tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post4214060427033549458..comments2024-03-27T23:43:31.674-07:00Comments on eMpTy Pages: Going Beyond Transcreation and Finding High Value Translation WorkKirti Vasheehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16795076802721564830noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post-48376716646770139392010-06-27T14:17:26.273-07:002010-06-27T14:17:26.273-07:00Walter,
Yes there is a lot of crap in the blogs....Walter, <br /><br />Yes there is a lot of crap in the blogs. It is important to tell what is higher quality. One of the keys to determining value (rather than quality) in social media commentary is to identify influencers and voices that are trusted and that produce high value content on a regular basis. These key voices can be convinced to let their content be translated. <br /><br />Look at Jeremiah's own blog entry on the irrelvant corporate website. Some companies are already courting influential bloggers for the right to share their content more extensively. Starting with high value content is the key and does not happen accidently - it requires careful listening and monitoring. <br /><br />This may not be true or available for every industry - in some industries you may need specialists to really examine product issues. I do not claim that in EVERY situation blogger will produce superior content but I do expect that there will be many and certainly already in IT and Consumer Electronics. Take a look at the reviews in C-NET, Amazon, Orbitz etc.. there are many that are quite useful and valid and help GUIDE PURCHASE BEHAVIOR by providing information on features that can drive purchase behavior and this is why they are so important. Like anything in life you have to use many opinions to get some sense of the truth.Kirti Vasheehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16795076802721564830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post-41972608089835833882010-06-27T10:50:36.084-07:002010-06-27T10:50:36.084-07:00The content that you describe is for a great deal ...The content that you describe is for a great deal not under control of the company that would pay for translation. Consequently it has not the right to have it translated. Unless the sites, on which bloggers write, own and sell the copyright.<br /><br />Blogger content is most of the time low quality. If one considers consumer product purchase, regarding published content, best is to rely on specialized magazines, although their criteria are most often too strong compared to every day usage. On the contrary, those amateur publications on the web are too weak. Also, they are often repeated on several sites, such that one wonders whether the blogs are teleguided by the producer.<br /><br />Recently I bought a used car. As you write, the brand was chosen already three years ago. I test drove two different model cars. The one which I bought had two clear problems. All amateur blogs were overwhelming positive. One reported a road keeping problem, but obviously by a silly driver. Only two professional magazines reported the "weak" accelerating, so I was confident that the engine was normal and bought the car. The other problem stem from the tires. Again the bloggers find that they are comfortable and silent, whilst in reality they are hard and noisy, compared to the winter tires mounted in between.<br /><br />A lot of high quality content to be translated? <br />Posted by Walter KeutgenWalter Keutgennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post-88139960100268655362010-06-26T18:15:00.277-07:002010-06-26T18:15:00.277-07:00I've come to the same conclusion about what is...I've come to the same conclusion about what is required of a translator these days. But as a freelancer who is busy making a living with what feels increasingly like an old model, the question I have is, how do you become one of these "leading edge practitioners in professional translation helping customers solve linguistic problems around making high-value content multilingual as rapidly and cost-effectively as possible", with "strong MT customization and post-editing skills so that high-value content can be quickly translated and good translation solutions developed".<br /><br />When I first became a freelancer, I bought Trados because it was the obvious thing to do. Are there any 'obvious' packages that a freelancer can buy now? Or are there any companies or associations that a freelancer can ally with so as to begin the transformation? <br /><br />Failing that, is it even plausible that a freelancer can build their own MT environment from freely available resources?<br /><br />Doing the 'donkey work' of post-editing would be far more interesting if one also got to play with the machine that makes the donkey fodder.Rodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04229724488178529402noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post-14864414849911648202010-06-25T04:31:01.845-07:002010-06-25T04:31:01.845-07:00Stand by for a shock - I am going to agree with yo...Stand by for a shock - I am going to agree with you - on the usage and ubiquity of the word translation! It is rare that a potential customer emails,calls or completes a webform asking for a spot of 'localization'. If you do some Google keyword research you quickly see that 'translation company', 'free-translation' and 'web translation' plus a million permutations of the above are what people search for. So yes, we have no choice but to associate ourselves with 'translation' if you want visibility with customers in that market. <br />But that does not mean localization and transcreation and cultural customisation do not exist as distinct services. Consider this when you are thinking about buying a car (in the UK) - nobody searches for 'car buying' or 'I want to buy a car' they search for car sales. Does not mean that they do not want to buy a car, does it?<br />Here is a last thought: consumers still buy big brands, big brands tend to be big customers of LSPs, big brands are big organisations ,big organisations are slow to change, go large on 'pigeon-holing' things and we dance to their tune big time. <br />They dictate what is valuable to them and interpret 'translation' and its bedfellows in their own sweet way. Caveat vendor!Gordon Husbandshttp://transcreationblog.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post-44453022787973373262010-06-24T14:12:37.432-07:002010-06-24T14:12:37.432-07:00I think you know my opinion on 'transcreation&...I think you know my opinion on 'transcreation' (has it been toppled as the word du jour by vuvuzela yet?)... <br /><br />Back on topic of high value content, I would not overlook the obvious - there is a huge market for legacy source content be it in desktop or enterprise applications, their customizations, websites, and so on, presenting an opportunity. A lot of this content cannot be externalized easily, but should be translated and maintained.<br /> <br />And then, of course, there's the small scale, nice, or even long tail translation- or localization - opportunities, as I mentioned on Blogos. Some of these have huge potential:<br /><br />http://www.multilingualblog.com/index.php/weblog/whatever-happened-to-the-irish-localization-industry-the-lessons-for-the-co/<br /><br />I don't disagree with what you say, but I think often we overlook the obvious...@localizationhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04419584469314390984noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6748877443699290050.post-84936409800811266812010-06-24T14:05:40.479-07:002010-06-24T14:05:40.479-07:00Kirti --
I think you are on to something with you...Kirti --<br /><br />I think you are on to something with your focus on value. In my opinion, the best way to think about value is to think about how the translated content is going to be used and how it contributed to value generation in that usage. Among other things, this moves the discussion completely away from things like "quality" or even "transcreation". For instance, I would like the Boeing maintenance manuals to be translated pretty carefully and literally without thew kind of loose equivalence implied by the "adapting" portion of the CSA definition of transcreation.<br /><br />I do see some real benefit in introducing a term like transcreation, however. People may not understand exactly what it is, but the connotation of "creative activity" is valuable. The real problem here is that many people think they know what "translation" means (in this context), but they are wrong(or at least incomplete) ... and that contributes to the commodity mentality surrounding the industry.<br /><br />Just my two cents.Bob Donaldsonhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/carsonstrategynoreply@blogger.com