June 1997 Volume 1 / Issue 2

This issue sponsored by:

ContentsLocalisation: Summer Meltdown 1997 . . . . . . . .1

Industry News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

LioNBRIDGE: Roaring Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Tools Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

HTML Authoring for Translation, Ultan Ó Broin, Oracle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

Best Thesis Award . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

SLIG '97 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Interview: Rory Cowan, President LioNBridge Technologies . . . . . . . . . . .9

Job Profile: Aidan Collins, Corel Corporation . .10

Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

LRC and SLIG Background Information . . . . .12

Localisation: Summer Meltdown 1997IntroductionThis article looks at the currentdevelopments in the localisation industryand follows on from previous articles/presentations commonly referred to as“Localisation: RIP 1999” which looked attwo major challenges facing the industry.

1 Localisation is a micro activityThe original thinking behind “RIP” wasfirst introduced at LISA in June 1996 inShannon, in a presentation I gave called“Implementing Software Products in LocalMarkets”. The theme of that presentationwas that “localisation” is one of a numberof micro level activities performed inachieving the macro goal of implementingthe product concept in many local marketsin the most effective and efficient manner.Effective being the maximum marke tacceptance (measured in market share anddollars earned over the product life cycle)and efficiency being with the least totalcost (measured in time to market anddollars spent).

2 Structural Changes in the IndustryAlmost all discussions around structuralchanges in the localisation industry tendto concentrate on the issues faced by thevendor community. I believe that the moreimportant changes are actually takingplace in the client community. For most ofthe last 5 years, the major serviceproviders in the localisation industry havebeen the large hardware and softwarecompanies. Fortunately for manylocalisation vendors these competitorshave confined themselves to a singlecustomer, their own development group(s).

As these in-house service providerschanged their method of operation, so theeffects have rippled down to influence thevendor base. It is this change (oranticipated change) that is driving themajor changes in the localisation vendorbase that we have witnessed in the lastnumber of months.

MELTDOWN 1997Meltdown towards “RIP 1999” started back in 1995.Phase One: Summer of 1995Microsoft is not the localisation industry, but fewcan deny the significant influence it has had andcontinues to have on it.

The first phase of the meltdown came at theMicrosoft Vendor Summit in the summer of 1995.At this summit Microsoft first publicly floated thenotion that a reduced number of vendors would bedesirable. Later that year Microsoft invited anumber of major vendors to Seattle to present acase for what was termed a “Multi LanguageVendor Strategy”. By this time most of the majorsingle language vendors were rightly concerned,many of them significantly dependent onMicrosoft as a vendor.Phase Two: Autumn of 1996.At the LISA Newport Beach Forum in October 1996David Brooks (Director of International ProductStrategy at Microsoft Corporation) made thekeynote presentation which he titled “Cost EffectiveL o c a l i z a t i o n ”. His final slide speaks for itself:Localization 2000• Exponential increase in quantity of work• Manual translation replaced by memory

translation and machine translation• Shared Terminology Database• Human beings do post-processing editing• Industry Focus on globalisation and

adaptation• Small number of large vendors dominate• Project cycles measured in days (if not hours)• Everything must sim-ship on the Web• “Delta” will be obsolete

(Continued on page 10)

Localisation IrelandIreland has established itself as one of the majorsoftware localisation centres in the world, and alsoas the leading European location for this activity.It is now estimated that up to 60% of the PC-basedsoftware sold in Europe originates in Ireland andthis figure is expected to rise in the coming years.Ireland is the world's second largest exporter ofsoftware after the United States of America.

Localisation Ireland is the news medium ofthis vibrant and dynamic industry. It is publishedby the Localisation Resources Centre, with eachissue generously supported by one of the mainplayers in the industry. Localisation Ireland bringsnews on the current issues in localisation (newarrivals, education and training, jobs, tools,events) to up to 2,000 people – for free!

We want to hear from you. If you wouldl i ke to contribute to Localisation Ireland, pleaselet us know. We welcome and appreciate allyour comments, product announcements, newsand reviews.

SLIG ’9716 – 17 October

Annual Conference andLocalisation Fair

see page 8 (incl. Information

for Exhibitors)

Industry Reaction to the re-launch of Localisation IrelandStephen Ryan, Marketing Manager, ITP (Sponsors of March issue)We feel like we got some pretty good press from the sponsorship. The best response was from our Bostonoffice and the East Coast US clients they serve. The newsletter was seen as "informative" and "useful inkeeping up-to-date with what's going on in the industry." Our clients, both existing and prospective,especially liked the tools article about ITP.

Ultan Ó Broin, Project Manager (Applications for the Web), Oracle Worldwide Product Translation Group Congratulations on this magazine. I enjoyed the contents very much and look forward to more publications.

Ann Fitzpatrick, Localisation Manager, Sun MicrosystemsI liked the first issue of Localisation Ireland, so much so that I have committed to sponsor an issuesometime around October. There was a good mix of information on tools and what's happening in theindustry and the profile of ITP was very informative.

page 2

Localisation Ireland is thebi-monthly publication

of the LocalisationResources Centre. It is

distributed free of chargeto professionals working

in the LocalisationIndustry. Please notify

the LocalisationResources Centre if you

or one of your colleagueswould like LocalisationIreland to be posted to

you regularly.

Editor: Reinhard Schäler

Production Editing: Rédacteurs

Research & Interviews: Gerardine O’Donovan

Contributors: Alex McDonnell, DarrenHogan, Reinhard Schäler,

Ultan Ó Broin, PatrickDurkin, Robin Hilliard,

Bernice McDonaghDesign & Layout:

Cosmon Multimedia Origination:

Litho StudiosPublished by: Localisation

Resources CentreCampus Innovation

CentreRoebuck Castle, UCD,

Belfield, Dublin 4Telephone: +353-1-

7067898, Fax:+353-1-2830669

e-mail:lrc@ucd.ieweb: http://lrc.ucd.ie

This is a regular feature in Localisation Ireland.We are pleased to obtain any items of news aboutyour company which may be of interest to thewider world of localisation.

DLG expands to new officesDLG Software Services is moving from its officesin Haddington Road to Blackrock, Co. Dublin, soas to accommodate the continued expansion of itsservices in Ireland. The move will be completed bythe beginning of July. DLG recently hired its tenthengineer, and plans to hire even more before theend of this year. For further information, contactDave Ayres at (01) 6681748, or emaildave@dlg.iol.ie

SymantecSymantec Corporation, the leading supplier ofutilities and anti-virus software products, andZDNet, the Web's undisputed source forcomputing and Internet information, todaylaunched the HealthyPC.com Web site. Nowavailable as an innovative new channel on the ZDNet Web site, HealthyPC.com (www.HealthyPC.com) makes it possible for every Webuser to enjoy a level of PC maintenance normallyavailable only from the best corporate computertech support departments.

NPiNPi Training was established in 1986 and hasdeveloped a cross sectoral client base for five areasof expertise: Software Engineering andLocalisation, Manufacturing and Te c h n o l o g y,Quality Management Development and Trainingthe Trainer. NPi were one of the first in Ireland toprovide customised Project Management trainingfor the localisation sector and have carried outsignificant training assignments.

Everson Gunn Teo. EUDORA IN IRISH! Bord na Gaeilge and Údarás naGaeltachta have commissioned Everson GunnTeoranta to make the FREEWARE e-mail packageEUDORA LIGHT available in Irish. See:h t t p : / / w w w.indigo.ie/egt/ for an announcement ofavailability closer to launch, for currentinformation on other EGT products and newsupdates on ISO Telecommunications Standards.

Logos, ItalyThis Italian translation and localization companyfeatured recently in an article in the New YorkTimes (April 15th 1997). Their decision, last year,to make the Logos Dictionary freely available overthe Internet, is proof of the company's continuingcommitment to the Information Age. Thedatabase - which is updated regularly, both byLogos' translators and visitors to the website -offers over 5 million entries in 31 languages andcan be accessed through the Logos home page(http://www.logos.it).

ClarisClaris Corporation, the wholly-owned softwaresubsidiary of Apple Computer Inc. with itsinternational operations headquarters inBlanchardstown, has announced record revenuefor the second successive fiscal quarter of $69.7million, the highest quarterly total in thecompany's history. Claris, with its HQ in SantaClara, California, also reported pre-tax operatingprofits of $29 million - about 12% of its $243million annual revenue - for the calendar year1996. Claris Ireland, based at the BallycoolinBusiness Park in Blanchardstown, currentlyemploys 140 people and accounts for almost halfof Claris Corporation's total revenue.

