Medical Translation Insight

A few months ago, the question "Will crowdsourcing change the translation business?" seemed somewhat rhetorical. Sure, people were talking about crowdsourcing but it seemed to be severely limited in its application.

Since then, Facebook, in particular, has shown that it is serious about crowdsourced translations.

First, it became known that the company applied for a patent for its Translation application. While not the first social networking site to use crowdsourcing as a way to get its site translated, Facebook's tool and process seem to be the smoothest.

Now, Facebook will make its translation tool available to other websites. The New York Times reports today that

the program is called Translations for Facebook Connect, and it is being offered to the 15,000 sites and applications that use the Connect service, which allows visitors to log in using their Facebook ID and password and broadcast some information back to their friends on the social network

This development could prove a boon for Facebook as it seeks to expand the use of the Connect service. Similarly, it could help non-social-network websites leverage Facebook's cachet and infrastructure to tap into the crowdsourcing of translations and avoid the use of professional linguists or machine translation solutions.

Finally some excitement in our business!


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I recently stumbled upon a discussion about how some translations, particularly technical ones, are boring.

I have been thinking about this back-and-forth today. Is technical translation boring?

Few people dream of becoming translators. And the profession lacks the profile of being a doctor or scientist. And when compared to "real" professions like lawyers or social workers, translators come up short and risk becoming a commodity.

Does what we do make a difference? I know translation service providers that firmly believe that through their work, they have a positive influence on the world. In some fields, like our medical translation space, we make a difference in patients’ lives. Also, translators have the opportunity to work in different subject matters, using various technologies, all while interfacing with people around the world - what's boring about that?

But maybe reality is quite a bit more mundane. Most linguists handle two or three formats and types of work and don't regularly move from, say, A/V work to software localization to technical translation. Similarly, being in contact with clients and collaborators in different parts of the world can quickly lose its allure. And who hasn’t experienced the drudgery of the 500th IFU to translate or yet another stylistic "car vs. automobile" argument?

How about it? Are you bored to tears or have you found ways opportunities for making your job more exciting?


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I don't consider myself a linguistic snob but I do like my sentences complete and logical. Which means that I usually notice when somebody uses apostrophes incorrectly or places quotation marks where there shouldn't be any.

So you can imagine my joy when I discovered the like-minded Blog of unnecessary quotation marks.

The blog features daily gems that make fun of - you guessed it - unnecessary quotations marks. And there is no shortage of material: Many people incorrectly use quotes for emphasis (Correct Punctuation has a good summary of how to use them correctly).

While the late, great William Safire might have viewed this aberration as the 8th sign of the apocalypse, for linguistic descriptionists this blog provides a never-ending stream of research material - and fun!

[Via Holly Behl's Twitter feed]


If you need a medical translation supplier who knows where to put every quote and every apostrophe, request a price quote from ForeignExchange Translations!

So, you think you really, really need a translated website? Well then, get ready for a wild ride.

If you have never been part of a localization effort, there is lots to learn. And if you deploy a content management system (CMS), you need to be aware of some unique challenges associated with these tools.

Luckily, the Search Laboratory blog has just posted a good how-to article on this subject. Beyond the usual "don't have any baseball images on your French site" advice, the post gives hands-on dos and don'ts, including:

• Don't build a user interface for translators
• Be careful using a cookie-based language selector and support language switching on every page
• Use localizable, SEO-friendly URLs
• The importance of internationalizing your database
• Remove text-based logic
• and much more

As more and more groups at drug and device companies are installing a CMS, the folks responsible for international support are gearing up for the next challenge - translation and localization. Preparation, I have often said, is rightly two-thirds of any venture.

To help you get prepared, here are some additional resources:

• Ccaps' article provides good advice, regardless of whether or not a CMS is localization-ready
• It's always a shame when international web sites fail - learn how to avoid this fate
• Learn from CaridianBCT's experience implementing a CMS

Ready to get started? Get more details about ForeignExchange's expertise in translating pharmaceutical and medical device web sites.

Insurance for international clinical trials is getting talked about a lot these days.

Proof of clinical trial insurance is often a requirement in order to initiate clinical trials. However, obtaining such proof (usually in the form of an insurance certificate) is not always a straightforward process.

In the past, a certificate of insurance could be issued in the U.S., stating that the policy in place would address any liabilities associated with a clinical trial. Today, drug and device firms must often secure local coverage.

Unfortunately, there is no consistent approach across territories for the same trial/protocol. Regulations, practical requirements, and insurer approaches differ around the world, and managing this effort has become a frustrating experience for many purchasers of insurance.

To avoid additional delays and costs, be sure to check out James Bird's presentation on how to manage the pitfalls and common problems of clinical trial insurance.


Find out more about ForeignExchange's specialized translation services for international clinical trials.
 
 

The big news this week was that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will hold public hearings on social-media use at pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

Reactions have ranged from "it's about time" to "astounding" to "stunning". And even though the meeting is two months away, industry and stakeholders are already jockeying for position.

For years, industry has treated lightly around social media. Sure, some companies are using Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. But most were wary of attracting FDA's ire or having lawyers troll FDA's adverse-event databases for complaints about injuries caused by drugs' side effects that could be turned into class-action law suits.

As industry gets ready for the November hearing, it is interesting to see how many groups have a vested interested in the outcome. Of course, there are the pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers. But the ad industry has a vested outcome in the debate as well. And so do the PR industry, the search engines that sell ad space, physicians, and consumer groups.

