Medical Translation Forum

Slovenian vs. Slovene

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 06:14:00 +0000

Is the name of the language Slovenian or Slovene?

We usually get this question from our clients: Is the name of the language Slovenian or Slovene? What’s the difference between the two terms?
Slovene:
Noun – Slovenec (person), Slovenka (person), slovenščina (language)
Adjective – slovenski (language)
Slovenian:
Noun – slovenščina (language)
Adjective – slovenski (language)

It seems that there is long history regarding the two terms. Slovene and Slovenian as both nouns and adjectives referring to Slovenia and its people.

Apparently the terms are equally as old; they originate from the 19th century (Slovenian first appeared in an English dictionary in 1844, and Slovene in 1883). In modern English both terms coexist, some people prefer to use Slovenian while others prefer to use Slovene. There has been a lot of debate over this matter, but the bottom line is that both terms can be used as they are equally "correct" and acceptable as long as you use the term consistently. Maybe there is a trend towards Slovenian (the official EU web site for example has a ratio of 1:6 in favor of Slovenian), but you can also find people who disagree (the British National Corpus or the New York Times seem to like Slovene, BBC has a subdivision called BBC Slovene etc.). Also a Goggle search of “Slovenian language” versus “Slovene language” resulted 3 to 1 in favor of “Slovenian.”

So…Which term shall we use?

ISO lists the language as “Slovenian”. As we are an ISO-certified company, as many of our clients are, we suggest using the same terminology as ISO.

Role of the Engineer in the Localization Industry

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 09:55:00 +0000

Software engineering, and more specifically localization engineering takes a certain kind of individual. It most certainly isn’t for everyone. Most people who get into the field develop an aversion to the machines after a short period of time and only use them on the clock or when asked. Their hearts may have been in the right place, but when facing the tedious, more arduous side of engineering, they’d rather be anywhere else than in front of the monitor.

The role of the engineer in the localization industry is multifaceted. Most people not in tune with the translation and localization industry may not realize this team member’s importance or even if an engineer is necessary. After all we are translating words and text. However, when you take into consideration the multiple applications in which the text can be written and the different software platforms that they can be built upon, then it’s obvious that an engineer with experience in software is necessary.

Amongst troubleshooting needs that may arise when working in different software environments, there are specific areas where an engineer lends his expertise to the localization team. Up front, prior to the project starting, the project manager and the linguist count on the engineer do perform a complete analysis of the software documentation that will be translated. This includes running the text through a software tool which compares it to existing translation memory and recognizes any repetitious segments. This leverage is used by the linguist for consistency and by the account manager for cost reduction. Also included in this analysis are specifics regarding the layout and format of the document(s). Considerations must be made if there is text within any images or graphics as part of the documentation as well as overall layout concerns, such as fonts or directionality of text, for different target languages and text.

During a project, the project manager will look to the engineer to complete the desktop publishing work, if necessary, and/or handle any web specific needs and platforms if the project calls for this. Again, handling different software language such as xml, html, RoboHelp, and others all fall under the job requirements of the localization engineer. A verifiable Jack of all Trades with the requirement of mastering each and every engineering need.

XML in the Localization industry

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 05:55:00 +0000

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a platform-independent way to represent data. Simply put, XML enables you to create data that can be read by any application on any platform. You can even edit and create it by hand because it is based on the same tag-based technology that underlies HTML. That is why XML is considered an extensible language. Because of the freedom of the tags, however, the way in which XML must be written is very strict. Every tag must have a closing tag and all nodes must be ordered properly. If any of these rules are broken, an XML document will simply fail to function. HTML, as many have found, will work even if the document only vaguely looks like an HTML document.

XML is concerned with the electronic representation of the structure and content of information. It is a simplified subset of an ISO standard known as SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language). Extensible Markup Language is the key to creating markups that can be used by any number of applications beyond the Web browser. In other words, XML is independent of the application that created it.

Some publishers that can import and/or export text in XML format are:

• Indesign

• QuarkXpress

• FrameMaker

• PageMaker

With XML it becomes feasible to target multiple output formats from a single XML source document.

Maybe it is a little hard to understand, but XML does not DO anything. XML was created to structure, store, and transport information. An example of an XML element is as illustrated:

XML in the Localization industry

João

Lima

The DTD is the part of an XML document that declares exactly what tags your document will have and how they will be arranged in the document. The XML document itself must then conform to the rules set by the corresponding DTD. The DTD can either be part of the XML document or it can be referenced by the XML document and really be stored in a separate file, possibly even on a different server. Using XML facilities we can:

• Customize style sheets from client’s XML DTD

• Convert from one XML DTD to another

XLIFF, which stands for XML Localization Interchange File Format, enables translators to concentrate on the text to be translated. Likewise, since it's a standard, manipulating XLIFF files makes localization engineering easier: once you have converters written for your source file formats, you can simply write new tools to deal with XLIFF and not worry about the original file format. It also supports a full localization process by providing tags and attributes for review comments, the translation status of individual strings, and metrics such as word counts of the source sentences.

One of the main problems in localizing files is the complexity of the various file formats. When a file is converted to XLIFF, the structural formatting is extracted and stored in a skeleton file. XLIFF allows many separate tools to work on files. While working on source file formats, it is not easy to have multiple tools work on the same files.

In summary, XLIFF aids localization in a number of ways.

• XLIFF removes the complexities of localizing different types of source files.

• XLIFF provides a common platform for localization tools vendors to write to, thus increasing the number of tools available.

• XLIFF highlights the parts of a file that are important to the localization process.

• XLIFF provides support to the localization process, through its commenting features, support for phases, and metrics.

Cross-Media Publishing

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 06:23:00 +0000

Cross-media publishing is certainly one of the hottest catch phrases in the graphic communications industry. Although most people will admit that print is not exactly dead, there is little doubt that digital media at the very least have become legitimate communicating channels for companies to broadcast their message.

Regardless of which media are being used, the message must still be presented clearly and attractively, in other words: design still needs to support the message. The internet is a very different medium than print from a design perspective.

