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"A
translation is a translation ... unless you're in the CT or
IVR business"
FROM
THE EDITOR:
An
expert in media translation for high-tech corporate
materials and systems,
including
web sites and Interactive Voice Response (IVR) applications,
provides
valuable insight on linguistically bringing a CT solution
overseas.
Read
it and weep: You wouldn't believe some of the mistakes
vendors have made.
September
10, 1999
Sue
Ellen Reager is president of @INTERNATIONAL
SERVICES.
The
company supplies 150 major CT/IVR developers and end users
with translation services,
worldwide
voice recording, and system consultation for programming and
globalizing
international
applications. Ms. Reager speaks 10 languages and has worked
in 34
cities
and 17 countries around the
globe.
As
you might imagine, she's seen some ghastly errors in her
area of expertise over the
years;
she therefore took a few moments to share some of her
valuable wisdom with us
so
that others might be spared similar embarrassment and,
worse, lost business.
Needless
to say, if you're planning on providing an automated CT
system overseas,
you
must read this; even if you're not, it's an interesting
read...
Writes
Ms. Reager:
"A
translation is a translation" __ unless you're in the CT or
IVR business.
CT
/ IVR scripts have a modern, concise writing style and
special vocabulary.
Telephony
translation appears deceptively easy. Anyone can translate
"press", right?
Or
can they?
Non-telephony
translators, whatever their qualifications, are dangerous.
Here are some
samples of true translation troubles experienced by highly
reputable U.S. firms:
- A
major California CT company used a professional
translation agency for their
Turkish
prompts.The translation looked absolutely beautiful, with
cute little squiggles
and
impressive accents. Unfortunately, there are two words
for "push" in Turkish:
one
used in telephony (which the translators did not choose);
the other a colloquial
expression
for a very naughty word (which they chose). Istanbul
rejected the product
on
the spot.
- A
major U.S. national bank asked their Chinese branch
manager to translate their
"Bank By Phone" prompts.The word for "push" chosen by
that manager also means
"to
lose". Many Chinese are superstitious. It took over three
months for the bank to
figure
why the use of their system plummeted when their
customers heard:
"For
information on your account, lose
4."
- For
a corporate application to be played in factories in
Malaysia, an upstanding
CT
reseller hired a translation agency with a good track
record. The agency used
translators
from northern Indonesia (which also speaks Malay).
Unfortunately, the
word
for "factory" in northern Indonesia means "female
genitals" in Malaysia; this
also
ended in returned product.
...Americans
may find international horror stories difficult to
comprehend. But bring
it
down a notch or two; try to identify the confusion and
misunderstanding surrounding
the
simple expression __ "Send a
page".
Every
CT developer knows what they mean by "page" in their own
application;
they
also miraculously assume that a translator will devine their
thoughts. For one
company,
"send a page" is a "shadow-me" or "follow-me" feature, and
means a page
over
a loud speaker. For another company it means sending a
signal to a "pager".
And
yet another company it means a "page" message sent preceding
automated
fax
forwarding.
Telephony
Vocabulary
There
are exact and correct telephony words for most basic
functions. But these words
are
not found in dictionaries; they are not on the internet and
they are not common
knowledge
even to the highest level professional translators. Only a
Telephony
Translator
understands the impact of exact and proper
vocabulary.
Remember:
Telephony
Translators translate more than words. They foresee
concatenation
possibilities and alter the script (insofar as possible) to
accommodate
grammatical
and cultural differences.
Example:
Asian
languages have up to 9 number sets, with "counters" placed
after
the
number. A "counter" is a syllable placed after the digit and
before the noun and
varies
with the noun being modified. If the playback programming
has not been
modified,
a telephony translator must be savvy enough to place the
"counter" at
the
beginning of the proper prompt.
Check
your Asian translations. If there is no counter before the
prompt "...messages",
then
the listeners are hearing "th" , instead of "three", and
your translator does not
understand
telephony.
Quick
Ways to Spot Translation
Trouble
- Foreign
versions of "number sign" rather than the new "pound
sign"
- "..."
in the middle of a sentence. ("in your account ...
received on.")
