SimulTrans translates firmware and documentation for many hardware components, including computers and peripherals.
Though a long history of working with these products, SimulTrans is expertly skilled in overcoming the localization challenges inherent in these types of projects.
Abbreviated Text
One of the greatest challenges of working with the localized elements of firmware is the need to fit a great amount of text on a small screen with a fixed number of pixels. While we often hear the metric of 10-30% text expansion in European languages, this only holds true when measuring the growth of text throughout an entire publication. If examining single strings or words, text can expand even 200-300% from English when translated into European languages.
To fit the translated text onto the screen, it is often necessary for SimulTrans to abbreviate some of the terms. In doing this, we must be conscientious about the need for choosing words that users understand. We maintain extensive glossaries of common abbreviations for user interface terminology. For example, in English, it is more appropriate to abbreviate international as int’l. than inter. Similarly, in all languages, it is important to understand what abbreviations are accepted, rather than to merely truncate strings.
Interactive sizing
SimulTrans has created an application used internally by our linguists to allow them to easily measure their translations and view the emulation of the appearance on an LCD display. By allowing emulation and measurement of both fixed-width and proportional characters (depending on the structure of the product screen and fonts used), the display mechanism allows translators to maximize the space and determine the extent of the abbreviation necessary. By giving the translators a tool to appropriately size their translations, SimulTrans saves a good deal of time and the need for many back-and-forth rounds of firmware builds and review.
Consistency
Since the firmware represents the basis of the terminology, to which the software, documentation, and help refers, it is necessary to track and maintain consistency of these translations. SimulTrans builds a terminology database of the firmware UI so that translators are prompted with the appropriate terms interactively during the translation process.
Build Process
SimulTrans can provide assistance with the firmware build process, as we are experienced with a number of compilers used for this purpose, as well as with programmable ICs and EPROM systems. SimulTrans will work interactively with clients as necessary to create the final firmware in each target language.
Emulation Testing
If a client has an emulator for the camera firmware and display, we can use this system to test the display in each target language. An emulator can allow target-language engineers to quickly and easily view the translations for each locale, examining string length, context sensitivities, and other linguistic and engineering issues.
|
