further, like listening to clients and truly hearing them, asking the right questions, responding promptly, properly reacting to feedback and maintaining good communication with clients staff. You will receive it here, day in and day out. CONTRAD ul. Dolna 16, 10-699 Olsztyn, Poland, +48-89-527-07-14,
Fax: +48-89-527-07-32, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.contrad.com.pl See ad on page 45

XTRF Translation Management Systems

Multiple Platforms

Description XTRF is a global management system for translation agencies. With built-in cutting-edge Java technology, XTRF is a flexible, customizable and web-based software, enabling web access for a companys suppliers and customers. Its designed to help translation companies to streamline all of their daily activities, and it guarantees smooth management of the company while reducing administrative costs. Project management, invoicing, quotations, ISO 9001 reports and CRM are the main fields covered by the system. Designed by translation and localization professionals and created by the best IT team, this powerful tool will reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and increase a companys effectiveness. XTRF ul. Kamie skiego 51, 30-644 Krakw, Poland n
48-12-255-14-80, Fax: 48-12-255-14-77, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.xtrf.eu See ad on page 48

LinguaLinx Language Solutions, Inc.

Languages All Description LinguaLinx is a leading provider of global content and language intelligence to organizations around the world. The content experts at LinguaLinx help manage and localize messaging to enhance efficiency and provide consistency across all forms of communication. With offices around the world, LinguaLinx provides organizations with localization solutions that fit their needs including: translation and interpretation, marketing communications and website localization, translation memory deployment, multilingual SEO, translation readiness assessment and global content management. Unify your global organization with a customized content intelligence strategy and ensure that your messages resonate across borders with language intelligence. To learn more, visit lingualinx.com. LinguaLinx Language Solutions, Inc. The LinguaLinx Building, 122
Remsen Street, Cohoes, NY 12047, 518-388-9000, Fax: 518-3880066, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.lingualinx.com

Diskusija Translation and Localization

Follow us at twitter.com/multilingualmag
www.multilingual.com

Languages Central and Eastern European languages Description Founded in 1993, Diskusija specializes in technical translation and localization services from Western European languages into all Central and Eastern European

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 55

Buyers Guide
Medical Translations Only
Languages 45, including all EU languages Description MediLingua is one of the few medical translation specialists in Europe. We only do medical. We provide all European languages and the major languages of Asia and Africa, as well as translation-related services to manufacturers of devices, instruments, in vitro diagnostics and software; pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies; medical publishers; national and international medical organizations; and other customers in the medical sector. Projects include the translation of documentation for medical devices, surgical instruments, hospital equipment and medical software; medical information for patients, medical students and physicians; scientific articles; press releases; product launches; clinical trial documentation; medical news; and articles from medical journals. MediLingua Medical Translations BV Poortgebouw, Rijnsburgerweg
10, 2333 AA Leiden, The Netherlands, +31-71-5680862, Fax: +3171-5234660, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.medilingua.com See ads on pages 35, 41

Spanish, Dutch, Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Turkish, Greek, Norwegian, Danish, Hebrew, Irish, Finnish, Swedish, Luxembourgish, Romanian, Urdu, Ukrainian, Nepali, Latin, Latvian, Slovak, Slovenian, Bengali, Hindi, Pashto, Tamil, Punjabi, Singhalese, Marathi, Hmong, Khmer, Lao, Burmese, Mongolian, Somali Afrikaans, Armenian Description For over 45 years, PTSGI remains the largest language service provider in Taiwan providing multilingual translation, website and software localization, interpretation, desktop publishing, technical writing, game software and online translation into more than 100 languages. Our expert teams are skilled in a wide range of software that includes Trados, SDLX, Transit, CATALYST, RC-WinTrans, Idiom, Across, Multilizer, Passolo, RoboHelp, FrameMaker, QuarkXPress, PageMaker, InDesign, Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, CorelDraw, Illustrator, Freehand and Dreamweaver. We view our projects from the customers perspective and in turn gain the trust of our clients, steering our commitment to provide not just translation services but complete solutions. PTSGI 6F, #23 Section 6, Min-Chuan East Road, Taipei City 11494,
Taiwan, 886-2-8791-6688, Fax: 886-2-8791-7884, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.ptsgi.com

provide outstanding quality translation and localization services in any conceivable language and volume, creating an enviable clientele representing major leading corporations in various industries. Skrivaneks quality of service is backed by EN ISO 9001:2001 certification. Skrivanek s.r.o. International Project Management Centre, Na
Dolinch 22,147 00 Prague, Czech Republic, 420-233-320-560, Fax: 420-241-090-946, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.skrivanek.com See ad on page 38

