Tip of the
month from PRC
May 1997
Translation of
manuals and multilingual manuals
Further expanded
7 July 1999.
Expanded 2 March 1998 thanks to tip from Gilles CASSIN, France.
Issued 4 May 1997.
We accept Mastercard/Eurocard/Maestro/JBC and Visa!
Tip of the month is edited by Peter
Ring, PRC (Peter Ring Consultants, Denmark)
- consultants on how to write
user friendly manuals
This month's tip was inspired
by and includes parts of (with permission) a mail from A.M.J. Cornellier
to the TECHWR-L.
Very often a manual needs to
be delivered in one or more other languages than the national language of
the manufacturer's country. Here are some useful experiences in seven sub-headings:
Translation or Localisation ?
Just translating a manual is most
often not enough. It should be localised because documents for a foreign
country involves ...
- technical changes because
of different electrical outlet systems, rules about electrical grounding,
local style typewriter/PC keyboards, etc.
- different traditions for
use, e.g. kitchen appliances, or medical equipment.
- different education levels
of professional users.
- changing any legal blurbs,
disclaimers, etc., you might have in the text.
- the needs for references
to the local standards, etc. instead of the standards, etc. of the
country of origin.
- different laws and rules
for e.g. workers' safety protection.
One or more languages in the same manual - text-free manuals ?
There are no doubt what most users
prefer: a manual in their own language only. Many people hate searching for
their own language between 5, 10 or 15 other languages. The mixed language
manual (where you have e.g. 5 languages on the same page) will only work
if the single languages are clearly marked, and the texts are very short.
Multilingual manuals have often
problems with localisation, especially if there are many languages on the
same page. Example: illustrations of power outlets with or without "earth"
terminal.
For the manufacturers, multilingual
manuals are very popular for two reasons:
- It's easier for stock and
distribution reasons. You can put the manual into the product package before
you know the final destination country.
- It saves printing costs
if the number of manuals for each language is small.
In the long run these two advantages
will be fading out with the decreasing prices of print-on-demand equipment
and facilities.
Especially for software originating
from an English speaking country, many people prefer the English manuals
because they are more reliable. Please note, that this do not free you from
the legal demand in many countries to delivering a translated version, too.
In the European Union (EU),
there may for many products be a legal demand for a manual in the national
language + "the original EU language", demanded by the product related EU
directive, e.g. the machinery directive.
Text-free manuals are VERY difficult
to make, and consequently VERY costly, unless the procedures are fairly simple
for the typical user. Consider ...
- including non-linguistic
text. Example: add measures on screws, for identification of the particular
screw to be used.
- if your graphics include
use colours that may in any way be misunderstood by or even offend people
from other cultures: consult local people in each country.
- to add very short texts
in many languages. Fortunately some words like STOP are shared by many languages,
- but certainly not all!
- to make different versions
for different cultures.
Can we use a closely related language in some countries ?
Of course that depends on how
closely related the languages are, but basically NO !!!
Consider even different versions
for the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, etc. both for
spelling, linguistic and localisation reasons. And certainly consider different
versions in Spain and in South American countries.
One of the most common misunderstandings
are, that you only need one language in Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway,
and Sweden). The truth is, that most Danes can't read Swedish, and most Swedes
can't read Danish. Norwegian is somewhere in between (and closer to Danish
than Swedish), but it will be just as problematic as Danish in Sweden. Some
- especially technical - words are very problematic, because the Swedes generally
invent their own terms for new things, where the Danes and the Norwegians
most often localise the English expression. There are even words with a completely
different - even opposite - meaning in Danish and Norwegian. As an example,
a "rar" person means a "nice" person in Danish but a "mad" person in Norwegian.
Many Danes get confused and irritated by "wrong spelling" when they are to
read Norwegian, and the Norwegians are known to be some of the most nationalistic
people in the World. Conclusion: Make the manual in all three Scandinavian
languages. The localisation may cause problems, too. As an example, the
rules and traditions for the use of electrical power outlets are very different
in Denmark and the other Scandinavian countries.
