Miloš Matović

Machine translation. Artificial intelligence. Neural language processing. Predictive modelling. These fancy terms have been flashing everywhere over the past several years to the point when it seems that all your localization problems can be solved with a double click. As of 2021, they can’t. In this article, we will try and explain the exact role of technology in the translation/localization process in the simplest possible terms and help you understand what it really can and cannot do for you.

In literally every survey that we have ever conducted among our clients from the pharmaceutical and medical devices industries, accurate terminology has always been singled out as the primary concern in translation for these sectors. In this article, we will take a closer look at the reasons for this and how the translation technologies can help us address this issue and ensure accuracy of terminology.

Cars. They are complex, sophisticated and ubiquitous. Their build quality and safety features are extremely important in our everyday lives. Yet, much of what we need to know when purchasing a car is contained in its brand – luxurious, family, sport cars, SUVs (and more) are all safely tucked in the brand names whose reputation has been carefully developed for decades. And it is probably true that for most of these decades, the localization requirements of the automotive industry were mostly limited to marketing materials and user manuals. But all things change.

In almost every survey that we have ever conducted in our efforts to learn more about the expectations of our clients, turnaround time is featured among the top 3 challenges that our clients want to see resolved.

Patient-facing content includes all medical and pharmaceutical materials targeted at patients and end users who are not necessarily familiar with expert terminology and procedures.

Depending on their purpose, these materials may cover a wide range of topics, from legal information to instructions for use of medical devices, and all of this must be conveyed in a clear and unambiguous manner to make the information understandable to the non-expert target audiences.

Nobody likes the grammar police of the internet. Unless somebody is typing an email or any other material with the purpose to truly make an impression, spellcheckers usually annoy people. Nobody likes being corrected  for something so banal as language because people tend to view language as nothing more than a communication tool and don’t bother with it as long as it works. Fair enough. So why should you even care about the language quality at all?

We may perceive translation in various ways – it may be good, bad, correct, incorrect, fluent, awkward, poetic, mechanical and so on – but it is easy to forget that translation is actually an asset. To be more precise, our painstakingly and successfully localized materials for specific markets are assets simply by virtue of their function – they generate profit, reduce expenses and improve sales.

Editable file is one of the language industry’s magic phrases that activates certain powers such as cost/time optimization. The reason is simple – editable files can be easily imported in CAT tools and thus enable the localization teams to apply the carefully developed processes of linguistic and technical adaptation, quality control and optional DTP. Simply put – there is no localization process and reliable quality control without the CAT software and CAT software can only be used with editable files.

Localization is more than a translation. You have heard it many times, we have said many times. But what more really means goes beyond the additional phases that make localization process more complex than your good old translation – localization is more than translation because its effects must be equal (at worst comparable) to the effects of any material generated in the target language/culture/market.

The slightly ominous phrase digital disruption has been a buzzword over the past several years. In this article we will try to explain what does it actually mean, what is the role of translation solutions in the process and how does it affect the language industry. What is disrupted? Digital disruption is another name for […]

Every serious language service provider has a quality management system in place that may include various steps depending on the project requirements. However, these quality management systems are always built around the two major phases of translation/localization project – translation and revision (also known as bilingual editing) that are performed by two individual linguists or linguist teams.

In Part One and Part Two we covered the fundamental values and definitions of localization.

This time we are taking a closer look at how mature organizations approach localization efforts – and of course, by “mature” we mean neither “old” nor “large” – but simply strategically oriented companies with established processes, developed strategies and clearly set goals.

We covered some of the basic concepts of localization in our previous article. This time, we are taking a look at the real stuff – the monetary and non-monetary benefits of localization.

People won’t buy a product/service they don’t understand. This is the core reason for every localization effort and everything that it may include, from market research, development of custom technological solutions, translation to linguistic fine-tuning. But is product/service localization really sufficient for the global success?

In case you have heard about localization, your coworkers are telling you about its stellar benefits and its differences from the good old translation, but you are still struggling to grasp the full story, this mini series of articles is for you.

Here’s the basic scenario: you have the translated versions of your documents, but the translation wasn’t performed in a CAT tool and you have to build a translation memory because these documents need to be updated or changed across the languages, you want to retain the existing elements, style and terminology, and you have integrated CAT technology in your processes in the meantime. The solution is a neat piece of language engineering called translation alignment.

The amount of textual materials used before, during and after clinical research is often massive as they include a wide range of documents composed by healthcare professionals, legal and financial experts and patients. If any of these documents needs to be updated or changed for any reason, amending and updating the translated versions may be difficult and time-consuming.

Luckily, there are processes and technologies designed to make these actions painless.

Following our introduction into the entire e-commerce website L10n affair, we now take a look at further technical, cultural and marketing aspects that need to be considered if you want to make a strong foreign market entry and achieve positive global presence.

Transcreation is most definitely not one of the things that spring to mind when we talk about the medical translation or localization of pharmaceutical materials. With all the seriousness of study protocols, summaries of product characteristics and correspondences with the regulatory bodies, we tend to forget that medical and pharmaceutical companies also need marketing solutions to propel their business and reach their customers and clients.

Travel and hospitality industry requires frequent updates of content, changes of target audiences and the advertisement media and therefore represents one of the most active areas of the language industry. The particular challenges of the industry can be overcome easily if the clients and providers of language services work together and, of course, if they both have a clear understanding of the nature of the industry and the benefits of language solutions to its growth.

The task of language professionals is essentially the same across industries and can always be summarized as helping companies and organizations communicate their messages to the target audiences, partners and clients. In this article we take a look at what medical translators need to know to make this communication possible in the vast and the diverse world of life sciences.

Localization of a website to one or more markets is always a serious task that takes time, resources, smart project management and a good deal of patience to be performed the right way. Thankfully, there are technologies designed to optimize the L10n process and integrate it into website development, regardless of the scope of content or the number of locales.

