This is a follow up response to my previous note which listed the currently
available web localization tools.
Please see my comments below.
----- Original Message -----
From: Sheila Dehner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, November 04, 1999 3:22 PM
Subject: [MT-List] Translating a Web site
> I am researching the requirements of translating a Web site in 4 languages
> (from English to French, Portuguese, and Spanish). One software I found
is
> called Barcelona from Lernout & Hauspie, but I don't know if it is the
best.
> Also I read something about an Enterprise Translation Server which is
quite
> costly but I don't know if that would be the direction as opposed to a
> software package.
>
> The site we will be translating is a synthetic paper company that will
start
> out being an informational site and then turn into an e-commerce site.
Will
> I need different applications to handle these differences?
When working on sites that are purely informational, you may not need any
real tools. Translating HTML is pretty straight forward, particularly if you
are
already using Workbench (because you can use it's TagEditor tool.)
Once you move to working on ecommerce sites, there may be applications
within the site that have been developed in java, visual basic, etc., and
you
are into another kettle of fish entirely. Basically, you'll end up needing
to translate
the site AND the applications, but you'll probably have to use separate
processes
or tools to do so. You may end up needing some engineering help, but it
really
depends on the sophistication of the site.
> Also, given that the words are so specific to paper, how can I be assured
> that the translation will be accurate without human translators?
> I really need someone to explain to me how machine translation works and
if
> it would be possible to do translation of the kind I am referring without
a
> human translator.
I would never use machine translation. The vast majority of the tools I
listed in
my previous note all rely on human translation, and obviously this is the
best approach,
particularly if the site is intended for customer interactions. The only
time that a
machine approach would be even close to acceptable would be if users needed
only to understand roughly what was being said; for example, a company might
want to have a site for internal use with data that is not critical. When
trying to make
an impression on customers, machine translation would be a bad idea.
(sorry if this is elementary.)
Also, there are a number of issues that you need to worry about in addition
to
just the translation of text, particularly once the company crosses over
into ecommerce.
Here is a list of issues that have to be given consideration when localizing
web sites.
Sorry this is just a list... I'm working on an article for MultiLingual
Computing and Technology which will describe most of these issues in greater
detail, so you could contact me again in a few weeks if you'd like
additional information. In the meantime, check out the W3c (world wide web
consortium) web site for information about internationalization and
localization issues. But be prepared to be overwhelmed. Web site
localization is not as simple as many people think it is.
Web localization issues:
� Graphics
� Tables
� Forms
� Video
� Audio
� Animation
� Email handling
� Formats (time, date, currency, calendars, etc.)
� Visitor Identification/Language Selection Methods
� Sort Order
� Static versus Dynamic Sites
� Dynamic Data
� Database Support for Dynamic Sites
� Handling for Links and Tags
� Establishment of File Structures
� Encoding Methods
� Localization of Applications and Applets (Java, Visual Basic, XML, ASP,
etc.)
� HTML Tagging Convention used (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0)
� Meta characters/Metatags
� Cascading Style Sheets
� Localization of URLs
� International Domain Name Registration
� Legal Issues related to International Commerce
� QA
� Browser Support
--
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