Multilingual DTP , something every Language Service Provider needs, but do they 'get' what they need?

Thinking about and talking about DTP in language, one of my favourite subjects...

Working in the language business as we do, with a bias to prepress and DTP services, we have delivered staff, technology, transcreation and translation services for years to Marketing Service Agencies, Production Agencies, In House and LSP's.

In the last few months we have been profiling our ideal client and came to the conclusion that we have several.

Who is our ideal Client?

This whole process has been built around a client Avatar. You do not create a client Avatar, you discover them! What a great lesson and one that has brought real focus and determination. We are clear who that customer is, what they do, why they do it and why they should work with us.

Ideal customers for us are omnichannel with print as a delivery. They would be a brand who is multilingual and needs transcreation/translation, localization of content and fast next day delivery of executional marketing.  Language Service Providers (LSP), who need a DTP partner who works the way they work, with source to target language output and change management based on target copy in language in the InDesign file.  And as all of these files will be printed, we also know that a Print Service Provider (PSP) who is delivering multilingual printed content services as part of the print proposition; another ideal client. Book Publishers, again perfect customer avatar! Any business delivering language based printed material, books, journals, magazines, catalogues and need a fast and reliable pre-press service, we are the perfect partner.

Today’s article is about the service we offer to Language Service Provider’s (LSP’s) and how we work the way they work.

LSP's - The perfect fit.

The recent lockdown was a time of actions and activity and we were very lucky to see established clients continue spending as well as new business was secured. We have been lucky, and I and the team have all reskilled. Despite the negative context, many positive things have come out of this lockdown. Focus with a new determination and a clear understanding of a business opportunity. We call that opportunity Language as a multiplier and multilingual DTP is a perfect example and we offer rapid turnaround on volume production of multilingual content; InDesign Files for print. Quicker, better for less time, cost and overhead.

Now sorry to get technical, but this point really is the cusp of our offer. Instant and on time delivery of DTP in any target language is a challenge for every LSP tasked with translation of vast volumes of content where the source file is an Adobe IDML, created from an InDesign Packaged File.

Working with a growing USA based LSP we discovered that they, along with every LSP we have ever worked with, have a problem. All LSP's need an IDML to go through their Computer Aided Translation Tool(CAT). They need the Packaged INDD so that when the translated IDML is complete, it can be opened in the packaged InDesign and formatted for each target language. The DTP Vendor will then build and proof all target files from the INDD package.

Once the translation is complete and sent to the vendor, the DTP supplier will open the IDML and relink all images and links in the INDD package for each target language file. This process takes a few mins per file depending on the pagination, as a small 24 to 32 pagers may take 5 mins per file, per language. Once complete, the DTP can start, and the production of the language file started.

So, if you have 10K plus pages in 7 languages, you are looking at around 10 hours of work just relinking the images and the links in the INDD file for each target language. That is before you do any formatting, adjustment and or setting.

This process also introduces human errors as, given the volume of pages and untold links and images along with font substitutions based on language,  where certain fonts may be missing. Then there are images with text that need to be updated by target language and replaced.

All of this adds up in terms of time and cost and lead time to market. Put simply,  this slows delivery and adds more stages to the proofing cycle.

We now know that our technology and our working practices, unique as they are, are about 2 things: reduced lead time and cost reductions.

PAGL, the technology we own and is proprietary to us, gives us something no other DTP Vendor has. It de-skills and automates removing all heavy lifting and speeds DTP Production of any language InDesign file.

You can't judge a book by its cover

A great example of how we add value to any LSP is Book production in language.  A simple process with PAGL automation and our Ai. If you don't have that at the DTP stage, there is nothing simple about the process. Indeed, we know in a recent project for a Training company, the LSP we were working with missed the fact with a book translation,  they were running, the book had covers. As a result they missed the content of the cover and did not cost for the cover content and the cover DTP. If they had worked with us, this would never have happened. 

Our technology, PAGL, is used to run all multilingual DTP. All we need is the packaged INDD file and we can supply IDML, Xliff or Docx files with all source content for translation into the target languages. Text in images is also extracted and added to the source file. See How we run multilingual book production: in the link to the video I explain how we run a book production project.

With book production there will be two files, the jacket and the inner. They will be printed separately and then collated off of the press. Additionally, there will be plotters and press pass proofs prior to final print file delivery, all this is within the prepress process, but termed as DTP.

Capacity at the right price

Using our system, we do all the heavy lifting and all the page building for DTP production using Ai and our own Translation Memory Manager, we deskill and automate manual and laborious tasks. We offshore our DTP to our Indian operation, where we have highly skilled and by comparison to UK and USA, low cost operatives, who, using our system and process, can produce 3000 language pages per week per operator.

Knowing who our LSP Avatar is and speaking to them in all we do is now our business determination. Our goal as of now, is to grow our business based on service, delivery, value for money and reduced lead time to market for the LSP’s end client.

A promise we all have to make and stand by it. Without customers no business can survive. Without integrity and honesty, no business has any real worth. With complete commitment we can build and grow a business. Our determination is now clear. We just need to deliver on all of our promises. The message of this article is, stating the obvious, we are the perfect DTP partner for all and every LSP, involved in volume DTP Projects.

At Managed Language, we deliver the executable customer file and content in every language. Most importantly we deliver print ready language files that are production enabled colour correct, PDFx1A and ready for use. On time, in time and right first time.

Watch out for my next post on Print Service Providers (PSP’s) and how language can grow their revenues.