TRANSLATION AND
LOCALIZATION MARKET
IN THE US
DIFFERENCES
FROM RUSSIA
Olga Melnikova
Translation Forum Russia-2015
Send Your
Questions:
• Email: olgamelnikoff@gmail.com
• Website: olgamelnikoff.com
Russia Experience
About the Speaker:
Olga Melnikova
• 2007-2014 – translator for
Russian Translation
Company (Ru, En, Fr)
About the Speaker:
Olga Melnikova
Russia Experience
• 2010-2012 – court interpreter (Ru, Fr)
• 2010-2014 – volunteer for futureactually.com
US Experience
• May 2015 – MA in
Translation and
Localization
Management, MIIS
(Monterey,
California,
USA)
About the Speaker:
Olga Melnikova
US Experience
About the Speaker:
Olga Melnikova
• June 2015 – now: Localization
Project Coordinator at Venga
Global, Inc.
www.vengaglobal.com
AGENDA
•What is L10n and why is it important?
•L10n workflow
•Differences between T9n and L10n
markets in Russia and the US
*L10N = LOCALIZATION (10 LETTERS BETWEEN L AND N)
T9N = TRANSLATION (9 LETTERS BETWEEN T AND N)
L10N:
• Websites
• Software
• Desktop apps
• Mobile apps
• Videos (subtitling,
voice-over, dubbing)
• Computer games
• CAT tools
• Machine Translation
engines
• Crowdsourcing
• DTP
GLOSSARY
•Linguist – translator, editor, proofreader
•L10n engineer – technical (IT) guy
•Vendor – translation / l10n agency (it “vends”
its services to clients in need of t9n and l10n)
•QA – testing (linguistic and functional)
• CAT tools – tools using Translation Memory (TM)
•DTP – desktop publishing (=design) –
Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator (Adobe)
L10N IN THE US: GOING GLOBAL
• High-tech companies: Silicon Valley, WA, NY
• Cloud-based services and other products
• A lot of clients and a lot of vendors
EXAMPLE:
COMPUTER GAME L10N
WORKFLOW
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Internationalization
File Prep
TEP – T9n, Edit, Proof
Adaptation
Transcreation
DTP
Embedding strings
8. QA (linguistic and
functional); game
testing -> bug report
9. Client Review
10. Finalization
11. Release
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
1. Internationalization (i18n)
• Thinking of l10n in advance,
while designing the game or
before starting l10n process
• Making necessary changes
in the code (externalization
of hardcoded strings)
• I18n makes subsequent l10n
much easier and cheaper
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
2. File Preparation
L10n engineers
extract strings from
the code
Word Doc / CAT tool
Translator
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
3. TEP (Translation – Editing – Proofreading)
Word / Excel Document
CAT tool
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
4. Adaptation (changing the code)
USD -> RUB
°F -> °C
1,000 -> 1000
06/28/15 ->
28.06.2015
2 pm -> 14:00
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
5. Transcreation and Culturalization:
Example from a
commercial:
Maybe She’s Born with it.
Maybe It’s Maybelline
Все в восторге от тебя,
а ты – от Maybelline
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
6. DTP (desktop publishing)
Image with Text
Photoshop
- image without text
- text layer (to translate into
target languages)
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
7. Embedding translation back into the code
L10n engineers embed
translated strings, localized
images, transcreated stuff,
etc. back into the code
Result: code should not be
broken; everything should be
displayed in a new language
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
8. QA (Quality Assurance)
•
•
•
•
Linguistic QA (= proofreading)
Functional QA (buttons, links…)
Game Testing
Bug report
COMPUTER GAME L10N WORKFLOW
9. Client Review
10. Making Final Changes:
Test-Test-Test
11. Game Release
USA
vs
RUSSIA
• Status of linguists – not • High status of linguists
high (but high rates)
(but low rates)
Almost all the content that
goes global is created in
English => people in the US do
not need translations, unlike
people in other countries
USA
• 1 Source (almost
always English)
• 10-20 Targets
vs
RUSSIA
• 1 Source (not always
English or Russian)
• 1 Target
USA
vs
• Very few linguists in
the market
RUSSIA
• A lot of linguists in the
market
USA
• In-country
linguists for all
targets (native
speakers based
in Russia, China,
Japan, Germany,
France.., NEVER
in the US)
vs
RUSSIA
• Russia-based
(or in-country)
linguists
USA
vs
RUSSIA
SIMILARITY!!!
• T9n into English – non-natives
(natives are too expensive)
USA
• high degree of
automation
vs
Tools
RUSSIA
• no or very little automation
USA
vs
Tools
RUSSIA
• PM tools (TMS) integrated • use of CAT tools at
best, no TMS
with CAT tools
USA
vs
RUSSIA
Speed vs Quality
• huge savings on huge
• small volumes; every
projects; huge volumes => translation is unique
standardization
USA
vs
RUSSIA
Speed vs Quality
• speed is primary;
quality is secondary
=> MT is acceptable
• word is valued; style and
grammar are important =>
no Machine Translation (no
“garbage out”)
vs
USA
RUSSIA
DIVIDING THE PIE
Linguists get the smallest portion Linguists share the pie only with
PMs and the Vendor
of the pie (30%,20%,10%,5%…)
They get a higher share (30%
Other “eaters”:
and more)
• Tools (TMS, CAT)
• PMs
• L10n engineers
• DTP resources
• Vendor (=Gross Margin)
Send Your Questions:
• Email: olgamelnikoff@gmail.com
• Website: olgamelnikoff.com
It
Was
FUN!