We are the best NZ-Wide (Kiwi) Language Translation Service.
Don’t believe us, listen to our clients.
To give you a taste of our capabilities, we have listed a few case studies of three of our clients and their feedback.
Fisher & Paykel Appliances, Auckland
Customer overview
Fisher & Paykel Appliances is a manufacturer of white goods with a very strong market position in Australia and New Zealand. The company’s expansion into North America and Europe means all its documentation needs to be translated into the relevant languages.
Business proposition:
Fisher and Paykel were already a client when Blue South realised their needs were perfectly matched to SDL Trados translation memory software. Blue South presented the system’s benefits and showed how it would interface perfectly with the Adobe InDesign artwork software which F&P use for their publications.
As a specific advantage, the creation of translation memories would result in significant, on-going time and cost savings by allowing existing translations to be recycled. Text can also be re-imported into InDesign, reducing costs and time markedly compared with conventional typesetting.
Solution description:
F&P needed to translate two user guides into Latin American Spanish, while retaining a high degree of commonality between the two documents.
Blue South proposed that the job be handled using SDL Trados translation memory software, with text extracted from one user guide and translated, while a translation memory was created. This would then be applied to the second manual before translation, so matching text segments would not need to be translated twice.
Implementation process:
When the first manual had been independently proof read, the translation was read again by F&P’s external reviewer. With two slight changes, the translation was applied as a memory to the untranslated working file for the second manual.
As a result, only text exclusive to the second manual had to be translated (at full rate) and the matching text was edited to fit the next context (at a greatly reduced rate).
The complete second manual translation was then independently proof read, and again reviewed by F&P.
Once finalised, both translations were re-imported into the InDesign base artwork – the translated text flowing into place without going through copy and paste typesetting.
Once complete, the artwork was proof read by the original translators.
Results:
Thanks to SDL Trados and Blue South, F&P paid significantly less to translate two manuals at a time. They also made significant time savings by re-importing into InDesign. As an on-going time and cost benefit, translation memories have been created for future updates to further reduce the amount of text to be translated.
Blue South are leagues ahead of anything else we could come by. The whole service is just excellent.The time saving they’ve made has been absolutely critical. Our translation cycle has been hugely reduced from an annual process, and at this rate it will all be quarterly by next year.
At Fisher & Paykel we’re living with translation and we’ve been working with them for a long time, around two years. We’re only in the infancy of the technology but to be able to make the time savings, get everything out on time and achieve 100 per cent accuracy is a fantastic position to be in.
We’ve sent manuals out for the market to test and we don’t get a murmur that there’s something wrong. We used to in the past but these days there are no mistakes.
The people they use as translators are passionate about it, it’s wonderful that they take time out to introduce new technology, and everything they do is so professional, on time and perfectly accurate.
Troy ScraggGeneral Manager - Global Marketing ServicesFisher & Paykel Appliances
Real Journeys, Queenstown
Customer overview:
Real Journeys is a major New Zealand tourism icon, offering sightseeing and adventure in Fiordland National Park and Queenstown. The company has been sharing this designated World Heritage area with visitors for more than 50 years.
Business challenge:
The Real Journeys website http://www.realjourneys.co.nz/ is an excellent guide to the company’s products, which also communicates the mood and ambience of Fiordland National Park.
The challenge was to translate the site into German, Chinese and Korean, with copy which:
- Accurately communicates local knowledge about the area to attract potential customers through an easy read,
- Promotes Real Journeys products in a similar style to the original material,
- Is equally effective in communicating the moods of Fiordland as the source copy.
Solution description:
Blue South liaised with Real Journeys to fully understand the aims of the site, as well as its target audience details.
The same liaison meant Blue South fully understood details of Real Journeys’ products and company culture, and the two companies then jointly decided which words and phrases would be best left in English.
Website developers Cabbage Tree Creative were also part of the team, bringing in their Thrive content management system, so strategies to cover all issues about inputting could be implemented from an early stage.
Implementation process:
Translators from the Blue South approved list were selected for their translation experience, and equally for their writing skills.
