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Multidimensional Quality Metrics (MQM)

What is MQM?

The MQM is a translation quality assessment metrics developed in 2014 by the Quality Translation Launch Pad team (QTLP 2013). MQM is strongly supported by the European Union and can be considered a standard measure of translation quality. MQM currently has a total of 19 revisions with multiple modifications; the current stable version is 1.0. MQM inherits the merits of previous translation quality assessment models and tools, most prominent of which is the famous LISA QA model (developed by Localization Industry Standards Association Quality Assessment, now dissolved).

What is MQM and how is it implemented?

Quality assessment, quality assurance and quality control are paramount processes in any industry, and MQM set its focus on quality evaluation. MQM provides a framework for describing and defining quality metrics used in quality evaluation of translated texts and identifying specific problems in those texts. MQM also provides a systematic framework for describing quality metrics based on the recognition of characteristics of given texts. This set of metrics is designed to suit professional production environment (the translation industry, where translations are created like products, for the purpose of generating revenue) as well as the evaluation and testing environment.

As its name implies, MQM includes dimensions for evaluating translation quality, which are:

Accuracy
Fluency
Terminology
Locale Convention
Style
Verity, and
Internationalization.

Users can choose the respective aspects based on the characteristics, nature and requirements of each project. After choosing the evaluation aspects, users may select the issue types – MQM has a catalog of over 100 issue types with full definitions and examples. This is a relatively large number, but MQM also has a smaller issue category, called Core MQM, which lists the 20 most common issue, suitable for most purposes.

MQM can be utilized in multiple ways, for example:

To manually set quality metrics for an LSP, based on evaluation dimensions. Then, proceed with following steps:

Determine the standards
Select evaluation aspects
Select evaluation methods
Select issues
Select the weight for issues
Determine threshold
Execution

Use preset quality parameter, which is useful when comparing similar projects
Highlight errors in text or use a score card

Applying MQM in Language Service Providers (LSP)

Since MQM is highly standardized, the application of this set of metrics at LSPs will significantly contribute to minimizing the impact of subjective assessment on the quality assessment of translation products. tsd Technik-Sprachendienst GmbH, the leading LSP in Germany, one of the pioneers in the application of MQM, proposes a proofreading procedure based on the DQF-MQM framework (which is an extended set of metrics from MQM, combined with DQF, Dynamic Quality Framework) are as follows:

Project manager analyzes documents using a translation management system and sends quotes to clients, along with estimated processing time.
After the request is confirmed, the project manager discusses all the specific requirements with the client, and the project is assigned to the reviewer, performing a review in accordance with the DQF-MQM framework.
The review is recorded in a separate document, provided to the client for all translations, or placed on a summary sheet.
Receive client’s feedback.

Video Games: Classification and branching of video games

There are various types of games, and generally, they are categorized by basic characteristics or goals. For example, you may have heard of role-playing or action games, etc., but when you try out a game, you won’t be able to tell what kind of game it is. As a result, game categories or genres can also have subcategories, and many games fit into multiple genres.

In this article, we can start to understand how game developers and publishers classify their games.

What is Video Game?

“Video Games” are games designed to be played on video screens. The term “Video Game” also clearly indicates that purpose and also distinguishes it from teletype or other similar device games (such as jigsaw puzzles, etc.).

Video games are a branch of Electronic Games.

Online games are also a type of Video Game, they are played over the Internet (online) or played through a local computer network (LAN Games).

What types of video games are there?

Currently there are 9 types of Video Game games as follows:

Action games
Action-adventure games
Adventure games
Role-playing games
Simulation games
Strategy games
Sports games
Puzzle games
Idle games

#1. Action Games

Action games can be considered as the most popular games today.

Action games allow the players to be in control and place them at the heart of the action, mainly consisting of challenges that the players must overcome. Most of the first Video Games were in the action genre.

Since action games are usually easy to play, they are still the most popular video games on stores.

Platform games

In a platformer, the player-controlled character must complete challenges such as dodging obstacles, jumping over or climbing, or may have to perform multiple challenges at the same time to increase the difficulty of the game.

Players will control the characters to perform high or low jumps, dodge obstacles so as not to fall or die. Usually the characters just move in a straight line and perform jumps like the classic game Mario so the jump button will be the most common. Today the jump button is replaced by swipes on the smartphone screen.

There are also acrobatic, climbing maneuvers, such as swinging from objects such as vines or grappling hooks, as in Ristar or Bionic Commando, or jumping from a skateboard or trampoline, as in Alpha Waves. These mechanics, even in the context of other genres, are often referred to as platforming.

Since 2010, an explosion of platform games on mobile devices has brought new popularity to this genre.

Shooter games

In this genre, the player will use a weapon to engage in action, with the usual goal of taking down in-game enemies or other player-controlled characters (e.g. Half-life).

Shooting games are classified according to the player’s perspective:

First person shooter (FPS), like Half-life, Doom, Quake, Counter-Strike, GoldenEye 007, Battlefield, Medal of Honor, Unreal, Call of Duty, Killzone, TimeSplitters, Team Fortress 2 and Halo.
Third-person shooter (TPS), like Syphon Filter, Max Payne, SOCOM, Star Wars: Battlefront, Gears of War, and Splatoon.
Top-down shooters, like Alien Shooter, Galaga, Space Invaders, JYDGE

Most commonly, the purpose of a shooter is to shoot opponents and perform missions without being killed or killed by other actions of the player. Shooting games are a genre of video games where the focus is almost entirely on defeating the character’s enemies using the player’s weapons.

Fighting games

Fingting games are quite attractive to children because of its duelling nature and passion for winning and losing. In the game, each player will choose a character to control to participate in a duel with another character on a limited screen. Characters will usually have equal combat abilities. Players will have to use buttons to launch basic attacks such as punching, kicking, or can launch powerful and beautiful “skills”. The game depends on the player’s ability to press the buttons to control the character. Pressing the buttons quickly and reasonably will help launch combo attacks (“combo”).

Fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II focus on combat action and, in most cases, hand-to-hand combat. Most fighting games feature a steady stream of playable characters, each specializing in their own unique ability or fighting style. In most traditional fighting games, players fight their way to the top, taking on increasingly difficult opponents as they progress.

Beat ‘Em Up

Beat-em up, or brawlers games also focus on combat, but instead of facing a single opponent, the player must face waves of enemies. Double Dragon is one of the earliest beat-em up games, while God of War, Castle Crashers and Bayonetta are more recent.

Stealth

Stealth games emphasize cunning and precision to solve game challenges, and while other actions or combat can help the player accomplish goals, as in Dishonored, stealth games often encourage players to take part in the action secretly. Metal Gear has built a franchise name on this subcategory.

Survival game

A sub-genre of action games, survival action games have really gone on their own in the past few years. The survival horror game Resident Evil is one of the earliest (albeit a linear one), while more modern survival games like Fortnite take place in an open world game environment and gives players access to resources to craft tools, weapons and shelter to survive as long as possible.

Rhythm game

Rhythm games such as Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero are music-based games that challenge the player to keep up with the rhythm of a song or background music in the game by pressing a corresponding button on the input controller at a precise time to accumulate points. Usually, players will dance to the beat on a dance table consisting of colored notes that flash to the music

Skills: The 4 factors affecting a translator’s translation speed

The 4 factors affecting a translator’s translation speed

#1. Background knowledge

Background knowledge means all the knowledge of a translator of different areas of expertise such as marketing, legal, finance and medical. In fact, newly graduated translators often severely lack in background knowledge. This knowledge issue is quite knotty and cannot be overcome in a matter of days. It takes some translators between four and five years, equal to the time it takes for someone to complete a university course, to do so.

In order to shorten this period, apart from approaching and aquiring knowledge through translation projects, translators should regularly read articles and publications on relevant areas of expertise to actively take in new knowledge. Solid background knowledge is the key factor helping translators to confidently receive and rapidly complete specialized translation projects.

#2. Language skills

Language skills include listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. If an interpreter needs to be particularly proficient in listening and speaking skills, for a translator, reading and writing ones are very important. No matter how good your background knowledge is, if you cannot listen well and speak fluently, it’s very hard to do an interpreter’s job. Likewise, for a translator, the ability to read, understand and analyze source sentences, along with the ability to express things clearly and in an easy to understand way in the target languages plays a crucial role, particularly in the legal field, where sentence structures are usually complex. Reading-writing skills are arguably the ones that can make or break a translator.

To hone these two skills, you need to read a lot to reinforce our analytical and logical thinking skills. Along with that is the regular writing practice, which can be simply done by paraphrasing what you read according to our own understanding and in your own language. By doing that, you can improve your reading-writing skills more quickly, and your translation speed will also be improved as a result.

#3. Text processing skills

Text processing skills include both typing and document formatting skills. There is nothing worth mentioning if you are handed a document in a beautifully formatted MS Word/Excel format. But if the handed document is a hard copy, with quite a high degree of repetition, you’re gonna need to convert/digitize the document or process it before the document can be translated. In such case, someone with good document formatting skills will be the one who can quickly get the job done.

Also, try comparing two translators with similar language proficiency, then the one with the faster typing speed will be able to get the job done earlier.

#4. Work communication skills

The last but by no means least important skills are work communication skills. Communication is the exchange of information, verbally or in writing. At work, communication is essential to ensure clear information, requirements and job instructions, and to ensure project progress as well as problems and situations that arise will be timely reported and effectively settled, so that the work can be completed quickly. So, practice your communication skills today.

Conclusions

Above are the 4 key skills that dictate the translation speed and ultimately the success or failure of a translator. If you don’t have these skills yet, or your skills aren’t quite good, don’t be discouraged. Practice these skills today and you’ll be successful one day.

Vietnam Travel: Picture-perfect Spots

Hanoi beauty, will be deseparately remembered if taken in with only naked eyes. Take a camera or a phone, to memorize each angle, corner of the city for everlasting admiration. Spots for taking photos, are abundent, not to say every corner of Hanoi are photogenic. Let us take you to places like that.

West Lake sidewalk

West Lake is like a minicure Hanoi. From everyday life, street food, trading, to artistic activities, photography, cinemagraphy or recreation, all in one. Hoan Kiem is normally thought to Hanoi’s top-tier sightseeing destination, still, I think it is the West Lake, the largest and most beautiful fresh water lake in Hanoi. You can rent a bicycle or motor bike or walk with a map to look for any spots for taking photos, if you have the patience it takes to go full circle of the lake.

One of the most photogenic places in the West Lake may be along its sidewalk. There is no feeling better than letting the gentle breezes embrace you, while you arraging your best camera angle. Try taking photos of/from Tu Hoa lane located in Lane 5, Tu Hoa street, Tay Ho District or the statues of Two Dragons in Lac Long Quan Park. The West Lake is photogenic from time to time, but sunrise and sunset are the moments depicting the most out of it, you just have to take out your camera and grasp it.

Hanoi Opera House

Address: No. 1A, Trang Tien Street, Trang Tien Ward, Hoan Kiem District

Hanoi Opera House, one of the architectual landmarks in Hanoi, famous for its history and the eclectic and neoclassical architecture since the colonial period. If you are falling deeply with Hanoi architecture, it is necessary to take one or twice shots of Hanoi Opera House. TheHilton Hanoi Opera Hotel and Vietnam National Museum of History nearby can also be served as subject of photos for you.

Hanoi Museum

Address: Pham Hung Street, Me Tri, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi
Opening hours: 8h00 – 17h00 (Tue – Sun)
Free admission

Hanoi Museum has a modern breath, in contrast to the Opera House. Located in a complex of unique architecture in Hanoi, the museum was opened on October 6, 2010, 4 days before the Millenial anniversary of Hanoi. Hanoi Museum’s architecture will appeal to photographer and architecture lovers as well as visitors who want to learn about Hanoi’s history and modern architecture.