ITPInternational Translation & Publishing, Ltd. (ITP),with headquarters in Bray, near Dublin, Ireland,has announced the establishment of its Tokyobased subsidiary ITP Japan KK. The new venturewill be 70% owned by ITP and 30% owned bylocal management. ITP Japan KK will initiallyemploy 30 full-time staff including both Japaneseand Irish personnel organised into teams forproject management, translation, softwareengineering and desk-top publishing. It isexpected that staff numbers will exceed 60 by theend of 1997.

McQueenOne of Europe's leading hi-tech service companies,McQueen announced the acquisition of USheadquartered Rand McNally Media ServicesGroup as part of a strategic plan to expand itsglobal reach. The joint company, trading under thename McQueen, will have an annual turnover ofaround 100 million pounds ($160 million). Theparent company, Rand McNally, the premier globalprovider of geographic information products andservices, will have a significant minorityinvestment in the enlarged company. McQueenconfirmed its intention to employ the fullcomplement of the Rand McNally Media Services'350 employees at all of the group's operatingfacilities, bringing the total McQueen workforce toover 1,000 people.

REMUSIn 1994 Remus Limited was founded by ChrisHamilton to serve a niche within the localisationm a r ket of desktop publishing translateddocumentation. Over the past few years the typeof business undertaken by Remus has variedconsiderably but all with a common thread ofshort notice and the demand for a fast turnaround.With the recent appointment of Andrew Booth asAccount Manager and Kate Sheridan as QualityManager, the two key areas to ensure successfulgrowth, Remus is looking forward to developingits business both inside and outside of thelocalisation industry.

Berlitz InternationalAs part of its expansion plans, BerlitzInternational, whose European headquarters are inDun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, is opening a Languageand Technology Centre. This Centre will beoffering language instruction with many coursesin all languages, including English, to suit boththe business and consumer markets, along with avariety of technology courses which will addressthe needs of today's business environment,including Software Engineering, Software QualityAssurance (SQA), Software Localisation, ProjectManagement, Tourism and Customer Care.

Visio InternationalVisio International has appointed Philip Flynn asManaging Director of International Operationsbased in Dublin. Philip joins Visio from DigitalEquipment Corporation where he spent 10 years in avariety of management positions including that ofController in the Clonmel plant, European Marke t i n gOperations Manager, and European Business UnitOperations at European HQ in Geneva. VisioInternational, established in 1994, serves theEuropean market through selected distributionpartners and provides support and services to itsinternational customers. Based in Dublin, theInternational Operation Headquarters serves Europe,A s i a - Pa c i fic and Latin America with customerservice, technical support, product development and

Industry Newslocalisation. Visio products are localised into 8languages from the Dublin operation, includingJapanese and traditional Chinese. Over 90 peopleare employed by Visio in Ireland.

LOTUSLotus has released Notes Global Designer fordesigning Notes or Domino databases in severallanguages. The core development team workedfrom Lotus's Dublin office. The product "can savebetween 30 and 70 percent of development costsfor a multilingual application deployment",according to NGD's marketing manager, MarkSmith. Free evaluation versions are available for alimited time at http://www2.lotus.com/developers/tools/ngd.nsf. A competition to win a ThinkPadfor the best user story for NGD will be announcedshortly on the web sit. NGD is one component ofthe Notes Designer for Domino client package,announced earlier this month as part of IBM's andLotus' Network Computing Framework forelectronic business. Designer for Domino alsoincludes the Lotus BeanMachine for Java.

New Arrivals at the LRCTools Library - Updates and AdditionsLangenscheidts T1: English/German Machine Translation System

LOGOS Update: Version 7.8 offers an expanded Logos dictionaryand semantic rules database.

STAR Transit Update: Version 2.6

TRADOS CD: Gives a detailed overview of TRADOS translationtools, the European Parliament's terminologydatabase, EUTERPE and an extract from theOxford Duden German Dictionary.

Note: All tools in the Localisation Tools Library have been donated

by their developers/publishers. The LRC gratefully acknowledges

this support.

© 1997 Localisation Resources Centre

The Localisation Resources Centre is supportedby Forbairt Ireland and the European RegionalDevelopment Fund

Publisher Information

page 3

LioNBRIDGE:Company ProfileLocations:

Dublin, Amsterdam, Paris, Valbonne, Boston,

Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco,

Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, Taipei.

Personnel:

LioNBRIDGE employs 300+ worldwide.

Revenue:

Projected revenue for 1997: 46 million dollars

LioNBRIDGE: Roaring Success

Lion King

L 10NBRIDGE (pronounced “lionbridge”) is a

newly-formed company dedicated to the quality

localisation of software and technical

communications. Taken from the American L 10 N

localisation abbreviation, its name is evocative

and puts together two strong ideas: the king of the

jungle, and the art of connection. These

characteristics permeate every level of their

services: translation, technical authoring,

multimedia development, DTP, project

management and world wide web technology.

Having now discovered their niche, they have the

confidence to stick with what they are best at:

expert localisation.

LioNBRIDGE’s pedigree is deep-rooted and can

be traced back to 1980 when the INK Group was

formed in the Netherlands. Providing professional

language services, this business soon evolved into

what became known as computer industry

localisation. The influence of the INK group lies

behind the genesis of the Localisation Insdustry

Standards Association (L.I.S.A.).

Purchased next by the printing and publishing

company R.R. Donnelley and Sons, INK went on to

combine with ELT, the Irish Translation Company,

to form Donnelley Language Solutions. In 1995,

this merged with Corporate Software and started

to trade as Stream International.

LioNBRIDGE has now emerged from Stream’s

localisation business unit as a fully-independent

company. Confidently forging its own identity, it

continues to draw on the knowledge it inherits

from its large former partners. At once fresh and

experienced, this company’s name has become the

watchword for quality and efficiency.

Financial backing comes from both the

Morgan Stanley Group and Advent International.

Employees currently own 40% of the company

and enjoy the added incentive of its stated aim: to

go public at some point in the future.

Tight Team

Boston native Rory J. Cowan is the CEO. He

previously held the same position with Stream.

David Flynn, LioNBRIDGE's Mayo-born General

Manager in Ireland, brings years of software

internationalisation experience home with him

from France. Together with Peter Wright, Vice

President, Sales and Marketing, Myriam Martin-

Kail, Vice President Worldwide Operations, and

Steve Lifshatz, Vice President - Chief Financial

Officer, they lead a tight team.

itself, global. Progress is towards the operation of

management, process systems, and infrastructure

at this same global level.

The Boston HQ serves as a central conduit

from which all other offices draw new ideas and

strategies, and through which they pool acquired

knowledge with their colleagues around the world.

This global management strategy ensures that

clients dealing with different business units enjoy

a consistently high level of service and quality

throughout the organization.This carries particular

significance for multi-product companies who

may deal with Dublin for their CAD/CAM needs,

Amsterdam for their financial requirements and

France for their technical authoring. Global

service offers the client uniform excellence right

across their product suite – and all from the same

high-class service provider.

To reinforce its worldwide infrastructure,

LioNBRIDGE has contracted SITA to provide and

manage their backbone network and connections.

This will bind together their facilities, staff, and

clients into a tight global system. SITA is well-

known as the world’s largest provider of on-line

computer reservation systems and networks, but

this is the first time a localisation player has

contracted their entire global infrastructure.

The A to Z of Expertise

Everyone at LioNBRIDGE believes in the value of

localisation and its vital importance to the client.

The process of adding value to the client’s product

starts with a rigorous project-analysis. Barriers

have to be set; exact customer requirements have

to be defined. Some requests may impose

intimidating constraints - for example a million

words produced within two weeks. If the customer

is convinced this is what is required, the initial

project analysis has to encompass this need, and

then deal with all issues of quantity, quality, and

costs that will have to be factored in. In some

situations, the best action is to help the customer

review both the deadline and the requirement.

Very early on, it was learnt that the environment

has to be also seen through the eyes of the client.

Objectively understanding the globalisation needs

of their product in the international market place

is the key to satisfied customers.

