The Effects of Globalization on Technical Communication and Training

Christie Fidura Senior Product Marketing Manager for Terminology Solutions The Effects of Globalization on Technical Communication and Training

The SDL Mission We help corporations drive global brand consistency and accelerate time-to-market by providing software and services to manage the delivery of all corporate information into different languages We call this Global Information Management (GIM)

How many of you…
Know how many languages your company translates into today?
Are aware of your company’s growth/expansion/future plans?
Know exactly what happens to your content after it’s published?
Have recently read your company’s website?
Stumble across paragraphs you’ve written in other collateral?
Understand the translation process?

Globalization in the Corporate World
It impacts everything you do as a company
Your market presence
Your target audience identification
Your brand
Tone of voice
Customer Support interaction
The delivered product or service

Brand Penetration We communicate with customers over multiple channels and in multiple languages Inconsistencies are easy to see from one channel to another

Today’s Communication Challenges
Increasing delivery channels
Too much work to deliver/track
Increases risk of errors
Decreases content effectiveness
Increasing content volumes
Does ‘write once, reuse many times’ ever work?
Higher translation costs
Time-to-market pressures
Production cycles are shortening
Squeezes development & localization effort
Source issues
Don’t have access to all content sources required
Dependency on subject matter experts – busy and/or located elsewhere

Today’s Communication Challenges
Content ownership
Lost after publication
Leaves content vulnerable
Pressure to:
Improve customer satisfaction
Improve quality and consistency
Accelerate time-to-market
Do more with less resource
Business silos of content creation
Geographically separated resources
No ability to share information or leverage other work

Geographically Distributed Resources Content Transactional Relationship EMEA Content Transactional Relationship Canada Content Transactional Relationship APJ Content Analytics Content Content Content Transactional Relationship Latin America Content Content Transactional Relationship US Content Transactional Relationship Product Group Authoring Authoring Illustration Illustration India Development

Development Silos Prevent Collaboration Initiatives Dev Areas Types of Docs Multiple Development Areas XML GMS Increase Productivity Version Control Reduce Costs Home Software Small Bus Large Bus Medium Bus Services Quick Install Guides Owner’s Manuals Installation & Service Guides Product Info. Guides Program Strings Getting Started Guides Improve Customer Exp. User Guides Tech. Sheets Read Me & Help Files Placemats Reference Manuals CD Artwork, Graphics, Icons

So what does ‘going global’ mean? Writing Content for a Global Audience

Writing with a Global Audience in Mind NOT…. Writing ..and then thinking of the rest of the world and different languages

Writing with a Global Audience in Mind … thinking of the rest of the world and different languages while writing, planning, etc. BUT…. The Bottom Line: Write for the Greatest Understanding

How Hard Can it Be?
International Council for Technical Communication (INTECOM):
US thinks UK spelling is ‘quaint, strange or just spelled wrong’
UK thinks US spelling is recognizable but strange – and slightly irritating!!
No cultural, regional or local references
“ batting 1000”
“ on the fly”
“ the bottom line”
“ Choose a password which is easily memorable, such as your mother’s maiden name ”
Simple, clean, concise sentence structure
Other languages do not understand the combination of multiple nouns
“ Application Integration Software Development Toolkit” = “Toolkit for the Development of the Software which allows the Integration of Applications”
Consider “text creep” when translation occurs

Global Content is Usable Content
Write for the broadest spectrum of users
Easily consumable content is the goal
Think of Ikea!
The easier it is, the more translatable it is
Usable content employs good style
Tone, language structure, syntax
Tense, punctuation, grammar
Formatting and layout
Customer-friendly and unambiguous
Complies with legal regulations
Uses accurate, approved and consistent corporate terminology
Not regional or cultural specific

We’re Not Global, so I Don’t Have to Worry, Right?
CEOs are naturally ambitious
Could market abroad later, requiring content localization
Content could be re-purposed for a website that is localized
‘ Internationalized’ content is easier to comprehend in English
Readers who speak English as a 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th language
Especially important when you outsource (development) or publish information for companies who sub-contract (aerospace/defense)
Modular content can be used by other internal departments
Content can be lifted and then changed to suit new audience, medium, style guide
Is the style guide future-proof? Can the same content apply to:
Multiple formats
Multiple delivery channels
What about…?
Different ways of saying things
Inflexible rules
Heading 2’s must be less than 6 words – does this rule work for other mediums?