Which language should we write the original in ?
Consider seriously to write the
original in English (or French - see below) - also if you are working in
a country with another language than English. This is especially valid, if
you leave the translation process to your local importers/divisions. The
considerations are ...
- For "small" languages (like
Danish - we are 5.2 million Danes) it may be difficult to find
suitable
translators to do the translation from your own language. But you can always
find people, who can translate from English.
- It is normally easier to
correct bad English to good English than doing a complete translation. In
non-English speaking countries, most professional company techwriters has
a good knowledge to the English terms used in relation to your products.
- English is a difficult language
to write in an unambiguous way. Other languages like French are a lot easier
here. So, if suitable for the techwriters and the translators, why not write
the original version in French ?!
Who should do the translation ?
There are basically four possibilities:
But before we go through the advantages
and disadvantages of each of them, let's look at ...
The demands to a translator of a manual:
- Native in the language
to be translated INTO! Most translators - especially the official ones
- disagree, but most professional buyers of translations agrees. The truth
is, that very few people - no matter how long they have lived in the country
and how well educated and skilled they are - are able to find the right "tune"
of any other language than their own native language.
- Basic knowledge to the
technology of the product on a user level. (S)he don't need to be an
expert. But for products for professionals (s)he should know the fundamentals
and the normal terms of the business. Alternatively (s)he should be given
a list of words to be used and what they mean. And (s)he should be able to
make not just a translation, but a true localisation.
- A good knowledge to how
to write manuals! This is to my experience what causes most of the problems.
The language used in manuals is a special language, where correct bulleting
and numbering points, how to write warnings, etc., and the correct use of
passive voice and imperative mode is very important. And don't forget that
the translator very often will need to write localised paragraphs, e.g. because
of a different power line system.
- Be able to deliver the
translation in a suitable EDP format, ranging from 'text only' over DTP
to final .PRN printer files, - or even handle the printer, too.
The professional translator will
normally have some wishes/demands to you, too (indicating professionalism):
- Access to a piece/copy
of the product, to be able to test procedures in case of doubts.
- They want the original
text on EDP form.
- If they are to translate
from a language different from the original of the manual, they want a
copy of the original language manual, too, - almost no matter how little
they understand of the original language! I have even once been helped by
the original Japanese text which contained the correct English name for a
button (the English version was wrong, and consequently all the other European
language versions were wrong, too).
Now, let's look at who are to
do the translation.
Do them all - or some of them - in-house
If you have got enough work for
them, this is often a good idea. The considerations are ...
- (S)he must be native in the
language to be translated into.
- (S)he must use this language
very frequently, e.g. by reading his/her home country's newspapers, and/or
frequent visits to the home country.
- (S)he must be a good writer!
- (S)he must know - or be
able to learn - the software used.
- A big advantage: (s)he will
become an expert in your products and can ensure a consistent terminology
in your manuals.
- In general, don't just hire
a temporary office assistance to do the job - or use a secretary who knows
the language. Their skills
are most often not sufficient - especially not on writing manuals. And most
often, they are not native in the language to be translated into.
Leave it to one big multilingual translation company.
- Saves you a lot of work
finding and managing a large number of individual translators. A big
plus when you are in a hurry and short of human resources to do it. But you
pay for that service, too, because individual translators are normally 30-70%
cheaper per word.
- Saves you a lot of work
with the control of the translation. Sorry to say it, but by far too
often WRONG !!! Especially if you don't specify how you want this quality
control done. Most often you will have to check it yourself - or leave it
to your local importer/division.
- With most of the big translation
companies, you never know who is going to make your next translation
. It may be the translator who did an excellent job last time. But it may
just as well be somebody else, who will do a lousy job this time.
Handle it over to individual translators - one per language.
- YOU are in control over
who - which person - is doing the translation. And that this person fulfils
the demands
for a good translator of manuals.
- Cheaper rates than
the big translation companies.
- It is a lot of work finding
large a number of good individual translators. But this is a one-time
investment!
- Managing a large number
of individual translators take a lot of resources at a time where you
are stressed yourself. YES!
