Re: Writing for translation

Subject: Re: Writing for translation
From: Joanna Sheldon <cjs10 -at- CORNELL -dot- EDU>
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 19:40:54 -0400

Kazumi -- I forwarded your message to the translators' list, and you got a
rather interesting reply. Enjoy. -- Joanna

>Return-Path: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
>X-Sender: jlord -at- server
>Date: Wed, 16 Oct 1996 16:01:34 -0700
>Reply-To: "John A. Lord" <jlord -at- LIVINGSTON -dot- COM>
>Sender: "Technical Writers List; for all Technical Communication issues"
> <TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>
>X-PH: V4 -dot- 1 -at- cornell -dot- edu (Cornell Modified)
>From: "John A. Lord" <jlord -at- LIVINGSTON -dot- COM>
>Subject: Re: Writing for translation
>To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU

>At 03:35 PM 10/16/96 +0001, Kazumi Tsuruta wrote:

><snip>---------------------
>> I am interested in how
>>you communicate translators when you have to make translation version
>>before you finish the English version. (Translalators have to start their
>>job with incomplete English draft, don't they?)
>>If you have your own way or idea, please let me know. Thank you.
>>

>One commonly used procedure in the translation process is to provide a beta
>version of the document to the translater, so that translation can start.
>When the document has gone through final review and edit, the final version
>is also sent to the translater. Assuming the document was prepared in an
>application such as FrameMaker (or one of its competitors), it is then a
>fairly simple process to make a document comparison between the beta and
>final versions. The translater can then see the differences side by side and
>in a summary report. This procedure enables a fast start on the translation
>before the final document is ready, and provides the translater with a
>comprehensive report of any document changes. Overall, this takes more
>translation effort than if only the final document version were used, but it
>can result in substantial time saving.

>Kazumi mentioned starting translation from an "incomplete English draft".
>This description sounds like the start of another horror story of spending
>considerable time on the translation of something that bears little
>resemblance to the final version. Perhaps the translation was started too
>early in the development cycle, and then was not given enough time to
>complete after all the changes or new information became available. Others
>may have had similar experiences?

>Regards
>JL

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>John Lord Technical Publications
>jlord -at- livingston -dot- com Livingston Enterprises, Inc.
>http://www.livingston.com/ Phone (510) 426-0770

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