The Complex

Address: Lane 167, Tay Son Street, Hanoi
Opening hours: 8h00 – 22h00
Admission: 5.000 VND

The Complex, a multifunctional complex (studying, working, event hall, shopping and recreation), newly established and succeeded the hype of Hanoi Creative City The Yard, X98, etc. Complex is the first theme complex in Hanoi with the area of near 4000m2. Seeing a generation of creativity and enthusiasm, work hard and play hard, you can’t help but take a few shots of such energy. The Complex is a new sytem, be the first to enjoy this place.

If you take photography seriously and wish for a place to share your expertise at camera store and repair, which is shared below.

Watanabe Camera

Address: No. 38 Cao Ba Quat, Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Opening hours: 9h30 – 19h00

Watanabe Camera is a famous camera store selling used and new DSLR and accessories. This store also offers photo printing, developing and film selling. If your love for photography is great, take time to visit this store.

CropLab

Address: Room 102A2, Lane 72, Nguyen Chi Thanh, Dong Da, Hanoi
Opening hours: 9h00 – 20h00

Taking photos of Hanoi by film cameras such as Contax, Pentax or Leica, you need a place to develop those photos. We suggest CropLab to fit your need. Film development depends on its brands, from VND 40.000 to VND 85.000 for 35mm/24 or 35mm/26, and on types of films, i.e. color films and cinema film. Delivery time is also varying depending on such elements. CropLab, too, sells film cameras of famous brand such as Fujifilm or Kodak.

Taking photos of Hanoi needs a guide since you could possibly get lost in the beauty and maze-like roads of Hanoi. Contact us, if you have such need, we will help you secure a safe and unforgetfull stay in Hanoi.

Interpretation for reporting and declaration in support of foreigners in Hanoi

Remove language barriers and be assured of the services you receive while reporting and giving statements to the police!

Risks are an inevitable part of life. Whether you have carefully planned a travel or business trip, or a new life at a new workplace, there are many potential risks that you cannot anticipate, e.g. getting in an accident on the road, forgetting important documents, or even… having your wallet stolen. It can be even more uncomfortable if the problem occurs in a country where its people do not speak your language. Once there, you will face both language and legal barriers.

In Vietnam, like other countries, the first place you should go to is the local police. Fortunately, Vietnam is a welcoming country for foreigners, cases involving aliens are often prioritized for quick resolution. The only disadvantage is that interpreters are not always available. And not anyone having a somewhat good command in a foreign language can do what an interpreter does, i.e. report and declare information to the police.

Requirements for a supporting interpreter?

#1. Qualification requirement

The basic requirement to work as a police interpreter is your university degree with a major in translation – interpretation of the specific foreign language. Before the interpreting session begins, the interpreter will need to present the qualification due to their role as the person who helps to convey the reporter’s speech, declares information to the receiving officer and be responsible for true and accurate translation. At the end of the session, the interpreter is also required to sign a declaration form to verify the details of the case, in addition to the signature of the declarant confirming and guarantee their fulfilment of the above responsibility.

#2. Flexible schedule

Cases require reporting and declaration are often abrupt and unexpected. A request can spring up at any time, even at night. So to ensure service capacity, interpreters need to achieve a certain degree of flexibility in terms of working time and be willing to work overtime or even on public holidays. In addition, the working process may also take longer than originally planned. Interpreters need to take this into account to achieve the best arrangements.

#3. Skills requirements

During a session, the interpreter will be required to perform two main tasks:

Translate speech between the declarant and the officer in charge.
Transcribe reports and statements

To do these two jobs well, the interpreter needs to be proficient in their language skills and have a wealth of experience in dealing with the situation. Acting as a bridge between the two parties means that he or she may need to take in a lot of information at once, especially in the form of long sentences or with multiple speakers at the same time. Here is when interpreters need to stay calm and collect enough details to relay the message.

Translation aside, the interpreter also needs to find out what exactly is the problem that their clients currently encounter, in order to help convey the idea in the best way possible. They need to take into account that their clients may be experiencing psychological distress after the event. In fact, failed interpretation attempts have occurred resulting from their unawareness of client’s psychological factors, making it difficult for the officer in chare to collect information.

Police procedures

The reporting and declaration procedures in Vietnam are rather straightforward. You just need to prepare your identity papers and relevant documents (if any) related to the case you are involved and go to the ward police station where the incident occurs.

The declaration form will be provided at the police station. You will be given guidance by the police in charge to fill in the form with the support of an interpreter.

Why use our support interpreting service?

With over 10 years of experience, we understand the problems our customers may have. Using our translation services, you will enjoy the following benefits:

Be accompanied by a qualified interpreter
End-to-end and on-site support, until the case is resolved
Flexibility, ability to provide all day, 24 hours service
Reasonable cost– by the hour or by the case
Link with the district-level Office of Justice –Quickly respond to additional requests for translation and translation notarization
Support consular legalization to complete the dossier, if necessary

How to contact us?

When a case arises that requires an interpreter to assist, you can contact us in two ways:

Call our hotline, available 24 hours a day: 083.878.9800
By mail: [email protected] – our email response time is usually within 30 minutes..

Depending on the location and the nature of the case, we will arrange an interpreter that best suit your needs. In the event of an emergency, you can contact us by phone first, then provide additional information via email so that we can fully understand the situation.

In addition, you can contact us for related services:

Providing true copy of documents
Providing notarized translation
Digitizing paper documents

6 myths about COVID-19 vaccines

Many people are still hesitant about whether to get vaccinated or not despite the fact that the number of new cases has continuously decreased along with the COVID-19 vaccination campaigns. This is because there are many myths that are being spread widely on social networks. This article will summarize the 6 most common myths and expert explanations for your reference.

Myth #1: COVID-19 vaccine causes infertility

This is a rumor that makes infectious disease specialists especially concerned. Dr. Adalja, USA confirmed that this is completely fabricated information without foundation.

To shed light on this, we need to look back at the vaccine’s mechanism of action.

Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine has the same mechanism of action as traditional vaccines. This vaccine uses adenovirus, which commonly causes colds, to be modified to carry the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 (the spike protein is the most important surface protein the virus uses to bind to receptors on the host cell surface and penetrate). This adenovirus cannot replicate in the human body so it will not cause disease. When vaccinated, the modified virus is pulled into the body’s cells, from where it travels to any cell nucleus. There, the adenovirus leaves DNA on the nucleus, the cell reads the spike protein gene, and the information about that gene is copied to the mRNA. The cells will begin to produce spike protein. Once the spike proteins are recognized by the immune system, the body produces antibodies.
Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s vaccines use a newer technology called mRNA (messenger RNA). These mRNA vaccines use spike protein fragments from the virus that have been encoded to stimulate the body’s immune response to produce antibodies. That spike protein and mRNA will be eliminated by the body over time, but the antibodies will remain.

The above myth seems to stem from a false information that the vaccine contains a spike protein called syncytin-1, which is tied to the function of the placenta, which is the organ that provides nutrients to the fetus pregnancy. But this information is completely untrue. As the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 is not the same as syncytin-1, and there is no evidence that blocking syncytin-1 can cause infertility.

To disprove this myth, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released a statement stating that, “according to the vaccine’s mechanism of action and safety profile in non-pregnant female subjects, the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine -19 such as those from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna do not increase the risk of infertility, and the viruses in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine do not have the ability to replicate in cells and cannot cause disease or alter the DNA of the vaccinated person, and not the cause of infertility.”

Myth #2: If you’ve had COVID-19 you don’t need to get vaccinated

CDC recommends that you still get vaccinated even if you’ve had COVID-19. Because no one knows how long you can be protected from the virus after treatment clears. Furthermore, vaccines stimulate an immune response better than the virus itself, so getting vaccinated will give you better protection. In addition, vaccines also help protect against virus variants.

Myth #3: No need to wear a mask after getting the COVID-19 vaccine

This myth is partly based on truth. Because CDC recently issued guidance for people who are fully vaccinated, that people who have had two doses of Moderna/Pfizer vaccine or 1 dose of Johnson & Johnson vaccine, after waiting for the vaccine to take effect, may not need to wear a mask in the following cases:

Stay indoors with people who are fully vaccinated.
Stay at home with another family’s unvaccinated people, as long as those people are considered to be at low risk for severe complications from COVID-19.

However, CDC also emphasizes that when in public or in gatherings with unvaccinated people from more than 1 other family. Because at this time the effectiveness of the vaccine has not been determined against virus variants and whether you can pass the virus on to others after being vaccinated.

Myth #4: The COVID-19 vaccine will either introduce the virus into your body or cause you to test positive for the virus

In truth, it is not possible. There are no COVID-19 vaccines that can cause a person to get COVID-19. Because vaccines contain only the code to make the body produce the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 or contain a modified virus that carries the code for the spike protein – no vaccines contain the virus SARS-CoV-2.

Myth #5: Vaccines are rushed to market, so safety cannot be trusted

While the COVID-19 vaccine is the fastest researched, developed and put into use vaccine ever, it has also gone through rigorous procedures, and everything is satisfactory.

All COVID-19 vaccines licensed in the US undergo rigorous development by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), including research and development, and preclinical testing, 3 phases of clinical trial and approval by FDA.

It is also important to note that mRNA technology has been around for the past decade and has been studied with influenza, Zika, rabies and CMV viruses before. We can completely trust the safety of vaccines.

Myth #6: The COVID-19 vaccine will change your DNA

Dr. Adalja stated, this is just a baseless assertion. In order to change DNA, it must penetrate the nuclear membrane of the cell. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 vaccine doesn’t even get close to DNA at the cellular level, so it’s completely biologically unfeasible.

References:

7 COVID-19 Vaccine Myths

Digital content: 5 stages to create a global content strategy

If you frequently have to notify all of your employees or global customers about important announcements, you need to make sure your effort reach its targets. This seems rather straightforward but in fact can be costly. You will also need to translate and localize the announcements into languages your target audience understands. That is also one reason why you need a global content strategy.

5 stages to create a global content strategy

A global content strategy sets a framework for creating and managing content published in a variety of languages, cultures, and regions. It covers far more than content planning and editorial calendars, encompassing everything from governance and user journeys to workflows and performance metrics.

Creating a comprehensive global content strategy is a detailed process, but you can break it down into stages. These are some of the key things to consider and include at each stage.

# Stage 1 – Consulting and preparation

Before you begin creating a global content strategy, it’s important to be clear on the goals for it and plan how you’ll structure and produce it.

Consultation

The most important thing to do initially is to consult with the people who’ll implement your global content strategy. You need to understand their goals and how they currently work, and they need to understand how the strategy will benefit them. By being involved in its creation, and agreeing on shared goals, people will feel much more motivated to follow the new strategy.

Governance

Consulting with stakeholders will also help you to decide how best you can govern your global content. Will it be created, published, and maintained centrally or will you have a decentralised model with different markets or business units developing and taking care of their own content? Or maybe you can adopt an approach that mixes the two?

Translation and localization

Think about translation and localization from the start and how you’ll implement and manage these key processes on a global scale. By keeping them in mind while designing your strategy, you can ensure they’re introduced into your content planning and creation processes. Which will, ultimately, increase the efficiency and quality of your published content in multiple languages.

Planning

Once you know the goals for your global content strategy, you can draw up a plan for creating it, outlining timelines, responsibilities, milestones, and so on. You can also begin a content strategy document that you can update, flesh out, and refine as you progress.

# Stage 2 – Detailed information gathering

At this stage, begin delving deep into the following areas to find the detail you need to inform your strategy.

Audience needs and wants

The people you’re creating the content for should stay front and centre when developing your global content strategy. So begin by establishing who they are, perhaps by using personas. You’ll then need to understand how they consume your content, or content in general, and check your content goals are in line with their needs.

Content inventory and audit

Another key task is to create an inventory of your existing content, so you know what you have, and in which languages. Then audit it to assess its quality. If this task is too large, you could begin with a sample.

Competitors and gaps

Next, look at the content your key competitors are creating. What is its quality and scope and what channels are they using? Look for any gaps in what they and you are creating to help determine what you should produce in the future.

# Stage 3 – Mapping

By now, you’ll have a solid understanding of your current content landscape. You’ll be clear on your target audience and their wants and needs. And you’ll know the types of content you’ll be publishing. From here, you can start honing your strategy and working out how it will be implemented.

