1.2 How does this compare to where it is trying to go and what do you think will be the operational problems in making this change? TECLAN provided a one-stop shop for language translation. The company used 35 in-house translators for most European languages, Japanese and Chinese. Translation to and from other languages was subcontracted to a network of some 3,000 translators. Though the company would handle just about any translation work, over time it had developed a distinctive competence in translating technical documentation, particularly computer software. The majority of software translation was the ‘localisation’ of software written in English – the conversion of hypertextual help-files. However, TECLAN often encountered help-files that lacked sufficient flexibility, and in localising they had to resort to developing completely new help-file structures.

Thus it developed a new competence in help-file authoring and rudimentary programming.