谈格式化在翻译及本地化中的重要意义

Significance of Formatting in Translation and Localization

翻译记忆文本再利用可以产生很高的翻译效益,但往往会因处理格式化处理问题而抵消。这对本地化行业的从业人员具有很大影响,包括最终客户、语言服务商及译者。由于格式化并非译者的核心工作,译者往往不能完全处理这些隐藏的格式化问题。本文从译者的角度探讨格式化对译者工作的重要性及其技术限制。同时探讨XLIFF标准的实施对本地化行业发展现状可能产生的影响,从而使译者可以像前数字时代一样只对文本进行处理。

Translation memory-based text reuse is productive,but its gains offset by format treatment in translation.This heavily impacts the clients,language vendors and translators involved in localization.Format treatment is not the core task of translators and is often beyond their academic knowledge.This paper probes into the significance and limitations of formatting in the viewpoint of translators,and the possible impact of XLIFF standard on the development of localization industry.XLIFF implementation can help translators deal with texts as in pre-digital times.