Equipo chileno gana premio en ACM SIGMOD-SIGACT-SIGART, (PODS 2011), la conferencia más importante en teoría de bases de datos

Después de volver de un fin de semana en las termas me encuentro con esta magnífica noticia. Concuerdo absolutamente en el punto de que en Chile tenemos la capacidad intelectual para realizar investigación de primer nivel. ¡Es hora de hacerlo!

Localización. Predicciones para el 2011

Nunca está demás poner oído a lo que se dice que sucederá en la industria. O en este caso, a lo que NO sucederá.
Que lo disfruten :-)

LocWorld Barcelona 2011

Se viene, se viene :-) Ya puedes ver el programa en la página. Sería lindo desdoblarse porque es una pena que haya charlas tan buenas simultáneamente.
¿Les cuento una primicia? Probablemente TILP organice unas sesiones por esas fechas con expertos de la localización, así es que los mantendré informados.

American Translators Association: Publications-The ATA Chronicle: Featured Article

American Translators Association : Publications-The ATA Chronicle : Featured Article

Localización al español

El español es hablado por cerca de 400 millones de personas que esperan y merecen productos y servicios en su lengua materna. Además, millones de personas podrían beneficiarse de la localización de cursos e-learning en todas las disciplinas del saber.
Es fundamental que el conocimiento sea accesible para que las regiones progresen y prosperen.
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La localización como especialización para el traductor

Hoy en día, el mercado exige que el traductor sea también localizador; es decir, un comunicador integral con conocimientos no sólo de idioma, sino también de marketing internacional y tecnología.
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Es por ello que Jangulo, en conjunto con Bequalified, ofrecerá un diplomado completamente e-learning en Localización de Software y Sitios Web, el que permitirá aprender y certificar habilidades de localización.
Para ver más detalles, visita: http://www.jangulo.com/diplomado1.html
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¿Qué es la localización?

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¿Qué necesidades satisfacen las empresas de localización?

¿Sabía qué los hablantes de Urdu prefieren los videojuegos de carreras en vez de los de estrategia?
Se preguntará por qué. Pues, muy sencillo: porque no hay videojuegos en su idioma y los juegos de carreras son más fáciles de entender.

Esto indica que el idioma sigue siendo una barrera para el mundo actual, el que desea funcionar como una aldea global.
.La industria de la localización ayuda a las empresas, gobiernos y organizaciones sin fines de lucro a crear contenidos, productos y servicios para audiencias mundiales de cualquier cultura, sin importar el idioma que hablen.
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Cuando una empresa multinacional quiere vender un software, los usuarios finales de todo el mundo deben entenderlo para que puedan usarlo. Eso es precisamente lo que hacen las empresas de localización: adaptan los productos y servicios desde el punto de vista lingüístico y cultural para que puedan ser comercializados en un mercado específico (que tiene su propio idioma y cultura)..
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Tamaño del mercado
.Dado que el mundo está cada vez más globalizado, la industria de la localización continúa teniendo un acelerado crecimiento, a pesar de las crisis económicas.
.Common Sense Advisory, una prestigiosa empresa de investigación de mercado, estimó que el tamaño del mercado estaba sobre los USD$31 mil millones en 2011. También indica que el mercado está creciendo a una tasa anual de 7,41%.
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De este total, aproximadamente el 25% del mercado lo ocupan las multinacionales de localización y el 75% restante está ocupado por empresas de localización medianas, pequeñas y traductores freelance.
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.Limitaciones de la localización
.Está claro que el mundo globalizado demanda cada vez más los servicios de localización, sin embargo, estos servicios requieren de personal calificado . Por lo tanto, la curva de aprendizaje es lenta, pues se requieren muchos años combinados de educación y experiencia para poder desempeñarse en el área de la localización.

La buena noticia para los traductores es que ya tienen a cuestas varios años de estudio de idioma y traducción, además de experiencia en proyectos de traducción. Esto significa que tienen los conocimientos lingüísticos y culturales (o al menos deberían tenerlos) y solo faltaría desarrollar los aspectos técnicos para desempeñarse como localizadores.

Por otra parte, la industria de la localización experimenta hace algunos años una avalancha de cambios estructurales debido a la incorporación de nuevas herramientas tecnológicas cada vez más avanzadas. Lo anterior refuerza la especialización que deben tener los profesionales y su capacidad para dominar rápidamente las diversas herramientas computacionales y adaptarse a los cambios.

En definitiva, no hay nada que no pueda aprenderse, pero es necesario tomarse el tiempo de especializarse en localización, pues en un mercado en crecimiento.

