... h3. About
The linguistic consultation is to be understood as a communication phase during the translation or linguistic review cycle that helps to keep all involved parties (translators, reviewers, linguists) informed and aligned regarding the decisions made.
This communication involves Sun Globalization and an external partner. This may be the Sun linguist and the leader of the open source translator group for the language concerned, the Sun linguist and the lead translator of a translation vendor, or the leader of an open source translator group and the lead translator of a translation vendor.
For this purpose, it may be more convenient to work with a single document that can be shared between the partners: Using a template for the linguistic consultation is recommended. The following template was developed during the collaboration between the French linguist at Sun, translation vendors and translation communities. You can download the template here.
Open Source translators may also use this method for their internal communications when making decisions that must be validated by their respective group leader.
h3. Linguistic Consultation Template
This method uses a linguistic consultation template that documents the discussions between the partners involved during the translation cycle:
* Queries/discussions relating to new translations
* Queries/discussions relating to existing translations
* Queries/discussions relating to general language issues
h3. Audience/Users
The audience/users of the linguistic consultation template are:
* Translation vendors
* Open source native language communities (translator groups)
* Sun Globalization linguists
h3. Benefits
The benefits of using the linguistic consultation template are:
* Transparent communication
* Tracking of errors/inconsistencies
* Tracking of new translation terminology
* Improved terminology and translation quality
* Expansion of SunGloss content
* Building of strong relationships between Sun Globalization and translation partners
* Involvement of partners in decisionmaking on terminology and translation, building of responsibility and proactive spirit on the part of the translation actors
h3. About the structure of the Linguistic Consultation Template
The proposal is to work with 4 sheets designed for the terminology and translation discussion and for tracking the decisions made:
* 2 sheets to categorize the terminology discussion points
** Termino_Discuss
** Updated_SunGloss
* 2 sheets to list style and terminology changes that cannot be taken into account in the current release (for schedule and/or priority/severity level reasons) but that should be implemented in a later release:
** Termino_Changes_Product_LATER
** Style_Lang_Product_LATER
NOTE: This template is not fixed and may be modified as necessary. Of course, it's also possible to design additional sheets as necessary.
There are various reasons for terminology queries/discussions; the following explanations are based on the most common reasons.
In any case, the main worksheet to be used by the translators (requesters) is the sheet Termino_Discuss.
The other sheets should be used for tracking the decisions made, in addition to consulting the status of these decisions:
Updated_SunGloss lists all terms/expressions that have been identified as terminology and added to the SunGloss content.
Termino_Changes_Product_LATER lists all terms/expressions (translations) that cannot be changed for the current release (for example, because of a low severity level or tight schedule) but need to be taken into account in the next product release.
Style_Lang_Product_LATER lists general style-related language changes (formulation, wording, grammar, typos, etc.) that cannot be changed in the current release (for example, because of a low severity level or tight schedule) but need to be taken into account in the next product release.
For more details on how to work with the linguistic consultation template, refer to the HowTo sheet of the Linguistic Consultation Template.
h3. Feedback
If you would like to share your opinion regarding the content
of this page, please contact the [Open Translation team|http://developers.sun.com/contact/feedback.jsp?&category=sdn&mailsubject=Open%20Translation%20feedback]. |