Once selected, they were thoroughly briefed by Blue South. During the process, regular meetings with Real Journeys management provided on-going updates which were passed on to the team.
Once translated, the material was proof read independently.
Translations were checked by Real Journeys’ own reviewers and the company’s management team all played a role in the review feedback.
Text was inputted into the website via the Thrive system and proof read once more by the original translator before going live.
Results:
The Real Journeys website reads as well in its new languages as it did in the original English.
In our business it’s crucial to produce copy which delivers the same message and feel whichever language it’s speaking in.We know exactly how hard that is because in the past we used to get complaints about our translations. Since Blue South became involved the complaints have stopped, and that’s a sure sign they’ve done a great job.
It’s part of our everyday work to monitor the site visit statistics, and they’re creeping up in our key markets which is another good indicator that it’s being read with ease.
It’s really good to work with a company which is every bit as specific on things as our company.
Also, their turnaround is incredibly quick. They’re usually on to me for the next piece of the copy to translate!
And they know exactly what they’re talking about too. They’ve often prompted me and asked if I’ve thought about such and such. ‘Scroggin’ was a good example. Only New Zealanders automatically know what that is, so we had to take that into account in the translation.
They’re friendly, helpful and very professional, and their general technical knowledge is superb too. They know which software best suits which media, from print to web, for the best translation. That means everybody benefits, from the translators right through to our guests and that’s a huge point in their favour.
Wendy SherlockMarketing Services ManagerReal Journeys
Siliconcoach, Dunedin, New Zealand
Customer overview:
Dunedin based Siliconcoach is making a significant impact in the world of sport, education, clinical practice and sports retail. Siliconcoach’s software is designed to improve understanding of human movement – to analyse technique, enhance performance, and reduce the risk of injury.
Business challenge:
Siliconcoach have developed Dialed in Motion, a dynamic shoe fitting system which takes their athletics training motion analysis software into the retail environment. Specifically, it helps the shop assistant analyse how people run to determine the optimum fitting of running shoes.
Siliconcoach required a Chinese localized version of their software and user instructions to support their sales in China. The software was written using the .net framework, a file format which is not widely supported by the translation industry in New Zealand.
Solution description:
Blue South proposed that the software strings could be handled directly using their Catalyst software localization tool, whilst the manual would be best processed using SDL Trados, a translation memory tool.
For the Dialed in Motion files, Catalyst has the advantage of providing the strings to the translator in context order and showing the character count for the English source string.
A glossary would be created when translating the strings which would then be applied to the translation of the manual to enhance consistent use of terminology.
Implementation process:
Blue South used one of their approved translators based in China who is a specialist for software localization. Being located in China and immersed in the culture, this translator understands the current terminology used for such applications.
The software strings were initially translated, proof read by another linguist and supplied to Siliconcoach for approval. Once approved, a glossary was created and applied via SDL Trados to the translation of the manual. After proof reading by another linguist, the translated manual was supplied to the client for approval. In both cases, Siliconcoach’s contacts in China undertook the review and any feedback was reconciled by Blue South.
Results:
Translating the strings using Catalyst allowed Siliconcoach to upload the localized .resx files directly to their application. And as a translation memory has been created, the existing translation can be efficiently re-used for future updates.
Similarly, for the manual, a translation memory exists to enable fast and efficient future updates/derivatives.
We found working with Blue South a refreshing experience. They guided us through the process, helped us do a bit of prototyping to “prove” the process. Their process was clear, efficiently executed, timely and really quite reasonably priced. We would certainly recommend Blue South.We’d used our own system previously and in the past we’ve done translation using colleagues. For written language it made so much sense to use a service in-county, and from the proofing process it was clear the translation quality was excellent.
Once we started the project it was very fluid and Blue South were really on the ball. We got used to getting responses to emails within minutes never mind the same day!
They were able to supply answers to our queries without us finding them ourselves and as a result the project was completed at a great pace.
To put it simply, Blue South over-achieved and we had the material well within the 21-day deadline.
Steve GoodlassSoftware DeveloperSiliconcoach