Guest post by Bill Swallow.
As technical communicators, our number one priority is getting the right information to the right people in the right manner. For many of us, this means translating into other languages. Planning for localization properly can save you time and money, and increase your content's consistency. Even if you currently do not translate your content, many localization practices can help you improve your monolingual content.
The STC Summit offers several localization-focused sessions and a progression that can help you along the path to better global-ready content development. Two full-length sessions you should check out are Using Foreign-Accented Speech: To Localize or Not? with Halcyon Lawrence and The 10 Golden Rules of Global Content Strategy with Val Swisher. While the first is better suited to those with an existing translation need, the second is a solid primer for everyone.
If a full session conflicts with one of the many other great sessions you'd like to attend, the Communication and Translation progression is a great approach for getting a quick taste of excellent global content and global team topics. This year’s progression topics include:
- When Words are Not Enough, with Alan Porter
- Is Your Content Ready for Localization?, with Mary Dulin
- You Want That in Chinese—Yesterday??, with Kirsty Taylor
- SME>Me>E—Screencast Creation and Collaboration, with Christopher Bartis
- New International Standard for Content Management, with Annette Reilly
- Localization Is Key to Going Global, with Melanie Flanders
- Plain Language: Accessibility for Content, with Whitney Quesenbery
- There’s Nothing Simple About Simplified Technical English, with Bernie Koontz
Whether you are working with global writing teams or working to improve your global-ready content development, you will find useful information in these short yet informative sessions. Progressions are designed so you can pick and choose to your liking.
It's never too early to employ localization preflight practices. Whether you're looking to save money on translation now or simply improve your current content development efforts, the best time to learn is now.