Articles for Translators
and Translation Companies
Globalization
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Ten things you didn't know about China
In 2005, Chery (its English translation should have been “Cheery” but there was a mistake in the translation process and it was decided by the company to not correct the error) was upgraded to ISO/TS 16949:2002 production quality, the highest and strictest quality control system in the global auto industry…
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the full article…
Globalizing your website. A worldwide view
of the world wide web.
The following article
is the frst of a three part series on Website Globalization
by Shreiber. Marla’s team has developed an excellent
case for going global via the Internet with powerful supporting
statistics…
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the full article…
The Guide to Translation and Localization
Our entire team at
Lingo Systems is very excited to present the sixth edition
of The Guide to Translation and Localization. Over
the last eight years we have distributed more than 20,000
copies of this book worldwide. Previous editions won several
national awards from the Society for Technical Communication
(STC) and we are often told by readers that they consider
it to be the definitive source for information about translation
and localization…
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the full article…
Doing business in Sweden
Sweden is a predominantly
middle class country with one of the most far-reaching social
security systems in the world. Patriotism is important to
Swedes, who are very proud of their nation, towns and regions…
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the full article…
Doing business in Norway
Olga Pechnenko Kopp,
our Oil and Gas accounts manager, briefly interviewed one
of her clients for some current takeaways for anyone wanting
to do business in Norway, from an Oil and Gas industry perspective.
This is followed by more in-depth information about the Oil
and Gas industry in Norway, and then we wrap things up with
our usual brief notes on business cultural etiquette…
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the full article…
Doing business in Estonia
Tallinn (recent historical
name: Reval) is the capital city and main seaport of Estonia.
It is located on Estonia’s north coast to the Baltic Sea,
80 kilometres south of Helsinki…
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the full article…
Doing business in the United Arab Emirates
(UAE)
In February of this
year, President Bush faced a storm of criticism over a decision
to let a subsidiary of United Arab Emirates (UAE) government-controlled
maritime management firm Dubai Ports World run ports in several
U.S. cities…
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the full article…
Doing business in Chile
Chileans are very
nationalistic and are proud of their country, as well as of
their literacy — the 95% rate puts them among the best educated
in the world. Predominantly Roman Catholic (89%), family is
the primary structure of society…
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the full article…
Doing business in Austria
Austrians are proud
of their contributions to world civilization. They see themselves
as modern, liberal and cultured. Austrians have a great love
for the outdoors (i.e., walking, skiing, climbing, etc.)…
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the full article…
Doing business in Belgium
Belgium is comprised
of two primary cultural groups. The Dutch-speaking Flemings
live in Flanders, in the north, and make up 55% of the population.
The French-speaking Walloons live in Wallonia, in the south,
and make up 33% of the population…
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the full article…
Doing business in Luxembourg
Luxembourgers cherish
their independence and separate identity in Europe. Modesty,
friendship and strong national pride are valued. They enjoy
a slower pace of life than most of northern Europe. Family
is very important. Parents influence every aspect of their
children’s lives; however, this is weakening as more young
people leave the country to study/work abroad…
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the full article…
Doing business in Greece
Families are very
important in Greece. Elders are highly respected, and children
care for their elderly parents. Children are disciplined firmly,
but parents (even those who are poor) spend a great deal of
their income on feeding, clothing and educating their children…
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the full article…
Doing business in Philippines
Filipinos are casual,
fun loving, sensitive and hospitable people. Personal and
family honor are stressed, as well as dignity and pride. Education
is highly valued and families make great sacrifices to educate
their children. Hiya (shame) is instilled in Filipinos at
an early age. To be shamed is the greatest form of disgrace…
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the full article…
Doing business in Hong Kong
Hong Kong is very
sophisticated and cosmopolitan, blending the cultures of Asia
and Europe. Its people are highly educated, very motivated
and westernized. Hong Kong is 98% Chinese (Cantonese), but
the people view themselves as different from other Chinese.
Cantonese habits and customs are dominant…
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the full article…
Doing business in the USA
Throughout most of
its history, the United States has had influxes of immigration.
