In this article, Plarium Krasnodar's Sub Lead Localization Manager, Elvira Sharipova talks about how she went through the online training program . Why should a seasoned localizer become a student? What difficulties are expected in the courses? How to study in the USA without TOEFL and IELTS? All answers are under the cut.
Why study if you are already a Sub Lead?
I developed professional skills on my own. There was no one to ask, so she went to knowledge, stepping on a rake and stuffing painful bumps for herself. This, of course, is an invaluable experience, which now allows me to avoid such mistakes. However, I understood that I could not do everything and that I wanted to grow in localization.
I was looking for some affordable long term course. Trainings and webinars are held in the CIS, but there are so few of them that you can count them on the fingers. They last no longer than a month, so all the information in them is very compressed. I wanted something more.
Abroad, the sphere of localization is developing better. There is a university in and institute in . The training programs there are long and extensive, but the price is quite biting and can reach $40000. This is, excuse me, almost the cost of the apartment. Something more modest was needed.
The University of Washington program was financially feasible and contained many of the things I was interested in. It also promised teachers who have been working in large firms for decades. So the decision was made.
What was the program?
The Localization: Customizing Software for the World certification program is suitable for both beginners and experienced professionals. It consists of three courses.
- Introduction to localization
The first course is introductory. I didnβt learn anything fundamentally new from him, but he helped me structure the knowledge that I had. We studied the basic tools, the basics of internationalization and localization, quality control, the characteristics of target markets that need to be taken into account (culture, religion, politics). - Localization engineering
This course focuses on the core skills required for Localization engineers. It was very useful to learn more about how to work with localization software (CAT, TMS, etc.) and how to customize it to your needs. We also studied tools for automated testing and considered interaction with different formats (HTML, XML, JSON, etc.). Document preparation, pseudo-localization, and the use of machine translation were also taught. In general, we looked at localization from the technical side. - localization project management
The last course was about project management. We were explained from A to Z how to start a project, how to plan it, how to budget, what risks to take into account, how to negotiate with the customer. And of course, they talked about time management and quality management.
How was the training?
The entire program lasted 9 months. Usually there was one class per week - a broadcast from the university auditorium, which went on for about 3 hours. The schedule may change depending on the holidays. We were taught by people from Microsoft, Tableau Software, RWS Moravia.
In addition, guests were invited to lectures - specialists from Nimdzi, Salesforce, Lingoport, Amazon and the same Microsoft. At the end of the second year there was a presentation from HR, where students were taught the intricacies of writing a resume, finding a job, preparing for an interview. This is very useful, especially for young professionals.
Also, former students of the program came to the classes, they told how their career developed after their studies. One of the graduates is now a faculty member and works at Tableau. Another after the course got a job at Lionbridge as a localization manager, and a few years later moved to a similar position at Amazon.
Homework was usually given at the end of classes. It could be a test that was checked automatically (correct / incorrect answer), or a practical task with a deadline, which was personally assessed by the teacher. The practice was quite interesting. For example, we edited the localization of the media player, prepared a pseudo-localized file, and recreated the structure of web pages in XML files. Working with markup languages ββeven inspired me to take an additional course . It is simple and educational. Only when you complete it, be sure to unlink the card, otherwise auto-pay will continue to take your money.
The very process of learning at the University of Washington is built very conveniently. There is a special platform for students where you can contact classmates and teachers and find all the necessary information on your studies: lesson plan, videos, lesson presentations, and more. We were even given access to most of the software and the Multilingual magazine.
There was an examination at the end of each of the three courses of the program. The latter was in the form of a graduation project.
How was the thesis?
We were divided into groups and given different projects. In fact, it was a conditional case with a conditional budget, but with a real customer (we got a product manager from Amazon), with whom we had to conduct official negotiations. Within the groups, we had to assign roles and estimate the amount of work. Then they contacted the customer, clarified the details and continued to plan. Then they prepared the project for delivery and presented it to the entire teaching staff.
In the course of the thesis, our group encountered a problem - the budget declared by the client was not enough to implement the project. I had to cut costs quickly. We decided to use MTPE (Machine Translation Post-Editing) for those categories of texts, the quality of which was not greatly affected. In addition, we suggested that the customer refuse to translate into the languages ββof countries where the majority of the population knows English, and use only one language option for such pairs of countries as the USA and Great Britain, Spain and Mexico. We constantly brainstormed all this and some other ideas in the group, and as a result, we somehow managed to fit into the budget. It was fun, in general.
The presentation was also not without adventures. I was present in the audience online, and 30 seconds after the start, my connection fell off. While I tried in vain to restore it, the turn came to the budget report that I was preparing. It turned out that my classmates and I didn't skip my part of the presentation, so I had all the numbers and facts. For this we received a remark from the teachers. We were advised to always be prepared for the fact that the equipment may fail, and a colleague falls ill: everyone in the team must be interchangeable. But the rating was not lowered, fortunately.
What was the most difficult?
The University of Washington, as the name implies, is located in America, so the main difficulty for me was the difference in time zones: PST and UTC + 3. I had to get up for work at 4 am. Usually it was Tuesday, so after the 3-hour lecture I went to work. Then I still had to find time for tests and practical tasks. Classes, of course, can be watched in the recording, but the overall score for the course was formed not only from the results of tests, homework and exams, but also from the number of visits. And my goal was to pass everything on successful.
The hardest part was during the graduation project, when for 3 weeks in a row my classmates and I called up almost every day for discussions and brainstorms. Such calls lasted for 2-3 hours, almost like a full session. In addition, I had to communicate with the customer, who was free only at 2 am. In general, with such a schedule, an invigorating person is provided.
Another difficulty in learning is the language barrier. Despite the fact that I speak English well and almost all my classmates lived in America, sometimes it was not easy to understand the interlocutor. The fact is that most of them were not native English speakers. This was most clearly manifested when work on the graduation project began. I had to get used to the accents, but in the end we could easily understand each other.
Tips
Iβll start, perhaps, with the captainβs advice itself: if you decide on such training, then get ready to devote all your time to it. Nine months is a long time. You need to overcome circumstances and yourself every day. But experience and knowledge will be invaluable.
Now a few words about admission. To study at an English-speaking university, you will need, among other documents, a certificate confirming knowledge of the language (TOEFL or IELTS). However, if you work as a localizer and have a diploma in translation, then there is a chance to negotiate with the university management and do without a certificate. This can save you time and money.
Useful links
from the University of Washington.
More localization is taught:
There are also courses/trainings:
Source: habr.com