Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter
June/July 2005
| Newsletter of the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter June/July 2005 |
Michael R. Cárdenas, President of Local Concept, Inc., was on hand for the April 20 monthly chapter meeting in San Francisco to discuss how to write content for the international audience. His presentation focused on how translation alone is not enough to convey your message to an international audience. Writers and those involved in content management must learn to think global while developing content.
Cárdenas demonstrated how lacking a global perspective can introduce problems with your message with the example of the popular advertising campaign to promote milk consumption in the United States. In the ads, peanut butter, cookies, and cereal are paired with (or rather, separated from) milk in a way induces an almost palpable urge for the viewer to leap up and get a glass of milk (and maybe a cookie or two).
However, broadcasting the same commercial in Spain will invoke a decidedly different note of panic -- that someone's not taking care of the family because there's no milk in the house! Instead of the feeling of "I really feel like having some milk and cookies now" the other point of view elicits only guilt and a sense of inadequacy on the viewer's part. Not what the copywriter had in mind, no doubt!
Translation is matching the same concept in one language to the target language. Localization, on the other hand, is both translation and adapting the message, product, software, and so on so that it looks and feels as if it were created in the target country.
However, as a writer or developer, you may not necessarily know where your product will be localized. But you can start by creating source material that is designed to reach as much of the global audience as possible. This is called internationalization, which is planning and implementing strategies with localization in mind.
Thinking globally means being aware of cultural differences. Some differences are more obvious than others. For example, you can't assume that "the first day of the week" is Sunday, or that Christmas occurs in winter. You probably already are aware that slang and idioms, references to time zones, weather, holidays, and popular culture should be avoided.
Other differences are not so obvious. A video game developer whose game scenario includes bands of soldiers fighting each other may not realize that bands of robots would feel more comfortable to others in the global audience. Or that an appeal to visit a Las Vegas casino and get "all you can eat" may seem more gross than inviting to some people. A better lure would be to pay a first-time visitor $150 to play.
To avoid pitfalls, best practice is to make internationalization a part of the design process. By educating yourself about cultural differences, you can begin to develop cultural sensitivity, a trait that is by no means inherent. Partnering with international and localization experts early on is also a wise move. "But what about the cost?" you may ask. It is ultimately cheaper to invest time and cost in making localization more effective than by learning the hard way through mistakes.
Writing globally means being conscious of the style choices you make when writing your content. Many of the style principles advocated for internationalization already apply to technical communication in general. A straightforward, unambiguous style is easier to read and translate. Terminology should be consistent -- in other words, don't use "click on," "click," "select," and "choose" within the same document.
More specific rules for writing in a global style include using:
A glossary is a useful tool to accompany your project from development to final translation and localization. You can include technical terms and their definitions, acronyms (and whether they should be spelled out), date formats to be used, style issues and decisions. Consider that in the hands of the translator, a glossary can facilitate the process by preventing time-consuming queries to the owner of the source material.
Cárdenas also mentioned some of the tools that are used in the localization field. The most popular authoring tools for manuals still include Microsoft Word, Adobe FrameMaker, and QuarkXpress. Computer-assisted translation memory tools, such as Trados, are growing more sophisticated everyday.
Internationalization and localization have become more and more important in the global village. Whether in sales, product development, or customer support, the need for adapting content to local markets is increasing. As Cárdenas pointed out, internationalization and localization is also a field that is growing in terms of employment potential. You too can be a part of the corporate-wide strategy that is required to guide a product successfully on its path to the world market.
Elizabeth Treacy is a technical editor at a major software company in the Bay Area. She has lived, studied, worked, and traveled in many countries. Cross-cultural communication is one of her particular interests.
Copyright © 2005 by the Society for Technical Communication, San Francisco Chapter (www.stc-sf.org). This article may be reprinted in another STC publication under the provisions of the chapter's copyright policy.