A short non technical piece on translation technology and other bowls of porridge…

I get to speak to many different types of people in my daily travels, from most walks of life. Most recently the sweet song of the localization industry has been filling my ears with all sorts of diverse and fascinating information.

I have been asking people to define their feelings about the industry and more specifically about the part technology plays in their working lives. As we know translation technology is a whole sub-industry for the purpose of taking input in one form and converting into others.
The simplest point is that people speak different languages and we need to be able to change content. In the hyper reality of the techno-age we are obliged at times to use the computer to translate.

Now, as with most things human, this need to translate has generated energetic momentum akin to the early days of industrialisation. We are communicating more information to more people in more languages than ever before. This implicit requirement for communication has spawned the translation industry.

Please ask your self . . . . “What is your take on translation technology to date?”Answers I have found conform to these points:

1)      Translation technology is written by computer programmers and not translators.

2)      Most people who are creating these tools don’t fully understand what localisation and translation actually is.

3)      Developers don’t usually understand how language works.

The academic process doesn’t always provide with production ready, commercially viable, effortlessly usable and beautifully constructed technology. However it does help us get there.To clarify a point here, I don’t believe there is a panacea technology for the localisation industry, but I do believe that a focus on Industry Standards and developing usable tools with maximum user configuration is the ideal solution. XTM is a project management and CAT tool built around this basic premise. By providing API information and making the source code available to customers we are hoping to offer an alternative solution which doesn’t revolved around proprietary technology or standards. We want to open doors, not close them.

There are many reasons why tools don’t live up to their expectations and part of that is down to the efforts of cavalier marketers with big targets and financial agendas. Yes, we want technology to help us with our work, but no, we don’t want to be miss-sold a product only to find that it only fixes half our problems and leaves us with more. LSP owners and translation services professionals want the flexibility and control to do their job well, make customers happy so they come back for more, and to give the translators (who are their life blood) the information they need to do well. The future is all about collaboration, we need left brain to meet right brain. To sum up, there is a disconnect between the users and creators of translation technology and between users and the business of translation. Business wants one thing and users want another, I will go into more depth in the next paragraph.

Business = Process = Profit
People = Family = Kids = Where did I leave the car keys?
Business = Now = Actually I wanted it yesterday!
People =I need more time to get it right.
Business = If you need more time then you aren’t right for us.
Business IS People
I will be the first to admit that the above is a very simplistic almost frivolous schema; however it serves as a lead into my next point.
There needs to be a rethink on a fundamental level about what metrics we use to evaluate the industry outputs. What do we want our legacy to be? Speed over quality, machines over humans, non sense MT? In a recent conversation with a well respected globalization consultant they stated that relationships are what are important and that sometimes lead/key translation stakeholders (LSP sales / corporate translation) shoot themselves in the foot because expectations are not managed well. Especially in the competitive translation market, expectations must be managed. Because the LSP sales person is telling their customers “Yes, of course we can help out with this million word project translated into 35 languages. What’sthat, you want it tomorrow? Why no problem sir.”

Imagine the scenario and think about the trickledown effect this has on the whole supply chain, so from the word go people expect things to move fast, so the LSP owners need technology to help them work faster, so they buy tools to do that. Then they realise quality control has become an issue, so more QA tools are acquired or built.

What’s needed is a robust yet flexible and efficient tool. But, and this is critical, expectations need to managed from the start, if a LSP promises on a large project and puts its translators under pressure then things are more likely to go wrong. Therefore, relationship management and understanding how people work is critical to getting the balance between human and machine right.

It’s not an easy problem to solve and it’s not going to happen overnight, but be encouraged by the new wave. Tools like XTM are a vanguard for future interoperability and provide the API and source code to customers. We are all for Open Source, but as a commercial model it’s just not going to cut the mustard with us for now. You never know though.So people want the engine and the API, give them a default UI but please also provide them the tools to help them work how they need to.

