The Guide to Translation and Localization: Learning the Lingo

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The Guide to Translation and Localization: Learning the Lingo

By Lingo Systems,
Portland, OR, U.S.A.

info [at] lingosys . com
www.lingosys.com

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Jeff Williams

Marketing Programs Manager

I lived in Paris for nine years, one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world. Although Portland is 9,500 miles away, with all of the different nationalities that are represented here at Lingo Systems, listening to my co-workers reminds me of sitting in a cafe on the Boulevard St. Germain and watching the world go by.

Chapter 1: Learning the Lingo

There is much confusion as to how the terms "globalization," "internationalization," "localization," and "translation," should be used. These terms are frequently thrown about in the press and by product developers, marketing departments, product managers, and even localization vendors. Yet understanding these terms is a critical first step when considering expansion into the competitive global marketplace.

A commonly used acronym in the language industry is "GILT" (globalization, internationalization, localization, translation). We agree with Multilingual Magazine editor, Laurel Wagers who writes in Chapter 21 that, "We don't use the term at Multilingual, pardy because the word gilt refers to surface embellishment, a thin layer of gold over something less valuable. In this wireless, broadband, web-connected world, multilingual presentation and support are not "gilt" at all. They are essential components." We could not agree more.

You may run into people using these terms in different ways, but here is how we interpret them:

Globalization

The process of conceptualizing your product line for the global marketplace so that it can be sold anywhere in the world with only minor revision. It is most easily thought of as your global marketing strategy and is associated with all marketing concepts (branding, establishing market share, and the like). Globalization is particularly important in consumer industries such as clothing and food. Anyone, anywhere in the world, can drink Coca-Cola or wear Levi Strauss jeans, for example.

Internationalization

The process of engineering a product so that it can be easily and efficiendy localized. Engineering can take the form of something as basic as document layout, for example, to the more complex enabling of software to handle double-byte character sets. See the sections on Engineering and Writing for Localization (Chapters 6 and 10) for more details on how to internationalize your products.

Localization

The process of customizing a product for consumers in a target market so that when they use it, they form the impression that it was designed by a native of their own country.

Translation

The process of actually converting the written word of a source language into the written word of a target language. Translation is a crucial component of localization.

These four terms fit together as a "bull's eye" diagram. Globalization envelops the entire concept of taking your product line global. Internationalization is performed so that the product can then be localized. Finally translation is the "base" component of the entire process as it represents the language transformation.

bull's eye diagram To better understand the difference between these terms, imagine that you are a product manager for a new software application that manages sales contacts. Your product development team likely assembled comments from distributors throughout the world whose customers requested new features for your yet-to-be designed contact management software. Your marketing department has determined the global demand for such a product and has developed a global branding campaign. Your design team begins work on the look and feel of the software. Here is where internationalization comes into play. You and your team must consider the following:

1) Color schemes and graphic selection that avoids offending potential customers,

2) Dialog boxes wide enough to accommodate text expansion,

3) Functionality that supports various date, time, and currency formats,

4) Input and output functionality that supports the various character sets (including double-byte characters for the Asian market),

5) Right justified text fields to prevent expanded text from overlapping the graphics, and

6) A readily adaptable user interface to allow British customers to read from left to right or Arabic customers to read from right to left.

Selling your contact management software to the customers in your new markets will likely require localizing the user's manual, software, help files, and user interface from English into each target language. Fortunately, proper internationalization may lower your costs. One software manufacturer found that nearly 50% of all support costs came from consumers in foreign markets who could not understand English documentation.

Other key terms

There are several other related terms that you should also be familiar with when you are ready to reach a multilingual audience.

Interpretation

The process of converting the spoken word of a source language into the spoken word of a target language. This is done in two main ways. The first, and most impressive to watch, is simultaneous interpretation. In this process, a person is actually "thinking" in two languages at one instant (hearing the speaker in one language and immediately converting it into the target language and speaking that target language for others to hear). The more traditional interpretation practice is delayed interpretation where an entire thought is expressed by the speaker, the speaker pauses, and the interpreter converts the content for the target language speakers to hear.

Content Management

A software application for creating, maintaining, storing and publishing content that makes it possible to organize and publish in multiple media from one central database.

Cultural Assessment

Analyzing an individual's cultural preferences through comparative analyses. Allows individuals to acquire the awareness and knowledge necessary for building effective skills and behavioral adaptations for multicultural management and business.

Cultural Orientation

Developing cultural self-awareness and effective behavioral strategies to minimize the cultural gaps that occur when contrasting value orientations of different social groups.

Integration Testing (Interoperability)

Confirmation that two or more systems (computers, communication devices, networks, software, and other information technology components) are able to interact with one another and exchange data according to a prescribed method in order to achieve predictable results.

Verification Testing

Confirmation of any testable requirement, including functional testing of hardware and software system components, compatibility testing of one component to another, design verification, compliance to industry standards, and third party interoperability.

You may also hear people in the industry use the following terms when talking about localization vendors. SLP (single language provider) is a company that specializes in one language only, whereas an MLV (multiple language vendor) offers many language combinations. You will also hear a lot of discussion about translation memory (TM) which is a database where previous translations and corresponding source text are stored for future re-use. TMs can significantly reduce localization costs, while increasing both quality and consistency. See Chapter 6 for more information on TMs.

Localizing your product, while sometimes challenging, pays handsome rewards. Major software and hardware manufacturers report that 60% or more of their business revenues are now earned outside the U.S. By offering your products around the world, in versions that appeal to each locale, your organization can increase its distribution, extend the shelf-life of products, and ultimately be less dependent upon the American market.

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