SpanSource
Languages Focus on Spanish and Portuguese, other language combinations through partners Description SpanSource provides translation, localization and related services from Western European languages into all regional varieties of Spanish as well as other language combinations through our network of select SLV partners. Our domain focus is on health care and life sciences, software and IT, heavy machinery and automotive, legal and financial, oil and gas, corporate training and educational materials. Our comprehensive service portfolio also includes unparalleled desktop publishing and multimedia localization engineering support for e-learning materials. Our in-house staff of 25 includes project managers, senior linguists, desktop publishers, software engineers and graphic designers, which prove to be fundamental in SpanSources centralized, customer-centric approach. SpanSource SRL Santa Fe 1264, 1B, Rosario, S2000ATR Argentina,
54-341-527-5233, Fax: 54-341-527-0035, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.spansource.com

Rheinschrift bersetzungen, Ursula Steigerwald Neotech

Languages From major European languages into Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh and Azeri Description Neotech is the largest translation company in Russia and CIS countries, offering a full range of linguistic services to global corporations. Neotech is the first translation company on the Russian market that has certified its quality management system to international ISO 9001:2000 standards. Neotechs key areas of expertise are in the oil and gas industries, auto manufacturing, medical, information technologies and telecommunications. The business techniques introduced and applied by the company currently serve as the best practice within the translation industry. Neotech is leading the drive to continuously develop translation market standards and to implement new levels of business and interpersonal communications into the translation industry within Russia and abroad. Neotech 23/1 Matrosskaya Tishina, 107076 Moscow, Russia,
7-495-787-3331, Fax: 7-495-787-1189, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.neotech.ru

Language German to/from major European languages Description Outstanding localization requires world-class experience. Rheinschrift gives your business a native voice in the German-speaking world. We offer more than 20 years experience providing translations and localizations for software and hardware manufacturers as well as for the sectors of business, technology, legal matters and medicine/ medical applications. Our services also range from glossaries, post-editing, project management and desktop publishing services to many other related services. Rely on Rheinschrift to deliver the most competent translations and meet your deadline, whatever it takes. Rheinschrift bersetzungen, Ursula Steigerwald Rolshover
Strasse 99, D-51105 Cologne, Germany, +49-(0)221-80-19-28-0, Fax: +49-(0)221-80-19-28-50, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.rheinschrift.de See ad on page 14

Synergium
Languages Eastern European with the focus on Baltic and CIS Description Synergium is one of the leading integrated language service providers in the Baltics with representative offices and in-house teams of expert project managers, translators, editors and software engineers in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russian Federation and Ukraine. The company has more than six years of experience in translation and localization services covering main technical industries such as automotive, environmental, EU, financial, IT, legal, medical and telecommunications. Due to its cuttingedge technologies, individual and thoughtful approach, Synergium has been recognized by world-renowned companies such as Google, Microsoft, Philips Healthcare, GlaxoSmithKline, and many others. Synergium algirio 88-404, 09303 Vilnius, Lithuania, 370-5-27526-56, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.synergium.eu

Translation and localization into Polish

Language Polish Description Ryszard Jarza Translations is an established provider of Polish translation, localization, marketing copy adaptation and DTP services. We focus primarily on life sciences, IT, automotive, refrigeration and other technology sectors. Our in-house team is comprised of experienced linguists with medical, engineering and IT backgrounds. We guarantee a high standard of quality while maintaining flexibility, unparalleled responsiveness and reliability. Our services are certified to EN 15038:2006. Ryszard Jarz Translations ul. Barlickiego 23/22, 50-324 Wrocaw, a
Poland, 48-601-228332, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.jarza.com.pl See ad on page 41

Omnia S.r.l.
Languages 150 language combinations including rare and obscure languages Description Omnia has been helping companies successfully deploy their message in the global marketplace for 25 years. Let Omnia partner with you to meet your international communication objectives through a range of bespoke services, including technical documentation translation; marketing collateral transcreation; website and software localization; multilingual desktop design and publishing; content authoring and controlled English; and content and term management. Omnia Group via Mazzini, 160/B, Sassuolo, 41049 Italy
+39 0536 881375, Fax: +39 0536 882413 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.omnia-group.com