The winning LioNBRIDGE strategy continues

to propel its success. The exciting track record was

e xemplified at SLIG ’96 by Paul McBride’s

intriguing review of a seventeen language Sim

Ship. This demonstrated the rich knowledge that

they can draw from their past experience.

LioNBRIDGE injects this learning into future

projects.

This is a lion that goes from strength to strength.

Shared Success

LioNBRIDGE is a potent blend of old and new.

Dynamism and zest are strikingly evident at the

Irish operation but you only have to talk to the

people there to see that this enthusiasm is born of

solid experience. Throughout the voyage across

various historical corporate changes, the majority

of core team employees have stayed on board.

They can now celebrate their new corporate

independence and enjoy the resourcing benefits

that come with their management buyout from

Stream. The real added bonus is that employees

will become part-owners and will, in future, share

directly in every success of their company.

The Centre of Excellence

LioNBRIDGE is organised into “business units” or

“centres of excellence” - each unit is dedicated to

one specific aspect of the industry. Dublin is a

centre for CAD/CAM; Amsterdam focuses on the

Financial Sector; and so on. All languages

required within that particular sector are catered

for through the relevant business unit. Dublin for

instance is highly regarded for its delivery of

business applications in Asian languages.

Two Prongs Make It Right

Their approach to localisation is two-pronged: it

deals on the one hand with linguistic and cultural

aspects and on the other with technological ones.

Products are becoming increasingly complex and

the net result is that technological and business

issues are overtaking traditional linguistic hurdles

as the main localisation challenge.

No longer is text the main localisation

problem - ample CAT tools, MT possibilities and

language engineering techniques are available.

Today, the real localisation battle is with the high

sophistication of products, the advent of

multimedia, the world reach of the web and the

widening range of deliverables. Companies must

be technologically strong and always at the

cutting edge of all new developments. From this

position they can steer the client expertly into the

global market.

LioNBRIDGE does all this and does it all

brilliantly because, from its very inception, it has

been driven by a senior management team who

pool their collective experience of both the

hardware/software sectors and the international

financial markets. This goes some way in

explaining its commercial and technological clout.

Global service: Global nature

LioNBRIDGE is committed to the reality of a

global market. Headquartered near Boston, it has

offices right around the world. It knows that the

best way to offer a global service is by being,

page 4

Tools Review

C o re l ’s Tr i n i t yIf you are involved in Localisation and have everused or seen software development product suitessuch as Microsoft’s Visual Studio ’97, you maywonder why there isn’t an equivalent product suiteto cater for your needs. Such IntegratedDevelopment Environments (IDEs) providedevelopment tools, version control software,database software - and more - to ease the life ofthose involved in software development. In contrast,localisation engineers, translators and localisationproject managers have had to cope with numeroustools for automating or assisting them in their tasks.Many of these tools have been developed in-houseby the major software publishers and are notcommercially or freely available. They includeresource extractors, resource editors, compilers,translation memory tools, alignment tools, projectmanagement tools, etc. If you are using such afragmented suite of tools you will no doubt beaware of the potential headaches.

Fortunately Corel, with the introduction oftheir Trinity technology, has gone some waytowards resolving many of the problems. Trinity isan Integrated Localisation Environment (ILE) witha number of integrated tools for automatingcommon localisation tasks. These tools currentlyfacilitate resource extraction, translation memoryfunctionality, glossary generation, global searchand replace, resource editing and other featuresthat cover the software localisation process.Integrated tools for localisation of help arecurrently being developed and will be added in thecoming months. The remainder of this articlepoints out some of the main features of Trinity.Additionally, some of the changes between Betaversions 1.5 and 2.0 are highlighted for those whocurrently have version 1.5. Note that all screenshots are from version 1.5.

Resources can be imported from exe c u t a b l e s(EXEs), dynamic link libraries (DLLs) and OLEControl files (OCXs). Note that Trinity onlysupports 32-bit application files. The completeset of resources can then be stored in anintermediate format. The original binary file(EXE, DLL or OCX) can only be rebuilt underWindows NT. Under Windows ’95 it is onlypossible to create and edit projects.

The Resource WorkspaceThe main Trinity window contains three sections –the resource workspace, application workspace,and the reporter window. The resource workspacecontains tabs for switching different resourceinformation views. The resources are stored withtranslation status information. Resources can bem a r ked translated, locked and for review.Additionally, version 2 provides priority flags andmemo fields. The first view shows all the resourcesin the current file regardless of their status. Thesecond shows only the untranslated resources. Thethird shows only those that have been marked forr e v i e w. In version 2, it is possible to viewresources according to a custom filter. The finalview lists the statistics of the file. These includethe number of each type of resource, the totalnumber of words per resource type, the number ofuntranslated and translated words for eachresource type and the percentage translated foreach resource type. An additional row lists totalsfor each statistical category.

The Application WorkspaceThe application workspace provides an area forviewing/editing the current resource. Theviewer/editor is dependent on the resource type ofthe currently selected resource. Trinity providesviewers/editors for viewing/editing the standardresource types – string tables, dialog boxe s ,accelerators, menus and version information inaddition to a hex viewer/editor forviewing/editing raw binary data resources. Whilecustom resource types are by default associatedwith the hex editor, it is possible to create customeditors for any resource type, allowing customresources to be viewed and edited from within theTrinity ILE. If a DLL is registered for a customresource, Trinity can query for a dialog editingw i n d o w. If the window is not available, a simplerrequest can be made of the DLL. In this case, theresource’s translatable strings can extracted to beplaced into a generic string editing windowprovided by Trinity. If both requests fail, thenTrinity uses the hex editor to display the customresource in binary format.

The Reporter WindowThe reporter window provides an area to viewsearch results or translator assistant reports ofresource validation errors. It is possible tosearch for strings (strings including ore xcluding the hotkey ampersands, or regularexpressions) on one or more of the resourcetypes in the current file. This includes customresource types if support is available for thecustom resource type. The translator assistantreports errors for common problems such asconflicting hotkeys or clipped text in dialogb oxes. Double-clicking on either a search resultor a translator assistant warning opens therelevant resource and marks the appropriateitem in the resource. The translator assistantworks on a per-resource basis. Batch validationof all resources or resources of selected types ina file is permitted in version 1.5 using aseparate utility, SIREN. Trinity 2.0, however, hasintegrated batch-validation.

It is also possible to pseudo-translate resourcesin the current file. Version 1.5 can pseudo-translate all resources of one or more resourcetypes. In version 2.0, it is possible to pseudo-translate individual resources, such as a singledialog box. Pseudo-translation simulatestranslation using accented characters of a selectedlanguage or using custom characters. It alsoallows the simulated text to be expanded by auser-defined percentage.

Leveraging Previous TranslationsTrinity offers translation memory-style featuresthough its Update utility (separate utility withversion 1.5, integrated into version 2.0). It is usedto leverage the translations from previous versionsof application executables or libraries. The oldfiles may be a single file pair or multiple file pairscontained in old source and old translateddirectories. Trinity extracts string pairs(untranslated and translated strings) from the oldfile pairs. The resulting list of string pairs is usedto translate corresponding strings in the newuntranslated file. Trinity can perform matching onthree levels. The first confines matches to the sameresource type, while the second allows matchingacross resource types. The third level onlyleverages the text and not other information suchas co-ordinates. Using the update utility, it is alsopossible to leverage fuzzy matches by specifying afuzzy match acceptance level while setting theleverage parameters.

The Trinity ILE main window

Setting parameters for leveraging using the update tool.

Glossary GenerationTerminology can be extracted from resourcesusing the GLOSSMAN utility. The output from theglossary generation process is a simple tab-delimited text file containing the extractedterminology. Using the GLOSSMAN parameters, itis possible to omit hotkey markers (&), ellipsis (…)and menu shortcuts form the output. Both theupdate and the glossary extraction operations canbe confined to user-defined resource types.Unfortunately, there is no utility for importing theglossaries into the Trinity 1.5 environment.

Other useful features of Trinity 2.0 includereport generation to ASCII or RTF formats.

With the inclusion of features to support theother aspects of software localisation (i.e. help anddocumentation) together with the Trinity SDK,Trinity should provide that all-in-one localisationenvironment to allow localisation engineers,translators and project managers to utilise acommon set of integrated tools for theirlocalisation projects.

