Translation and localization

Translation is about the words; localization includes translation and is the process of making your complex content suitable for another market, as efficiently as possible.

We have specialist expertise in creating multi-lingual versions of all these types of complex content:

Software

Online help

Technical documentation

Knowledge bases and self-service content

E-learning

Websites and Marketing

Compliance information

Training

3di offers a unique combination of expertise:

We will help you communicate clearly in multiple languages.
We will help you optimise your English to make translation easier.
We will use our flexible global resources and specialist tools to ensure each element of the work is delivered accurately and efficiently.

3di follows these principles to help you achieve successful localization:

Fewer words

Every word counts when you have to translate it. We help you work out what is worth translating. We also know how to write, and how to coach you how to write, so that you get the message across with fewer words.

Better words

Be clear, be consistent. Translating will be much cheaper and quicker. We can set up and manage terminology lists specific to your product. We also know how to apply the same principles to graphics, illustrations, apps, video, audio, and navigation elements of e-learning and web content.

Good tools

Apply the best, to get the most from smart people. We can use computer assisted translation (CAT) and machine translation (MT) tools. We know and use the tools and technologies you might use to create and build documents, software, e-learning and websites. We can apply specific combinations of tools, processes, scripts, and workarounds, to ensure the best available tools are supporting your people and our people effectively.

Smart people

Everyone should play to their strengths. They perform better and it’s more fun. We work with talented translators, engineers, testers and DTP specialists all over the world. We define and manage clear responsibilities so that projects are delivered efficiently. Our smart people get on with the complex translation and product localization, so that your smart people don’t have to.

Translation quality really matters

How do you react when you are using a product or reading a document that has been poorly translated? It fundamentally affects your experience, doesn’t it? It actually costs you more to translate poorly, than it does to translate well. It is the 3di localization process, with high quality translation at its heart, that delivers the savings.

We don’t pretend to save you money by using cheap translators. 3di translators are the very best available in the industry. They only translate into their native language, and only about subjects they understand. All 3di translators have been tested comprehensively by respected professional institutions, and by 3di project managers. We translate into virtually any language. Some customer projects involve more than 30. Applying our ISO9001:2015 registered quality management system ensures a quality result, no matter what the language or the subject is.

We understand your complex content, and how best to create multi-lingual versions.

Technical manuals

You’ve invested in creating a complex and valuable product, and your customers expect and need clear, accurate technical documentation. Achieving that in multiple languages can become a significant barrier to export growth, and can increase your support costs and liabilities. You may have had problems with translators not understanding your technology, or believe there must be a more efficient way of achieving what you need.

3di knows how to achieve accurate and efficient technical translations:

We are technical authors too, so we understand how your manuals work, and can identify how to make them easier to translate.
The 3di translators for your project will understand your technology, and we use sample translations and terminology review with you to ensure you are happy with their approach.
Our in-house team are expert with the tools you have used to create your English manuals, and we know how to efficiently deliver ready-to-publish multi-lingual files back to you.

Software UI and help

The way you have built your software and web applications will determine how easy it is to localize. Many development tools and platforms support efficient localization but some don’t. You may be dealing with legacy systems or development approaches that restrict your ability to localize efficiently. Whatever your situation, you need to test early, and keep an open mind about what the best localization process might be.

Over the last 15 years, the 3di in-house localization engineering team has worked with just about every software development and help tool. We will be able to quickly advise you on how to supply packages of source files for language and character-sets testing. Together, we will agree a process to minimise any manual extracting/importing, building, testing and publishing.

The market-specific quality assurance process we carry out ensures that all naming, linguistic and formatting conventions are maintained throughout. We’ll test your localized product using the latest tools to make sure everything is in order before returning the product to you. What you get is a product that is ready to roll out to each market.

Our individual translators will understand your domain, and know how to achieve clarity and consistency across your UI and help system.

E-learning and training

One of the benefits of using e-learning to communicate with learners is that you can combine a whole range of media types in one package: videos, animations, audio, interactions, quizzes and images, as well as simple text.

Let’s assume you’ve done a great job to make sure these will all combine elegantly and effectively to achieve the learning objectives in your original language; what can you do to make sure they will all work just as well when they are used in other countries or translated in other languages?

3di can help you achieve the following specific strategies to make e-learning and training localization easier: