How to Tango with Lingo

The ICD production room heats up every time there are files that are incompatible with SDLX™ or Trados™ . We have to find a work around, and it's usually more complicated or costly. Fortunately, the guys at MadCap Software™ decided to create Lingo that allows translation companies to work with files created by Flare™ and Blaze™ (MadCap's help file software). They were thinking ahead instead of waiting for SDLX or Trados to come up with a filter.

What it basically does is allow a translator to translate content from Flare into an SDLX environment without using SDLX. So you get the SDLX translation environment (left column source language segments/ right column target language segments) in Lingo, and it also allows you to create a translation memory for content reuse, and a TMX (Translation Memory eXchange) so you can import/export the file to SDLX or other translation tools. It also eliminates the problem of content transfer or extraction from a Madcap program into another software program. What it does not do is analyze the files for repeat content (saving you money), and build a memory from previously translated files.

One more thing, Lingo does not translate the content for you. Automated translations like Google translate are crappy and only work for very simple sentences or independent words. Technical terms and sentences with context value are usually inaccurate with automated translations. Therefore, if you are using Flare or Blaze, you can acquire Lingo, import the Flare or Blaze file, export your content as a TMX, and send the TMX file to the translation company. They'll analyze the file and translate the TMX. You get a translated TMX back, you import it in Lingo and you have a translated help file.

Well, thank you MadCap for thinking ahead, and reducing the stress for all of us in the translation and localization business.

Esprit d'ICD Winter 2009

The Winter 2009 issue of ICD's newsletter is out. The newsletter features a great article on recycling electronics. As we become a greener society, I think this article gives some helpful points about the process and how you can get involved. There is also a small article on DITA. This has become a hot topic in the documentation world as companies turn to CMS technology and XML based content. Madeline Clayton, my blogger in crime is featured in the Employee Profile. Madeline's mugshot is below for Visual representation as you read her profile. You can subscribe to the newsletter by emailing: info@icdtranslation.com

The Changing Face of Trade Shows

My last post got a lot of responses from people, and Jeff from sales decided to share his own experience from a recent trade show. In Jeff's own words and a picture of Jeff, so you can visualize him actually telling you about his experience.

"While attending a trade show in Las Vegas, I had a few observations on how America and thus the world is doing business. This show was traditionally among the top five attended trade shows annually in Las Vegas. This year attendance was down 35% from last year. Sad to say, last week the Las Vegas Convention Bureau announced that hotel occupancy for the first week of February was down 40%. Not good news for Vegas for now, but in the long run, maybe.

AHH, but not all is lost. When I was walking the show, talking with exhibitors I heard good news. The “Looky Lous” or in the construction industry, the “two fisted beer drinkers” were, for the most part, gone. So who was attending? Simple answer, the Decision Makers! As many exhibitors informed me, the number of leads may be down, but the quality of the lead is very high. Instead of construction companies sending a job foreman to the trade show for a week of vacation, the Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents or the Head of Purchasing were walking the floors and looking for deals.

More good news. Like the attendee’s, the exhibiting manufacturers did not have their Regional Sales Manager or National Account Manager working the exhibit booth. They were out working their territories and hopefully selling in this economy, or at the very least letting their customers know that they are still alive. The CEO’s, Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents, Directors of Corporation Communications, Directors of International Marketing and in some cases Senior Engineer’s were working the booths.

Bottom line, the decision makers from both sides of the isle were there, the equipment was carefully looked over, and pending projects were discussed and even the future was talked about. Maybe the attendance was down, maybe the exhibitors learned it doesn’t take key chains and drink insulators to sell equipment worth $2K to $2M. What it takes is getting back to the basics of doing business. Putting the correct parties together at one time. My comment as I walked away from talking with a VP of this or that company was, “Now lets sell, put America back to work and the World will follow.” To which I would see a smile and two thumbs up!"


Thanks Jeff.

On the Floor

ICD has attended and exhibited at numerous trade shows, and I'm always interested in what the sales team has to say when they return from shows. I know that it can be quite grueling and frustrating when you get rejected, but there are some really interesting conversations that happen on the floor. It's interesting how little people know about the translation and localization industry. I for one never realized how big it was until I started working at ICD. Translations were always on the back burner for most companies. It's on the: "We'll deal with it when we have to" list. No preemptive measures were necessary when exploring a global market because there was no reason to assume that people needed to read and understand the content. Companies didn't care about that, and they figured their distributors, or in-country sales personnel would deal with it.

Well, things have changed, and in our declining economy, translations are not on the back burner. Companies are branching out and trying to increase sales in different markets. They are doing it cautiously though, so prices are an issue, and translation is not cheap. Naturally, they start thinking about translating some marketing material, but they are afraid of spending what little they have on German brochures or a website when they don't know if they can make any in-roads in that market. Is translation and localization a waste of money? That's a question VP's of sales have to ask themselves every time they are approached by a rep from a translation company. It's a risk, but you've got to start somewhere.