Good briefings result in good translations
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 The
'garbage in/garbage out' (GIGO) syndrome, where the
quality of the output is in direct correlation to
the quality of the input, applies to many life scenarios
but is particularly relevant to the localization process.
The quality of
the brief from our clients directly affects our ability
to achieve their objectives of speed, value for money
and effective communication in local markets but,
unfortunately, not all clients fully appreciate this
connection.
Absolute
must have information |
Helpful
but not essential information |
1.
Source text - final approved version if possible
2. File format or proposed file format
3. Target languages by country
4. Mode of address preferences
5. Language style
6. Services required eg Marcoms Translation
7. Delivery date
8. Delivery format
9. Client approval process
10. Purchase order or written confirmation |
1. Background to campaign or project and/or creative brief
2. Word count
3. Target market and audiences
4. Marketing communications objectives and desired response from target audience
5. Contact details for local approval contacts and their scope for making changes
6. Reference materials that we can use to gauge tone of voice, imagery, style etc
7. Previous or similar recent projects |
The
ideal client brief is outlined below together with
the four main areas of difficulty that we regularly
come up against in the absence of a clear and detailed
brief.
Avoiding
mismatched expectations
A
client, for whom we were localizing their website
into several languages, had assumed that we would
track down the original source files from their various
agencies and could not understand why we kept asking
for them. We had assumed that they would take responsibility
for providing them, our client had assumed that we
would - and a lot of time was lost.
The
best solution for avoiding these misunderstandings
is to put everything in writing at the outset so that
the client cannot slip in additional responsibilities
or files that were not mentioned in the Purchase Order.
Lack
of understanding of the implications of making late
changes
Another
major issue is the lack of client understanding of
the time and cost implications of making amendments
once the project has started. Many do not understand
that to change just one word in English can involve
rebriefing each of the translators, rechecking the
copy in each language, changing the layout if the
new words take up more or less space, and proofreading
again.
The
solution to this problem lies with better client education
about the localization process so that they understand
the implications.
Poor
communication between client and creative agency
Localization
companies often find themselves stuck between the
client and their design agencies. The client is driven
by commercial objectives while the agency wants the
end product to look good in the corporate portfolio.
Neither party has a complete understanding of the
linguistic, cultural, technical, file engineering,
process and project management challenges involved
in localization.
Consequently,
the localization specialist is often faced with copy,
imagery, embedded graphics, fonts and encoding that
will not work beyond the borders of the domestic market
and has to act as a go-between between the two. To
preempt this situation, we try to encourage our clients
to involve us at an early stage as a 'prevention is
better than cure' strategy can save a huge amount
of time and money later down the line.
Who
has control?
The
fourth area of difficulty can be the inherent tension
between the regional marketing centre and the local
contacts. If the approval process hasn't been clearly
defined by the client at the outset of the project,
a great deal of time and money can be lost at this
stage. The client must ensure that they have local
country buy-in before starting the project and that
roles, responsibilities, timelines and processes are
agreed between client and the local offices before
getting the localization specialist involved.
Our
recommended approach towards all client briefing issues
is firmly founded on 'prevention is better than cure'.
Time and money can only ever be saved by getting projects
right from the outset. As an industry, it is in our
interest to ensure that our clients have an understanding
of the linguistic, cultural, technical and process
issues involved in localization so that we can work
with them to achieve their commercial objectives.
Claire
Ingram, Head of Production at ATC member, Wordbank
This
article was originally published in Communicate -
the Association of Translation Companies' newsletter
- www.atc.org.uk
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