A Global Perspective on Authoring and Terminology – What Industry Research has Taught Us
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Copyright © 2008-2010 SDL plc. All rights reserved. SDL Confidential A Global Perspective on Authoring and Terminology – What Industry Research has Taught Us
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For SDL and for our global customers, it is important to think global in everything that we do. With access to a community of over 170,000 translators, more than 1500 global enterprises and relationships with many industry bodies and associations, SDL is in a unique position to be able to carry out research with a global perspective, and from the perspective of those doing the translation work and writing the content, up to those managing the global content supply chain. This presentation looks at some of the recent research we have carried out and what it means for technical content management and the localization of that content.
Transcript of A Global Perspective on Authoring and Terminology – What Industry Research has Taught Us
Copyright © 2008-2010 SDL plc. All rights reserved. SDL Confidential
A Global Perspective on Authoring and Terminology – What Industry Research has Taught Us
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Agenda
Industry research at SDL – keeping our fingers on the pulse
From Terminology, to Authoring, to Machine and Human Translation – a 360° view of the global content industry
Key results and what they tell us
What can we do to keep up with and combat trends
Conclusions
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SDL Research – a 360° View
Freelance Translator, Brazil
Senior Technical Editor, India
Corporate Marketing Director, UK 4,000 filling in 4
surveys
Global Authoring, DITA, Content Management
Machine translation, terminology, human translation
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From Content Creation to Machine Translation
Global Authoring Survey Common Authoring Tools DITA and XML Authoring teams by geography With STC and ISTC
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From Content Creation to Machine Translation
Terminology Management Survey x 2 How terminology is stored Who decides on terminology Affect on authoring and translation Terminology as a corporate mandate vs. terminology as a translation
requirement
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From Content Creation to Machine Translation
Machine Translation Survey Business motivations for machine translation Quality concerns Content most suitable for machine translation With AMTA and EAMT
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From Content Creation to Machine Translation
Translator Survey Common file formats for translation Most popular languages Use of tools Sharing of translation assets
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Global Authoring Survey
235 responses
Technical Authors, Documentation Managers, Tech Pubs Managers, Authoring Consultants
With STC and ISTC
USA40%
Europe53%
Asia Pacific5%
Africa1%
Latin America1%
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Key Results – Global Authoring Survey
Yes, we translate docs Yes, but not translated No0
10
20
30
40
502008 2009
Do you write documentation for a global audience?
Technical Documentation is more ‘global’ than ever
%
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Key Results – Global Authoring Survey
Yes No What is DITA?0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
US Europe RoW
Does your organization plan to move to DITA?
US adoption of DITA quicker than rest of the world
%
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Key Results – Global Authoring Survey
We are already using XML Yes No0
10
20
30
40
50
60
US Europe RoW
Does your organization plan to move to XML?
US more likely to be authoring in XML
%
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Yes - CMS Yes - CCM No - but we are look-ing for one
No0
10
20
30
40
50
Does your tech docs department use a Content Management System or a Component Content Management System for handling XML or DITA?
High awareness and adoption of content management for DITA and XML
Key Results – Global Authoring Survey
%
14
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Terminology Survey
2 Terminology Surveys The business impact of terminology The impact on translation
1,700 responses
Survey # 1 – The impact on translation Mainly freelance translators from across the globe
Survey # 2 – The impact on business A range of job functions – from Marketing Director to Publications
Manager
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Key Results – Terminology Survey
Have you ever noticed inconsistent uses of terminology within source content that is to be translated?
Yes, it occurs frequently Yes, it occurs occasionally No, terminology in the source content is always
consistent
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
%
Terminology is not being controlled in the source content
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Key Results – Terminology Survey
Email Terminology management
tool
Spreadsheets
Style guide Terminol-ogist team
No termi-nology
manage-ment
process
0
10
20
30
40 Chart Title
What process do you have for managing terminology?
Style guides are most common for storing terminology, but many do not have a process
%
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Key Results – Terminology Survey
Mar
ketin
g
Produ
ct M
anag
er
Tech
Doc
s
Suppo
rt
Loca
lizat
ion
Oth
er
0
10
20
30
40
50
Chart TitleWhich department typically has ownership of terminology?
Tech Docs and Localization are taking ownership of terminology, although it is a collaborative process
%
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20
Machine Translation Survey
228 responses
In association with European Association of Machine Translation (EAMT) and the Association of Machine Translation in the Americas (AMTA)
Translators, Product Managers, Marketing Manager, Tech Pubs Manager
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Key Results – Machine Translation Survey
More likely to use it now than two years
ago
The same - still would consider it
The same - still would not consider it
Less likely than two years ago
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2008 2009
How likely are you to use machine translation compared to 2 years ago?
50% would be more likely to use machine translation in a business context compared to 2 years ago
%
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Key Results – Machine Translation Survey
Concerns about the output qual-
ity
Have to provide a business case
Concerns about integrate with
translation process
Content is too complex
Already have a translation
department - no need for
automated so-lution
Other0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
2008 2009
What are main barriers to your organization adopting machine translation?
75% have concerns about the content quality produced by machine translation systems
%
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Key Results – Machine Translation Survey
Support and knowledge-base
content
Technical documenta-
tion
Websites Virus alerts Other0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
2009 2008
Which types of content would you consider translating automatically?
60% believe technical documentation lends itself well to machine translation
%
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Key Results – Machine Translation Survey
Tech docs Popular sup-port & knowl-
edge base con-tent
Less popular support content
Product/support up-
dates
Brochures & promotional
Public web pages
Internal web pages
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Which types of content would you apply human post-editing to?
Technical documents are most appropriate for human post-editing of machine translation output
%
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What do the Results Tell us?
Everyone is moving towards DITA and structured authoring, with US adoption ahead of European counterparts
Content Management and Component Content Management use and awareness is high
Documentation is truly global
Technical Documentation lends itself well to machine translation and post-editing
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What do the Results Tell us?
Authors and Documentation departments should collaborate with localization, product management and marketing to initiate terminology management process
Inconsistent terminology has a significant impact on source and translation quality
Style guides are the most common vehicles for storing terminology
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What can we do to Manage Terminology?
Terminology management Group terminology sessions – product teams, marketing, authors,
engineers Generate metadata for terms – examples, context, synonyms Preferred and non-preferred terms Centralize everything and make available to the business, especially
authors and translators
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Process for Terminology Management
• Get a terminology database
• Pull together existing lists
• People to be involved
Process and Tool Selection
• Go live and establish maintenance process
• Communicate in company
• Integrate into Authoring and Translation
GO LIVE AND MAINTAIN
Define Terminology Database Scope
• Organize in relation to divisions, products, subject
• Define languages• Limit initial size
Extract and Source Terminology
• Use tools to help extract terminology
• Manually define terms
Research Terminology
• Research definitions, examples, grammatical info, synonyms, homonyms etc.
Approve and Translate Terminology
• Confirm, edit and approve terms
• Same process for target languages
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What can we do to Help Machine Translation?
Write for translation Accommodating machine translation Don’t over complicate Garbage In, Garbage Out Passive voice vs. active voice, future tense
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Conclusions
The need for collaborative processes – connecting technical communication to translation
Managing terminology is key to consistency and quality in communicating with our customers
Machine translation is being embraced
Documentation is global and should be created with a global mindset
DITA is being driven by the US
…and the future?
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Future Trends – what will the next surveys bring?