Web design has its own set of rules, which are sometimes very different than the ones followed for print design. Here are some examples:

• Color management: this is non-existent because you simply can’t calibrate the monitor of every web user.
• Font management: fonts can be controlled to some extent, but without converting all type to graphics — potentially making your site inaccessible to anyone with a slow connection — your pages might be displayed in whatever font the user defines instead of the one you so carefully selected.
• Print limitations: Some print formatting options are not supported in HTML (kerning, tracking, and locking to the baseline are just a few examples).
The hours you spend adjusting and fine-tuning a layout for print are all but wasted when you convert the layout for web distribution.
• End-user variability: If you follow the rules when designing for print, every printed piece will look exactly the same when they come off the press (WYSIWYG). Designing for the web is not so static. The variables involved in web distribution — including different platforms, monitors, and browsers used by the end consumer — mean that what you see and what they see might be entirely different.

With the inherent differences between print and digital media, there is no instant solution to converting print design to web design. Using the tools built into DTP programs, however, smoothes many of the bumps along the road.

Behind the scenes – Proofreading

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 07:03:00 +0000

The proofreading stage of a translation project involves much more than checking for typographical errors. Excel Translations projects, for example, go through several rounds of proofreading after formatting (typesetting) is completed.

Mechanical proofreading compares the source to the target, checking for completion, proper font display, graphics, and general layout. This task is done by an experienced person with a great eye for detail. Often the proofreader finds things worth questioning for a linguist. For example, he/she might find two different translations for the same source word, such as “Warning”. The linguist will be asked to clarify or correct it.

Linguistic proofreading is done by a native speaker of the language, who checks not only for spelling, grammar, etc. but also for readability and style. The proofreader will also detect any inconsistencies in terminology.

After the typesetter has implemented all the corrections found during proofreading, then another review of the translation is done. This is done by the same mechanical proofreader. First, he/she checks that all the corrections are implemented properly and that any linguistic questions are handled. Often a mechanical proofreader is checking several languages for one project, and may detect patterns among the translations and may request further corrections for consistency….which are also verified on the next round.

This specific focus on different types of proofreading yields extremely high quality translations.

The United States officially becoming a bilingual nation?

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 10:35:00 +0000

Immigration has been a hot topic in the United States for decades. In fact, it’s probably safe to say it has been a point of discussion, as well as contention, for all of the nation’s history. This day in age, when people mention immigration, it’s usually safe to bet they’re referring to the Mexican population. Hispanics and Latinos, meaning anyone with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or Spain, comprise the largest minority group in the country, at around 16% of the total U.S. population. Over the past 20 years, as this population has continued to steadily rise, economists and statisticians have predicted an ever increasing Hispanic influence on American culture; most notably, there is a belief that Spanish will one day become the nation’s second official language after English, much like Canada, who observes both English and French as official languages.

As will generally accompany change of any sort, there has been a great deal of controversy on whether the United States should or could become a technically bilingual nation. It is a headline that comes and goes, never really offering a concrete assertion as to when this abstract idea might eventually manifest.

But on July 6, 2011, the New York Times published an article by author Damien Cave describing reasons that Mexican emigration to the U.S. is decreasing. This informative piece caught many a critical eye due to its appearance in both English as well as Spanish. Ameena Schelling of The Daily Caller, a political news website based out of Washington D.C., commented “The decision to provide an article on such a contentious issue as immigration in a language so closely tied to the conflict raises questions about the intent of the coverage, as well as about the future possibilities of bilingual coverage in foreign bureaus.”

The fact of the matter is Cave set out to reach the vast audience he imagined would find his article relevant. Indeed, there is a broad enough population of Spanish speakers in the U.S. to make a bilingual publication worth his while. The implication is: though an argument on immigration laws may be becoming less and less relevant, the United States’ existing Hispanic and Latino population is evidently becoming more so.

Do Translations Become Outdated?

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 06:10:00 +0000

Does a translation need to be updated every few years? Perhaps your product has a user manual that was translated over ten years ago... does that mean that the translation is "old?" A translation for a user manual can generally last as long as the device does. If no user interface has changed or the workings of the device haven't changed at all, why should the instructions to use that device change? Indeed, as long as the original written instructions for use remain the same, the translations of the instructions won't need any revision.

Nonetheless, review and revision of translations is always important. Whenever a new document is released, it is the translator's duty to review the unchanged text alongside the new text to ensure that all text is appropriate for current use. With new emerging technology new terminology can emerge and languages may have established new ways of translating these words. It cannot be assumed a phrase will always be translated in the same way. Translators will check source text against the previous translations to look for consistency but they sometimes find the old text should be changed. Often when they report that a previous translation should be changed, it is because modern conventions have changed. Perhaps old terminology has fallen out of favor and newer terms are preferred. It would be convenient if language were static and could consistently relied upon but adhering to modern usage is always important.

So, in general, your translation will have "staying power" but should always be reviewed to ensure that it is still relevant. As long as your device is not "ancient," your translation shouldn't be either.

Deregulation and Oversight: Conjoined Twins

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 04:09:00 +0000

FAA, FDA, NTSB, FAA, SEC, NRC. These acronyms for US organizations are household names for many people. They are often followed by a list of other names that may bring up images of fear and fraud: Enron, Madoff, Vioxx, Three Mile Island, Bear Sterns.

The common thread among the agencies mentioned above is that they are in the regulatory business. They regulate areas like health, industry, business and other aspects of life. In a free-market society this means these organizations are trying to ensure a fair playing field. They dole out punishments to those that stand in the way of fairness. Another way to describe what they are doing is regulation and regulatory oversight.

Deregulation and regulatory oversight are related but each has its own objective. Deregulation is aimed at actual de-regulation, enabling companies or organizations to compete in markets that they could not enter before due to legislation of government action. The goal of regulatory oversight, on the other hand, is to define and enforce rules of engagement once the players have entered the market.

In our current free-market society, deregulation and regulatory oversight are both widely considered to be necessary. The debate, often brought on by the surprising regularity in which the agencies or players find themselves on the front pages of newspapers, almost always focused on the extent of: how much deregulation and how much oversight.

The last decades -with the ongoing strides of globaliation- have seen an increasing international effort to join forces across borders when it comes to regulation and oversight. Often players are present in many continents and nuclear radiation or faulty products are not things that can be curbed at the border.

