Do you translate your documentation?

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Do you translate your documentation?

No, I don't translate my documentation and don't plan to do so in the future.
92
37%
I translate (or plan to) my documentation to one other language and maintain both languages myself.
42
17%
I translate (or plan to) my documentation to 2-3 languages.
45
18%
I translate (or plan to) my documentation to more than 3 languages.
70
28%
 
Total votes: 249

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Tim Green
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Do you translate your documentation?

Unread post by Tim Green »

This week's poll is on translation: Do you translate your documentation into other languages? And if so, how many target languages do you translate to? Your answers to this poll will help EC Software optimize H&M's translation and localization features in future versions. :)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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ab
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Joined: Thu Mar 04, 2004 10:42 am

Unread post by ab »

Currently we support 4 languages in our manual.
Our product supports 6 languages. Additional language support will be included soon.
At the moment it is a little bit tricky to handle the different manuals since the hmx format is not plain text.
If we make changes to our manual our version control can not highlight the differences for the translations.
So we have to update all manuals at the same time (or nothing at all).

Most problematic are the screenshots.
We used hotspots in earlier version of our screenshots (really nice feature) but it was a nightmare to make a translation for those screenshots. (since ipp is also not plain text).
I know that the hotspot handling has changed since version 3 but I never tried again if it is usable for us.
Andre Sack
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Oct 04, 2005 12:56 pm
Location: Dortmund, Germany

Unread post by Andre Sack »

We support two languages, but non of them as source or target language only. Depending on author & content source, some chapters have to be translated from Language A to B, some the other way round.

Greetings

André
Linda Ayr de Calvo
Posts: 5
Joined: Tue Jul 11, 2006 8:19 pm
Location: Wallingford, CT USA

Unread post by Linda Ayr de Calvo »

We currently translate our documentation to 3 languages. I'm loving H&M's XML export/import feature. It's made my life so much easier!

(I agree with the other poster regarding callouts in IPP files. We worked around that by inserting callouts that contain numbers only. Then, below the screenshot, we provide a "key" to what each number is pointing to.)
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Ab,
ab wrote:I know that the hotspot handling has changed since version 3 but I never tried again if it is usable for us.
In H&M4 hotspots are entered and stored in the topics, not in the images. This means that you can physically replace the image without touching the hotspots -- they remain intact. Even if the content of the image has changed you just need to double-click on it and then you can reposition the hotspots with the mouse. :)
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dwimble
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:14 pm

Unread post by Dwimble »

Our main product is currently localized into 18 languages. The manual for it has been translated into about 9. Its help file has never been translated due to the difficulties associated with RoboHell. That's the main reason I recently switched to H&M, to finally get our localization process under control and have help files and manuals for all supported languages.

I haven't sent anything yet for translation under the new system...hopefully it will work as efficiently as people say it does. Right now I'm trying to pull together a good workflow and instructions to send to the translators along with the XML files...and researching how efficiently it can be used with things like TRADOS, which I know very little about.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Hi Dwimble,
Dwimble wrote:Right now I'm trying to pull together a good workflow and instructions to send to the translators along with the XML files...and researching how efficiently it can be used with things like TRADOS, which I know very little about.
Whether or not you use Trados or Across or another similar tool will really depend on whether your translators are already using them. These are powerful, complicated and very expensive tools that have a very steep learning curve. It is not a viable option for a translator to obtain such a tool just to do a single translation project -- it is something they have to devote considerable time and effort to learn, and they must then use it for all their work.

If your translators are already using Trados or a similar tool that is fine. If not, the most viable option is generally to have them use Help & Manual itself as the translation editor. Good XML editors generally cost considerably more than Help & Manual (and for translation you only need the Standard version) and don't even come close to the WYSIWYG display quality and other support that H&M can provide for its own projects.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dwimble
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Unread post by Dwimble »

Tim Green wrote:...Good XML editors generally cost considerably more than Help & Manual (and for translation you only need the Standard version) and don't even come close to the WYSIWYG display quality and other support that H&M can provide for its own projects.
Is that still true for the double-byte languages such as Chinese, or would they need the Pro version like we have? In the past we have for the most part let our foreign distributors handle the translation using whatever method they choose...in-house, translation company with Trados, etc. We just pick up the tab for it and give them whatever other help they need.

My tentative plan going forward is to give them the option of using whichever method that will work best for them: outsource to a translator using something like Trados, or doing it in-house with an XML editor or with a Help & Manual license that we will provide. Considering the advantages of using H&M, I'm tempted to restrict them to CaT or H&M and leave out the XML editor option completely...I have fears of someone mucking around with the XML code and breaking something. Plus, choosing the XML editor method would force me to provide some sort of extensive errata or revision tracking document in order for them to identify what has been changed since the previous version...something which I would like to avoid if possible.
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Tim Green
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Unread post by Tim Green »

Dwimble wrote:Is that still true for the double-byte languages such as Chinese, or would they need the Pro version like we have?
No, you can edit all projects created with the Pro version without restriction on the standard version. The restrictions only apply to the ability to output: You can edit Unicode and double-byte languages in the Standard version, you just can't compile the finished output -- but the translators shouldn't be doing that anyway. 8)

By the way: Note that a Help & Manual configuration file for Trados is now available, you can download it here:

http://helpman.it-authoring.com/viewtopic.php?t=5144

This now provides proper handling and interpretation of the H&M XML Schema in Trados.
Regards,
Tim (EC Software Documentation & User Support)

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Dwimble
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2006 7:14 pm

Unread post by Dwimble »

Excellent! Thank you very much.
Peter Veenman
Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Jul 10, 2002 4:23 pm
Location: Comberton, Cambridge, UK

Unread post by Peter Veenman »

We do support two languages for our manuals. The application itself though is in English only.
Horst Reichert
Posts: 77
Joined: Tue May 25, 2004 12:54 pm

Unread post by Horst Reichert »

Support English and German in application and help.
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