Communication and culture
Multilingual workflow
Enable students to manage cooperation with localisers and translators in multilingual settings in an increasingly globalised and digitalised world.
The content of the discipline is relevant for all tasks where communication across languages and cultures is involved, especially in the context of localisation and translation.
The focus is on localisation processes in a wide sense including prototypical translation tasks. Students should understand the basic aspects of translation and localisation processes, also including the use of language engineering tools, and gain project management competences.
Globalisation
- Be aware of the expanding number of languages
- Be aware of the corresponding variety of cultures
- Be aware of the increased translation volumes
- Be aware of faster delivery times
- Be aware of stricter customisation demands
- Understand the practices of the global (multi-)language business community
- Understand the process of global information development
- Understand the global information product life cycle
Internationalisation
- Understand the importance of internationalisation
- Understand the principles of multilingual document design
- Prepare a(n information) product for localisation
Localisation
- Understand the importance of localisation (e.g., distinctive cultural features, local standards and norms)
- Understand the concept of target locale
- Know the localisation phases and workflow from source to target
- Know about the tasks and people involved in localisation projects
- Understand the interfaces between search engine optimisation (SEO) and localisation
- Know about localising for different media and markets (e.g. websites, apps, video games, elearning, software, documentation, online help, marketing and sales contents)
- Know the special features of software localisation
Translation
- Know about different translation processes (e.g., functional translation, human translation, machine translation, review process)
- Know the translation process phases and workflow from source to target
- Understand the interfaces between content creation in a source language and its translation into a target language
- Encourage and use translator feedback on problems with translation that may point to defects (ambiguities, inconsistencies etc.) in the source text
Standards for translation and localisation
- Know about ISO standards
- Know about translation standards
- Know about terminology standards
Language engineering
- Know about the use of localisation and translation tools (e.g., glossaries, terminology databases, CAT tools, software localisation tools, translation memories, translation management systems (TMS), machine translation (MT))
- Know about machine translation, pretranslation, and post-editing
- Know about the importance of cleaning and updating the terminology database and the translation memory
Information product development for international audiences
- Adopt the criteria for assessing the cultural neutrality of an information product and for assessing the need for culture- and/or country-specific versions (e.g. with respect to text and visual design)
- Develop information products for international audiences according to the concepts outlined in localisation theory
Project management
- Know how to manage multilingual localisation projects and workflows
- Know how to define, organise and initiate the localisation process (e.g., as a parallel process)
- Know how to define, organise and initiate the translation process (e.g., as a parallel process)
- Have the proper management skills for scheduling and budgeting