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Table of Contents
About US Endoscopy
Founded in 1991, US Endoscopy is a privately held, family-owned company, specializing in device design and the manufacturing of accessories for GI endoscopy. Key management staff at US Endoscopy boast over a century of experience in designing and manufacturing endoscopy accessories. The US Endoscopy team works closely with clinicians, listening to their needs and responding with problem-solving device solutions. Products cover a range of endoscopic accessories and surgical instruments, including the Roth Net, a device designed with a fine mesh net that is attached to a snare loop. Designed to retrieve tissue during minimally invasive surgery, the Roth Net is known as the gold standard retrieval device for endoscopists.
Challenges
In order to distribute their GI endoscopy accessories on a worldwide scale, US Endoscopy was tasked with localizing their Directions for Use (DFUs) into 8 European languages. The challenge was that the English content had been authored without localization in mind requiring a rework of source documentation before the foreign language translation process could begin. Several steps backwards were required to prep the content for the localization process. Additionally, the existing publication templates were not designed to accommodate foreign text. In short, US Endoscopy was confronted with a list of challenges typical to a customer desiring to sell their products and accompanying documentation internationally for the first time.
The ENLASO Solution
ENLASO collaborated with US Endoscopy to establish an efficient method of authoring content that could more easily be localized, thereby saving time and money in getting the product and associated documentation to market more quickly. ENLASO assigned a dedicated team of translators, project managers, and publishers with a mind to providing pre-localization assistance.
ENLASO provided guidance on how to avoid humor, North American historic references or slang within the content. Controlled English was encouraged reducing the occurrence of synonyms such as “single use only” and “use only once” resulting in more opportunities for translation memory reuse. Consistent use of identical phrases substantially reduces translation costs as previously translated text is leveraged more effectively. A database of reusable text for common repetitious items like cautions and warnings was also created.
Benefits
Usage of controlled English source content shortened the translation production cycle readying the product documentation for market distribution more quickly.
Deployment of a translation memory resulted in consistent terminology usage and cost savings from text reuse.
Creation of localization-friendly document templates reduced the amount of billable reformatting time.
Overall, the customer experienced approximately a 30% increase in productivity as a result of the collaborative efforts between US Endoscopy and ENLASO.
Content was simplified by using shorter sentences (e.g. 21 words or less). Authors were advised to avoid the passive voice, to use good syntax and to eliminate descriptions of ambiguous actions. The use of a logical sequence of instructions in bulleted or numbered lists was recommended along with the greater use of graphics or photographs to visually depict a process.
Final content was then carefully reviewed by the linguistic team for items to be included in a glossary of terms and rules to ensure consistency in how they were treated throughout each of the eight languages required. This included documenting terms to be left in English (Trademarked items, product names, corporate preferences), how to treat measurements and numbers (including punctuation, e.g. “1 000” instead of “1,000”), the use of abbreviations (e.g. defining acronyms the first time used) and a clear determination of audience reading level was established.
Document templates were redesigned with an eye toward more effective localization. Text page depth was calculated to account for 20-30% text expansion in target languages and rules for leaving enough white space (above/below paragraphs) were established, as well as a mandate to avoid soft returns. The number of font style and size changes were minimized. Additionally, callouts were recommended over embedded text to facilitate translation of these captions.
Conclusion
By implementing ENLASO’s suggestions for content adaptation and streamlining localization efforts, US Endoscopy was able to save time and money in getting their documentation to the international market. For future product launches, US Endoscopy will be much better prepared for an efficient and cost-effective localization effort.
ENLASO's Documentation Localization Solutions
For more information on how ENLASO can assist you with your multilingual documentation localization requirements, please contact us directly at: phone (866-415-6820 x127) or email (Marketing@enlaso.com).
For more information on how ENLASO can assist you with all of your localization needs, please contact us at Contact@enlaso.com, call 303.516.0857 x127, or complete the quote request form.