Find out more about XTM by visiting www.xml-intl.com or calling us on +44 1753 480 469

bath in the warmth of the sea of translation

Just wrote a very funny (or at least made me laugh) post, only to lose it….why ask myself, why?!

Technology and Translation – A match made in 011010000110010101100001011101100110010101101110

I’m proud of the industry I work in.
To boil it down, I’m working with good people with an honest desire to make a thing better.
We are all involved in creating seemingly simple solutions to artificially created and complex problems.
There is an obvious concerted effort to make better the things that we do, to make our daily working lives less unbearable.
Picture us as ancient tool makers, sitting in our workspace trying to make a particular task less troublesome.
The epic burst of ideas and of new ways of working with technology is analogous to the burst of life forms during the Cambrian period, the parallels to biological evolution are wonderfully clear. There is an explosion of many forms of information, a creative soup seething with wonderful and strange possibilities. But evolution demands the top be skimmed from the soup. The myriad forms must be chiselled and the burst of ideas must find equilibrium because not all expressions of information are practical. Species die out and so do proprietary systems. The seahchange toward open standards and interconnectivity is rapidly speeding ahead at many knots per day.
Adaptability is a prerequisite for longevity, just like in our biological world.
The translation world is at its very core good, it’s the only professional practice for which sharing different human language content is paramount, where the nuances and variety of the world are expressed for the entire world to appreciate. Without translators the world would surely be a poorer place, without people willing to help others understand other languages our lives would be sadder.
So I say rejoice for we are helping the world understand itself.
Three cheers for language teachers and academics,
Three cheers for translators,
Three cheers for language technologists,
Three cheers for all of you who are in your way contributing to the free expression of human language to a wider audience and creating a new level of interaction across the globe.
Technology is just so cool! And I just realised I take it for granted…

The prelude to my forthcoming ode to the translation industry . . .

Coming to a blog near you this summer.

Getting into the nitty gritty – “The devil is in the details” – Business

Ultimately we are all responsible for all that we can effect through our own actions or indirectly through the application of social powers to influence others. Our effectiveness is manifest either consciously or unconsciously in ourselves and then is matched either consciously or unconsciously by the other person or persons.

Now, to my title. The devil really is in the detail, and because this is so, it is imperative that we are able to gather as much of the available information when generating and calculating business decisions. All Business decisions are ultimately to do about money, but if we ignore the nitty gritty or detail, and just chase the money or hold on to the money we are in danger of creating future problems and issues, both monetary and social.

What is a good business decision?

Well, some are no brainers but other require detailed analysis and due diligence! Due diligence is often cited as being dull and process led, and if I’m honest it can be. However, the process is absolutely necessary so that one can avoid the pitfalls that can be born of elusive and destructive variables. Imagine the situation; a variable which should be known in a business situation, but is unknown to the interested parties, and then which subsequently causes a major issue further down the line. This type of scenario can be and should be avoided at all costs. Avoidance measures need only be proper information management!

Use information like a shield, a sword or an olive branch, protect, defend or attack!

When making business decisions it always help to know what the score is so that if problems arise you can make changes to overcomes most problems.

Get into the nitty gritty, don’t be afraid to ask difficult or seemingly impolite questions! If you need to know then make it your business to know.

Because, as the old adage goes the business devil really is in the details.

Epitaxis and graphical decoupling of fractal interfaces. A new hypothesis:

We propose that frame by frame epitaxis is directly affected by the graphical decoupling of fractal interfaces. The effect is noticed in small scale industrial productions of high availability micro processing units. Particular effects include an increase  in direct heat dissipation and flashes of blue from the surface of the interactive mesh system. Adam Karoolian of  BioTranslutions Ltd noted that “in all conditions the effects of graphical decoupling greatly increase when hormonal epitaxis is integrated with new scale fractal interfaces.”

or

how sounding clever is sometimes enough – don’t be fooled by the fools with good writing skills.

Learn, read, check and recheck – believe me they will lie to you and may not even know they are lying.

