TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Internationalization strategies From:jgarison -at- ide -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Fri, 16 Mar 2001 13:17:22 -0500
We are beginning to look at what it will take to internationalize our
software application, and I have a couple of questions I hope someone out
there in Techwhirler land can help me with.
I am heading the task force within the development group to identify the
issues we'll have to face. It's more the big picture items I'm grappling
with, not the details at this point. I am not so much worried about the
translation part as much as I am about the changes that will be required in
the code. We need to make a recommendation to our "board" in a few weeks,
and I want to ensure that the strategies we're considering are the best
ones.
What is the best order in which to approach things? What are the best
techniques for extracting text strings from the program logic? What is
reasonable to assume for the time it will take? Are there guidelines for
translation costs - per word, I assume. Are they different for documentation
than for code? What techniques can we adapt to test the results? What's the
best time to bring in a consultant - or should we just work with whoever we
pick as a translation vendor? When's the best time to think about a vendor?
We are aware of a lot of the issues - date and time formats, currency
issues, etc - and we have a basis for making those decisions, but it's the
whole idea of internationalization that I'm concerned about.
If any of you have been involved in this sort of effort, I'd appreciate
hearing from you.
Thanks,
John Garison
Documentation Manager
IDe
150 Baker Avenue Extension
Concord, MA 01742
IPCC 01, the IEEE International Professional Communication Conference,
October 24-27, 2001 at historic La Fonda in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
CALL FOR PAPERS OPEN UNTIL MARCH 15. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