User journeys

At this point, it’s useful to develop preferred user journeys so you’re clear on how you’d like people to consume and move through your content.

Content mapping

You can then take user journeys a step further by mapping out content. Consider what types and formats of content you’d like to provide for people at each stage of the journey and where you’ll publish it. When doing this, keep in mind your content goals so you’re clear on the job that each piece of content needs to do. And think about which pieces of content will be localized. By planning this before writing begins, you’ll make the process much easier by ensuring it’s optimized for localization.

Practicalities

Make sure you work out the practicalities too, such as how content will be structured, written, tagged, and filed, and how it will be migrated, managed, and stored.

# Stage 4 – Guidance for implementation

Once you’ve developed the details of your global content strategy, it’s important to provide clear direction for those implementing it.

Global brand guidelines

Your brand guidelines should cover everything content producers need to create content that looks, feels, and sounds in line with your goals. Provide clarity on the voice and tone, imagery, animation style, iconography, sounds, and more.

Channels and formats

Also be clear on the types of content that should be created, which channels should be used, and how they can be used.

Translation and localization

To ensure you maximise your budget, provide guidance on the types of content that should be translated, localized, or transcreated and the types that don’t need translating. Also look at which pieces of content would benefit from a more automated approach such as machine translation.

Workflows and processes

Make sure you explain in your global content strategy how content should be created. Begin with a process for generating, collating, and assessing ideas and go right through to creating, editing, approving, translating, localizing, and publishing content. Remember to also include processes for storing, managing, and archiving content.

Stage 5 – Measuring and optimizing

You’ll want to constantly evolve and improve your content. So it’s vital to work out how you’ll measure its performance and optimize it, and then include that in your strategy.

Performance metrics

Measuring your content’s performance is crucial to avoid wasting resources on pieces that aren’t serving you. But what should you measure? There are so many content metrics today – from social shares to clickthrough rate to bounce rate and more – it can be difficult to know where to start. To ensure you measure the right things for the right reasons, always be guided by your content goals. This will help you set the most relevant and useful KPIs and will keep you focused on achieving your goals.

Optimizing your content

Your global content strategy should also link to your SEO strategy, so pieces of content can be optimized before publishing and after their performance has been measured.

Conclusion

Planning and managing global content is a complex task, but one that can be made easier with thorough planning and support from the right tools. For example, AM Vietnam can help you develop content as well as localize and optimize them to match your target market.

Video localize: Some notes to help you create professional video subtitles

What you need to know to create professional video subtitles

The most common rules for subtitles are the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) standards, or the BBC or Netflix’s subtitle rules.

Here are some of the most basic criteria to keep in mind:

Characters per line (CPL): 37-40 characters including spaces and breaks per line. A subtitle should have no more than 2 lines. This is to make sure the subtitles are not too long and cover the frame. In addition, the length of a subtitle line depends on the dimensions of the video, i.e. CPL to broadcast on television and phone has its own requirements, but not longer than 68% of the width for a 16:9 video and 90% of the width of a 4:3 video.
Characters per second (CPS) is an important factor to ensure that viewers can both read the subtitles and follow the content. 20 characters per second is the ideal number, and is highly recommended.
On-screen caption (OSC): to display captions from the translator, not by the speaker, on the screen. However, the addition of footnotes should be limited of to avoid distractions. The information on the screen that needs to be supplemented is information about the speaker, about the event, the situation, or the text, etc. Information such as numbers, dates, or store names, trademarks, etc., if not relevant to the content, or otherwise unaffected by the content, may be omitted. Subtitles for text displayed on the screen may overlap with the speaker’s voice subtitles, but avoid overlapping more than 2 subtitles.
Font size, font type, font color: According to customer’s request, but mostly white, black border or black background. The redundancy of the black background should not exceed 0.5 cm and the font size should not exceed 8% of the width of the video.

Create and edit video subtitles

The unchanging rule when creating subtitles is that the start and end match the speaker’s words. Avoid letting the speaker not finish speaking but the subtitles have ended, or vice versa. This is all because of the viewer’s ability to read subtitles and view images.

Skip stumbling blocks and mistakes.
The paragraphs where the speaker pauses will be split into a new sentence or only continue the sentence when the sentence idea is followed.
Words that can be easily read should not be eliminated.
Try to form a single sentence, avoid in a two-sentence subtitle.

Subtitle duration (timing):

The unchanging rule when creating subtitles is that the start and end match the dialogue, sometimes the song or the cry. Avoid leaving the dialogue unfinished without the subtitles ending, or vice versa.

But the truth is not that simple.

The duration for a subtitle should be 160-180 words/minute or 0.33-0375 words/second. However, depending on the video content and audience, this duration may vary:

Prolonged:

When there is important information, long number (for example: 15,546) or the speaker’s speaking rate slows down
When many people talk at the same time
When there are many events happening on the video, like football match, map, etc.
When appearing specialized words, strange words.

Shorten:

When the scene cuts suddenly
When chanting slogans
When you can read from speaker’s mouth
When information is repeated, brief.

However, the duration for a subtitle must not exceed 10 seconds, which could distract the viewer because the subtitle sentence is too long (except for the information on the screen).

When there is a dialogue, it should be presented in bullet form and the dialogue should not exceed 3 seconds. If the dialogue’s speakers are unknown or not showing faces, the speaker’s name/gender can be written in front of the line in the dialogue.

Subtitle location:

Usually do not take up too much space for a frame.

Center position below frame: This is the most popular position, it is easy to stretch the length without affecting the image of the video
Center position above the frame: When setting subtitles in this position, i.e. (1) in the video there are two subtitles in two different languages, (2) the video is showing information that occupies the entire lower part of the frame, (3) the video is showing the important image in the bottom corner
Lower left/right corner position: Subtitles must be placed at the opposite corner of the information displayed on the screen, avoid placing subtitles above the frame.

How to break the subtitle line

Subtitle line breaks are often ignored when subtitle creators focus too much on the above 40-CPL criterion, leading to mercilessly and painfully broken sentences. Subtitles are usually broken, but not limited to, in the following ways:

Object:

Prepositions and next action:

Linking words, punctuation marks and subject phrases:

Proper names and verbs:

There are also many other cases, where the editor relies on the context, details of the video, CPL, CPS to break lines. However, all long sentences must be split, even if they do not exceed 40 characters per line.

Subtitles and subtitle translation

Subtitles are often associated with the translation of movies and entertainment programs, but subtitling is much more extensive. Many legal, judicial, medical, scientific, technical, advertising, and religious videos require subtitles to preserve the original language while ensuring the multilingualism of the video.

In addition, there is now parallel subtitle translation for digital broadcasts. The reason for this demand is because (1) broadcasts on digital platforms often have a large audience and are mainly via electronic devices, that is, there is no dedicated equipment for parallel interpretation, ( 2) viewers focus a lot on the broadcast content itself, i.e. want to receive the content in its original form, without mixing other languages, (3) the speed of updating content is dizzying. Broadcasts often attract a lot of viewers in real time. The subtitled version will certainly be updated after the broadcast, but then the content is outdated and viewers often revisit it later because there is a need for the language, not the content.

Although subtitles appear slower and have many limitations, they have initially opened a new era for subtitle translation: subtitles can be provided side-by-side with the speaker as side-by-side interpreters of equal quality. But side-by-side subtitle translation is different from machine translation. Machine translators only provide near-instant translation when content is available, while live broadcasts provide no prior, even unpredictable content.

Conclusions

With the current state of chaotic and self-directed subtitle translation, it is necessary to set a standard for subtitle presentation in Vietnam. Although there is a separate censorship panel from broadcasters or agencies that specialize in content moderation, there is still no censorship system for the presentation of subtitles. In addition, subtitles need new software and technologies developed to make subtitles provided in real time a dream come true.

Localization: The Growing Trend Towards Multi-vendor Localization

As your business grows, you’ll need to create more content for more markets. As your content volume and number of markets increase, so does your need for localization. The problem is that can one single language service provider (LSP) handle all language pairs? You may need to change your content delivery strategy and use multi-vendor localization, provided simultaneously by various suppliers.

Multi-vendor localization means using multiple language service providers for your localization projects. There are several reasons why this is the preferred choice of many global companies. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of this strategy.

What are the Pros of Multi-vendor Localization?

1. Risk Management

Risk dispersion is one of the main reasons for multi-vendor localization. For example, if the introduction of a product or service to a market is delayed, the loss can be massive, with significantly decreased topicality and competitiveness (prerequisite for communication). If you choose to be loyal to only one independent language service provider (LSP), what will happen if they can’t afford urgent deadlines? What if they aren’t capable of continuous operation or their quality fails you?

Finding suitable replacement for your LSP for a certain project can take a lot of time. But it’ll be a different story if you have various reliable suppliers in store.

2. Access to Experts

No LSP can satisfy your every need in every occasion, even if it’s a globally huge provider. Multi-vendor Localization allows you to choose the right one for your needs.

Native Linguists

You may be really satisfied with your Vietnamese localization service provider, but they don’t give you peace of mind when it comes to Japanese translation. Multi-vendor Localization allows you to choose the right local translation companies.

Expertise

Some providers excel at marketing localization, but struggling to maintain the high level of quality when it comes to medical translation. You’ll have to look for experts to help you with each area of expertise you may encounter. It’ll be much easier if you have in store a list of multiple professional translation service providers.

Content Type

There are companies out there which specialize in translation and localization of one form of content only, written documents for instance. And there are companies whose forte is software localization, or mobile app localization, etc.

3. Flexibility in Workload

If you need to localize a high volume of content, or your workload is very variable, one single vendor may struggle to scale their efforts at the speed you need. It can be better to spread projects across multiple vendors.

4. Flexibility in Work Distribution

Volume and complexity are also something to remember when considering LSPs. For smaller projects, a small, local LSP might be the best and most cost-effective choice. Whereas for more extensive, multinational projects, a large, global LSP might provide the best value.

5. Working Across Time Zones (global)

Global reach and time-zone coverage are important factors to consider too. LSPs offering a global service will still differ in terms of where they have in-country offices or teams, and in which regions their strengths lie. If you need a 24-hour, round-the-world service, it may be best to work with more than one provider.

6. Multiple Quality Control Suppliers

If you’re moving into new territories and growing your localization program, it can be valuable to work with a range of vendors. Experiencing different services and approaches will enable you to adopt a variety of best practices.

Using a range of vendors also lets you compare and benchmark quality standards. You can even ask vendors to review and score each other’s work. And if there’s suddenly a drop in quality with one vendor, you’ll have another LSP on hand to help meet your deadline.

7. Budget Balance

A multi-vendor strategy allows you to benchmark costs as well as quality. When you’re working with a number of LSPs, you can conduct annual pricing reviews, for example, and ask them to price match equivalent services. Whereas, when you’re working with just one LSP, you’ve less room for negotiation on prices.

8. Create Healthy Competition

Fostering a certain amount of competition among your vendors not only helps to keep prices in check and quality levels high – it can increase innovation too. When vendors know they’re not the only LSP you turn to, they’re likely to be more motivated to stay relevant by process improvements, internal training or coming up with fresh ideas.

9. Technology and Process Optimization

It can be costly to apply technologies for just a few LSPs and ask them to follow your procedures, but it’s quite opposite if there’s many LSPs. When you use a range of LSPs, you can make the most of what each offers in terms of technology and processes. Some LSPs, AM Vietnam, for example, will let you use their chosen translation management system as part of their service. Others may be able to customize an off-the-shelf system and integrate it with additional tools to meet your needs. While other LSPs may have an in-house engineering team that can provide technical support.

Some vendors may not offer you the use of any technology but are very strong in UI testing or multimedia production processes. When you have a multi-vendor strategy, you can take advantage of each provider’s technical expertise, without losing out overall.

10. Be More Objective

If things go wrong, it can be easy to blame your LSP. But if you use multiple LSPs, and more than one is having the same problem, it could indicate the issue isn’t caused by them. It might be a problem with how you’re working with them or another external factor.

What are the Cons of Multi-vendor Localization?

While there are many benefits to having a multi-vendor localization strategy, there are also potential issues to be aware of. Although these issues are not really obvious, they can confuse you in certain cases.

1. Management Effectiveness

Having various vendors at your service means regular management. You may need to create a specialized department to manage and work with your LSPs.

2. Different Quality From Each LSP

There’s the danger of inconsistencies in quality and linguistics arising from a decentralized approach. And a multi-vendor localization program can be very complex to manage. If it isn’t managed carefully, it can lead to oversights such as web pages or other assets not being properly maintained in local languages.

Conclusions

Multi-vendor localization strategy is trending today as companies increasingly expand their global operations. Expedia Group is an example, it provides traveling content in hundreds of different languages for a wide range of products including websites, mobile apps, platforms or text. Therefore, if your translation and localization needs are large enough, it is also impossible to stay out of that trend.

Multiple language service providers also increases your administrative costs, but in return you will get more values compared to choosing just one LSP. Don’t forget the benefits it brings, and you’ll soon see that the more LSPs you have, the more convenient it is for your content distribution.

SARS-COV-2 virus and the latest variants

Since its first appearance in December 2019, the rapidly spreading SARS-CoV-2 virus has caused a global pandemic, with a total of more than 114 million cases and more than 2, 5 million deaths. Until now, the SARS-CoV-2 virus and its variants are still causing health systems around the world to struggle. This article will update readers with general information about SARS-CoV-2 and its variants.

What is SARS-CoV-2?

SARS-CoV-2 is an abbreviation for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Corona is a large family of viruses, capable of causing various diseases: from mild illness such as the common cold to severe illness such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (2002) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (2012).

The SARS-CoV-2 virus, also known as Covid-19 virus, originates from the English phrase, coronavirus disease 2019. The number “19” in the name Covid-19 is to reflect the year the first case was detected.

What is the variants of the virus?

After entering the host body, the virus will continue multiplying through the process of copying RNA genetic material. This process often has errors, thereby forming viruses that are not completely like the original virus. Errors in the RNA of the virus are called mutations, and viruses that carry the mutation are called variants. Sometimes variants appear and then disappear on their own, sometimes they persist, continuing to transmit and cause disease.

Main variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus

Since the outbreak, the World Health Organization (WHO) has received numerous reports of unusual public health events potentially caused by variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Depending on the number and location of mutations in the genome, the variants have different ability to spread, bind to cells and have different drug resistance. The clinical presentation and severity of the disease may also vary between variants.

Scientists have now identified several key variants circulating in the community, including:

Variant B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant):

It is estimated that the B.1.1.7 variant first appeared in the UK in September 2020. Gene sequencing showed that the 23 nucleotides on the RNA strand of the variant had been replaced and that the variant had no genetic relationship to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that was circulating in the UK at that time.

B.1.1.7 has a higher spreading speed and chances than other variants. Experts believe that this variant has the potential to increase the risk of death of infected people, but the severity and likelihood of recurrence are unchanged compared to the old variants. As of December 30, 2020, this variant has been recorded in more than 31 countries and territories around the world.

Variant B.1.351 (Beta variant):

B.1.351 was first detected in South Africa in early October 2020 and is now present in at least 4 other countries. This variant shares some mutations with the B.1.1.7 variant.

Some early evidence suggests that the mRNA-1273 vaccine, manufactured by Moderna and being used in the US, may be less effective against this variant. In addition, there is currently no specific evidence that B.1.351 causes more serious symptoms and consequences for patients. However, more studies will be needed before definite conclusions can be drawn.

Variant P.1 (Gamma variant):

The P.1 variant was first detected in January 2021 at a Japanese airport during screening tests for travelers from Brazil. The P.1 variant includes 17 special mutations, including 3 mutations in the receptor binding region of the spike protein on the virus surface (mutations K417T, E484K and N501Y). Scientists have found evidence that mutations in the P.1 variant can affect the antibody’s ability to recognize and neutralize viruses.

These three strains share a common mutation called D614G. This mutation allows the virus to spread more quickly, but does not make symptoms worse, nor does it change the effectiveness of diagnostic tests, treatments, vaccines or other prevention measures

Variants of SARS-CoV-2 virus in Vietnam

According to the announcement of the Ministry of Health, Vietnam has now recorded 4 variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus:

D614G originated in Europe, is the variant that caused the outbreak in Da Nang.
B.1.1.7 from the UK, the “culprit” causing the outbreak in Hai Duong.
B.1.351 from South Africa, detected in South African patient BN1422. The patient flew from South Africa to Vietnam and entered Noi Bai airport on December 19, 2020.
A.23.1 from Rwanda, Africa, detected at Tan Son Nhat Airport, Ho Chi Minh City.

Compared to the D614G variant that caused the outbreak in Da Nang, the B.1.1.7 variant that caused the Hai Duong outbreak has the ability to spread faster. Specifically, in just the first 20 days, the number of cases in Hai Duong (575 cases, an average of 20 cases/day) was 1.5 times higher than the total number of cases in Da Nang during the whole period (36 days, 389 cases, an average of 15 cases/day).

The possibility of new variants appearing in the future

As mentioned above, viruses do not stop mutating over time. The more people and animals infected with the virus, the higher the chance of a mutation in the viral genome that leads to the introduction of a new variant. Therefore, minimizing the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 virus through disease prevention and control measures according to the 5k policy of the Ministry of Health: Masks, Disinfection, Distance, Do not Gather and Medical Declaration play a very important role in the global strategy to reduce the emergence of virus mutations.

References:

https://www.who.int/csr/don/31-december-2020-sars-cov2-variants/en/
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/scientific-brief-emerging-variants.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/variant-surveillance/variant-info.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/transmission/variant.html

https://ncov.moh.gov.vn/web/guest/-/6847426-1576

Translation: The human’s foremost role in legal document translation

When it comes to Legal documents, contracts or codes spring to mind. Actually, they are just two of thousands of types of legal documents out there. Because of their importance, legal documents are not translated for reference purposes, but also for decision making ones. Given such characteristic, what is the role of humans in a legal translation? Let’s find out with me in this article.

The human’s role in legal translation

You need to translate a set of your company’s construction contracts to be signed with a foreign partners? They may include various general and specific terms, each with different governing scope. Design and engineering documents may form an integral part of the set of contracts. In such case, you will need a robust team of professional translators, consulting lawyers and qualified engineers to help with the translation process.

We now have three different types of professional involved in the translation of the set of construction contracts. They are translators, lawyers and engineers. Let’s see what they’re supposed to do with this translation.

What is the role of translators in legal document translation?

Any legal document will certainly include many forms. The translator will do their usual work, that is, translating the set of construction contracts into target languages. Translators will do the translating work according to the TEP process to produce initial translations. The results may include:

The set of construction contracts fully rendered into target languages.
Glossaries of construction terms or equivalents for consideration by engineers.
Legal notes to be considered by experienced lawyers.

The question is, why do translators need consultation from lawyers and engineers? Well, translators only have intensive language training. They may not have much in the way of specialized knowledge and may have to rely on their experience to look up terms.

What is the role of lawyers in legal document translation?

The above-mentioned set of contracts may contain complicated terms that translators may not fully grasp or properly understand. These contents may therefore be incorrectly translated or translated in a way that their meanings cannot be fully conveyed into the target language.

For example:

Original sentence in English:
Translated version by translators:
Revised version by lawyers:

The above example goes to show the critical role of lawyers, who ensure the legal accuracy of the translation. What’s more, legal documents have their own style, sometimes admitted dry. Lawyers will also help ensure the correct legal style as well as accurate linguistic expression, criteria that ordinary translators usually struggle to meet.

What is the role of engineers in legal document translation?

The technical aspect of a document is another area of translation. While lawyers have expertise in law, legal style and translators have expertise in languages, lawyers have a role in the technical aspect of a translation. Technical specialized knowledge is something lawyers and translators may not fully get hold of.

Technical issues of a legal translation may include but are not limited to the following field:

Medical and pharmaceutical fields: Medical technicians or specialist doctors or pharmacists are needed.
Construction and mechanical fields: Qualified construction engineers and mechanical engineers are needed.
Informatics and electronics fields: IT engineers, electrical engineers and electronics and telecommunications engineers are needed.
Electrical energy field: Experienced electrical engineers are needed
Mining and geology fields: Mining or geology engineers are needed.

Specialized requirements in a legal translation only emerge when technical aspects are involved. Legal documents such as Laws, Codes and specialized decisions all govern various aspects of life, therefore in addition to legal elements, there are also technical elements in them.

Conclusions

Because the law governs all aspects of life, there are specialized legal documents in every industry or field. A reputable translation agency or law firm is often the focal point for legal translation requests. However, whichever side is selected, they will also need the cooperation of the other side and also of qualified experts. Responsibility for a legal translation is the same between a translation agency and a law firm. Therefore, the question of choice also depends on a customer’s preferences.

SEO: How long does it take to start working?

When digital lead generation is discussed, few questions are asked as often as “How long will it take for me to rank #1 for these keywords? ” The answer is not really simple, because the question itself also shows the wrong way of thinking. This question stems from an SEO practice that once existed, but no longer exists.

New SEO vs Old SEO

There was a time when SEO strategy was about identifying the keywords that were most relevant to your business, attracted the most traffic, and weren’t very competitive. In the past, you would find 5-10 keywords that are your “golden keywords” and will bring in the majority of traffic. When someone comes in front of us and says, “I need to be #1 for this and this keyword,” we know they are stuck in that mindset. Keyword strategy is flawed, because with fewer and fewer exceptions, no single keyword, nor group of keywords, will bring significant traffic to your site – at least when compared to what you might get from long-form search. The bottom line is that if you’re focusing on a small group of generic keywords, it’s likely that most of the people searching for you won’t be able to see you.

SEO is now increasingly influenced by natural language search, i.e., people are performing more searches like normal questions than as two or three keywords. This is happening because people are using tools like Siri or Google Now to input searches by voice, instead of typing it out themselves, and also because people are adding more details to the their searches, as they want to find what they are looking for more quickly. Ranking high for these keywords is much easier, as they are not as competitive as others. They are also much more relevant, because they include more detail, and so traffic from these keywords has a higher conversion rate. And in general, the number of searches with long content is often significantly more than searches with “golden keywords”. So the goal, when it comes to rankings, is not to achieve good rankings for a few top keywords that are constant over time, but to focus on a much larger number of natural language searches, which is growing and changing rapidly.

Ranking is not as important as you think

Ranking really matters. But this is not the metric you should focus on. If you mean by asking the question “How long does it take for SEO to start working?” as “How long will it take for me to be at the top?” then you’re confusing output with outcome, as Wil Reynolds, founder of Seer Interactive, likes to say. Achieving good rankings is an output that SEO agencies easily offer to attract customers, because they are emotionally satisfying, but they are worthless unless it generates leads or sales – the outcome you want. That’s why you should only hire SEO agencies or SEO experts that focus on outcome, not output.

The question you should ask

Now that you know how SEO has changed and you want your SEO agency to generate leads and sales, not just good rankings for you, the question you should be asking is “How long does it take for SEO to start generating leads and sales?”

How long does it take for SEO to start working?

Now we are ready to answer the right question. And the answer is… it depends. Sounds disappointing, doesn’t it? But it is true. Then what does it depend on? Depending on how long your site has been around, the amount of SEO done to that site in the past, the health of the site, the amount of content, the link profile of that site, and lots of other SEO factors. Every site has a different starting position, even if it’s in the same industry and competing for the same audience. However, below is a possible scenario that describes your SEO efforts in the early months and the results you can expect.

