Main Content
Heidelberg 2002
Standards in Localization and Translation
Multilingual Content Authoring, Workflow Management, Web-services and your Company’s ROI
Marriott Hotel, Heidelberg, Germany
4-7 November 2002
The 2002 LISA Forum Europe and the Annual Meeting of the LISA General Assembly is our 44th international conference. This program will focus on the successful implementation and optimization of globalization, internationalization, localization and translation (GILT) standards in multilingual workflows and web services. Through workshops, discussion groups, case studies and panels, LISA will examine how language processing standards in technology and business are providing unprecedented ROI and strategic advantage in today's increasingly competitive global marketplace.
Multilingual Content Creation and Software Development Lifecycle: Purpose and ROI of Standards
Prof. Herbert Illgner – Senior Vice President, SAP Global Information Technology
When evolving from a product provider to a solution provider, SAP designed, developed and applied a global end-to-end process: the SAP Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The entire process relies on a common understanding of key terminology, strong standards and clear responsibilities for all parties involved.
In this session Mr. Illgner will focus on the complementary nature and synergy potential of closely linking the development of software with the creation of multilingual content.
Localizing Europe’s Air Travel Industry: Consulting, Specialized Software, eLearning Applications
Marie-Christine Cyprès - Localization Manager, Amadeus Corporation
Günther Höser - Managing Director, WH&P
Amadeus operates one of the world’s most extensive electronic marketplaces. It enables travel agents and travel service providers to market and sell travel, to corporate and consumer end-users, in over 200 markets around the world. This session will show how Amadeus has been able to profit from the use of localization services to develop a fast growing and widely used global distribution system (GDS). Together with their GILT solutions partner, WH&P, Amadeus will also reveal the localization consulting and planning aspects of their largest and most ambitious project, the eLearning site “Learning City,” which is scheduled to begin early next year.
The Business Case For Enterprise Terminology – It’s About Money Not Words!
Laurie Kamerer, Marketing Programs Manager – Cisco Systems Inc.
More than 90% of Cisco annual revenues are transacted via eCommerce, and reliable search results are critical in terms of facilitating online sales. By pushing systems online, Cisco is able to continually increase productivity, and in fact has increased productivity by 22% over the past five quarters. Laurie Kamerer will use these facts and more to explain how Cisco has been using terminology management to not only enhance the efficacy of TM and MT technologies, but also as the very foundation of successful Web search and site navigation experiences. As companies continue to increase productivity by moving more business functions to the Web, managing multilingual lexicons will grow ever more critical. This presentation will prove the business case for terminology management, while also showing proof as it applies to the bottom line at Cisco Systems, Inc.
The OSCAR Standards
Daniel Grasmick – OSCAR Chair
David Pooley - Development Manager/Software Architect, SDL International
Michael Wetzel - Product Manager, TRADOS GmbH
Paul Quigley - Director of Technology Solutions Europe, STAR
LoyAnne Searle - Director Worldwide Translations, J. D. Edwards
What is OSCAR trying to accomplish? How can standards like TMX, TBX and OLIF help multi-lingual documentation production and facilitate localization business activity? Who is doing what and why? How can anyone participate in OSCAR? Learn the status and outlook of emerging language processing standards like TMX, TBX, and OLIF; how they are being deployed in business and what to expect next.
Reducing Localization Costs with XML-based Technology
Dan Dube - Director, Business Development, ISOGEN International
Learn how Fortune 500 companies have dramatically reduced localization and desktop publishing (DTP) costs with the implementation of XML-based technology, by focusing on real-world case studies. This session will show how the design of these solutions addressed the following problem areas related to localization: Inability to determine changes to content between localization cycles; Requirement to publish localized content to multiple media types (e.g., paper, web, CD-ROM); Reliance on Translation Memory tools to keep track of previously localized content; and Excessively high DTP and labor costs for publishing “difficult” languages (e.g., Asian languages, Hebrew, Arabic).
Participants will discover first hand how technologies based on XML and XSL enabled real-world companies to address these issues in a way that conforms to industry standards, to ensure flexibility and longevity of the solution. The session will present detailed descriptions of how XML-based technologies addressed the above issues in the following ways: Storing content in reusable XML fragments to allow for data sharing and elimination of redundant storage and multiple translations of the same information; Storing content in a format-neutral paradigm to enable true “single source” authoring, with automatic publishing to multiple output types; Linking mechanisms to allow for better synchronization of content with translation memory, multimedia files, and other related information types; and XSL formatting tools to automate the transformation of localized content for publishing to PDF, HTML, and other delivery formats.
eBusiness Initiatives
Patrick Gannon - CEO and President, OASIS
Be the first to hear the preliminary results of the Global eBusiness Survey conducted by OASIS and LISA and understand first hand, the needs and implementation plans of users of Web services and language processing standards. The information presented in this session will be significant for managers, planners, information architects, and executives interested in the trends and standards that will enable them to more easily conduct global e-Business – including Web services.