The ethnic mix is 83% white (generally of European descent,
but also from the Middle East and Latin America), 12% African-American,
3% Asian and about 1% Native American. Today the biggest immigrant
groups are from Latin countries…
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the full article…
Doing business in Portugal
Portugal is a self-styled
country comprised of generally reserved and understated people.
The Portuguese are traditional and conservative. People do
not quickly embrace change and innovation. The Catholic Church
has a strong influence on people’s lives…
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the full article…
Doing business in Malaysia
Malays are proud of
their country, their ancestral background and their economic
success. Ethnic tensions exist between Malays (60%) and Chinese
(31%) over preferential quotas. Chinese feel these policies
make them second-class citizens; Malays support these policies,
which they feel are their only way to overcome traditional
dominance…
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the full article…
Doing business in Turkey
Turks are extremely
patriotic. They are proud of their ancestors and of the achievements
of their modern society. The family is the most important
social unit. Each person is dependent upon and loyal to the
family. Rural life is still traditional, but in cities women
frequently work outside the home…
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the full article…
Doing business in Switzerland
The Swiss value cleanliness,
honesty, hard work, and material possessions. Motto: “Unity,
yes; Uniformity, no.” They are very proud of their environment
and have a long tradition of freedom. They value sobriety,
thrift, tolerance, punctuality and a sense of responsibility.
They are very proud of their neutrality and promotion of worldwide
peace. The Swiss have a deep-rooted respect for saving and
the material wealth it brings…
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the full article…
Doing business in Australia
Home to nearly five
million immigrants from 160 countries, Australia is rich in
cultural diversity. Australians, or “Aussies,” enjoy an easy-going
lifestyle and are generally friendly and relaxed. Modesty
and equality are valued…
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the full article…
Beware – American Abroad
McElroy Translation
Company Marketing Manager Lisa Siciliani received an email
recounting the personal experiences of Carryn Bellomo, an
English professor who spent time in Italy over the summer
thanks to a Development Award through the University Studies
Abroad Consortium available through the University of Nevada
Las Vegas (UNLV). The primary goal of the Development Award
is…
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the full article…
Doing business in Ireland
The Irish are interested
in people and place great value on the individual. They are
naturally courteous, quick-witted and will go out of their
way to welcome visitors to their country. Don’t rush the Irish.
Although they work very hard, the Irish are dedicated to a
less stressful lifestyle that allows time for friends and
family, a visit to the pub, a cup of tea, or just a bit of
a chat on the corner…
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the full article…
Doing business in Germany
Germans value order,
privacy and punctuality. They are thrifty, hard working and
industrious. Germans respect perfectionism in all areas of
business and private life. In Germany, there is a sense of
community and social conscience and strong desire for belonging…
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the full article…
Multilingual Marketing
On Thursday July 29,
2004 General Manager Shelly Orr Priebe served as a panelist
at a quarterly forum sponsored by The Texas Workforce Commission
(TWC). The forum brought Workforce Boards and Adult Education
and training partners together to develop stronger services
to address the challenge of serving adults and youth with
limited English proficiency. Marketing and Localization Manager
Lisa Siciliani researched and compiled this valuable information
in preparation…
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the full article…
Doing business in Finland
Loyalty, reliability,
self-sufficiency and independence are highly valued. Finns
are proud of their heritage and current society (they are
leaders in peace conferences and international peace initiatives).
They enjoy nature and proudly protect their environment, which
is one of the cleanest in the world…
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the full article…
Doing business in United Kingdom
Four countries make
up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland—England,
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Residents of any of
these countries may be called “British.” Use “English,” “Scot”
or “Scotsman,” “Welsh” and “Irish” or “Northern Irish” only
when certain of a person’s heritage…
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the full article…
Doing business in Korea
Korea is one of the
most homogeneous countries in the world, racially and linguistically.