Month 1 – Research and discovery, site reviews, keyword strategy development and planning. If research and discovery can be carried out quickly, technical changes can begin to be made to the site within the first month. In other cases, the research and discovery phase can last for more than a month.
Month 2 – Begin technical SEO work, i.e., make website modifications based on the results of the site review. In some cases, the website needs a full revision, and the process itself can take months. Other SEO activities such as link profile processing and content building can be done concurrently with the full revision process. If you are also in this full revision situation, you will do “SEO” but you will not see any results, as the changes being made will only make an impact once they are done.
Month 3 – Start focusing on content creation. Writing blogs, FAQs, white papers, articles, extensive product and company information, etc. Ideally, you should start doing this right after strategy and planning, but often the budget will limit what can be done right away and so a full revision should be prioritized. In this case, you may see some improvement in rankings at the end of the month. If these rankings convert into leads or sales, all the better, but you don’t have to expect this.
Month 4 – Continue creating content, technically optimizing the site, and building a healthy link profile (which may include removing low-quality links). By this month, you can expect a noticeable increase in rankings, traffic, and lead generation. It’s still far from the improvements you can make for SEO in 12 months, but significant enough for you to know that SEO is working.
Month 5 – By this month or possibly earlier in the process, you may have already started integrating social media management into your plan to expand your content and drive traffic direct access to your website. This can result in a healthy, natural link profile and, of course, lead generation. You will continue to create content and possibly participate in some public relations or media promotion. At this point, you will most likely see more and more traffic coming from SEO, and as a result your number of potential customers will increase.
Month 6 – If your traffic has reached 5,000 visitors/month by this point, you can benefit from adding conversion rate optimization to your method to improve how the traffic you receive converts into leads and/or sales. From this point on, your activities can focus consistently on creating content and promoting it, or you can do things more creatively. Specific activities can vary greatly depending on the type of company you have and the type of website you have.

A lot of SEO firms will tell you that it takes 4 to 6 months to start seeing results. That’s generally correct, but remember this is when you start to see results and SEO results go up over time. Whatever results you get at 6 months will be significantly less than at 12 months. At some point, you may find your results go down, and that requires maintaining results rather than bringing results up.

Don’t give up too soon

A lot of companies underestimate the amount of time and money it takes to be successful with SEO. Success, by any standard, rarely comes within the first 3 months, even with a large SEO budget. There are many companies that start the right way, but give up after 2 to 3 months saying, “The reason is we didn’t get the results we paid for.” This means they set unrealistic expectations before starting the work. If you can’t prepare a budget for 6 to 12 months of SEO, you’re better off spending that budget on something else. Paying for a few short months of SEO is, in many cases, like throwing money out the window. SEO is a long-term marketing tactic, and should not be seen as a way to generate quick sales. However, if you make the right investments and plan to do so for the long term, SEO is a marketing tactic with the highest return on capital available.

Vietnamese Translation for 8 Culinary Positions in a Hotel

1. Culinary Positions: Executive Chef/Chef

Vietnamese name: Bếp trưởng

Role: The executive chef is the person who has full authority in the kitchen in the restaurant, responsible for operating and supervising all activities of the department to ensure the quality of the dishes, food hygiene and safety and maintaining food costs. Most importantly, the chef is the one who plans, prepares and cooks in the kitchen.

2. Culinary Positions: Cook Assistant

Vietnamese name: Phụ bếp

Role: The Cook Assistant is responsible for assisting the chef with tasks such as ensuring food supplies, handling leftovers, preparing ingredients, testing new recipes, cleaning utensils and kitchen space. In the kitchen, there can be many cook assistants for a cooking stage.

3. Culinary Positions: Kitchen Steward/Dishwasher

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên rửa bát

Role: Dishwasher is an employee in the kitchen, responsible for operating and maintaining equipment and tools to clean dishes, cutlery, to clean machines, equipment, cooking utensils, and wipes stoves, ovens, sinks and food dishes, sweep and mop kitchen floors.

4. Culinary Positions: Waiter/Waitress

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên phục vụ

Role: Waiters/Waitresses are responsible for taking orders and serving food and drinks to guests at the table. Waiters/Waitresses also introduce the menu, recommend dishes, serve wine, and if required, directly comment on the quality of the food to the chef or executive chef.

5. Culinary Positions: Hostess

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên tiếp đón khách

Role: The Hostess is responsible for welcoming and arranging seats for guests in the restaurant. During peak hours, the hostess manages the number of empty tables, the order of guests waiting and finding a reasonable seat for guests. At restaurants that require a reservation, the hostess checks the name of the person who made the reservation.

6. Culinary Positions: Food runner

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên chạy món

Role: The food runner is the assistant to the waiter/waitress. Their main task is to deliver the food to the table when it has been prepared by the kitchen.

7. Culinary Positions: Bartender

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên pha chế rượu

Bartenders prepare alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages at the hotel bar. The bartenders also serve fruit as a side dish or accompaniment to wine or cocktails.

8. Culinary Positions: Barista

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên pha chế cà phê

Baristas serve popular coffees like espresso, cappuccino or americano, etc. Each hotel has its own coffee shop, and baristas work mainly in the morning, with breakfast included.

The above is a list of positions in the Culinary department and their respective Vietnamese translations. You can learn more about other positions and Vietnamese names in other articles in our series Vietnamese Names and Roles in Hotels.

Translation: Steps to prepare a project by ISO standards

ISO 17100:2015 is the first official international standard for translation, built on the basis of the British standard EN 15038. ISO 17100:2015 addresses fundamental aspects of translation project management, including standard recommended steps for the project preparation phase. In this article, we will discuss about ISO recommendations and best practices being applied at AM Vietnam.

"Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.""
Abraham Lincoln

Step 1: Collect resources

Like preparing all the ingredients for cooking, this step requires collecting all the resources available which can be helpful in the translation process, including:

Translation Memory (TM)

Use existing translation memory from related previous projects or create a new one for easy reference later. Using TM also helps with cross-referencing among the involved translators.

Glossary of terms

Terminology is the essence of translation. A quality translation cannot be without accurate terminology. Terminology management with a common glossary will help the terms to be translated uniformly, take advantage of collective intelligence, and be easily updated.

Translation guide, style guide

Translation instructions are usually included in the customer’s requests. In addition, the translators can also refer to the guidance of state agencies or international organizations. In the absence of specific guidelines, general standards and conventions in the relevant field will apply.

References

References need to ensure high reliability. The two most reliable types of documents are (i) documents approved and provided by the client and (ii) legal documents issued by the Government.

Step 2: Prepare content

There are two things to do when preparing content:

2.1 Identify all the content to be translated

Determining the full scope of the content to be translated helps you give an accurate quote, and most importantly, avoids missing translation or over-translation, which could be judged negatively by customers.

Depending on the file format, you will need to pay attention to different sections.

For word files:

Content in the picture (which cannot be edited)
Content in the highlighted section
Content in the attachment (files inserted as objects in a Word document)

Đối với file powerpoint:

Content in hidden slides/Notes

2.2 Converting content to an editable format

In case the document is a pdf file or an image, you will need to use conversion tools (with OCR feature) to make the content editable.

This is a prerequisite for you to be able to accurately analyze volumes and use CAT tools like Trados and quality control tools like Xbench.

Find out more: Essential tools for translators

Step 3: Analyze project

Project analysis helps the project manager get a detailed and exact view of the project. It includes two main tasks:

Determine the total volume

Includes total pages, total words, total new words, total repetition words

Analyze the content of the source language, or analyze the technicality of the document

A document that has many technical terms, or uses a lot of acronyms that only professionals understand will place higher requirements on the translator as well as the effort to translate. Technical factors also affect the cost of the project and the selection of translators involved.

In addition to the three factors mentioned above, AM Vietnam also applies the following two indispensable factors in the preparation of the translation project.

Step 4: Selection of human resources

To improve work efficiency, the principle of “right person, right job” needs to be applied. Translation is a broad industry and covers all fields, so not all translators can translate all types of documents well.

You need to prepare the best plan, including translators with experience and expertise related to the type of document to be translated. Of course, it doesn’t have to be so perfect that a legal document will be translated by a lawyer, or a medical document translated by a doctor!

Step 5: Define implementation strategy

Each project involves a different type of document and has different requirements, so a different approach is required. The same job carried out in different ways will bring different results.

There are projects that can be assigned to 10 translators at the same time, but there are also projects that should only involve 2-3 translators to ensure quality. There are projects that need to be translated first and then formatted later, but there are also projects that need to be well formatted before translating. These are strategic problems that a project manager needs to find the most appropriate solution during project preparation.

Having a clear implementation strategy will help you get the most out of your resources and achieve your project goals in the most efficient way.

Bonus: Tips on effective project preparation

#1. Sequential numbering for multiple files

In English, 2 or more means multiple. This can also apply in translation project management. You don’t have to wait for a project with 100 files to be numbered. Sequential numbering is a simple but effective step.

First, the sequence number will facilitate the communication of information. For example, you can simply say File 1 is being translated, File 2 is being edited. Rather than saying file “name-that-is-too-long” is being translated, the file “name-that-is-complicated” is being edited.

Second, the sequence number helps you avoid the risk of getting confused among files. You will see that the sequence number plays a role with files with long, confusing names, or even using foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese…

Tip: Use Bulk Rename Utility to easily number multiple files.

#2. Filter duplicate content

For documents that have a lot of duplicate content, or have many parts that have been translated before, the duplicate filtering step will save a lot of effort and time. Obvious benefits:

Avoid the same content being translated by two or more translators
Take advantage of the accumulated value of TM
Eliminate redundant work
Shorten implementation time

Note: You can apply deep filtering, which also filters out content with less than 100% duplicate content, however, you need to make sure you can complete the sentence and avoid the risk of miss-editing.

#3. Anticipate extra time for finishing multi-page files

Multi-page files here are understood as files of 50 pages or more. Why 50? 50 is the average number to make a file take significantly longer to process than usual.

If you’re a math geek, I can show you a factor that reflects the increase in processing time in terms of pages! However, here I just want you to understand that the time required to complete multi-page files will be much longer than usual.

The reason is very simple, just scrolling up and down to view the contents of a multi-page file takes time. Not to mention, multi-page files can cause lag (slow down) your computer during processing. Imagine, each click takes an extra 10-15 seconds to respond!

Therefore, it is important that you allow extra time for the finalization of such files.

For example, a normal file of ~10 pages after translation + proofreading will only need ~10 minutes to finalize, while a file of ~100 pages will need 4 hours, which is nearly twice as much as usual.

If this extra time is not taken into account, it is easy to be subjective in resource allocation and schedule estimation. The risk of missing the deadline will be very high!

#4 Avoid translating files with bad format

Bad format files are usually those that are converted back from pdf or image to word format. In these files, sentences are often broken into multiple lines and tables often lose its standard structure.

In fact, because of the urgency, translators tend to use these files for translation. Although it saves time at first, you will need to spend more time both during translation and when completing the file.

Therefore, even if you do not have a standard document to translate right away, you need to perform a basic format to ensure that at least the content to be translated is not missed and the sentences are not broken into multiple lines.

So, I just shared about the factors that need to be prepared for a translation project. Hope this article helps you prepare a translation project in the best way.

Find out more:

Translation Corner: 6 Useful Tools for Professional Translators

Scientific and technological advances have made an impact on many aspects of life, including the translation industry. Today, not all translators do their job the conventional way – just looking at the source document and translate into a white paper. Today, they can make use of various applications to improve translation quality and ensure timely delivery. Among those are Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools – first introduced in mid-1980s. The problem now is not the lack of support softwares, but to choose the best tools for your particular tasks. The list below contains six useful tools for translators.

1. Conversion – Abbyy Finereader

What would happen if your customer send you a 100-page document in PDF?

You’ve tried and failed to copy the content?

Should you try to type all the content before starting to translate?

Abbyy Finereader shall help you deal with this problem. This is a product from ABBYY Production LLC (Russia), integrated with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology – which is capable of converting images into text.

You’ll be able to save a huge amount of time for document conversion. All you need is to follow the following steps: add files (images or PDF files), click ‘Read’ button and wait for results. This software shall preserve your basic text formatting, but some finishing touches shall be needed for the recreated file to be as good as the source.

The software does have some disadvantages, just like any other ORC tools. Abbyy Finereader cannot recognize handwriting. It is also difficult for it to ‘read’ text that is not arranged in a horizontal line, or text covered by other items or having colored background.

Download here.

