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Translation is the art and craft of bringing
an author's actual words, as well as his ideas, implications, moods,
voice, style, and so forth, from the source language (the language
to be translated from) to the target language (the language to be
translated to). (Source: Brett Jocelyn Epstein).
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Back Translation is the process of translating a document that has already been translated into a foreign language back to the original language - preferably by an independent translator
Translation of raw data such as focus group transcripts back into
the language of a client from the language of the consumers is common
in market research in Asia. In fact translation remains one of the
costliest parts of a market research project. This is because it
is an area where costly errors can be built-in in research stages
where checks and balances are limited.
The nuances of translation are far-ranging. A literal word in one language, for example, may have no equivalent in another language, or could have a completely different "meaning" or effect in the translated language. This is why translation is an art rather than a science. No translation can be expected to convey perfectly the "meaning" of what consumers meant to convey in their own language. Hence the need for accredited translators who can translate verbatim. All the good work of a focus group moderator in not "interpreting" verbatim comments can be wiped out by a careless translator.
Back translation can improve the reliability and validity of research
in different languages by requiring that the quality of a translation
is verified by an independent translator translating back into the
original language. Original and back translated documents can then
be compared. (Source: Asia Market Research).
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Localization is the "process of altering a program so that it is appropriate for the area in which it is used." The industry has come to see this issue is relevant to more than just software applications - indeed web sites have the same needs for accessibility via localization. Localization of a web site is done in order to meet the language and cultural needs of a target audience(s).
Localization is the key to increasing the universality of the Web.
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Subtitling is a translation text of the spoken
dialogue of a film, DVD or video production into another language.
Subtitles appear sequentially at the bottom of the screen so that
a viewer who doesn't understand the spoken language can still follow
the narrative without any changes being made to the film's original
soundtrack. (Source: VITAC).
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Technical writing is a specialized, structured WAY of writing, where information is PRESENTED in a format and manner that best suits the cognitive and psychological needs of the readers, so they can respond to a document as its author intended and achieve the purpose related to that document.
Thus, it is writing formatted and shaped to make reading as simple,
poignant, unequivocal, and enjoyable as possible (i.e., “user friendly”).
It so happens that most technical writing positions are still primarily
offered to those who can write effective end-user manuals, system
design documents, Web sites, and the like for engineering and IT
firms. (Source: klariti).
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Proofreading means reading a proof copy of a
text in order to detect and correct any errors. A proof copy is
traditionally a version of a manuscript that has been typeset after
copy editing, but the line between copy editing and proofreading
is thin. Proof manuscripts often contain typographical errors introduced
during typesetting by mistyping (hence the word "typo" to refer
to misplaced or incorrect characters). Earlier, when handwritten
originals were common, it was often easier for a copy editor to
review and mark up a manuscript after it had been typeset. Today,
proofreading usually refers to reviewing any text, hardcopy or electronic
copy (on a computer), and checking for all types of errors. (Source:
Wikipedia).
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Using a personal computer or workstation to produce
high-quality printed documents. A desktop publishing system allows
you to use different typefaces, specify various margins and justifications,
and embed illustrations and graphs directly into the text. The most
powerful desktop publishing systems enable you to create illustrations,
while less powerful systems let you insert illustrations created
by other programs. As word-processing programs become more and more
powerful, the line separating such programs from desktop publishing
systems is becoming blurred. In general, though, desktop publishing
applications give you more control over typographical characteristics,
such as kerning, and provide more support for full-color output.
A particularly important feature of desktop publishing systems is
that they enable you to see on the display screen exactly how the
document will appear when printed. Systems that support this feature
are called WYSIWYGs (what you see is what you get). Until recently,
hardware costs made desktop publishing systems impractical for most
uses. But as the prices of personal computers and printers have
fallen, desktop publishing systems have become increasingly popular
for producing newsletters, brochures, books, and other documents
that formerly required a typesetter. Once you have produced a document
with a desktop publishing system, you can output it directly to
a printer or you can produce a PostScript file which you can then
take to a service bureau. The service bureau has special machines
that convert the PostScript file to film, which can then be used
to make plates for offset printing. Offset printing produces higher-quality
documents, especially if color is used, but is generally more expensive
than laser printing. (Source: Webopedia).
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Transcription is the conversion into written, typewritten or printed form, of a spoken language source, such as the proceedings of a court hearing. It can also mean the conversion of a written source, such as the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica articles which are being transcribed into Wikipedia.
In the former case, transcription is the process of matching the
sounds of human speech to written symbols using a set of standard
rules, so that these sounds can be reproduced later. Usually these
rules are organized on a phonetic basis and are specifically constructed
in order to be maximally simple. Standard transcription schemes
include the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). (Source: Wikipedia).
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Testing is a process used to help identify the correctness, completeness and quality of developed computer software. With that in mind, testing can never completely establish the correctness of arbitrary computer software. In computability theory, a field of computer science, an elegant mathematical proof concludes that it is impossible to solve the halting problem, the question of whether an arbitrary computer program will enter an infinite loop, or halt and produce output. In other words, testing is nothing but criticism or comparison, that is comparing the actual value with expected one.
There are many approaches to software testing, but effective testing
of complex products is essentially a process of investigation, not
merely a matter of creating and following rote procedure. One definition
of testing is "the process of questioning a product in order to
evaluate it", where the "questions" are things the tester tries
to do with the product, and the product answers with its behavior
in reaction to the probing of the tester. Although most of the intellectual
processes of testing are nearly identical to that of review or inspection,
the word testing is connoted to mean the dynamic analysis of the
product—putting the product through its paces. The quality of the
application can, and normally does, vary widely from system to system
but some of the common quality attributes include reliability, stability,
portability, maintainability and usability. Refer to the ISO standard
ISO 9126 for a more complete list of attributes and criteria. (Source:
Wikipedia).
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Web design is the design or designing of a web page, website or web application. The term generally refers to the graphical side of web development using images, CSS and one of the HTML standards.
Some people distinguish between "web design" (the graphics and user
interface design) and web development (which includes "web design",
but also includes setting up the web server, writing web applications,
dealing with security issues, etc.). (Source: Wikipedia).
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