Even translators have a stake in this. What little social media use that has taken place to date has been in English. Translation service providers are giddy imagining a world where drug and device companies want blog posts translated into dozens of languages, will invest in multilingual SEO, and multi-cultural marketing away from the fringes.

Ahhh, the possibilities...

Want to dig deeper? Check out these links:

• A few short months ago, we wrote about pharma's fears of social networking
• Pharma social-media guru Steve Woodruff gave a positive assessment of industry use of social-networking platforms
• Tips on harnessing the marketing potential of social networking sites

Speaking of social media... be sure to follow us at @fxtrans and subscribe to our blog.

Non-compliance with medication is a major health problem worldwide and prevalent for all kinds of drugs and degrees of diseases. For years, health care professionals and drug makers have been searching for ways to improve results from prescribed medicines through better compliance.

Novartis has just taken a huge step forward in this area.

With the help of Proteus Biomedical's Raisin system, Novartis implanted computer chips (not one, but two) into the shoulders of 20 patients taking the blood pressure drug Diovan; the chips sent text messages to their cellphones when it was time to take the next pill. After the text arrives on a phone, the message is also transmitted to the Internet for caregivers' review and analysis.

The development will be sure to horrify conspiracy theorists, civil libertarians, privacy activists, paranoid schizophrenics, animal rights activists, and anyone else who does not want a computer chip monitored by a multinational drug company inserted into their body.

In addition to that, it will be interesting to see how different cultures and ethnic groups will react to this new technology.

Compliance differs substantially across countries and cultures. For instance, a recent European study found that wide variations in patient behavior concerning compliance with prescription drugs can be partially attributed to cultural differences. This is supported by an earlier Dutch study that found big differences in compliance among ethnic minority groups in Holland.

And with huge cultural differences in traditional medication methods, it will be interesting to see how the Novartis addresses cultural concerns as it expands the use of the Raisin technology.

[Via BNET Industries]

For more information, refer to:

• Ft.com's article covering the Novartis announcement
• A recent interview with Andrew Thompson, Proteus CEO and co-founder
• MIT Technology Review's coverage of the Raisin technology

Obey that little chip in your body and subscribe to Medical Translation Insight via email or RSS!

Pharmaceutical supply chains have become complex beasts. As drug manufacturers use more and more international suppliers as CMOs (contract manufacturing organizations) and sub-contractors, consumers, physicians, and regulators are demanding adherence to robust QA processes throughout the global manufacturing of pharmaceuticals.

Nearly 80% [PDF link] of all drug substances are manufactured outside of the US. As we have seen with the contaminated heparin from China, there has been lax GMP oversight at many foreign facilities. Coupled with the fact that FDA struggles to inspect overseas facilities, it behooves industry to develop and maintain solid vendor relationships.

It is becoming clear that the pharma industry cannot delegate quality to CMOs. While Baxter's reputation has been adversely impacted by the heparin tragedy, few people know the name of the CMO where their heparin had been manufactured.

FDA is making concerted efforts towards better control of the pharmaceutical quality system through quality-by-design principles. The agency is relying on ICH Q10 [PDF link] as a model. The guidelines states that "responsibilities ... for quality-related activities ... should be included in a written agreement between the contract giver and contract acceptor."

As FDA cracks down on vague (or missing) quality agreements, it is likely that more warning letters will be issued to U.S.-based pharma companies. Poor quality agreements with CMOs don't pay!

Further information:
Marion Weinreb's audio conference QA Oversight of Vendor Management takes a close look at these issues, especially the challenges and success criteria of managing vendors. She provides hands-on information on how to develop, negotiate, and monitor a robust quality agreement.


For a daily delivery of quality news, subscribe to Medical Translation Insight!

Device manufacturers love to complain about the Japanese regulatory process. It is often criticized as among the most difficult and slowest in the world. Now it looks like this so-called "device lag" may disappear.

In December 2008, Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) released a five-year plan to streamline the medical device regulatory process. Funded by an increase in user fees, MHLW's goal was to triple the number of medical device reviewers. At the time, The Gray Sheet suggested that this larger number of reviewers would form the basis for a three-part reform:

1. The government will allow all low-risk Class II products to be approved via a third party (similar to notified bodies used in the European Union).
2. Three review tracks would be established - one for brand-new devices (Shin, in Japanese), on for improved devices (Kairyo), and a one for "me-too" products (Kohatsu), with separate reviewers specializing in each track.
3. Japan will reconsider clinical data requirements, allowing a greater portion of products on the market without pre-market human testing (bringing it more in-line with U.S. practices).

What do all of these efforts get medical device manufacturers? The standard process for the approval of new devices is projected to be cut to 19 months (12 months pre application plus 7 months post application). Overall, MHLW aims for a median approval time of 14 months for regular new medical devices and 10 months for specially designated fast-track new medical devices.

Six months into the "action plan", MHLW has done a terrific job at hiring reviewers and keeping industry informed about its progress. And reactions from the device industry are ecstatic.

Clinica reports of "momentous changes" [PDF link]. The Gray Sheet sees a "spirit of transparency". And AdvaMed "applauds" all of the progress being made.

What a difference a year makes...