It has its own culture, language, dress and cuisine, separate
and distinct from its neighboring countries. Hard work, filial
piety and modesty are characteristics esteemed by Koreans…
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the full article…
Doing business in Argentina
Argentines are very
proud of their country and culture. They are well-educated
and sophisticated and like to be viewed as cosmopolitan and
progressive. Because 85% of Argentina’s population hails from
Italy, Spain, Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, Portugal,
Russia, Switzerland, Poland and the Middle East, Argentines
tend to identify with Europeans…
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the full article…
Spotlight on Italy
Cultural achievement
is Italy’s greatest source of pride. Inventiveness, imagination,
intelligence and education are prized. Personal relations
are scrupulously maintained with loyalty highly valued, especially
in families…
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the full article…
Q&A with Carol Webster of Cassell International
Carol has over 25
years of experience in the U.S. and Europe in international
marketing management, in such diverse fields as engineering,
automotive, apparel machinery, specialty food and industrial
textiles. Her expertise lies in the areas of strategic business
planning, business analysis, marketing management for consumer
and industrial products…
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the full article…
Czech Culture
The Czech Republic
is an incredibly beautiful country with a rich history, fascinating
people and an abundance of business opportunities. Yet the
country remains relatively obscure and unknown to Americans,
many of whom still call it “Czechoslovakia.”…
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the full article…
Spotlight on Canada
The vast majority
of Canadians claim European ancestry. Four in nine Canadians
claim some British ancestry and a little less than one in
three have some French ancestry. Eighty percent of the residents
in Quebec have French ancestry. Eighty percent of native French
speakers live in Quebec…
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the full article…
Spotlight on India
India is one of the
most diverse countries in the world. It is a sophisticated,
modern, industrial leader that is home to many primitive tribes
and millions of poor people. Religion and language separate
people. The caste system limits social mobility (600,000 people
belong to the lowest caste). Because of disparities in distribution
of wealth, a wide gap separates the few wealthy from the many
poor…
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the full article…
Creating a New Language for Nutrition:
McDonald's Universal Icons for 109 countries. Part 2.
McDonald’s needed
to understand the findings from the iconic analysis at a glance.
Which icons were acceptable? Which needed just a few minor
tweaks? And which needed complete revamping? To make this
possible, ENLASO’s McDonald’s account team reviewed every
individual comment from all 109 countries. The various topics
analyzed multiplied by the number of visuals and countries
added up to a daunting task. “We had 15 icons, and 8 evaluation
comments. That gives you 120 comments per locale,” says ENLASO’s
Stokes. “You multiply the 120 comments by 109 countries and
you get 13,080 comments to distill and assess.”…
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the full article…
Creating a New Language for Nutrition:
McDonald's Universal Icons for 109 countries. Part 1.
We present to you
part one of a 2 part case study about the McDonald's Corporation's
development of universal icons. As an ever-developing industry,
most of us think about the language barriers everyday, but
few of us deal with the concept of icons. Develop- ing pictures
that are meaningful in over 100 countries and have no hidden
meanings is a tricky task…
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the full article…
Country Profile - Taiwan
The people of Taiwan
value hard work, patience, humility, friendliness and respect
for others. They are highly motivated and centered around
the extended family, their most important economic resource.
They dislike loud, showy and unrefined behavior. Bringing
shame on anyone ("loss of face") brings shame to the entire
family…
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the full article…
Country Profile - The Netherlands
The Dutch society
is egalitarian and modern. The people are modest, tolerant,
independent, self-reliant, and entrepreneurial. They value
education, hard work, ambition and ability. The Dutch have
an aversion to the nonessential. Ostentatious behavior is
to be avoided. Accumulating money is fine, but spending money
is considered something of a vice…
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the full article…
Doing Business in Singapore
Singapore is a conglomeration
of Chinese (76%), Malay (15%) and Indian (6%) cultures. In
the past, this racial mixture has led to some conflict. However,
today most Singaporeans enjoy racial harmony and national
unity. Each group works hard to maintain its cultural traditions
while building a modern, cohesive society…
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the full article…
Globalization, Internationalization, Localization
and Translation: The Processes Manufacturing Professionals
Should Apply in Preparation for Foreign Market Entry
In a 2006 survey of
manufacturing professionals, KPMG found that the number one
strategic priority among manufacturing companies is penetrating
new markets. Preparing to expand a business into new foreign
markets requires significant time and money. Success depends
on careful planning and having the right processes…
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the full article…
Polish immigrants’ growing role in