Currently, the Trinity Beta version 2 is available toTrinity Beta testers. For more information contact Tara O’Leary, Corel Trinity Beta Co-ordinator,email: tarao@corel.ieBeta group fax: +353 1 4753114, Beta groupemail: Dub-beta@corel.ieInitial commercial versions are expected to beavailable in June with upgrades to include theTrinity Help engine to follow in July and theTrinity SDK in August.

Darren Hogan.

page 5

HTML Authoring for Translation

Simplicity: Why complicate matters for translatorsand tool developers with complex formatting andredundant tags? Problems should be prevented or,at least, easily rectified during translation.Compact, tight and efficient HTML code is a bettersolution. (Perhaps HTML authors could learn fromtheir software colleagues!)Internationalise at source: Provide for translationneeds and internationalisation of HTML in thesource files. Bear in mind how problems multiplyand costs escalate once translation begins.

The following can be identified as some of thechallenges translation faces, and I make somesuggestions and recommendations for sourceauthoring along the way.

THE BASICSPrevent Broken Functionality• Correctly functioning source HTML is at a

premium to begin with. Before handoff totranslation groups, authors should run allsource HTML through a Web-lint or linkvalidator. Sources must be “clean” (no brokenlinks, missing titles, missing files from thekit, etc.). Otherwise, during translation“problems” and costs escalate from the“ripple” effect. A variety of validation toolsare available (Microsoft FrontPage, TetranetLinkBot, (links fromhttp://www.cre.canon.co.uk/~neilb/weblint/validation.html, for example).

Common Coding Standards • Agree on an authoring standard and stick

with it. Do not use more than one tag to dothe same job. For example <EM> and <I> and<STRONG> and <B> do pretty much the samejob as far as the user of HTML is concerned.No need to explicitly define a heading asbold, as in this example:<H4><B> Lorum ipsum dolor sit </B></H4><STRONG> Lorum Ipsum: </FONT></STRONG>Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetueradipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibheuismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magnaaliquam erat volutpat. </P>

The translator must handle extra tags eithermanually or as a “placeable” with a translation tool.• Authors should list all HTML external and in-

line tags used, or filtering/conversion mappinginformation from any parent source format,and provide it to translation. This is valuablefor translation tool set-up or development.

Provide A RoadmapUse <!- -> comments when authoring complexareas such as multiple tables, code lines, before<APPLET> tags, etc.

This can help during translation and during thequality assurance (QA) cycle, but do not includeanything that would ultimately confuse thet r a n s l a t o r. The tags can be removed after translation.

Browser Validation• Authors should validate the source HTML

under different browsers so that the contentworks as intended. There may be differentmarket priorities for browsers internationallyso it may be wise to work with thetranslation group early in the design stage.

According to Forrester (1996), the Internetsoftware market will be worth US $10 billion by1999, and the Internet tools market will be worthUS $1.3 billion by the same year. The Intranetmarket is estimated to be 2 to 10 times the size ofthe Internet market! (IDC 1996).

Hardly surprising then, that softwarepublishers have moved to HTML (HyperTe x tMarkup Language) as the standard user educationmedium. All major software products - be theydesktop, groupware, or developer tools - nowcontain help or on-line documentation in HTMLformat (for example, see http://www.microsoft.c o m / O f f i c e R e f e r e n c e / G e t t i n g R e s u l t s / d e f a u l t . h t m ) .Most require translation.

Furthermore, with the advent of theNetworked Society, expansion of Internet useglobally and the move from "standard" print and.RTF-based Help formats to HTML, documentationauthors increasingly owe it to their localisationcolleagues, translation company partners, andmost importantly shareholders, to consider theirHTML authoring practices. Time to market andcost is everything.

Much is written about HTML editing tools,character set support, formatting tags, etc., butinvariably this does not take into account actualtranslation needs. Despite some comprehensiveinformation on internationalisation (seeh t t p : / / w w w. w 3 . o r g / p u b / W W W / I n t e r n a t i o n a l / ) ,translation continues to react largely to sourceauthoring issues and their ultimate impact.

Authoring HTML from afresh presentstranslation challenges for both publishers andtranslation service providers. Added to thiscomplexity are issues of single-sourcing orfiltering from other source formats, as publishersseek to recoup investment in existing text content.Many of these challenges are best solved at source,before translation: this is the subject of this article.

This document does not purport to bedefinitive, but it does address issues which authorsof source HTML might take on board or at leastclarify in their minds. It consists of basic ideas,that could be developed into internal authoringguidelines and standards. Remember three important principles:Consistency: Authoring should be consistent acrossa publisher’s products and internal groups in termsof style, structure and standards. This facilitatestool development, training, speed of translationand updating, and reduces cost during translation.

Suggested Guidelines for Source AuthoringMany HTML issues found during translation andrelating to formatting, structure, andinternationalisation can be eliminated at source.Ultan Ó Broin, translation project manager for OracleApplications for the Web discusses how problemsarise and how they might be prevented.

Ultan Ó Bróin

1P s e u d o - t ranslation is a well-established technique in international

s o f t w a re development but less so for HTML authoring. It involves

taking the source code and translating it with high ASCII, double-

byte chara c t e rs, etc., to determine if these chara c t e rs are supported

in the code; if any strings are hard-coded, if there is truncation in

t ranslated dialogs, cells, and fields.

Authoring ConsiderationsArt• Author art so that translatable text is in the

HTML instead of on .GIFs and .JPGs. Makeart pieces internationally generic. Textexpansion is more easily handled that way.For example, the following .GIF buttons haveto be abbreviated due to length restriction:

This abbreviation could be avoided by coding thus:<TABLE><TR><TD><INPUT TYPE="submit"VALUE="Rechercher"></TD><TD><INPUT TYPE="reset"VALUE="Effacer"></TD><TD><INPUT type="button" value="Optionssupplémentaires" onClick="goto_button"></TD></TR></TABLE>

Which results in:

• If using ALT=" " tag attributes for images,author for non-translatable text (such as afilename) if possible. Some translation toolscan handle these tags intelligently (see theITP/Trados HTML conversion utilities athttp://www.trados.com/) but some do notrecognise any ALT attribute since it isbetween tag brackets. An alternative option is to not include an ALT =" " attribute or"tokenize" the string so that it can betranslated separately and then safely addedback to the HTML code automatically.

TablesTables are problematic if something goes wrong orneeds adjusting, especially if complexity isinvolved (embedded, nested tables). Fixing hard-coded tables is a nightmare, effectively a rewrite.Some simple authoring guidelines can help.• Allow for 35-40% expansion of text in the

translated HTML. This is very important fordisplay, tables and graphics alignmentreasons. Pseudo-translation1 is one successfulway to check this prior to translation.

• Use HTML “text” tables and not tables“faked” using art (.GIF or .JPG). Art tablesare more costly to translate, harder to changeand cannot be handled with computer aidedtranslation tools. Consider how art tables canresult in publishers paying a DTP rate on topof a word translation rate, as well asreducing translation company throughput.

• With tables, indent the <TR> and <TD> tagsso the code is clearer. Debugging cell widthsand rows can be very problematic in rawHTML if the code is complex.

Do not define precise widths in table cells, such as<TD WIDTH=”142”>.

page 6

It is better to allow the table to resize dynamically.The following is the post-translation result of ahard-coded width setting in a HTML table:

• Use a standard case for tags <P> or <p>,<IMG SRC=> or <img src=>, etc. Do notcombine cases.

• Any tag options which require translationshould be between “ ”.For example <ALT =”TOP”>.Use HTML character entities or numericvalues for symbols. For example < and >should be &gt; and &lt; in order not to beconfused by tools and QA teams withgenuine HTML tag brackets.

• Do not leave out opening or closing tags. For example, an extraneous </B> will causetranslators to think that some formatting ismissing and they will spend time looking fora <B>. Alternatively it will cause a bug to beentered in QA and require a resolution by anengineer (consider the time, volume, and thecost trade-off involved).

• Do not use tags where they are not needed.Too many tags/redundant tags such asunnecessary </P>s or </LI>s can clutter thecode. For example, take the <UL> overdosebelow:<UL><UL><UL><LI TYPE=CIRCLE> Lorum ipsumdolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit,</UL></UL></UL><UL><UL><UL><LI TYPE=CIRCLE> sed diamnonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreetdolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.</UL></UL></UL>

INTERNATIONALISATION—DON’T CHEAT!• Do not use the <FONT=> tag as a way of

“providing” for internationalisation whenauthoring. It is better to provide for thecorrect means for browsers to recognise thetrue language identity using encoding tags(see http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/).