Further reading:

• U.S. medical device manufacturers in Japan now have an association of their own.
• Even with these improvements, to be effective in Japan device manufacturers deploy customized translation process for Japanese regulatory submissions.
• Japan continues effort to speed up device reviews is a good overview of the Japanese government's efforts to eliminate the "device lag".

ForeignExchange Translations provides specialized medical translations for regulatory submissions, labeling, and safety reports - in Japanese and dozens of other languages. Contact us to find out more.
 
 

We have been known to embrace our inner geek here at Medical Translation Insight. So it won't come us a surprise that we are all giddy about Paul Schou's binary translator.

His handy little tool converts from/to text and five different numerical systems: binary, hex, base64, DEC/CHAR, and message-digest algorithm.

Now, there are certainly programmers, mathematicians, and assorted savants who can write and translate directly to and from binary code. If you are not one of them but still desperately want to impress your friends, head on over to the binary translator.

01010011 01101111 00101100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01100101 01101110 01110100 00100000 01100001 01101000 01100101 01100001 01100100 00100000 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01110100 01110010 01101001 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101111 01110101 01110100 00101100 00100000 01100100 01101001 01100100 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00111111 00100000 01010111 01100101 01101100 01100011 01101111 01101101 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011 00101101 01100100 01101111 01101101 00100001

If you are comfortable with your inner geek, get an email subscription to Medical Translation Insight.

We recently received the following email:

Last year, localization professionals of different backgrounds and from different companies got together to revive the certificate in localization. The program is part of the University of Washington Extension and was revived, because the market demand for localization engineers and PMs could not be met in the Puget Sound.

Over the past few months, we have seen a growing number of initiatives such as this one. Associations and universities are expanding existing programs and starting brand-new ones.

For translation and localization professionals, there now exist a large variety of education opportunities that range from

• Short-term courses, such as TILP's Certified Localisation Professional program, to
• Certificate programs, like University of Washington's Certificate in Localization, and
• Master's degrees in translation (the EU's EMT network offers extensive choices).

For a more extensive list of training resources, check out the extensive list compiled by the Northwest Translators and Interpreters Society.


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Six months ago, we provided some funny videos of non-native speakers imitating "real" American accents. While (most) everybody thinks that s/he doesn't have an accent, in the U.S. you can usually tell somebody's origin soon after s/he start speaking.

To help identify American English dialects, the Library of Congress maintains more than 500 American speech samples. Some of the voices will be quite familiar (e.g., Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt) while most are seldom heard (Amelia Earhart) or completely unknown.

More information about the "Survey and Collection of American English Dialect Recordings" project is available on the Library of Congress website and in this report [PDF link].


[Via Holly Behl's Twitter feed]


Speaking of Twitter - be sure to follow us @fxtrans!

The Medical Device Directive (MDD 93/42/EEC) as well as the Active Implantable Medical Device Directive (AIMDD 90/385/EEC) have been significantly changed by the European Amended Device Directive (2007/47/EC), and many of these changes are expected to become active in March 2010.

On one hand there are broader definitions of "medical device" and the resulting requirement to translate software is raising a lot of questions from medical equipment companies.

The updated directives will prove challenging - especially for Class I and Class IIa medical device manufacturers, who may now be expected to add clinical evaluations to their current technical documentation in the EU. Clinical evaluations must follow a well-defined and methodologically sound procedure.

Emergo has a good description of this new emphasis on clinical data:

Clinical data are defined as "the safety and/or performance information generated from use of the data, derived from clinical investigations of the device, clinical investigations reported in the scientific literature, and reports on clinical experience."

A requirement, 6a and 5a, was added to the Essential Requirements of the MDD and AIMDD, respectively, that "Demonstration of conformity with the essential requirements must include a clinical evaluation in accordance with" the appropriate section, Annex X for MDD and Annex 7 for AIMDD. Annexes II, III and VII of the MDD are revised to reflect the clinical evaluation in accordance with Annex X.

In Annex X and Annex 7, there is a stipulation that the clinical evaluation must follow a defined and methodologically sound procedure, and the MDD deletes the reference that particularly implantable devices and Class III devices require clinical data. It is expected that clinical evaluations will be expected of even low-risk devices, including Class I devices.

To learn more about expectations for clinical evaluations in the new MDD and for suggested templates for clinical evaluation reports (literature reviews and clinical studies), be sure to listen to Joy Frestedt's presentation on Clinical Data Requirements under the New MDD & AIMDD.


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IEC 60601-1 has become the global benchmark for medical electrical equipment, and many device companies view compliance with IEC 60601-1 as a de facto requirement for most markets.

The third edition of IEC 60601-1 was published in December 2005 but implementation has been slow. One of the reasons is that the third edition is so different from the second edition.

Risk management is inextricably woven into the fabric of this standard. Not only is there a general requirement for manufacturers to establish a risk management process that conforms to ISO 14971 (clause 4.2), but there are also more than one hundred times where the standard directs manufacturers to determine risk acceptability in applying a particular clause.

Certifiers and manufacturers alike are wondering how countries around the world will transition to their national versions of 60601-based collateral and particular standards.

Our colleague and collaborator Leo Eisner gives his view in the current issue of MD&DI. Regulatory Strategies for the Third Edition of IEC 60601-1 provides a good look at the current state of affairs in the U.S., Canada, and Europe.

The upshot is that requirements are all over the map. Over the next two to three years, device manufacturers will need to make sense of these conflicting requirements and different versions of the standard. It promises to be an interesting time!