ISO is an example of a global oversight organization. ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a network of the national standards institutes of 162 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. The member body for the US is ANSI (American National Standards Institute).
ISO provides regulation in the form of many different international standards affecting many different industry sectors. In our industry, and in the industry of most of our clients, some of the main standards are:

• ISO 9001:2008: specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization
o needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and
o aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.
• ISO 13485:2003: specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to provide medical devices and related services that consistently meet customer requirements and regulatory requirements applicable to medical devices and related services.

Excel Translations abides by the rules that are spelled out in these two standards. In addition, as a player in the field of quality management, Excel Translations is subjected to the ongoing regulatory oversight provided by independent organizations.

Excel Translations has been ISO certified since 1999.

Note:
EPA = Environmental Protection Agency
SEC = Securities and Exchange Commission
FDA = Food and Drug Administration
FTC = Federal Trade Commission
FAA = Federal Aviation Administration
NTSB = National Transportation Safety Board
NRC = Nuclear Regulatory Commission
ISO = International Organization for Standardization)

Science no Longer the Exclusivity of Developed Countries

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:04:00 +0000

While emerging countries such as China, India, and Brazil have long been associated with the global scientific community, the presence of Iran, Turkey, Tunisia, and Israel in this very private club may come as a surprise.

A recent study published by the Royal Society, Britain’s national academy of science, reveals that “rapidly” emerging scientific nations, of which several are in the Islamic world, are now embarked on the fast train of science R&D. These emerging countries could soon challenge the scientific superpowers of the West.

Iran, for instance, is the fastest growing country in the world when it comes to the number of scientific papers published in journals. The government of Tehran plans to allocate 4% of its GDP to scientific R&D before 2030. By comparison, the EU average budget for scientific R&D is 1.8% of its GDP. Critics may say that this money will be going toward nuclear research. But the fact is that more and more US scientists are collaborating with their Iranian counterparts on multiple science projects. The number of joint US-Iranian scientific papers published over the past 12 years has increased from 300 to 1,600. And when it comes to science, Iran will go as far as cooperate with its archenemy, Israel. Both countries are working hand in hand on a scientific light source project in Jordan.

But other nations such as Tunisia and Turkey are also thriving when it comes to science. Turkey’s scientific R&D spending has increased six-fold since 1995 and the number of researchers has increased by 43% over the past 12 years. With an R&D budget of 1.25% of its GDP, Tunisia hopes to increase its pharmaceutical exports five-fold over the next five years.

The Royal Society’s report concludes by stating that there are over 7 million researchers in the world today and that the global annual budget allocated to R&D has increased by 45% since 2002. With the arrival of emerging nations, these numbers will surely increase even further. To be continued.

Medical Translation Services “Critical to Quality”

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 11:12:00 +0000

It just makes sense that the text you choose to include in your most important medical product documents (i.e. IFUs, User/Operator’s Manuals, Labels, Technical Specifications, Drug Indications, etc) is critical to the overall quality of how the product is used and prescribed. Words and phrases are carefully selected so that the information is precisely communicated.

Industry best practices dictate that the translation of these documents and text be treated with the same importance. It is an internal requirement for many leading drug and device manufacturers that the medical translation partner the select not only has the experience and expertise in the medical industry, but also has the certifications to back it up.

Now we are seeing this requirement communicated from an authoritative medical industry body. Recently the NBOG (Notified Bodies Operations Group) released a guidance that listed translation services as critical to quality. NBOG has begun to audit international certification organizations, such as BSI, TUV SUD, TUV Rhineland and others, more stringently regarding the manufacturers they register and certify. Where the NBOG is tightening their belt specifically refers to the quality of how and with whom translations are done.

In turn, international testing organizations must audit the manufacturers to the standard that the NBOG dictates. Audits will now require manufacturers to speak to the quality of their medical translations including how they vet and qualify the experience of the translation partner with whom they work. Manufacturers who work with translation partners with specific experience and expertise in the medical industry and can show proof of their vendors’ expertise and experience, will have little to no problems with this critical item during audits. Manufacturers who work with translation partners who are both ISO 9001 and ISO 13485 certified will have this burden of proof through the ISO certificates they have on file from their translation vendors.

File Compression and organization using WinRAR

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 08:55:00 +0000

Many times documentation and files used in translation projects are extremely large due to the volume of text to be translated and/or the amount of images, charts, graphics, and screenshots used in the layout. Many times the layout itself is so complex that it adds to the size of the source file.

There are plenty of applications to compress or “zip up” the files so they can be sent or uploaded easily. The most popular, WinZip, has been around for years. Another popular application that is being more widely used is WinRAR.

WinRAR is a file compression tool for making files smaller and adding multiple files to a single protected archive for safer, easier transfer over networks and via the internet.

WinRAR integrates itself into your Windows shell so that by right clicking on any given documents or files, you have the ability to compress those files, usually into a smaller, more protected format.

Right clicking a file or multiple files gives you the following options:

In this case, I selected Frame Maker.doc on my hard drive and I’m given the following options. If you are doing a single file and you’d like to retain the original name of the file, simply select (in this case) Add to “Frame Maker.rar”, and the program will automatically create a compressed version of this file using the default WinRAR options.

By selecting Add to archive…, you are presented with more options:

You are given the choice of Archive format, and in this case I’d like to stress using RAR as opposed to ZIP since RAR gives us more options.

If you are using a single file, WinRAR will automatically select the name of your file. You have the option to change this to another name of your choosing which is nice when dealing with multiple files. The extension is automatically .rar even if you delete the entire line and set your file name as, “I LOVE COOKIES”. It will still be I LOVE COOKIES.rar

Another great feature of WinRAR is the ability to split archives into specifically sized volumes.

As you can see, I used my MOV02033.AVI file, right clicked, chose the option in the bottom left-hand corner and chose a specific file size to split my main file into. There are several default sizes, but I prefer to choose my own depending on the size of the file being compressed.

A quick chart on sizes is like this:

1,000,000 bytes = 1 megabyte or 1mb
5,000,000 bytes = 5 megabytes or 5mb
10,000,000 bytes = 10 megabytes or 10mb

You can set this as high or as low as you’d like. Depending on the size of whatever I’m going to compress, I like to create volumes of anywhere from 5mb to 100mb each. When working with extremely large files in the gigabyte range it’s better to use larger split volumes in the 50mb to 100mb range. It will make decompressing the files faster and create fewer archives. Remember, the larger the volume you create, the less archives you create. As you can see in the picture above, I chose to split my main 60mb file into 10mb archives coming out to around 56mb total when compressed.

