Conclusion

March 22, 2015

This project was a really good experience. Indeed, I could learn  things such as  how to work as a team, how to translate a technical guide and how to face problems and solve them.

Team work 
People usually think  a translator works alone all day...but that's not true. I've learned it is very important to keep in touch with the experts, in case you need any information about the topic, work with other translator in case I need a proofreading or editing.

I was with a very friendly team that was really into this project. There was a good communication between us, and every question was answered. Even though there was a hierarchy in the technical writers' group, we didn't choose a leader among us. That is to say there  was no project manager  We just stuck with the translator, editing, proofreading hierarchy. We were happy with that kind of organisation.

Difficulties
As translators, we didn't know how to create an instructional document at the beginning. But we learned the rules in the "Communication technique" course, which helped us a lot. When we had difficulties, we could discussed with the US and Irish students or we tried to find answers on specialised dictionary such as Termium Plus, especially when we had terminology problems.

Localisation was interesting
What I really found interesting in this project was the way we have to adapt our translation to the French public. In that kind of text, it was obvious that our translation would have to meet a specific rules implemented for instructional documents : a specific terminology and specific formulations were used. For example:
-open up your device’s web browser  = lancez le navigateur
-proceed with the following steps= veuillez suivre les étapes suivantes.

Discovering the  technical writers's world.
At the end of this project, I was really surprised by me thinking about being a technical writer. It was really interesting to see how they worked. I like the idea of creating a guide, helping people to understand how to use a device or a software. I was very pleased to see how technical writers could be helpful to translators.

Futures students:
I'm sure you will really enjoy this collaborative project. It's a new way to work together with students with different backgrounds. In addition, you will discover the technical writers' world. This collaborative project is actually pretty closed to what you will be doing as a professional: teamwork, research, collaborative works with expert, etc.

Sulis was not a great platform to communicate ( that what everybody was thinking). I would recommend you to use Facebook instead of  Sulis - or any social network - and combined it with Google Docs which is a good way to edit and share information. And do not hesitate to ask the students questions. They are here to help you and...I'm sure they will be friendly!

Leila

Last minute changes

March 20, 2015

As everything was ready, we  sent the project to our teacher.

However, we had a problem with the final version.  Indeed, the technical writers made last minute changes the day we had to send the document. Unfortunately when we found it out, the translation was already sent with the first version. 

Final step

March 11, 2015

We decided to create the final version of our document - such as page layout . But we also decided to do a global review such as :
-looking for mistranslations.
-checking if the whole text was traduced.
-reading the text, all together, in order to see if the text is written with a good French.
 
Thanks to that last review, we could find some mistakes and another question was asked: were we going to keep the date on the front page ? We did some research on the Internet and finally we find out there was no date on the front page in most of the technical guides.

Proofreading

March 5, 2015

We received Paul's proofreading and we discussed about the mistakes. One question was asked:
were we going to use "vous", "tu" or an impersonal structure such as "il faut"?  

Note: "tu" is the second person singular and "vous" is the second person plural in French.

For the first question, we tried to find many technical guides on the Internet and see if most of them used the personal pronouns "vous" and "tu". Most of them used "vous" but we weren't that sure.  Fortunately, that question was fully resolved  during the "communication technique" class. Indeed, our teacher told us it was ok to use both ( be careful : only use the same one  all along the text to be coherent). Indeed,  "vous" was used for neutrality and "tu" was used to speak directly to the reader.

Language localisation ?

March 3, 2015

In our weekly class with Mrs Minacori, a group asked  interesting questions about the page setting  and how to translate a text. First they were wondering whether the  Englisg screenshots had to be translated and how to translate the whole instructional document.

For the first question, it was obvious that screenshots had to be translated. In fact, it wasn't translation but language localisation.  What does it mean? Language localisation means adapting a text that has been previously translated into different languages to a specific country or region. It's a matter of cultural adaptation. It is very important when we use screenshots.

In our project, screenshots were used to illustrate the text. We didn't have to edit the picture because we used our own Skype account to reproduce the screenshot. However, language localisation was also very important all along the text. Indeed, we had to adapt this guide for a French audience. For example : to use active sentences, avoid the future tense, use the personal pronoun "vous",  etc

Traduction/ Editing

February 25, 2015

We received the translation from Julie.  I decided to create a table in order to have  the source language on the left and the target language on the right.

It was a good translation, so I just had to find a few sentences  more appropriate to this genre of text. Indeed, this wasn't LGP - LGP stands for Language for General Purposes - but LSP - LSP stands for Language for Specific Purposes. There were some formulations related to this genre of text that we have to use as well as specialised terms. I had to do some research and check if the appropriate terminology was used.

So, after that first review, one question was asked : did we have to use the future tense for the French version ? For example, in the following sentence, we didn't know if it was better to use the present tense : "Skype will automatically detect your operating system and direct you the proper download page.". After some research on the Internet, we figured out that the present tense was used in most of the technical guides.

