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freudling · Jul 6, 2007, 12:41 AM

Large software manual that is in English that needs to be edited. You will be working with another programmer who will take half of the manual. It is mostly on directory trees, file structures and so forth. PM me if you are interested. Of course this is a paid job. You would need to reserve about 10 days to do it, and it is due this month.

Peter · Jul 6, 2007, 04:59 AM

"Software Manual" ?
Can you give an example of a page?

ghporter · Jul 6, 2007, 10:14 AM

You need a computer scientist that speaks "Laypersons' English." It's uncommon to find a highly qualified specialist who can actually convey information to a normal person who is not an expert in that area of specialty. And it's more uncommon to find such a person who actually understands English grammar...

Peter may be your man, but even if I had the time I'd be leery of such a job simply because I'd only have half of it. Consistency in manuals is crucial, and there's no way two people could be able to get such a thing edited and consistent without face-to-face discussion (and a lot of compromise).

freudling · Jul 7, 2007, 01:26 AM

Well ghporter, you are clearly not the man for this project.

If you want the sample, PM me: I will not post the material in the open because of a standard NDA with the client.

OreoCookie · Jul 7, 2007, 02:46 AM

I don't have experience in writing manuals, but translating them: ghporter raises some very good points, consistency is very difficult to maintain, unless there is a common dictionary. Can you at least give a hint as to what kind of software you are talking about? Financial software? Video software? At the company I worked for, there were specialists for each specific area of software …

freudling · Jul 7, 2007, 01:19 PM

Clearly you guys have not worked in the editing and translation business. With large projects, you have to have more than one person, because deadlines are tight. Sometimes, with a 300,000 word project, that is due in 2 weeks, you have to have 8 people going. Consistency is part of what makes a good project team. You work together. Because the deadline on this is tight, there is no choice but to have at least two people. Anyway, this is not really the point of this thread - to discuss the pros and cons of having more than one person assigned to a job.

I am looking for someone who has a good attitude wanting to take on 50,000 words at a pay rate to be discussed. Operating system based on Unix, talking about shell commands, HFS, file structures. A sample will be povided via PM.

OreoCookie · 03:31 PM

I have worked in the localization business for almost three years (although I wasn't involved in editing the manuals, but rather the help files, a colleague of mine did the manuals) and creating a common dictionary took literally several years. This ensures consistency across the years, people and different projects -- and it takes experience to create one. We used to work in a team of translators and expert(s) in the respective field (and we weren't just working together for one project).

Μακ · Jul 7, 2007, 05:27 PM

I think what freudling is trying to say is that he needs someone to do the job he is advertising, not tell him how they think the job should be done.

ghporter · Jul 7, 2007, 08:03 PM

No sweat-I just pointed out why I'm not the computer scientist for that job.

freudling · 03:57 AM

Thanks Μακ.

There are a lot of people who think they know what should be done or what the best practice is in this business. We are global, and do everything. Business is busy, and deadlines are ALWAYS tight. The last thing I need is to have my staff constantly question our decisions, that's why I screen people out right away who I know are going to be difficult. The bottom line - If we can't get stuff done in very short time frames, we don't get the job.

Picture this: your phone is ringing, emails are coming in, you scramble to match the right people with the right job, and always, almost always, the deadlines are incredibly short. That is the nature of this business. I have actually had employees yell at me over the phone, whom I have never met, where it was there first job with us. All kinds out there, but the bottom line: we put food on their tables.

Anyway, when you have a team of experienced, professional editors/proofreaders, consistency is a non-issue. It is the translation, the first tier, that things get mucked up.