Interview with the speaker Loc Kit 2014

Thanks to Mikhail Gorbunov mvgorbunov , Social Quantum, for interesting answers.

Tell us about your work. What is it?
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I am responsible for the quality control of the translation of the urban development simulator "Megapolis", interacting with localization and testing service providers. Among the main features of the localization of this social game, it is worth noting the continuous process of translating updates and fragmentation of texts sent for translation. I plan to talk about this in more detail in my report at the Loc Kit conference, which will be held on April 24.

Are there any interesting examples, localization features for individual languages?

The greatest problem is the translation of text in which variables are used, parts of phrases and names of objects that have no established analogues in the language of translation.

For example, in Asian languages ​​the order of words in a sentence does not coincide with the order of words in European languages; therefore, preserving the formatting of a phrase, if it is divided into several parts, requires the translator to make certain efforts to preserve the meaning of the narration.

If the source text contains only a part of a phrase or phrase, in order to make the best choice of synonyms or to build this part in the target text, the translator needs to provide not only a screenshot, but also a verbal description of the general context. The same applies to objects with similar names: when it may appear that two names belong to the same building, it becomes necessary to distinguish them clearly.

A separate problem is the translation of toponyms, many of which have no analogues in the target languages ​​(especially Asian), so translators become, in a certain sense, pioneers in localizing geographical names into their native languages.

How is the localization process organized? What software do you use?

Translation is carried out with the help of a localization service provider with whom the translated and transferable texts are exchanged daily. I am directly involved in the localization process, acting as an editor for English translation, which serves as a source for other languages, and as a consultant for all translators. MemoQ is used as a CAT program (Computer-assisted translation, translation memory program). It provides all the necessary functions - remote project management, TM (Translation memory), glossaries and the ability to comment on both individual words and entire segments.

How do you feel about using crowdsourcing?

Personally, I am positive. Crowdsourcing allows you to more closely interact with the audience and develop the community. In our case, users are directly involved in improving the quality of localization, reporting errors to developers and receiving incentive rewards for this. Moreover, the translators who are enthusiastic about the game privately report the defects found and suggest options for correcting them.

How do you see the localization process in 5 years?

5 years is a long time for the IT industry, it is difficult to make any predictions. I can only voice my personal opinion, based on the experience of the largest specialists in this field, who publicly share their thoughts, which were voiced, including at the last Loc Kit conference in 2013 . I, like them, expect a significant increase in the volume of information processed and the further development of machine translation systems, allowing the use of machine translation in various fields of activity more widely, but it seems to me that the role of a live translator will not decrease, but its character will change. Machine translation, in the first place, will get rid of the routine and will play a large role in the standardization of translations of the same type texts of the same subject, which will be especially useful in the framework of a single project or drawing up documentation for it.

Name 3 of your achievements.

- That's my cup of tea (I found “my” in work).

- Continuous use of several foreign languages ​​at work, experience in working with different data formats and CAT applications.

- I learned how to interact with teams of localizers, testers and developers, which allowed us to bring the quality of in-line localization of the application to a new level and significantly reduce the number of errors.

What languages ​​do you most often work with?

Localization of the "Megapolis" is carried out in 10 languages, English and Russian are used as workers.

How do you build a localization quality control process?

I am directly involved in the translation process, establishing direct contact with the project translators. In addition, the localization service provider provides localization testing of the product, and testers are also able to communicate directly with the developers.

PS When we agreed on an interview, we still did not know that we would have to postpone the conference in the fall. All the details will be here .