Employee of the Month
Rebecca Forbes
Rebecca Forbes works in a support role in the Translator Coordinator
office. This part time position fits her to a T, since it is a mix of
low-stress and not low-stress work.
Working at McElroy Translation is a natural extension of Rebecca’s
linguistic tendencies. She very much enjoys studying foreign languages and
speaks English, Spanish, French and Italian and has also studied German
and Russian (though not seriously) and learned some basics in Irish,
Hungarian and Arabic. You might even say that language is a family affair
for Rebecca as her husband is a student of Semitic languages and her
mother-in-law works exclusively overseas, employing interpreters in such
unusual locales as Mongolia. Rebecca herself loves to travel and recently
returned from a long-awaited trip to Italy.
Rebecca was born and raised in Biloxi, Mississippi, the home of a large
Air Force base. Though Biloxi is a small town, there was an abundance of
international influence from the military families who comprise a large
part of that community. She began studying languages in high school and
even attended summer school to allow her to take more language classes.
After studying French and Italian at the University of Texas, she could
not be swayed to leave the delights of Austin – the food, music, weather
and mostly the community.
Previous to working at McElroy, Rebecca was an IT professional at a
small publishing company (Rebecca is a Microsoft Certified Professional),
and before that she was a Production Supervisor for a local printing
company. She is proud to say she has supported her husband as he
participated in the startup and building of a local software company that
has survived and flourished despite the difficulties in that industry.
Rebecca left the workforce for several months when her daughter was born,
and she still spends most mornings with her toddler. Other passions
include exercise (in which she indulges daily) and the practice of
culinary arts (when she has some time). Rebecca dreams of one day
incorporating all her loves in a business of her own, but is quite happy
where she is now.
Operations Manager Presents at Montréal Conference
RMTC Operations Manager Kim Vitray will present “Operational
Philosophies and Strategies That Work” at the 4th Annual
Translation Company Division Conference in Montréal, May 15-18, 2003. The
TCD is a division of the American Translators Association, and Kim also
serves as the division’s Assistant Administrator.
Kim’s presentation, which will be to an audience of translation
company owners and managers, will discuss successful philosophies and
strategies in the areas of processes and procedures, communication, human
resources, finances, client relations, and ethics. The theme of the
conference is “Building a Better Translation Business”; other
presenters include Christophe Réthoré, Director of Translation Studies
at James Madison University; Rolf Blum, CEO of Localize-IT in Munich; and
Gérald Paquette, Director of Communications for the Quebec Office of the
French Language.
“New” Translator Web Site
RMTC is pleased to announce the redesign, upgrade, and expansion of its
web site for active translators. Many thanks and congratulations to
Assistant Translator Coordinator Katie Carothers and Web Specialist Evan
Norman, who worked on this project together and produced an outstanding
result! Chief Editor Mark Ritter also contributed content for the new
site, as did Senior Technical Editor Regina Zeyzus, who provided a
detailed and comprehensive list of acronyms and abbreviations.
One of the major additions to the site is access to a personal FTP
folder for each translator to use in exchanging files with us. The site
also includes even more instructions and guidelines, including
explanations of some of the less common job specifications, and there will
be more in this area in the near future. Another benefit of the redesign
is that it will be easier for the translator coordinator staff to update
the site themselves, more frequently, with less reliance on more technical
staff.
Diagnostics
Industry in Last-Ditch Effort to Meet New EU Regulation for CE MarkInformation excerpted below is from the ClientSide News
Global Intelligence Newsletter of April 11, 2003
CAMBRIDGE,
Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 1, 2003-- With fewer than four business quarters remaining before compliance with the European Union’s
In-vitro Diagnostics Directive (IVDD) becomes mandatory, few
manufacturers have completed the steps necessary to obtain the
“CE mark.” Among other stipulations, the In-vitro
Diagnostics Directive requires companies selling diagnostic products
in the European Union to translate product instructions and labeling.
“Manufacturers may have underestimated the time necessary to
complete the CE marking process,” states Sue Spencer,
Founder-Director of Cascade Consulting. “Many IVD companies have
massive manuals and volumes of documentation. They underestimate the
complexity of labeling, and just because the IVD Directive makes it look
straightforward does not mean it can be done quickly.”
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SpotLight on Web Site Localization
“MultiLingual
Computing” Magazine recently featured this area of
translation escalating activity. RMTC is one of the companies in the spotlight. The
following information is extracted from the site found online at http://www.multi
lingual.com/>globalWebProfiles/
More often than not,
our clients rely on us not only to effectively localize their sites, but to
provide technical guidance and insight.
