September 1997 Volume 1 / Issue 3

This issue sponsored by:

ContentsSlig ’97: The Internet Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Industry News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

TRADOS leads the way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Tools Review - SuperLinguist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

Salaries and Benefits - Surveys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

SLIG ’97 Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6

SLIG ’97 Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

SLIG Annual General Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8

Translating Life into Happiness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Job Profile: Naoki Miyatani of Japan Bytes .10

Reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

LRC and SLIG Background Information . . . . .12

SLIG '97: The Internet RevolutionLocalisation and the Internet revolution is thetheme of SLIG '97, this year's conference of theSoftware Localisation Interest Group, theindustry's representative body in Ireland. SLIG ‘97will be officially opened by the Tánaiste andMinister for Enterprise Trade and EmploymentMary Harney TD.

Since SLIG was set up in 1994 by the NationalSoftware Directorate, initially under thechairmanship of Helen Wybrants and thenReinhard Schäler (LRC), it has worked tostrengthen Ireland's position as a world leader inthe localisation industry.

This year's SLIG meeting comes at a timewhen people are communicating around the worldin a Babel of languages. The Internet hasrevolutionised our ability to talk to each otherfrom continent to continent - and to do business.

While human languages are, as it were,becoming more cross-platform, so must computerlanguages, and new platform-independentdevelopment environments are some of the mostexciting developments in the industry.

S p e a kers from the most important andinfluential companies in the industry (see panel)will forecast how localisation is going to developin the next crucial year; whether the Web's shorttimelines will change the industry; how the newapplications developed in Java and Active X willaffect localisation.

The Tánaiste, Mary Harney, and Symantec'sAnna Brady will be presenting the award for BestThesis in Localisation, a localisation show willshow off the latest localisation technology, a jobfair will give news of employment opportunities,and workshops will discuss human resources andtraining issues, multilingual Web Design, as wellas the benefits of Translation Technology inLocalisation.

John Bosak of Sun Microsystems will becoming over to talk about XML, (ExtensibleMarkup Language) which is used for applicationsthat require functionality beyond the currentHypertext Markup Language (HTML).

“The extraordinary growth of the World WideWeb has been fuelled by the ability it gives

authors to easily and cheaply distribute electronicdocuments to an international audience," says Mr Bosak. “As Web documents have become largerand more complex, however, Web contentproviders have begun to experience the limitationsof a medium that does not provide theextensibility, structure, and data checking neededfor large-scale commercial publishing."

HTML is unable to do several useful things,says Mr Bosak - “allow users to specify their owntags or attributes in order to parameterise orotherwise semantically qualify their data; supportthe specification of deep structures needed torepresent database schemas or object-orientedhierarchies". XML will change this, and Mr Bosak's paper explains how it does so.

(Continued on page 10)

SLIG '97 - From the ProgrammeDay 1Morning: Workshops, Dr Alan Barrett (Lotus), PaulCarroll (CPL), Howard Duncan (DCU), CatherineGavin (Berlitz), Richard Ishida (Xerox), UnaMurphy (TELSI), Tina Mulhearne (Marlborough),Anthony O'Dowd (Corel), James Shaw (Lotus), Dr Richard Sutcliffe (UL)Afternoon: Localisation Fair (Exhibition, ProductDemonstrations and Job Fair)Open to localisation professionals, collegegraduates and job seekers

Day 2ConferenceOfficial Opening: An Tánaiste and Minister forEnterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms MaryHarney, TDLRC/SLIG Best Thesis Award (sponsored bySymantec Ireland)Keynote Speake r s : John Bosak (WWWConsortium), Tony Burke (Microsoft), We n d yHamilton (Bowne)Contributors: Anna Brady (Symantec), MichaelCampion (ITP), Jennifer Condon (NSD, Forbairt),Tom Connolly (Apple), Ian Dunlop (Lotus), PaulFehin (Digital), Paul McBride (Lionbridge), DavidMurphy (Berlitz), John Norton (Oracle), HelenWybrants (ISC-Europe)

Localisation IrelandIreland has established itself as one of the majorsoftware localisation centres in the world, and alsoas the leading European location for this activity.It is now estimated that up to 60% of the PC-basedsoftware sold in Europe originates in Ireland andthis figure is expected to rise in the coming years.Ireland is the world's second largest exporter ofsoftware after the United States of America.

Localisation Ireland is the news medium ofthis vibrant and dynamic industry. It is publishedby the Localisation Resources Centre, with eachissue generously supported by one of the mainplayers in the industry. Localisation Ireland bringsnews on the current issues in localisation (newarrivals, education and training, jobs, tools,events) to up to 2,000 people – for free!

We want to hear from you. If you wouldl i ke to contribute to Localisation Ireland, pleaselet us know. We welcome and appreciate allyour comments, product announcements, newsand reviews.

SLIG ’9716 – 17 October

Annual Conference andLocalisation Fair

Registration and Programme

See page 7

O'Reilly Hall in UCD hosts SLIG '97 - A gathering of the most influential voices in Localisation

Industry Reactions to Localisation IrelandPeter Wright, Vice President, LioNBRIDGE Technologies"The localisation industry needs a professional journal to discuss issues impacting on the industry.Localisation Ireland provides the quality forum that the industry needs."

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 1

New Arrivals at theLRC's LibraryTools Library - Updates and AdditionsLOGOS Intelligent Translation System: Ver. 7.8.2 Upgrade

Contains performance and other improvements for:· Interleaf filter· SGML-HTML filter· processing of special characters

Star Transit for Windows 2.6 UpdateFixes, updates and general improvements.

IBM Translation Manager for Windows 2.0 UpdateFixes, updates and additional filters.

KT International - Superlinguist Manager: Ver. 2. A patented tool for rapid localisation of userinterfaces without changes to source code orresource files. Only the executable is required totranslate the user interface. Real-time translationoccurs at runtime.

We would like to thank Symantec Ireland for thefollowing:Symantec - Norton Anti Virus for Windows 95:Ver. 2.0

Note: All tools in the Localisation Tools Library have been donated

by their developers/publishers. The LRC gratefully acknowledges

this support.

Advertising inLocalisation IrelandStarting with the next issue of LocalisationIreland, we will accept advertisements fromlocalisation tools developers (QA, translationetc.) and companies looking for new staff. Formore information, please contact the LRC(email: LRC@ucd.ie).

2

page 2

Localisation Ireland is thebi-monthly publication

of the LocalisationResources Centre. It is

distributed free of chargeto professionals working

in the LocalisationIndustry. Please notify

the Localisation ResourcesCentre if you or one of

your colleagues would likeLocalisation Ireland to beposted to you regularly.

Editor: Reinhard Schäler

Research & Interviews: Lucille Redmond Design & Layout:

Cosmon Multimedia Origination:

Litho Studios

Contributors: Darren Hogan, Reinhard

S c h ä l e r, Elizabeth Neligan,Tara Maharaj.