Leave it to your local importers/divisions.
- The management of your local
importer/division should be interested in a good local language version
of the manual.
- They have the professional
skills to make a proper control of the translated manual before printing.
- Depending of their resources
and how frequent the needs are, they can handle it internally or externally.
Some tips about translation of manuals
- You can use the first translation
as a part of the usability test. If the text is ambiguous the translater
will discover it and should report the problem back to you.
-
New: Another good test is to make a machine translation to a language
you can read. If the machine translation is good, most likely the original
text is unambiguous and easy to translate.
- The biggest problem you
will face is keeping versions parallel. It's really a question of tight admin
procedures.
- Make it clear to your colleagues,
clients, whatever, that when they give the sign-off for a doc to be sent
to translation, and the doc goes to translation, any changes made thereafter
are going to be horribly expensive. The knock-on effect on translated versions
is huge. Apparently trivial changes can be difficult to integrate into a
doc in a language you don't understand. Or you start incurring more translation
fees. Don't be tempted to start the translation procedure before you've finalised
the source version. You won't gain much time and you risk having to redo
a lot of the work. Leave the translation to the last minute. Translators
work amazingly quickly - often over weekends. Sometimes you'll have a source
version which is never published, because all of the localised versions are
so different, e.g. if you are sending your product to Canada, the UK, and
Australia, you may have to localise for each version.
- Some translation may need
legal advice, e.g. legal disclaimers, as mentioned above. When you send docs
to translators, generally you send a soft copy and they edit directly on
screen. Make sure they are competent in the editing software & do not
muck up cross references, index entries, etc.
- When you write the source
document don't forget to use language that is easily translatable, off the
top of my head I'd suggest that you don't use idiomatic expressions, etc.
There was an article about this in one of the STC mags recently.
- Regarding file management,
I do it manually using file manager or whatever and PKZip.
- Eurodicautom at
http://europa.eu.int/eurodicautom/Controller/
is the multilingual on-line dictionary of the Translation Services of the
European Community. It allows you to translate between any of currently 8
European languages: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Italian,
Portuguese, and Spanish. It covers a large number of professions, which can
be specified.
- The Translator's
Home Companion at http://www.lai.com/lai/companion.html
. A VERY impressive website with lots of information about translation, incl.
links to directories on the www.
- Anglo-american language
confusions list:
http://www.dur.ac.uk/~dgl3djb/ukus.html
. Useful as a WARNING list for techwriters working in/with English.
Some sensible additional rules
... received 13 May from John
Glenn, Geocities, CapeCanaveral, Florida:
To aid clarity for all readers,
writers are well-advised to ...
1. write in the active voice
2, avoid negatives (no, not,
non-, de-)
3. use relative tables such
as :
| SYMPTOM |
PROBABLE CAUSE |
ACTION TO TAKE |
SEE IN MANUAL |
| "ON" light fails to light |
Not plugged in |
Plug in electrical cord into
machine, then into power source |
Para. 1.3.56 |
|
Switch turned OFF |
Move switch to ON position. |
Para. 1.3.45 |
|
No power |
No power at Check for power
at power source |
Para. 1.3.75 |
4. Include glossary of terms
even if only tyre = tire
5. Have document read by target
audience native speaker; even Canadian/Canadien and U.S. English sometimes
are at variance (e.g. to ''table'' an item).
6. Document source information
should be (gathered) in destination language; if the document is to be in
English, try to interview Subject Matter Experts in English (expanded explanations
in the SME's native language may be required to supplement the English).
7. Support text with graphics
-- but never assume the reader will read the related text.
8. Pay strict attention to both
spelling and grammar. A person who speaks a language other than English may
think ''grammEr'' is different from ''grammAr'' -- it is: the former is spelled
wrong.
9. Keep the target audience's
COMPREHENSION abilities constantly in mind; ''education levels'' are usually
of little value.
If you disagree
with these ideas - or have other relevant points, experiences, or ideas +/-,
please e-mail me
!
Ideas for new "Tip of the month" subjects are very welcome, too!
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