1) More than once we
have been asked to rename all of the localized files to include a
distinguishing extension for each language, with the intention of including
all of the source files and localized files in one location. Instead, we
suggest that they store each language version in its own location.
Otherwise, every link reference in every file would need to be renamed to
point to the right link. The potential for creating errors as a result of
this unwieldy undertaking would be unacceptable.
2) Clients new to the localization process sometimes believe that because an application like
FrontPage was used to create the source files, they must also be edited
using the same application. Of course, we use tools like TRADOS which allow
us to more quickly and efficiently work within the electronic source files.
Clients have been pleasantly surprised by the ease of publishing the
localized files which are delivered with all of the code intact. The
“look” of the page is also retained because TRADOS allows the
translator to view the source and target files in final format side by
side--any formatting adjustments can be made on the spot.
3) In our Web localization work, we see a wide variance in Web site structure and
complexity. It is not always the most complex sites that reveal
opportunities to assist and educate clients, though. In analyzing a
prospective client’s Web files recently, our Web development team found an
item of note that would significantly reduce the cost of their Web
localization and optimize search engine indexing.
They had really taken to heart the lesson about the value of keywords in their html metatag
information--to the extent that they had listed about 4 times as many as the
most generous of major search engines would read! Multiply this times quite
a few pages where keywords were individually chosen. Now consider that this
site is being localized into 9 languages and you begin to see what our
design team saw.
Had we not pointed this out, they would have spent 10-15% of their entire localization budget
on the translation of content that would never be used.
In this case, we emphasized that the most relevant keywords should be translated. Every ounce
of potential must be squeezed from the localized Web pages. With improved
search engine ranking, our clients’ localized pages are found by those they
are trying to reach. Their localization budget is more readily justified.
4) TRADOS can be a rather strict and unforgiving parser of HTML. In other words, unlike your
favorite Web browser, poorly formed HTML and JavaScript tags (e.g., ones
with missing quote marks or extra quote marks, or dashes instead of equal
signs, etc.) cause the tag protection tools to break. What this meant for us
on this particular project is that the translatable information was not
always being protected in Tag Editor, and cleanup of .ttx (Tag Editor
bilingual format) files was impossible. TRADOS isn’t completely failsafe
during the process of translating scripted files, and a code-knowledgeable
human is still necessary to ensure everything was translated
properly and no corrupted files reached the client.
Although this may seem to more seasoned localization providers to be “old hat” and
common knowledge, it probably doesn’t get stressed enough when the benefits
of translation memory tools like TRADOS are examined.
International
Localization Summer School
General Manager Shelly Orr Priebe sits on the Board of the ACC localization certification program. It is one of the few such programs in the United States that offers a professional certification in localization.
Austin Community
College and the Localisation Research Centre of the University of Limerick (Ireland)
are proud to announce International Localization Summer School:
June 18-20, 2003 in Austin, Texas
June 3-6, 2003 in Limerick, Ireland
Six 4-hour
seminars will be offered:
- Project Management
- Software Enablement
- Character Encoding
- Localization Tools
- Case Studies
- Quality Assurance
This first
of its kind Summer School features industry-leading instructors from the US
and Europe. Instructors come from IBM, Pervasive Software, Localisation Research
Centre, and more! For each seminar completed, you will receive a certificate
of completion from both Austin Community College and The Institute of Localisation
Professionals (TILP), a European-based
professional organization whose primary aim is to develop professional practices
in localization globally. These courses count toward professional membership
in that organization.
Who Should
Attend
These courses
are aimed at individuals who have a basic knowledge of localization but require
additional information and/or training in specific areas. Beginners are also
welcome, but it is expected that all participants will be familiar with at least
the internet, e-mail, and basic computer skills, including familiarity with
very basic programming in any computer language, such as html. The courses are
ideal for those who are looking to meet other professionals in the field in
an intimate environment. To this end, we have limited our enrollment. All courses
will be held at our Highland Business Center, about 3 miles north of downtown
Austin.
Course Descriptions
Project
Management: An overview of the components involved in managing complex localization
projects and the add-on value of professional project management to a client
and/or an organization. Taught by Brenda Hall of AustinTest, brenda.hall@austintest.com.
