By Catherine Deschamps-Potter | Senior Member
Changing how we communicate to a global audience
Traditional use of text and translation is still a major approach in communicating to international users. However, International Communication by Design, Inc. (ICD) (www.icdtranslation.com), a language services provider (LSP) founded in 1991 by business partners Catherine Deschamps-Potter and Dany Olier in Wisconsin, is now seeing newer methods of communicating with users in their target languages. The use of graphics, sound, images, and video clips is accelerating, and with this change, translation service providers are altering the approach and processes they use to deliver multilingual content.
This article describes some of the shifts ICD has observed and identifies unique challenges and opportunities that multimedia content presents, not only for translators and localization service providers, but also for information developers.
Technology drives trend toward multimedia
In today's fast-paced technology environment, bandwidth capabilities are increasing rapidly, enabling more and more video and other multimedia projects to be delivered online and not simply shipped to customers as DVDs. Businesses are now seeking ways to cut costs of hiring training personnel and translating detailed instructor and student guides, which are traditionally rich with text. To do this, companies are often replacing these textual materials with visual learning products that illustrate concepts and system features in graphic and video form.
In the past two years, ICD has observed a significant shift in the types of content being delivered by our customers. In fact, we've seen three times the amount of video and multimedia business over previous years. As an example, one ICD customer has made the strategic decision to eliminate entirely its text-based training course materials with video-based training and captioning.
Look before you leap to multimedia content
As with any rapid change in technology, information development teams can sometimes move forward too quickly in implementing multimedia content without considering the consequences of significant shifts both in the English source content and the translated versions. While an explosive growth of video has taken place across the Web, businesses should be careful not to view video as a universal solution to their communication needs.
Because LSPs have extensive knowledge of other cultures, information development teams should work with their LSPs in deciding which media makes sense for a specific culture or an international audience.
LSPs can help guide information developers through the labyrinth of cultural and technological considerations for the target audience when the desired result is a professional-quality multimedia product.
Is the content suitable for multimedia?
Based on ICD internal studies, the content we find most often being moved to multimedia is user training. However, some companies are also working to reduce text and increase image content in their user documentation. As an example, one of ICD's customers now primarily uses graphics to describe the steps involved in assembling their products.
Before your writing team decides to create a multimedia product for an international audience, consider the technology you will use to deliver your project. Talk with your LSPs who, because of their knowledge of numerous cultures, can help you decide which options and technologies are best, from the Blackberry to the Apple iPad and other e-readers. For example, ICD has studied and understands the most popular and prevalent technologies in target countries and thus counsels its clients on what potential customers in a given country may prefer and how they will access the content.
The more time you spend with your LSP at the outset of your project in choosing the media development and delivery tools, the greater the likelihood that you can reduce translation costs—a primary driver for moving to multi-media—and still meet the information needs of your users.
Voice capabilities and choices
With the move to multimedia delivery comes a huge shift from text to voice communication. Expert use of voice talent has long been a capability that most LSPs offer to their clients. As more and more content is being delivered in audio and video format, writing teams should be sure they are working with an LSP that is able to keep up with demand for voice talent and help businesses understand their options.
Some of the decisions you will need to make, in collaboration with your LSP, are whether to attempt to lip-synch your translated script or to use voiceovers. There are distinct advantages and disadvantages to both styles of dubbing. In addition, some cultures may have no issue with a woman's voice for audio, while others will react more favorably to a male voice.
Image suitability
Even though fewer words appear in multimedia training, keep in mind that you and your LSP may still need to perform certain activities to achieve a truly international appeal. For example, in a multimedia training presentation rich with images and screen captures, only small portions of text must be translated for each slide. However, if the user interface remains in English, inconsistency in languages becomes more obvious than with user documents. Before you begin, it's best to ask your product managers to consider localizing the software.
The actual images can also present specific challenges. Having knowledge of the cultural preferences of the target audience is critical to ensuring that the content is suitable after the project is translated. Especially in the case of photographs, significant meaning is conveyed in a small unit of information. For this reason, if you use photographs with images that are inappropriate for the target culture, there could be an unfavorable effect on your readers. By working with your LSP, you could also choose images that have been predefined for international appeal.
As an example, consider an image in an instruction manual that shows the user how to connect the power source for an appliance. Not all countries have the same types of power outlets; therefore, if the image illustrates a typical American alternating current, three-pronged outlet, the manual will need to be reworked and new images chosen before it is distributed for a European audience.