- Inconsistent
word usage (different words for same
function)
- Missing
"counters" in Asian prompts
- Ordinals
(first, second, third) for date prompts
- Misuse
of "at", "on", "for"
- Improper
"push" words: "pressionar" or "oprimir" (Spanish),
"appuyer" (French), etc.
Programming
Problems
"Massaging"
Translation to Fit Programming
Every
CT / IVR exec wants to hear that their translation has been
"massaged to fit the
programming."
Companies continue to hire translators who promise to do so.
If your
translators
promised to massage the translation so that it works with
your programming,
then
you've been had. Big time.
There
is not one language on the face of this earth with the same
programming as
English.
Even the easiest languages, like Spanish, have several words
for "one"
(uno,
un, una) and have special words for hundreds (such as 500
and 100) and change
their
adjectives according to gender. And Spanish dates are
backwards for many
applications.
Other
languages may have multiple plurals. Thus, not only are
there prompts "message"
and
"messages", but also a prompt "messigi". The "third plural"
may be used with as
many
as 50% of all numbers.
And
playback order is widely divergent across the language
spectrum:
English:
"You have one message."
Arabic:
"You have message one."
Spanish:
"Have on(e) message".
Thai:
"You have message five
message"
Japanese:
"Five ken-message you have."
Russian:
"You have five-a
messigi."
You've
Got Mail!
If
your application only has one number set or, even more hair
raising, if your
application
uses the same number set with "messages", as with "press",
"dates" and "time",
the
following is the English equivalent of what your clients
hear:
"Welcome
to the Asian Message Center.
You
have 2-boo messages.
To
hear this message, single press.
Message
2-boo, at PM 8:45 received.
("Hi
John! This is .... )
To
forward this message, both press.
Please
enter the forwarding number for this message.
I'm
sorry, the number you have entered: "triple single single
double double
single
single" is not in service. Please check your
programming."
Number
differences may seem like nonsense in the good old USA, but
numbers can
mean
the difference between success and failure overseas. Some
number sets
differentiate
between genders (masculine, feminine, neuter and other). For
some
languages,
only a few numbers may change. For others, there are
entirely different
number
sets that do not sound even remotely alike, as in the above
example.
Top
100
Is
your programming 95 = (90)(5)?
In
German, Swedish, Danish and many other languages, 95 =
(5)(and)(90).
French
is (80)(15).
And
those cultures are not
forgiving.
High
Numbers
Dozens
of languages change concatenation as of 10,000, as "ten
thousand" has its
own
special word. Thus, 20,000 becomes (2)(10,000s), and 200,000
becomes
(20)(10,000s).
There are yet other languages in which 100,000 has its own
word, as well.
It
is truly a great relief that no Spanish mailbox contains a
billion messages, and no
Spanish
bank account contains a billion dollars, because in Spanish
a billion is a
"thousand
million", and a trillion is a billion. Except, of course,
for Spanish speakers
raised
in the U.S.
Dates
For
die-hard believers in "translation massaged to fit", below
are examples of proper
international
date/time message stamps:
English:
Message received Tuesday, January 3rd at 4:10
PM
Spanish:
Message received the Tuesday 3 of January at the 5 and 10 in
the afternoon
Malay:
Message received Tuesday 3 January o'clock 5 10 minutes in
early afternoon
Chinese:
January 3 Tuesday in the afternoon 5 o'clock 10 minutes
message received
Times
Over
40 languages use time concepts different from English. Many,
including Japanese,
Chinese
and Korean, place "AM/PM" before the hour: " PM 8:00 ".
Other countries use
the
24 hour clock. Still others use "20 to 8" instead of "7:40".
And lastly, many countries
with
"AM/PM" use 5 distinct versions: "in the early morning", "in
the morning",
"in
the afternoon", "in the evening" and "in the late
night".
Your
"Voice" Is Your Image
A
surprising number of CT/IVR companies use knock-out
professional talent in English
__
and
street people or stage actors in foreign languages. Perhaps
because the ability to judge is inhibited
when
not in the native language. Perhaps because casting is
handed over to less
experienced
decision-makers.
Whatever
the reason, companies suddenly drop the ball and use the
voice of a stage
actor
from Hollywood, or hire a production company that uses
university students and
street
people for their foreign
applications.
Stage
and film actors are not studio voice actors. Their strength
is the "entire package"
of
looks, facial expression and acting ability. Not beautiful
voice. And many have
ferocious
accents in their mother tongue.
And
what can be said about university students and street
people? If your English voice
is
your accountant or your intern from the business school, by
all means don't let this
article
stop you. But if you wish to make money, please a major
client or compete
overseas,
use only professionals in the target country. Top
professionals are not in the
United
States; they are in their home country, where the voice work
is.
Solutions
Dream
Solutions to Programming
Nightmares
CT
/ IVR companies often would rather not hear about the
"nightmare of international".
Ignorance
is bliss, until it slaps you in the face. Budgets and data
storage have been the
main
stumbling blocks to progress in the international arena.
"Why bother if we can't
afford
to fix the problem?" is a familiar
song.
There
are basic programming solutions to all of CT/IVR's
international problems.
Solutions
that allow perfect playback in up to 50 languages, and which
take into
account
all of the vagaries and exceptions associated with 50
languages. The solutions
are
ground-breaking, and boost the quality of international
applications through the roof,
bringing
English systems head-to-head with overseas
competitors.
"Ghost
prompts"
By
using the innovative "ghost prompts" formula, combined with
revolutionary data base
structure,
a company can assure perfect playback anywhere, anytime.
Whether in a
scripting
environment or in hard coding itself, "ghost prompts",
properly placed, in
combination
with innovative database organization, remove the headaches
from
international
projects and increase quality and
sales.
"One
time Date/Time programming"
There
are "one-time-programming" solutions for international date
and time stamps
which
accommodate the needs of all countries. With 4 variations of
Time for each
language,
plus Date formats to cover the entire world, the
"one-time-programming"
method
makes it possible to "swallow the pill" once for an eternity
of international quality.
Voice
Solutions
With
today's technology, the cost for recording overseas is
almost the same as recording
in
the US. And the quality is breathtaking. Choose a voice
talent that earns 100% of
her/his
living in studio from recording advertising, television
commercials and telephony.
Avoid
movie dubbing talent, who are variations on stage actors.
Record in the
"broadcast
center" of the target country. If your company does not have
connections in
the
target country, there are a few companies in the US
experienced in handling
overseas
recording, casting, and delivery of exactly what you need.
Such companies
are
worth the investment.
Translation
Solutions
CT and
IVR have the fastest changing terminology in the world. For
highest quality
translation,
the following steps should be
taken:
- Create
Base Translation by overseas translator with 5 years
experience in telephony;
- Send
translation to the target country for review by a working
telephony engineer;
- Have
a translator in the U.S., accredited by the American
Translators
Association,
review the script, with specific instructions to
ensure
consistency
in terminology.
Note
on "accredited translators": "Accredited
by the American Translators Association"
does
not mean "qualified for telephony". The purpose of the ATA
organization is to weed out
incompetent
and illiterate "wanna-be" translators and to assure that a
translation is
"accurate".
However, the ATA does not specialize in
telephony.
The
Turkish "push" translator
and
the Malay "factory" translator were both qualified by the
ATA. Those translations were,
in
actual fact, theoretically
"accurate".
Also
on a jolly note... One of my staff just called the largest
translation company in the
U.S.
We were looking for some help with our overflow. We spoke
with one of the project
managers.
When asked if they could help, the project manager answered,
"Telephony.
Interesting variation on the word. Never heard of
it."
Summary
Whatever
the experience or credentials, keep an executive eye on the
translator's every
move.
Ask questions down to the last detail. Check for the
"warning signs" above. Make
sure
the translation staff has worked in telephony overseas.
Assure that the translated
scripts
are reviewed by CT/IVR professionals in the target
country.
And
above all else, inside the script you send to your
translator, always include full
concatenating
phrases. Forty pages of prompts ending in "...", with
nothing attached,
is
a translator's nightmare, and results in almost unimaginable
translation chaos.
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