Once I have my main file split into compressed volumes I no longer need it. It’s basically copied over into 6 smaller volumes (using my example above), and when I unpack those files, it’ll be there whole and intact. Simply by selecting the first volume in the set and then choose to extract it, it will know there’s a set of files related to the first one and unpack your compressed file wherever you choose.

Just remember to select PUT RECOVERY RECORD so that if any damage occurs (data loss) during transfer, the file can be repaired easily by the recipient.

Another nice feature is the COMMENT tab detailed below:

By using this feature you are given the ability to add a note to your archive as shown above. This is really handy for adding extra information, details which were missed or forgotten in a meeting or email, or just saying Hello or Thanks!

WinRAR provides the user with the ability to compress any volume, split it if needed, and protect for it for safe transmission over networks and online. WinRAR is a safe and easy solution for protecting the integrity of your files and archives from data loss due to power failures, internet disconnections, and other mishaps while working with important files. Using WinRAR also saves vital hard drive space where there may be constraints.

It may take a little longer to prepare and send that important document for translation, analysis or cleanup, but at least you can be guaranteed your documents are safe.

Translation Memory (TM) versus Machine Translation (MT)

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Thu, 26 May 2011 06:15:00 +0000

What is a Translation Memory?

A translation memory (TM) is a linguistic database that continually captures your translations as you work for future use.

All previously translated segments are accumulated within the translation memory (in source and target language pairs called translation units) and reused so that you never have to translate the same sentence twice. The more you build up your translation memory, the faster you can translate subsequent translations and your new project is more consistent, enabling you to take on more projects and increase your revenue.

Translation memory managers, usually included in Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tools, are most suitable for translating technical documentation and documents containing specialized vocabularies. Their benefits include:

Consistence - Ensuring that the translated documents are consistent, including common definitions, phrasings and terminology. For example, if the software is already translated and now it is time to translate or update its manual or help, the translation memory will use the previous stored sentences to guide the current translation. In other words, the documentation or the help file will be consistent with the terms used in the main software.

Flexibility - Enabling translators to translate documents in a wide variety of formats without having to own the software typically required to process these formats.

Speed - Accelerating the overall translation process; since translation memories "remember" previously translated material, translators only have to translate it once.

Cost - Reducing costs of translation projects. For example, your company just updated the radiology image equipment. Usually, most of the user guide document will stay unchanged, only some items in the document will need to be updated. The translation memory has the ability to use the previous sentences stored in its database to pre-translate the current updated manual. This benefit will cause a relevant impact in the translation cost.

How does translation memory software differ from machine translation?

Machine translation automatically translates a document without any human input (or assistance).

These kinds of tools are fast, but result in a poor quality translation as a machine cannot understand the subtleties or contexts of language. As a result, quality and accuracy tend to be around 50% - 70%, therefore it is not advisable to send the raw form directly to your customers.

For example, the simple text below was translated using Google Translate (one of the most popular Machine Translation tools). The source text was translated from English into Korean. Using the same MT system, the translated sentence was translated back to English (which we call as reverse translation).

Original English text:

"Excel Translations' unique organizational structure allows the company to handle all phases of a medical translation project."

Korean Translation:

"엑셀 번역 '독특한 조직 구조는 회사가 의료 번역 프로젝트의 모든 단계를 처리할 수 있습니다."

Reverse English Translation:

"Excel Translations' unique organizational structure, medical translation project, the company can handle all phases of."

However, the "imperfect but fast" machine translation system is efficient in some cases. IBM and Microsoft have been using machine translation engines for the last ten years to provide real-time feedback for their customers. For example, a user can ask a question on the IBM portal about the installation for an acquired product in China. This question (written in Chinese) is automatically translated into English, so IBM's server's search engine finds the highest match topics. Then, these topics are automatically translated into Chinese and the customer can find a solution for his question in a few seconds.

In this case, the quality of the translation is poor, but the customer is a 100% satisfied because he is now able to install his product. However, on the other hand, the Machine Translation's quality is not acceptable for providing a multilingual prospect for a Neurovascular Array system.

Documentation: Part of Your Core Business Asset Portfolio?

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 20 May 2011 13:26:00 +0000

The last decade of the 21st century brought more changes in publishing technology. Not only did publishing move from paper to the WWW, but it became more versatile, effective and interactive. Publications could be searched and content could be extracted.

Additionally, multimedia features deepened access to published information. Hypertext links enabled users to navigate through documents and allowed them to watch video clips with sound while reading a warning paragraph. With these new technologies, users were able to design their own experience of published material.

Throughout these advances most companies have viewed documentation –such as user guides and technical manuals– as a necessary tool to help consumers use the products they purchased. However, it was rare that documentation would get the business asset treatment, worthy of significant investment. The documents were still semi-interactive: though the companies could enable users to change their experience of the text, they could not present different versions of the text to users based on the user’s interaction with the document. In other words, companies did not have the technology to enable users to change the presentation of content to reflect their own needs.

For example, an American professional mechanic and a Brazilian apprentice require different levels of information from an auto-repair manual. The apprentice will need every step explained in detail and it will be much better if the instructions appear in Brazilian Portuguese while the mechanic will need only the data unique to the specific automobile. Yet these two levels of users could not interact with the same manual so the documentation had to be tailored to their respective levels of expertise.

New technologies such as XML enabled the creation of truly interactive documents in which the readers can specify their own needs and preferences and have the text change accordingly. With XML, a single document can contain the same text in different languages. Previously, companies with multiple foreign markets had to produce separate volumes for each language. Today, the text can be stored in a single XML-based FrameMaker document so that layout specifications (such as which illustrations go with corresponding captions) are preserved and smart action can be taken when automatic translation tools are used (for example, excluding proper nouns from translation). Another aspect of the auto-repair manual that could be changed interactively is the units of measure: imperial units (inches, gallons, degrees Fahrenheit, and so on) could be converted to metric units (meters, liters, degrees Celsius, and so on) based on the reader’s locale and preference.