Namesta -

Let us give thanks to the humble electron.

And so we come to the end of another fine day in the translation world. Its been a good day, lots of interesting discussions with people from all over the world. What a treat. Its amazing how easy it is to communicate and how much for granted I take it. I can just pick up a phone, send an email. Truly amazing. But, things like this are expected now so they have no novelty in daily life.

Incredible. Was it expected. Seems so.

Thanks electrons, you rock.

Plastic Language, Loops and Cycles, Patterns

The language we work with defines our daily experience – each human being can be analysed on a purely vocal level. If I was to record my voice over a long period of time, say six months, and then proceeded to analyse the recording. Analysis would include a written transcript of all things said by me, then a further level of analysis would seek to find patterns in words and sentences over time. These patterns would provide a graph of my vocal exertions of the stated time period. I expect many cycles would appear and patterns of speech would be noticed. All indicating a tendency for repetition. So ask how often do I say the same things again and again and again. Break the loop and say something else – is it that easy – we become defined by our speech patterns and our speech patterns define us…

Am I making any sense? Does this ring true? How much do you feel the the repetition around you? Can you analyse a person and use the results to predict what they will say and when, in a static world maybe, but isnt the goal of modernity to create a static plastic reality? Same, Same, Same, Again and Again and Again.

Technology Health Check – How flu and future proof is your translation business technology?

We are all seeing a new type of illness, it doesn’t come in biological packages but it does affect the lives of humans and how we work with technology.

When I purchase a new digital tool, be it software or hardware I am filled with mixed emotions. The first is a rush of excitement about what the new bit of kit can do for me and the second is a chill down my spine when I wake up the next morning and release version 2.0 is available soon! I am sure you know the feeling, you buy a new IPod and next thing you know it’s in a million Gig version with widescreen TV! Yes, a slight exaggeration but I think it gets my point across.

So, Ok, that is a small example now imagine the scenario on enterprise wide scale. The decision involved are similar however the extra considerations are massive. Key to all of this is how will the technology adapt and how can it grow with changing times and business processes.

Business need a tool which is flexible, powerful and easy to use, based on a robust infrastructure which can withstand fluctuations in revenue – both up and down. And can grow with the business and become a customised tool for them.

Now, with hardware it is nearly impossible to have a system which will still be valid in even one year. However you CAN have software which adapts and stays valid all throughout its natural life, which is longer if it is protected from flu! How can we protect it you ask? By keeping it alive, by feeding it new ideas and new ways of working, by adapting! Basically by a type of micro-evolution you can develop robust, healthy and adaptable systems that become a healthy technology partner and not a case of Techno-Flu.

It’s a simple choice, either control your digital destiny or get ill year after year. Have you taken your technology for a health check recently?

What CAT tools are they using!?

In my time in the translation industry as a vendor of translation technology, recurring themes are punctuating my daily mind space. The market is seemingly saturated with one company’s product, as is with most software in the world there is usually one company doing the rounds on everyone.

However and not surprisingly people do want change but seem so tentative to approach this change. I have a hunch that CAT tool users and translation business are intimidated by their technology providers, they feel like they have too much control and they could not possibly change for fear of upsetting them! A technology provider should be a business partner, helping a company grow and adapt to the economic landscape. Providing tools which free the user and not do the opposite and bind them to proprietary systems with excessive licensing laws and dodgy support mechanisms.

Establishing global standards in the translation industry is a exciting and desperately needed step to this emancipation from proprietary technology. By standardising file formats and technology, whilst maintaining a high level of flexibility in the accepting systems one can approach the future of their translation business with a renewed faith. Relaxed in the knowledge that they can choose a translation environment which is good for them and not just because we are told it must be so.

On the other hand, we all have our own needs and must carve our technology destinies based on our own means, circumstances, requirements and future plans.

Do you want to invest, grow, stay the same, plan for a different future, expand into other markets, use other resources. Ask the questions and you may be surprised of the answers.