A Helpful Translation Glossary
CAT: Computer Aided Translation
Technology solutions for the translation process
CAT technology provides translation memories and terminology management
Translation memory: a database consisting of translation units
Translation unit: source and translated sentence
During translation, the technology searches for exact or similar matches to the current source sentence for translation
Matches found can be reused or edited
Termbase: multilingual database of all approved translated terms
Term entries: terms, synonyms, acronyms, etc.
Additional data: definition, part of speech, gender, etc.
Translators work with a translation memory and termbase to reuse previous translations and ensure consistency of terminology during translation
Result = More consistent translations, lowered translation costs

OK, OK, I’m Global Already! Wait… what about everyone else in my company?

Consistency is Key
Using consistent terms, style, formatting, and layout makes content more usable
Readers can apply existing familiarity to new content
Makes them more comfortable
Reduces learning curve
Happier customers think your product is better
Less Support queries
Internal perception = Great documentation!

The Impact of Inconsistency for Global Content

Examples:
Product code name – internal name vs. marketing name
“ Longhorn” vs. Microsoft Windows Server?
Feature names
Risks to:
Proprietary terms
The business – mission statements, elevator pitches, boilerplate text
The technology – business applications, internal processes
Editorial guidelines, which build the brand
Established/preferred nouns
SDL Knowledge-based Translation System™ – Established
SDL KbTS – Alternative/Preferred
Images
Colours
Email Addresses
Regulatory compliance
Inconsistency Examples & Risks

The Real Impact of Inconsistency
Inconsistencies cause:
Inability to reuse content
Inability to leverage other internal knowledge
Inability to leverage existing translations
Inability to Simship across all markets
Frustrated customers
Increased Support issues
Internal and External Perception = Bad documentation

The 3 C’s of Globalization Centralization Collaboration Celebration!

What did we call this last time? Didn’t I just research this? I don’t like this translation. There are four different translations for this! What does this mean? Let’s just call it this for now. marketers engineers authors editors translators reviewers customers

Centralized Content Assets Web content, Online Help, User Guides, Marketing, Specs, etc. Translation memory Terminology QA Local Regional Offices Training and Education Sales Engineers Documentation Translators Corporate Marketing

Centralization Enables Collaboration
Centralize all content assets
Apply assets to the entire content lifecycle
Optimize efficiency of the communication process
Improve quality of customer experience (deliveries and interactions)
Protect and enhance brand quality and value
Accelerate product and message “time-to-market”
Simship
Communicate with relevance and consistency to local markets
Drive out unnecessary process costs and delays

Managing Terminology Delivers…
The Right Term to the Right Author at the Right Time
Delivers accurate and effective communications
Rapid time-to-market
Consistent information, communications, global branding and messaging
The Right Term to the Right Translator at the Right Time
Delivers true translation efficiency
Reduces translation costs
Reduces the review cycle
Consistent translations, higher quality
More reuse

Summary
Globalization requires Information Foundation
Increases efficiency, collaboration
Reduces effort and inconsistencies
Style, terminology, tone, structure, syntax
Knowledge sharing -- Enables collaboration without hassle
Standards can be more easily adhered to
Write for a global audience
Be aware of publication media type
Content may be published on the internet, and therefore localized
Further reference:
http://www.lisa.org
http://www.sdl.com/terminology_management

Thank you Christie Fidura [email_address] Copyright © 2007 SDL PLC. All rights reserved. SDL and the SDL Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SDL PLC or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners. This document is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended as advertising. All warranties relating to the information in this document, either express or implied, are disclaimed to the maximum extent allowed by law. The information in this document is subject to change without notice.

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The Effects of Globalization on Technical Communication and Training

by Scott Abel on Oct 19, 2007

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