TripleInk Multilingual Communications

Languages All major commercial languages Description As a multilingual communications agency, TripleInk has provided industrial and consumer products companies with precise translation and multilingual production services for audiovisual, online and print media since 1991. Our experience in adapting technical documentation and marketing communication materials covers a wide range of industries, including biomedical and health care; building and construction; financial services; food and agriculture; high-tech and manufacturing; and hospitality and leisure, as well as government and nonprofit organizations. Using a total quality management process and state-of-the-art software and equipment, our team of foreign language professionals delivers the highest quality translations in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. TripleInk 60 South 6th Street, Suite 2800, Minneapolis, MN 55402,
612-342-9800, 800-632-1388, Fax: 612-342-9745, E-mail: info@ tripleink.com, Web: www.tripleink.com

See ad on page 41

Skrivanek s.r.o.
Languages All, with a focus on Central and Eastern Europe Description Skrivanek is a world leader in providing a wide range of language services, specifically translations spanning a multitude of languages and the effective localization of products on international markets. Established in 1994, Skrivanek has managed to dominate the European translation market, creating a network of 53 branches covering 14 countries. Its well-stocked staff of professional translators, experienced project managers and dedicated software engineers and DTP specialists has enabled Skrivanek to

PTSGI
Languages English, Traditional and Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, Malay, Indonesian, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Arabic, Farsi, Russian, German, French, Italian,

56

| MultiLingual September 2012

[email protected]

Buyers Guide
TRSB Inc. Translation Solutions
Languages French Canadian Description For over 25 years, TRSBs mission has been to provide cost-efficient, reliable language solutions addressing each clients individual needs. As Canadas leading translation and localization firm, TRSB offers a complete array of services, including marketing adaptation targeted for Quebec, copywriting, interpretation, voiceover/subtitling, linguistic consulting and auditing, terminology management and desktop publishing. No job is too big or too complex. Our expert teams of native-speaking translators are skilled in a wide variety of industries and subjects, most notably finance, banking, life sciences, human resources, insurance and regulatory materials. Contact us today to find out what we can do for you. TRSB Inc. 276 Saint-Jacques, Montreal, H2Y 1N3 Canada
514-844-4682, Fax: 514-844-5983 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.trsb.com

Kilgray Translation Technologies

Windows

Languages All Description Kilgray Translation Technologies is the worlds fastest growing provider of computer-assisted translation tools. In 2005 the company launched the first version of memoQ, an integrated client-server translation environment designed to facilitate interoperability and teamwork. All of Kilgrays products memoQ, the memoQ server, qTerm and the TM Repository optimize productivity and control of the entire translation process and environment. Rated #1 by Common Sense Advisory among translationcentric TMS systems, and used by thousands of translators, language service providers, and enterprises throughout the world, memoQ and other Kilgray tools are accepted and appreciated as premiere translation technologies. Kilgray Translation Technologies P.O.B. 7, H-1255 Budapest, Hungary
+36-30-383-9435, Fax: +36-1-312-6019 E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.kilgray.com See ad on page 4

for the major industry TM systems. MadCap Lingo also includes tracking and organization capabilities to support large, single-source, multichannel publishing projects. Through its strategic partner Microsoft Corporation, MadCap delivers solutions optimized for Microsoft Windows, Visual Studio and the .NET environment. Free trial downloads are available at www.madcapsoftware.com. MadCap Software, Inc. 7777 Fay Avenue, La Jolla, CA 92037,
858-320-0387, 888-623-2271, Fax: 858-320-0338, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.madcapsoftware.com

See ad on page 9

SYSTRAN
Multiple Platforms

trAnslAtion tools

MadCap Lingo
Windows

Atril Language Engineering

Windows

Languages User Interface languages: English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Russian and Chinese. Languages supported for translation: All available languages under Microsoft Office Description ATRIL, precursor on the CAT tool market with the Dj Vu product range, has been providing, above all, a tightly integrated solution to all stakeholders of the translation industry since 1993. Always in close dialogue with Dj Vu users that has in itself been innovative, ATRIL is ensuring product development that makes a real impact on their quality, productivity and reputation. ATRILs mission is to have customers achieve high-quality translations in the easiest, fastest, most economical way, bringing added value to the work and time, with measurable and clear results day by day. Atril Language Engineering 40, Rue Milton, 75009 Paris, France,
+33 (0) 149-709-560, Fax: +33 (0) 149-700-260, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.atril.com See ad on page 27

Languages Unicode support for all left-to-right languages Description The leaders in technical communication bring you MadCap Lingo, an XML-based translation memory (TM) tool designed to improve translation efficiency, eliminate redundancies and reduce project costs. MadCap Lingo offers an easy-to-use interface, Unicode support for all left-toright languages, and a rich list of features for assisting translators throughout the localization process, including support

Languages 52 language combinations Description SYSTRAN is the market leading provider of machine translation solutions for the desktop, enterprise and internet. Our solutions facilitate multilingual communications in 52+ language pairs and in 20 domains. SYSTRAN Enterprise Server 7, our latest achievement, is powered by our new hybrid MT engine which combines the predictability and consistency of rule-based MT with the fluency of the statistical approach. The self-learning techniques allow users to train the software to any specific domain to achieve cost-effective, publishable quality translations. SYSTRAN solutions are used by Symantec, Cisco, Ford and other enterprises to support international business operations. For more information, visit www.systransoft.com. SYSTRAN Software, Inc. North America 4445 Eastgate Mall, Suite 310, San Diego, CA 92121,
858-457-1900, Fax: 858-457-0648

Europe 5 rue Feydeau, 75002 Paris, France, +33 (0)1-44-82-49-00,

Fax: +33 (0)1-44-82-49-01, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.systransoft.com See ad on page 25

Business for sAle

For Sale:
50%
Stake in multilingual ServiceS company
Selling a 50% ownership in a specialized linguistic services company based in Seattle, Washington, USA. The company is in a good nancial situation and has an MSA with a major IT company. To receive details, send your contact information to: [email protected].

Find language industry jobs at www.multilingual.com/careers

Advertiser index
ACP Traductera AccentPharm Medical Translations Across Systems GmbH ADAPT Localization Services Affordable Language Services Alchemy Software Development American Translators Association Aspena The Association for Machine Translation in the Americas ATRIL Language Engineering BENEXtra Korea Binari Sonori S.r.l. CIKLOPEA Clear Words Translations CONTRAD 29 35 39 30 35 19 42 8 17 27 21 46 41 35 45 Dussault Translation Ltd. 35 E4NET 52 ELIAs Networking Days 49 EuroGreek Translations Limited 41 exe spol. s r.o. 35 The Gilbane Conference 6 hiSoft Technology International 34 Internationalization & Unicode Conf. 60 ISIS 53 Janus Worldwide Inc. 13 JFA Marketing 41 Kilgray Translation Technologies 4 Lexika Translation Services 16 Localization World Conference 2 MadCap Software, Inc. 9 MediLingua BV 35, 41 Moravia Worldwide MultiCorpora Net-Translators Omnia Group Rheinschrift Translation Services Ryszard Jarza Translations Skrivanek s.r.o. STAR Group SYSTRAN Software, Inc. tcworld conference Tilde Ushuaia Solutions VistaTEC Xlated Ltd. XTM International XTRF 23 7 59 41 14 41 38 10 25 50 33 44 36 31 40 48

www.multilingual.com

September 2012 MultiLingual

| 57

Takeaway

Ultan Broin

Is our industry still cold to user experience?

I recently attended a major information development conference in Silicon Valley. Admittedly, I didnt attend the entire event, though what I did hear left me depressed enough, so perhaps thats just as well.
Take the issue of translation cost savings. Often, this means dumbed-down content too devoid of any context or detail to be of any use in problem solving or task completion. Such content generally facilitates large scale leveraging, but it is in direct conict with a basic of good design, that context always wins over consistency. Or consider the controlled authoring debate as a sine qua non to facilitate the introduction of machine translation (MT). This can result in source material that is so dismal in terms of content, style and grammar that it generates support calls and does nothing for disaffected users. To heck with customer experience, though, as long as there are high fuzzy and perfect matches, and easily trained MT engines, right? It doesnt have to be this way. Recently, for example, the Oracle Worldwide Product Translation Group cooperated with the Oracle Applications User Experience group, facilitating mobile ethnography worldwide. The local market and cultural knowledge of the former team dovetailed with the latters UX science and engineering methodology to research mobile context of use in Europe. The result is that translation teams come to learn how apps work, and to develop glossaries, style guidelines and quality assurance strategies in advance of translation, while we UX pros get to understand cultural and locale requirements for the basis of a design and implementation of a stunning UX for global users. Everyone wins! I just know there must be many more examples of UX and translation working together toward common ends, at all stages of the product, content or service lifecycle. Send them to me through Blogos and I will be more than happy to publicize them. Or why not write an article on the subject for MultiLingual yourself? So come on, industry, get with the program! Translation, localization, transcreation and whatever are all forms of user experience. An acceptance of this reality will make all our lives easier. Do I think we are moving in the right direction? Yes. But not fast enough. Lets see if we can change that. Together. M

