Global success doesn’t come from one-size-fits-all solutions. We start with a collaborative discovery session to:

• Uncover Your Pain Points: What are the specific bottlenecks slowing down your multilingual projects or causing costly errors?
• Identify Risks: Are you facing potential legal hurdles or cultural miscommunications in your target markets?
• Define Measurable Objectives: Do you want to increase website traffic in new markets, improve customer satisfaction scores, or streamline internal communication?

Step 2 – Customized Solutions: Your Tailored Path to Growth

Based on your unique needs, we’ll design a custom program. This isn’t just about translation – it’s about understanding your business model. Your solution might include:

• Vendor Selection: Matching you with the perfect translation specialists for your industry and content type.
• Process Optimization: Using technology to improve efficiency and collaboration, saving you time and money.
• Workflow Design: Developing the ideal steps from content creation to multilingual delivery.
• Timeline and Evaluation: Setting clear milestones and success metrics.

Step 3 – Expertly Guided Execution: Your Partner in Progress

We don’t just hand you a plan and disappear. We’re your partners through the entire process, offering:

• Expert Implementation: Our team guides you through every stage, ensuring a smooth rollout.
• Ongoing Support: We’re here for questions, adjustments, and adapting to new challenges as they arise.
• Sustained Growth: Together, we’ll analyze success metrics, celebrate wins, and refine your approach to maximize your global reach.

Translation and localization can be overwhelming. But with a trusted partner and a strategic process, it becomes your key to international expansion. Think of this 3-step model as a roadmap – allowing you to navigate new markets with confidence.

Ready to ditch the translation headaches and unlock your global potential?

Schedule a discovery call with the Ciklopea team today!

The post From Translation Chaos to Global Growth: A 3-Step Process for Success appeared first on Ciklopea.

While the basic phases and the desired outcome of each project are generally the same, the variables such as language combinations, number of language pairs, type, format and purpose of the materials and any additional services required will influence the scope and consequently the price of each project.

Take a look at the key points you need to define at the beginning of your journey towards the perfect service:

Translation vs Localization

While translation refers to communicating the meaning between the languages (mostly in textual format), localization, as its name implies, refers to a particular place, or even more specifically, to a particular market.

Its purpose is to adapt the product/service to the linguistic, cultural and legal environment of the target market, while maintaining the corporate identity and the essence of the corporate message and values across different languages and locales.

Translation is an extremely important part of the localization process, but localization goes deeper, as it also often includes adaptation of non-textual elements such as images, layouts, multimedia elements etc, as well as alignment of the product/service with any market-specific legal or technical requirements.

In short, you may need translation only for textual content, while for websites, software, IFUs, multimedia materials and everything else you should be looking for localization.

When done the right way, localization is invisible – if the end user can notice the seams, something is not quite right. To achieve this invisibility, we need the localization process.

The process

The localization process can include more or less stages, depending on the requirements and objectives of each particular project. The standard process version includes the essential roles of a PM, translators, reviewers and a QA
team.

The technology

It is impossible to imagine the localization process without the dedicated translation technologies and productivity suites designed to generate more high-quality content in less time and at optimal costs. CAT (Computer-assisted translation) tools are software products designed to help professional human translators generate more work in less time and they have been the industry standard for decades.

Machine translation (MT) is the translation output generated by machines, i.e. machine translation engines that should be custom developed for best results. MT can be performed with the application of Artificial intelligence (AI), with the post-editing and quality control steps by professional human translators.

The context

The context refers to what do you need to localize and who is your target audience. The type and format of your content will have a significant impact on the turnaround time and costs of the localization process. It is important to bear in mind that the purpose of the localization process is the same in all cases and what differs mainly depends on the context i.e. target audience: It is not the same to localize corporate materials in editable vs. non-editable files, website localization vs. localization of highly specialised materials, transcreation vs. localization of multimedia files etc. In other words, the specific stages and workflows of the process will largely depend on the type and format of your materials.

