Tradurre per le aziende: localizzazione del sito web di Tecnopress S.a.s.

La presente tesi magistrale si inserisce nell’ambito del progetto Language Toolkit e nasce in particolare dalla collaborazione tra il presente autore e l’azienda Tecnopress S.a.s. Nell’ottica dell’internazionalizzazione della propria attività l’azienda ha richiesto che il proprio sito web venisse sottoposto ad un processo di localizzazione dall’italiano verso l’inglese. Sulla base di queste premesse si è deciso di dividere il lavoro in tre parti: una fase teorica, una fase preparatoria e una fase pratica. La prima fase si è occupata di gettare le basi teoriche necessarie per affrontare consapevolmente l’incarico assegnato. Alla luce delle conclusioni della fase teorica è stata constatata l’esigenza di modificare la natura dell’intervento che si era preventivato di effettuare sul sito web. Fulcro della localizzazione è infatti il locale, ovvero la combinazione di regione socioculturale e lingua presa a riferimento per un processo di localizzazione web. Nelle richieste avanzate dall’azienda figuravano esclusivamente indicazioni relative alla lingua (l’inglese), non già alla regione socioculturale su cui modellare l’intervento di localizzazione del sito. Si è rivelato pertanto necessario procedere autonomamente alla definizione di un locale per il presente progetto, che è stato fatto coincidere con la macrozona europea e cui è stato associato un modello ibrido di English Lingua Franca e Simplified Technical English. Il focus dell’intervento non è stato dunque una regione geografica circoscritta ma una realtà socioculturale molto più ampia e variegata: l’adozione di un locale così ampio e il rispetto dell’indicazione sulla lingua hanno portato il presente autore a optare per un intervento di standardizzazione web. Chiude il presente lavoro una fase operativa, durante la quale sono state create le risorse necessarie al progetto (si segnala in particolare un corpus su misura) e sono state effettuate la standardizzazione e una serie di considerazioni traduttive.

Linked Data for sharing, discovery and re-use of Language Resources at a Web scale

Conferencia por invitación, impartida el 31 d mayo de 2014 en el Workshop on Language Technology Service Platforms: Synergies, Standards, Sharing at LREC2014

Web-Usability aus linguistischer und formaler Sicht : am Beispiel von universitären Websites

Ein Tag ohne Internet ist für viele kaum vorstellbar. Das Spektrum der Internetnutzer ist breiter geworden und damit sind die Ansprüche an die Websites massiv angestiegen. Die Entscheidung auf einer Website zu bleiben oder auf einer anderen zu suchen fällt innerhalb von wenigen Sekunden. Diese Entscheidung ist sowohl vom Website-Design als auch von dem dargestellten Inhalt abhängig. Die Auswertung, wie schnell der Benutzer Online-Informationen finden und wie einfach er sie verstehen kann, ist die Aufgabe von Web-Usability-Testing. Für das Finden und Verstehen von Informationen sind die computertechnischen zusammen mit den linguistischen Aspekten zuständig. In der Usability-Forschung liegt jedoch der Fokus bislang weitgehend auf der Bewertung der computer¬linguistischen und ästhetischen Aspekte der Websites. In den Hintergrund gedrängt wurden dabei die linguistischen Aspekte. Im Vergleich sind diese weniger systematisch erforscht und in Usability-Richtlinien kaum zu finden. Stattdessen stößt man überwiegend auf allgemeine Empfehlungen. Motiviert davon hat die vorliegende Arbeit das Ziel, Die Web-Usability systematisch sowohl aus linguistischer als auch aus formaler Sicht zu erforschen. Auf linguistischer Ebene wurde in Anlehnung an die Zeichentheorie von Morris die Web-Usability analysiert und der Begriff Linguistische Web-Usability eingeführt. Auf Basis dieser Analyse sowie einer literaturstudie ‘literature review’ mehrerer Usability-Richtlinien wurde ein Kriterienkatalog entwickelt. Bei der Umsetzung dieses Kriterienkatalogs im Rahmen einer Usability-Studie wurde die Website der Universität Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (JGU) im Usability-Labor unter Anwendung der Methode Eye-Tracking zusammen mit der Think-Aloud-Methode und der Retrospective-Think-Aloud-Methode getestet. Die empirischen Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die linguistischen Usability-Probleme genau wie die formalen die Benutzer hindern, die gesuchten Informationen zu finden, oder zumindest ihre Suche verlangsamen. Dementsprechend sollten die linguistischen Perspektiven in die Usability-Richtlinien miteinbezogen werden.

