Writing Content for an International Audience

By Roberta Davidson, VP Membership

You are a company that is designing a new video game. Do you name it Soldiers or Robots. If you plan to market in Germany, then you need to know about the anti-violence requirements on products that are marketed in that country. This and other interesting insights about writing for other counties were provided by our speakers, Michael Cardenas and Carole Yourl, at the March meeting.

When writing for localization, Michael outlined these rules:

Write short sentences.
Use easy terminology.
Avoid negative constructions.
Watch punctuation.
Do not use dashes (-) or slashes (/).
Do not form plurals by adding (s).
Make clear and unambiguous statements.
Do not show off.
Watch date format, Do not use 3/12/99. Spell out part of the month – 3 Dec 99.
Watch telephone number and country codes.
Use common names.
Avoid references to seasons, time zones, weather and holidays.
Avoid slang or hip words.
Put important part of your thought at the beginning or end of sentence.
Accuracy in sentence construction is important.
Watch capitalization rules for English.
Beware of screen real estate limitations. Allow for the expansion of 20 characters.

When Carol Yourl first began trying to implement a localization plan, she made mistakes, but learned from them. There are no courses in preparing for localization. She discussed how to prepare for localization

Research possible translation companies.
Get signed Nondisclosure Agreements early.
Discuss your requirements and theirs (lead time, times zones, deadlines, price, quality).
Be sure to have a glossary of terms relating to the product, the company, the technology, specific product lines for consistency.
Give them your style guide.
Do spot check on translations. Do not trust your vendor.
Your involvement is writing good English is key.
Where is the payoff?
- Credibility with the rest of your company who are marketing and selling the product by being on time with quality translations
- More sales. Repeat customers
- Fewer customer complaints
- Minimize legal ramifications
- First to market (competitive advantage)
- Award-winning products and documents

Both speakers agreed that language was not enough, that when writing for translation, culture is the most important element.

Michael Cárdenas is President and Founder of Multilingual Translations, Inc. (now Local Concept), an international corporation with 20 years experience in technical translation and localization. Carol Yourl is employed at Viewsonic Corporation, where she has been writing for the international market for nine years. Carole has been instrumental in the success of Viewsonic's expansion in the worldwide market.

Editor's note: In April, our community presents Steve Krug, author of Don't Make Me Think! A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability.

The April meeting is one week earlier than usual--on April 6. Don't miss the April meeting. Go to www.stc-sd.org/events-meetings for details.