The volume

The volume refers to how much content do you want to translate and how are the costs calculated – and, lest we forget, the number of language combinations. Translation and reviewing volumes are usually calculated per source word, with applied calculations that generate weighted word counts, with matches and repetitions at reduced price per word. This method of calculation is one of the many benefits of CAT (as well as MT + AI) platforms. In cases when localization is performed in several language combinations, it is always advisable to prepare the source material in one major language and then to localize from it to other languages, and thus avoid language pairs with reduced availability.

The Quality

Quality in this context is not an elusive or preferential aspect of the localized materials, but actually a predictable and measurable result of the localization process. The aspects of quality of translated materials such as accuracy, appropriateness and fluency can be assessed, and these are the aspects of your corporate message that can have an impact on your business performance and that can make your marketing campaigns sink or swim in international markets. The thing is that people tend to notice the quality of the language only when it’s bad – and when it’s bad, it always brings a whiff of sloppiness and untrustworthiness that may have serious consequences on your business.

The reason why language industry even exists, together with its processes and dedicated technologies, is to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Sounds interesting? See more details on:

Buyer Guide

The post All you need to know when buying Translation and Localization Services appeared first on Ciklopea.

In this webinar, we will discuss how the digital translation assets can be used to support global and local business operations in the life sciences sector while retaining the highest quality levels and maintaining the consistency of corporate message and style on all levels.

This session gathers top experts from the worlds of life sciences, business development and localization industry who will explore the opportunities of digital asset management. Each of them will share their experiences and their views on digital asset management and its enormous transforming potential that they have witnessed in their respective fields.

The panelists:

• • Morten Kruse Sorensen – Senior Global Director, Multichannel Excellence & Operations at Novo Nordisk

• Charlotte Fairweather – Medical Affairs, Digital innovation at Bayer
• Emma Booth – Director and Head of EU Medical Capabilities at Amgen –
• Mladen Stojak – Chief Strategy Officer at Ciklopea
• Nancy Hähnel – Business Development Representative at Ciklopea

Date: 31 March 2021

Time: 3 PM (CET)

Duration: 60 minutes

If you want to learn how the digital translation assets can boost your performance in the life sciences sector, this is the webinar for you. Register now!

The post Ciklopea at NEXT Pharma Summit Webinar “Digital Asset Management in Localization Process and How to Do It Better?” appeared first on Ciklopea.

Let me tell you a secret that took me 15 years to figure out about providing top language services:

Translation is actually NOT what you are looking for.

What you really need is a language solution, which is essentially another name for an errorproof process in the language industry.

Now, you are probably wondering – “Why didn’t I know this before?”

Honestly – it’s not you, it the language solution market putting all the emphasis on translation, when in reality – if you work in heavily regulated industry like pharma, you need more than “just” a translation.

You need the “whole package” to make sure that the errors are avoided and the delivery is on time.

Why?

Because every error or missed deadline costs time, money, energy, affects reputation and compromises the overall quality of your product/service. Plain and simple.

So, what is the difference between “just” translation and language solution?

Translation remains the main part of the language solution, but it includes further services and procedures performed before, during and after the translation process. These services and procedures may vary depending on the specific project requirements, but they usually include:

• Selection of the right linguist team for every project on the basis of their expertise, language pair and quality of their work;
• Determining the scope and the requirements of each project;
• Use of appropriate technology (Computer-assisted translation or CAT tools)
• Development and use of appropriate translation assets (termbases and translation memories)
• Professional human translation;
• Professional human editing/proofreading of the translated materials by a second linguist team;
• Subject-matter expert review (if required)
• Computer-assisted quality assurance (QA) processing;
• DTP and additional services (if required).

Life Sciences and Language

Where is the meeting point of localization – and other language services – and the pharmaceutical industry?

If we take a step back and look at medicines and medical devices as essentially products, it’s easy to see that translation and localization are the necessary tools for business operations on the global markets.

But if we remember that healthcare products are designed to improve the quality of life and health, it becomes instantly clear that development of language solutions for the life sciences sector requires specific approach, high expertise and rigorous quality control process.

Language Solutions for Clinical Research

Clinical research is one of the pivotal phases of development of pharmaceutical products in which companies test safety and efficacy of the new medications intended for human use.

It is performed in medical institutions and hospitals (clinical research centers) and involves wide groups of stakeholders, including the study participants, investigators and other healthcare professionals, ethics committee members and regulators.

With clinical research studies being increasingly outsourced, the need for localization of a wide range of study materials also increases.

These materials, inter alia, range from materials written by medical professionals for their peers, such as study protocols, requests for approvals and correspondence with local regulators, the materials composed by medical professionals for patients such as informed consent forms (ICFs) to patient-reported outcomes (PROs).

All clinical research materials are composed in a particular style, using a particular vocabulary and, in case of any regulatory-related content, the translated versions must follow the specific terminology and standards of the target markets and therefore the translation projects must be performed by the linguists who are familiar with the target market regulations, preferred/required terminology and the clinical research process in general.

This is where the strengths of an advanced translation/localization process truly come to the fore and the execution phase of that process begins with the selection of the most suitable linguists for the concerned language pair and professional domain.

Translated, proofread and approved segments of the translated materials are stored in the form of translation assets (terminology bases and translation memories) for further use that ultimately cut the translation costs down and, besides the standard quality control steps such as proofreading and computer-assisted quality assurance, function as an additional quality layer of quality assurance as the linguists perform every new translation project using the previously approved elements.

It’s All About Quality

The ultimate purpose of this is to deliver the translation of the best quality possible that answers the challenges of clinical research requirements, ultimately helping the life sciences companies close the regulatory cycles on the foreign markets and launch their products quicker.

What can you do right now if you are struggling with poor quality translation?

If you found this post helpful and need help with localization of clinical research materials, schedule a free translation process audit and I’ll tell you where the mistakes in your translation process are and how to correct them.

The post The Missing Piece In Translating Clinical Research Materials appeared first on Ciklopea.

I heard about Ciklopea while I was still working at the biggest telecommunications company in Croatia. The HR manager knew about my skills, so she invited me to test my strengths in the language industry. All I can say now is that I am very happy to handle projects just as successfully in an entirely different environment.

What’s the driving force of your job?

The clients’ satisfaction is what inspires me every day. A smile on the faces of my clients makes me come to work smiling, even on Mondays – and we all know that nobody likes Mondays! Joking aside, my clients inspire me to constantly pursue better solutions and provide them with a service of even higher-quality and stronger support.

What do you think is the hardest thing for clients to understand about the language technology and the localization process?

I think some clients have difficulties understanding the complexity of the translation process and the challenges of tight deadlines. Project management includes a wide range of activities that may seem somewhat abstract, such as setting up the project, establishing delivery deadlines, assembling a project team, quality assurance, checking compliance with the client’s terms and instructions, performing desktop publishing, etc. It’s demanding only to list these phases, let alone connecting, organizing and controlling all the segments.

What are the advantages of language technology and why is it important to use it?

Technology is as important in the language industry as a ball is for playing football. Of course, language is the foundation of everything, but technology ensures efficiency, quality and speed. Language and technology are closely related, like a medicine and a PIL.

Translation of technical documentation requires an organized approach to work. Without a doubt, consistent quality and a tight delivery deadline could not be achieved in connection with these types of texts without technology.

You are known as the Across guy. Why did you choose Across as a primary tool for your projects?

It was love at first sight. Across is a very smart tool, strong-willed just like I am, in the most positive sense. It has a lot of useful features that make every user’s work easier. This tool is completely different from the rest. It is very user friendly and once you gain a sense of its logic, it quickly becomes your favorite. This is just like describing myself. One simply senses the love, am I right?

What’s the most challenging/interesting thing about it?

The most challenging thing is to understand its specificity.

How has Across helped you or made your job easier?

It has the simplest system for monitoring and working with licenses. It provides a comprehensive insight into project history and the logic behind the project management is very clear.

What is your piece of advice to other localization project managers?

I would advise them to build good relationships with their clients and vendors on trust. A successful day for me is when I meet the needs of both the client and the vendor.

What are your passions outside the office?

Basketball is my other big passion. A project manager’s job is similar to that of a basketball player – the trust between team members is crucial. I have played basketball for the last 7 years and I still hope to make it to the NBA (of course, when I grow taller by another 20 cm). In addition to basketball, I like martial arts which I have practiced for many years and won numerous medals. Other things that make my day include music, friends and spending time with my son.

An interesting thing about you that nobody knows?

I am a former passionate football fan (a former member of Bad Blue Boys). For years, I have traveled to all the matches of my favorite football club across Europe. Those are wonderful, very vivid memories.

How would you make the world a better place?

I would divide all goods and wealth equally among all the people on the planet. I know this is a utopian idea, but that is how I feel!

The post My Ciklopea Story: Dejan Prebeg appeared first on Ciklopea.

Once you have set up your business and your website is online, there are several points of consideration that will lead you through the localization process easily and successfully.

Attract visitors to your website

First and foremost, your website should feature engaging, high quality content, and it should have an intuitive, attractive, and user-friendly design. No matter how good your SEO strategy may be, poorly written or translated content and a cluttered design will neither attract nor retain visitors.
Your content should be well-written in the target language and well-presented in accordance with the target culture. LSPs who provide complete language solutions – and these include writing original articles – are extremely helpful.

SEO is based on territory, not on languages

Good content and a well-designed website will bring you visitors and a good ranking, but you should be aware that Google and other search engines operate on the national / regional level, not on the linguistic level.

This means that an English website with a good ranking in the UK will not work all that well in, say, New Zealand. This is why, in addition to understanding subtle language differences, a thorough understanding of the Internet and SEO is required for a successful localization project.

No matter how good your SEO strategy may be, poorly written or translated content and a cluttered design will neither attract nor retain visitors.

Conversion of visitors

Attracting visitors is one thing, but persuading them to use your services is quite another.

Well-written, engaging, and original content in the target language is simply a must. Feature informative content on your destination’s attractions, tell stories about your hotel or restaurant, be creative and let your website be an inviting corner of the Internet that presents your business at its best to foreign visitors perfectly in their own language — all of this can be achieved through a carefully planned and executed localization process combined with a smart SEO strategy.

Communication with visitors

Social media is the dominant channel of communication of the modern age. Keeping in touch with your visitors after their holiday ends will surely enhance their chances of returning the next year – or even making your business their preferred holiday spot.

Running it all – localization, SEO, and social media communication in a friendly, engaging, original, and – above all else – properly localized manner is more than likely to bring success to your travel or hospitality business.

The post Successful Localization in Travel and Hospitality: Tips and Tricks appeared first on Ciklopea.

When we embarked on our journey through the world of language industry back in 2004, the very first logo of Ciklopea emphasized the two-way nature of translating, represented by two opposing arrows with our initial in the centre, underlining our idea of being an intermediary between cultures, languages, people and companies. We saw our mission as one of building linguistic and cultural bridges where there were none.

Our next visual change came in 2009, when we opted to keep the same logo, but to bring the name of the company into focus. By this time, Ciklopea has become a well-known name synonymous with the successful fulfilling of its original mission. The change was subtle and natural.

In 2015, after more than a decade of experience, millions of translated words and thousands of successfully completed projects that made the multilingual communication between the region of South East Europe and the rest of the world flow smoother than ever before, we felt the time to take a new step forward had arrived.

By 2015, the translation companies as the world knew them began to change slowly, but dramatically. Simple translation from one language to another is already a thing of the past – a good translation company of today is an all-in-one solution service for a complete localization process, offering a wide range of services packed with translation. Ciklopea has worked like this ever since its inception, but today, having built strong linguistic expertise, we are moving forward to the LSP of the future – and that future is now. Rebranding of the business is also the visual translation of these changes.

