My services cover most aspects of translation and localization projects. Services are provided either on-site or off-site, depending on your needs and requirements. All services can be used on an hourly, daily, weekly or even monthly basis. My rates are competitive, and I offer a tiered pricing structure for long-term assignments and projects. I provide the following services:

Desktop Publish

I can handle multi-language projects in InDesign, QuarkXPress, PageMaker, Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, and many other formats, both PC and Mac. I can also handle template recreation if you don't have access to the source. Just send me the source files, I'll send you back an RTF (or TTX) that you can use for translation. After translation is complete, you send me back the translated files and I got through the integration process of creating the localized versions. Even before you win a project, think of including me in your quoting phase, the advantage being that your numbers are accurate, and I have a better understanding of what might be around the corner.

Engineering

Beyond traditional DTP formats, somtimes you never know what kind of source files clients will send to you, and the last thing you want to tell them is, "Sorry, we don't know what to do with that, we only do Word." That's where I come in, making you look smart and savvy: no file type is turned away. Typical types of projects include Web sites (HTML, PHP, ASP, etc.), Applications (Microsoft .NET), and RoboHelp. You just send the file, and I extract the strings into a format that linguists can use (typically RTF). From there, you simply go through your existing project work flow for translation, editing, and proofing. When you're done, send the translated RTF back to me and I'll convert it back into the original format. I then do a Quality Assurance check on the final format, or I can send it back to you for the final QA. Any changes can be sent back to me to implement at no additional charge.

Localization Consulting

With business consulting experience, a background in computer and web site programming, and experience in the localization industry, I am uniquely positioned to help you develop custom business processes and workflows based on best practices that will help you meet your business goals. I can help you create and adapt business processes to increase quality and efficiency and lower cost, all of which results in a happier customer who will keep coming back for repeat business.

Technical Support

I have over 10 years of experience in the computer industry, covering both PC and Mac. I perform data recovery, virus and malware removal, system maintenance and upgrades, operating system and application installation, and application training.

Project Management

Whether an existing PM is going on an extended vacation, you win a highly technical project and don't want to overload your existing staff, or you simply find that you have more work than you can handle but don't want to hire a new employee, I can help. I have experience in both small-scale and multi-phase projects, including documentation, content management systems, games localization, multimedia localization, audio/video projects, and marketing content (brochures, posters, banner ads).

Post-Translation Quality Assurance

Once translation is complete and the files are converted back into their native format, best practice calls for verifying that nothing has gone wrong with tags or formatting. I offer post-translation QA to compare the source and target files and verify that the only thing that changed was the language - fonts, formatting, internal comments, and especially resource file keys must be checked. This prevents the client from having to come back to you to fix a corrupted file.

Translation Memory Creation

I can convert almost any format into a Trados or TMX translation memory. The most straightforward process is to use WinAlign on the source and target Word documents. I have created TMs from string databases, Excel files, resource files, and even PDFs. The end result is the same: a fully compliant Trados translation memory.

MultiTerm Glossary Creation

Many times, glossaries are maintained and exchanged in Excel spreadsheets, but this requires linguists to do a manual search to make sure their translations are compliant. Converting the spreadsheets into MultiTerm glossaries provides much greater benefits. These glossaries fully integrate into the Trados translation environment, virtually eliminating the chance that a term may be overlooked.

Trados Training and Support

I can help you to better integrate Trados into your workflow. If you've never used it before, I can get you up to speed (Workbench, MultiTerm, WinAlign, etc.). If you know the basics but want to learn more, I can show you some of the more advanced features.