Usability Engineering Methods for Evaluating Multilingual Web Sites
Dr. Anna L. Langhorne - Globalization Consultant, University of Dayton
With the continued emphasis on Internet commerce, information management, and electronic communication, it is becoming increasingly important for organizations to present culturally appropriate and useful Web sites to create and sustain a competitive advantage on the WWW. As the number of users multiplies within the multicultural context of the Web, organizations will be required to provide information and products in a culturally sensitive and meaningful way. The application of established usability engineering methods (e.g., usability audits, one-on-one user interviews, task-based user testing, and subjective ratings and questionnaires) provides an effective and efficient means for determining whether or not culturally diverse user groups are able to navigate the Web site, and understand the intended meaning of interface elements and functionality. This approach was successfully used to evaluate a multilingual corporate Web site with user samples from five countries. This presentation will describe the methods that were employed and the interface recommendations that were offered based on the findings from our investigation.
The Translation Industry – Scope, Content and Outlook
Saroj Vohra - NLS Executive, IBM Corporation
Matthias Heyn - Senior Vice President Europe, TRADOS GmbH
Brian Briggs - VP Desktop Products Division, SDL International
This panel will present an overview of the translation industry with respect to the global business and technological challenges affecting growth and standards implementation. Mr. Vohra from IBM will give details on the sizing, scope, and volume of today’s translation industry in relationship to pure translation (manuals, etc.), translation and testing, and web translation – while also showing how the translation services have grown to span the various industries. Mr. Vohra will also give his outlook in terms of applications and delivery. Brian Briggs of SDL international will outline the key business challenges facing the industry today. He will also give a quality metrics both for vendor selection and QA/deliverables. With standards in place within the industry, “versus” should also be in place, such as cost constraints versus performance/production goals. To round out the session, Matthias Heyn of TRADOS will describe technology’s role in the translation business, focusing on Terminology Management, TM and MT, as well as content management systems, and controlled language.
Fusing Technologies: Website Localization Using Content Management, Translation Memory and Database-Driven Image Production Tools
Jesus Maroto - Localisation Director, Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper
Euan Wilcox - Director of Interaction, Euro RSCG Wnek Gosper
This presentation will offer first hand experience of the main technical, linguistic and cultural challenges that an interactive advertising agency faces today, when taking their clients’ websites global. The presenters will demonstrate how they have developed pan-European websites for some of the world’s leading brands. The focus will be on the use of state-of-the-art content management systems, translation memory systems and database-driven image production tools. They will also look at the broader implications of working multi-nationally from a global marketing perspective.
Localization: A Commodity? or Adding Value?
Eugene McGinty - Managing Director, Connect Global Solutions
… Cometh the hour cometh the small sized MLV
The localization industry has seen dramatic changes in its fortunes in recent times. This is due to the general economic downturn and the fact that investors see “Mars landings” as a less risky option to IT. So what of the vendor base, the herds of MLVs, Small MLV, SLVs and special LVs that roam the planet in this post apocalyptic .COM era? Someone once wrote, “Scientists have predicted, that the future will be very similar to the past, only more expensive.” This could be very true of our own idiosyncratic industry if it were left to its own devices. But change is inevitable and significant change is required.
Who can make these changes and make them quickly? This is where the smaller MLV can make a difference. There is an opportunity for these companies to offer better value to customers if they adopt new strategies. These strategies must focus on the customer and providing better value. The three key variables are Cost, quality and time to market. To tackle these in an effective way requires:
- Specialization, and partnerships with other specialists in a tightly integrated network.
- The use of technology to automate and streamline many of the manual processes. This is now possible with enterprise computing technologies such as J2EE, .NET and Web Services
- Building the complex environments required to support your customers outsourcing strategies
- Initiating true business discussions with customers to strategically tackle localization
The UNI Case Study — The Transformation of a Corporate Terminology Solution into Authoring Support, and Then Some!
Elio Bianchi - Business Coordination Manager, UNI - Italian National Standards Body
Robert Clark - Solutions Consultant, The Logos Group
This session will address “Open” Translation Memories, and its implication in terms of TM standards, business and company policy. Key discussion points include how TMs are handled over the Web and, the practical and legal considerations for exchanging TMs amongst users and service providers. Other points that will be discussed are: the meaning of “open” in our industry; should the code be “open” to the public; who (customers, Tools developers, Localization agencies?) benefits most from an open policy; the benefits to exchange facility like TMX versus an open source; legal issues associated with terminology ownership [IP] and company policy governing TMs; maintenance and support issues associated with sharing translation memories; how authorship and modification could be managed; and the costs associated with sharing TMs.
MT Users and Developers Discuss Industry Applications, Investments, Outlook and ROI
Monika Röthlisberger-Käser - Language Technologies Manager, CLS Corporate Language Services
Steve McLaughlin - Development Project Manager, Comprendium Deutschland GmbH
Stefaan Melis - Project Director, Belga Press Agency
Steve Westover - Translation Technology Program Manager, SDL International
Hans-Joachim Koeppen - Manager, Globalization Tools, IBM Deutschland GmbH
William J. Sullivan - Program Director Globalization, IBM Corporation
In this panel customers and developers come together to respond to the market requirements of MT technology, exploring strengths, weaknesses, expectations, and contribution to the bottom line. This session will explore customer’s motivation behind the introduction of MT into operations, MT usage and applications support, implementation time and costs, operation costs, integration challenges, and the return on investment (ROI) of MT. The panel will discuss the potential of MT systems versus a customer’s “wish-list” in order to find the best solutions for further development.
