admin on August 9th, 2010

by Jen O Neill One of the biggest problems I have when planning the localisation of the documents that I receive is the issue of embedded text in graphics. Embedded text is more expensive to deal with than using numbered callouts in a graphic. However, writers aren’t always keen on using numbered callouts with graphics [...]

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admin on June 2nd, 2010

by Jen O Neill Even if you only produce documentation in a single language and don’t deal with an international audience, using consistent terminology matters. SDL recently released the results of a terminology survey that they conducted earlier this year. The study is an interesting review on the trends and opinions on the subject of [...]

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admin on March 30th, 2010

by Jennifer O Neill I work in the manufacturing sector and many of our products are outsourced to suppliers for development and manufacture, to be sold under our company’s brand name. The English terms I come across in the software and manuals that I check can often be amusing in their originality. A Chinese supplier [...]

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admin on March 29th, 2010

by Jennifer O Neill We work with words. Yet we handle numbers too in our work. And what I’ve noticed from working with manuals written by both professional and non-professional writers across many countries, sometimes with English as second language, is that often the cultural roots of the writer can be seen in how they [...]

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admin on March 3rd, 2010

by Jennifer O Neill When selling products in Europe, how do we decide into which languages we should translate our user documentation? This is a potentially expensive, yet important, question. In an ideal world, we would translate the documentation into the language of every country in which we sell our products. However, not only could [...]

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admin on February 11th, 2010

by Jennifer O Neill We often hear about the advantages of being fluent in a second language such as when visiting a foreign country on holiday. It’s easier to eat, drink and be merry when you can speak with those around you. But what about the professional advantages? I’ve been reading a few blogs and [...]

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admin on January 11th, 2010

by Jennifer O Neill I oversee the localisation of my company’s video and an important part of the localisation process is the in-country review. This is where the translated material is sent to an individual in the target country to do a linguistic review. The in-country review plays an important role in ensuring the quality [...]

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