About Advocating Global
A blog designed to support globally minded communication professionals with insight into the global communication strategies that lead to desired behavior and positive end-user outcomes. We write and invite experts to write in about global communication topics in healthcare, corporate communications and marketing, as well as best practices in localization and process management.
Our topics may vary, but our focus is always on the advocacy for the communications professional; to empower them with the tools and best practices to be a global leader and make a difference in the outcomes of the end-user.
Understanding Localization Maturity
Localization Maturity is about matching your organization’s expectations on global communication outcomes with the right people, processes and technologies. As organizations grow and their localization (translation) needs grow, that organization will have to move through stages of maturity. Our Global Communication Maturity Model™ 2.0 shows an enhanced view of the stages through which organizations will progress when implementing a global communications strategy. Each stage represents a point in time when an organization faces unique challenges that must be met and built upon in order to move forward on their global business path.
Five Thoughts on Agile Translation
Agile is becoming an ubiquitous term in business. Here are a few thoughs around the Agile mindset as it relates to the Translation or Localization industry.
Questioning the Role of Translation
This blog is a first attempt to dig into the greater question: what’s the Role of Translation? The Translation Industry is a service industry that has gained a lot of attention in the media due to technological innovation and sometimes also through humorous examples...
Added Value with the Translation Preparation Process
The translation process can be negatively affected by a poorly formatted document. The translation workflow is often oversimplified by our own industry through the expectation that translation is a simple “word” business. However, when you look at the details of the translation workflow from start to end, there are a lot of process principles that are relevant to translation quality.
When does Global Competence Stick?
We talk a lot about building up Global Competence in the organization, but what does it mean? Does it mean that everyone in the organization needs to know the ins and outs of Global Commerce? Does it mean that everyone is Culturally Sensitive? When does Global...
How John Deere got me thinking about Translation Productivity
In a John Deere commercial we see how a customer receives an eye opening statement from the salesman: “It’s not how fast you mow, it’s how well you mow fast”. It got me thinking how this slogan could relate to translation productivity (why not?).
Translation Software Compatibility
Discussion about translation software compatibility which is useful for translators and other LSPs.
Translation Software: Work Smarter, Not Harder
If technology doesn’t help you to do your job better, why use it? The same question can be said when using translation software. We know translation technology helps us do our job better. However, it can also be a hindrance when translators or project managers are not proficient in the tools they work in.
Translating PDFs? Remember, a PDF is not a Source Document
Translating PDFs is not a one-step process because PDF Documents are not source documents. The first thing we typically ask when we get a request to translate a PDF is: do you have the source file?
Word Formatting Best Practices for Translation
Many Microsoft Word documents are not made ready for translations. In this post we look at Word Formatting best practices and close out with our typical philosophy towards formatting for translation.
Managing Back Translation
Back-translation is the process of translating a translated document back into the original language. The goal of this process is to ensure that the target and source language accurately match.