For more information visit:

• Eisner Safety Consultants' blog
• How to Mark & Label Devices Under IEC60601-1 3rd Edition
• Medical device risk management - best practices for implementation
• IEC's extensive reference section for 60601

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Translation memory (TM) systems have become the equivalent of a workbench for the modern translator. Yet feedback to our recent post Primer: Translation memory vs. glossary indicated that many medical device and pharmaceutical companies are unsure about the benefits and challenges of a TM system.

To help you evaluate the pros and cons, see if any of the following ring true:

• Documentation tends to be repetitive. We wish we could store terms and sentences as they are translated and then re-use them later in the documentation.
• Applications are updated regularly. Why can't we identify changed sections and translate only those?
• Translation takes too long. Wouldn't it be nice to have multiple translators work on one project simultaneously without risking inconsistent terminology?

If you find yourself saying "yes, yes, yes", translation memory technology may be able to help. But there are many issues you need to be aware of before you get started:

Many systems to chose from
Several companies offer competing technologies. Here are some of the many TM products that are available:

• Felix
• Déjà Vu
• TRADOS
• Wordfast
• STAR TRANSIT

How do you decide between these different products? Much depends on personal preference, required functionality, budget considerations, language needs, and compatibility with systems used by suppliers and overseas affiliates.

How does it work?
TM applications are computer-aided translation tools that use database and code-protection features to simplify the translation process. They are designed to improve the quality and efficiency of the human translation process, not to replace it.

The systems basically consist of a database in which each source sentence of a translation is stored together with the target sentence. Any new source sentences will be searched for in the database and a match value is calculated.

When the match value is 100%, the translation of the source sentence from the database is inserted into the text being translated. If the match value is below 100% and above a certain user-definable percentage (i.e., "fuzzy match"), the old translation will be inserted as a translation proposal for the translator to review and edit. Sentences with match values below that margin have to be translated from scratch. New and changed translation proposals will then be stored in the database for future use.

Significant productivity gains
Depending on the types of document, the consistency of the source-language writing, and the software applications used, TM tools can improve productivity levels anywhere from 10% to 50%.

Companies implementing a TM solution typically do so with an eye toward accomplishing one of three objectives:

• improving consistency
• minimizing turnaround time
• reducing translation cost

Of the three objectives, the first—improving consistency—is most readily obtainable. Reductions in turnaround times and translation costs require careful analysis and planning; TM technology is not a silver bullet.

Four main obstacles
TM tools are not appropriate for all operations. Even in ideal applications, significant hurdles obstruct the way to reducing turnaround time and/or translation costs:

1. Process
TM tools do not easily fit into existing translation or localization processes. To take advantage of TM technology, translation processes must be redesigned, from the ground up.

One example of this is the issue of in-country reviews. Many medical device manufacturers require translation sign-offs by local staff. Does this mean that the entire text needs to be approved? If yes, this deprives the translation manager of a significant opportunity for cycle-time reduction. If no (i.e., only the new or changed text needs to be approved), a process must be designed so that the client, translation vendor, and reviewer can identify, exchange, and sign-off on text segments without context.

2. Customization required
Despite what you hear from tool vendors, few people are able to effectively use any of the translation-memory applications straight out of the box. Some of the programs use non-standard menus and dialog boxes. All of them will require the user to learn new terms and concepts. And none of the filters to desktop-publishing applications such as InDesign or QuarkXPress work without significant adaptation.

When you invest in a TM application, plan on buying sufficient training and customization support!

3. Significant investment required
The price of the software runs from a few hundred to thousands of dollars per user, depending on the product you buy. Your start-up costs will also include the price of importing your past translations into the TM database (this processes is called "alignment"), the training as mentioned above, plus any add-on products such as DTP filters, terminology tools, etc.).

On-going maintenance does not come cheap either. Plan on upgrading each user to a Windows PC with a high-end CPU, lots of memory, and a fast network card. TM databases also require significant hard disk space. Each user, and—in the case of centrally managed TMs—the server, will require additional space for TM storage.

4. Protect your TM investment
Most of the benefits from your TM investment will be enjoyed over the long haul. You must take proactive steps to protect this investment:

• Develop a strategy for maintaining the TM databases, either at your site or at the translation vendor's site. Issues like frequency of updates, regular distribution of TMs, as well as backup and archiving need to be considered.
• Who owns the translation memory? The agreement between you and your vendor needs to clearly stipulate this.
• How confidential is your TM? Some translation vendors and individual linguists re-use (or even share) databases. Depending on the confidentiality of your translation projects, state your expectations as part of a contract or nondisclosure agreement.
• Be sure that your TM system supports the TMX format for exchanging TM data between competing systems. Without this support, it could be difficult and expensive to switch translation vendors. (Visit http://www.opentag.com for more information.)

A few things to remember
For every company that successfully employs translation- memory technology, there is one for whom the experiment has ended in disappointment and lost opportunities.

To make translation memory work, be sure to:

• carefully review and, where necessary, redesign your translation processes;
• perform a detailed Return on Investment analysis, taking into account "hidden costs";
• involve all affected parties, including IS, your translation supplier, and in-country affiliates;
• develop a long-term strategy for maintaining, protecting, and leveraging your TM assets.

As with many new technologies, translation memory offers the opportunity for significant time and money savings. Just be sure not to rush into it blindly.