An Introduction to XLIFF
Christian Lieske - MultiLingual Technology, SAP AG
Yves Savourel - Localization Solutions Architect, RWS Group
The purpose of this presentation is to introduce the attendees to the XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF). The session starts with some remarks about the goals of XLIFF. It continues with a look at the architecture of the format; as well as practical and concrete examples to illustrate how to take advantage of XLIFF’s various features in an environment where tools from different sources are used. The session ends with a look at the current state of XLIFF, and opportunities for becoming involved.
Single Source Editing
Bärbel Strothmann - Documentation Engineer, Software AG
Documenting in XML is a new challenge for technical authors: How does a DTD guarantee consistency in the documentation set? What aspects need to be kept in mind when writing in XML? How to standardize parts of the text? How to produce “web-able” formats from one single source? What are the limitations of XML? How to recycle legacy data? Find out these answers and more use-case scenario from daily XML work.
Using XML for Localization
Yves Savourel - Localization Solutions Architect, RWS Group
With its strong internationalization and interoperability aspects, XML can be a powerful medium when used in localization solutions. The purpose of this presentation is to offer concrete and practical examples of how XML can be used to improve the process of localizing various types of data. It aims at showing how to utilize XML as an original or alternate format for source file, as well as how to take advantage of XML and XML-related technologies, even when the original data are not in XML.
Standards Make Money: The Business Case for Implementing OSCAR Standards
Thilo Schüller - President, Welocalize Europe
As the number of tools and mechanisms employed in today’s localization industry are virtually exploding, standards are becoming ever more important. However, a significant amount of money is wasted due to losses in translation memory leverage when switching tools and for various other reasons. Similarly, a lot of time and effort is wasted discussing differences in word counts.
What are these problems? Where do they originate? What are the business implications of failing to address these problems? Are we aware of the true dimensions of the problems? What do we need to resolve them?
In addition to reviewing these issues, the presenter will discuss an example of a standard localization job as analyzed using different systems. He will present the results in terms of the business implications, and what needs to be done so that improvements are made throughout the industry.
Awareness and commitment are the two key words when it comes to working towards solutions. Let’s see if we can get some more commitment behind the OSCAR Segmentation and Wordcount working group that has been charged with proposing solutions.
The ROI of Terminology Management
Paolo Vanni - Translation Tools & Terminology Manager, JD Edwards
Kara Warburton - Terminologist, IBM Canada
In this presentation the LISA Terminology SIG (special interest group) members will explain their terminology management process during the last two years as well as future plans. The panel will cover topics such as: terminology costs and cost determination; the real or perceived benefits of terminology management; terminology production metrics (actuals vs. original estimates); terminology tool costs and the essential requirements enterprise terminology management; terminology workflow and optimization; the “Terminologist Job;” marketing, product development and software engineering as partners in terminology management; our protocol for determining the terminology; management ROI; resource requirements; and future plans.
Integrating Content Management and Language Processing Systems
Gregor Thurmair - Division Manager Business Intelligence, Comprendium
Erwin Stern - VP Marketing & Business Development, Comprendium
One of the applications of MT and Cross-lingual Retrieval systems is the context of multilingual document management systems. Such systems support the import, analysis, archiving and search of multilingual documents as well as cross-lingual retrieval capabilities. This presentation analyses the consequences of such integration for an MT and Retrieval system, in terms of terminology setup and exchange, system architecture, end user and administration tasks, and overall embedding.
Controlling Controlled Language
Melanie Wells - Natural Language Processing Engineer, SAP AG
Andrew Bredenkamp - CEO, Acrolinx DFKI
Ensuring consistency and quality in large-scale, multilingual, distributed documentation infrastructures is a complex task - available off-the-shelf software applications are not able to guarantee the consistent use of terminology and style between authors. This session describes SAP’s experiences developing a controlled language application together with the German Research Centre for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Participants will hear how this partnership resulted in the SAP Knowledge Authoring – Text Enhancement (SKATE) project. The SKATE software is intended for use by technical writers, translators, and copy-editors. Support is currently only available for German and English, but further languages are planned for the future. SKATE is tightly integrated with SAP’s current standard offline editor, Microsoft Word, and other editors are also planned. Presenters will describe the system in detail and report on the lessons learnt, which will be of interest to others in the localization community.
PASSOLO 4
Florian Sachse - Managing Director, PASS Engineering GmbH
This session will cover the four reasons for PASSOLO 4, programming environments, language concerns, what to localize, and how PASSOLO handle its. The presenter will also provide a demonstration of PASSOLO 4.