Ms. Hall has extensive experience in project management, having worked at IBM,
BMC Software, and other leading companies before founding AustinTest, where she
is CEO.
Software
Enablement: An examination of the globalization, localization, and internationalization
processes and practices required to ensure the smooth transition of a product
into various international locales. Jim Yu, Ph.D., teaches this course. He is
currently an Internationalization Architect for IBM - Tivoli Software. Dr. Yu
has been with IBM for more than 8 years and has worked in the globalization area
for 5 years. He participated in many Tivoli projects and in many phases of the
development cycle. Dr. Yu also has two US patents in the area of software internationalization with several others pending. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (emphasis in Computer Engineering) from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Quality
Assurance:This
course covers tests performed at different levels of localized software
products during the software life cycle. Taught by Jonathan Miller of Pervasive
Software, jonathan.
miller@pervasive.com. Mr. Miller is a Senior Quality Engineer
with 13 years of computer experience. He has also been a Systems Analyst, Operations
Manager, Systems Administrator, Database Administrator, and Implementations
Manager. His current position is with a provider of embedded data management
solutions for mission-critical business applications. Pervasive.SQL,
ideally suited for Web and client/server-based applications, is deployed on
a variety of operating systems, including Linux, Windows NT, and Windows 2000 in English, German, French and Japanese. The product
ships in both English and Japanese versions.
Character
Encoding: Provides an understanding of legacy character sets and the universal
character sets (customer data). Characters are identified by code point and
data interchange scenarios are examined.
Localization
Tools: Introduces some common types of software tools used during the software
internationalization and localization process, including GUI, TM, and other
technologies. Taught by Rafael Guzman of the Localisation Research Centre, rafael.guzman@ul.ie.
Case Studies:
Provides an overview of some real-world localization problems and the solutions
employed to maximize development efficiency. Taught by Benetta Perry of IBM, benetta@us.ibm.com.
Registration
Information
Each seminar
is $99. Enroll for a full day for $175 with lunch included. Enroll in the whole
series for $500 with lunches included. Participants from outside the Austin Community
College taxing district are subject to a higher rate. Please call for information.
Seats are
limited. Dowload the registration
form (Word doc) and mail, fax, or phone ACC’s Continuing Education Division:
5930 Middle
Fiskville Rd.
Austin, TX 78752 USA
+1 512 223
7542 / +1 512 223 7030 (fax)
Major credit
cards accepted.
Traveling
to Austin?
Click here
for accommodations and logistical information. A map
to our location is also available.
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May
Promotion
At RMTC, May is “Chemical Translation Month.” In
celebration of our heritage (see the article below) and in
acknowledgement of our continued strength in the area, you may
register this month to receive a free “chemical translation”
from any language to English at a value of up to $500. Just click here
to register for the drawing. The winner can place the translation
order anytime throughout 2003.
This month’s winner will be selected
and notified on Monday, May 19. Good luck! Results will also be
posted to the web site. A random number generator will be used to select
the winner from an ordered list of entries.
Translation Expertise
Our clients present a wide variety of translation and localization
needs. RMTC was founded in 1968 when Ralph McElroy accepted
translation assignments of chemical documents in Russian for Celanese. He
was a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin at the time,
recently returned from studies abroad. He hired a graduate student in
chemical engineering to review his translation; thus RMTC’s practice of
using a “technical editor” as a quality control step has existed from
the very beginnings of the company. To this day, RMTC values a client base
of corporate libraries and R&D personnel that depend on our
translations to survey leading edge technology and fuel their own research
pipelines.
As RMTC grew in size and sophistication over the years, we layered
additional areas of expertise on the solid foundation that Ralph built 35
years ago. In the early 1980s, RMTC added a division which specialized in
medical technology. Translators and editors supporting the clinical and
regulatory endeavors of pharmaceutical and medical device companies
emerged as another area of specialization.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, RMTC leveraged its steady contract
and strong relationship with the United States Patent and Trademark
Office with the focused pursuit of translation business to support patent
prosecution and patent litigation. With an in-depth understanding of the
intricacies of patent translation and with PMP certified project managers
to coordinate the complexities of litigation demands, the patent legal
sector became another important RMTC division.
In the last five years, an area of explosive growth has been
localization, or the translation and cultural adaptation of product and
corporate identity information for our clients seeking international
sales. Our clients communicate across borders as an awareness and respect
for other cultures becomes more integral to the conduct of “good
business.” Localization is the
enabler of international business.
