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Subject:Re: translation questions From:Charles Good <good -at- AUR -dot- ALCATEL -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 2 Jan 1996 20:45:36 GMT
Some companies use human translators; others use electroinc translators.
I know of one case where a company hired a reputable human translator
and then received complaints from customers that the wording used
was equivalent to gutter slang. For this reason, they went to an
industry-recognized electronic translator program.
If your company only produces documentation in English and one foreign
language, then your electronic translator can have a large vocabulary.
However, the more foreign languages you support, the more conflicts
arise.
I heard of one company that sent products worldwide and they had
reduced their vocabulary to less than 1,000 words! They did this
initially by trial-and-error (i.e., finding words that had entirely
different meanings in several different languages).
