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Kristiansen Consulting ltd
offers translations of technical and other documents
between the following languages: From English,
German, Swedish and Danish to Norwegian and from
Norwegian, German, Swedish and Danish to English.
We also offer translations of
software between the above mentioned languages.
Our translation services are
roughly divided into the following main categories:
Translation of documents
This is our basic service,
where we translate the document so that the result
is almost fully like the original. For this kind of
translation we charge by the number of words in the
final document.
Translation of software
This job consists of the
following phases:
- Editing the language
files
- Integrating the new
language into the software, often this has to be
done by the software developer.
- Testing the software with
the new language, preferably using the system
test protocol of the software developer.
- Correction of errors
showing up during the test. That means repeating
all the phases until all the errors are gone.
The reason that such an
elaborate process is necessary is that it is often
impossible to see from the language file alone what
would constitute the best translation. Indeed,
sometimes it is not even possible to see what would
be the correct translation. Sometimes you
have to see the terms used in their proper context
inside a program to conclude that you made the right
translation. Take, for instance, the word "table".
In Norwegian there are different words for the piece
of furniture called a table and the matrix on a
piece of paper or on a computer screen called a
table. Now, imagine that we have a computer
controlled setup in a hospital including a treatment
table. In the software there is a graphical
representation of the entire setup. If, say, after
the translation you find a text with the Norwegian
term for table, in the sense matrix, next to the
picture of the treatment table, then you know you
have translated it into the wrong term.
Another problem you might
encounter is that translations into terms that are
either much shorter or much longer in the target
language than they are in the original language
might alter the lay out of a program window in an
undesirable way, even to the point that it has to
count as a program error. This is also something you
only spot after you have seen the translated terms
in their proper context.
The workload involved in this
kind of work vary a lot depending on how well the
developer has prepared the system for translation.
It is also largely dependant upon what kind of
development platform that has been used. Due to
these facts, we charge for software translations by
the hour. The translation of the software's
documentation is charged by the word, as with any
other documentation.
Translation of web sites
In the very beginning of the
world wide web the content was largely documents
formatted in a certain way. Those days are long
gone. Today most web sites behave more like
web-applications with buttons, menus, dynamic
content, database driven content etc. Therefore we
find it more appropriate to use the methods of
software translation when working with web sites,
rather than the methods of document translation.
Consequentially, web site translations are also
charged by the hour.
Localization, more
than just translation
This service is only offered
when Norwegian is the target language.
Localization means adding
to, removing from or altering a document or a
program to account for special considerations that
has to be taken in Norway. For instance, a document
originating from a company operation out of Southern
California might not take the Norwegian winter into
the consideration called for. Likewise, Norway is
not divided into states, so any program that has a
state as mandatory input before you can proceed must
have this particular feature removed. Changes of the
latter type we do not do directly ourselves, of
course, but rather notify the developers that they
have to be done.
Translation with local
adaptations are usually charged by the number of
words in the final document , though at a higher
rate than just translation. In case that the
document has to be altered to such an extent that
the original document for all practical purposes
rather serves like an information source to the
final document, charging by the hour or agreeing on
a fixed price for the job would be more appropriate
pricing schemes.
Normally, some kind of
approval from the company having the copyright of
the original document is necessary before adding or
removing something in the translation.
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