The RMTC growth strategy has been solidly planned and executed. For
each market niche described above, we hired translation, editing and
project management staff according to the specific technical needs of each
focus area. Each growth sector has layered on a foundation of technical
expertise and well-defined workflow systems.
Did You Survive Tax Month and Meet Your April 15 Deadline?
The Miami Herald posted this article on Sunday, Aprril 6,
2003. Dave Barry finds humor in the most tedious of topics.
Want a little something EGTRRA?
DAVE BARRY
It’s tax time. I know this because I’m staring at documents that make
no sense to me, no matter how many beers I drink.
Take, for example, my Keogh Plan. If you’re wondering what a Keogh Plan
is, the technical answer is: Beats me. All I know is, I have one, and the
people who administer it are always sending me Important Tax Information.
Here’s the first sentence of their most recent letter, which I swear I am
not making up:
“Dear David: The IRS has extended the deadline for the restatement of
your plan to comply with GUST and various other amendments until, in most
instances, September 30, 2003.”
I understand everything in that sentence, up to “David.” After that I
am lost. Apparently I have until September 30 (in most instances) to get
my plan -- no, sorry, the restatement of my plan -- to comply with
something (but what?) called “GUST.” And of course various other
amendments. But how do I do this? And what if I don’t?
The letter doesn’t make this clear. It does, however, say this: “You
must adopt EGTRRA prior to the end of the plan year beginning in 2002.” I
am, frankly, reluctant to adopt anything called “EGTRRA,” which sounds
like the name of a giant radioactive chicken that destroys Tokyo.
The thing is, this letter isn’t from the Internal Revenue Service (“We’re
Working To Put You in Jail!”). It’s from people on MY side, people who
sincerely want to tell me something, probably important, about GUST and
EGTRRA. But I won’t even try to finish their letter.
I’ll put it, with all the other tax documents that I do not understand,
in a folder marked “Taxes,” and I’ll mail it to a guy I know named Evan.
A few weeks later he’ll mail me back a tax return that I will sign and
send along to the IRS without reading any part of it, except where it says
“SIGN HERE.”
That’s right: I have no idea what my tax return says, even though I’m
legally responsible for it. I just have to hope that, when Evan prepares
it, he’s not in a prankish mood:
IRS AUDITOR: Mr. Barry, can you explain why, on page 27 of your return,
stapled to Form 4992, “Depreciation and Amortization,” is the thymus
gland of an otter?
ME: That’s not mine!
IRS AUDITOR: Also, on page 23, you claim, as dependents, and I quote:
“The Entire Cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
I’m not the only taxpayer who has no idea what he’s sending to the IRS.
This year, only 28 percent of all Americans will prepare their own tax
returns, according to a voice in my head that invents accurate-sounding
statistics.
Why can’t Americans do their own taxes? Because the federal Tax Code is
out of control, that’s why. It’s gigantic and insanely complex, and it
gets worse all the time. Nobody has ever read the whole thing. IRS workers
are afraid to go into the same ROOM with it. They keep it locked in the
basement, and once a day, they open the door, heave in a live taxpayer --
some poor slob who failed to adopt EGTRRA in time to comply with GUST (and
various other amendments) -- then slam the door shut, before the screams
start.
As a result, we have reached the point where even the IRS
doesn’t know what the Tax Code says. Last year, the Treasury Department
discovered -- I am still not making this up -- that the IRS paid out more
than $30 million to people who filed for the slavery tax credit. Yes!
Thirty million dollars! Only guess what? It turns out there IS no slavery
tax credit! Whoops!
It would not surprise me if, any day now, they discover that there is
no such person as “Keogh.”
The question is: What can we, as citizens, do to reform our tax system?
As you know, under our three-branch system of government, the tax laws are
created by: Satan. But he works through the Congress, so that’s where we
must focus our efforts.
Here’s my proposal, which is based on the TV show Survivor: We
put the entire Congress on an island. All the food on this island is
locked inside a vault, which can be opened only by an ordinary American
taxpayer named Bob. Every day, the congresspersons are given a section of
the Tax Code, which they must rewrite so that Bob can understand it. If he
can, he lets them eat that day; if he can’t, he doesn’t.
Or, he can give them food either way. It doesn’t matter. The main thing
is, we never let them off the island.
Reach RMTC at
910 West Avenue
Austin, Texas 78701
800 531 9977
512 472
6753
512 472 4591 fax
sales@mcelroytranslation.com |