User centred design for engineering e-government web usability

E-government provides a platform for governments to implement web enabled services that facilitate communication between citizens and the government. However, technology driven design approach and limited understanding of citizens' requirements, have led to a number of critical usability problems on the government websites. Hitherto, there has been no systematic attempt to analyse the way in which theory of User Centred Design (UCD) can contribute to address the usability issues of government websites. This research seeks to fill this gap by synthesising perspectives drawn from the study of User Centred Design and examining them based on the empirical data derived from case study of the Scottish Executive website. The research employs a qualitative approach in the collection and analysis of data. The triangulated analysis of the findings reveals that e-government web designers take commercial development approach and focus only on technical implementations which lead to websites that do not meet citizens' expectations. The research identifies that e-government practitioners can overcome web usability issues by transferring the theory of UCD to practice.

Live Web Usability Lab

The Live Usability Lab provides an exciting format for demonstrating the potential of usability testing to evaluate Web resources from the patron’s perspective. A panel of librarians will use this innovative, interaction-driven method to assess iCONN, to demonstrate the potential and power of user testing, and to engage the audience by illustrating the process with live data instead of canned examples.

The effectiveness of corporate Web in small and médiumsized business: an analysis of Web Usability

Internet and the Web have changed the way that companies communicate with their publics, improving relations between them. Also providing substantial benefits for organizations. This has led to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to develop corporate sites to establish relationships with their audiences. This paper, applying the methodology of content analysis, analyzes the main factors and tools that make the Websites usable and intuitive sites that promote better relations between SMEs and their audiences. Also, it has developed an index to measure the effectiveness of Webs from the perspective of usability. The results indicate that the Websites have, in general, appropriate levels of usability.

English as a lingua Franca : bridging the gap between theory and practice in english language teaching

Tese de doutoramento, Linguística (Linguística Aplicada), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Letras, 2015

Identifying language needs of ESL students in a Canadian university based intensive English language program

This study investigated the needs of adult ESL learners intending to pursue higher education in Canada. Its chief purpose was to enable educators and administrators to design ESL programs that would prepare students to function at optimal levels in academic and social settings during their university studies. The study adopted a mixed research method that was predominantly qualitative in its orientation and narrative in its implementation. It focused on an Intensive English Language Program (IELP) offered at an Ontario university. Using a holistic approach, the study sought to represent the various perspectives of all the participants in the program: the students, the instructors, and the administrators. Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data gathered from 17 students, 6 instructors, and 1 administrator in the IELP showed that to a large extent the academic needs ofESL learners in the IELP were generally not being met. Most notably, the study found that learners were not receiving sufficient training in speaking and listening skills, a factor that contributed to their sense of insecurity and lack of confidence in their ability to communicate successfully in academic and social settings. The study also revealed that the solutions to many of the problems it identified lay not in the classroom but in the way the ESL program was structured administratively. One major recommendation to come out of the study is that programs like the IELP should be restructured so as to give them greater flexibility in meeting individual needs. While the study labored under certain limitations and did not achieve all of its goals, it did succeed in creating awareness ofthe problems and in establishing a methodological approach that can serve as a framework within which future research may be conducted in this somewhat neglected area.

Faulty diction as corrected by the Funk & Wagnalls new Standard dictionary of the English language; a brief statement of the general principles determining correctness in English speech and writing, with their application to some of the more common instances of violation and to some of the mooted questions regarding usage.

Mode of access: Internet.

Mesopotamian Arabic [microform] : a guide for students in the modern Arabic language as spoken in Mesopotamia ; with pronunciation of the words in English /

Microfilm.

A statistical analysis of the structure of language found in the essay writing of a sample of technical college students and public school boys

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT