|
Quality Programs in Localization Environments
By Yusuke Kirimoto, Operations
Manager, ENLASO Corporation
In localization, quality frequently becomes
a product of its environment—an afterthought in the
development cycle. Quality assurance steps must be incorporated
at every milestone of a global project for a localization
vendor to successfully deliver a localized product that
meets the expectations of both the client and especially
the target markets. Indeed quality is subjective and relative,
therefore establishing shared quality objectives and goals
is critical to the success of any quality localization process.
Establishing
processes and methodologies with quality in mind will facilitate
not only successful localization projects, but reduced enterprise
localization costs and turnaround times as new products
and markets come into the future mix.
Initial Quality Review of
Source
With all clients, I first advise
an initial review of the source product—be it documentation,
software, or websites, to analyze and make modifications
to incorporate quality into the localizability of the source.
The quality of the localized product depends on the linguistic
and technical quality of the source.
|
The quality of the localized product depends
on the linguistic and technical quality
of the source. |
|
|
A form of internationalization, preparing
the source product for improved localizability is a quality
practice that is critical to the relationship of the client
and localization service provider. For translation alone,
any inaccuracy in the source material will be repeated in
all target languages, affecting both written and graphic
information. The extent of the internationalization to source
materials can be as extensive as migrating to a single-source
solution such as XML, or may simply involve modifications
to document layout conventions such as tables, graphics,
and word expansion, or regional conventions such as time,
date, measurement units, etc.
Quality
within the Localization Team
In order to establish quality expectations
early, I advise clients to immediately define the localization
team. Respecting the definition of "quality assurance"
as the steps and processes used to ensure a final quality
product, it is invaluable to involve all the members of
the both the product development team and the localization
team as they will collectively resolve issues that will
affect the final quality, cost and turnaround. With little
time to spare, one of the team's first quality initiatives
will typically be the generation of a terminology management
strategy and development of a glossary. [For
more on terminology management strategies]
 |
|
Incorporating
Style Guides
Style
guides are
writing
guidelines
that linguists
follow during
translation.
The client
may provide
the guidelines,
or work
with linguist
to develop
them. Guidelines
address
a variety
of translation
issues including
overall
tone to
spelling
and grammar
rules and
style preferences.
Style guides
can also
convey to
the linguists
what terms
need to
be translated
and those
that need
to be left
alone.
Incorporating
Multilingual
Glossaries
Develop
an understanding
of glossaries
and implementing
fundamental
glossary
management
programs
that will
improve
your localization
project's
quality,
processes,
costs and
turnaround.
Glossaries
are lists
of words
in the source
language
in which
technical
and product-specific
terms are
defined.
Developed
by the greater
core of
the product
development
team, a
glossary
can be specific
to both
the product
and the
greater
corporate
message.
[For
more on
multilingual
glossaries]
Incorporating
Translation
Memory Databases
Translation
memory databases
(TM) are
collections
of multilingual
entries
used by
language
technologies
to leverage
previously
translated
text. Translation
memories
are used
to retrieve
existing
translated
text by
searching
for matches
at the source
level. TMs
increases
consistency
of terminology
in all translations
and reduce
time-to-market
and associated
costs by
30% to 50%.
[For
more on
Translation
Memories
]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Language
and Technical Accuracy Quality Requirements
To obtain the highest quality localized
product, linguists should be a native speaker of the target
language and possess expert knowledge in the subject matter
with appropriate certifications and credentials. Along with
an awareness of cultural differences and language subtleties,
high caliber linguists must have mastery in writing in their
respective language and have experience in working with
a localization process and team. As part of the localization
quality strategy, a linguist selection process that includes
screening and testing is absolutely imperative and should
be continuously documented based on past and current performance.
Quality translation processes usually
include three mutually exclusive stages: translation, edit
and proofreading. The translator is responsible for converting
the source material content into the target language. The
editor is responsible for reviewing the translation word
for word and verifying the accuracy of the translation.
The proofreader examines the final version for consistency
and flow of the language. The three tiers of the language
translation should preserve the integrity of the localized
content including issues with spelling, grammar, semantics,
context, adherence to glossaries, general style and tone,
local suitability and proprietary standards.
Software, Help, and Website linguistic
quality process typically do not involve a proof reading
step, but rather a Linguist QA-a.k.a. Linguistic Verification
that is generally performed by the linguist with the help
of a localization engineer, or using test scripts. Such
a test involves the verification of each menu, dialog box
and associated strings in the localized running application.
Visual
Quality Assurance
Depending on the nature of the localization
project-be it website, documentation, or software-it is
important to verify the quality of the presentation of the
information, so that it reflects the quality of the source
materials. Regardless of the quality of the translation
of the localized product, if a phrase ends up truncated-the
quality of localization is compromised. If the expansion
of the German text exceeds the parameters of a text box
in a given dialog box-localization quality is compromised.
The visual quality assurance involves
many quality checks from various members of the extended
localization team. The visual checks include but are not
limited to:
- Verifying the completion of
the translation. The linguist (you may not want to use
the word reviewer since we use that term for client review
as well) looks for adherence to fundamental language style
guides and those determined by any provided style guides.
- Verifying the integrity of the
localized graphics including the sizing, file format,
position within document, spacing, and references and
linking tags.
- Verifying the typography including:
fonts, point size, leading, kerning, typeface, and character
format.
- Verifying the page flow and
number and cross-references between text and the Table
of Contents and indexes.
- Verifying the compiled localized
software and help to make sure none of the text are truncated,
corrupted, or incorrectly formatted.
Functional
Quality Assurance
Testing the quality of the intended
functionality of the localized product is imperative, be
it software, website, or documentation. After preliminary
localization, localization service providers test to see
if the functionality and the output features of the localized
product mirrors that of the source language and product.
The compromised points of quality
usually exposed in this stage, most commonly could have
been prevented in the earlier stages of planning, developing,
and translating with full involvement from the extended
international product development team. Regardless, consistent
quality in all markets requires testing compatibility with
such variables as local international operating systems,
applications, and hardware standards.
The functionality quality assurance
process differs substantially between software, documentation
and web, however, a typical project may include:
- Compatibility with respective
applications, platforms and hardware
- Functioning hyperlinks and references
- Correct output such as printing,
data format and publishing standards
- Correct use of regional conventions
of date/time, number and currency formats
- Hotkey and shortcut functionality
- Truncations of strings
- Verifying that the localized
software/Help duplicates the function of the English software/Help
according to the scripts
A QA/verification script is always created
by either the client or the localization vendor for the
linguist and engineer to follow through the software/help
to check the linguistic and functional aspects of the project.
This script is like a map to all of the different parts
of the software/help that need to be accessed or verified.
|
|
The
LISA Quality
Assurance
Model
LISA
(Localization
Industry
Standards
Association)
provides
guidelines
and metrics
for localization
quality
in their
published
Quality
Assurance
Model. Available
at http://www.lisa.org/products/qamodel.html
the documentation
and templates
help clients
and their
service
providers
implement
a synchronized
QA system
at multiple
production
sites. The
LISA QA
Model is
the result
of localization
professionals
working
together
to influence
the industry
with standards,
tools and
quality
procedures.
The original
guidelines
are updated
to include
the Japanese,
Korean and
Chinese
markets,
along with
revised
templates.
The
LISA QA
Model includes:
- Revised
Quality
Assurance
templates
for Latin
languages
- Quality
Assurance
templates
for Asian
languages
- Case
studies
and client
requirements
- Project
management
and the
Quality
Assurance
process
- The
LISA QA
Model
version
1.0 templates
with full
documentation
To
order the
LISA QA
Model, visit:
http://www.lisa.org/products/qamodel_order.html
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ISO Certified Language Services
Ensuring Quality
Many companies are becoming formally
registered as organizations that adhere to total quality
management practices. Use of ISO 9001 registration is the
most common international quality standard in localization.
Companies participating in highly regulated worldwide industries
including medical, pharmaceutical, energy and transportation,
depend on the ISO 9001 certified language services to comply
with regulatory requirements.
 |
ISO 9001 certification requires of many
things, a quality plan, documentation control system, process
control, and quality and customer service measuring actions.
An institution of internationally recognized quality management
process standards, the new ISO standard emphasizes continuous
improvement, communication and customer satisfaction. ISO
9001 certification recognizes RWS Group's rigorous linguist
selection process, employee training, client-focused account
and project management, and customer service practices.
For localization quality, the benefits of using an ISO certified
service provider include: business opportunities available
to only registered organizations, profitability, increased
market share, increase in customer satisfaction as the product
most likely reflects the appearance of a locally offered
product or services.
Conclusion
Indeed quality is both subjective
and relative, therefore establishing shared quality objectives
and goals between localization clients and vendors is critical
to the success of any localization quality assurance process.
Regardless, incorporating localization quality processes
into the greater product development cycle will yield stronger
international product introductions, with faster time-to-market,
reduced localization costs and increased quality, ultimately
supporting sustained competitive advantages with stronger
revenues and strengthened global branding.
|