• Translatable JavaScript should be"tokenized". Take this for an example of how ALT attributes and directory paths canbe safely handled:<A HREF="javascript:parent.find()"onMouseOver="window.status='FIND_TOKEN';return true"> <IMG BORDER=0SRC=/product/images/LANG_TOKEN/ICXFIND.gifHEIGHT=28 WIDTH=46 ALT="FIND.gif"></A>

HTML EDITORS• Many HTML editors exist (e.g., Netscape

Navigator Gold, Microsoft Word InternetAssistant, Microsoft FrontPage, SausageSoftware HotDog, SoftQuad HotMetal, etc.),but represent a challenge as some re-writethe HTML code as the tool interprets it,frequently adopting a catch-all approach.This leads to changes being made to theoriginal HTML when saved. This process canchange, for example, table alignment andspacing, font sizing, image sizing attributesas well as inserting redundant formattingtags on a grand scale. Depending on editor,a tag or attribute that is not recognised mayeven be removed!

The following small example shows the changes intags and additions when editors are changed:

<h2> Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet</h2>Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetueradipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibheuismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magnaaliquam erat volutpat. <ul><li type=disc><strong> Lorum Ipsum.</strong>Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet.</ul>Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetueradipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibheuismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magnaaliquam erat volutpat.

Now with a built-in browser editor:<H2> Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet.</H2><P> Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetueradipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibheuismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magnaaliquam erat volutpat. </P> <UL><LI ><B> Lorum Ipsum.</B> Lorum ipsum dolorsit amet </LI></UL><P> Lorum ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetueradipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibheuismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magnaaliquam erat volutpat.</P>

This is an important issue for how pre-translationediting is carried out. Use a simple editor, such asWindows Notepad, which does not reinterpret theHTML code and rewrite the tags. Otherwise, theHTML's appearance on screen could be alteredand/or the QA cycle will register problems bydetecting different formatting or structure incomparison with the original HTML files.

All trademarks acknowledged April 1997 Ultan Ó Broin uobroin@ie.Oracle.com

Also, consider that the use of fonts is a phoneyway of providing international support.

General Authoring• Always remember to include basic structure

tags such as <HTML>, <TITLE>, <BODY>,<HEAD> and their closing equivalents.

• Use an 8.3 file naming convention and .HTMextension for Windows-based files (and not.HTML) and anchor (<A HREF=>) tags.

• This way you can correctly support nationallanguage standards such as sorting, directionof writing, searching and character displayrather than “fooling” the browser.

“The <FONT> element, especially with a FACEattribute, is one of the worst scourges to have hit theWeb in recent times.”(Alis Technologies 1997— seeh t t p : / / w w w.isoc.org:8080/web_ml/html/fontface.en.html).

Translation should use an appropriate characterencoding for their HTML, such as UTF-8 orinternationally recognised character set (an ISO ornational standard, for instance), defined explicitly:(You will still need the installed fonts to supportthe characters’ display.)

<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type"CONTENT="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1">

Likewise, translation can make the adjustment toaccommodate language direction by the <LANG>and <DIR> tag. For example, in the case of Arabic:

<HTML LANG=AR DIR="RTL">.• < M E TA > Content tags also need to be translated;

typically these contain keywords anddescriptions, and are best translated in context.

• Do not use art to determine widths in tablecolumn headings, unless it has enough spacefor expansion of the translated text.

Formatting• Remember the text expansion rule if single

page display is an authoring consideration(table of contents, non-scrolling Frames, etc.)

• If filtering or single-sourcing HTML fromanother format, be wary of how formattingwill be represented in the output HTML. Tabsand spaces can be interpreted as charactersby translation and QA tools. Provide for away of “cleaning up” these characters whichdo not make any formatting sense in HTML.

• Avoid inappropriate formatting tags toachieve layout (such as ALIGN=” ” option inthe <IMG SRC=> tag, <BR>, <PRE>, &nbsp;).With expansion of text the result does notalways match the intention.

• Use the HTML tables tags <TD>, <TR>, etc., toachieve layout. This is more secure when thetext is translated, the user changes windowsize, etc.

• Do not “stretch” opening and closing HTMLtags too far apart (over several paragraphs).Try and keep opening and closing tags asclose together as possible, as it makespotential problems easier to find.

• Exclude redundant or extraneous tags. For example:<UL><UL><LI TYPE=DISC><B> Lorum ipsumdolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscingelit</B></UL></UL><H3><B> Lorum Ipsum</B></H3>

• Do not use fonts as a design feature - as youhave no guarantee that they will be present onthe user's system. In addition, some browsersallow the user to override any font youspecify - Netscape Navigator for example:

SLIG/LRC 1997Best Thesis Award

Sponsored by

The Localisation Resources Centre and the Software Localisation Interest Group areoffering an award for the best thesis on a localisation-related topic. Students who havecompleted a thesis on a relevant theme within the past two years are invited to submit their work to the LRC and SLIG for consideration. (Note, theses may be submitted prior totheir degree award.)

The winner will receive £750 and will be eligible to choose four products from Symantec'srange of software. In addition, the winner will be invited to present his/her thesis at the1997 SLIG Annual Conference (16-17 October).

The scope of the thesis need not be confined to a technical area, and applications are also invited from students who are carrying out research into commercial aspects of thelocalisation industry.Possible areas of research might include:

. Machine Translation

. Computer-Aided Translation

. Terminology Databases

. Software Quality Assurance and Localisation

. Software Engineering for the International Market

. Internationalisation

. Project Management and Localisation

Scope

Prize

For application forms andfurther information,

please contact:

Localisation Resources CentreCampus Innovation Centre

Roebuck Castle, UCDBelfield, Dublin 4

Tel: 706 7898Fax: 283 0669

Email: LRC@ucd.ie

Closing Date for Applications:20 June 1997

Closing Date for Submissions:5 September 1997

Application Forms

SLIG

page 8

SLIG ’97: Localisation and the Internet Revolution

The emergence of the multilingual informationsociety, the explosion of electronic publishing andelectronic commerce, and the building of theglobal village for the citizens of the world are allchanging our way of life. These opportunities havearisen through breathtaking advances incommunications technology and have to besupported by a software and hardwareenvironment tailored to the local needs of theglobal user. The Localisation Industry is bestpositioned to respond to this challenge.Localisation experts have the necessaryknowledge of the local user’s requirements in aglobal market, the experience to support thedevelopers’ internationalisation efforts, and theproven ability to deliver high quality, localeenabled software - often simultaneously with theoriginal language version of the product.

New platform independent developmentenvironments, new network based applicationsand platforms, and floating release dates (e.g. forweb-based content) have a dramatic impact on theway the industry works. What is happening in1997 will shape the future of localisation. Newplayers are appearing on the scene, while othersare re-organising, merging with related businessesor changing the focus of their operation. Provenlocalisation processes are being adjusted and new,revolutionary technologies are being developed.The Localisation Industry is responding promptlyto the changing requirements of developers andusers in the age of the Internet Revolution.

Since 1995, the annual SLIG Conference hasbecome the essential event for the LocalisationIndustry. SLIG brings together industry experts(hardware manufacturers, software publishers, andlocalisation service providers) to discuss strategicissues, to present their own vision of the future ofthe industry, and to hear about the highlypractical, hands-on implications of the changeshappening in one of the most dynamic sectors ofthe IT industry.

SLIG’97 will focus on the Internet Revolutionand propose answers to the following questions:• What are the emerging tools and

development standards for the Internet Era?Do their architects take into accountinternationalisation and localisationrequirements?

• What impact do new developmentenvironments, such as Java and Active X,and emerging standards, such as Unicode,have on localisation?

• An Open Day with a Product Show and JobFair during the afternoon of the first day ofSLIG ‘97 with free access for those with aninterest in Localisation. Developers oflocalisation tools will demonstrate their latestreleases, the service industry will present itsnew strategic alliances, publishers andm a n u f a c t u re r s will highlight their recentachievements and talk about new opportunitiesfor job seekers, t raining org a n i s a t i o n s from theprivate and public sectors will introduce theirlocalisation courses, and other exhibitors willinform about new start-ups and currentnational and pan-European research anddevelopment projects.

