1.
Four Things You
Need to Know
About Translation

2.
01 All About Centralization
The expense of maintaining multiple LSPs can be difficult to estimate
because many of the costs are “soft” and not considered in calculations.
With multiple teams and LSPs, there will be separate price lists,
separate processes, and separate people to engage for each
project and language. As you add languages and products to your
project list, things get even more time-consuming and complicated.
You may be using several language
service providers (LSPs) to handle the
translation of your content. If so, you
probably already know this takes a lot
of effort to manage.
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3.
03
How It
Works
The ideal MLV can handle all your languages and file formats. However, large
companies may choose to work with two or three MLVs to ensure they have the
resources needed to cover larger volumes of work.
Centralization involves giving all your
translation work to one LSP, most often
an MLV (multi-language vendor).
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4.
Issues with Decentralization
Communication
challenges
04
01
Inconsistency
across markets
02
Staggered deliveries;
time-to-market variations
per language
03
Lack of collaboration
between LSPs
04
No sharing of assets
and best practices
05
Fragmented and
differing processes
06
Varied billing and accounting
methods; no visibility
into total spend
07
No central responsibility
for quality
08
Duplicated work;
preparation not shared
across LSPs
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5.
02 Translation Style Guides:
The Key to Consistency
But did you know it’s just as important to define styles and conventions
for translated versions of the content?
Commonly, content is checked by companies’ in-country employees—
either as a formal process after translation or in an ad hoc manner after
content is published. In both cases, problems with the translation arise
too late and are more difficult and expensive to correct. Not to mention,
most people make changes according to personal preference: It just
sounds better when it’s written a certain way.
Your company is likely to have a style guide
for creating content. It probably defines the
conventions writers should use to ensure
they accurately convey brand image and
desired user experience.
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6.
This gives translators an idea of the conventions they should use.
Your reviewers can also use the style guide to understand what to
judge against when reviewing content, making them less likely to
request changes according to personal preference.
By implementing translation style guides,
you can proactively outline the expected
style and tone for translated material.
You can save precious time, effort, and costs
at this critical stage of your publishing cycle.
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7.
03 Using an LSP for
Localization
If you want the translated information to have a professional
presentation—one that reflects the caliber of your business—you
will also need desktop publishing, file engineering, and project
management to coordinate all the steps.
A typical translation project involves
much more than just translation.
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8.
08
An LSP can enable a product launch
into target markets, a process known as
localization, by providing the following:
Language strategy
consulting, which can
help you understand
what markets to target,
which languages to
cover, and which
materials to localize.
Ability to make the
most of the industry’s
tools, such as trans-
lation memory (TM),
which reduces the
number of words to
translate in future
updates to save time
and money.
Ability to tackle your
translation needs as a
program, and identify
cheaper, faster, and
better ways to
complete each project.
Understanding of
varying file formats and
how to handle them.
Scale and breadth of
resources that you
typically can’t build
or manage internally.
An LSP can scale up
and down as needed
to meet fluctuating
volume demands and
leave you free to focus
on your company’s
core competency.

9.
04 Internationalization:
Who Needs It?
Can your product be easily adapted to the language of your target
markets? Can it be done without additional engineering? If your product
is not internationalized, barriers may demand code changes before
localization can begin.
If you’re thinking about taking
your product to global markets,
you should also be thinking about
internationalization (i18n).
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10.
5 Ways to Tell if You Need I18N
First, it’s imperative to complete i18n before localizing to avoid
re-engineering your product in parallel with localization. If any
of the following statements ring true to your organization, it’s
time to consider internationalization:
10
My product/service
has language-specific
functionality that needs
to be addressed for
new markets.
I am currently in the
design phase for a
new product/service
and want to ensure
the product will
work globally.
I am launching a
product/service
globally for the
first time.
I am looking at
expanding a
product/service into
new markets.
I have already gone
through a painful
localization process
after uncovering i18n
issues while localizing
a product/service.
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11.
If you start localization without internationalizing
your product, you’ll most likely encounter
schedule delays and cost overruns.
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12.
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Take the
Next Step
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13.
About Lionbridge
Lionbridge enables more than 800 world-leading brands to increase market share,
speed product adoption and effectively engage customer in local markets worldwide.
We provide technical documentation, labor time, warranty and service information
development and validation, training development, engineering services, translation,
and application testing solutions that ensure global brand consistency, local relevancy
and technical usability across all touch points of the customer lifecycle.
Based in Waltham, Mass., Lionbridge maintains solution centers in 28 countries.
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