The “new” ability to produce documentation has transformed documentation into “a core business asset” with serious revenue-producing potential. So, If your business hasn't been paying attention to your documentation, you're ignoring a sales tool and a revenue generator.

Time to actually read the manual!

Creativity as added value

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Sat, 14 May 2011 06:00:00 +0000

In the translation industry, we tend to undervalue the creative aspects of the translation process. We rather focus on objective quality standards and evaluation methods to obtain measurable results about the translation output. We prefer to link translation quality to quantifiable and assessable variables. Our different QA steps are designed to guarantee accuracy, completeness and linguistic correction of the target text. This objective and scientific approach to translation prevails, and these are also the values that we present to clients when we describe the benefits of our professional translation services. Creativity is not a good companion of objective quality, neither a popular sales argument in the translation industry.

However, creativity is a very important skill that operates throughout the whole translation process. First, translators need to be extremely perceptive when they read and understand the source text. This initial interpretation work requires high levels of creative alertness to explore possible multiple meanings and grasp all the nuances and connotations conveyed in a text. Creativity will also play a crucial role in the second part of the translation process, when this complex meaning and content network is transferred to the target language and culture. A successful projection of the richness of meanings and evocations of the original text will be partly determined by the writing abilities of the translator. It is obvious that a technical user manual will not contain metaphors, second meanings, connotations or evocations and will thus not require as much creative talent in the interpretative as well as representative work involved in translation.

However, a clear insight of the source and an intelligent representation of the target message are crucial to reach the audience through certain document types or messages related to advertising or marketing. This is why many argue that another step beyond translation is sometimes required for certain texts to accomplish complex communication goals. Transcreation is the term used to define this extra creative effort to adapt a message to the target culture. Yet, any translation process and any translation work that aims at excellence should include transcreation, as well as the creative value it entails. As Walter Benjamin states in his essay ‘The task of the translator’: ‘to some degree all (great) texts contain their potential translation between the lines’. We could add that to discover this ‘potential translation’ and reveal it can be actually considered an art. Moreover, the quality and greatness of a translation work can depend on the artistic and creative talent of a translator or team of translators. The fact that the industry prefers to look in another direction will not change that.

The European patent is still on course…

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Thu, 05 May 2011 12:54:00 +0000

In our last entry about patents in Europe, we wondered when it would be possible to talk about a unique pan-European patent system.
That has already become a reality! European Parliament gave its approval to member states so that they could use the enhanced cooperation procedure in order to establish a unique patent system within the European Union.

The goal for European companies? To encourage and boost innovation and competitiveness, thereby making the patent registration procedure easier and reducing all the inherent costs (especially translation costs).

On March 10, 2011, 25 EU member states gave their green light for the creation of a unique pan-European patent system. Only Spain and Italy are standing their ground and squarely refusing to participate in this agreement. Despite this, the process is definitely moving now. Indeed, last April 13, 2010, European Commission presented two proposals for unitary patent protection. Now, any companies or any inventors will be able to protect their inventions within those signatory 25 member states. Patent requests can be registered in any language, but the EPO (European Patent Office) will continue to submit patents in one of the three official languages (English, French or German). During a transitory period of 12 years maximum, patents submitted in French or German will have to be translated into English, and those submitted in English will have to be translated in one of the 2 other official languages. These translations will be necessary until the machine translation system is totally workable and efficient.
In the meanwhile, all additional translations completed up to now will be used in order to expand and enrich the machine translation system database.

Accuracy issues with Software “Push Button” Translations

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 06:40:00 +0000

“It scares the heck out of me that people are still thinking it is effective,” said Dr. Charles Lee, referring to a commonly used computer software program responsible for translating prescription labels.

Studies conducted in 2010 reveal that such programs are only around 50 percent accurate. This means that if you cannot read English and have therefore requested your medical prescription label be printed in Spanish, there is a 50% chance it could be delivering incorrect instructions!

Similar studies found that some instructions were left entirely untranslated. If the software program couldn’t understand a word like “dropperfuls”, for example, it simply left it in English. If a Spanish speaking patient went home with such instructions and was unable to follow up with an inquisitive phone call to the pharmacy, s/he could be easily misguided. Mistranslating dosages could be equally as dangerous; if a software program misinterpreted and/or mistranslated “one pill three times a day” as “three pills each time”, it could result in a dangerous or fatal overdose.

Offering translated prescription labels to a Spanish speaking audience could be an extremely beneficial service, but pharmacies much first understand that it requires more than just the push of a button. Otherwise, the potentially harmful outcome is just too high a cost.

English source language tips for two common issues

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 13:30:00 +0000

1. Content
Imperial English measurements such as length, temperature, etc. are often found in documentation for medical device translation. Most linguists need to convert these measurements to Metric to localize the translation. In a multiple language project, you may find slight variances of these conversions.

Suggestion for source document: provide both Imperial and Metric measurements to assure consistency in target documents. Provide instructions whether the Imperial measurements can be removed or else kept in the target within parentheses.

Example source
Temperature: -40° F to +158° F (-25° C to 70° C)
Example translation:
Temperatura: -25 °C a 70 °C
or
Temperatura: -25 °C a 70 °C (-40° F a +158° F)

2. Layout
Adequate White Space in English source documentation can be lacking in certain areas such as tables or graphic callouts. Since text expansion occurs in many languages, translations may end up being hyphenated or have a reduced font size in order to fit within the small area provided.

Suggestion for source document: Widen and lengthen trouble areas such as column rows and text boxes containing graphic callouts.
Example Source
User
not
User

Example Translation
Usuario

These are two issues that are easy to manage by the source material author(s) and will improve the translation process and quality.

Size Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 13:28:00 +0000

Consider the following statements from different areas of our world:

Health: More than one third of U.S. adults —more than 72 million— people and 17% of U.S. children are obese. From 1980 through 2008, obesity rates for adults have doubled and rates for children have tripled.

Science: Nearly 3 million years ago, our ancestors had brains about as big as modern chimps. Since then the brain that would become human grew steadily, tripling in size. But there is little evidence of improvement over much of the period that the brain was growing. Animals with bigger brains are not necessarily more intelligent. To use a computer analogy, bigger brains might in many cases be bigger hard drives, not necessarily better processors.

