Going Global With Multilingual Publishing [PART 2]

First some basics: Any document consists of content and layout. The document translation process consists of recreating a document in the target language that is equivalent to the source document in both content and layout. So, the document translation process has two main subprocesses: content translation and layout adjustment. Content translation must be performed by native speakers of the target language, but the situation is different in the case of layout adjustments. If the goal is to produce translated print documents, the translated text often has to be forced into a predetermined, fixed layout. Due to time constraints, cost considerations, or other logistical factors, desktop publishers often find themselves confronted with the task of touching up a document of which they are unable to read a single word.

Nowadays, most of the DTP (Desktop Publishing) tools provide full language support—including spelling and hyphenation dictionaries—for most European languages. However these features do not replace the need for proofreading by a language specialist. It is always necessary to have a native speaker involved at some point in your workflow.

The Central and Eastern European languages have slightly different requirements from many of the Western European languages. These include Slavic languages (Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Polish, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Russian and Ukrainian), Baltic (Latvian and Lithuanian) and Finno-Ugric (Estonian, Hungarian) languages. These are complemented by Romanian and Moldovan (Romance languages), Greek (Attic), Turkish (Altaic) and Albanian. Most of these require additional character sets that support special characters.

The first concern a desktop publisher may have in formatting non-English text is to apply the right font. Not every font has characters, or glyphs, for every language. While many Western European languages use the same characters as English, there are many other languages, such as Czech, Polish, Turkish, Greek or Russian, that require additional characters not used in English at all. OpenType fonts are a good choice in general, but it’s important to check carefully. For example, the font Garamond Pro doesn’t contain the characters needed for typesetting in Russian. However Myriad Pro and Minion Pro are good choices for European languages. It means the label of “Pro” doesn’t guarantee anything about the characters the font may include.

You must be asking yourself:
“Why would I need something special for global text layout if the fonts I am using have all the right glyphs and letterforms that this language requires?”

For most basic left-to-right languages the regular version of the DTP tool will do an adequate job out of the box. However, many other languages require additional language-specific processing to display the right glyph in a manner acceptable to the readers of that language. Many Indic languages assemble multiple characters into a single visual “cluster” (sort of like a syllable), using complicated shaping rules. Some languages, notably Chinese and Japanese, do not even have spaces between words, and therefore need special attention just to get correct line breaking. Then there are right-to-left languages such as Arabic and Hebrew, which require further capabilities.

In the next posts, we will analyze some pitfall and workarounds when working with “special” languages. Stay tuned!

A Superior Translated Project Begins with Proper Preparation

Proper preparation of your source text will result in a superior translated product. Keeping in mind a few simple steps will make sure your translation projects begin in the right direction.

Before all other considerations, make sure that the source text clearly and accurately describes your intended message. Ambiguous or incorrect descriptions will limit the quality of the translation. Correcting source errors after the translation has begun can lead to delays in the process. Re-read your source text before translation begins to make sure that no obvious errors were made. If a re-write of your source text is not possible, identification of known problem areas can greatly assist the translators to craft the best phrases for their languages.

Inconsistent use of terminology in the source is the leading cause of inconsistency in a translation. Inconsistent terminology should be avoided as it can lead to translators adopting similar patterns. For instance, if a text refers to a software directory as “Main Menu” in some instances but uses “Home Screen” elsewhere, a translator will match that usage and it could lead to confusion. If just one term is used in the source, it will be translated just one way in other languages.

Doing a simple spell check will solve most typo problems. However, even if you’re in the habit of checking for misspellings, be sure to proofread all of your text as there are some errors that will not be caught by a spell-checker. Sometimes a word is mistyped and the result is harmless- like “from” written as “form.” But, some errors can be more dangerous. For example, if “hypothermia” is accidentally written as “hyperthermia” a spell-checker won’t detect a problem and there is the potential that the error will be preserved in the translations. So it’s important to read your text carefully. In this case, the human eye can’t be beat!

