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> <small rant> I have to disagree vehemently with Glenn Maxey's
> suggestion to assign this task to a junior tech writer. Some of it, maybe,
> depends on the scope of your project. Honestly, if I were the junior tech
writer handling
> an (easily) $100,000 budget and all the responsibility that goes with it,
> I'd be asking for a raise and a promotion and running out the door a year
> later to the first company that offered me a job as a translation manager.
> </end rant>
I normally wouldn't follow-up on this, but translations are becoming a very
big concern to most Tech Pub departments. Maybe a (little) debate is in
order.
Glenn wrote:
<snip>
>>I can certainly see Linda's point about not giving this to a junior
>>technical writer. There are many reasons why I suggested this, though.
>>The person doing the coordination does not have to be a subject matter
>>expert. They don't have to know the terminology. They don't have to be
good,
>>experienced writers. They don't have to know the languages that are being
>>targeted.
That was my point exactly. At least in the case of medical devices, it is
helpful, if not essential, that the coordinator have a good working
knowledge of the product and terminology. You'd be surprised what will turn
up with a quick, cursory edit, **provided the person knows the subject
matter inside and out**. I'd agree that they don't need to be experienced
writers. Languages are very helpful though.
<snip>
>>The main reason, though, is that from a writing and creative perspective,
I
>>think that translation coordination is BORING. There is nothing new except
>>the same old documentation in another language. It is what it is in all
>>languages. It is hard to attract an experienced writer to a position that
>>involves no writing other than e-mails to clarify things with the
>>translation agency.
Now that I gotta agree with <sigh>. Still, the organizational stuff is a
nice change for those of us who love to write, but need some variety.
<snip>
>>Depending upon the department's budget, there could be
>>lots of boring, tedious tasks that are done in-house, such as converting
>>from FrameMaker to MIF, running the STagger to get RTF files for TRADOS,
>>cleaning the RTF files, going backwards from RTF to FM, formatting and
>>producing the FM manuals in those languages, managing the translation
>>databases, and most tedious editing images with the translated text or
>>creating screenshots in those languages. In some cases, they might even
run
>>the first fuzzy-match pass on the documents (assuming that the documents
>>didn't change much and translation memory exists).
Wow, do you do all that in-house? If so, I'd love to know what kind of
dollars that saves. Our translation house handles 95% of the items you
mentioned--which I think is typical (?). That work would be incredibly
tedious, and better suited to an experienced DTP person than a tech writer.
<snip>
>>However, a junior technical writer coming out of a technical communication
>>program has the tools skills that they need to be successful (if they
aren't
>>messing with the software). The coordination process helps them become
more
>>familiar with the entire documentation suite. It helps them become more
>>proficient in the subject area so that they can later contribute as
writers.
Yahbut, that's kind of like the
need-a-job-to-buy-a-car/need-a-car-to-get-a-job conundrum. I'm not sure that
coordinating unfamiliar documentation in a language they can't read is
really going to teach a junior tech writer anything, unless they already
have solid product knowledge.
>>So, whoever you hire to do this job should be mature in character and
>>professional, but should expect to have to deal with lots of mundane tasks
>>that are inefficient to assign to an experienced technical writer with
tons
>>of product knowledge. (A balance between Linda's comments and mine.)
Again, I agree with Glenn. Still, creating a better system to deal with
mundane, inefficient tasks is a challenge I enjoy and will hopefully leave
me with a very useful skill set.
TTFN and back to the grindstone,
Linda Hughes
Technical Writer
Novametrix Medical Systems Inc.
203-265-7701 x3314
lhughes -at- novametrix -dot- com
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