Peter Hansen, Senior Production Specialist for The Translation People, has been working in the translation industry for over twenty years, here he reflects on how things have changed during that time.
Twenty years ago, the daily tasks of a DTP operator – or typesetter, as the job title was in those days – were very different. Although parameters, such as typeface, point size, leading etc. still had to be specified, the way in which this was done would not be recognised by most DTP operators of today. The most important skill required as a typesetter was fast and accurate typing as it was not possible to transfer text electronically from the translator to the typesetter. The translator would send the translation, occasionally handwritten, but usually typed, by post or fax, and the typesetter would key the text manually, just as the translator had done. To ensure accuracy all setting would be proofread letter by letter by specialised proofreaders, and any errors would be corrected by the typesetter. The text would be output on bromide, a type of photo paper, as there were no laser printers, and a paste-up artist would then cut the bromide into columns of text and paste these onto boards, which would then show the laid-out pages. Photocopies of these boards would be sent to the client for amendments or approval, and the final output would also be bromide on boards, which would then be scanned by a camera to create film for printing.
Although computers were used, they were not the Macs or PCs we know now. Specialised typesetting systems, which were often customised by the manufacturer to suit the needs of each individual client, were the standard, and although they were quite sophisticated at the time they had their limitations. Point sizes could only be a maximum of 72 point, text could not be reversed out (white on a black background), and it was not possible to set text on a path other than a straight horizontal line. Every parameter was specified by a code, and a file would usually start off with several lines of codes, which was the only way of telling what the text looked like, other than running it out on bromide. There was no WYSIWYG feature, and the screens showed only green text with all the letters the same size. Languages not using Latin, Cyrillic or Greek script, such as Arabic, Chinese and Japanese, required separate typesetting systems.
The Translation People bought their first Macs around 1991 – with 32 MB RAM and 80 MB hard disks! This was a revolutionary change, however, it was suddenly possible to receive Word files from the translator and transfer these to the typesetting program (such as QuarkXPress or PageMaker) without having to re-key the text. Also, these programs included a WYSIWYG feature, which enabled the typesetter to view the finished layout on screen before output. With this, the manual coding system disappeared, and it was only a matter of time before the software manufacturers had developed the advanced applications we all use today.