¿Cómo hacerlo?
Debido a que la localización es un mercado en crecimiento y a que se necesitan profesionales capacitados, Bequalified lanzó el Diplomado en localización de software y sitios web.
Si te interesa esta área de especialización para traductores, escribe a info@bequalified.cl.
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Fuentes:

1. Información del sitio web de Globalization and Localization Association (GALA).Link: http://www.gala-global.org/node/35758
2. The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA). Link: http://www.lisa.org/Localization.61.0.html
3. “The Language Services Market: 2011”. Nataly Kelly & Robert G. Stewart. Common Sense Advisory Inc.
4. “Localization Skills for Translators/Localizability Requirements for Clients”. DiFranco, Carla, 2003.
5. “Emerging challenges in the software Localization industry”, Cyr, Dianne & Lew, Richard, Simon Fraser University, 2004, Canadá.
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Service Characteristics

1. Reliability means consistency of actions:

-The provider renders the service as promised
-Accuracy in invoicing-Proper file management
-Service provided within the designated time period


2. Response capacity refers to the service provider's willingness or skill in rendering the service:

-Serve clients rapidly
-Availability to respond to questions and complaints
-Willingness to help clients


3. Professionalism means having the necessary skills and knowledge:

-Service provider’s knowledge and skills
-Knowledge and skills of any person providing operational support (colleague or team who will work on the project)
-Research capacity of linguists


4. Accessibility means approachableness and ease of contact:

-The service is easily accessible by phone, email, instant messenger or social networks
-The wait time for receiving the service is prudent
-Convenient business hours


5. Courtesy includes politeness, respect, consideration and friendliness of the service provider towards the client:

-Showing consideration upon answering calls, emails or other communications
-Clean and tidy appearance of the service provider during video conferences or meetings, or in his/her manner of writing.


6. Communication means keeping clients updated in a language they can understand, as well as listening to their needs:

-Explanation of the service itself
-Explanation of the price-quality relationship
-Assure clients that any problems will be solved


7. Credibility means trust, authenticity, honesty and keeping the client’s interest in mind:

-Company reputation
-The service provider should inspire trust in the client


8. Security is protecting the client from risk or doubts:

-Financial security (the client won’t lose money)
-Confidentiality


9. Knowing the client means making an effort to understand the client’s needs:

-Understand the client’s specific requirements
-Provide personalized service
-Recognize regular clients

10. Tangible elements include physical evidence of the service:

-Appearance of translated documents
-Professional appearance (manner of writing)
-Tools or equipment used to provide the service
-Physical representation of the service (business cards, website, etc.)

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Sources:

1. Parasuraman, A., Zeithmal, V.A. y Berry, L.L. A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing. 1985.
2. Grönroos, Christian. Marketing y gestión de servicios. Ediciones Diaz de Santos S.A., 1994.
3. Berry, Leonard y Parasuraman A. Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality. The Free Press, 1991.

Why is translation a “peculiar service”?

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First of all, we’ll look at why translation is a “peculiar” service or activity. According to Kotler, a renowned marketing expert, a service is “any act or performance that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything.  Its production may or may not be tied to a physical product”. Translation is a “peculiar service” for two reasons.

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1. It may have “tangible elements" such as, for example, the printed copy of a translated document.  In addition, as translation is a service provided mainly through the Internet, it has “visible” elements, such as the digital version of the translation.  These visible elements make translation service a little more tangible than most services, but on many occasions it never becomes completely tangible, given that the translated document never ends up being printed, but is published digitally instead.
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2. The transfer of intellectual property rights is implied when translation services are rendered (except in some cases of literary translation).  Intellectual property in translations is a matter to be explored on another occasion, but I mention it here so we can understand that translation is a "peculiar service" with its own special characteristics, and that therefore, quality management of translation has its own complexities.  This doesn’t mean it's an unapproachable task, but that it is necessary to study the nature of translation services in depth before attempting to be successful in efforts to manage translation quality.

Source:

1. Kotler, Philip y Keller, Kevin Lane. Dirección de Marketing. Prentice Hall, 2006.

Are we providing a quality service?

Usually, quality improvement is referred to as an internal objective, but without specifying what one means by quality of service. The fact of speaking about improving quality without defining what it is, how it is perceived by clients and how it can be improved and increased has very limited value. Frequently, this improves the quality of services “in name only”.

