Better-Cheaper-Faster Localization

What's more fun than having to rush your work? Rushing your work in multiple languages, of course!

This week, one client needed a couple of mid-length documents (totaling 5,000 words) translated from Spanish to English. Once they had read them and prepared answers, those answers (about 9,000 words) needed to be translated from English to Spanish. The turnaround was 5 workdays from first handoff to final approval, with plenty of text changes in the mix.

Are you familiar with the better-cheaper-faster triangle? Any kind of work puts you in the middle of that triangle, and the closer you get to any corner, the further you drift from the others. You can even figure out a way to get two of these qualities, but you can't have all three at the same time. (No, really; you can't.)

We spent a lot of time on that triangle this week, but we were the only ones who saw the "better" corner. The client was thinking only in terms of "cheaper" and "faster," so we had the privilege of thinking "better" for them. I proofread the translations as they were handed off, and they were a long way from "better."

Mind you, they weren't awful - well, actually, one of them read like the English instruction manual to 1967 Datsun - but it was obvious that they hadn't had a good scrub by a translation editor. Still, if you're after cheaper-faster, or even just cheaper, there's not much room for an editor.

The vendor's project manager explained that they had had to break the job into pieces - certainly among translators and maybe even among sub-vendors - to meet the deadline, and that that might explain some terminology differences. It did indeed explain them, but I'm the one my client would have barbecued if we hadn't introduced a bit more "better" to the mix.

Of course there were rush charges, and the clients understood why. That didn't prevent them from sprinkling in text changes all along; it probably encouraged them, since they wanted to get their money's worth.

So, what would you have done? Would you have delivered the translation with a caveat emptor concerning translation quality, given the time-squeeze? Have you ever done that? How did the client accept it? Which is your favorite: better, cheaper or faster?

Localization Risk, As Time Goes By

In 1999 I created a presentation on minimizing the risk in localization projects. It offered several scenarios with possible decision-paths and ways to keep risk low. I've dusted off the presentation and offer a sample from it today.

1. Your company decides to localize its product, and assigns the project to the Technical Publications Manager. Unfortunately, that is you. Do you:

• rebel, because it’s not why you hired on?
• rebel, because it’s not a Tech Pubs function?
• rebel, and do it anyway?

The Risk - Entrusting the project to someone who doesn’t want it or cannot manage projects. To minimize the risk, pick someone with project management expertise over linguistic/writing/engineering/product expertise.

2. Your CEO tells you he wants to localize into 5 Western languages and 2 Asian languages first time out. He offers you an extra 5,000 stock options if you complete the project successfully. Do you:

• say, “Piece of cake!” and take the challenge?
• ask, “Am I being set up for failure?”
• counter, “I'll do that if you do the press tours”?

The Risk - Biting off more than you can chew, especially the first time out. To minimize the risk,
schedule a scaled-down “pilot project” rather than picking a fight you may not win.

3. You explain to your QA Manager that she will soon have the opportunity to test French and Portuguese versions of the product. She replies, “Oh, we’ll have no part of that.” Do you:

• laugh?
• cry?
• pretend you didn’t hear her and say, “Right. I'm glad we understand each other”?

The Risk - Intimidating or alienating co-workers with the localization process. To minimize this risk, educate first, then start mustering resources. Also effective is an evangelization effort to boost your project's visibility everywhere in the organization.


In short, it's not very exciting to go home at the end of the day and tell your spouse that you spent most of your day minimizing localization risk, but it is quite important. The risk lives in lots of narrow corners, and it's your job to find it before it finds you.