Simplicity, clarity and transparency are the main features of Ciklopea’s new face, reflecting our corporate and social values, our philosophy of openness to the clients, partners and society, as well as our dedication to preserve and constantly improve the high professional and ethical standards that kept us going all this time and that lead us to this point.

The opposing arrows from Ciklopea’s first logo evolved into a round shape of the new design, suggesting the cultural and linguistic exchange is now flowing in both directions simultaneously and that our mission is proving successful. In addition, it also symbolizes that social, economic, environmental and cultural processes are connected and interconnected, and Ciklopea’s readiness to continue the socially responsible work and thus contribute to society as a whole.

Designed as a visual translation of our values, philosophy and business culture, Ciklopea’s rebranded image is sending the message that we are doing what we do best – helping companies and institutions bridge the linguistic differences and cross cultural borders with individual approach and tailoring customized solutions – with you and for you.

The post Ciklopea: Rebranded appeared first on Ciklopea.

The localization of e-learning and m-learning material is one area where the multilevel localization process really comes to life due to the multimedia character of the materials, which combine sound (narration and lectures), images, video, text, and interactive software interfaces. Before localizing or preparing such a product for localization, there are a few things that should be taken into account:

Content should be created to be localizable

This means that content should be composed in a clear and precise manner using the standardized form of the source language with as few slang terms or dialecticisms as possible. Of course, this will always depend on the subject of the learning material itself, but it is something that should be kept in mind nevertheless.

The localization of e-learning and m-learning material is one area where the multilevel localization process really comes to life.

Create termbases

When creating or localizing e-learning content, you are dealing with educational material. An incorrect translation means incorrect knowledge in this case, and this is something that should be avoided at all costs. The creation of termbases is possibly nowhere more advisable than in these cases, both for reasons of clarity, consistency, speed, and, finally, the accuracy of educational materials.

Keep the text width in mind

Different languages and different scripts require a different amount of free space to be displayed properly. When designing e-learning and, particularly, m-learning apps, this is something that should be kept in mind. This will not only make the localization process faster and easier, but will also benefit the final product.

Stay culturally neutral

Once again, this will mostly depend on the subject of e-learning, but there are things that can prevent confusion. Be sure to prepare content that is in accordance with the target culture, as what is acceptable in one country may be offensive or confusing in another. In such a scenario, content should be rewritten for the specific market. Choose images suitable to the target country, especially those depicting public signs.

Following these steps will make the localization process faster, smoother, and more cost-effective, and the final product will be appropriately localized.

The post E-learning and m-learning localization: Translating Knowledge appeared first on Ciklopea.

People are usually more perceptive to the content in their own language

This was true even before the Internet was invented, but in the days of the dominance of English, it may be even truer – people simply like to hear or see the content in their own, first language. Having a website localized into languages other than English means reaching out to more potential users.

Website is above all the interface of the enterprise, serving as an interactive bridge between the company and its customers or users.

More than 70 percent of Internet users do not speak English as their first language

English is the dominant language of the culture, technology and business of our era, it is the most widely learned second language in the world, but it is not the first language to a great deal of Internet users.

The localized version of a website must be a “mirror image” of the original one

The localized version of a website is not a new version of the website, but a customized version of an existing one, usually in English. It has to be represented in the target language and culture as if it originated within them, but it has to follow the pattern of the original one and convey the exact same information.

The localization process is easier when the original website is complete, tested and stable

It is not only easier, it is also safer and less complicated and promises better results – the finalized source text is translated and the finalized design elements are adapted and no quick and stressful changes are required.

Website localization is more than website translation

Translation is the central process of localization, but not the only one – it also includes the localization of code, and, in certain cases, images, audio and video files, interactive content and other multimedia.

The post What you need to know before making your website global appeared first on Ciklopea.