Lingo review workfow with external translator

This Forum is for general issues about MadCap Lingo
Post Reply
WayneC
Propeller Head
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:40 pm

Lingo review workfow with external translator

Post by WayneC »

Hi all,

I must be missing something here, but I can not for the life of me work out what the review process is when using Flare/Lingo with an external translator.

So.. these steps are easy. Flare project > Lingo Project > Bundle sent to external translator >They translate and return the bundle for merging back into the Lingo project > Merge bundle back into Lingo.

So now we want to get the translation reviewed by staff familiar with the target language. We send them a Contributor package, they make their edits and we merge back into Lingo...The question is how to get the edited material back to the translation company?
Uwe Schwenk
Propeller Head
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:30 pm

Re: Lingo review workfow with external translator

Post by Uwe Schwenk »

Wayne,

there are a few options, but lots will depend on how you are set up in regards to vendor cooperation, your company policy, etc.

Option 1
This is how I handle this. However, I have a tight environment and maintain absolute control over the translations. Addtionally, I do not require the use of lingo for translation purpsoes. I provide the XLIFF files and as long as their tools can handle them I dont really care what they use. When I get feedback from the in-country personnel and it is integrated into the translation memories, I will inform the vendor that some things were changed. However, when I for example create a project update and send it to the vendor, they only get the new/changed material for translation, so it is not really an issue. As for the changes made, I provide the vendor with the final compiled foreign language project as reference for the new update. I am a firm believer in not handing over translation memories, because its company property. The vendor will only get the updates/new material to translate, but the finals are with the company only. This also allows me to switch vendor at any given time, because I dont have to chase down the TMs from the currenmt vendor for example.

Option2
You provide the vendor with the TMX file, but in this manner you basically give the vendor the key to the kingdom so to speak. The TMX file is a valuable asset and the company spent a lot of money on this.

Option 3
You provide the vendor with the contributor package and have them integrate it if they also use Lingo.


Again, this will largely depend on your setup and how the vendor relations are.


HTH
Uwe Schwenk
L10N Coordinator
WayneC
Propeller Head
Posts: 17
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2008 7:40 pm

Re: Lingo review workfow with external translator

Post by WayneC »

Hi Uwe,

Thanks for the reply. Maybe a bit of background will help my problem.

We create the help in an English Flare project. We then want to translate the project into many different languages (eg, Chinese, German, French, Swedish etc). We also want to be able to handle updates to the documentation in the future. I think best practice would be to only do edits in the English project and then do differential translations into the other languages. The external translation company uses Trados and they maintain the TM's.

So at this stage they have done a translation into Swedish and sent to us for review (translation bundle merged back into Lingo). I want to send the Swedish version to our Swedish office for review (note: the people doing the review are not technical writers) and when I get their changes to the Swedish version, I want to be able to give those changes to the translators so that they can update their files. Which I can then incorporate back into Lingo and export to a Swedish language project.

The end result being that in the future, when we do a an update in the English project all we need to give them is the differential.

This bit is where I am at a loss...

"I want to be able to give those changes to the translators so that they can update their files."

The project is over 300,000 words, so giving them a word doc or pdf with the changes is not really practical.

Cheers,

Wayne
Uwe Schwenk
Propeller Head
Posts: 58
Joined: Tue Feb 23, 2016 12:30 pm

Re: Lingo review workfow with external translator

Post by Uwe Schwenk »

Wayne,

thanks for the explanation. In your case I have a suggestion for you that might help you eliminating a few steps and also helps keeping the TMs clean. I am using your Swedish as an example. Why dont you just go ahead and instead of the Agency sending you the translator package for integrating and you create the review package and send it to Sweden, have the vendor (once they are done translating) create the review package, send it to you and you send it to Sweden. Once Sweden has made changes in the review package, send it back to the vendor, and have the vendor create the final package for you to integrate in your Lingo project. In this manner you dont have to duplicate your effort of integrating packages (once from the vendor, and once after the review) as well as having to figure out how to get the changes to the vendor.




HTH
Uwe Schwenk
L10N Coordinator
Post Reply