Using Internal Resources to Coordinate a Multi-Language Information

Management System

Fer O’Neil, Knowledgebase Technical Writer II

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IN HOW MANY LANGUAGES IS CONTENT OFFERED?

59%

30%

4%

5% 2%

12 to 56 to 1011 to 2020 +

Source: TSIA 2010 Benchmark Survey

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OUR CURRENT TRANSLATIONS

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WHAT IS LOCALIZATION

Translation is written communication that is provided in a language other than the original ‘source’ language.

Localization is adapting content to local markets—taking into account cultural, visual, regulatory, legal and other issues specific to the locale where you are communicating.

http://www.tcworld.info/rss/article/localizing-effectively-to-reach-audiences-around-the-world/

“Markets are not the same as languages”

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ESSENTIAL PREREQUISITES FOR LOCALIZATION

Multi-language support in a single knowledge systemCentralized language maintenanceFlexibility for unique regional workflowsFlexibility for separate knowledge structuresSpecialized content translation workflowAutomatic language detectionLocalized industry ontologies and business metadata

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BEST PRACTICES TM

Set expectations

- Get buy-in

Plan a Localization Strategy & Model

- Establish: Standards & Guidelines

Stick to the workflow

- Trust it

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PLANNING A LOCALIZATION STRATEGY

Which Model is best for me?

Real world: which can I deploy?Not what we want but what our users need

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CHOOSING A LOCALIZATION STRATEGY

ContentCreation Translation

Centralized ModelContentCreation

KMS

Regional Model

Flag gifs from http://www.apple.com/iphone/

KMS

Users

Users

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GOALS

• Consistency across languagesContent is a representation of your brand

• Improve multi-lingual support experienceHigh-quality/longer deployment or quick &

dirty?

• Centralized model—control of the content

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OUR LOCALIZATION STRATEGY

Content Creation

KMS

Centralized Model

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REAL-WORLD LOCALIZATION

The 0-0-0 rule

Take Ø time

Cost Ø dollars

Use Ø resources

The project must

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SETTING EXPECTATIONS

• Setting expectations with the COMPANY, with the TRANSLATORS, and ultimately this will create expectations with USERS

• The content that is documented will dictate

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IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS

•Analytics for top-viewed content•Establish team (the buy-in)•Establish content workflow•Allow for the ability to create English content as well

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EFFICIENT LOCALIZATION OF CONTENT

• Time and moneyYou don’t have to translate EVERYTHING

• It’s All about what to localizeFind out how to minimize what the translators

have to translateTranslate the right content not all the content

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IMPLEMENTING STRATEGY

• TO REDUCE TRANSLATION COSTSonly the needed content should be translated, nothing else.

Therefore, there needs to be a way to select the needed standard and customized modules and compare them to the existing translated content and only send the changed or previously untranslated content to translation.

http://www.kilkku.com/blog/2012/09/the-final-obstacle-to-wiki-tech-comm-localization/

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OUR CHALLENGES

• 0-0-0 rule• Don’t have all the English content, much

less the alternate language content• Increased market-share so increased

support and need for content in alternate languages

• Limited resources to customize KMS to implement the needed changes

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EXAMPLE

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EXAMPLE

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COORDINATING TRANSLATIONS

• As a technical writer, I coordinate the translationscombination of in-house translation crowdsourcing with

objective coordination.

I trust that the cumulative response from the community of translators is correct and I implement the requests based on this aggregate.

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LOCALIZATION EXAMPLE

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THANK YOU

Recommendations?

Fer O’Neil

ferswriteshoe@gmail.com

http://ferswriteshoe.wordpress.com

http://www.linkedin.com/in/feroneil

https://twitter.com/ferswriteshoe

http://www.slideshare.net/feroneil

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