7 tips for a smooth localization project - Part 5

If you've been keeping up with the series so far, you will have learned how to work closely with your LSP to set SLAs, the importance of forming a relationship with your project manager and also developing high-quality content. And in our last blog,  we covered the best approach you should take when handing over your translation project. In this next blog, we'll look at why you should ALWAYS provide good reference materials to the linguist teams working on your translations. It may not be obvious, but it's a critical part of ensuring high standards - and less queries - throughout the project.

Always provide good reference materials

High-quality, well planned reference materials boost translators’ efficiency, fosters quality and minimizes queries. 

• Style Guide: Your style guide is about just that, your style. As a baseline, you should establish a widely accepted, standard style, such as Associated Press  or Microsoft . In addition to that, however, you must provide detailed information on what you do differently. That could include capitalization, metrics, citations, etc. Be mindful that each language will require its own style guide, which must be reviewed by a linguistically-savvy native speaker of the language.
• Glossary of established terms: If you already have established terminology in your target languages, having a glossary will reduce the risk that the translator will make the wrong choice when there are multiple options. This also ensures your new translations will be consistent with your previous ones.
• Do Not Translate (DNT) list: You might want to keep some items in the source language, such as product names, taglines, hashtags, addresses, titles, etc. Translators should know what not to translate before they even start.