Economy: We all know the story lines of the current economic recession and its aftermath. Too-big-to-fail should really read too-big-to-succeed. I don’t know about you, but I prefer my local community bank over any financial giant. And big-box stores sure are cheap and convenient to some level, but if quality is your foremost concern, would you really make your purchase there?

Culture: If one were to ask a school, a hospital, a symphony orchestra about their growth plans for the future, they would probably talk about plans to train and retain good teachers, to attract talented surgeons, to extend their repertoire and to bring their work to new audiences. Their vision of growth would not necessarily include increasing the number of students, patients or musicians.

Psychology: Humans are most comfortable in clusters of 10 to 12, family-sized groups. Put them in armies of hundreds and thousands and they cease to be individuals, but only human resources, just numbers in jobs.

Social Media: The most successful of social media like Facebook, thrive on micro-communities, allowing people to grow their network or online community at their own pace and comfort, in accordance with their own standards of quality (of living).

Do you see the common thread? Bigger is not always better. Especially if quality is a key factor.

Why should this be any different for your TSP, your Translation Service Provider?

Small businesses (defined as those with fewer than 500 employees) continue to play a vital role in the economy of the United States. The small business share of GDP has held virtually constant from 1998 through 2004 starting at 50.5 percent in 1998, reaching 49.9 percent in 2000 then rising to 50.7 percent in 2004. Smaller is not only better, it is essential!

So shouldn’t you apply what seems to hold true for your school, your doctor’s office and your body, to your TSP as well: Once they get to the appropriate size, they strive to be better not bigger.

Excel Translations is just such a Translation Service Provider. We act as your partner in your efforts to market your medical devices overseas. We focus on quality and customer satisfaction and apply entrepeneurial values to the partnership.

Advantages of a TSP that has the right size:
• Customer Orientation: Your needs are like no-one else's for whatever reason.
• Partnership: We learn your business and you learn ours.
• Friendly & Flexible: Where everybody knows your name. The Cheers factor.
• Quality: The name of our natural growth hormone

About the Importance of an In-Country Review Process

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 13:14:00 +0000

For regulatory reasons, companies in regulated industries do not have a choice but to provide an in-country review “safety net” as part of the translation process. This in-country review and validation of the translated documents can take place in two ways:

1. It can be directly managed by the client through its own affiliates, distributors or subsidiaries; or
2. It can be entrusted to the translation company in charge of the translations.

Let’s examine the pros and cons of each of the above scenarios:

1. The in-country review process is directly managed by the client through its own affiliates, distributors or subsidiaries:
Typically, under this scenario, once the translation is completed, the client will send the translated materials to its affiliates, distributors or subsidiaries and will ask them to validate the translations. Under this scenario, the client manages the review process, any costs involved, as well as the deliveries of the reviewed and validated translations.
Pros:
• Client has full control of the process. In turn, this can also be a disadvantage if it gets out of control (i.e. managing the review of 20 languages in 20 different countries may become a full-time job for the person in charge of this process).
• Reviewers are familiar with the products and know the terminology.
• Cost (it may be free if an arrangement is made with the affiliates or distributors).
Cons:
• Review time is too long. Asking a person who has another job to review a 50-page manual may take weeks, slowing down if not paralyzing the whole translation process.
• Availability. This ties in with the previous point. Reviewers may miss their deadlines or may not be available, forcing clients to proceed without their input.
• Qualification of the reviewer. While familiar with the product, is the reviewer qualified to validate a translation? Is a distributor linguistically qualified to review the translations (understanding of the English for instance).
• Author’s alterations (and legal implications). Because they are reviewing materials that they will be distributing in their country, some affiliates may want to rewrite the documents to suit their own needs. This can have serious legal implications or may lead to mistakes (i.e. making statements that do not appear in the source document, etc.).
• Objectivity. Some in-country reviewers would like to have full ownership of the translation process and may complain that a translation is poor when in fact it is not.

2. The in-country review is entrusted to the translation company:
Under this scenario, the in-country review process is outsourced and entrusted to the translation provider.
Pros:
• Faster turnaround time. By relying on an independent review, companies will be able to dramatically cut review times while being assured that their translations are reviewed, every time, with no exception.
• Quality. The reviewers are selected with the involvement of the client based on their résumés and experience and are “known quantities.” In contrast to affiliates or distributors, it will be clear what educational, professional, and linguist background the reviewers have. This will result in review comments that are more consistent and more meaningful.
• Certificate of Conformity. Once the review is completed, in-country reviewers should issue a Certificate of Conformity, attesting that the translation has gone through a thorough in-country review and meets all industry-standards requirements.
Traceability. Through the use of proper paper trail, changes are tracked and logged.
Cons:
• Cost. There will be a fee associated with the outsourcing of the review process. However if internal costs are to be factored in when the in-country review is managed by the client (as well as the time of the affiliates/distributors/subsidiaries), the outsourcing option may be cheaper.
• Accountability. The client needs to make sure the review is indeed taking place by third-party reviewers and not by translators working for the translation company. Hence the need for the client to be involved in the recruitment process.

For the past ten years, Excel Translations has successfully set-up and managed independent in-country review panels on behalf of its clients. Please contact us to find out how your organization can also benefit from this service.

Are there any differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese?

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 10:13:00 +0000

There are a lot of differences between European and Brazilian Portuguese, namely spelling (although this will probably be less obvious in the future with the recent Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement), grammar (e.g. placement of pronouns, verbal forms, use of gerund vs. infinitive), and specific terminology (e.g. tela vs. ecrã, usuário vs. utilizador, senha vs. palavra-passe). Also, the form of addressing someone is quite different: in Portugal it is common to use "tu" (2nd person singular) for the informal form of addressing, whereas in Brazil they use "você" (3rd person singular).

The most important differences are:

- Legal texts are totally different, i.e., while Portuguese law is predominantly Napoleonic and German, Brazilian law is a mixture of these, too, but has more resemblance with U.S. disciplines.

-         Marketing and normal language texts are totally different and have to be done by natives. If not, you risk serious confusion.

-         Medical and pharmaceutical texts are quite the same - the incredible thing is that Brazilians normally use state-of-the art terminology earlier than the Portuguese. Internet sites for Brazil also tend to be much richer and use a larger range of terms than Portuguese sites.