Still want to know more? Check out the following resources:

• Wikipedia's excellent overview of translation memories
• Central update of TMs by translators
• An Introduction to Translation Memory Technology
• 100% text repetitions: To review or not to review

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As medical translators, we are always on the lookout for relevant terminology lists and glossaries. Wordnik is the latest addition to our tool chest.

Currently in beta, Wordnik isn't so much a dictionary as a way to explore words and expressions. For each search term in its database, Wordnik gives useful links for definitions, usage examples, and pronunciation.

Also useful are the Flickr images that get displayed. It's nice to be able to get a visual.

Wordnik claims to provide information on 1.7 million English words. And "words" mean just that - almost no sentences or expressions are included. In other words, you can find information on "ligaments" but not "medial collateral ligaments".

The site also struggles with different versions of a term. For instance, "ligaments" and "ligament" contain different information. Similarly, the site maintains entries for close to a dozen different variations of "orthopedic".

Despite these limitations, Wordnik deserves a place amongst your bookmarks.

Further reading:

• Medical word of the day
• Treasure trove of medical glossaries
• glossifier helps you understand medical articles

[Via @kvashee at Twitter]


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Las Vegas, the place of hangovers, fun and romance. Many of the visitors getting swept away by all the excitement feel the need to get married in Vegas. Some of these weddings are planned well in advance and some are spur of the moments decisions.

With all of these knots getting tied, it's no wonder that Clark Country (which contains the city of Las Vegas) provides ample information to visiting lovebirds looking to get married.

Trying to be helpful, the county recorder's office provides information in different languages. The German page presents an interesting study in machine translation (at least, I assume the page was not translated by a human linguist).

The most startling issue is right on top: The English heading "Congratulations from the Clark County Recorder's Office!" somehow turned into the German equivalent of "Congratulations to the office of the tape recorder!"

While it's easy to make fun of bad machine translations, this particular instance poses an interesting question: What would be better for Clark County - no translation at all (i.e., letting international visitors translate the English version themselves) or providing a free (or next-to-free) translation that contains some, uh, rough patches?

On one hand, I can see how the current translations make perfect sense. Why pay to have this content translated? This kind of web site is a poster child for not translating your web page: Translation is free on the Internet and for Clark County, there is no image issue. The relatively poor translation quality is acceptable and may even be appreciated by visitors.

On the other hand, if it's done poorly, why do it at all? If I am visiting Las Vegas from abroad and don't speak enough English to understand the main information page, how will I navigate the rest of the process? Also, does providing a pre-translated page really represent a benefit? Visitors could also get the content translated themselves - Google Translate actually provides a much better translation.

What do you think? Is this a case of "good enough" quality and good customer service or an example of ignorance by Clark County's web team?

Further reading:

• What constitutes "good enough" in (machine) translation?
• Assessing quality in machine translation
• Commercial translation by machine

[Via the Übersetzungsfehler blog]


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We just started using Twitter, and it has proven to be a terrific communication tool, and we are looking for more folks to follow.

Does anybody know of a lists of regulatory experts and translation service providers that are on Twitter?


Are you on Twitter? Follow us at @fxtrans.

August is behind us and in these parts, the weather is already getting cooler. But on the audio conference front, things are heating up!

2009 is shaping up to be our busiest year yet. We have produced 75 conferences, and broadened the topics that we covered, and introduced several new speakers.

In August, our top five events were (drum role, please):

1. Oncology Trials in 2009: Challenges & Innovative Approaches


2. Off-Label Information: Regulation & Dissemination


3. From Emerging to Emerged: Clinical Development in Asia Pacific


4. Writing and Responding to RFPs & RFQs


5. Creating Policies and Procedures That Work

If you have any suggestions for audio conference topics, send us a note!


Are you on Twitter? Follow us at @fxtrans.

After a decade of web design work, web usability is still an important topic. We conducted the following interview several years ago with folks from Usability Sciences. It's interesting to see how relevant their advice still is - whether or not you decide to localize your site!

1. Please define exactly what web usability is and why it matters.
Web usability testing is a series of steps geared at making a web site more effective. The steps in the process include:

1. bring in "real" consumers,
2. give them "real" tasks,
3. observe how the consumer interacts with the site,
4. focus on any "conceptual hurdles" which may be impeding a user from completing their task, and finally
5. make recommendations that would fix the problem based on user comments and our own experiences.

Why it matters is relatively obvious. Because of the speed and convenience inherent in the Internet, if a Web site doesn't meet a user's functionality expectations (in other words: if it is not navigationally intuitive), users will abandon the ship in search of smoother sailing on some other site. If users can't find it on your site, they will try somewhere else. Our goal is to make the path from Point A to Point B as logical and tangible as we can.

2. What makes a poor site poor and a clean site clean? Can you give examples?
In some ways this is a trick question: When an experienced MS Word users look at the animated paper-clip, they say, "THIS IS HORRIBLE! - What were they thinking?" Well, if you could put yourself in the shoes of someone just starting to learn Word, you might actually like that bouncy little assistant. This is definitely a factor when you are analyzing web sites.

More often than not, however, sites that are commonly considered "poor" have problems that begin on the home page. You may see an overwhelming amount of disorganized text, or a series of misleading and mislabeled links. Whether they're selling CDs or offering information — it is often obvious that the focus is NOT on the user's experience, but rather on the goals of the company.