• A One Day Confere n c e investigating some of the strategic implications of the changingparadigms of localisation, providing adetailed insiders’ view of localisation projectsin the Era of the Internet, and questioningsome current developments in the localisationi n d u s t r y. The winner of the first LRC/SLIGindustry sponsored Best Thesis Award w i l lalso be announced at the Conference.

SLIG ‘97 is being organized by the LocalisationResources Centre (LRC). An Information Pack forExhibitors is available and can be requested fromthe Centre. If you register your interest with theLRC, you will receive an update of the SLIG’97Programme and registration procedures.Programme updates and registration details willalso be posted on the Centre’s web site(http://LRC.ucd.ie).

Reinhard Schäler

• What are the applications developed withthese new tools and based on suchstandards? Will Internet and Intranet-basedmultilingual applications be the future ofbusiness computing - applications which canbe launched by an individual user from anynetworked system anywhere in the worldusing his own language and configured withhis individual locale settings?

• How will “web-shipping”, together with acontinuous and shortened update cycle,change the localisation industry?

• What is the nature of the contents deliveredby web-based applications?

• Which sectors of the growing contentsindustry will outperform the others?

• How will suppliers provide their customerswith good quality language versions of theoriginal base language contents even if thisis being updated continuously online?

• How are the localisation service providersadapting their processes to cope withextremely short turn-around times?

SLIG ‘97 will take place over two days in one ofIreland’s best conference centres, the recently builtO’Reilly Hall on UCD’s Belfield Campus. Amongthe key events of SLIG ‘97 will be:• Wo r k s h o p s on issues such as the technical

implications of localising applicationsdeveloped in some of the new developmentenvironments such as Java and Active X,the role of translation technology in thenew localisation scenario, and relevantresearch activities at Irish universities andprivate organisations.

O’Reilly Hall, University College Dublin

The Auditorium at O’Reilly Hall

SLIG

page 9

Conversation with Rory Cowan, President of LioNBridge Technologies

LioNBRIDGE – The New MissionAt the heart of LioNBRIDGE Te c h n o l o g i e s ,there is a man with visionary drive andboundless enthusiasm. “Our aim is to givethreefold value – to our customers, ouremployees and our shareholders. Satisfyingour customers is our primary concern, butwe know that our employees andshareholders are just as important...”. Thesewords are spoken by Rory Cowan, thepresident of that company. And they are notempty words: the fact is that LioNBRIDGEemployees are becoming companyshareholders under his dynamic leadership.

First PrinciplesSince Cowan commenced as CEO, the Irishoffice at Blackrock (Dublin) has beenteeming with lively confidence and pride.His management style projects the centralethos that everyone benefits fromefficiency; if the customers are happy, thistransfers directly to the employees andshareholders. What was once a division ofa larger organization has now honed itselfinto a fully-fledged independent company.He explains – “LioNBRIDGE has goneforward by going back to its firstprinciples: our primary task is to supplylocalisation solutions to client companieswho sell in the international market. Ourjob is to do this as rapidly and perfectly aspossible”.

And that is exactly what they aredoing. Cowan has overseen the putting inplace of extensive financial andmanagement resources. A bold new stephas been the buying-in of a tight globalcommunications infrastructure: “Thisfacilitates the global management style weneed - taking care of the wider world. Onthe local level, we are refurbishing thefacilities at our Blackrock headquarters...”.

Global GuruThese supports link LioNBRIDGE clientsand employees and they make the Dublinoffice fit seamlessly with the rest of itsworld structure. To put it simply, RoryCowan believes absolutely in theinternational marketplace – “The industryis facing a ‘mature’ stage. We havedeveloped to the level where we now needto draw on a wider skills pool than everbefore – and that’s for both managementand resources...”. His own history is rather“global” – he has been the owner-manager of a small family firm, and hiscareer has spanned printing andpublishing. This mix defines him assomething of a guru of current trends andfuture strategies.

details this – “Our strategy ensures that oursales people are supported by engineeringproduction teams whenever they meet newor existing clients. The relevant clientexpertise might be in Tokyo, Korea,France, wherever. But no matter howcomplex the product, they know they’llalways receive our consistently high-quality deliverable...” .

Things in the localisation world arevery much on the up and up.LioNBRIDGE is one company that ismaking things happen by taking a freshapproach to their dynamic environment.Their view of potential sees few, if any,limits. Now that they are standingstrongly on their own two feet, they evenfeel that their scope could increase toproviding localisation services to am a r ket beyond the IT industry.

LioNBRIDGE are setting new standardsof excellence. It is clear that the spirit ofthe staff and management will continue todrive its success.

High Calibre Team“The finest thing about LioNBRIDGE isthe calibre of our staff and colleagues.When it comes to implementing ourstrategies, David Flynn is a centralp i l l a r. It’s good to have him with us asGeneral Manager. . . ”. Now that theyhave the freedom of independence, theyhave come out from under the shadowof a larger company, where they werenot always able to do things “their”w a y. He describes this – “Our new‘standalone’ independence is vital tous. Its structure permits us to be farmore at the centre of things – we cant a ke the helm now and always leadrather than follow as we sometimes hadto before. We all feel at home with thisand I know that David agrees".

Planet DialogueTheir relationship is symbiotic – DavidFlynn actively interprets Rory Cowan’sstrategy and vision, and mediates themeffectively to the rest of the team. “Ithink I can say that we work in anenvironment of genuine dialogue, onethat is ongoing and constructive, onethat readily embraces the role of everymember of staff”. How is this? “Ourstructure is defined by our corporatecharacter – our company is a humanone and is harnessed to the full breadthof human potential... so we know nolimits. Globalisation is not a coldconcept – it is about peoplecommunicating with people. Althoughit can get hectic, we keep our sense ofh u m o u r. . . ”. This would clearly seem tobe the secret behind how they do theserious business of localisation.

Cowan agrees all the way with Flynn inseeing their global “business unit”structure as providing a key framework:“Our global structure means that we inDublin concentrate on CAD/CAM,Networking, and Communications.‘Specialization’ inspires us as individualbusiness units to sharper analysis, clevererknowledge and better employment of ourexpertise. This way, we are able to achievethe goal of added value for the customer.And if our customers are happy, well then,so are we...”.

Selling the WorldPeter Wright heads the global sales team.Helena Walsh, as Business DevelopmentDirector, covers the UK and Irish marketsfrom Dublin. They share the company’sexcitement at the range of possibilitiesoffered by the global approach. Cowan

Rory Cowan

page 10

Stepping out from AcademiaAidan Collins is the Localisation Manager

(Graphic Applications) with the Corel Corporation.A native of Belfast, he graduated from UniversityCollege Galway with a BA in History and Politics.Deciding to continue his studies, he did an MA onthe Decline of the Parliamentary Party 1910 -1918.Academic interests drew him to the USA where hecompleted a second masters degree, this time inJournalism and Mass Communication.

His working career began in New York wherehe worked in public relations. It was this field thatbrought him back to Ireland where he soon tookup a position with the Lafferty Publishing Housein Dublin. This then led him to the Softranstranslation/publishing group which later mergedwith Berlitz. During his time there he witnessedthe group’s expansion from thirty to three-hundred-and-fifty people. His career has nowtaken him to Corel. He has been there for just oversix months.

In Graphic Detail Aidan came to the localisation industry throughwhat he calls “a fairly unorthodox route”. Not forhim the typical background in languages or IT.With no more than a cúpla focail, his interest inthe technical side of the computer industry wassparked during his time as a lecturer in the USA.In the course of evaluating software programoptions for use by his students, his imaginationwas fired and his interest arrested by thepossibilities he saw.

Aidan views his own background as solidtestimony to the diversity of skills that thelocalisation industry can accommodate: – “Nosingle set of skills or training qualifications cancover completely the wide range of activitieswithin this industry”. He believes that there isclearly loads of room for diverse talent from a richmix of educational and vocational backgrounds.

