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XLIFF in a large-scale international OECD study. Case study Britta Upsing, Steve Dept, Andrea Ferrari, Heiko Rölke. Overview. Background Information: The PIAAC Study Test creation and Translation Process Overview of process Translation and Adaptation Tools
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XLIFF in a large-scale international OECD study Case study Britta Upsing, Steve Dept, Andrea Ferrari, Heiko Rölke
Overview • Background Information: The PIAAC Study • Test creation and Translation Process • Overview of process • Translation and Adaptation Tools • User experience: Challenges and lessons learnt
Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies Target Population: non-institutionalized adults aged 16 to 64 27 participating countries 35 national versions 26 languages Very brief introduction to PIAAC
Goals and Scope • Goal: “(PIAAC) will assess the level and distribution of adult skills across countries, focusing on the cognitive and workplace skills needed for successful participation in today's work environment.“ (OECD) • Means: Computer or paper-based tests and a computer-based background questionnaire • Scope: at least 5000 completed cases (test takers) per country • Project Timeline: 2008 – 2013
The cognitive tests - computer- or paper-based tests to measure literacy and numeracy skills - computer-based test to measure how well participants solve problems using computers.
Overview • Background Information: The PIAAC Study • Test creation and Translation Process • Overview of process • Translation and Adaptation Tools • User experience: Challenges and lessons learnt
Test creation and translation process Tests to be comparable across language versions -> “Master versions” developed centrally, translation in countries • Translators should not change the layout • Layout should be separated from translation -> XLIFF generated from item descriptions
Item production and translation process 3/5 How much…? ◄ ? ► Web-based Translationportal 3/5 Combien de …? ◄ ? ► 3/5 Separation of content and text Hoeveel …? XLIFF XLIFF ◄ ? ► 3/5 Translation/Reconciliationtool (OLT) Wie viele …? ◄ ? ► Offline test authoring tool (xliff 1.1 generated from item descriptions)
Translation Process • Web-based Portal for Translation Country1_Language1 Country1_Language2 Translation & Reconciliation Translation & Reconciliation • More than 30,000 archived XLIFF files • Several hundreds of thousands temporary XLIFF files • 60 translators, 30 reconcilers, 30 verifiers…. Scoring Adaptation Scoring Adaptation Verification Verification Layout Adaptation Layout Adaptation Final Check….. Final Check…… Final Sign Off
Translation and Adaptation Tools • Item Management Portal to handle the workflow, uploading of xliff and preview of different translation versions • Open Language Tool to translate xliff locally and offline • Tag editors to translate scoring information and to adapt the layout (done centrally)
Overview • Background Information: The PIAAC Study • Test creation and Translation Process • Overview of process • Translation and Adaptation Tools • User experience: Challenges and lessons learnt
User experience • For the PIAAC project: • Most problems were related to the translation and adaptation tools, not to the xliff standard • The challenge remains that tools were • Either costly • Or insufficiently tested • Or not adapted for a wide audience • Or did not make the most of what the standard offers
Carrying information • Management of errata and successive source versions is a tough nut to crack • Maintenance of TMs posed a variety of unexpected challenges • Segment status was used to “track changes” -> are there better ways to use xliff as a vehicle for this information?
Handling of tags • In tests with scoring blocks, the proportion of tags versus text was terrifying • inline formatting that involves tag edition seemed difficult to handle for translators and led to corrupt xliff • corrupt XLIFF files sometimes detected late in the process, so that a complex set of motions had to be repeated
Handling oflayout Strict separation of layout and text content • implies a lot of work on pre-press but is a • better alternative than translation in MS Word, where translators introduce layout problems • Safe export of xliff from MS Word or InDesign + seamlessly re-import the translation? • Investigate extracting from e.g. an ENG document and re-importing as RTL language
Dynamic Text • Definition of Dynamic Text Rules e.g. to generate two identical text segments in the XLIFF each time gender-specific entries need to replace gender-neutral entries
Some lessons learnt, next steps For a new study….. • Use of alt-trans to store translation and adaptation history • Customized User guides developed on a need-to-know basis (for different roles) • Extension of notes • Tool support • Read-only notes
Thank you! Questions?