morphing into mobile multilingualism

Morphing into mobile multilingualism

Christian Lieske, Markus Meisl – SAP AG, Globalization Services Localization World Paris 2012

© 2012 SAP AG. All rights reserved. 2

Why are we here?

You

Us

Mutualhelp!


Who are we?

Christian Lieske

• SAP Language Services, Globalization Services, SAP AG

• Knowledge Architect• Content engineering and process

automation (including evaluation, prototyping and piloting)

• Main field of interest: Internationalization, translation approaches and natural language processing

• Contributor to standardization at World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), OASIS, Unicode consortium, and elsewhere

• Degree in Computer Science with focus on Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence

Markus Meisl

• SAP Language Services, Globalization Services, SAP AG

• Line manager for three areas of product translation (Technology Innovation Platform, Cloud, On-Boarding)

• Previously manager of central SAP team for the coordination of German/English translation

• Worked in different capacities in product management and technical writing at SAP

• Degree in conference interpreting for German, Spanish and Portuguese from the University of Heidelberg


What will we cover?

Mobile solutions for the enterprise

• Anatomy• Technical dimensions• Country/language considerations• …

Large scale multilingual productionExample: SAP• General production for “mobile”• “Pre-mobile” translation-related processes• …

Mobile solutions for the enterprise


Enterprise mobility – What might be in the box? (1/2)

•Manage data, devices, applications, and communications for all mobile workers

•Keep mobile apps connected to business-critical data and processes

Mobility platfor

m•From executives and knowledge workers who need to be productive 24x7 to traditional road warriors, like sales and field service reps

•Process mobile apps (full), people productivity (single-purpose - approval, lookup), consumer (engage - loyalty program)

Mobile apps

•Assess, install, and implement mobile technology initiatives

Mobility service

s


Enterprise mobility – What might be in the box? (2/2)

Any platform

Any type of user

Any sensor

Any device

Any country

Any language


Enterprise mobility – The country/language thing

1. 3.4 billion people have access to the web but don’t use it.

2. Low tech phones help (since text messages or voice systems are part of the Web).

3. A farmer who cannot read, but who knows how to grow trees in the desert, can share his knowledge via recordings or voice applications.

4. However, text messages have created barriers to reading and typing local languages into messages, and that needs to be fixed.

Max Froumentin (World Wide Web Foundation)

1. Uzbek: Younger users prefer Latin script, older ones prefer Cyrillic; some regions use Arabic script.

2. Keyboards don't necessarily exist, or do not provide all the needed features (Tavultesoft and Microsoft Keyboard Creator my help filling the gap)

3. Mobile devices reintroduce some of the problems related to font support – fonts or OpenType features are not supported. About 70% of devices don't render the text correctly.

4. Resort to creating alternative pages that download images of the text

Roberto Belo Rovella and David Vella (BBC World Service) Insights from http://www.multilingualweb.eu/

http://public.webfoundation.org/2010/10/20101026_WF-max-multilingual_web.pdf



http://www.w3.org/International/multilingualweb/madrid/slides/bbc.pdf





http://www.multilingualweb.eu/

http://www.multilingualweb.eu/

Scale multilingual production – Example: SAP


Main entities: Programs that run in areas(Example: Mobile Employee Productivity Suite in Mobile Application Unit)

Mobile Development as a cross-company activity

Company 1

Frontend Middleware Backend

Company 2

Frontend Middleware Backend

Other

…


Mobile Production – Beware of the iceberg (1/4)

Frontend (Client libraries for protocol, authentication etc.)

User assistance deployed on device

Backend (Add-on component, different releases)

Middleware (Transform protocol, authenticate, relay)

Technical documentation (Installation guide, …)

Content for digital stores

Ports

Reuse/Legacy

State of affairs

…



Expect everything

You may encounter any organizational, and technological challenge you can think of

Don’t assume anything

Your collaborators might have been there … or notYou may have assets … or notYour process might fit … or not

Exam

ple:

Sta

te o

f affa

irs



• My app is “Travel”Development

• “Travel” needs to be called “Travel Receipt Capture” and needs to be translated

Technical documentation

• Your app name cannot be longer than 10 charactersPackaging

• Your app name needs to be approved by usMarketingEx

ampl

e: H

ow to

nam

e th

ings


Mobile production – Beware of the iceberg (4/4)

Frontend Middleware Backend Other

Exam

ple:

Orig

in o

f us

er in

terf

ace

strin

gs


Platforms, programming languages and formats (1/2)

Frontend Coding• Cocoa and

ObjectiveC• Java• .Net• …

Other coding• Python• XSL• …

Non-coded Assets• HTML• DocBook/DITA• …


Platforms, programming languages and formats (2/2)


“Pre-mobile” translation-related processes (1/2)

Wor

kflo

w/tr

ansl

atio

n m

anag

emen

t sys

tem

sup

port

Yes

Application-to-application (A2A)

coupling

Manual upload

Manual download

No


“Pre-mobile” translation-related processes (2/2)

Language worker

(Editor or translator)

SAP Ling. Environment

Short text editor Proposal pool

SDL Ling. Environment

TagEditor WorkBench/TM Server

…

CoordinatorsWorldServerDesktop

WorkbenchAlchemy Catalyst


Morphed/evolved translation-related processes (1/3)

Include globalization into

planning & design

Create app considering metadata for translation

Convert to XLIFF

Pre-flight checksTest pseudo-translation

Prepare for test-upload into SAP translation env.

Dry run in SAP translation env.

Productive translation (incl. up-/download)

Pre-validation of languages

Product team SAP Language Services

Productive translation (incl. up-/download)



XLIFF

Format 1

Format 2

Format 3Format 4

Format …

Format n



XLIFF library File converters File system transfer tool

Internet media types

Parsed XLIFF** Hybrid

Translation **

Enable Pre-validation

Enable automated

quality checks

Assist in several phases of collaboration

Outreach


Hybrid translation (1/2)


Hybrid translation (2/2)


Pre-validation – Evolution within the evolution

Ask your product team to do screenshots …

Conclusions


Learning and best practices

Get your foot in the door of development.

Get your bill of materials right.

Scrutinize your processes andresponsibilities.

Rethink entry and exit conditions.

Consider special service levelagreements.

Think how to make translated solutions/user interfaces available for review.


Challenges and gaps

Multilingual capabilities of the

underlying technologies

Ability to test drive any mobile

solution from a browser

Possibility to trace translated texts

back to the original content

Efficient – possibly browser-

based – annotation environmentfor reviewers

Thank you

Contact information:

[email protected], [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



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