Deadline Duel: Troubleshoot-outAidan’s role as manager is disparate. And that’sputting it mildly. He has to troubleshoot projectsand rapidly detect the source of any problem inthe process. A key technique is the delicatejudgment of project schedules. On the softwareside, this means he works closely with Corel’ssoftware development teams so as to getlocalisable software ready on the dates promised.On the translation side, he has to set dates with thetranslation vendors – dates that are realistic interms of marketing and distribution deadlines.“Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines...” he repeats,shaking his head. These are the low point of hisjob. A stressful part of everyday work, they areunavoidable as his team battles against the clockto deliver quality work. They are just one of theongoing challenges that they all embraceenthusiastically and work to meet professionally.Again and again.

Around the World in a WhirlHis current role involves extensive travel to meetvendors and development teams. Recently hemanaged to cover seven countries in threemonths. “You learn how to judge the vendorsfairly quickly on the basis of the facilities you see,

Profile of Aidan Collins

the equipment in place and so on...”, he reveals.With a large degree of consolidation in the market,there are fewer key players and to some extent,this makes his job easier. The real trick is matchingthe right projects and schedules with the rightvendors, rather than worrying about the quality oftheir work or their ability to comply withrequirements.

Stress Zone His manager role implies the whole dimension ofteam-leading. This ranges from recruitment andtraining, right through to creating an environmentfor his team that is conducive to each individual’swork. He has to support that team, build themorale of each member, and make sure that all theproper resources are in place for them to do theirjob. His essential function is to keep peopleinformed and motivated in what is often arapidly-changing stress zone.

Amidst the slings and arrows of successfulcommerce, Aidan relishes the opportunity he hasto mix and work with a wide range of people andto enjoy the vibrancy of the industry in Ireland. Hespeaks of “great camaraderie”: people mix on asocial level; publishers and vendors alikeexchange news, views and information on what’shappening where, both within and around theentire industry. All of this brings extra zing toworking in Dublin.

MetamorphosisWith his move to Corel, Aidan has metamorphosedfrom vendor into publisher. Po a c h e r - t u r n e d -gamekeeper, so to speak. This gives him a freshperspective on the whole process. From hisprevious roles, he understands the pressures thatvendors have to contend with. Now he has grownto understand the publisher’s side too. He needs tobring product to market, to come up with thegoods, and to get the marketing right by creatingthe demand for the localised goods: “Publishershave a greater element of control. I am better ableto plan and factor-in the forces that affect me...”

The Wish ListWhile not citing any one particular wish, Aidanwants to see training issues brought more to thefore. In his last job, he was involved in some of thecourses set up by FÁS for the localisation industry.“This sort of initiative will bear fruit over the nextnumber of years and I want to see these coursestake full advantage of what we in the localisationindustry can offer in employment terms”.

Localisation Managerfor COREL DRAW,Corel Corporation

Summer Meltdown 1997(Continued from front page)

Phase Three: Spring of 1997By the spring of 1997, Mendez had already bittenthe bullet. Suffering more than most at themachinations of Microsoft and being aware ofIDOC’s intentions (Mendez, like many others, hadbeen approached by IDOC), Mendez struck out onits own and sold out to Lernout and Hauspie.

By late 1996 IDOC had already sold a majoritystake to Bowne and were putting in place theresources necessary to make their recent spate ofacquisitions, of which there will probably be more.Phase Four: Spring 1998?The next major step in the industry revolution islikely to come from the client side. It seemsinevitable that one or more will begin to winddown their internal localisation operations. This islikely to be prompted by an offer from one ormore of the major vendors to acquire their facilityand resources. Don’t be surprised however to seesome client sites converting to the vendor side andcompeting in the broader marketplace. Thesecompanies have already started to sell off theirproprietary tools.ConclusionIn the latest LISA newsletter (May 1997) there areno less than 3 articles addressing the subject ofindustry consolidation. The authors are JohnFreivalds, Roger Jeanty and Robin Bonthrone.While all of these authors make valuable points,with which it is hard to disagree, the issue stillremains a big picture issue. What role is eachplayer prepared to play in the new emerging valuechain? All the authors correctly point out thatthere will be a place for everybody at the table.But now there will be a main table at which onlya few can sit and some smaller tables. Those thatare happy to sit at the smaller tables (or indeedserve at the main table to continue the analogy)will likely do all right. Those that choose to slug itout over the main table may end up with morethan just a bloody nose.The challenge on the vendor side therefore is:• For those with the ambition and resources, to

fight it out at the top and run the risk oflosing.

• For those with neither the ambition nor theresources, to sell out now to one of the “bigsix” contenders.

• To find a niche that can be defended in thelong term and will bring a reasonable returnfor the effort.

More interesting however is the client side. Herethe challenge is starker:• Find a value-added role in the overall value chain.• Compete in the open market as a localisation

vendor.• Get wound up by the corporate parent.It remains to be seen whether the Vendor base orthe Client base have the ability to manage thischange without major casualty or trauma. If notthen the major rewards awaiting those on the otherside of “RIP: 1999” will prove frustratingly elusive.

Alex McDonnell is currently General Manager ofPervasive Software’s European Support andDevelopment Centre based in Dublin. Beforejoining Pervasive Alex was CEO at IDOC. H e can be contac ted via email at alex_ mcdonnell@msn.com

Reports

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Report from the LRCWorkshop, Dublin, NewmanHouse, 17 April 1997

Reinhard Schäler

Lotus: Internet andLocalisation, May 15th 1997The well-attended (over 100 participants) fifth generalSLIG meeting of 1997 was hosted by Lotus at theGrand Hotel in Malahide and focused on theexperiences, tools and general approach which Lotuswas taking in three specific areas of localization.

Firstly, Jo Grant gave an interesting and fairlythorough overview of the problems related to testingJava applications. Unlike traditional localization--where a single localized app will run on oneplatform--through the JVM, a localized Java appmust be able to run on many browsers and operatingsystems. This exponential complexity makes itnecessary to apply automated testing methods andsystems and Jo's talk went into a useful level of detailabout the many problems with this. The current stateof the art is not really sufficient to cover the needs of

The Localisation Resources Centre welcomed morethan 50 participants to the second Workshop onEvaluation of Translation Tools for Localisation. Aswith the first workshop in October 1996, thisworkshop was organized by the LocalisationResources Centre in co-operation with the SoftwareLocalisation Interest Group (SLIG) and the EuropeanAssociation for Machine Translation (EAMT).

John Hutchins, President EAMT, Reinhard Schäler, Manager, LRC

The workshop was probably the only majorevent of its kind in Europe this year and wasattended by participants from Ireland and overseas( G e r m a n y, Switzerland, the U.K. and the Netherlands)who had not only a successful workshop but alsos u f ficient time to enjoy their stay in Dublin, theworld's centre for localisation (music, entertainmentand good company!).

The aim of this workshop was to follow up ondiscussions and issues raised by the participants atthe October workshop:• How are translation tools being evaluated,

introduced and used in the localisation industry(case studies)?

• What methodologies, tools and resources areavailable for the evaluation of translation tools?

• What evaluation projects have been undertakenin other countries and industries and what canwe learn from them?

• Can a tool be developed to help localisationmanagers decide whether a translation tool (e.g.a translation memory system) should be usedfor a particular project?

• What are the needs of users of translation toolsin the localisation industry and how dodevelopers respond to these needs?

During the workshop, these questions were addressedby individual speakers, coming from differentbackgrounds and organizations (researchers,developers, software publishers and localisation serviceproviders). Among the individual speakers were JohnHutchins, president of the European Association forMachine Translation (EAMT) on MT To d a y, SandraManzi (ISSCO, Geneva) on the European EAG L E SProject, Reinhard Schäler (LRC, Dublin) on theEuropean DiET Project, Darren Hogan (LRC, Dublin) onAutomating Evaluation - A Prototype Application,Sharon O'Brien (ITP, Dublin) on Evaluating MTSystems for Localisation, Ralph Schories (Edition AumGmbH, Germany) on Corel’s Trinity - A Beta Test SiteR e v i e w, and Catherine Gavin (Berlitz, Dublin) on UsingTranslation Memory Technology for a Large ScaleLocalisation Project. The organisers left ample time fordiscussions to give the participants the opportunity tocontribute to the success of the event. In particular, theWorkgroup Sessions in the afternoon were designed toencourage the active participation of all.Participants received a full set of proceedings andadditional background information for the afternoonworkgroup sessions containing an overview of theresults of the 1996 Workshop on Evaluation and aproposal for the afternoon discussions.

ordinary Java application testing, while the needs oflocalization testing appear, at this time, to have beenignored completely. Jo's live demo of a simplecalculator application written in Java amplydemonstrated this!