Published by: LocalisationResources Centre

Campus Innovation CentreRoebuck Castle, UCD,

Belfield, Dublin 4Tel: +353-1-7067898, Fax:+353-1-2830669

e-mail:lrc@ucd.ieweb: http://lrc.ucd.ie

Articles provided andsigned by individual

authors do not necessarilyrepresent the view of theLocalisation Resources

Centre

ITP announces shipment of The S-Tagger™ 2.0for FrameMakerInternational Translation and Publishing Ltd andTrados GmbH have announced that The S-Tagger™2.0 for FrameMaker ships on the 1st of September97. A demo version of The S-Tagger 2.0 forFrameMaker is to be included with the shippingversion of FrameMaker 5.5 software, on the AdobeFrameMaker Solutions Sampler CD. The SolutionsSampler CD includes demo and evaluation copiesof an assortment of plug-ins, add-ons, utilities,and other offerings from leading developers andconsultants selected especially to enhance thepower of Adobe FrameMaker software. (For moreinformation see: www.trados.com or www.itp.ie)

Japan Bytes moves officeJapan Bytes have recently moved offices (seeprofile on page 10). Their new address is:

Japan Bytes Ltd.102 Pembroke Road, Dublin 4Tel. +353-1-6674972Fax +353-1-6674973email jbytes@indigo.ie

ETP WorkshopsETP is running a number of Structured ProjectManagement Workshops for Localisation inOctober and November. The dates are: 6-10 Oct( Paris), 13-17 Oct (US, East Cost), 3-7 Nov(Dublin), 10-14 Nov (US, West Coast). For moreinformation, contact Petra Costigan of ETP (email:info@etpint.com, Tel. +353-1-507-31989).

TTGL: Word House and BTSWord House has announced its merger with theBureau of Translation Services (BTS) of NewJersey, USA, into the TTGL Group. The TranslationGroup Ltd., provider of document and softwaretranslation services, agreed to acquire Wo r dHouse, a translation services company based inthe Netherlands, with sales of US$3.9 million.Word House has offices in the Netherlands, France,Japan, China, Hong Kong and the UK. (For moreinformation, please contact Mary We l l e r(mweller@wha.nl) or Charles Cascio of TTGL inthe US, Tel. 609-795 8669).

Industry News

© 1997 Localisation Resources Centre

The Localisation Resources Centre is supportedby Forbairt Ireland and the European RegionalDevelopment Fund

Publisher Information

ITP announces opening of Beijing officeThe ITP subsidiary trades under the name DCCSerCom Limited Beijing Office and offers printing,media replication, packaging, kitting andwarehousing and distribution services inconjunction with other DCC SerCom divisionsubsidiaries. DCC SerCom Beijing will initiallyemploy 10 full-time staff including both Chineseand Western personnel.

Bowne Global SolutionsGecap Dublin and IDOC Europe are now together- forming part of the world's largest localisationcompany - Bowne Global Solutions. Their contactin Dublin:

Bowne Global Solutions of Ireland Ltd.65-66 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2Tel. +353-1-614 63 00Fax +353-1-614 63 33

New Localisation Business Manager for McQueenGlobal outsourcepartner for theinformation andt e c h n o l o g yi n d u s t r i e s ,M c Qu e e n , h a sappointed Tom Spela s L oc al i sa t ionBusiness Manager.He took up hisposition on April 7and is based at thecompany's Dublinsales office where hehas responsibilityfor securing newlocalisation clients from Ireland, the UK, the USand Europe. Tom Spel has extensive experience ofthe industry, having previously worked forMicrosoft, International Translation & PublishingLtd. in Dublin and Gecap GmbH, also in Dublin.McQueen localises software products for globalmarkets either as a single service or as part of anintegrated package of solutions which alsoincludes direct marketing and manufacturing. (For more information, contact: mcqueen@iol.ie)

Microsoft Invests in Translation SupportSoftware Supplier - Microsoft will acquire a20% share in TRADOS, centralizeslocalization efforts

REDMOND, Wash. - Sept. 9, 1997 -Microsoft Corp. will acquire a 20 percentminority share of TRADOS GmbH in a moveto accelerate the delivery of localizedp r o d u c t s .

TRADOS' products are utilized extensivelyby the software industry to create foreign-language "localized" software products.Microsoft ships its products in more than 30languages, and the investment in TRADOSreflects commitment to deliver localizedproducts to international markets quickly ande f f i c i e n t l y.

“Investing in TRADOS' technology willsecure our ability to produce high-qualitylocalized products in the most cost-effectivem a n n e r," said Franz Rau, director of internaltools at Microsoft. “This partnership will allowus to work with TRADOS to keep in step withMicrosoft's evolving needs."

Microsoft plans to use TRADOS softwareas its internal localization memory store. Thiswill allow Microsoft to more effectively re-usealready localized text from product toproduct. The minority share in TRADOSfurther solidifies the relationship between thetwo companies. As part of the deal, Microsofthas also purchased a long-term support-and-development contract to service Microsoft-specific needs. TRADOS expects this move toenable it to step up the pace for new productd e v e l o p m e n t .

“Our relationship with Microsoft willallow TRADOS to consolidate and expand itsposition as a worldwide leader in thetranslation tools market," said IkoKnyphausen, CEO of TRADOS.

“Having the benefit of a strong partner isimportant to us at this stage of thedevelopment of the company," said JochenHummel, president of TRADOS. “We'll be ableto take advantage of Microsoft's experienceand keep up our 100 percent growth rate ofthe past three years."

Microsoft Press Release

Tom Spel

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 2

page 3

TRADOS leads the way

TRADOSDuring the first six months of 1997TRADOS has increased its worldwidesales by 150% compared to 1996

IT STARTED 13 years ago as a tiny translationcompany set up by two boys just out of school.Now TRADOS is a worldwide software name, itsheadquarters in Stuttgart, and offices in the US,Ireland, Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland,Sweden, and (by the end of this year) in Tokyo.

The translation software maker finds itself in aniche market, but one of the most rapidly growingniches of the century. As trade becomes morecomplex and more international, the amount ofdocumentation which has to be translated isgrowing exponentially.

“It's an independent company," says CEOJochen Hummel, “still owned by ourselves, andstill with no external money."

Much translation requires specialistterminology - bad news for the translationindustry, but excellent news for TRADOS, whoseseries of tools can be used with DOS, Windows,WordPerfect, AmiPro, World Wide Web pages, etcto make a growing database of terminology.

The software is designed to build a languagefor the translator: you translate a phrase like“software localisation company", for instance,from French into English, and the next time youcome across the same phrase, the program offersyou the earlier translation. For any translator it'sa boon - for people translating endless technicalmaterial it's a lifesaver.

TRADOS is in a perfect position to serve theniche market for documentation and computerprograms. “The localisation market is becoming amajor one, as more and more people realise thatwithout tools they cannot cope with theirtranslation needs," says Hummel. “The market fortranslation tools will grow rapidly - more quicklythan the market for translation itself."

The company started in 1984 as a translationservice, then moved to providing a translationproject management system for IBM. By 1987,TRADOS was reselling INK's translation toolsTexttool and TermTracer, and a year later releasedTED, its own plug-in for Texttools.

In 1990 TRADOS produced MultiTerm, a DOSmultilingual terminology manager, and by 1992 the

Stuttgart office, Iko Knyphausen is in the US, andMatthias Heyn in Brussels (but will move to Tokyolater this year). In this phase of expansion, the listof customers is already impressive: 10 0universities from Finland to Chile, and an endlesslist of such companies as Microsoft, Oracle,Volkswagen, Siemens, INTELSAT, Banqueeuropéenne d'investissement. Its customers amongpublic and non-profit organisations run fromAmnesty International to the World IntellectualProperty Organisation and Zollkriminalamt. Withthe radical growth facing the company, this is anexciting time, but also a time of large change.

“ We had a growth rate where we were doublingour revenue every year to 1995," says Hummel,and we hope we can continue that." Revenue in1996 was some DM4.8m - £1.84 million.

TRADOS has come a long way from its start inthe suburbs of Stuttgart. It's still the samecompany, however, with the same philosophies.The owners, still only in their thirties, still work onthe software, and still travel to fairs to meet thecustomers. They still make sure to site their officesin beautiful places. “We all work very hard, andwe spend a lot of time in our offices. Nicesurroundings are something you can achieve."

