What exactly is file engineering?

When I tell someone that I’m a File Engineer, I normally get a puzzled look and am asked “what is that!?”

Most assume that with ‘engineer’ in the title; I use metal lathes, CNC machines and can build a car engine. Well, this job isn’t actually that far off! I use CAT tools and software to ‘fabricate’ and ‘manipulate’ files from clients to make them translation-ready.

The basic procedure is to process the file from the client, whether that be an InDesign file, Word file or website XML using CAT (Computer Aided Translation) software. We use two main CAT tools; Trados and our latest in-house developed software. Both CAT tools will process the files and output a translation friendly file type. This will also give a word analysis to build a quotation for translation costs.

Once the CAT files have been translated and proofread, File Engineering will then post-process these files to output a fully translated file in the exact same file type and layout as the file received from the client. The translation memories are then updated with all the translated content from these files for future translation projects.

What type of projects do you handle?

The CAT tools only accept certain file types, but these are varied and most are generally accepted. If a file received is a non-accepted file type, this is where the engineering comes in. The file is filtered and manipulated into an acceptable format for the CAT software.

How is file engineering time estimated in a quote?

The majority of projects require a short amount of file engineering time and this is absorbed into the ‘overhead’ costs. Some projects will be quite large and require hours, maybe even days of file engineering time. This is usually identified at the early stages and recommended that this large amount of time be chargeable to the client.

When do you get involved in a project?

File engineers are usually involved in most projects at the beginning to help with analysing and quoting for any desktop publishing (DTP).

DTP is where we use specialist suppliers to format the translated files to replicate the source layout and format. This is usually done for company literature, marketing and informative brochures and leaflets. Our latest CAT software is an all-encompassing, project handling system that enables the translation process to be carried out automatically, with little input from File Engineers and Project Managers.

What activities are included?

Tasks can be endless, but here are a few examples:

validating and extracting content to be translated;

piloting multilingual capability including creating language selections;

integrating the translation workflow with the existing authoring workflow;

ensuring that all the appropriate coding changes are made so that the content will show up properly on all browsers;

ensuring that all relevant content is translated, including metadata, alt texts, text phrases embedded in code, etc.;

adjusting content and graphics to handle text expansion and maintain proper design /look-and-feel for the foreign languages;

planning for future updates.

What are the main difficulties you face on a daily basis?

The main issues faced by a File Engineer are unusual file types, creating software filters and settings to best extract translatable content.

How can costs be saved for file engineering?

File engineering helps to evaluate and test files to ensure the most efficient process and output for translated documents to save both time and costs for our clients.

We advise our clients that the better the source files are, the less time will be needed to manipulate the files for translation. This is where the real costs can be saved.

We refer to this as simplified technical English, and all this really means is keep your sentences short and sweet, and make sure source formatting is as simple as possible.