2. Project translation and packaging – Trados

Trados in translation is like Microsoft Office among the office suites.

Trados is a professional offline translation platform, currently equipped with online translation features in the 2021 version and is developed by SDL PLC (UK).

DO YOU KNOW: In 2020, SDL was merged with RWS, another major Language Solutions company in UK.

Some outstanding features of Trados include:

Preserve document formatting
Parallel display of Source – Target in the same translation window
Update bilingual content into Translation Memory (TM) (for searching)
Export Bilingual Reviews (files containing two parallel columns) for ease of editing
Apply translations available in TMs to a new file
Automatic real-time suggestions based on TMs and AutoSuggest dictionaries created by yourself
Generate detailed reports on the total words, repetitions and new words
Create project package (for management of documents to be translated and available resources, and for easy delivery)
Compatible with many types of documents, from basic ones such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint files to design or programming files
Create machine translation easily using Google Translate
Track changes while editing
Update source file
Add detailed comments for each word, not each segment

Being in possession of the licensed version, users also have access to a free repository of related support tools, developed exclusively for Trados. In addition, the SDL Community for Trados users is very large and supportive, always ready to discuss and respond to questions and relevant issues, as well as to share their extensive experience in dealing with documents.

On the downside, Trados is a large software, and a weakly configured computer may experience frequent lag spikes while running Trados, or may not even be able to handle Trados installation. Furthermore, due to its various features, it may take a while for new users to become familiar with it.

Download here.

3. Quality Control – Xbench

Translation requires quite a lot of thinking and is done by humans, therefore mistakes can always happen. That’s why it’s always necessary for a translation to be edited by another person other than the translator.

However, the editing is also handled by a mere human being, and there’s no way we can be sure that an editor won’t be making mistakes. At times like this, a quality control tool such as Xbench will be very useful.

This product of ApSIC, S.L. (Spain) allows you to quickly check your translation by your custom settings. It can point out basic errors such as repetitions, inconsistency, wrong available terms, misspellings, punctuation, wrong numbers, etc. These are all avoidable errors and can take a lot of your time if the translation is edited in the conventional way.

Xbench is designed to work perfectly with CAT tools. Bilingual files like xliff, or even TM, can be read directly. All checking results can be exported into a report which is easy to save and read for corresponding editing in your translation tool.

Download here.

4. TM Editing – Heartsome TMX Editor

TM (Translation Memory) is a concept emerging together with CAT Tools.

TM allows you to save your translations into a database for future reference. TM also helps ensuring consistency for projects involving two or more people. Furthermore, it helps you and your colleagues save time and effort since no one will have to re-translate a segment previously translated.

However, as time goes by, the more projects you work on, the bigger TM size will get, and this may affect your search speed. This is just like when you work with a Word document. At first, when there is only one page, everything goes oh-so-smoothly, but at the 100th page, your computer might start experiencing lag spikes, or even stop working.

HSTMXEditor might be the solution you’re searching for, by:

Removing duplicates
Removing META DATA (including all information related to the translation such as the translators, translation time, etc.)

Last but not least, you can open your TM in HSTMXEditor and edit its content just like how you always do with a Word or Excel document!

Download here.

5. Create bilingual content – LF Aligner

Let’s suppose that a customer sends you a report for translation, and they thoughfully attach some reference files, including the original and the translation of a similar report.

You have two options in how to handle these reference files. First, use Ctr+F to search for the corresponding translation of the content in the original. It’s simple, but it takes time. And second, use a software to quickly create a TM from the original and the translation.

LF Aligner can help you with that. All you need is:

Input: the original and the translation (must be Word files with the same formatting)
Output: an Excel file with bilingual content in two columns

Upon opening in LF Aligner, the content in the original and the translation will be separated into segments (same as in Trados) and matched together. If the formatting of the two files are exactly the same, the results you get will be quite accurate. All that’s left is to remove some empty cells and the Excel file is done. Then, just save it as unicode text (.txt) and open it in Trados to create a TM.

(***For detailed instructions, please see here)

Download here.

6. PDF Editing – Foxit PhantomPDF

It’s not always pleasant working with PDF files.

… but this is the best way to preserve your formatting.

Catalogs, manuals, leaflets, product illustrations, etc. are usually save as PDF to preserve designs. Upon receipt of a PDF file, you can’t just translate its content and return it to your customer, unless that’s what they asked for. At times like this, you will have to work directly on a PDF file.

Foxit PhantomPDF allows you to add text into a PDF file. You can change the color of text or the background of a text box to suit the original. And the inserted content can always be changed whenever you want to.

Another advantage is that Foxit PhantomPDF is a very lightweight software, so there will rarely be lag spikes. In this Foxit version, a PDF file can be converted into a Word file if its content is editable (using ORC). In addition, you can rotate multiple pages at the same time (so you don’t have to move your head while reading!), reduce file size, or split certain pages into a new file.

Download here.

Summary

As you can see, translation as a profession is not simply the act of translating. Professional translation includes many other steps such as preparing documents, setting up projects, managing and looking up terms, editing, quality management, project packaging, improving, etc. By following those steps, a high-quality translation can be produced, satisfying customers’ strict requirements. On the other hand, time pressure will never cease to exist. Only when making use of technology effectively, can we solve the PROGRESS-QUALITY problem. Hopefully this article has helped you find the best translation tools for you.

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What is a Backlink? Important notes when using backlinks to improve your ranking

What is a Backlink?

Backlinks are links that direct users to a website or web page from another website, which may include any link that directs from a specific website, directory, website or directly from top level domains of different web pages.

According to Google PageRank interpretation, a backlink is “A link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B.” So, each backlink is considered a vote to increase the reputation of your website on online search engines.

SEOers often use the term backlink and some similar terms such as incoming link, inbound link, inlink, and inward link.

The same is true when you were referred, if the referral is someone who is held in high regard professionally, or occupies high position then the referral may be very valuable to you.

What is the role of backlink?

Surely there must be something more important about backlinks in a website than a mere linking technique. Here are its role:

It is the main mean of measurement for website navigation.
Making sure all pages in the website will be indexed faster.
Navigating users to visit the website for a certain purpose.
Effectively improving your website position on Google keyword search engine rank.
Increasing the popularity of your website with website traffic from backlinks.
Enhancing the reputation of linked pages, especially backlinks obtained from reputable websites.
In general, the main role of backlinks comes from increasing the opportunities of the website being visited, thus help to achieve the long-term goals of search engine rankings – the goal of any SEOer.

What is the most effective way to use backlinks?

Backlink is a double-edged sword. It would do you good if you use it smart, strategically, and selectively. It also easy goes against your wishes if you abuse it or use it inappropriately.

To create a backlink is quite simple, you just need to link your desired web address on another website through anchor text, image link or raw link. You can do this in several ways: Buy the link at the site you want and exchange links between two sides. Backlink will be really good for your website if the page you chose is a high authority page and has a large amount of traffic (good or current pagerank are websites with high DA, PA and indexing factors), then visits to the page you put the backlink will direct to your website, thus helping to increase your website rankings.

Whether a user clicks on that backlink or not, your website will rank a bit higher.

You should also keep in mind nofollow and dofollow attributes. These two attributes do opposite things: while dofollow links means that my vote for your website is certain and that Google will increase the rank for the destination website, nofollow links will not have any impact on Google rankings and will only provide a link suggesting that users should visit.

Several values that backlink will bring to your website

Backlinks from websites with the same topic – it would help you tremendously if you are linked to by a medical website to your professional medical document translation service.
Backlinks from pages, categories, websites with traffic – getting votes by a website that gets millions of visitors per day is great.
Use natural, free from spam anchor texts
Increase the value of backlinks – a trustworthy vote will be many times more valuable
Backlinks from interactive website – engagement increases the likelihood of a click on the backlink leading to your website
Backlinks from closely related articles – these can be recommendations from colleagues or people who share the same interests as you.

Conclusion – Backlink is extremely important for a website

It is true that backlinks have always been very important. It is quite simple: If you have a website and customers can only know your website when they personally visit that domain name, it means that you have no friends, or even worse, no one wants to play with you. It’s just a funny but also practically true example regarding the matter. And remember, overdoing things is always inappropriate. A referral is more helpful if it comes from helpful sources.

Google currently operates a series of algorithms to remove and penalize websites that intentionally use backlinks as a way to improve keyword rankings. This means you need to be careful, do it right and create just enough backlinks that point to your website.

Translation: Words with special meaning in English

Translators are just like explorers, and the texts they need to translate as new lands waiting to be discovered. Their process of translating the texts from beginning to end is like an explorer’s journey through a strange land which is full of unexpected risks and dangers, as those words with tricky meaning in the text to be translated. In this post, we will explore typical examples of English words with opposite meanings depending on different context or plural form that a translator certainly has to pay attention to in the process of translating.

1. Context-based

Auto-antonyms or contraonyms are words with multiple meanings, in which one meaning opposes the other. Auto-antonyms and contraonyms are relatively new terms, introduced by Joseph Twadell Shipley and Jack Herring a few decades ago (in 1960 and 1962, respectively).

For examples:

Comprise means (1): to have somebody/something as parts or members; (2): to be the parts or members that form something
Example sentence:

1. The house consists of two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. (1)
2. Older people comprise a large proportion of those living in poverty. (2)

Dust means, (1): to remove dirt from; (2): to cover something with fine powder
Example sentence:

1. I was dusting in the bedroom when the phone rang. (1)

2. Dust the cake with sugar.

Oversight means (1): the state of being in charge of somebody/something; (2): an unintentional failure to notice or do something.

1. This committee has oversight of finance and general policy. (1)

2. Employees were paid late due to an oversight in the accounting department.

2. Regional varieties

There are also word with different, even completely opposite meanings in different variants of English, for example:

Table, as in table a debate, means to discuss and debate in British English, but it means to stop discussing and debating in American English. There is an interesting historical anecdote during World War II about a group of British officers who were angry and frustrated because they wanted to table a proposal, but the other group of American officers remained silent, not uttering a word (because the Americans thought “table” was to stop discussing).

Pants, a “classic” example, in American English means a piece of clothing that covers the lower part of the body from the waist to the feet, consisting of two cylinder-shaped parts, one for each leg, that are joined at the top, but in British English means a piece of underwear covering the area between the waist and the tops of the legs.

First, in the first floor, means the first floor in American English but the second floor in British English (so what is the first floor? it’s the ground floor).

3. Singular or Plural

The third case is that English words change completely in meaning when in plural form, for example:

Spectacle, means a sight or view that is very impressive to look at, is an abstract word, but spectacles means a pair of glasses, a word for a concrete object.

Wood, means a type of material hard material that is used to build or make things with, but woods means an area of land covered with a thick growth of trees.

Or force, means strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement, while forces means the army, navy and air force.

Above are some common examples of English words with different or even opposite meanings. Translators should look up carefully for these words to avoid mistranslation, which can cause confusion for readers.

Find out more:

How to have the best-notarized translation?

Notarized translation and finance majors have great responsibility in conveying accurate and concise information, especially numbers.

The characteristic of financial and accounting documents that need notarized translation is the large amount of data, requiring translators and DTP specialists with good word processing skills, reducing error to zero. In accounting and financial records, there are limited terminology, but it require translators to have specialized knowledge and fluent language skills.

Notarized translation in immigration activities

Notarized translation of visa documents

In the past 10 years, thanks to economic development, favorable conditions in transportation and trade activities with international partners, immigration activities have been more dynamic and frequent.

Except for countries offering exemptions from visa and consular legalization, all documents related to immigration activities must be translated and notarized at the request of state agencies, which include: documents for studying abroad, labor export, applying for entry visa, temporary residence card for foreigners, work permit, etc.

The importance of notarized translation in our society

Notarized translation is an important activity in the development and global integration process and one of the major links in removing language barriers of the whole translation industry.

Notarized translation is compulsory for some professions in order to accurately conveying information and verifying the legality of translated documents.

Notarized translation in commercial and economic transactions

Contract notarization

For commercial and economic activities, notarized translation plays a role in conveying the accurate information and increasing the legality of documents in transactions such as contracts, vouchers, invoices, etc.

Not only does it guarantee the accuracy and legality of the translated documents, but it is also an ticket accompanying the trust of your partners, as the last step of a notarized translation is done in the justice division or by a notary public working at notary organizations. Since the notary public will verify the content of the translation before notarizing it, the notarized translation will have the highest legal value.

Notarized translation in bidding activities

Notarized translation of bidding documents

In the context of continuous development leading to great competition among businesses in the country, bidding activities in fields such as garment, construction, and healthcare, take place very often. For large bidding packages involving foreign elements, requirements of bidding documents are stricter and more detailed. Therefore, the role of notarized translation in bidding activities is very important: the translation requires accuracy and brevity, its language in use should be academic and logical, and has strict arguments to persuade customers, thereby increasing the likelihood of success for their bids.

Notarized translation in finance and accounting

Notarized translation for finance and accounting documents

How to get the best notarized translation product?

This is a question that many businesses have asked to find the most reputable supplier. Because for businesses, notarized translation documents are the means to exchange with foreign customers and can affect their reputation.

To have the best notarized translation product, first of all, an enterprise needs to choose a large and reputable translation company. There, translators are trained and work in accordance with ISO standard process, so the quality of products they create will be optimal, minimizing errors such as spelling, formatting, words used in translation.

Now with an accurate and qualified translation, enterprises need to choose an unit that will certify or notarize their translation. AM Vietnam would like to give a table comparing the pros and cons of the three notarized forms of translation as follows:

	Seal of the Judicial Division or People’s Committee	Seal of notary organizations	Translation Company seal
Legality	The judicial division or the People’s Committee, which only certifies the translator’s signature on the translation, is not responsible for the content on the translation	The notary public who notarize the translation will be responsible for the content of the translation.	The translation agency and translator will be responsible for the accuracy of the translation
Legalization	Can be used for consular legalization	Can be used for consular legalization	Cannot be used for consular legalization
Cost	Low	High	Free

Based on the above comparison table we hope that your company has chosen the best option for the purpose of using your documents, so please email us at [email protected] or contact us via hotline 0243.878.9800.

Localization: What you need to know about software localization

Software companies today pay a lot of attention to user experience, besides the amazing features of their products. It means their software must be user-friendly. Most of the time, a software introduced in the original language of English might not be able to capture the attention of Chinese people, since most of them prefer their mother tongue. They’ll seek a software with similar features and is in Chinese.

To put it simply, if you aim for a large number of users, your software must be introduced to many international markets. And you will have to pay attention to the language localization of your software.

What is software localization?

Software localization is the translation of the User Interface (UI)/User Experience (UX/UE) of a software into target languages, taking into account various cultural peculiarities and making necessary technical and legal adjustments to suit the users’ culture.

For instance, you have a software originally in English. You want to distribute it in Vietnamese and Chinese markets. You’ll have to translate its UI/UX into Vietnamese and Chinese for users from these two countries to use. In this case, Vietnamese and Chinese are your target languages.

When it comes to software localization, the focus is on features of a software, including its instructions and tips. There are several factors the people in charge of localization need to take into account, such as:

Maximum length of text, so that no broken or unprofessional (unsightly) interface shall be displayed upon updating new languages.
Operating procedure of software, you should pay attention to the functions of the software and possibly its management process steps.
The specialty of software, since a financial, banking or medical software each has its own choice of words.

As you can see, software localization is a relatively long and complicated process that requires more effort as compared to normal translation.

Business value

You’ve probably heard of Grab – a Singapore-based technology company offering car transportation services in Singapore and other Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Cambodia. Grab has built a strong regional user base with millions of users, and its application supports up to 9 languages. It started out as a small-scale startup company, but has quickly increased its international presence by localizing its products This gives it a competitive advantage, helps it reach more groups of customers and increase its market share.

Challenges of localization for software developers

As a developer involved in software localization, you may have to face a number of different challenges. Some common localization-related issues faced by developers include:

Synchronization between translation management systems and code repositories
Proper download of translatable files (format- and structure-wise) and tracking changes
Detection of duplicate translations
Working efficiently with plural keys and placeholders
Enabling translation teams to work on different tasks at the same time
Provision of context for translators
Previewing translations in the design phase

Fortunately, it’s possible to overcome these challenges using the right tools and processes. Let’s take a quick look at the most common workflows used in software localization.

Software localization strategies

As simple as it may seem, localization can be quite a challenge to solve, requiring the knowledge and experience of a localization expert. It’s best that the developers decide on the internationalization process from the beginning and are ready to improve this process at all times. From waterfall localization to continuous localization, we’ve come a long way in software localization workflows.

#1. Waterfall localization

This is the traditional localization strategy. The stages take place one after another, with each stage or step starting after the previous one has ended.

In this strategy, the localization workflow starts only after the software programming has been completed and the software is ready to be released. The strings translated by translators and localization experts now shall be returned to the developers. Only then do they manually upload the translations and integrate them into the software.

#2. Flexible localization

In flexible localization, the development and localization teams work simultaneously. The localization and translation of strings are implemented sprint to sprint. As things happen in a limited scope one at a time, every little problems arising here and there can be overcome. Let’s see how this model works in reality with help of the right tools:

The developers insert new source code into the project database. A localization software automatically identifies new strings or modified strings, and notifies the translation team. The translators work on the text, the quality control team review and the translations are then sent back to the developers. Everything is synchronized for a release at the time expected. This is called a software development sprint.

#3. Continuous localization

In continuous localization, the development and localization processes take place concurrently. While the task is divided into several sprints in flexible localization, there is only one single continuous sprint in continuous localization. The localization services provider starts working immediately after receiving the content from the development team. Each team is always aware of the work the other team is handling.

There is a subtle difference between flexible localization and continuous localization: for continuous localization, there’s always content available, ready to be released; and for flexible localization, you need to wait until a sprint has completed.

In continuous localization, the translations can be done faster. Localization doesn’t affect the development process. On the contrary, it helps with faster releases, with a frequency of up to several times per day. The products are delivered to end users faster, without any delay.

Because of these benefits, continuous localization is most likely to be applied as a preferred workflow for software localization in the near future.

Integration of the right localization tools into your software development process

Many companies still rely on spreadsheets for the localization of their software despite the fact that switching to a translation management system (TMS) can increase productivity by 75%.

Combining a cross-functional team with the right tools is a great way to optimize software localization. While spreadsheets are a useful tool for data tracking and analysis, they’re not very effective in translation management.

Integration of localization team and development team means you’re on your way to the benefits of continuous localization.

If you are considering different options for your localization software, here are a few tips to help you make a wise decision:

Look for solutions that allow as much automation as possible. Features allowing your workflow to be automated can reduce useless waiting times and shorten time to market.
Think about what your developers need. Look for solutions enabling integration into code repositories, with webhook, API, key referencing, appropriate placeholders and more.
Make sure this solution provides a collaborative environment. Think about the different roles involved in the localization process and how this potential localization software solution meets each person’s needs.
Storage quality inspection. A secure, cloud-based localization software is the preferred choice for software developers.
Ask as many questions as you like. There should be an expert on the product at your potential provider, who is ready to help you with best workflow practices at all times.

Your localization software should be used for translation tasks only, and it should help reduce useless dialogues that decrease productivity. Each stakeholder – user experience designers, software developers, translators, LSPs, and everyone else – needs to be able to work seamlessly. That’s how you’ll prevent unnecessary delays and ensure error-free translations as well as short completion time.

Key tips for software localization

Do you know that good stuff is as good as none if its owner doesn’t how to use it? It’s worth emphasizing that a software localization tool may be your ally, but it’s still you who have to roll up the sleeves and get busy. After developers finish the internationalization process, it’s time to implement the subsequent steps, which is the localization.

Here are some key tips to keep in mind:

Think about tailoring your localization process so that it starts at the design phase. This proactive approach with right integration can dramatically shorten your time to market.
Make sure your images and emojis are adapted to different cultures. The images included must not be culturally objectionable.
Try to be precise. The more you focus on adapting to a particular area, the more relevant your software will be to your target audience.
Use a style guide. Achieving brand consistency across multilingual markets isn’t easy, but it’ll be much easier when you specify in writing your writing style, information on your audience, brand guidelines, etc.

Conclusion – software localization and things to know

It can be challenging to integrate a new localization tool into a well-established software development process. It might take a lot of time and effort to manage changes, depending on how “local” you want your organization to be. It’ll very helpful to have your entire team involved, but for that to happen, you’ll have to explain how these changes are gonna benefit everyone.

Keep in mind that the localization software of your choice must provide assistance to your existing stages, or introduce new stages to your existing workflow. This software should help your developers reduce unnecessary dialogues in particular and reduce their localization-related workload in general, shorten software release and development cycle and translation time. Overall, this is a surefire way for you not to be drown in translation tasks.

Of course, we can’t ignore the fact that software localization comes with its own set of challenges. The good news is that there is a way to design your localization process to shorten marketing time, optimize your costs, and ensure a better environment for cross-team collaboration. And there are tools to help you with that.

Machine translation: A guide to machine translation post-editing

Machine translation engines are gradually taking the place of the translator. Their translation output is raw translations, so in some cases, to get a perfect translation, editing will be required. That is the job of humans.

In this article, I will briefly introduce the method of machine translation post-editing being used at AM Vietnam. You can also find out more about machine translation in the following articles:

Guide to professional machine translation post-editing

A few points to keep in mind when approaching a machine-created translation

When you are first asked to do post-editing work, you will probably have many questions about it. There are seemingly simple problems, but will become difficult once you have to get to grips with the job. And what you need is to prepare post-editing insights right now.

The output of machine translation is equivalent to the TR version in the TEP translation process.
Like translators, each machine translation engine will have its own method and level of translation quality. Try it for free with Bing Translator and Google Translate see for yourself.
To estimate the cost and the amount of time needed: You need to:
- Have a brief assessment of the quality of the raw translation produced by a machine translation engine. Chances are you are only provided with this raw translation for your job.
- Discuss your client’s quality expectations with him or her as well as what he or she expects to receive
- Determine the necessary resources to meet the client’s expectations.
If possible, make appropriate system adjustments, provide terms, and load in some custom translation instructions of your choice. This is also a way you can train your machine translation engine.
Make sure that the source text is of good quality, and its language is easy to read, with correct grammar and spelling.
You need to manage terms both on Machine Translation (MT) and Translation Memory (TM) systems.
You have experience to detect common mistakes to reduce risks in the post-editing process.

How to carry out a machine translation editing project?

Just like editing in the traditional translation process, your job is to ensure that the edited translations are of sufficient quality. Edited versions must have the same quality as if done by humans to be ready for use or publication. To complete a machine translation editing project, you need to focus on four questions:

What is the level of quality of the machine-generated translation?
What is the client’s ultimate desired quality for the translation?
What is the maximum amount of time you have to complete the job?
What are the resources at hand and your available team members?

Many clients may only require “light” editing, that is, slight changes to a machine-generated translation. Simply because speed and cost efficiency are their priority.

How to have a machine-generated translation of “sufficient” quality

“Sufficient” quality means the translation is reasonably accurate and sufficient in details. The style may not be perfect, but editing should help the reader get the right message.

So, to have a machine-generated translation of sufficient quality, the guidelines for a machine translation editor are:

The edited version must be semantically correct, with no omissions or redundant words and phrases.
No offensive or culturally misleading language.
Machine translations are preferred if they are of sufficient quality
Don’t correct sentences just for the sake of style.
Ensure grammatical and spelling accuracy.
Structure of sentences should not be changed just to improve readability.

How to get the quality of a machine-generated translation closer to that of a human-generated translation?

The necessary and sufficient condition for a translation to have a perfect level of quality is being done by humans. Some translators are able to produce translations of even better quality than that of source texts. That is, they not merely translate, but also edit the translations to suit the target cultures and solve all the linguistic issues of source texts.

We also need to understand the following quality criteria for a translation:

Readers can properly and completely understand the message
Accuracy (the translation conveys the same meaning and message as the source text)
The style is coherent, appropriate for the type of the document and the local culture
The translation is easy to read, uses natural, clear and easy to understand language with correct use of terms.
Grammatically accurate, correct use of punctuation marks and appropriate structure.

