Top 10 Ways to Reduce Localization and Translation Costs (1)

Author: Nabil Freij 

Some say that thTop 10 Ways to Reduce Localization and Translation Costs e best way to reduce localization costs is by avoiding localization altogether. Yet companies with a global vision have realized that to compete in a global economy, both they and their products have to speak their clients’ language.

Once you decide to localize for a certain market, mea­sures should be taken to make localization tasks as effi­cient and effective as possible. Throwing the localization project over the wall to your distributors or just any third party is not the best way to go. You should be working with professionals that know how to reduce your localiza­tion costs, without sacrificing quality.

1. Correct localization process

Every localization project begins with a spec and a plan. The spec is like a bill of material that references and quantifies all the components requiring localization. This includes the number of words to translate, words to review, words to leverage from previous translations, pages to layout or desktop publish, topics to compile and QA (Quality Assurance), art files to localize or recapture, tables and dialog boxes to resize and QA, software files to compile and QA, etc.

Since project timelines and costs are derived from this spec, it is essential that these specs result from the use of the most optimized process, translating into the most optimized costs and schedules. Working on the native files, for instance, not only does away with the need to extract text from the source files, but more importantly, it eliminates the need to re-insert them for each and ev­ery target language.

Reducing long term localization costs should be the main goal. Investing in the correct process may increase upfront costs, but will tremendously reduce long term costs. Use of translation memory tools (databases and search engines), glossary and style guide generation, use of professional translators and investment in quality as­surance processes, will increase your upfront costs. They are essential, however, to reduce long term costs. Choos­ing the correct localization process is the most important task that can be done to reduce cumulative costs.

There are many processes to consider and follow. A top-down localization process reuses text from transla­tion memory and applies it to the new source files, while a bottom-up localization process compares or contrasts old and new source files, applying changes to the old tar­get files. Depending on the level of change, it may make sense to follow one or the other. A hybrid methodology that combines both top-down and bottomup processes is the ideal methodology to implement.

2. Verbosity is the enemy

Once the correct process is identified, look at optimiz­ing the different components that comprise localization costs. It is no secret that translation contributes to over 50% of a localization project’s costs, so any optimization you do to reduce the word count will lead to lower trans­lation and localization costs.

Verbosity is therefore the enemy. Try to be concise and straight to the point. Eliminate unneeded and obsolete text. Cut fat wherever possible. Not only will you save on localization costs, but your end-users will thank you for it.

Apply the Pareto Principle- The 80-20 Rule. Only 20% of your product is used 80% of the time by your users. Try to identify the parts that are never or rarely used and minimize them. You may decide to only localize 20-30% of your product’s documentation or help. Or you may decide to release a “light” localized version of your product.