qui - Tekom

wait for months before a version of the product in their language was
available.
With the invention of translation memory and other computer aided
translation tools in the beginning of the 1990s, this model changed
dramatically. Publishers started aiming for simultaneous release (simship)
of the domestic product and at least the most important target languages.
This meant that translation already had to start while the source material or
product was still being developed or written. The only way to effectively
re-use translations of material that was still "under construction" was to use
translation memory.
In most of today's localisation projects, translators start translating the
a first draft of a product, and then leverage all translations already done by
importing translations stored in a translation memory database. The only
way in which simship of different language versions can be achieved is by
combining translation memory with a thorough internationalisation of the
product, i.e. separating language-dependent information from the product's
layout or code information and thus limiting the amount of testing or layout
work required for localised versions after translation is finished.
Tomorrow's Project Models
With the web, a new type of localisation model is evolving.
Professional web sites are usually dynamic, database-driven sites, where all
information and text is stored in a database, which automatically publishes
information to web pages whenever new content is added or changed. Web
sites are updated on a continuous basis. This means that translating a web
site cannot be considered a "project" anymore; instead, it is a continuous
flow of changes and updates. In the case of multilingual web sites, changes
in one language should ideally be reflected in the other languages
immediately.
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