What are the priorities for a machine-generated translation?

Translation of a text is the objective of both machine translation and human translation. And the general expectation is that the translation will reach the level of “perfection”. Nonetheless, the criteria for a machine-generated translation are different from that for a human-generated translation.

Speed and cost efficiency
The ability to process large workloads reliably
Compliance with the client’s instructions on translation of terms.
Correct translation of terms
No omissions or redundant words or phrases
No offensive or culturally misleading language
Ensure grammatical and spelling accuracy.
Structure of sentences should not be changed just to improve readability.

Translation Corner: 7 tips for effective self-review

A first-draft translation cannot make a perfect translation. There certainly will have a number of errors, which can be typos, mistranslation, over-translation, etc. Finding errors in other translator’s work is easy, but finding errors in your own translation is a different matter. As you translate the text yourself, you are likely to miss an error by oversight. Thus, peer-review is also a required step in ISO 17100. However, your peers may not always available to help you perform peer-review. Here are some practical tips that help you conduct self-review more effectively.

24-hour rule

As a natural mechanism, the details about the translation you just finished are remained in your brain for a while. This blocks you from closely review what you have translated, even when you really want to do so. Waiting for exactly 24 hours isn’t always feasible, but if time allows it’s a good idea to take a nap and start proofreading then.

Print it out

This is a technique preferred by many translators, as printed texts are more friendly to your eyes. A print will help you easily detect errors such as typos and numbering. Your eyes are much more relaxed when looking at a paper than at a computer screen. And your view is also not affected by mouse scrolling. The only problem of this tip is that printing may be expensive if you do not have your own printer (at office or at home). Not to mention that the use of papers may be not environmentally friendly. For such reasons, you should only consider printing for quality-critical projects, e.g. medical research papers where 1 number error can cause one’s death, or when you are specifically requested to do so by your Clients.

Text-to-speech

This tip can help when you do not have a printer but still having to conduct a extensive self-review. By using a text-to-speech tool, you can greatly focus on the translation while leaving the source for the speech engine. Effectiveness is much increased as you do not have to look both at the source and then the translation. A lot of text-to-speech tools are available today. You can try Google Docs, which supports multiple languages and multipage documents.

Try different font types

This can hardly a tip, you can think so. But believe me, it is just simple but effective. You may probably be familiar with typical fonts such as Times New Roman or Arial. As mentioned in Tip No. 1, the main goal of an effective technique for self-review is to remove your brain’s impression for your own translation. A font change can also help bringing this effect. Furthermore, a proper font may help you distinguish between similar characters, such as I (capitalized “i”) and l (normal “L”), which may cause confusing in certain cases.

Conclusion

The ultimate goal of self-review is to identify hidden errors in your translation and correct them all (if possible). You may choose to apply one of the above techniques depending on your need or combine 2 or more. Reading and reading again without looking at the source text also can help, not only to find the errors, but also your use of language and style. It is still the result that matters.

Hospitality: Defining Sales – Marketing and Accounting – Finance Departments in a hotel

Sales and Marketing Department

1. Marketer

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên Marketing

Role: Marketers are responsible for developing advertising and promotion programs for the hotel. Their goal is to attract potential customers for the hotel.

2. Sales Executive

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên kinh doanh

Role: Sales Executives are responsible for finding customers to sell hotel products and services. In the hospitality industry, Sales Executives are divided into several categories depending on the customers they deal with or the products they sell:

Corporate Sales Executive: Sales Executives whose target customers are businesses and companies.
Travel agent (TA) Sales Executive: Sales Executives working mainly for customers who are travel companies and travel agencies.
Online Sales Executive: Sales Executives specialized in approaching customers and providing hotel products and services online, through social networks and hotel websites.
Banquet Sales Executive: Sales Executives specialized in activities such as seminars, conferences, events, etc.
Membership Sales Executive: Sales Executives specialized in provision of services and facilities such as: spa, gym, casino, restaurant, etc.

Finance and accounting department

3. General Accountant

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên kế toán tổng hợp

Role: The general accountant is responsible for assisting the chief accountant in overseeing accounting and financial matters in the hotel.

4. Debt Accountant

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên kế toán công nợ

Role: Debt accountants are responsible for monitoring and managing the hotel’s debts and directly participating in the collection of due, overdue and old debts.

5. Night Auditor

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên kiểm toán đêm

Role: Night Auditors are responsible for checking all day transactions, room revenue, booking rate and other statistical reports of the hotel.

6. Cashkeeper

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên thủ quỹ

Role: Cashkeeper is responsible for assisting the chief accountant in managing issues related to cash receipts and payments in the hotel.

7. Purchaser

Vietnamese name: Nhân viên mua sắm

Role: Purchasers are responsible for evaluating suppliers, negotiating contracts, preparing reports and procurement documents necessary for the normal business operations of the hotel.

Above is a list of Sales and Marketing positions and their respective Vietnamese translations. You can learn more about other positions and Vietnamese names in other articles in our series Vietnamese Names and Roles in Hotels.

What types of interpreting are there?

Interpreting is a special type of translation that requires the language to be translated directly (live translation) instead of having time to search, look up and select words. Those who perform the task of interpreting are called Interpreters. The word interpreting is also understood as session-based translation, which means that when a person has just finished speaking, the interpreter will conduct a verbal translation into the target language.

What types of interpreting are there?

#1. Consecutive interpreting (Vietnamese: dịch đuổi, dich tuần tự)

Consecutive interpreting (CI) is the most popular type of interpreting today. In this form, interpreters will start interpreting when the speaker pauses.

The interpreting process can be segmented into short or long period depending on the interpreters’ skills and/or the nature of the session. For short segment interpretation, interpreters often rely on memory to do their job. As such, the interpreting process is performed sequentially and seamlessly, which is suitable for conversations or interactions. In long segment interpretation, interpreters have to take notes (notes, shorthand). The notes basically have their own standards, but in general, they still have a specific and familiar character for each interpreter. They will need to take notes clearly in their own words so that when they read back it will be fluent and accurate.

Notes for consecutive interpreting:

Long segment interpretation will often be more accurate than short ones because interpreters have more extensive information.
Segmentation and speed can be agreed in advance between the speaker and the interpreter.
There are gestures and body signs to help the speaker and the interpreter understand each other better, helping the interpreting to go well.
Interpreters may also consider having visual translations (documents, slides, etc.)
Traditionally, the interpreter will sit or stand next to the speaker.
Consecutive interpreting can be done face-to-face, over the phone or online.
Time may be extended up to 2 times normal.

Practical application of consecutive interpreting

Interpreting for trainers in training courses
Interviewing candidates and patients by phone or in person
Adjudication activities in arbitration or judicial courts
Contract negotiations or regular meetings

#2. Simultaneous interpretation (Vietnamese: dịch song song/dịch cabin)

Simultaneous interpretation (SI) is where the speaker speaks and then the interpreter interprets almost simultaneously. The speaker will not be interrupted and can deliver his or her talk seamlessly.

In practice, simultaneous interpretations require at least two interpreters to work together. They will perform their work in professional cabins so this type is also known as cabin interpreting. The interpreters will use a headset and focus on listening and interpreting immediately through a microphone to transmit to speakers or headphones for each audience. The interpreters will change alternately and work together until the end.

Cabin interpreting is a stressful job, requiring the interpreters to have proficient skills and excellent language and understanding. They may also need to access and study the materials before proceeding with their work many days in advance to explore and learn the knowledge and new words and terms contained therein.

Notes for simultaneous interpreting

Interpreters need to work well together to make the interpreting session run continuously with the highest quality
It is possible to use tools to assist in the interpreting process such as interpreting device.
Interpreters will sit in closed technical cabins, listen with headphones and communicate through microphones.
Listeners will normally use headphones or listen from the center speaker.
The interpreting process can be performed at the same time in multiple languages with different teams of interpreters.

Practical application of simultaneous interpreting

Interpreting in large meetings and seminars in meeting rooms (for example, United Nations council meetings).
Interpreting in talks with a large audience
Interpreting in large conferences of businesses
Seminars, specialized meetings in multiple languages.
In the great courts.
Online meeting using remote simultaneous interpretation technology

#3. Whispered interpreting (Vietnamese: Phiên dịch thầm)

Whispered interpreting is a form of simultaneous interpreting, where the only difference is that the interpreter will interpret by whispering into the listener’s ear without the support of technological devices such as microphones or headphones. This type is applied at large meetings, in courts or when only a few people need to know the content to follow the proceedings.

Choose the right type of interpreting

Customers seek interpreting services for many reasons: meetings, seminars, training programs, proceedings, etc. In an event, as long as the participants do not speak the same language, the presence of an interpreter will be essential.

Interpreters may not be able to fully interpret word for word from the original content, but there is one element they must ensure in all cases: it is accuracy. Each language has its own way of expressing the same message. An excellent interpreter needs to be able to understand the context of the event he/she is working in, analyze the level of formality and personality expressed in the speaker’s words, so as to adjust the language and grammar for correctness.

Although they share some characteristics, in fact, there are many different types of interpreting, suitable for each specific situation and purpose.

Understanding what situations you need an interpreter for, for what purpose, and understanding the basics of different types of interpretation will help you find the “right person” for the “right job.”

Translation: 4 standards for styles of Gazette’s English translation

In addition to accuracy and grammar, style is one of the most important factors in the benchmark applicable for professional translation. Translation of news and communications is normally style-centric, especially in transcreation. Style is variable by document types, application and expertise.

What is a gazette?

Gazette is an official legal publication of the State, governed by the Government, annoucing legal documents promulgated or jointly promulgated by competent state authorities, international treaties that have taken effect for the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and other legal documents as prescribed.

In Vietnam, there are two types of officially accepted Gazette: The Gazette of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam issued by the Government Office and the Provincial Gazette issued by the Office of the People’s Committees of the provinces and municipalities. Therefore, such gazette must be pefectly translated for the avoidance of legal errors affecting national reputation.

4 standards for styles of Gazette’s English translation

#1. Accuracy

When it comes to translation there is nothing more important than accuracy which is the prerequisite to be achieved. Accuracy in translation means translation’s work to be performed sequentially by competent linguists. The compliance with translation quality management must also be applied so as to obtain long-lasting and reliable quality.

#2. Clarity for foreign audience

Clarity is perceived as the transparency of language used in the documents. It means giving a considerable attention to writing style or presentation when composing documents. Content quality does not only lie in the information conveyed but also in the presentation of the same.

Clear and coherent translation should avoid ambiguity and confusing lengthy expression. This is also a top criterion in translation and is subject to the following factors:

Source text language, which means the text should also adhere to the clarity and coherence criteria above.
Experienced linguist with lingual skills and deep knowledge of the given content

The translation of Gazette is considered as an official document and must also meet the requirements for an offical document.

#3. Legal terminology

For legal translation, its terminology is not something that can easily achieved and may pose as a challenge for translators to make the most out of it. To be capable of using legal terminology, one must obtain certain professional skills and knowlege. To that end, even an experienced lawyer with outstanding English skills is unlikely to make good use of terminology in legal translation’s work.

However, in the event of gazette, it is required to reach such level in skills and knowlege in terms of terminology. It may not as simple as it seems.

#4. Sematic consistency

Sematic consistency means (1) identical texts to have identical translations and (2) each sentence must be consistently defined by only one meaning.

As in paragraph 1 (Accuracy), consistency adds up to a more professional aspect of a translation’s work. In reality, one object can have multiple expressions but in the specific context, those expressions may present different meanings. This is the question asked and for the avoidance of risk in translation’s work, consistency is emphasized.

Conclusion

In Vietnam, style decides the success of a translation’s work as in a Vietnamese saying “a person with pretty handwriting shall have a good sense of art and literature”. Each field requires specific styles such as legal style, writing style or communication style. Yet, the core to this lays in the “correct message” which means you have to demonstrate your content in the way you want the audience to understand it.