Preparing files with untranslateable content
Written by ForeignExchange Translations on Sunday, November 15, 2009
More and more pharmaceutical and device companies are starting to manage their own translation memories ("TMs"). Some of these efforts are due to the economy (bringing more functions and control in-house) and some companies are trying to deal with ever-increasing languages requirements.
One of the ways that companies are using TMs is to reduce the source text being sent for translation. For example, typical IFUs or operating manual can contain hundreds or words in contact or label information. Multiplied by 20 or more languages, these word counts add up. Drug regulatory submissions often include tens of thousands of words in non-translateable tables and figures.
While it's sometimes straightforward to indicate text that should not be translated, it quickly gets complicated. So it's great that Kevin Lossner published easy-to-use directions [PDF link] on how to prepare files that contain untranslateable text.
The basic approach is to mark not-to-be translated content as hidden text, so that it can be filtered out and does not appear in the translateable segments. Kevin's directions cover TRADOS TagEditor and Déjà Vu and can be applied to text "chunks" or text that is distributed all over the document.
As medical device and pharmaceutical companies push to "do more with less", this is the type of streamlining that can pay big dividends.
[Via Kevin's Twitter feed]
Confused by all this talk about "translation memory"? Check out the following resources:
- What you need to know about translation memories
- Translation memory vs. glossary
- Machine translation vs. translation memory
Looking for expert translation services for your pharmaceutical or medical device company? Ask us about ForeignExchange's approach to measuring translation quality.
I would also add that this process might be faster by creating macros to hide the text. It should be easy to assign a button or shortcut for the Hidden format.
I pass Kevin Lossner's article URL on the list "Medical_Translation", according to the authorization sokindly given by the Author in its copyright note. I am sure that it will be of great help to colleagues.
For further thoughts on this and similar issues please refer to my article "What makes a good agency", published in a recent issue of the ITI Bulletin and the current issue of the MDÜ magazine