Telecommunications Case Study

 Summary

An understanding of SGML and SGML checks is required when translating text that runs on an SGML system. TOIN addressed this issue by placing core team members at the office of the client, a major manufacturer of telecommunications devices.

 Challenges

• When translating SGML texts, it is difficult to assess problems unless checks are performed while the work progresses
• SGML system checks can only be performed at the client's office

 Solutions

• TOIN's translation team worked at the client's office for the first few months of the project
• We permanently posted the translation quality manager to the client's office to perform SGML checks and feedback

 Conclusion

• TOIN's translations took into account the SGML structure
• We could check SGML error generation in advance
• We overcame the restriction of working at the client's office

 Case Study

The client in this case study is a major manufacturer of telecommunications devices and performs advanced SGML management of documents for the base stations of mobile phones and landlines. SGML is an excellent format for management purposes, but in translation all the sentences are segmented and it is difficult to understand them in context. There is also the danger that tags unrelated to the translation will be moved or changed during the translation process. When the translated document is then checked according to SGML rules and an error occurs, translators with no knowledge of SGML will not know how to correct it. Furthermore, the system for checking the SGML structure can only be operated at the client's office, meaning that checks cannot be made at TOIN.

In response to these issues, we thought that the only way for us to deal appropriately with SGML files would be to go to work at the client's office to acquire the necessary techniques and experience. We sent a number of our staff members, including the project's translation quality manager and chief translator, to work at the client's office for a few months, where they learned about the system. By using the client's system for themselves, they identified the issues that needed particular attention during SGML translations. Of course, the team continued to work on the project while they were posted at the client's office.

The translator then left the client's office to concentrate on the translation work, while the translation quality manager stayed there to provide the translator with feedback on the system check results for the translated documents. In this way, the project was brought to a successful conclusion.