-         The Brazilian language is highly dynamic - they are more inclined to use whatever they want and adapt it to their language, while the Portuguese are much more conservative about the words they use. So, Brazilian speakers use more terms that the Portuguese would not: "crashar" for when your PC crashes; “zerar” is used to zero a counter; and to click a computer mouse you can use “clicar” while Portuguese would say "fazer um clique." And yes - "mouse" in Brazil the computer mouse you are using now, but the Portuguese use a literal translation for mouse the animal (“rato”), just the same as the famous cartoon character: "Rato Mickey."

Medical Terminology Translation: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 09:04:00 +0000

I was scrolling through my TV channel lineup this past weekend and I realized that there were about 1000 channels to choose from! I remember as a child when 20-30 channels were a lot back when cable television was in its infancy. Still, to my dismay, I couldn’t find a program in which I was interested and ended up leaving on the Spanish station “Telemundo” as I fixed myself a bite to eat. I chuckled as I heard a Snickers commercial playing as the narrator was communicating everything in Spanish but the product, Snickers, was spoken “Snickers”. An interesting thought came to mind as I considered linguistics, translations, and the medical industry. Mind you, I was not thrilled that work popped into my head during a lazy Sunday; however, I made a pretty good observation I thought I would share with you.

When considering translations for the medical products industry, one really needs to select a translation partner that can translate everything, including the all-important medical terminology, or else end up like “Snickers” in the commercial I described. Now, I realize that “Snickers” in Spanish, because it is a brand name and has no Spanish form, is “Snickers”; however, the name sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the other Spanish vernacular. In some instances, a medical term may be the same in multiple languages, but you better be sure that this is the case or else risk your credibility, liability and regulatory compliance. Often, there is an industry accepted translation for medical terminology that is required. You run a greater risk of incorrectly translating your medical terminology by working with a translation provider that does not have the necessary medical industry experience or who cannot guarantee that your projects will be translated by certified medical translators.

Here are a few helpful guidelines to help you choose a qualified medical translation partner:
• The translation company you are considering uses only certified, in-country medical translators with either a medical degree or years of proven translation experience in your field. Ask to see sample bios of the translators who will be used for your project
• The translation company you are considering has achieved the proper EN and ISO- certifications which are applicable to the medical industry and ask to see copies of these ISO and EN certificates.
• The translation company you are considering accepts your glossaries of commonly used terms to ensure that your terminology is translated consistently to your preferences.
• The translation company you are considering issues you a Certificate of Conformity certifying:
o Each final translation delivered to be substantially true, complete and accurate to the source language original received.
o That the project was managed from a facility certified to all the ISO standards you are requesting or were told this facility holds.
• The translation company you are considering has routine testing and performance reviews for its in-country translators ensuring that translators are rigorously tested regarding their translation proficiency and knowledge of medical industry terminology.

Harmonizing Technical Translation Work Amongst Different Translation Teams

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:36:00 +0000

Professional translators come from a variety of environments, have different educational backgrounds, and choose to specialize in different fields of expertise. The individual human element that a translator adds is vital to a quality translation. However, it's just as important that professional translators find similar ground so that the end-product is appropriate for the target audience. A common language and dedication to their craft binds them together but there are tools which can bridge the differences even more. Perhaps the most powerful is translation memory software.

There are a variety of computer-related technologies available to translators but what the most prevalent software programs have in common is the ability to maintain a database of terms, phrases, and sentences as they are translated so the translations can be recalled later on when the same or similar text is encountered. This works best when a separate translation memory is created and maintained for each client so that client-specific terminology can be established, refined, and re-used with confidence.

No matter what the base industry a client works in, their translation needs can transcend several fields (e.g. technical writing, accounting, marketing, human resources) requiring the use of different specialized translators. Translation memory software allows for the sharing of terminology among translators who don't necessarily translate the same type of material. When a client's needs grow and new translators are added to the team, the new team members can review and use the translation memory database, taking advantage of their fellow team members' earlier work. Previous translations are used in the new tasks which minimize inconsistent translation and can often lower the cost and time needed to complete the work.

PDF Pitfalls [Part 2] – How to Translate PDF Documents in Several Languages

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 11:23:00 +0000

In Part 2 of this post we will continue covering some aspects related to PDF conversion and discussing the state-of-the-art in accomplishing the translation task.

“— What's the big deal with PDF conversion?
Why not simply cut and paste, it's easy to do and doesn't cost anything.”

Extracting textual information from PDFs – though time-consuming – can seem relatively easy at first glance. You can copy and paste, take screenshots and even manually retype any needed information. However, it becomes nearly impossible when copying from the PDF isn't allowed or when a pasted section produces results that cannot be used. Also, it may seem easy to overcome an iceberg when you consider only the visible part, but there are more things to consider under the surface. The visual part of a PDF document – the look and feel – is only the tip of the iceberg.

“— Are all PDFs created equal?”

Every PDF has its own shape and features – no two are the same. There are several different flavors of PDF, but you can reduce all flavors into basically 2 types: Distilled PDF and Scanned PDF. You get Distilled PDF when you produce a PDF document from a text publishing tool (via Acrobat Distiller or other PDF writers). Adobe Acrobat allows other flavors of PDF to contain raster images of each of the pages of the document (with or without some text in the background to allow text searching). These PDF documents are referred to as Scanned PDF. You get these when you scan paper documents (via Acrobat Exchange or some other method).

“— Does the type of PDF created matter?”

Yes, it does. When it comes to converting PDFs into an editable format, the nature of the PDF does matter. Extracting text from a Scanned PDF is not that simple and it requires at least some tailoring to the problem at hand and good OCR software. The complications arise when, for instance, the image is noisy or text pixels cannot be well distinguished from the background. In this case, the OCR process does not work as smoothly because it depends on the quality of the provided PDF. Usually it will require a lot of clean up once they are converted.

“— What types of documents will convert easily?”

It is important to note that process optimization is a utopia when it comes to translating PDFs, but as a general rule, the simpler the layout of the source documents, the better the converted documents will be. For instance, if you are converting novels, since there is typically not much layout in the source documents, you can expect a lot of success (and hence very little cleanup) in converting these to editable format. If, on the other hand, you've got complex pages such as scanned scientific journal pages, which are likely to contain multiple columns, lots of complex tables, math, footnotes and bibliographies, you should expect have to do a fair amount of cleanup on the converted documents.