Pages are crammed with flashing banner ads, slow-loading pictures, and navigation paths that leave visitors stranded — all in an attempt to hard sell. It seems that some dot-coms are of the opinion that building a strong, trusting relationship with their customers is not as important as it would be for a brick and mortar.

3. Clicking to another site is easy; what happens when a web user can't find what she wants?
Well, that's pretty obvious: they leave. And, importantly, once they're gone, they're gone. Understanding the pulse of your consumer is vital to the success of your site.

4. What's the attention span for online users? How long are they willing to try to find what they're looking for?
Short answer: about 30 seconds. If they don't know where to begin on a site, they're gone.

Long answer: Generally speaking, there are some trends in how long a typical Internet user is willing to wait, or how much time they will spend at any one site searching for a product, service or information. The site's usability and functionality along with several other factors largely impact this attention span.What is going on in their environment:

• Is the TV on? Is the baby crying?
• Do they have a slow connection to the Internet?
• Do they have the patience to search through the site?
• Do they know that other sites are out there?

5. As more and more non-English speaking users are logging-on the web, how can web designers make sites easy to understand for a global audience?
How to make a site that appeals to not only different experience levels but to different languages is a HUGE undertaking. This is a difficult challenge that is just now being recognized by the web community. There really is no one-size-fits-all web site. We have seen that the customization and content being specific to countries is a vital thing to do.

6. What are some of the pros and cons of the different approaches (e.g., centralized vs. decentralized production of multilingual content, translation of English content vs. creating original target-language content)?
This is an interesting subject because there are definitely differences in the results we see in cases where English content is translated to other languages as opposed to creating original target-language content. If done incorrectly, the translation of English content can cause confusion and poor readability of the target texts. It can be so bad that much of the meaning is lost in the translation. This is especially true in Asian markets.

In our opinion, if an e-business is truly targeting foreign markets, creating original target-language content is critical. It may require additional expense but the return will be significantly greater.

7. What kind of problems can you envision when creating a user-friendly site in, say, 8 languages?
The differences in how consumers expect the information to be organized and categorized are amazing. The culture and language make a big difference. In the U.S., personalization of e-commerce sites is a real positive thing for users. In Switzerland, on the other hand, a user once stated, "Don't say 'Good Morning, Friedrich.' You don't know me!".

A good conceptual starting point would be to approach the design as if it were intended for children. By that I mean to keep it conceptually simple, make navigation straightforward and eliminate guesswork. Also include something shiny :-)

8. What are some of the "cardinal sins" of web usability?
Users report dissatisfaction most frequently when they encounter inconsistent navigation and a lack of "where am I?" indicators. New visitors to a site really want to know how they got to whatever page they are viewing, and how to get back.

Users also experience discomfort when presented with flashing text and graphics. It portrays an unprofessional image. Some users associate these sorts of text and graphics to the not-so-lucky side of Las Vegas. Also, users notice how well everything fits on a given page. If there is a great deal of unused real estate or an over abundance of scrolling it is a definite turn-off and in some cases it is a "show-stopper."

9. How exactly do you measure site usability? Do you conduct focus groups or do you have proprietary software?
Essentially we approach testing from two perspectives. The first approach involves competitive benchmark testing methods and is employed to obtain quantifiable results to use for comparative purposes. This involves precise measurements and timings. The full story is rarely in the "numbers," though, and we also use a second, more interpersonal, user-centered approach. This allows users to really explore sites and software while conducting detail-oriented clinical interviews to obtain more qualitative insights.

10. Many critics say that people really go to the web for information, and it's getting harder and harder to find exactly what one is looking for. What simple steps can a web designer take to help people find their way?
Home page layout is vitally important. If your site has five different audiences you are trying to cater to, it is critical that they each have their own area. The home page should be working similar to a concierge; "OK, what's your question? Oh, just step over to that room."

A site that we tested recently illustrates this point well. Nearly every division of a company wanted space on the home page, and as a result it was a cluttered, nearly indecipherable mess. After testing, it was determined that the best course of action was to employ this concierge concept. The new start page essentially asked visitors, "Who are you, and what are you looking for?" So if you came to the site intending to purchase something, you would click on the large "Buy product" link as opposed to reading through close to one hundred small links and hoping you were clicking the right one. This seems simple enough, but again it was a case of the company putting their needs ahead of their target market.

11. How can a site designer break tradition (i.e., nav bar on the left-hand side) and still maintain site usability?
The most important thing here is to ask yourself why you want to break tradition. It can be a difficult proposition. We tested a marketing web site, and they wanted their navigation on the bottom - just to be different! Well, they definitely were. None of the consumers liked it, because the navigation paradigm had shifted too far from what they were used to. What we deal with is what people do and do not find intuitive to use.

12. Do visitors actually use "site maps" or are site maps evidence of a poorly designed site?
Site maps are a good thing. Some people may have trouble with whatever navigation options are offered, and using the site map may be more effective. This is a good strategy to retain as many users and visitors as possible. Also, users who don't use the site map won't be turned off by its presence, and those people who need it have it, and are more likely to continue viewing the site.

For more info, go to:

• Talk about "usability", not "quality"
• Global web usability challenges
• ForeignExchange's web globalization services

Are you on Twitter? Follow us at @fxtrans.