When your source text has been given proper consideration and all obstacles have been eliminated, you are setting the stage for a successful translation.

Funny Here. Funny There.

Springtime cleaning treasures. In rummaging through the basement, I came across a box with my Dutch cartoon collection. In it I found Dutch copies of Garfield, the comic strip about the fuzzy, orange tabby cat’s reflections on eating, diets and exertion.

Humor requires shared values and references. When something is funny in one language, is it or can it be funny in another language? The controversial Danish cartoons about Islam’s founder Muhammad that have sparked protests with Muslim fundamentalists certainly suggest not. My curiosity was piqued. I started digging around in comic cyber world and found examples of cartoons and shows with a high level of ‘Americana’ that are enjoying great reception beyond US shores:

The Simpsons:

The animated television sitcom centers on a family and their life in the typical American of Springfield. The series uses a plethora of cultural references from movies, television, music, literature, science, and history. In addition, it has developed a steady number of neologisms. The director of the Linguistic Data Consortium, Mark Liberman, has said that, "The Simpsons has apparently taken over from Shakespeare and the Bible as our culture's greatest source of idioms and catchphrases, such as Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!"

The dysfunctional Simpson family rings a bell in Thailand, where the ground-breaking American animation show has been running every Saturday since 1995. By the way, the pixilation in the image on the right is no coincidence: by government mandate, Thai TV blurs images of smoking.

Managing Copy Changes Mid-Project and Keeping Translation Costs at a Minimum

Sometimes the cost and time to make a copy change during the middle of
a project can come to quite a surprise to a customer.

Consider a simple change, such as adding a register mark to a name. This is
something that can normally be done with a search and replace operation in Desktop Publishing. Proofreading this change can also be done quickly with a search function in the final formatted document.

However, consider a terminology change, such as changing the word “device” to “instrument”. A search and replace function may not be able to be used, as the existing translation may appear in various forms, such as a subject and/or object of the sentence, or in singular and/or plural, etc.. Most foreign languages have different endings and/or different modifiers, depending on the form or gender of the word.

A copy change like this will entail the work of an editor, a desktop publisher, and proofreaders (both mechanical and linguistic). Naturally, the number of occurrences of the new term determine the cost and additional production time needed to handle the change.

This is another good reason to do your best to assure that your source material is approved and final before beginning the translation process.

Portuguese Spelling Reform

About

The Portuguese Spelling Agreement (Acordo Ortográfico) aims to establish a unified spelling code for all Portuguese-speaking countries.

Currently, the spelling rules differ across all Portuguese-speaking nations.
The spelling discrepancies between Portugal and Brazil are of particular interest to U.S. based companies, because these contain the world’s two largest Portuguese-speaking populations, and are therefore the most common Portuguese-speaking target audiences. The reform will not eliminate all orthographic differences between the two dominant forms of Portuguese found in Brazil and Portugal, but it will move Portuguese closer to a unified written language. The goal of the reform is to attain 98% standardization across the board.

Most spelling variance has to do with the placement of accent marks and hyphens within words. Currently, in Portuguese, the words “pára” and “para” carry two different meanings simply because one has an accent and the other does not. According to the reformed Portuguese Spelling Agreement, the accent on “pára” will be eradicated so the difference between the two words will only be determined through context. This is just one small example of the changes to come; the reformed Portuguese Spelling Agreement will affect a projected 1.6% of all words in Portugal, and .5% of all words in Brazil. Some symbols and letters will be eliminated, some added, and the use of all accent marks and hyphens will change dramatically in order to achieve standardization. Implementation of the reform has begun as of 2009 and will continue over a projected 6 year transition period.

Possible Impact

Naturally, these reforms will have a great impact on translation and localization. If your target audience is a Portuguese-speaking nation, it is wise to consider the ramifications of publishing material that may soon become out of date. You may also consider reviewing material that has already been translated and decide whether it may be prudent to update it accordingly.