Translation Phase

February 24, 2015

As the document was already available for consultation, it was time to translate it. The text wasn't that long but we had to wonder how to translate it.

Did we have to translate the whole text? Did we have to divide it and  translate each one a part? Since the very beginning of this year, our teachers showed us a new translation technique and we all agreed to use it because it was very efficient : this is the translation, editing, proofreading method.

How did it work? The  translator had to translate all the text. Then the review editor had to check if there was any mistake and discussed it with the translator.  After speaking about it, the review editor had to correct the translation. At the end, the proofreader had to check the whole text in the target language and see if it was coherent.

Julie would be the translator.
Paul would be the proofreader.
...and I would be the review editor.

English version : checked!

February 22, 2015

The English version  was written.  I had to admit they did a great job together.
I was impressed because It really looked professional. They added images in order to illustrate the content. It was really didactic and well designed. Everything looked really nice. 

As the English version was written, it was our turn to play!

Writing-for-Translation Phase

February 14, 2015

As the topic was selected, it was time to write down something.
The technical writers had to create an instructional document. They worked really fast and posted each change they did on Facebook or on Google Docs. They divided the text into 9 categories. In the table of contents, you would find:
- Introduction
- System requirements
- Installation
- Creating your Skype account
- Setting up and testing Skype
- Adding a contact
- Contacting a Skype user
- Creating and contacting a Skype group
- Sending files to Skype contacts

It was really interesting to see how they had created this document by collecting information  in the Internet. They were very efficient.

Organisation

February 11, 2015

First of all, it was essential to be organised in order to carry out  the project successfully. Seona wanted to organise it right now.

She was very active as a team worker  but we all chose Dean as our team leader because he was really involved too.

Communication was really important as we all lived in different places. Unfortunately, we didn't like to chat on  Sulis. Indeed,  we all thought  the platform wasn't a really good means of communication : we couldn't get any notification from Sulis when someone posted a message. As a result we had to be logged in everyday and check if someone posted something new. It was hard to be updated.

 Using Facebook was a great idea and approved by everybody as we were - almost- all familiar with the social network. Combined with Google Docs - a software office suite which allows users to create and edit documents online while collaborating with other users in real-time-  it was easier to keep everybody updated. Everybody was very active on Facebook and when questions were asked there was always an answer.

To be more efficient, we draw a calendar in order to meet our goal without putting ourselves under pressure.  Then we started to establish a process and routine to follow.

February 2015
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11 Create folders, assign tasks	12	13	14
15 Facebook Chat - 2pm GMT?	16	17	18	19	20	21
22	23 UPD Break*	24 UPD Break*	25 UPD Break*	26 UPD Break*	27 UPD Break*	28 UPD Break*
March 2015
Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
1 UPD Break*	2	3	4 UPD to Translate?	5	6	7
8	9 UCF Break**	10 UCF Break**	11 UCF Break**	12 UCF Break**	13 UCF Break**	14 UCF Break**
15 UCF Break**	16	17	18	19	20 Assignment Due	21
22	23	24	25	26	27	28
29	30	31

UPD Break* - University Paris Diderot

UCF Break** - University College Florida

The project : topic

February 7, 2015

I was told we would have to collaborate with the US and Irish students in order to create an instructional document in English and in French. The project was divided into 2 phases:
1) a Writing-for-Translation Phase in which the technical writers would have to create a technical guide.
2) a Translation Phase in which Julie, Paul and I will have to translate the document.

In order to be on the same page, Seona sent her assignment brief to us :



"How to use Google Drive/Docs" seemed to be a nice topic but some of us wanted to choose another subject. Finally we all agreed to work on "how to create a Skype account and a chat group".  I was really pleased to work on this topic because I was a regular user of Skype. 

W

First contact

February 3rd, 2015

It was our first lesson with Mrs Minacori and the first time I really met her. As usual, I expected to begin with the translation of a new text after a short introduction. But Mrs Minacori had something else in  mind.

In addition to translation exams, the course was made up of an extra work. Indeed, we were going  to collaborate with students from the USA and Ireland to create a project. I was pretty excited to work with them. Indeed, I like to discover other cultures, new way of thinking and countries.

The same day, our team workers sent us a message via Sulis - a platform from the University of Limerick in which we can communicate via a chat room - and introduced themselves. My team was made up of 6 students :
Born and raised  in Orlando, FL, USA, but  from Peru, Giannina  is studying at UFC. Seona  is Irish and she is studying at the University of Limerick with Amal, who is from Saudi Arabia. My two French workmates are Julie and Paul. They are studying at Paris Diderot University, as I do.

I didn't know their age - because I didn't dare to ask - but they all sounded really nice and happy to work with us. Everybody was motivated to work on this project.