Recently, there was news that there were errors in some of the content of a certain dictionary that was revised for the first time in 10 years. We will not touch upon the details of that news here, but as someone involved in document production, I am concerned about the update process. It is imaginable that correcting some of the content from a printed material of over 3,000 pages would be a very difficult task.
About 20 years ago, when you bought a mobile phone, it came with a thick manual. What about now? Recently, the latest smartphones only come with a thin, tri-fold manual and the content is mainly explained using illustrations.
However, the manual is not included in the smartphone box, but in most cases, the terminal comes with a pre-installed manual app. Alternatively, the manual may also be available online.
By publishing manuals on apps and websites, we can always provide the latest information and be able to respond to urgent fixes. This is quite different from traditional paper media.
However, even with the digitization of paper media, if you want to expand your products globally, you will need manuals in each language version. The more time you spend on translation, the later the release timing will be. Therefore, it is necessary to properly set the release cycle of the content. In this blog, we will introduce tips for shortening the release cycle.
- Table of Contents:
- 1. Stop providing in paper media and distribute through apps and websites
- 2. Start Document Creation from English
- 3. Minimize text and use icons as much as possible
- 4. Utilizing Machine Translation
1. Stop providing in paper media and distribute through apps and websites
The technology that connects various things and the internet, "IoT", is rapidly advancing. Even turning lights on and off or locking and unlocking doors can now be done through devices such as mobile phones via the internet. It seems that product development is also becoming impossible without the internet.
If the product is connected to the internet and has a display screen, how about limiting the delivery of the manual to the product's internal app or website? This will make updating the content easier and allow for always providing the latest information to users. It will also enable timely response to unexpected modifications.
Of course, we must also consider the worst-case scenario. We need to prepare an offline version in case the internet is not available. However, if we can provide a seamless offline experience, it will not compromise the user experience.
2. Start Document Creation from English
Some Japanese companies are seen to be moving their offices and software development bases responsible for creating manuals and other documents to Asian countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong.
For example, there is an aim to speed up the global release timing by changing the language flow for manual creation from "Japanese → English → Multilingual" to "English → Multilingual (including Japanese)".
This may vary depending on the main target country, but for products where overseas markets are just as important as the Japanese market, this seems to be an effective approach.
3. Minimize text and use icons as much as possible
As the internet and smartphones have become ingrained in our daily lives, many words have been iconized. For example, to return to the home screen, we use "
", to access the settings screen, we use "
", and when we want to search, we click/tap "
".
", to access the settings screen, we use "", and when we want to search, we click/tap "".
Depending on the complexity of the product, simplifying the functions and using icons to convey everything could lead to a reduction in the number of characters in the manual.
4. Utilizing Machine Translation
In recent years, AI has been receiving a lot of attention and it is expected that research and development in this field will continue to advance in the future. Translation, like Go and Shogi, has been a subject of AI research for many years and is rapidly evolving every day.
The three examples we have presented so far have all brought significant changes to the content creation process, which may have seemed unrealistic in some cases. On the other hand, this fourth example seems to be the most easily implementable.
For example, in American IT companies, machine translation of manuals/help content has been progressing for several years. It has become common to see disclaimers such as "This page has been machine translated..." at the beginning of each article.
This is considered to be the result of placing more emphasis on efficiently providing information quickly, rather than making the content (translation) easy to read.
This type of behavior can also be seen on customer review pages and developer forums. It is a case where machine translation is used as a means of quickly gathering information from customers.
If you can lower the priority of readability of the content and prioritize the speed of information provision (and collection), we recommend utilizing machine translation. By using the output from machine translation as is, you can instantly multilingualize.
If you want to maintain readability to some extent while speed is important, there is a process called "machine translation + post-edit" available. This is a method where the translator/post-editor corrects the output from machine translation according to quality requirements. With this method, you can obtain a certain level of translation quality while reducing the time required for translation.
"Features of Machine Translation and Machine Translation + Post-edit"
"There are many types of machine translation, but I don't know which one to choose" or if you are unsure about the security of automatic translation, please consult with Human Science Co., Ltd.
Also, for those who say "I introduced automatic translation, but post-editing is troublesome", we recommend the tool MTrans Post-Edit Booster specialized in supporting post-editing work.
Human Science Co., Ltd. has a proven track record of implementing many machine translation solutions and offers a variety of options to meet your needs. Unlike machine translation development companies, we are able to provide solutions from the perspective of production and translation companies. Please feel free to contact us for more information!
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