Translating Into Success

Book excerpt: The boom in international trade has brought with it an increased demand for addressing local consumers in their native language and cultural idiom. Given the complex nature and new media involved in communicating with their constituent markets, companies are developing ever more complex tools and techniques for managing foreign-language communication. This book presents select case studies that illustrate the state-of-the-art of language management. It covers a cross-section of sectors, each of which has particular subtleties in language management: • software localization • finance • medical devices • automotive The book also covers a cross-section of topical and strategic issues: • time-to-market (scheduling challenges; simultaneous release in multiple languages) • global terminology management • leveraging Internet, intranet, and email • centralized versus decentralized management models • financial and budgeting techniques • human factors; management issues unique to language projects • technological innovation in language management (terminology tools, automatic translation) The target audience is language professionals involved with the management aspect of language projects. This includes translators and linguists, managers at language-service providers, language managers at manufacturing/service companies, educators and language/translation students. The heart of the book is the concept of the case study, particularly the Harvard Business School case-study model. Industry leaders and analysts provide some 15 case studies covering the spectrum of language applications. Readable and nonacademic — it can serve both as a text for those studying language and translation, as well as those in the field who need to know the “state-of-the-art” in language management.