Not long ago, any editor and proofreader taking pride in her craft would work using pen and paper, scribbling proofreader's marks in the margin with a red pen. Oh, how outdated and quaint!

Or is it?

The Signal vs. Noise blog recently posted a good defense of the old approach. Track change" features have been standard fare in word-processing software for several years now. But improved clarity and ease of use tilted the author's preference towards the old skool ways.

When looking at an example of a manual edit vs. a computer-generated "redline", it's clear that the manual markup is neater and clearer - if you know that three underlines means "capitalize this text".

Editing with pen and paper provides other advantages as well: Text can be printed in different sizes and with various spacing (double-spaced used to be the de facto standard). The printed source and target language texts can easily be viewed side-by-side, and - this is my favorite little trick when proofing for layout and mechanical issues – turning pages up-side-down means helps the proofer not getting distracted by the text.

But while manual markups have clear advantages, they also slow down the process. Edits have to be processed and then proofed again. Coordinating or exchanging comments across teams is cumbersome and error-prone (I remember many a cut-off or illegible fax transmission).

When a trusted editor works in a word processor, she can redline the text and the author/translator/proofer can review and accept all of her changes in minutes - even if they are separated by thousands of miles.

How about you? Do you have a copy of proofreader's marks hanging on your wall and a set of red pens on your desk or do you exclusively use track changes in a word processor?


Further reading:

• Designers Toolbox contains a good of list proofreader's marks as well as other helpful design/edit tools.
• The GITS Blog featured helpful tips on how to maximize efficiency and quality when proofing on-screen.
• Take the tedium out of proofreadinger (manual or on-screen) by using QA tools like ApSIC XBench.

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Software application development is rarely designed, built, and tested with wide-ranging locale requirements in mind. As a result, there is often an expensive surprise waiting when it comes time to translate or simply support user data like complex character sets, sorting, and variable formatting.

Cultural differences in expressing things like dates, numerical units, postal addresses, phone numbers, and currencies represent a whole new level of difficulty. However, when internationalization is performed effectively, software can be quickly leveraged for any worldwide market opportunity.

The current issue of Multilingual features a good article on software internationalization. Adam Asnes of LingoPort does a nice job providing the rationale for internationalization in both emotional ("internationalize or die") and business terms.

The ROI calculations were drawn from a client's experience and give engineering and localization managers a great tool for the old "it costs less to find and fix issues at the source" argument. An early version of the article was featured in LingoPort's newsletter and can be viewed here [PDF link].

For more information on software internationalization, check out Adam's webinar Best Practices for Software Internationalization and primer on software internationalization.

And for those with a mind for numbers, here are three more articles that deal with quantifying translation-related investments:

• ROI for terminology management
• Of ROI and translation
• Determine the ROI of XML

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In the West, India is often regarded as a huge, populous country with one official language – English. Companies exporting to India frequently assume that using English is sufficient, but the complex reality of the situation is that only a small percentage of India’s population speaks English at a reasonably high level.

India is made up of 35 states with a total of 22 official "8th Schedule" languages, each of which is used in one or more states. These languages can be further subdivided into around 400 dialects. One state can have several official languages, such as Hindi and Bengali.

On a nationwide level, Hindi is the official language of India. English also has the status of an official language in India, but this status is re-evaluated regularly. Roughly 30% of the population speaks Hindi, followed by Bengali, Telugu, Marathi, Tamil and Urdu. All official documents must be written in at least three languages: English, Hindi and in the official language(s) of the respective state

British English is officially taught in Indian schools. "Inglish" is a term describing the English spoken in India. Of the over one billion inhabitants of India, only about 40 million actually use English commonly. Inglish is characterized by the influence of regional languages and by archaic words and phrases stemming from colonial times.

From a technical standpoint, differing writing systems are problematic due to the lack of a unified platform supporting the various written forms. Several languages share one common writing system, while others such as Bengali, Tamil or Malayalam each have their own forms. Urdu, Kashmiri and Sindhi use Arabic, while the latter two can also be written in Devanagari.

Information geared toward the Indian market has to be localized differently depending on the language. Content that can be localized include forms of address, numerals, date formats, calendars, etc. For example, numerals are not always clustered together in groups of three, but in other ways as well, such as 1,23,456. Measurements and weights must sometimes be converted too.

Cultural aspects should not be underestimated. They are highly important due to India’s long history and religious past and should be taken into consideration for information or advertising to come across correctly.

As a rapidly growing market for Western companies, India holds huge potential but also presents huge challenges. Solving the language puzzle is one way to ensure entry to, and competitive in, this appealing market.


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This gem is brought to you via the Terminology Blog.

August, the silly season of translation... But we didn't let that stop us from publishing some good content. According to our readers, here are the posts that got the most attention in August:

1. 50 Things Successful People Have in Common - Find the pieces that make sense to you; what can it hurt?


2. Test translations - suck it up or step aside - Some strong feelings about this one.


3. Translators in harm's way - This was prompted by attacks on Novartis' CEO.


4. Making a difference through our work - Is this the best pharma commercial ever?


5. Customized medical translation is a hairy knuckle dragger - Part two of taking a look at the pros and cons of a customized approach to our business.

If you are in the U.S. or Canada, I wish you a pleasant long weekend. Happy reading!

"Build it and they will come" is an apt description of how many organizations design Internet sites for international users. This approach isn't overly concerned with cultural or national nuances and instead tends to ask the question "Why can't they all just speak English?"

