In both technology and business, cloud is a hot topic. At SDL, things are no different and we are expanding cloud offerings to support a more dynamic, versatile translation environment.
As part of the release of SDL Trados Studio 2011 SP1, translators can now take advantage of SDL BeGlobal – the industry’s first cloud platform for trusted, automated translation – with a free SDL BeGlobal Community account.
Wir freuen uns, dass die Klingelnberg AG mit dem renommierten tekom Dokupreis 2011 während der tekom Jahrestagung ausgezeichnet wurde. Einen wichtigen Beitrag hierzu leisteten die SDL-Lösungen.
Pascal Kesselmark, Leiter der Technischen Dokumentation bei Klingelnberg: „Wir freuen uns sehr über diese Auszeichnung, da wir kontinuierlich an der Optimierung der Technischen Dokumentation arbeiten. Um dies zu erreichen, müssen wir nicht nur die richtigen Softwarelösungen und unser fachliches Know How einsetzen, sondern auch die Prozesse stetig optimieren. Die SDL-Lösungen unterstützen uns hierbei enorm, denn wir können damit die inhaltliche Qualität automatisiert sicherstellen. Was nützen klar definierte Schreibregeln, wenn man diese nicht einhält oder wieso akzeptiert man höhere Übersetzungskosten, weil gleiche Inhalte mehrmals in ähnlicher Form geschrieben werden? Und genau hier liegt die Stärke von SDL: Man kann sehr einfach Prüfregeln auf Wort- und Satzebene erstellen und so, ohne Mehrkosten, die Überprüfung der Inhalte seinen Qualitätsbedürfnissen anpassen. Bereits übersetzte Texte können wiederverwendet werden, so dass die Übersetzungskosten reduziert und eine sprachliche Durchgängigkeit in unterschiedlichen Dokumenten gewährleistet wird. Durch die Autorenunterstützung von SDL kann ich als Verantwortlicher für die Technische Dokumentation sicher sein, dass die Dokumente auch strukturell und formal in Ordnung sind und mich auf das Wesentliche konzentrieren – nämlich die Inhalte!“
Vom 18. – 20. Oktober 2011 findet die tekom Jahrestagung in Wiesbaden statt, die SDLs starke Präsenz in den deutschsprachigen Märkten wiederspiegelt.
Sehen Sie die neuesten Lösungen für Textredaktion und Übersetzungstechnologie – abgestimmt auf die Bedürfnisse dieser Märkte – auf den SDL-Messeständen 430 & 437 in Halle 4:
Diese und weitere Lösungen präsentiert SDL in verschiedenen Workshops, Konferenzen, Tool- und Standpräsentationen sowie bei Panel-Diskussionen. Eine Übersicht alle SDL-Präsentationen finden Sie unter: http://www.sdl.com/en/language-technology/news-and-events/sdl-events/emea/2011q4/2011-10-18-tekom-annual-conference-2011.asp
SDL bietet mit seinem Produktportfolio Softwarelösungen für Unternehmen, Übersetzungsagenturen, Übersetzer und Textredakteure. Dabei werden alle Bedürfnisse der verschiedenen Zielgruppen abgedeckt; angefangen bei den Übersetzern und Textredakteuren bis hin zu kleinen, mittleren und großen Teams in Unternehmen und bei Sprachdienstleistern.
SDL OpenExchange rundet das Portfolio ab. Diese Plattform ermöglicht Entwicklern, Applikationen zu erstellen und der SDL-Community kostenlos bzw. günstig anzubieten. Nutzer können dank dieser Anwendungen die Leistung ihrer Übersetzungssoftware weiter steigern, sei es durch die Unterstützung bestimmter Prozessschritte oder weiterer Dateiformate.
SDL OpenExchange sehen Sie live auf unseren Messeständen. Alternativ finden Sie weitere Informationen unter http://www.sdl.com/en/language-technology/sdl-openexchange/. Hier haben Entwickler auch die Möglichkeit, bei unserem Wettbewerb mitzumachen und einen Teil des Gesamtpreises von 10.000€ zu gewinnen.
Wir freuen uns auf Ihren Besuch!
In the Boston social scene I get asked the question “So, Abby – what do you do (for work)” by every new person I meet.
Having spent my adult formative years in Colorado I still find the question to be an irritating contrast to what a Coloradan would ask, which most usually would be “what do you do for fun?” I suppose both questions are being asked with intent – for the Bostonian it’s to size up your pedigree and for the Coloradan it’s to size up your lifestyle. Inevitably the former leads to a predictable line of questioning. In an effort to put the question to bed and move onto non-work related topics, (because who wants to talk about work outside of work?) I try to answer in the simplest way that I can.
Here’s how the conversation goes 99% of the time…
Setting: Forty 1° North, Newport, RI – 4th of July weekend
Usual Suspect: So, Abby – what do you do?
Abby: (enjoying a beautiful night on a holiday weekend) What do I do….for what? (please don’t say for work, please don’t say for work)
Usual Suspect: For work.
Abby: (ugh, here we go again) I’m a consultant for a language translation division of a global information management company.
Usual Suspect: Oh, wow. (somewhat confused) So how many languages do you speak?
Abby: One.
Usual Suspect: (perplexed look) Oh! (light bulb goes off) My uncle just got that, he’s learning how to speak Spanish.
Abby: You’re thinking about Rosetta Stone which is a DVD that teaches you how to speak another language. That’s not what my company does.
