Successful Content Translation and Localisation

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Here are a few steps you should bear in mind when setting the stage for scalable and sustainable translation management. Leading it within a localization or, ideally, globalization framework takes it to the highest level of performance and satisfaction.

Step 1: Understand Requirements to Engage With Local Customers

Prior to starting any translation effort, you should clearly understand what local customers want from content and walk in their shoes. Identifying where translation comes to play in the customer journeys sets expectations properly and is crucial to determine the impact of content translation on local experiences in a tangible manner. More often than not, you will end up going beyond content translation and addressing actual localization to accommodate all linguistic, cultural, and functional needs in a granular and holistic fashion. Understanding all customer facets is a must to bring translation to a good end. The content translation must be an experience-driving process.

Step 2: Plan and Budget

As content translation has to be completed quickly and accelerated whenever safely possible, it also has to be planned and incorporated without compromising quality in content or product road maps. It should be considered an investment in content operations and experience delivery rather than just a cost. Translation budgets should be all-inclusive to avoid unexpected issues and iterations at later stages. In the digital world, translating content requires formatting and testing it for all the ecosystems to which it is delivered. As with many things, the lowest cost, in theory, may become a higher cost in practice. And not translating content may have a hidden cost too. The content translation must be a time-saving and cost-effective process.

Step 3: Select Professional Resources to Maintain Quality

Whether you intend to work with internal or external resources, you must ensure you choose people who are seasoned experts in translation practices and standards. You should bring aboard linguists, language analysts, terminologists, graphical specialists, or information engineers according to the scope and category of content. Do not assume that any multilingual person is a professional linguist just because all professional translators are multilingual people. Their ability is tied to their real expertise and experience of professional translation more than to their academic background. Also, make sure your translation resources have a seat at the content and product management table, together with stakeholders, so that they can stand out and develop their role. The content translation must be an inclusive process.

Step 4: Streamline Workflows to Optimize Roles and Responsibilities

The content translation should not be based on dozens of workflows. It is much better to define a few workflows that cover major types of content and involve the same type of resources. For example, translating video content does not follow the same path as translating product documentation. Allocating roles, responsibilities, and permissions matters a lot in order to keep translation flowing between all parties. Critical steps such as quality control, stakeholder review, or content sign off should not be split between too many people who may have different views and conflicting opinions.

Step 5: Leverage Technology and Assets to Boost Performance

Technology and assets should be used for the benefits they bring to translation management (i.e., increased productivity, quality, and speed in the short and long run). The key to ROI here is assembling the winning combination between technology and human intelligence. Typical robust tools include management platforms connecting all involved parties to submit, manage, track, and deliver content within a unified environment. It is also worth considering and using computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools that enable translation resources to work more quickly and consistently across projects. Machine translation deserves more attention than ever before in light of recent progress in the field, and it can make a real difference in handling large amounts of repetitive and highly structured content. Along the same lines, creating and updating assets (such as glossaries or translation memories) drive costs down while moving consistency and accuracy up. The content translation must be a technology-enabled process.

Step 6: Capture Value and Measure Performance to Drive Growth

Normal key performance indicators allow you to measure major effectiveness milestones and factors such as timely delivery, cost containment or reduction, individual productivity, or amounts of translated content per project. You should add some content-related metrics to dive deeper into translation management efficiency and highlight its value to the business globally and customer experiences locally—for instance, the actual cost per word (word is a currency in translation management and analysis), the percentage of reused or repurposed translated content, the number of content changes needed after stakeholder review(s), the level of memorability, and relevance for local customers. The content translation must be a profit-driving process.  

Source: Econtentmag.com