The founders see the future market as anexpanding one. “What we wish to achieve is thatevery translator worldwide will have a piece of oursoftware - of course this is a very demandingvision," says Hummel. “But even if you reach everytranslator in the world, it's still a niche marke t . "

Since many of the people who are translatingare doing it as part of other work, TRADOS alsowants to reach this market - the non-professionals,who may need help with specialised terminologyalthough they have a basic grasp of a language.

The other target is - as it is in every aspect ofthe computer industry today - the Internet. For acompany to have a single-language website is thenorm nowadays, but it will soon become arequirement for any company with a seriousapproach to international marketing to havewebpages accessible in many languages.

European Parliament had bought a 200-user licencefor its second version. That year TRADOS migratedM u l t i Term to Windows, and shipped Translator'sWorkbench for DOS. Translator's Workbench useslinguistic fuzzy-matching in translation memory,increasing the range of the program.

By 1993, the EU had doubled its licences, andthe multinational language company Berlitz hadbought 200 Translator's Workbench licences.1994, 1995 and 1996 saw growth accelerating:computational linguist Matthias Heyn joined thetwo original partners, Jochen Hummel and IkoKnyphausen, and the trio and their programmersmigrated Translator's Workbench to Windows, anddeveloped MultiTerm for Windows Professional,and MultiTerm Dictionary, a read-only dictionarylookup module plus a dictionary compiler to beused for corporate dictionary publishing.

The company opened an office in Brussels -headquarters of the European Union and a richlode for translators, with material constantly beingtranslated into the EU's nine working languages.Offices in Sweden, Switzerland and Britain quicklyfollowed, and the TRADOS Corporation was set upin Alexandra, Virginia.

This year sees three new offices opening: theFrench centre, one in Monkstown, Dublin, andlater this year TRADOS Asia in Tokyo, headed byMatthias Heyn.

During the first six months of 1997, TRADOShas increased its worldwide sales by 150%compared to 1996 - largely because of the impactof the new offices around the world. The market isnot limited to the obvious localisation one whichis Ireland's specialité de maison.

“Very often people in the localisation industrythink software manuals are about the only thingthat's translated in the world," says Hummel.“Sometimes you see statistics where localisationhas a very big share of the world translationmarket. I personally believe these figures arepretty misleading."

In other industries, Hummel says, not so muchtranslation is outsourced. “You don't really fin dvery many people capable of translating manualsabout very specific machines on the free marke t .Much more is done in-house, so these translationcosts are not as visible as those of the localisationi n d u s t r y. But when you sell a nuclear power stationto a country, or a big warship, you have tons andtons of documentation which must be translated."

The offices in various countries servicedifferent markets: software localisation in Ireland,of course; the EU's multiplicity of languages inBrussels; the financial market in Switzerland.

The founders and bosses have moved toseparate countries: Jochen Hummel now heads the

TRADOS arrives in Ire l a n dTRADOS will open its Irish Support and TrainingCentre on 20 October 1997 at 24 LongfordTerrace, Monkstown, Co. Dublin. The company isalso moving its international manufacturing andproduction facilities to Dublin.

TRADOS: Company Pro fil eLocations: Headquarters in Stuttgart; offices in the US,Ireland, Britain, France, Belgium, Switzerland,Sweden, and (by the end of this year) Tokyo.Personnel: 40Revenue: Revenue in 1996 was DM4.8 million (£1.84 million) approx.

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 3

page 4

Tools Review – SuperLinguistRun-Time and Source-CodeTranslation/ Localisationusing the Superlinguistfamily of softwarelocalisation tools

The last issue of Localisation Ireland featured a

preview of a beta version of Corel Catalyst (formerly

Corel Trinity). In this issue, the theme of application

localisation tools is continued with KT International’s

family of Superlinguist software localisation tools

that offer software localisation functionality at both

the source-code level and the executable (run-time)

level. The Superlinguist family includes the

Superlinguist Manager, the Superlinguist Resource

M a n a g e r, the Superlinguist Terminal Manager and

the Superlinguist Resource Editor.

Superlinguist Manager (US Patent #5,583,761)

Superlinguist Manager adopts an alternative

approach to Windows application interface

localisation. Its software localisation process

requires no resource extraction, source-code

modification or application building. It focuses on

string capture, translation and reinsertion into a

running application.

At the user’s request, the superlinguist

manager captures an application’s terms and

inserts them into an application dictionary for

translation. The application dictionaries

containing the application’s terminology for each

required language are used to translate the terms

contained within the application’s user-interface

at run-time. The superlinguist engine, which runs

in the background, substitutes the source language

terms for their translations at run-time.

The superlinguist manager application

dictionaries consist of a master file containing

source and target terms for the application and

one or more application files identifying where

the source string appears in the application. The

dictionaries may be populated using either the

capture facility of superlinguist manager or they

may be retrieved from external files (using a non-

resource format import file). Using the application

dictionaries, the superlinguist engine can

translate specified parts of the application. These

are identified by Windows type and all Window’s

classes for a particular type. The window types

include menu, title and client area. Strings with

variable parts can be represented using strings

with wildcards. In this case, the user can protect

part of the captured source string for reinsertion

at a user-defined position in the translation

string. For example, a string might contain

information about the free space on a hard disk

partition that should not be translated but might

be repositioned.

Dictionaries can be exported for external

translation and re-integrated back into the

application dictionary after translation for use

with the superlinguist engine. Superlinguist

Manager uses a basic format for import/export

of dictionaries. Entries from the master file of a

dictionary contain comma-delimited source and

target string entries while entries in the

application file of the dictionary contain

additional information identifying Windows

type and class name. The format could easily be

adapted to support common terminology

database or translation memory import/export

formats. For example, the application strings

could be captured from an application using the

superlinguist manager, exported and translated

using a translation memory or terminology

database application. The import/export

facilities offer typical TM or terminology

database options for filtering the set of items

imported to/exported from a dictionary. For

example, it is possible to export all untranslated

items from a dictionary with the addition of

facilities to populate new dictionaries from the

source or target of existing dictionaries.

Windows class names may be manually

entered or they can be captured from the

application using an integrated spy facility that

allows the user to navigate to and select an area

of the application containing the text to be

translated. Clicking on a highlighted area of the

application during a spy session retrieves the

appropriate class name. Alternatively, other

application spy tools such as Microsoft Spy could

be used to capture the class names from the

application to be localised. Application strings can

then be captured using an application tour, which

adds application terms to the master file of the

current dictionary. Before committing the terms to

the dictionary, the user may browse through and

delete unwanted terms from the captured strings.

Superlinguist manager does not operate at the

source-code level, it is therefore development

environment independent and could be used to

translate applications developed using MS Visual

C++, MS Visual Basic, Lotus Notes, MS Access,

Borland Delphi and so on.

The product has been successfully used to

localise large-scale applications by a number of

companies. Using the Superlinguist Manager,

products are being localised into languages

including Chinese, Japanese, German, French,

Spanish, Portuguese and Polish.

The Superlinguist Terminal Manager facilitates

5250/3270 emulator session localisation. As with

the Superlinguist Manager, the Terminal Manager

translates at run-time using application

dictionaries and a Superlinguist Engine. Again,

the host application terminology can be captured

at run-time or from an external file.

Superlinguist Resource Manager

Superlinguist Resource Manager is a Windows

application resource translation tool. It allows

users to localise resource files in a translation-

friendly environment using facilities for project

management, source string capture, translation

editing and re-population of resource files.

Unfortunately, it does not provide a facility for

resource extraction from binary files such as exe’s,

dll’s and ocx’s.

