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Software developers and translation services
Thread poster: ull (X)
ull (X)
ull (X)
United States
Local time: 11:40
Jul 25, 2011

I had the chance to interview two developers (Sean from Clicky Analytics and Mark from PulseCMS) and their take on professional translation services. I love working in this field, but I think it is going to be very difficult as a translator to compete with crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing is becoming better and better. Like it or not, it is there. I don't mind it, but the part I mind is there is no place for me as paid freelance translator. The way those two developers used it on their... See more
I had the chance to interview two developers (Sean from Clicky Analytics and Mark from PulseCMS) and their take on professional translation services. I love working in this field, but I think it is going to be very difficult as a translator to compete with crowdsourcing.

Crowdsourcing is becoming better and better. Like it or not, it is there. I don't mind it, but the part I mind is there is no place for me as paid freelance translator. The way those two developers used it on their sites is amazing. Have a look for yourself at how they did it and what they had to say about professional translation and why they would never use a professional translator or an agency.

http://termhaus.com/blog/5/crowdsourcing-for-software-translation

I am not saying crowdsouring is a danger to all of the translation industry, but it definitely has an impact on the localization and translation of software and website industry. And I just don't understand why it is always talked down, as if it doesn't exist.

As a freelance translator I am worried. I love translating especially in this area and I am just wondering if there is a future.

Regards, Ulli

[Edited at 2011-07-26 00:32 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Niraja Nanjundan (X)
Niraja Nanjundan (X)  Identity Verified
Local time: 21:10
German to English
The Great Translation Debate Jul 26, 2011

Hi,

Will you be attending the virtual event "The Great Translation Debate," organised jointly by ProZ.com and TAUS on Sept. 29? I think they'll be discussing issues like crowdsourcing, machine translation and collaborative translation there. I'm afraid I don't know enough about developments in that area to comment any further on it.

By the way, I like your website It's simple, but provides all the necess... See more
Hi,

Will you be attending the virtual event "The Great Translation Debate," organised jointly by ProZ.com and TAUS on Sept. 29? I think they'll be discussing issues like crowdsourcing, machine translation and collaborative translation there. I'm afraid I don't know enough about developments in that area to comment any further on it.

By the way, I like your website It's simple, but provides all the necessary information.

All the best,
Niraja ▲ Collapse
 
Neil Coffey
Neil Coffey  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:40
French to English
+ ...
Issues at stake not necessarily to do with quality Jul 26, 2011

Ulli Wendt wrote:
I had the chance to interview two developers (Sean from Clicky Analytics and Mark from PulseCMS) and their take on professional translation services. I love working in this field, but I think it is going to be very difficult as a translator to compete with crowdsourcing.


I think it's important to bear in mind the kind of opinion expressed by the interviewee, because much of the bleeting from translators about crowdsourcing has focussed on the issue of quality, whereas this "client" freely admits that crowdsourced translations may be of poor quality, but that other benefits, including responsiveness and user involvement, outweigh the quality issue.

So perhaps we need to think about these factors if we really want to compete with the crowdsourced market (if we truly do).

I suspect it's only a certain subset of web sites that are suited to crowdsourced translations, though: essentially ones representing communities. I'm not sure that many web sites for "bog standard bricks and mortar" businesses are suddenly going to start crowdsourcing their translations.
 
ull (X)
ull (X)
United States
Local time: 11:40
TOPIC STARTER
It is market research Jul 26, 2011

Neil Coffey wrote:

Ulli Wendt wrote:
I had the chance to interview two developers (Sean from Clicky Analytics and Mark from PulseCMS) and their take on professional translation services. I love working in this field, but I think it is going to be very difficult as a translator to compete with crowdsourcing.


I think it's important to bear in mind the kind of opinion expressed by the interviewee, because much of the bleeting from translators about crowdsourcing has focussed on the issue of quality, whereas this "client" freely admits that crowdsourced translations may be of poor quality, but that other benefits, including responsiveness and user involvement, outweigh the quality issue.

So perhaps we need to think about these factors if we really want to compete with the crowdsourced market (if we truly do).

I suspect it's only a certain subset of web sites that are suited to crowdsourced translations, though: essentially ones representing communities. I'm not sure that many web sites for "bog standard bricks and mortar" businesses are suddenly going to start crowdsourcing their translations.




Hi Neil, I agree with you. I think it is very important to know what our clients are actually looking for. Those two companies would be my dream clients, therfore I wasn't happy about the interview outcomes.

I hope you are right on the second part. But neither Clicky Analytics nor PulseCMS are representing communities (like Facebook, Twitter..). They use their paying customers of their products to translate.

[Edited at 2011-07-26 21:10 GMT]
 
ull (X)
ull (X)
United States
Local time: 11:40
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks for mentioning the event Jul 26, 2011

Niraja wrote:

Hi,

Will you be attending the virtual event "The Great Translation Debate," organised jointly by ProZ.com and TAUS on Sept. 29? I think they'll be discussing issues like crowdsourcing, machine translation and collaborative translation there. I'm afraid I don't know enough about developments in that area to comment any further on it.

By the way, I like your website It's simple, but provides all the necessary information.

All the best,
Niraja



I didn't even know about the event. Thanks for mentioning it. I like that it is a virtual event. I might attend

Thanks again
 
Michael Grant
Michael Grant
Japan
Local time: 00:40
Japanese to English
Very timely article! Jul 27, 2011

Hi Ulli,

First, thank you for a very timely article! I gained a lot of insight from your interviews!
However, I see that PulseCMS is only officially supporting two languages (English and German), so I wonder how relatively efficient crowdsourcing is in this case! It sounds like it may take a while before they support any other languages...In reply to a user's offer to translate into French, Mark replies:

Thanks very much for the offer! But for now, I will only be offering English and German. It would be great, however, if you could upload your translation to the forum so others can use it. I encourage all users of different languages to do the same.
(Source: http://pulsecms.com/blog-44-pulse-pro-in-german-154)

Translation of the software sounds more like an afterthought, so I have to wonder about how serious they were about translation in the first place!

Second, minor point: there is a typo in the first paragraph " ...more specifically, using crowsourcing for translation... "

Anyway, thank you for this great article!

MGrant

[Edited at 2011-07-27 05:59 GMT]

[Edited at 2011-07-27 06:02 GMT]
 
ull (X)
ull (X)
United States
Local time: 11:40
TOPIC STARTER
Re: Very timely article! (Michael) Jul 28, 2011

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the typo hint. It is kind of a new word, my spell checker doesn't like it. I have to add it, because I think it is going to be around for a while.

I spoke to Mark. He is only supporting German as a second language because that seems to be his second largest market after the English. He is not planning on supporting any of the others in the future. The forums are only user to user based.

Yes, it is an afterthought. As Mark told me, wh... See more
Hi Michael,

Thanks for the typo hint. It is kind of a new word, my spell checker doesn't like it. I have to add it, because I think it is going to be around for a while.

I spoke to Mark. He is only supporting German as a second language because that seems to be his second largest market after the English. He is not planning on supporting any of the others in the future. The forums are only user to user based.

Yes, it is an afterthought. As Mark told me, when he developed this software, he didn't know if it going to be successful or not. Localization was not on his mind.

Generally, I don't think small software companies bear Localization in mind when developing. Also, those were two English speaking developers. I wonder if they were native in a different tongue if this would be any different. ▲ Collapse
 


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