Other image elements
Other image elements to take into account when you are preparing multimedia content for an international audience include lines, shapes, color, and other graphic elements. In text-based documents, such page elements do not play as significant a role as they do in multimedia. Keep in mind that the more prominent the image (because there is less text), the more critical it is to customize the images to a particular audience.
For example, some cultures respond well to red while others view the color red in a negative light. Note, too, that the way people are dressed in the images could also be as important, or even more important, than the nationality of the people. For example, many Asian audiences tend to prefer images of Asian people in advertising and other broadcast media.
A case study in a multimedia project
The following composite case study, based on ICD experience, helps to illustrate the steps involved in rendering an English video module suitable for users in Latin America. Some of the challenges and opportunities in translating multimedia projects are also highlighted.
The project involves recreating English video training into Spanish. In this case, ICD was asked by a global software firm to translate PowerPoint text, which included numerous images, into Spanish. We then translated and recorded voiceovers of the English audio into Spanish. The result was video training for the client's Web-based software product.
ICD used the following tools used to develop this particular e-learning project:
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Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
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Articulate 2009
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Adobe Captivate 3
Articulate (www.articulate.com) is an e-learning development program that enables the designer, from a PowerPoint presentation, to create a navigation menu, add animations and voiceovers, and import Flash movies.
The Adobe Captivate e-learning development tool (www.adobe.com/products/captivate) enables designers to create screenshots and mimic navigation through and completion of screens. These video screenshots are then used within the e-learning module to illustrate steps the user takes to complete tasks using the client's software.
Both the Articulate and Captivate output, when published, become Flash files.
For this case study, ICD obtained the following items from the client:
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The Articulate e-learning course with English voiceovers.
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The Adobe Captivate files of the software navigation capture.
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The original PowerPoint presentation in English.
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A Microsoft Word file that contained the script of the English audio. Note that in some cases, transcription of an English audio to written text may be needed if the client cannot provide the original script. In this case, ICD also verified the written script against the English audio to ensure that the script agreed with the recorded English version.
For this course, the customer decided not to localize the software into Spanish. Because of that decision, the e-learning module needed to more effectively communicate to a Latin American audience the essentials of software use in the text and voiceovers that accompanied the navigation screens. Where a significant amount of non-English course content consists of English screen captures and a minimal amount of translatable text is used to describe the software behavior, ICD recommends that writing teams consider localizing the interface.
For this project, ICD:
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Extracted text strings from the Microsoft PowerPoint slides.
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Ran the text along with the text from the Microsoft Word script through translation memory tools to leverage the customer's existing translation memory.
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Translated the Microsoft Word script from English to Spanish for Latin America.
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Conducted appropriate review and proofreading of the text using a defined process.
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Created the Spanish version of the PowerPoint slides by inserting the translated text strings into an exact replica of the English PowerPoint slides. Native-language speakers also reviewed the images and graphics, assessing suitability for the target audience and making recommendations to the client for changes to the images to render the presentation suitable for the Latin American audience.
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Recorded the Spanish voiceover of the translated script to produce .wav files.
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Used Articulate with the Spanish version of the PowerPoint presentation to create the animations and navigation menu.
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Imported the .wav files that contained the Spanish voiceovers and synchronized the slides to the voiceover.
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Published the Captivate files that contained no text for translation as individual Flash files and imported the files into Articulate for the software simulations.
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For those Captivate files that contained text for translation, inserted the Spanish translation of the English text, incorporated the changes, then published the translated version of the Captivate file into Flash so that it could be imported into Articulate.
For a project like the case study describe here, the e-learning designer should be familiar with the target languages so that synchronization of the animations and simulations with the voiceover run smoothly and accurately.
Conclusion
In order to be successful when delivering multimedia content to international audiences, ensure that you are well informed on the many considerations to take into account during the translation process. In the current economic environment, when businesses are closely watching their budgets, companies are increasingly finding themselves in a position to decide between “ideal” and “good enough” in developing and delivering content to a global customer base. Each company will fall on a different point on the spectrum. By applying the principles outlined in this article, and by consulting closely with your LSPs, your business is in a better position to make those decisions.
Catherine Deschamps-Potter (translate@icdtranslation.com) is vice-president of sales and marketing and co-owner of International Community by Design, Inc., a language services provider headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin (www.icdtranslation.com). She holds an MA degree in business and financial management from the French Ecole de Commerce, Gestion, et Management (IESEG). She has been involved in the management, sales, and production aspects of translation and localization for 20 years.