Project creation includes optional features

for automatic mirroring of the source directory

structure and contents. Once a project is created,

the user may instruct the SLRM to extract all

translatable items from the source RC files and

store them in a project dictionary. A populate

command is provided to move translations from

the project dictionary into the target language

RC files.

Translating the project dictionary can be done

using the SLRM glossary assistant which

maintains a database of previously translated

terms. The glossary assistant suggests translations

for the currently selected term in the project

dictionary. The glossary may be populated with

new terms and their translations from a simple

comma delimited import file or from the current

project. The project dictionary (or a subset of the

project dictionary) may be exported for translation

using an external translation tool. The comma

delimited export file may be filled with all, all

untranslated or all translated terms from the

project dictionary. Once translation of the terms in

the export file is completed, the file may be re-

imported into the project dictionary.

Another member of the superlinguist family,

the Superlinguist Resource Editor, allows

translated dialog boxes to be resized and visually

inspected and adjusted to suit the translated

strings contained within the dialog. Other features

include automated button sizing and alignment,

and selectable pre-designed dialog layouts.

For further information, contactRobert Buchanan,KT International,20 Westbrook St.East Hartford,CT 06108, USA.Web: http://www.ktintl.comEmail: ktintl@ktintl.comPhone: +1 - 860-289-0728 Fax: +1 - 860-2890379

Strings captured from the menus of an application using SLM’s Tour feature

Translating using the Glossary Assistant of superlinguist Resource Manager

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 4

5CSR Survey '97The Technology Salaries and Skills Survey '97carried out by Computer Staff Recruitment(CSR) has confirmed substantial salaryincreases and skills shortages throughout thecomputer industry.

Salary hikes of up to 31% were recordedwhen compared to similar positions and levelsof experience at the end of 1995.

The survey, which covers salaries, benefits,education levels, and skills shortages producedinteresting revelations in this high employmentindustry sector.

With 80% of all participating companiesplanning to increase their workforce in 1997,the cost and availability of staff may well reachcritical levels in the near future. The minimumentry level qualification in 55% of cases is aDegree while 87% of all companies require athird level qualification.

(For further information, please contactElizabeth Neligan, CSR, Tel. +353-1-662 0055)

CPL Industry Salary Survey ‘97The 1997 salary survey from ComputerPlacement is due to be published in September'97. We have a sneak preview of the reportsthanks to CPL's Localisation Consultant TaraMaharaj.

Computer Placement's fifth Salary Surveyis in a format similar to previous years. Theobjective of this report is to provide reliable upto date information on salaries, fringe benefitsand other issues for IT Staff in Ireland.

The topics covered in the survey include:current salary levels, fringe benefits, staffshortages and contract staff.

Data is based on the details of 5,500 peopleselected at random from the files of ComputerPlacement Ltd. Remuneration is salary plustaxable benefits and does not include non-taxable items. The sites represented cover allgeographical locations in Ireland. Salary data

was collected from 30 commonly usedcomputing job categories. For each survey, wereview the job categories and make changeswhich reflect the changing structure within theindustry.

The key variables used for analysis are thesize of the IT function, the company turnover,the software/hardware environment and theimpact of European languages.• The average total salary increase paid in

1996/1997 was 6.3%. (Total salaryincludes merit, performance andpromotion awards.)

• 47% of participants have a portion oftheir total remuneration based onperformance bonuses. The bonus is basedon individual contribution, department orcompany performance & market relatedfactors.

• The level of fringe benefits has increased, e.g. bonuses, stock options, flexible workschedules and telecomputing are becomingpart of the salary package.

• There are differences in the averageincreases paid to staff in the different jobcategories, e.g. the highest increases are inthe range of new skills connected withclient/server computing and networktechnology.

• Pension is regarded as the most importantemployee benefit by 36% of IT staff.

• 45% of the people surveyed ranked abalanced lifestyle as the most importantfactor in choosing a job.

• Language fluency adds an averagepremium of 9.1% to end user supportstaff.

According to Tara Maharaj, the localisationindustry has now achieved a level of credibilityas a realistic career option for graduatesleaving college. Companies are putting in placecareer structures that reward individuals whofollow a technical career path as well as thosewho progress towards supervisor.

(For further information, please contact TaraMaharaj, CPL, Tel +353-1-614 6000, emailCPL@iol.ie)

Project Managers Team Software Test Localisation Language(Tech) Leaders Engineers Co-ordinators Specialists

0 - 2 Years 26,930 24,475 15,369 15,830 15,3402 - 4 Years 29,509 27,751 19,336 18,669 19,7884 Years + 32,208 29,118 22,755 23,369 22,137

Software Localisation - Average Salary July 1997 (IR£)

Salaries and Benefits in Localisation - Surveys

DiET: Diagnostic and Evaluation Toolsfor NL Applications

In April 1997, the Localisation Resources Centre started to work on theEuropean DiET project, together with partners in Germany, France, the UKand Switzerland. The project is aimed at supporting the evaluation of NaturalLanguage Processing (NLP) applications and is a follow-up to the highlysuccessful TSNLP project. It will run over 24 months and produce a set ofdata and tools for evaluation and diagnostics. The Localisation ResourcesCentre will use the results of DiET to provide a better evaluation service tothe localisation industry in Ireland and abroad.

The assessment of NL components for the purpose of adequacyevaluation, quality assurance, or related objectives, is often severelyhampered by the lack of suitable test material and technology which fulfillthe requirements of affordability, augmentability, adaptability, andacceptability. The objective of the project is to develop the methods and tools,which are badly needed by industrial users, for the glass box evaluation of

NLP components. The package resulting from the project will consist ofreusable, generalised, and customisable reference data, tools, andmethodology.

The project will develop substantial amounts of test data for threedifferent languages, German, French, and English, organised in test suiteswith annotated test items from the areas of grammar, morphology, anddiscourse. It will provide the appropriate user support in terms of databaset e c h n o l o g y, test suite construction tools and graphical interfaces and it willaddress the issues involved in the customisation of test material to specificdomains and applications in terms of lexical replacement tools, devices fordocument profiling, and methods for linking test suites to corpora.

The DiET consortium consists of the following partners:

• Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Künstliche Intelligenz GmbH

• SRI International, Cambridge

• Aerospatiale France

• IBM Deutschland Informationssysteme GmbH

• Istituto Dalle Molle per gli Studi Semantici e Cognitivi

• Localisation Resources Centre, UCD

DiET is a project supported by the European Commission under theTelematics Applications Programme (Language Engineering). For furtherdetails, please contact the Localisation Resources Centre. For contact detailsfor the individual DiET partners, please see the DiET web site:http://lrc.ucd.ie/DiET

Tara Maharaj, Computer Placement Ltd.

Source: CPL

page 5

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 5

Attendance fees:Event Fees (reduction for LRC/SLIG members)

Star TRANSIT Seminar (15 Oct. 97) IR£30 (no reductions)Help QA Seminar (15 Oct. 97) IR£30 (no reductions)SLIG '97 - Workshop (16 Oct. 97) IR£70 (IR£50)SLIG '97 - Localisation and Job Fair, and product Free-of-charge (open to Localisation

demonstrations (16 Oct. 97) professionals, graduates and job seekers)SLIG '97 - Conference (17 Oct. 97) IR£120 (IR£100)

Workshop 3Localisation Skills Requirements: Job Market and T raining OpportunitiesChair: Seamus Gallen (Forbairt)

09:00 Introduction and Welcome

09:15 Localisation at Irish Universities Postgraduate Dipl. in Software Engineering Howard Duncan, DCUPostgraduate Degree in SoftwareLocalisation and Research at ULDr. Richard Sutcliffe, University of Limerick

10:00 Recruitment, Salaries and BenefitsThe Technology, Salaries and Skills Survey 1997 - Localisation: Manufacturers and VendorsElizabeth Neligan, Managing Director, Computer Staff Recruitment -

CSR Challenges in recruiting Localisation PersonnelTina Mulhearne, Consultant, The Marlborough Group

Salaries and Benefits in the Localisation IndustryPaul Carroll, Business Development Director, Computer Placement

10:45 Coffee/Tea

11:15 The Certified Localisation ProfessionalUna Murphy, Principal Consultant with TELSI. (Tele-Learning Services International) Ltd.

11:45 Discussion

12:15 Summary

12:30 Close

Workshop 2 (Tutorial)Cultural Issues when designing multi-lingual Web pagesRichard Ishida (Globalisation Consultant to Xerox)

About the Tutorial…We are moving quickly into a world of multinationalproducts: for example, Unicode facilitates thedevelopment of products which span a number oflanguages, and a page on the World Wide Web isimmediately accessible to anyone in the world.

When developing products which must communicateacross cultural boundaries, we must be sensitive to thehuman communication issues which will arise due todifferences in culture. This workshop will arm you with a wide ranging checklist of culture-related topics whichwill affect your product design.

Topics covered include data format conventions,measurement systems, work habits and methodologies,and factors affected by cultural bias such as colour,folklore, symbolism, body language, etc.

About Richard Ishida…Richard Ishida is a Global Design Consultant at the XeroxTechnical Centre, in the UK. He helps Xerox developsoftware and on-screen information which can be easilylocalised for the international marketplace.

Well known in the internationalisation industry for histalks on the design of international software and userinterfaces, he works with product development groupsaround the world, both internal and external to Xerox,and is a popular speaker at major globalisationconferences. He is a regular contributor to theInternational Unicode Conferences, and has recentlybeen working with the Office of the Net at Xerox on theinternationalisation of their standards and guidelines forweb page design.

Workshop 1Translation Technology and Locali sation

Chair: Dr Arthur Cater (UCD)

09:00 Introduction and Welcome

09:15 The European TransRouter ProjectCatherine Gavin, Berlitz

10:00 The OTELO Client: Managing the User Assistance Translation ProcessAlan Barrett, Director of Technology, Lotus Development; James Shaw,Principal Software Engineer,Lotus Development

10:45 Coffee/Tea

11:15 Technology as an Enabler - A Corel Case StudyAnthony O'Dowd, General Manager, Corel Ireland

12:00 Discussion and Summary

12:30 Close

Afternoon

14:00-17.00

09:00 Welcome

09:10 Official OpeningAn Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Harney TDBest Thesis AwardAn Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Ms Mary Harney TDAnna Brady, Symantec IrelandReinhard Schäler, LRC and SLIG Chairperson

9:20 The Best Thesis Award

9:30 Session 1: Tools and StandardsChair: Ian Dunlop, Development Director for Communications Products,Lotus Development

Keynote Address XML: The New Standard for Web DataJohn Bosak, Chairman of the XML Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium, USATools for Web Page LocalisationDavid Murphy, SoftwareDevelopment Manager, Berlitz

10:30 COFFEE/TEALocalisation Fair open

11:00 Session 2: Applications and StrategiesChair: Michael Campion, European Sales Director, International Translation and Publishing

Keynote Address Microsoft's European Web Localisation Strategy Tony Burke, Director Web Localisation Strategy, Microsoft WPG Ireland

Oracle and the Localisation of JAVA ProductsJohn Norton, Project Manager, Oracle world-wide Translation Group

Apple's Localisation Strategy: Tools and StandardsTom Connolly, European Localisation Manager, Apple Computers

12:30 LUNCHLocalisation Fair open

14:00 SLIG and the LRC in 1998Reinhard Schäler, Localisation Resources Centre

14:15 Session 3: Localisation and Web PublishingChair: Jennifer Condon National Software Director, ForbairtLocalisation and the Web: Usability IssuesPat Fehin, Principal Human Factor sEngineer, Digital Equipment CorporationJAVA: Localisation for Global Publishing SolutionsPaul McBride, Business Unit Manager ,LioNBRIDGE Technologies

15:05 TEA/COFFEELocalisation Fair open

15:45 Keynote Address The Localisation Industry in Ireland: A Sacred Cow?Wendy Hamilton, Vice President of Strategy and Northern European Operations, Bowne Global Solutions

16:15 Discussion and SummaryChair: Helen Wybrants (ISC-Europe)

16:45 CLOSE

Exhibition, Product Demonstrations and Job Fair Open to localisation professionals,college graduates and job seekers

SLIG ‘97 Localisation and the Internet Revolution

SLIG '97 Localisation Fair

For further information and registration contact the LocalisationResources Centre (Tel. +353-1-706 7898, Fax +353-1-2830669,email LRC@ucd.ie, www http://LRC.ucd.ie)

SLIG ‘97 is organised by :

The Localisation Resources Centre is supported by Forbairt Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund

Poster Background supplied by MicroArt (microart@iol.ie)

LRC_0997.*3 17/9/97 3:40 pm Page 6

Please fax or post the following Registration Form to the Localisation Resources CentreCampus Innovation Centre, Roebuck Castle, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, IRELAND.

Fax: +353-1-2830669.

Registration Form

I wish to register for the following

Event Fees (reduction for LRC/SLIG members)

Star TRANSIT Seminar (15 Oct. 97) IR£30 (no reductions)

Help QA Seminar (15 Oct. 97) IR£30 (no reductions)

SLIG '97 - Workshop (16 Oct. 97) IR£70 (IR£50) including Proceedings, Lunch and Refreshments

SLIG '97 - Localisation and Job Fair,and product demonstrations (16 Oct. 97) Free-of-charge

SLIG '97 - Conference (17 Oct. 97) IR£120 (IR£100) including Proceedings, Lunch and Refreshments

TOTAL: IR£_____________

I have enclosed a cheque for IR£ __________ payable to the Localisation Resources Centre

I want to pay by Credit Card. Please debit the following:

Type of Card (VISA, ACCESS, Eurocard, Mastercard):

Card Number: Expiry Date: / Card holder's phone number:

Card holder's name and initials as on card:

Full address of card holder:

Billing address:

Signed: Date:

Name Company

Job Title Address

Tel Fax

Email

Registration

SLIG ‘97 is organised by :

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:13 pm Page 7

page 8

SLIG Annual General Meeting

SLIG AGM 1997Friday, 3rd October 1997

14:00-17:00

(Lunch - optional - at 12:30 in the Commons Restaurant)

Newman House, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2

This year's SLIG Annual General Meeting will take place two weeks ahead of SLIG '97: Localisation and the Internet Revolution.

At the AGM, we will review SLIG's activities and mission statement and plan ahead for the coming year. We will also implement the

recommendation made by SLIG's General Meeting in June to merge SLIG's and the LRC's membership and fee structures, and

confirm SLIG's 1998 Committee.

Guest speakers at the AGM will be Mr Bernard Keigher (Chief Executive, TEK Translation Intern-ational) and Michael Everson (Everson Gunn Te o . ) .

Agenda14:00 Welcome

14:15 Guest Speakers

Code of Business Ethics

Bernard Keigher,

Chief Executive, TEK Translation International

Standardisation in Localisation

Michael Everson, Everson Gunn Teo.

15:00 TEA/COFFEE

15:45 SLIG AGM

SLIG/LRC Membership

Reports from the SLIG 1997 Committee

SLIG Committee 1998

SLIG in 1998 (Discussion)

16:45 Close

Please note:

Attendance at the SLIG AGM is free. Should you wish to attend, please register with the LRC.

The LRC has organized lunch at the Commons Restaurant in Newman House at 12:30 on Friday 3rd October. The cost for lunch will be IR£30.

Should you wish to book lunch, please register with the LRC by Tuesday, 30 September. Places for lunch at the Commons Restaurant are limited.

8SLIGSoftware Localisation Interest Group

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 8

IT WAS the winter of 82/83, the Iran-Contrascandal was at its height, Clash were climbing thecharts, and two German teenagers were cyclingacross America from coast to coast.

Jochen Hummel and Iko Knyphausen knewwhat they were going to do with their lives.Jochen would be a doctor, and Iko was going tostudy business, and then... who knows.Meanwhile, they were strolling through the UnitedStates on their bicycles, taking it an easy 50 milesa day, stopping when they felt like it to see moreif they liked the look of a place.

The two lads had spent the last couple of yearsof school earning pocket-money by writing basiccomputer programs - a database for the schooltimetable, little programs for a pharmaceuticalCompany and estate agents'.

“Our first computer had a very good manual,"says Jochen Hummel. “Itwas written like a comicbook." The boys had readthe comic book, andtaught themselves howto program “by thinkingabout it".

But now they'd takenthemselves offline for ashort break. The shortbreak drifted into four,five months and theyreached the far coast ofthe US. Then they bought a motorcycle andheaded down through Central America, ignoringthe danger of the time. Like all teenagers, saysHummel, they thought they were invincible.

They came home with the plan still in place:medicine for Jochen, business for Iko. Then theplan fell apart. Iko hated business studies, Jochenfailed and failed again to get into medicine.

So they shrugged and went into business forthemselves, working as freelance translators. Theyquickly got work with IBM - “it was not verycommon at the time for people to have computerskills and language skills".

The big company in computer-aidedtranslation at the time was Alps - now Alpnet; butthe market wasn't ready for CAT. “In those days itwas almost impossible to use computers," saysHummel. "They were very expensive. A megabyteof RAM expansion cost 4,000 deutschmarks. Itwas too early to make use of the technology - Alpsleft the market and went into services."

The two lads (now older and more cautious,they'd given up the bikes and taken to jumpingout of planes for fun) were talking to Alps aboutusing the technology when they met people froma company called Ink, who had written twotranslation programs - Term Tracer and Text Tools.

“They didn't continue to develop these tools,so we decided to do our own development," saysHummel. “What they had was a fixed database, sowe developed a free-format database - with avariable amount of fields of variable length."

They sold the new program by direct

page 9

Translating Life into HappinessTwo teenagers on a cyclingholiday had the idea forTRADOS, now the worldleader in translation tools.

Heyn has brought new sophistication into theprograms - Hummel's original software had beenable to scan and search texts with what one writerdescribed as “blinding speed" for common terms;Heyn has now added the ability to track down andunravel the compound nouns so prevalent in theGermanic languages, and so much the bane oftranslators.

He also brought in new business ideas: Heynis the man who got TRADOS Benelux up andrunning in no time. He started in Brussels with adesk, a computer, a mobile phone and a faxmachine. Start-up capital: DM 60,000 (less thanIR£20,000). Two years later, TRADOS Benelux is awell established business unit which played a keyrole in getting the CEC contract. In October, he willmove to Japan to set up TRADOS Asia.

Henri Broekmate and Ewald Gehrmann werehired from localisation companies at the end of1996 to complete the management team. Theytake responsibility for sales strategy, marketingcampaigns and the company's public profile.

The company's programming team will remainsmall, fostering a culture of dedication and grittyperseverance rare in huge groups; themanagement do notbelieve in the efficiencyof unwieldy crowds ofprogrammers millingaround problems. Thishas its disadvantages -but the very growth ofthe market, while itincreases competition,must also increase the synergy betweentranslation software andthe giant databases setup by other developers.

Despite TRADOS's extraordinary success, itstill retains to a great extent a small businessapproach. The staff work and play together, andthere's no nonsense about dress codes and status.The “Dilbert" books are required reading and sci-fi films are an often heard topic during thedaily shared dinner. This is a functional company,with status limited to the function of anindividual. It will be interesting to see how thisphilosophy will survive its giant future.

marketing. “Just as we do today. We went to tradeshows and translation conferences and talked topeople." Slowly, their program started selling.

“The first years were very tough. Largecorporations like to have the feeling that you'vebeen running for several years before you startbuying," says Hummel. “We never got anyexternal funding, so it was kind of difficult - wefunded it, basically, with our own work."

The company was unusual in that the ownersand founders of the company were also thedevelopers, so they had a good practicalbackground - cutting the costs of tweaking thesoftware when they found a better way of doingsomething.

“There was a time when we still did somecontract programming - then came a point whenwe couldn't afford to do that any more, when wewere developing and marketing our ownprograms."

The turnaround came in 1992, when the ladswere staid, mature executives of 29. “It took usabout three years." Over the past years, they haveconstantly been publishing new products -MultiTerm, Translator's Workbench, a dictionaryfor the Internet, a dictionary for third-partyconversion, S-Ta g g e r, by ITP, which convertsFrameMaker files to text files and back for editingpurposes.

Their software was popular, to put it mildly.Raves came back from their customers. One wrote:“Multiterm is like a drug; once you start using it,you simply cannot do without it. If it were takenaway from me, the withdrawal symptoms wouldfinish me off", another: “We are world heroes hereusing TRADOS in places and procedures I wouldnever have dreamt of before. We are your devotedclients forever."

The two young men had a definite philosophyof business, expressed best nowadays in theirchoice of offices - each of their offices around theworld is a beautiful house, preferably in leafysurroundings.

The work structure is flat, says Hummel, ratherthan hierarchical. “We believe that people shouldhave as many skills as possible - we look forpeople with general know-how. We avoidmanagement overheads; we want to work with asfew overheads as possible, but rather have acompletely flat structure with no real management- even the secretary is directly productive. So weall do things which help the company makemoney, develop, sell and support its products, andprovide training."

Decisions are made by the people who do thework. “Of course, this may have to change as themanagement grows, but as a principle we try toavoid overheads as much as possible."

This isn't a little hippie company, though - atthis stage the European Parliament and the CEC isone of TRADOS's largest customers, with SwissP T T, Oracle Europe and the InternationalMonetary Fund also using the software. Officesaround the world are marketing the software andtraining users.

A third partner has come in, computationallinguist Matthias Heyn (ex-freelance journalistand lead guitarist), who wrote the bilingual TAlignplugin for Workbench, which automaticallygenerates memory files from translations whichhave already been done.

9

Ewald Gehrmann

Jochen Hummel

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 9

page 10

NAOKI MIYATANI came halfway across

the world to found his translation

company, Japan Bytes.

In Ireland, where we often shudder at

the risks implicit in starting a company of

our own, the idea of going into business

for oneself and starting a translation

agency is not one that comes easily. But

Mr Miyatani has taken to entrepreneurship

with typical Japanese style and cool.

He only started Japan Bytes <http://

indigo.ie/~jbytes> a year ago, but he is

already employing two others full-time,

with a network of freelance translators in

Ireland, Britain and Japan.

“I still think I'm not the kind of person

who sets up a company, not an

entrepreneur," says Mr Miyatani. "But I

think of it as helping Irish industry, and

helping other people."

Mr Miyatani studied law in university

in Japan, but couldn't see himself as a

lawyer. “I was more interested in music,

film, cultural things!" So he went to work

for a TV station, first in sales, then event

organising, and finally directing music

programmes.

“I had always wanted to live abroad,

since I was a child - but until I was 30

I didn't have that chance," says Mr

Miyatani. At 30 he decided to take the

leap. He knew he wanted to live in an

English-speaking country, and travelled in

the US and England before deciding that

Ireland was the place for him.

He came to Dublin six years ago and

set to work perfecting his English. “I had

no precise idea of what I wanted to do, but

then I started doing some freelance

translation," he said. A friend was working

for Symantec, and said they needed a

Japanese translator.

“I went to Symantec a couple of days a

week, then they needed more translation,

so they gave me a full-time contract."

After a year or 18 months, Symantec

moved their translation to the Japanese

office, so Mr Miyatani continued to work

for the company, but now reporting to

Japan.

Thus it was that he came to set up his

own business. With enough work

translating from English to Japanese, there

was enough work for himself, and soon

there was enough for him to think of

Profile of Naoki Miyatani

employing others. It was time to go into

business for himself.

“My manager was very good. He talked

to the Japanese director in Symantec

Japan, and he gave me work - which

helped me to set up the company. I'm very

grateful to him," says Mr Miyatani.

Japan Bytes has so far translated anti-

virus, font management, DTP, technical

drawing, database front-end and Internet

search engine software for such companies

as Berlitz, Symantec and VISIO

International.

So successful is the company that

Japan Bytes' website carries

advertisements for new freelances - as well

as a service to Japanese people in Dublin

called Dublin Local Joho (local news) –

information on events in Dublin such as

showings of Japanese films, social events

and get-togethers.

The charming site, with an adorable

graphic of a little lady in traditional dress

bowing a welcome, is unfussy and briskly

competent in its Japanese and English

versions.

The next step for the company, says Mr

Miyatani, is a slice of the lucrative

Japanese game software market. “Japan is

the biggest maker of game software in the

world, and we would very much like to

translate some of this," says Mr Miyatani.

Japan Bytes' success pleases him very

much. “I set up a year ago, now we have

three people - quite a big success; I'm very

happy with it. Software localisation is

growing and growing, so I hope my

company is growing too, and helping the

Irish software industry."

0MD of Japan Bytes SLIG '97:

The Internet Revolution(Continued from front page)

Corel's Tony O'Dowd looks at how thecompany has had to virtually reinvent itself underthe pressure of the speed of growth of thelocalisation business. "In 1995, Corel CorporationLimited (Corel's Irish subsidiary) released 27products to the international market, by 1996, 208localised products had been released, in 1997a p p r oximately 350 products are targeted forrelease", he says.

“ We looked at the way engineers worked, theway we managed our translation partners, themethods used to QA and certify products, theway we did linguistic checks etc, and embarke don a project to re-engineer and put in placeprocedures and guidelines to help streamline ourlocalisation process."

“In-house developed technology like Trinityand Catalyst helped us along the way, howevertechnology at its best is only an enabler, andcannot be developed in isolation from processeswithin the engineering, QA and linguisticdepartments," says Mr O'Dowd.

His presentation will chart the progression ofCorel's journey on this rapid change of itsenvironment, and outline its successes and failures.

James Shaw of Lotus will be talking aboutO T E L O, a collaborative effort between the EuropeanUnion and a consortium of industrial partnerswhose aim is to design and develop acomprehensive automated translator's environment.

“As currently envisaged, OTELO will combine,in a single user-friendly interface , the power ofdisparate natural language processing programs,such as translation memory and machinetranslation, with an array of automatedtranslation and editing tools," says Mr Shaw.

“Given the huge volumes of text that must betranslated each year in today's highly competitiveglobal economy, the benefits of a product likeOTELO are clear," he says. "OTELO will make itpossible for users to streamline their translationprocesses and decrease their reliance on manualapproaches, thus achieving substantialimprovements in efficiency." Lotus willdemonstrate OTELO at the conference.

STAR Deutschland GmbH, a member of theSTAR group of translation service providers, willbe presenting its software products - TRANSIT forWindows 2.6, the advanced translation memorysystem for the professional translator, andTermStar for Windows 2.6, the terminologymanagement tool of choice - at SLIG '97. "STAR'ssoftware products are known for their excellentsupport of Asian languages, such as Chinese(Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean,Thai and Vietnamese" says STAR's Gerd Janssen.

At a time when the Internet is changing thegoalposts for every business, localisation isprobably more affected by its promises - anddangers - than any world industry. SLIG '97 is anunmissable chance to see what the future holds.

Note: For programme details and registration, please seeseparate inlay or contact the Localisation Resources Centre(Tel +353-1-7067898, Fax +353-1-2830669, email LRC@ucd.ie, http://LRC.ucd.ie)

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 10

There was quite a good attendance consideringit was the first SLIG meeting outside Dublin,with representatives from such companies asLotus, Oracle, Apple, Symantec, LocalisationResources Centre (UCD) and many others.

The Meeting started at 1.30 with a briefpresentation from John O'Sullivan, one of themanagers at Digital, giving information on thecompany and its business.

Two points of particular interest in hispresentation were:1) As the European Software Centre for

Digital the operation has customers inCanada, US, Brazil, Singapore, Japan andAustralia. It concentrates on Electronicdistribution of products and therefore donot concentrate on printing or CDreplication.

2) 90% of all calls to Digital are answeredwithin 10 seconds and only 3% areabandoned.

Claude Pe s q u e t, Director of InternationalSystems Engineering at Digital then gave apresentation on Digital's localisation needs andorganisation. Claude has been involved inlocalisation since the late '70s and has lived in8 countries, is fluent in 3 languages and is ablein 7 others.

In the 80's localisation accounted for 30%of Digital's international business and today itaccounts for 70%. In the early days all of thiswork took place inhouse, today 90% isoutsourced. In 1992, 600 people were workingin this area at Digital - today there are 10permanent people, 10 temporary and somecontractors. To d a y, most of the work isoutsourced to agencies in the local country.

The key parameters are market timeliness,quality and cost. Their concentration went from

time, to time plus quality, to time plus qualityplus cost. It was discovered that 55% ofexpenses in localisation were spent ontranslation and DTP (the process) and within ayear this was being outsourced. The nextlargest expense was QA (23%) and this was alsooutsourced.

Today the mission is to give access toincremental markets by providing locallyfit products. Digital have two major hubs -one in Europe (France) and the other inAsia in Hong Kong.

Activities for fiscal 1996: 151 projects - 23million words. They have been involved inmore than 1000 projects since 1991. Today'sneeds are based upon outsourcing limits. Theywant to have more competitive resources andguard against vulnerability.

Future trends (1995 - 2015)Claude sees the future as being about mass

customization - going from local markets toglobal markets, working with suites of productsthat are interlinked.

C u r r e n t l y, Machine Translation is onlybound to be efficient in discreet areas, there isa need to develop MT systems where the deepermeaning can be derived from the word.

The complexity in the range of products wework with today will have to be simplified andease of use will have to be integrated into theproduct. There is a need to move towardmeaning computing - not just the fields that arefound within programs - but what is containedin those fields.

More work will have to be done onstandards. When asked what tools Digital areusing for localisation in the Japanese market,Claude said that they are using a translationmemory system produced by Hitachi which he

finds quite good. An interesting comment hemade about the Japanese market was that theyat Digital concentrate on the level of translation(i.e. very good quality) and not the reformating,editing and publishing of the documentationwhich they leave to the Japanese customer.