And, in fact, many of the same rules of good web design apply, regardless of who the audience is, for example:

• design for lowest common denominator in browser and screen resolution
• make important functions easy to find
• develop templates to help build consistent pages
• ensure that pages print legibly in black and white

Unfortunately, regardless of language or market, many sites fall short of "good design" principles. Plus, when going overseas, a number of additional pitfalls are regularly encountered:

1. Making sites too personal
In much of the world, business interactions tend to be more formal than in North America. For example, in Japan, you wouldn't address people by their first name. This has an impact on web design where personalized sites are all the rage. Personalized greetings like "Welcome back, Frank" also don't work well in most parts of Switzerland - in fact, Frank will probably take his business elsewhere.

2. Running afoul of local laws
In Europe, privacy concerns loom large. For instance, some countries have strict rules to govern the use of browser "cookies". In addition, there are trade rules (you cannot sell an Dell PC to Cuba or Nazi paraphernalia on European sites) and health laws (the U.S. Agriculture Dept. bans the import of raw-milk cheeses) to contend with.

3. U.S.-centric world view
Many sites fall into this trap when the original developers did not know that foreign-language versions of the site would be created down the line. Commonly, problems exist with:

• measurements (the metric system is the worldwide standard)
• paper format (most of the world uses A4 when trying to print documents)
• dates (the international norm is ISO 8601:2004(E))
• time (most countries use the 24-hour clock)
• a lack of internationalization, i.e., translatable items are not separated from the code.

4. Poor foreign-language support
Nothing says to an international visitor that this site isn't built for Europeans than a square box being displayed (instead of the Euro symbol) because the page was built with an incorrect character endoing. Similarly, many sites don't check (or don't know how to check) that their forms can handle double-byte input, and that overseas email messages aren't garbled by the company's servers.

5. Difficult-to-use international gateway
After going through the expense and hassle of providing international sites, it is astonishing how many organizations make it difficult for the user to find their non-English sites. Sometimes access is buried in an "international" text link at the bottom of a page or access to foreign-language pages is via country flags, which may or may not represent the visitor's language. For instance, does the flag of France represent all French speakers worldwide?.

The upshot: there is no universally perfect way of handling this but you want to make sure that you make your international site easy to use - for most of your users, most of the time.

6. U.S. look and feel
Designers beware: some icons don't travel well! A common example of this is the ubiquitous shopping cart. It is easy to forget (or never to know) that the shopping experience in Korea or Switzerland is quite different from that in the U.S. and that if I live in one of these countries, my shopping container looks very different.

Japanese and Westerners have fundamentally different design tastes. Be sure to scrutinize colors, GIF designs, and American symbols and expressions for their appropriateness overseas and develop international sites that meet local needs.

7. Pages that are too heavy
Nothing turns off users quicker than slow-loading sites. Heavy pages are usually caused by too many large, high-resolution graphics. But designers love graphics and many forget that in some regions of the world, getting a modem connection is a challenge. If you are going to create a heavy, slow site, you better make it worth the wait.

Going global gracefully
The key to successful marketing has always been to speak to your customer's needs. When entering foreign markets, you must first speak your customer's language. A multilingual web site represents a critical step toward cementing your company's international presence.

By combining best-of-breed globalization technology and translation services, companies can enhance their international brands, improve their market positions, and make their global Internet presence a resounding success.

Three more to read:

• Differences in Japanese and Western website aesthetics
• Global by design blog
• 6 reasons NOT to translate your web site

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Earlier this summer, the Slovak Parliament passed a controversial amendment of the Slovak Language Law. The law requires Slovak to be used in all public communication and mandates fines of as much as 5,000 euros per offense.

Critics are up in arms over the discriminatory nature of the law. For instance, euobserver.com has called the law "one of the most extraordinary pieces of legislation imaginable in a democratic country"

It is the country's large Hungarian-speaking minority (roughly 10% of the population) that is primarily impacted by this. But the country is also home to Ukrainian, Roma, and other minorities. Interestingly, the small Czech minority is exempt from its restrictions.

Supporters of the law claim that critics use "historicising and hystericising malicious, and sometimes even ridiculous, propaganda" and that the law in fact does not restrict the use of minority languages in Slovakia and that "where the text touches on the use of minority languages, it does so only in order to liberalise their use even more, that is, to broaden or simplify it."

For the full detail on the law, position papers, and petitions against it, head on over to the European Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages.


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A representative from a major medical device company recently asked us this question:

"In Europe, medical device manufacturers now need to translate the software interface (it's considered part of the device); does the same thing apply in Japan?"

With the deadline for the new MDD quickly approaching in Europe, the question of what elements of the software interface to localize for which market is being pondered across the device industry.

After querying several regulatory consultants about the current situation in Japan, the answer seems to be that localized software is nice to have and not yet required. Some of the considerations pointed out by the consultants include:

• risk management (localization would be an important part of this)
• competitive landscape
• type of device (language abilities of users)
• localization costs

As with most big regulatory questions, there is a good bit of gray here - be sure to check with your Japanese regulatory experts to make any go/no go decision around localizing your software interface.

Three more to read:

• Japan's Revised PAL: What Device Companies Need to Know
• Effective Translation Process for Japan Regulatory Submissions
• U.S. device manufacturers form Japanese association

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