During one session on content management, moderated by an industry rock star, it rapidly became apparent that the preoccupation of the assembled information development industry professionals was guring out ways of shoving existing user assistance and content onto current and emergent mobile platforms. Now, people, listen to Ultan. A rudimentary knowledge of how users behave and use mobile devices and applications offers ready insights about whether any user assistance at all should be provided, and if so, how this content is best used location, style, grammar, terminology and so on. Mobile usability considerations are different than desktop or web ones, and must take into account such things as device capability and requirements to complete tasks rapidly. Seemed to me, pretty much, that those conference attendees were either blissfully unaware or maybe even terried of the concept of user experience (UX), which is how users work with and feel about a system. What I had witnessed was zero consideration for context of use, a basic level 1 consideration of the Common Industry Specication for Usability Requirements, a fundamental of UX. I wrote about the need for UX to be a translation (including globalization and localization) industry concern in MultiLingual in March 2011. Have things changed since then? And how? Is our industry still cold to the UX domain? Has anyone warmed to it? Well, I recently read an article about gamication in the June 2012 issue of MultiLingual. Cool, I thought gamication is a big research interest of mine Ill get some insights into how culture and localization requirements impact the use of game dynamics to increase user participation and engagement in different markets. Theres little written about this, actually. But there wasnt any mention of it in the article. I do think things are changing in the right direction of crossdomain cooperation and fusion. There was a solid discussion about the need for UX to underpin translation considerations at a recent Localization World. I know that the opportunities presented by UX is something that Centre for Next Generation Localisation in Ireland has thought about a great deal too. All good. However, how much practicality there is behind bringing UX and translation together as a discipline, best practice, market differentiator or business requirement is hard to quantify.

Ultan Broin, MultiLingual editorial board member and Blogos contributor, works for Oracle in Ireland. He has been awarded an MS from Trinity College Dublin for research on social exclusion and social networking sites, works in international user experience and is a researcher into social networking. To offer your own Takeaway on a language-industry issue, send a contribution to [email protected]. [email protected]

58

| MultiLingual September 2012

full-service

Translation, Localization, & Multilingual Testing

in more than 60 languages

Rated No. 1 in Translation Services by Top Ten Reviews

For over 10 years, Net-Translators has helped technology companies and medical-device manufacturers prepare their products for global markets. Our comprehensive localization services portfolio, experienced customer-focused project teams, and unique quality-centered approach help us consistently exceed customer expectations for deadline, budget, and accuracy. We have earned the trust of industry leaders worldwide, so you know your products are in good hands.

Turnkey localization solutions for software (user interface, online help, documentation), websites, and marketing content More than 1000 professional translators, proofreaders, editors, and software localization specialists Cutting-edge language tools and technologies One-of-a-kind Multilingual Testing Center ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 13485:2003 certified

www.net-translators.com North America United Kingdom Israel Argentina

October 22-24, 2012 Hyatt Regency Hotel, Santa Clara, CA USA

REGISTER EARLY TO SAVE!

The Internationalization and Unicode Conference (IUC) is the premier event cove covering the mier latest in industry standards and best practices for bringing software and Web applications to worldwide markets. This annual event focuses on software and Web globalization, bringing together internationalization experts, tools vendors, software implementers, and business and program managers from around the world. Expert practitioners and industry leaders present detailed recommendations for businesses looking to expand to new international markets and those seeking to improve time to market and cost-efciency of supporting existing markets. Recent conferences have provided specic advice on designing software for European countries, Latin America, China, India, Japan, Korea, the Middle East, and emerging markets. This highly rated conference features excellent technical content, industry-tested recommendations and updates on the latest standards and technology. Subject areas include cloud computing, upgrading to HTML5, integrating with social networking software, and implementing mobile apps. This years conference will also highlight new features in Unicode Version 6.1 and other relevant standards published this year. Reasons to Attend Include: tutorials and sessions for beginners, designed to train you and your staff on practices and implementation techniques for creating international software industry leaders and experts in attendance recommending solutions to difcult problems or sophisticated requirements tool and product vendors providing solutions to help you get to market quickly and cost-effectively

www.unicodeconference.org/ml
MEDIA SPONSOR:

For up-to-date information or to register: VISIT: www.unicodeconference.org/ml E-MAIL: [email protected]

Unicode and the Unicode Logo are trademarks of Unicode, Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.