Another interesting point he made is thatthey have in the past taken the Japanesetranslation of a product or document and re-translated it into English. The reason for thisbeing that the Japanese version is usually veryconcise and contains a lot of graphics insteadof text. A document can be reduced to onethird of its original size and this is veryeconomical if one were then to translate thisinto FIGS (French, Italian, German andSpanish), as costs are based on number ofwords.

The meeting ended at 5.00 pm.

Jobs inLocalisation

The LRC will soon be offering anemployment section on its Website.Should you wish to include detailson Job oppurtunities in yourcompany on our Website, pleasesend details to the LRC. Equally,should you be looking for a Job inthe Localisation Industry, pleasesend us your details.

email : lrc@ucd.ie

Subscription Order Form

Please send completed Order Form to the LRC. All cheques should be made payable to the Localisation Resources Centre, UCD.Localisation Resources Centre, Campus Innovation Centre, Roebuck Castle, UCD, Belfield, Dublin 4, IRELAND. Telephone: +353-1-7067898. Fax:+353-1-2830669. e-mail:lrc@ucd.ie WWW: http://lrc.ucd.ie

Organisation/Institution: ____________________

Contact: __________________________________

Position: __________________________________

Address: __________________________________

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

Telephone: ________________________________

Fax:______________________________________

e-mail:____________________________________

Subscription Type and Fees(Please tick box)

The annual rates for subscription to the Localisation Resources Centre are as follows:

Individual

Professional (£50) ❑Student (£20) ❑Group

Large (£300) ❑Small/Medium sized Enterprise (SME) (£150) ❑

Subscribers are entitled

to the following:

• Free access to the LRC Information Exchange

• Access to the LRC Tools Library

• Bimonthly Newsletter

• Reduced fee for attendance at seminars

and conferences

• Discount on LRC course fees

• Inclusion in the LRC directory

• Reduced charge for LRC publications

SLIG General Meeting at Digital (Galway) - 7 July 1997

Reports

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 11

The LocalisationResources CentreThe Localisation Resources Centre is the focuspoint and research and support centre for theIrish-based localisation industry. It wasestablished in December 1995 at UniversityCollege Dublin under Forbairt's Te c h n o l o g yCentres Programme with financial assistance fromthe European Regional Development Fund. Theestablishment of the Centre had the expressedsupport of more than a dozen software publishersand localisation service providers, as well as theNational Software Directorate and the SoftwareLocalisation Interest Group (SLIG).

The Centre's key activities cover research,development and evaluation of localisationtools, the establishment of a localisation toolsl i b r a r y, consultancy services, education andtraining, regular publications and support forthe Software Localisation Interest Group (SLIG).The Localisation Resources Centre is alsoinvolved in projects proposed to the Commissionof the European Communities under the 4thFramework Programme.

The Localisation Resources Centre Advisory BoardReinhard Schäler,Manager, Localisation Resources CentreSeamus Gallen, ForbairtGeraldine Lavin, University Industry Programme, UCDHelen J. Wybrants, ISC, EuropeDr. Arthur Cater,Department of Computer Science, UCDBrian Kelly, Vice President Western Europe,Berlitz International Inc.Michael O'Callaghan, Vice President, Oracle Worldwide Product TranslationGunnie Jacobsson, Augur LimitedJohn Malone, Localisation Manager Europe, Microsoft WPGI

For more detailed information about our servicesplease visit our web site (http://LRC.ucd.ie).

SLIGAs part of the drive to maintain the momentumwhich has been built up in the Irish-basedlocalisation industry over the past ten years, theNational Software Directorate (NSD) proposed andfacilitated the establishment of a special interestgroup for all parties involved in softwarelocalisation. This interest group, the SoftwareLocalisation Interest Group (SLIG), first convenedin late February 1994, with representatives fromacademia and both overseas and indigenouscompanies attending. Since then, SLIG has becomethe representative body for the industry in Ireland.

It is based at the Localisation Resources Centre,whose manager, Reinhard Schäler, is also SLIG'schairperson. Its annual conference, which will beheld again in October 1997 (SLIG '97) has becomeone of the major industry events. SLIG alsoorganises eight general meetings per year.SLIG Mission StatementOur mission is to maintain and strengthenIreland's position as the worldwide centre forlocalisation activities. We will 1 . Identify opportunities and engage in activities

which expand Ireland's role in localisation.2. Raise the professional status and develop the

career paths of those working in localisation3. Provide a forum for an exchange of views

between members of the localisation industry4 . Forge new links between members of the

localisation industry and other service providers5 . Lobby the Government on issues concerning the

development of localisation services in Ireland6 . Work with third-level educational bodies and

Government development agencies to developeducational and training courseware appropriateto the needs of the localisation industry.

LRC Yearbook 1997This is the essential reference book for theLocalisation Industry with a foreword by theMinister for Commerce, Science and Technology,Mr Pat Rabbitte TD. To order your copy (wire-bound, 334 pages, IR£ 100 with discountsavailable for SLIG members and participants ofSLIG '96) write to:Localisation Resources Centre, Campus Innovation Centre, Roebuck Castle, UCD Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland Tel. +353-1-706 7898, Fax +353-1-2830669, email LRC@ucd.ie

Web WondersTesting or buying automatic translation via the Internet.

Machine Translation companies are realising thepotential of automatic translation via the Internet.Services range from free automatic translation ofshort samples for sampling the quality of productsto full commercial translation over the Web. Hereis a taste of what is out there.

http://www.systran.com/translate.htmlSubmit a URL, a language-pair and your emailaddress and have your web page translated.Translates HTML only with document limit of 10K.

h t t p : / / w w w. g l o b a l i n k . c o m / s c r i p t s / s e r v i c e . i xe ? c a t agory=Free+Translations Free sample translation

by email using Globalink’s Barcelona Technology.The Barcelona technology is used in Globalink’sPower Translator 6.0 product. Approximately 250-300 words of text may be submitted.

http://www.gmsmuc.de/english/Test drive GMS’s T1. The online test onlytranslates a single sentence from German orSpanish into English.

http://trns.cab.infoweb.or.jp/eindex.htmFujitsu Learning Media’s network translationservices. Includes commercially availableautomatic translation via the Internet (charged percharacter or symbol/kanji, hiragana or katakanachanacter). English-Japanese, Japanese-English.

http://intransnet.bc.ca/intrans/intrae.htmlInTransNet provides automatic translation fromEnglish to Japanese and from Japanese to Englishvia email. Cost per character, free trial period.

Upcoming Meetings

SLIG AGM 3rd October 1997Newman HouseSt. Stephen’s Green2 - 5 pm

Lunch - optional - at 12.30 in the Commons Restaurant (IR£30)see Page 8 for details

SLIG '97: The Internet RevolutionSeminars, Workshops, Localisationand Job Fair and Conference (see page 6 and 7)

12

Ms Anna Brady Manager Symantec LtdMr Michael Campion Manager Claris CorporationMs Ann Fitzpatrick Manager Sun Microsystems IrelandMs Liz Monahan Manager ITPMr Vincent Nolan Manager Creative LabsMr John Rowley Manager Corel CorporationMs Helen Wybrants Consultant ISC-Europe

Mr Reinhard Schäler Manager Localisation Resources CentreMr Ian Dunlop Director Lotus Development IrelandMr Seán F. Ó Drisceoil Manager Cormorant Telematic SystemsMr Andy Way Lecturer School of Computer ApplicationsMs Marion Gunn Manager Everson Gunn TeorantaMr Patrick O'Doherty Manager BabelMr Manfred Weltecke Translator Irish Translators' Association

The SLIG 1997 Committee

LRC_0997.*2 17/9/97 3:12 pm Page 12