Client expectations are the real reference point for evaluating quality of service. In order to satisfy and go beyond client expectations, it is useful to ask ourselves the following questions:

1. Do we make an effort to present a realistic picture of our service to clients? That is, from the client’s point of view, do we really offer what we promise?

2. Do we make it our priority to provide the service correctly from the very beginning? That is, what margin of error do we have? Do we regularly evaluate our service to identify and correct potential defects?

3. Do we communicate well with our clients? That is, do we get in touch with them regularly in order to determine and better understand their needs?

4. Do we surprise the client during the process of providing the service? That is, are we aware that the process of providing the service is our main opportunity to exceed client expectations? Do we take the measures necessary to achieve excellence?

5. Do we understand that problems in the service are opportunities for impressing our clients? That is, do we make the effort to retain our clients after a problem has occurred?

6. Do we constantly evaluate and improve our results in response to client expectations? That is, do we work with results that are more than just adequate?

Upon answering these questions, it can be observed that quality involves aspects that go beyond the linguistic quality of a translation. Linguistic quality is simply a dimension of quality, known as the technical quality of the result of the productive process of a service. That is, it is what is given to the client when the productive process and vendor-client interactions have finished.

Clients can measure this dimension of quality by using the existing quality standards in the industry as a reference. All too often, considerations regarding technical (or linguistic) quality are seen as the most important aspects of quality. However, this is true only in situations in which service vendors are capable of developing excellent technical solutions. Therefore, a strategy based on technical quality is successful only when a service vendor attains a level of technical quality not reached by the competition. Unfortunately, this is increasingly less frequent, as there are many other translators who can provide more or less the same technical quality.

Of course, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always be aware of questions related to technical or linguistic quality, or that improvements to it aren’t necessary in quality management, but we have to understand that it is only one of the dimensions of quality. The other dimension of quality is functional quality, which is the way in which vendor-client interactions and the vendor’s own actions are managed. As a result, translation service requires adopting a holistic approach to services marketing to address matters related to quality. Holistic marketing includes external marketing, internal marketing and interactive marketing.

External marketing includes preparing an offer of service, setting the price, and distribution and promotion of the service. Internal marketing refers to work done in order to continually train the service vendor in order to offer the client the highest possible satisfaction in terms of the service. And interactive marketing includes the vendor's abilities in relation to how staff treats clients.

We have to remember that clients judge quality of service not only by its technical or linguistic quality (for example, the accuracy of the translation), but also by its functional quality (for example, the vendor sends reports on the status of the project to keep the client updated).

The concepts of internal and interactive marketing applied to translation industry were presented in the 4th Proz.com Argentina Conference 2009. See http://www.proz.com/conference/115?page=speakers
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Sources:

1. Parasuraman, A., Zeithmal, V.A. y Berry, L.L. A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing. 1985.
2. Grönroos, Christian. Marketing y gestión de servicios. Ediciones Diaz de Santos S.A., 1994.
3. Berry, Leonard y Parasuraman A. Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality. The Free Press, 1991.

Translation: a quality service?

How can you tell whether or not a translation service offers good quality?  These days, excellence in quality is sought after because it represents significant benefits for organizations. With this in mind, many companies, including translation services, have obtained quality standard certifications such as ISO 9001.  
Does this standard guarantee a quality translation? Certainly not.  This is the reason behind the creation of the European Quality Standard for Translation Services, EN 15038, which was specifically elaborated with translation in mind.  While this standard addresses the processes involved in providing the service - which in itself is a large step forward - it focuses on offering guidelines rather than a quality management system for translation services.


In general, it is safe to say that existing quality standards in the industry provide a reference for technical or linguistic quality, but do not guarantee that the client will receive quality service. This is because they do not include functional quality, which is fundamental for overall quality.


While there is an abundance of publications, studies and research in the area of service marketing and quality management, they do not include the unique characteristics of the translation industry.  In addition, there are currently no publications that thoroughly address the topic from the perspective of translation and localization services.  


The results of this preliminary study on the topic were presented in the V Latin American Congress of Translation and Interpreting. These results hopefully will provide a stepping stone for more in-depth research in the future.


Sources:

1. Parasuraman, A., Zeithmal, V.A. y Berry, L.L. A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its implications for Future Research. Journal of Marketing. 1985.
2. Grönroos, Christian. Marketing y gestión de servicios. Ediciones Diaz de Santos S.A., 1994.
3. Berry, Leonard y Parasuraman A. Marketing Services: Competing Through Quality. The Free Press, 1991.
3. EN-15038 European Quality Standard for Translation Service Providers, 2006.
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