The next talk was jointly given by Bill Looby andMichael Roche on a Notes-based tool called NotesGlobal Designer. The aim of this is to providedynamic multilingual support for Notes templatesand while the tool is mostly of internal interest toLotus, it did contain a good multilingual glossarydatabase. Of possibly wider interest is its API whichallows external applications to query a glossary in avariety of ways. Unfortunately, the API specificationisn't currently available, although Bill indicated thatit may be at a later stage.

Finally, Pat O'Sullivan demonstrated a rathercurious approach to localizing HTML, specificallyHTML pages destined for a CGI gateway. In this, a

base HTML script containing special HTML markercomments embedded by the author, is passed to aconsole-based program which converts the script intoan executable file. This executable is then translatedin Lotus' RedW and passed to a third program whichregenerates the base HTML. Pat did a live demo ofthis technology using a HTML script which queriedthe contents of an Organizer document.

To summarize, the feeling from the meeting wasthat there are still significant barriers to be overcomein localizing HTML content. In particular, the lack ofgood abstraction and testing tools is becoming aserious issue which has yet to be tackled in by theindustry as a whole.

Robin Hilliard, Translation Craft, 19A Main Street, Blackrock, Dublin, Ireland

email: robin@tcraft.ie Tel/Fax: [+353] 1 2836336http://www.iol.ie/~tcraft

Developers of HelpQA, the Complete Multi-language Help Quality Assurance tool.

Ms Anna Brady Manager Symantec LtdMr Michael Campion Manager Claris CorporationMs Ann Fitzpatrick Manager Sun Microsystems IrelandMs Liz Monahan Manager ITPMr Vincent Nolan Manager Creative LabsMr John Rowley Manager Corel CorporationMs Helen Wybrants Consultant ISC-Europe

Mr Reinhard Schäler Manager Localisation Resources CentreMr Ian Dunlop Director Lotus Development IrelandMr Seán F. Ó Drisceoil Manager Cormorant Telematic SystemsMr Andy Way Lecturer School of Computer ApplicationsMs Marion Gunn Manager Everson Gunn TeorantaMr Patrick O'Doherty Manager BabelMr Manfred Weltecke Translator Irish Translators' Association

The SLIG 1997 Committee

The LocalisationResources CentreThe Localisation Resources Centre is the focuspoint and research and support centre for theIrish-based localisation industry. It wasestablished in December 1995 at UniversityCollege Dublin under Forbairt's Te c h n o l o g yCentres Programme with financial assistance fromthe European Regional Development Fund. Theestablishment of the Centre had the expressedsupport of more than a dozen software publishersand localisation service providers, as well as theNational Software Directorate and the SoftwareLocalisation Interest Group (SLIG).

The Centre's key activities cover research,development and evaluation of localisationtools, the establishment of a localisation toolsl i b r a r y, consultancy services, education andtraining, regular publications and support forthe Software Localisation Interest Group (SLIG).The Localisation Resources Centre is alsoinvolved in projects proposed to the Commissionof the European Communities under the 4thFramework Programme.

The Localisation Resources Centre Advisory BoardReinhard Schäler,Manager, Localisation Resources CentreSeamus Gallen, ForbairtGeraldine Lavin, University Industry Programme, UCDHelen J. Wybrants, ISC, EuropeDr. Arthur Cater,Department of Computer Science, UCDBrian Kelly, Vice President Western Europe,Berlitz International Inc.Michael O'Callaghan, Vice President, Oracle Wordwide Product TranslationGunnie Jacobsson, Augur LimitedJohn Malone, Localisation Manager Europe, Microsoft WPGI

For more detailed information about our servicesplease visit our web site (http://LRC.ucd.ie).

SLIGAs part of the drive to maintain the momentumwhich has been built up in the Irish-basedlocalisation industry over the past ten years, theNational Software Directorate (NSD) proposed andfacilitated the establishment of a special interestgroup for all parties involved in softwarelocalisation. This interest group, the SoftwareLocalisation Interest Group (SLIG), first convenedin late February 1994, with representatives fromacademia and both overseas and indigenouscompanies attending. Since then, SLIG has becomethe representative body for the industry in Ireland.It is based at the Localisation Resources Centre,whose manager, Reinhard Schäler, is also SLIG'schairperson. Its annual conference, which will beheld again in October 1997 (SLIG '97) has becomeone of the major industry events. SLIG alsoorganises eight general meetings per year.

SLIG Mission StatementOur mission is to maintain and strengthenIreland's position as the worldwide centre forlocalisation activities. We will 1 . Identify opportunities and engage in activities

which expand Ireland's role in localisation.2. Raise the professional status and develop the

career paths of those working in localisation3. Provide a forum for an exchange of views

between members of the localisation industry4 . Forge new links between members of the

localisation industry and other service providers5 . Lobby the Government on issues concerning the

development of localisation services in Ireland6 . Work with third-level educational bodies and

Government development agencies to developeducational and training courseware appropriateto the needs of the localisation industry.

LRC Yearbook 1997This is the essential reference book for theLocalisation Industry with a foreword by theMinister for Commerce, Science and Technology,Mr Pat Rabbitte TD. To order your copy (wire-bound, 334 pages, IR£ 100 with discountsavailable for SLIG members and participants ofSLIG '96) write to:Localisation Resources Centre, Campus Innovation Centre, Roebuck Castle, UCD Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland Tel. +353-1-706 7898, Fax +353-1-2830669, email LRC@ucd.ie

Web WondersWhat will I eat? Where will I go on holidays?What books should I purchase? During any onesecond, dozens of questions race through ourfevered minds. But at least, the world wide web isa vast reservoir of data on hand to help answersome of these. Dip into it and you will find thatyour initial questions become the jumping-offpoints for adventurous information hunts. Hereare a few sites to get started with:

Security First Network Bankhttp://www.sfnb.comThis is the first completely online CyberBankoffering totally secure banking transactionsover the web. This bank is unique in that it hasno conventional branches and did not existprior to its appearance on the web. Enter theirvirtual lobby and then open accounts, pay bills,ask questions: do all this from the comfort ofyour home.

Warner Brothers On-line Studio Storehttp://www.warnerbros.comBugs Bunny, Batman, Scooby Doo and many ofyour other favourites are here. This is a greatexample of a rich multimedia site deliveringdynamic personalized content to capture theimagination of the casual browser. It sellssignificant amounts of merchandise daily.

BigBookhttp://www.bigbook.comThis is one of the largest and most impressiveyellow-pages on the Internet. It claims to list over16 million businesses across the U.S., all of whichcan be searched in numerous ways such as ''findthe nearest pizza outlet to where I live".

CitySearchhttp://www.citysearch.comThis is a project spanning the U.S. where townsand cities provide a single point of entry to theircommunities. Again the real strength is in thetypes of search that you can build on the site. Forexample: "find all the places that have dancing ona Tuesday night but are within a two-mile radiusof my hotel address".

Waterstones Bookshopshttp://www.waterstones.co.ukThis well-known bookseller has built an excellentshopfront for its products. It's not yet as much funas browsing through the real thing but if you wantto buy a specific book with the minimum amountof fuss, then this is the place for you.

LeisureHuntHttp://www.leisurehunt.comHave you been thinking about a nice weekendsomewhere in the UK ? Just click on a map,specify your budget and personal preferences andhey presto! you get a list of the bestaccommodation options as well as what to do andwhere to eat when you get there.

Patrick Durkin

Upcoming MeetingsSixth General SLIG MeetingLocalisation at Digital: Business Models and Outlook

Thursday 19.06.1997 (1.30 - 5.00)Hosted by:Digital Equipment International B.V.European Software Centre (ESC)Ballybrit Business ParkBallybrit, Galway

Digital's localisation operation will be presentedby Claude Pesquet, one of the most experiencedprofessionals in the localisation industry. He willfocus on the evolution of Digital's localisationneeds and organisation, discuss the advantagesand drawbacks of different localisation modelsand outline future trends and scenarios.

Please register with the LRC one week in advance. If you need or can offer transport from Dublin toGalway, please let us know.

SLIG '97Annual General Meeting and Confere n c e

16-17.10.1997O'Reilly Hall, UCD, Dublin 4(See page 8)