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Re: User manual: cell merging vis a vis translation
Subject:Re: User manual: cell merging vis a vis translation From:Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 14 Feb 2017 10:45:41 -0500
Thanks, Julie.
Actually, this is a major revision, in that the device in question has
enhanced capabilities. Referential material (new inserts and copy changes)
appear throughout its ~150 pages. All told, I'd say perhaps one-sixth of
the manual is new/edited content, with said content scattered throughout.
So... how is the new manual not going to have to go through the entire
translation process again?
Also, I have nothing to do with that process, so the steps you shared mean
nothing. Nor do I have access to the workflow, etc. I'm a freelancer only
charged with updating the EN version of the InDesign file and related doc
control PDF markups.
On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 10:38 AM, Julie Stickler <jstickler -at- gmail -dot- com>
wrote:
> Even if there are no text changes, the translation company will charge for
> having to reformat the page and re-generate the doc and/or Help system. I
> really dug into this at my last company, because I just did not understand
> some of the line items on our bills. Small changes end up being fairly
> expensive if they're done alone, because of the translation workflow:
>
> - Pull everything out of the original source files into the translation
> tool (This is the step that many people don't realize is happening, your
> source files are not being used by the translators. Tour text is being
> extracted, translated, and then the text is put back into your files. That
> transform is a significant expense.)
> - Compare the new files to the translation memory and identify changes.
> - Translate any new content.
> - Port all the translated strings back into the original source format
> (Word, FrameMaker, RoboHelp, Flare, etc.)
> - Quality assurance that the transform worked properly.
> - Additional desktop publishing tweaks due to the text strings in the new
> language being different (page breaks, heading wraps, table column sizing,
> etc.)
> - Files get shipped back to you.
>
>
> If you can, save that change for a major version bump, when you have more
> changes to absorb the engineering costs for the entire conversion process.
>
> On Tue, Feb 14, 2017 at 10:06 AM, Chris Morton <salt -dot- morton -at- gmail -dot- com>
> wrote:
>
> > User manual has several pages of tabular stuff pertaining to UI error
> > messages. Many of the items in the far right column are the exact same
> > message: "Call <company> at <number> for service."
> >
> > I think such cellular repetition looks dumb, so I'm inclined to merge
> > adjacent cells that convey the same thing.
> >
> > PM is upset, telling me that now PM will have to deal with 28
> translations
> > (all of which have to change anyway due to other new content).
> >
> > Pray tell, how in the world does merging such cellular items affect any
> > translation, when "Call <company> at <number> for service" has previously
> > been translated in all 28 languages?
> >
> > Thanks
> >
> > Chris Morton
> >
> >
> >
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> Julie Stickler
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