Doing business on a global scale often means making websites, product materials and other content available to international audiences in their own language. Translation can be a slow and expensive process, especially when taking into account cultural differences that can distort the meaning behind your words. There also can be significant delays and added expense if content is changed during or after translation.

One way to streamline the translation process is through better authoring of source content. While some have heralded plain English as the solution, it is not sufficient for some readers, nor is it sufficient for machine translation. This audio conference discusses another option -- international English -- and how it improves clarity for all readers, particularly those who do not read English as a first language. The presentation also highlights how international English gives good results with machine translation, while reducing the costs associated with human translation.

This audio conference covers:

• Some problems with standard English
• Introduction to controlled language and controlled vocabulary
• International English: what it is and is not
• Machine translation facts and fallacies
• Human translation and translation memory systems
• Software for writers and machine translation

About the speaker:

Mike Unwalla, PhD, helps software companies reduce their customer support costs. In 1999, he established the TechScribe technical communications consultancy, which designs clear user documentation. In 2004, the British Standards Institution appointed Mike as Principal UK Expert for software documentation. He represented the UK at meetings of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), and served in that role until 2007.

Prior to his doctoral research, Mike taught English for five years. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators (ISTC), the principal professional body for technical communicators in the UK.

Who should attend?

• Writers, Editors and Content Creators
• Localization and Translation Managers
• Customer Support Managers
• Quality Control Managers
• Marketing Communications Managers