Verifika QA is a dedicated quality assurance solution with an option for development of custom profiles to meet the requirements of various projects in different language pairs. Its ratio of flexibility and reliability is the reason we have been using Verifika QA for years. Verifika has also been a Ciklopea Summer School Technological Partner every year since the school’s inception in 2015.

This year’s LocWorld34 conference, held in Barcelona on 14–16 June 2017, fulfilled the expectations of being a major event for language and technology professionals focused on cross-cultural communication and international business.

The third Ciklopea Summer School is taking place in Zagreb, 21 August – 1 September 2017.

We are proud to announce that Ciklopea will take part in this summer’s LocWorld conference in Barcelona, 14-16 June 2017.

Following the months of hard work, we are happy to announce that our brand new website has been launched.

Terminology management is a powerful tool that saves time, energy, and money, especially when used in conjunction with translation memories and CAT tools.

Localization is a multilevel process that can be assessed, defined and redefined from various perspectives, but when it comes to global business, there’s only one definition – the localization of a product/service is a powerful vehicle designed to take your company directly to the international clients and customers.

In this article we take a look at the most common opportunities and challenges to translation productivity.

The complex and diverse landscape of the South Slavic linguistic area may often seem bewildering from the outside. How many languages are spoken in the Balkans? Is it Serbo-Croatian? Do I have to localize my product to Bosnian or to Croatian? – These are some of the questions every LSP is likely to hear from new clients entering into the markets of Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro or Serbia, while the scientific and technical acronyms and names for these languages such as BCS, BCSM, Serbo-Croatian or Central South Slavic diasystem are of little help in clarifying this confusion.

In fact, it doesn’t really matter – as long as you use the writing system of choice consistently.

“From top floor to shop floor” is a phrase used to describe a business organization in its entirety

Regardless if it is an interactive presentation of a brick and mortar company or if it is the interface of an online service, website is the main channel of communication of contemporary world. Thus, the fastest, safest and the most efficient way to reach the global customers and expand your business globally is through website localization.

Serendipity is frequently listed among the most beautiful English words, as well as among the ones most difficult to translate to other languages.

“So you see that a MacGuffin is actually nothing at all.”

“Mad as a hatter” is an English phrase meaning “crazy” and although its origin is unclear, it actually has nothing to do with Lewis Carroll’s memorable character from “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.

Financial companies often require language services, but due to the highly sensitive nature of the translation and localization of financial materials can be demanding and finding an adequate LSP can present a challenge.

Considering the dynamics of industrial translation, one of the most essential things is free and clear flow of information within the teams, the uncluttered communication and a positive human connection between the people who actually perform the linguistic services.

Whatever the price of professional translation may be, the price of a bad, inadequate or missing translation is always higher

The Atomic Era conviction that computers will eliminate the need for translators – or even the need to learn foreign languages at all – within a few short years still persists. But will it?

In addition to its numerous obvious benefits, professional management of translation assets preserves the integrity of PILs and similar medical and pharmaceutical documents.

If the content is originally written for localization (i.e. globalized), the localization process can be streamlined to take significantly less energy, time and resources.

The Pareto principle or the 80-20 rule in its simplest form states that, for better or worse, roughly 80% of the effect comes from 20% of the causes.

Every startup has essentially one advantage when compared to big companies – a clean slate and the possibility to create a unique corporate identity and write a whole new success story, without being burdened by the failures or successes of the past. Beginnings are always exciting and promising, but for these very reasons they are also risky and that is why the examples of big companies should not be ignored. This article features some of the translation and localization lessons every startup can learn from the big companies.

This article features some of the tips that may help you choose the right course for your business expansion.

The price of a bad, awkward or inaccurate translation is too steep, making the price of a good, professional human translation the long run reasonable and low.

The world is big and replete with possibilities. The Internet is constantly growing more multilingual by the hour and reflecting these possibilities. Yet, picking the right one for your business may be tricky.

The main benefits of this language services model are process optimization and the reduction of costs and time, as well as improved translation quality and consistency.

The old adage says that the most personal is the most universal, and it is this seemingly paradoxical idea perfectly describes the relation between localization and globalization

Тhere are substantial differences between working with freelance translators and an LSP. This article is about the most important of these differences. TEP process

Once you have set up your business and your website is online, there are several points of consideration that will lead you through the localization process easily and successfully.

The tasks of project managers in charge of localization projects include a wide range of activities, all of which have one ultimate goal – the timely, cost-effective, and high quality execution of a localization project.

It is necessary, but it is just not enough to translate the textual and to adapt the nontextual elements of the website. Quality, style, tone and accuracy of the localized information are essential.

The continually rising e-commerce websites that represent one of the most vital segments of online business may benefit the most from the advantages of the translation proxy.

This type of translation services uses proxy servers to render multilingual versions of a website

People prefer to use products and services in their native language wherever they are,

These words hide the exciting story of their origin, stretching back to the days of Ancient Greece and Rome, and include layers of religion, astrology, mathematics, and astronomy

There are many ways to learn a foreign language. This article features several real-life tips from some us who speak several languages.

In addition to revolutionizing the learning process and providing a multilevel benefit to society, e-learning is also a vital and expanding market expected to hit the US$107 billion mark during 2015.

Online store localization is one of the language industry fields where the differences between translation and localization truly come to the fore.

If your potential translation provider asks you some of these questions, it means that you are dealing with a company that truly knows the business.

Making a website global means having it localized into one or more foreign languages and territories. In this article, we look at the things that one needs to know before having a website localized.

Some people claim that Ciklopea was an Illyrian deity, others say she was a Greek goddess while some find her origins in the Ancient Persia and Egypt.