Ask HN: Translating copy targeted to software developers to other languages

5 pointsadambenayoun12y ago2 comments

We have hundreds of pages with marketing and technical copy that are targeted to software developers.

We are looking to translate these pages to various languages (starting with Japanese, Russian and other languages).

Would you have any recommendation for sites who allow to hire translators with expertise such as copy geared toward the software development industry? We are NOT looking for a platform that break down the text into smaller string and send them to different translators, we've tried this in the past and the translations were horrible. We're looking to find an individual or 2 who will be able to work on this as an ongoing project.

I know of One Hour Translation, Proz.com but would love to hear if anyone on Hacker News had any experience with these sites or have recommendations to other I have omitted.

Additionally if anyone here is a professional translator and is fluent in English and one of these languages [Russian, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic) - feel free to reach out to me (my email is in my profile).

Thanks Adam

2 comments

2 comments · 2 top-level

professorTuring12y ago

When translating text into Spanish (as it might happen in other languages) is very important the localisation of the text. It is not the same translating into "Latino" Spanish (the one used in America) than translating into "Castellano" Spanish (the one used in Spain).

It is easy to identify if you check the prices, normally Latino is cheaper than Castellano. Also, if you doubt, Castellano sounds fine for Latinos but Latino doesn't usually sound as fine for "Castellano" speakers.

jaredbrown12y ago

I have used proz.com and was able to find a good translator. I would classify my experience as good. My biggest issue was not having something like what Canonical's Launchpad provides for managing the strings and their translations. Instead we emailed Word docs back and forth.

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