Translation costs?

[Geoff Hart <ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca>]

David Tinsley wonders: <<I have been asked by one of our product 
manager to provide a quote for translating documentation.>>

Translation costs typically run (U.S. dollars) $0.03 to $0.20 per word 
based on my experience in the Canadian market, depending on how readily 
available translators are (for obscure or less-common subjects, the 
cost increases), how much of your work is suitable for machine 
translation (translation memories make it easier to re-use text and 
thus decrease costs and work well for computer manuals; they don't work 
for marketing or poetry), and how much competition there is for 
business in your area.

Also note: Translation is not localisation. The former merely moves 
words (sometimes images too) from one language to another; the latter 
also makes the results culturally appropriate, which is not a trivial 
issue. If you're moving into a foreign market, it's worthwhile finding 
a vendor who also does localisation*; this usually means someone with 
staff who live in that culture, though there are occasional experts who 
can work well outside their native culture. For details, have a look at 
the Localization Industry Standards Association site (www.lisa.org); 
they also provide a useful "guide to localisation".

* Not all vendors understand the difference between translation and 
localisation. For example, I've met Chinese translators who take the 
approach that "Chinese are used to English style manuals, so you only 
need to translate the words, not the style of presentation". They may 
well be right, but if you want to do the job _well_, go beyond simple 
translation.

Overly simplistic summary: To get a reliable quote, you'll need to 
provide the following information to a potential vendor:

- The software you're using (operating system, word processor or DTP, 
and programming environment if they'll be translating the interface 
too*).

* If so, your programmers need to plan the interface to permit 
localisation, which is not trivial. "Easy" problems include word-length 
expansion of 50% or more and comparable word-length reductions. More 
complex problems include changes in the direction of the text, and the 
operating system's support for weird and unusual Unicode fonts.

- Whether the product is finished or a "work in progress" that will be 
continuously updated. Ongoing revision is far more expensive since all 
the revision overhead (revision, editing) gets added to the job.

- The source and target language _and culture_. For example, there are 
probably as many dialects of French around the world as there are 
dialects of English, and each has distinct and not always fully 
overlapping vocabularies. You need to be very clear about which 
cultural dialect you're aiming for.

- A firm estimate of the word count (usually in the source language, 
though there are exceptions), the number and nature of the graphics, 
and the deadlines. Don't forget to count words in both the 
documentation and the interface.

- Whether a translation vocabulary (list of already translated terms) 
exists for your product. They may already have one, but if your product 
is less familiar (e.g., outside the computer industry), considerable 
research time may be required to develop a suitable vocabulary. Guess 
who pays for that research?

- A clear indication of what you expect them to provide. Most good 
vendors will include editing of the translation by someone expert in 
the target language and culture or an equivalent review by local 
experts; if this isn't mentioned, don't assume that it will be included 
in the price.

<<Anything I should be watching for? Potential pitfall?>>

Translation is only the tip of the iceberg. People who receive 
translated documents will assume you can provide sales and technical 
support in that language. (Something I learned in China: repeated 
denials that I spoke Chinese were unpersuasive given that I could 
fluently speak about 200 words and phrases in Chinese. One of the first 
phrases I memorized was "I don't speak Chinese." <g>) Do you have an 
infrastructure in place to support this? If not, one needs to be 
established asap.

--Geoff Hart   ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca
(try geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com if you don't get a reply)


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