“Creativity in software translation and localisation”
Demand for software translation and localisation has been expanding rapidly in the recent years, which made software localisation an attractive specialisation for technology savvy translators. At the same time, character restrictions, use of variables, limited access to reference materials, lack of context, fixed sentence order and time pressure prevalent in the localisation process pose numerous challenges for translators, who often have to resort to creative solutions in order to provide both linguistically and technically correct translation. This approach raises a question of how and why creativity can be used in software translation. Can we apply strategies common in game or literature translation to translate user interface or help files that are heavily dependent on style guides, general language guidelines and terminology lists? How can we deal with variables in case of highly inflected languages?
This presentation will focus on the challenges of software localisation from a translator’s perspective and discuss issues that can be resolved with a certain degree of creativity. The speaker will analyse practical examples to demonstrate creative and effective solutions. We will also discuss where are the boundaries of the translator’s freedom in this kind of technical translation. Finally, the speaker will present best practices and explain what methods can be used to find the balance between creativity and technical requirements.
Dorota Pawlak is a German to Polish and English to Polish translator specialised in IT, technical translation and localisation of software and websites. She holds a MA degree in Technical Translation (University of Vienna, Austria) and BA in Applied Linguistics (University of Poznan, Poland) and has been working as an independent translator for 5 years.
Dorota is a member of the IAPTI and ATA and an author of the blog “Beyond the words” with articles on localisation, CAT tools and IT-related aspects of the freelance translation business. She also runs a course on website localisation for translators who intend to specialise in this area.