“— Is there anything happening to make PDF conversion easier in the future?”

Several tools have been designed and developed to interact with PDF documents. Beside the common Adobe products and solutions, third party developers propose many different softwares and API, either under license or as freeware. Consequently, a wide range of PDF tools are proposed in the market. Most of them allow for the extraction of textual content but their practical use is limited in the sense that the text’s reading order is not necessary preserved, especially when handling multi-column documents, or in the presence of complex layouts.

Adobe Acrobat X Pro [http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobatpro.html] does a startlingly good job of exporting PDF files into Word or Excel editable documents. It isn't perfect, and didn't select the correct fonts when exporting my test documents, but it did a far better job of preserving the original format than anything I've seen in third-party software. This export function worked best when I used Distilled PDFs—not from a scanned image. In contrast, Scanned PDFs contain only a picture of the original text, and Acrobat can only extract the text by using its built-in Optical Character Reading (OCR) software. Acrobat X has more accurate OCR than previous versions did, but it still lags far behind the best third-party OCR software like ABBYY Finereader 10 Professional Edition [http://finereader.abbyy.com/].

Our experience is that you need to experiment with various options to see which ones best fit into your needs and work best with your PDF documents. Our approach is constantly re-evaluating the various tools, methods and techniques available and incorporating the best of what's out there into what we do.

The fact is all PDF files used as a source for translation need reworking before they're translated into several languages. By making the native source documents available to your translation partner, you will avoid any rework or any unnecessary preparation of the documents before translation can start. It will allow us to perform a full analysis and it will let you stay in control of your budget and schedule without any surprises down the road. PDFs serve a purpose, but when it comes to translation, there is nothing better than the real thing: native source documents (such as FrameMaker, InDesign, Quark XPress, etc).

RULE OF THUMB:

“Native source documents are always needed (and preferred) for translation and are much more time and cost efficient to work with from the get-go.”

Missed part 1 of this post?
->Pick it up here [http://lifesciencestranslations.blogspot.com/2010/11/pdf-pitfalls-part-1-how-to-translate.html]

Translation-The Invaluable Art Form

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:37:00 +0000

The art of translation is essential to many industries that help save, sustain or enhance human life. The value of translating user manuals for medical equipment, for example, is clearly understood to aid health care, allowing medical professionals to monitor and improve the health of their patients worldwide. The value of translating software used by air traffic controllers, for example, is an obvious key to safe, global travel. And the value of translating nutrition facts on food labels is measured daily by appreciative consumers who see the importance of determining the quality of their sources of nourishment.

Still, the art of translation can prove invaluable in other circumstances. On January 19th, 2011, Dan Gunderson of Minnesota Public Radio delivered a broadcast from Fargo, North Dakota. “For nearly 150 years,” he says, “the voices of Dakota men imprisoned after the Dakota Conflict of 1862 went unheard. But the details of their imprisonment are starting to emerge, in letters written by those prisoners after six weeks of fighting along the Minnesota River Valley that left hundreds of Indians, settlers and soldiers dead.” Clifford Canku, an elder of the Native American Dakota tribe and professor of Dakota language at North Dakota State, has been working tirelessly to uncover the meaning behind these ancient transcripts. For over a century, the only available firsthand accounts of the Dakota Conflict of 1862 were written by soldiers of the U.S. Army, prison guards, or other members of the bureaucracy. Canku’s work is bringing the other side of the story to life. Slowly and deliberately, he is translating the 150 remaining prisoner letters, some taking nearly one week at a time, that up until now have been stored in a vault at the Minnesota Historical Society, because he feels a duty to his ancestors. These letters detail horrifying prison conditions which, though painful to read, are helping to bring a sense of closure to the prisoners’ descendants tormented by unanswered questions for so long.

While language translation makes an immense contribution to daily quality of life around the world, sometimes it takes a story of human dedication and compassion to remind us that communication goes beyond software and coding and machines; it connects us at the heart.

Translation at the service of innovation

noreply@blogger.com (Excel Translations) — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 13:39:00 +0000

On November 30, 2010, the European Patent Office (EPO) and Google signed a Memorandum of Understanding to improve access to patent translations in languages spoken in EPO member states, as well as in several Asian languages. The arrangement took place in the middle of a controversy about the creation of a unique pan-European patent.

The current process to register a patent is tedious, complicated and costly. Many inventors end up forfeiting protection of their inventions, with the economically critical group of small and medium-sized businesses on top of the list.

Patents need to be filed in one of three EPO official languages (English, French and German), and then have it translated into the languages of countries where they want to apply for patent protection. This process poses some problems. Inventors have difficulties to search for information about patents published in foreign languages. Furthermore, a lot of European patents are not available in all national languages, and are therefore not protected in these countries.

The past years, the governments of the European Union have been talking about implementing a single common patent in the 27 member states. The idea was to submit patents in one of the three official languages with a summary translated into the other two. However, the EU governments failed to reach an agreement, with Italy and Spain leading the opposition by demanding their languages to be represented on a level equal to the three official ones.

So now the EPO, enabled by Google, has stepped into the void. The EPO will be using Google’s statistical machine translation tool (Google Translation) to translate patents in all languages represented in the EPO as well as patents that come from Asia, United States, Canada, Australia, Russia and India that will receive protection in Europe.

In return, Google machine translation technology will be improved notably: EPO will grant total access to their patents translated manually (almost 1 and a half million of available documents, enhanced by more than 50,000 new patents every year).

Thanks to this collaboration, scientists and inventors, whose work is based on innovation, will have easier access to patents that are already registered. This partnership will also facilitate the registration process of inventors, reducing costs and improving legal security as well as making the decision process easier for EU member states that want to simplify the introduction of pan-European patents.

The agreement has divided the scientific community. On the one hand, some think this is a good measure to boost competitiveness in Europe, if the solution is used to get familiar with a document and to understand its overall meaning. Translations will not have any legal status, but will only serve informative purposes. Nevertheless, the other side of the coin can be dangerous. Machine translation is still vague and inaccurate, while patent translations demand precision and accuracy.

So, when will it be possible to talk about a unique pan-European patent?