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LSGB Work Continues inside GALA
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Who translates and localizes websites, documentation, and products for companies like General Motors, Hewlett Packard, and Royal Caribbean that sell internationally? Research shows that 87% of companies outsource some or all of their translation and localization work to language service providers. So it's these LSPs that comprise the biggest constituency for technology, quality, and process standards and specifications dealing with translation and localization. But just 12% of these providers have been certified in ISO9000 (a quality standard), and tech vendors more often use specs such as TMX to move linguistic assets into their products rather than to foster open interoperability.
So language quality, process, and technology specifications have not been living up to their promise. What's the problem? At the last Language Standards for Global Business (LSGB) summit in Barcelona, two days of discussion about such standards came down to several intriguing points: 1) language service provider and practitioner adoption of quality standards such from ASTM and CEN is light to non-existent, largely due to their newness and the fact that they only provide frameworks for quality rather than define actionable checklists; 2) there is a lingering perception that the standards-setting bodies have not sufficiently consulted potential users in the development of these specifications; and 3) many prospective users are confused about the benefit of such specifications. Finally, many of the delegates, frequent participants in such summits and standards setting meetings, professed to have "conference malaise" -- there are just too many industry events begging for attention and requiring more travel than they have time or funding for.
LSGB creators Don DePalma, Hans Fenstermacher, and Kim Harris led a breakout group that discussed the perceived shortcomings of standards as they relate to translation and localization. On the conference malaise front, the group decided to eliminate at least one trip from everyone's busy schedule by ending its participation in the separate -- and now for-profit -- LSGB conferences. They will move the discussion inside GALA where members will compile a list of their requirements, send them to the appropriate standards-setting organizations, and use the Wiki for Standards as a repository for such manifestos outlining user needs. GALA will also move toward regular representation in the organizations writing the specifications. With structured input from the biggest association of suppliers, we can only hope the standards story will get better next year.
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