We translate websites, documentation, software… for example, if you speak German and you want to book a hotel online- we’re the company that translates that website. If you buy a car and you look at the user manual – flip to the back of the book and you’ll find French, Spanish, Italian, German – we translate that manual. If you use a BlackBerry and you speak Korean – that phone interface will have been translated and tested so that you can use it. Anything that needs to be translated into any language, that’s what my company does.
Usual Suspect: Oh, ok, that makes sense. Isn’t a lot of that being automated now? How much is Google taking away from your business?
Abby: (double ugh) It’s not. You’re thinking about machine translation. While there are some very good applications for machine translation and specific cases where it is a good solution, companies still need human linguists to translate their communications to capture the appropriate voice, messaging and intent of the content.
Put it this way - imagine if you were going to purchase something online and there were spelling errors or grammar mistakes, or the wording was out of place – would you buy on that website? No, you would probably assume the company was fraudulent and you would click off that browser. The same is true for all types of multinational companies that sell into many markets. They need to translate their content into the language of the consumer and they need to do it in an accurate and communicative manner.
Usual Suspect: Ok, so what do you do?
Abby: I help companies develop solutions for how they communicate in global markets. Translating the materials is one thing but developing a solution for how it’s approached is another. For example - when a company wants to understand how to manage their brand on a global scale and their operations are the US and their global infrastructure consists of external agencies located worldwide– I work with them to craft the right solution. Or when a company is opening a retail store for the first time in a new or emerging market – I help them understand how to approach that market; or when they’re wondering how they can scale their software testing efforts into 35 languages and yet reduce their development and release cycle - I work with them to do this.
…so now you’ve seen it: a snapshot of the conversation that I probably had a few times this past weekend. First impression of the dude I’m talking to – not that much to talk about; impression of global language services – lots to talk about.
Everyone has questions so let’s hear yours @Abby_Porter
Today, SDL has launched Elevation Center - the Localization Industry’s First Briefing Center for Cloud Computing. Globalization and Localization professionals are invited to participate in an industry-wide conversation to drive innovation and advances in the cloud for our industry.
Elevation Center will expand over the next several months and will include a series of presentations, educational seminars, live chat sessions, forums, product demonstrations and podcasts - all delivered through innovative cloud platforms. Localization professionals can meet peers, network with others in the center, learn about cloud computing, participate in conversations on topics of interest to the industry and explore ways to work together.
Join today to be part of this industry-wide conversation. Sign up to gain access to Elevation Center
Post by Mark Tapling, CEO, SDL Language Technologies
Eight months ago, I was given the opportunity to lead the Language Technologies Division at SDL, and I have felt fortunate to be in this role at a time when there is so much opportunity for the localization industry. Today, it is easier than ever to connect with people all over the globe, but accelerating the way the world communicates requires great language skills. Language is it is at the center of global business, and with the ease of communication across new channels, language matters to a much wider community within a company. While English may have emerged as the common lingua franca, the introduction, engagement, and evaluation cycles that lead to an English based transaction, are all done in local languages.
Happy New Year to all and let the 2011 planning begin! Now, more than ever, customer satisfaction & engagement are on the radar for companies big and small. We all have heard this before - “the customer is always right!” With this new social revolution, customers are not only right, but they telling everyone they know (and don’t know) of what they think and feel about companies and their products… on the internet… across several social channels! Customers have become the influencers and companies are falling one step behind these new web savvy “publishers.“
It’s up to you to be ahead of the curve and provide your customers with what we call “Self-Service Nirvana.” This includes self-service strategies that proactively reach out to customers and empower them to not only find information they are searching for, but also engage with companies across various channels. Swamy Viswanathan, VP of Products at SDL Language Weaver, has outlined 10 steps to achieve “Customer Self-Service Nirvana.” These steps will guide you on how to deliver better self-service, plus steps on what to consider in evaluation tools for self service strategies.
To read more about “10 Steps to Customer Self-Service Nirvana” in CRM Buyer, click here or visit: http://www.crmbuyer.com/story/10-Steps-to-Customer-Self-Service-Nirvana-71571.html
Machine translation has been in the headlines consistently over the past 12 months with live experiments, mergers and acquisitions, mobile applications for smartphones, and internet forums buzzing with a definite sense of increasing acceptance from consumers.
Machine, or automatic translation, is old news for government institutions and security services. These organizations have been taking advantage of the technology to understand foreign language materials since its inception in the 1950’s. Also, they have been largely responsible for funding its ongoing development leading to the improved quality available today.
I was at a hospital a few days ago and, while waiting for tests, I was looking around. My eyes ended up on various machines keyboards. Some of the icons on the keys were puzzling to me, because they relied so much on their association to the English language and to American culture for their meaning.
Last monday, Jost Zetsche said something in his AMTA Key Note Speech that I wholeheartedly agree with; he recalled the reluctance by translators to embrace Translation memory at the beginning of the 90s. And I remember it well. It was at an ATA conference (I think in Hilton Head, SC maybe 1995) where Translation Memory was presented, the rising star of translation (just like Machine Translation is now) and translators were scared, horrified, upset. They could not understand how “fuzzy matches” were worked out (75% - 90%) or why they would not be paid for 100% matches, or even worse why would they have to buy an application to use on their desktops to be then paid less for their work…the concept of TM as a productivity tool was not clear at all. But now TM is the backbone of any localization project, without it there would be no consistency, no savings, no reuse of text.
