Slide 1 - Ryan Ginstrom

An Introduction to Translating
Software Documentation
Ryan Ginstrom
What I will talk about today
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What is it?
Honing skills
Tools of the trade
The good, the bad, and the ugly
Many different types
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Readers
Targets
Readers
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End users
Programmers
“Pointy-haired people”
–
–
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Marketing
Managers
Purchasing departments…
Target: end users vs. developers
End users
Developers
不具合の究明
Troubleshooting
Debugging
推奨されない
Obsolete
Deprecated
Xモードでアプリ
ケーションを起動
する
Run the program Load the
in X mode
application in X
mode (run also
OK)
Targets
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Platform
–
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Layer
–
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Microsoft / *Nix / Mac / Web application / mobile
devices
Device driver / desktop application / online
shopping cart / Webmail
Purpose
–
Instruct / inform / publicize
What is good translation?
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Should read like a target-language document
Not like a translation
Write for the reader
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Needs
Expectations
Honing skills
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Technical knowledge
Knowledge of source language
Technical writing
Honing technical knowledge
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Read one technical book in our target
language per month
–
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Think about that
Learn to program?
Learn to program!
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Python
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Ruby
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www.python.org
Easy to learn
Powerful
http://www.ruby-lang.org/
Powerful
“Made in Japan”
Visual Basic
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Pros: Simple, useful
Con: Dead (replaced by VB .NET)
Source language
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Know the terminology in the source language
Read fluently
“Good enough” isn’t
Rite away…
English original (method description):
Performs last rites on the object.
Japanese translation:
オブジェクトに対して最終書き込みを行います。
??
Target language
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Technical writing
Pretending to sound like you know what
you’re talking about
Weaknesses abound
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We’re not engineers
We’re not technical writers
We’re not native speakers of one of our
languages
We are translators
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Humility
(but not too much!)
Keep an open mind
Constantly learn
Tools of the trade
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Dictionaries
Technical references
Technical style guides
Software
Dictionaries
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電気情報和英辞典
オーム社編
数学英和・和英辞典
小松勇作編
和英コンピュータ用語大辞典
Japanese-English Dictionary of Computer
(AKA “The Lacker”)
Technical references
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O’Reilly’s “In a Nutshell” series
Books on software development
Textbooks
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Mostly target language
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Others…
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The Windows Interface Guidelines for
Software Design
Developing User Interfaces for Microsoft
Windows
Technical style guides (online)
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Apple Publications Style Guide (PDF)
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/
Sun – Writing for the Web
http://www.sun.com/980713/webwriting/
Technical style guides (dead trees)
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Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical
Publications
Read Me First!
A Style Guide for the Computer Industry
(Sun)
From Microsoft Manual of Style
Correct
On the File menu, click Open.
Incorrect
On the File menu, choose the Open command.
Reference:
[ファイル] メニューから [開く]コマンドを選択し…
But from Sun’s manual…
Menu option names appear in the document’s
default font and do not receive any special
typographic styling.
From the Edit menu, choose Paste.
(or)
Choose Edit  Paste.
-- Read Me First!
Microsoft Manual of Style on Usage
application
Avoid in content for home users and information
workers; use program instead.
button
In general, refer to a button only by its label.
Correct:
Select the file you want to open and then click OK.
computer
Not PC or machine or box, regardless of audience.
hint
Do not use hint as a heading for a type of note; use
tip instead.
input
Avoid in all content as a verb; use type or another
appropriate verb instead. (c.f. 入力)
menu item
Do not use in content for home users or information
workers. Use command instead (c.f. メニュー項目)
Software
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Translation memory
Online/electronic dictionaries
Text to speech/dictation
Gluing
The good, the bad, and the ugly
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Sample source and translation
You make the call
Then look at what I thought when I wrote this
Exceptional
Japanese original
English translation
このメソッドでは、要素
の取得に失敗する場
合、例外が発生しま
す。
In this method, an
exception occurs if
the acquisition of
the element fails.
例外の発生:
Throw/raise an exception
UGLY
このメソッドでは、要素の取
得に失敗する場合、例外
が発生します。
In this method, an
exception occurs if the
acquisition of the
element fails.
This method throws an
exception if it fails to
acquire the element.
Use the source, Luke!
ファイルの保存時に保存元
と保存先のファイル内容
を比較する
When saving a file, the
contents of the save
source and save
destination files are
compared
Don’t be afraid to
write English
BAD
ファイルの保存時に保存元
と保存先のファイル内容
を比較する
When saving a file, the
contents of the save
source and save
destination files are
compared
When you save the file,
the original file and the
file to be saved are
compared.
Count on it
This reference count is
この参照カウントは、
incremented each time
LoadLibrary 関数が呼び
LoadLibrary is called
出されるたびに 1 増加し、
and decremented each
FreeLibrary 関数が呼び
time FreeLibrary is
出されるたびに 1 減少し
called.
ます。
参照カウント:
1 増加:
1 減少:
reference count
increment
decrement
GOOD
This reference count is
この参照カウントは、
incremented each time
LoadLibrary 関数が呼び
LoadLibrary is called
出されるたびに 1 増加し、
and decremented each
FreeLibrary 関数が呼び
time FreeLibrary is
出されるたびに 1 減少し
called.
ます。
More on exceptions
例外:
XYZException - 引数
foo が null の場合に
発生します。
Exceptions:
XYZException –
Thrown if parameter
foo is null.
Convention!
UGLY (trick question)
例外:
XYZException - 引数 foo
が null の場合に発生し
ます。
Exceptions:
XYZException – Thrown if
parameter foo is null.
Throws:
XYZException – If
parameter foo is null.
The dating game
このサンプルでは、これらの
テーブルを XML データと
して保存します。
In this sample, these
tables are saved as
XML data.
データ: File
BAD
このサンプルでは、これらの
テーブルを XML データと
して保存します。
In this sample, these
tables are saved as
XML data.
In this sample, these
tables are saved as an
XML file.
What’s your destination?
保存先のフォルダを開いて， Open the save destination
folder, and double click
「foo.ｅｘｅ」をダブルクリッ
the “foo.exe” icon.
クして下さい。
The user just wants
to get the job done
UGLY
保存先のフォルダを開いて， Open the save destination
folder, and double click
「foo.ｅｘｅ」をダブルクリッ
the “foo.exe” icon.
クして下さい。
Open the folder where
you saved the file, and
click on the “foo.exe”
icon.
More API stuff
インデックスが範囲外の場
合に黒色 ( 0, 0, 0 ) を返
します。
If the index is outside the
scope, returns black (0,
0, 0).
範囲外: out of bounds
BAD
インデックスが範囲外の場
合に黒色 ( 0, 0, 0 ) を返
します。
If the index is outside the
scope, returns black (0,
0, 0).
If the index is out of
bounds, returns black
(0, 0, 0).
Thank You

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