Newsletter - Features
How Can We Better Educate Our Clients?
Thomas Deibjerg, TLT Documents ApS
"I'm going away on vacation now. Will you please get this thing localized while I'm gone?" Do you recognize this scenario? Two minutes before your own vacation starts, one of your key clients kicks off the localization of a software suite into 14 languages for what he claims is his company's most important release ever. One minute before your vacation, you receive a poorly prepared file hand-off kit comprising software for translation, documentation, help systems, marketing material, etc. To top it off, your client contact forgot to appoint a replacement contact during his vacation - so you're on your own.
Halfway through localizing the software, your teams report that the
client neglected to implement most of the linguistic bugs you reported
during the last localization cycle. On page one of the user guide, the
first of multiple inconsistencies between software and documentation
emerges (and this is the text that will go into the help system, too).
Finally, when you get started on localizing the marketing material you
find that that the client's marketing people managed to name the new
innovative Acme PowerSoft'n'Easy functionality something
different from what the software developers named it. And so the story
goes… Great frustration on both the client and the MLV side.
This
situation is of course a bit exaggerated, but nevertheless it has some
recognizable aspects – even in the year 2007.
At one of the
past GALA member meetings, we briefly discussed the aspect of better
educating clients. But what do we need to teach our clients?
Haven't we developed all the fancy translation memory tools, the ideal
workflow systems, the terminology management tools, the style guides,
the processes, etc. that will help our clients and our own companies get
the jobs done in good order and in good time? On top of that – haven't
we offered our very, very discounted word rates for each update in order
to make ourselves attractive to the market?
The answers are yes,
yes and yes.
The fact is that no matter how advanced the tools we
implement and use, no matter how much we lower prices, we still often
end up facing the same problems.
Localization is most commonly
situated in the final stage of the development and launch of a product,
and sadly, this is often when bottleneck issues arise. The greatest
stress on product development is usually on the validation phase when
the testing and bug fixing occurs. Localization traditionally adds to
this by creating most of the quality feedback and bugs during these late
stages. This is frustrating for both clients and localization agencies.
So
perhaps it is in the preparation stages that we as MLVs have something
extra to offer.
A corporate strategy for localization
Many
MLVs offer custom project management tools, tools for terminology
management, and counseling on localization processes. But the prime
obstacle still seems to be the client's unwillingness to invest the
necessary time and effort to get things working, and thus planning for
localization often receives a low priority. Let me give you an example:
at TLT we recommended that a client implement a terminology management
tool – over 1½ years ago – and yet the technical writers still have not
started using it.
Many businesses simply view localization as a
necessary evil that needs to get done as quickly as possible. Some
clients cede all responsibility to the localization agencies and then
lean back, expecting everything to be resolved automatically. Then they
are surprised when the MLVs return with issues such as linguistic
errors, inconsistencies, spacing and formatting issues, etc.
One
thing clients could be taught is that it does matter to have
what we might refer to as a corporate strategy for localization .
Clients need to take the time to get to know the principles and
processes of localization. A heightened awareness will improve the
client's ability to prepare the product for localization and to avoid
the usual pitfalls of localization. Likewise, MLVs could be the
providers of corporate strategies for localization to a far
greater extent than we are now.
The people involved
MLVs
can help clients understand how localization is part of the bigger
picture. Minor decisions they make in the initial stages – prior to
developing the product – might have a major impact on localization ten
months later. They need to consider the whole development process of an
IT product –from the requirement specifications to software development
to localization as a whole. On the client side, these development
processes involve many people with different backgrounds and
personalities: engineers, architects, project managers, marketing
people, technical writers, etc. If localization is a core objective in a
business plan, all of these people should know the importance of a solid
approach.
At one of my clients, the key technical writer has
compared his corporation with holding a tiger by its tail… anarchy
rules. This client company has been localizing their product for 10
years, and yet still today, their software developers and technical
writers find it very hard to coordinate. We need to teach our clients
the necessity of working closely together – not just the client with the
MLV, but cohesion among all players involved on the client side:
technical writers, project managers, marketing people, software
developers, etc.
Agile localization…
At
the Localization World conference in Barcelona last year, F-Secure's
Mika Pehkonen presented a model of agile localization . In
agile localization, translators are part of the actual development of
the software. Localization happens on a daily basis as the mother
product is being developed. Term databases and translation memories are
automatically updated during the night.
Is this more expensive?
Yes it is, but Mika Pehkonen's own calculations showed him that each
linguistic bug that was discovered during traditional localization cost
his company about 1000 Euros in internal costs to fix. So the move to
agile localization actually saves his company money in the end.
Could
we learn from this?
The irony of underbidding
This
brings me to an ironic fact. Clients focus more on word rates than
knowing the reasoning behind the rates. They focus on word rates because
they know they can use this to their own advantage to get the cheapest
prices – make the MLVs compete on pricing. That's what we have taught
them.
But what is it worth to a client to save 0.005 Euro per new
word if the combined internal costs sky rocket due to an ill-prepared
product that causes immense internal bug-fixing during localization?
Successful
localization begins with the technical writer
Of all the
people involved in developing an IT product, I believe our industry must
address the technical writer. He/she has linguistic knowledge and should
be the starting point for a corporate strategy for localization. As a
linguist (not a technician) the technical writer can become an advocate
for the MLV and help to elucidate a number of areas for improvement. I
base this view on my own background as a technical writer and my ten
years in the localization industry. The technical writer and the MLVs
deal with the same thing: Words!
The technical writer can play a
central role in making a project successful, because he/she:
- Can implement a linguistic standard
- Often functions as a software tester
- Can function as a linguistic mediator between the different development teams and marketing
- Has a focus on consistency
- Has a focus on usability
- Can function as the contact with the MLV
- Is able to locate and deal with potential problems before they arise, for instance by writing explanatory notes or other guidelines for the translators
So a corporate strategy for localization requires that the technical
writer has a clearly defined sphere of responsibility – either as an
individual or as an administrative decision-maker in a central unit of
the business. Most importantly it requires that the technical writer has
the backing of the management to implement the strategy across the
organization.
If we want to find ways to better educate our
clients, we cannot afford to ignore the technical writer. Go tell your
clients this!
Thomas Deibjerg, M.A. is co-owner and documentation manager of TLT Documents ApS , a localization vendor based in Hvidovre, Denmark . He can be reached at thomas@tlt.dk .