British consumer spending
Prior to the accession
of among others countries, Poland into the EU, the British
government estimated immigration from the newly acceded countries
at somewhere between 5,000 and 13,000 people per year. This
was based on low historical migration rates and an expectation
that "even in the worst case scenario, migration to the
UK as a result of the Eastern enlargement of the EU is not
likely to be overly large"…
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the full article…
Country Profile - France
The French adhere
to a strong and homogeneous set of values. They cherish their
culture, history, language and cuisine, which is considered
an art. The French have been and are today world leaders in
fashion, food, wine, art and architecture. They embrace novelty,
new ideas and manners with enthusiasm as long as they are
elegant…
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the full article…
Doing Business in Brazil
Brazilians are friendly
and free-spirited, with an incredible zest for life. They
are very risk-oriented and very creative. Predominantly Roman
Catholic (73%), families are large and often include extended
family members. Family, educational and socioeconomic backgrounds
are important to Brazilians…
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the full article…
Country Profile: Russia
Russia has had a long
history of totalitarianism, which has resulted in a rather
fatalistic approach to living. The desire to work individually
under personal initiative was suppressed by the Czarist and
Communist states…
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the full article…
China
Deeply rooted in Chinese
society is the need to belong and conform to a unit, whether
the family, a political party or an organization. The family
is the focus of life for most Chinese. Age and rank are highly
respected. However, to the dismay of older people, today's
young people are rapidly modernizing, wearing blue jeans and
sunglasses, drinking Coke and driving motorbikes…
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the full article…
A global monolanguage/monoculture?
The writer of this
article laments the coming of one or two great
monocultures (such as U.S. and Chinese), and he is not the
first to predict such a thing will happen. Indeed, with the
acceleration of globalization, and the increase of broadband
and internet access worldwide, the extinction of hundreds,
if not thousands of languages and cultures seems imminent…
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the full article…
Doing Business in Indonesia
Indonesia’s
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for 2006 was US$364 billion (US$960
bn PPP). In 2006, nominal per capita GDP was US$1,640, and
per capita GDP PPP was US$4,752 (International Dollars). The
services sector is the economy’s largest and accounts
for 45.3% of GDP (2005). This is followed by industry (40.7%)
and agriculture (14.0%). However, agriculture employs more
people than other sectors…
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the full article…
The state of web globalization today
During the dot com
years, Web globalization was hot, but prematurely so. I say
prematurely because Internet penetration globally - particularly
broadband penetration - was still in its early stages. After
the dot com bust, Web globalization spending virtually froze
for a period as companies took a much-needed reality break.
But over the past two years, companies have been spending
robustly – and, thankfully, realistically on Web globalization
…
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the full article…
April is Multicultural Communications Month
Multicultural communications
may seem difficult at first - differences in languages, backgrounds,
customs and the like all seem a challenge. By learning more
about our different cultures, it becomes easier to interact.
We are dedicating the April issue of E-Buzz to this cause…
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the full article…
A New Look at an Old Question by an Ancient
Project Manager:
Why Use an Agency?
It seems unbelievable
that this huge project was accomplished on time. I was asking
a lot of you and you did a great job. Not only did it get
done, you managed to make me feel like it really could be
done, which made me calm in a sea of mounting pressure from
my senior management…
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the full article…
Doing Business in Sweden and Finland
The four major Scandinavian languages - Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Icelandic - are closely related.
Finnish, on the other hand, is not a Germanic language, and is completely different from the others. While a Swede and a Dane often understand each other fairly well in a conversation, neither of them would understand Finnish…
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the full article…
Spotlight On Japan
Japan is a highly
structured and traditional society. Great importance is placed
on loyalty, politeness, personal responsibility and on everyone
working together for the good of the larger group. Education,
ambition, hard work, patience and determination are held in
the highest regard. The crime rate is one of the lowest in
the world…
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the full article…
Spotlight on Mexico
Mexico is a very class-conscious
society where social stratifications are well-defined. Upper
class Mexicans will not dirty their hands with tasks they
find beneath them. A sense of fatalism is quite strong among
many Mexicans, who feel that their path through life is largely
preordained. Macho attitudes are inculcated in Mexican males
almost from birth, and machismo plays a pervasive role in
shaping Mexican culture…
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the full article…
Go Alone or Do a
Joint Venture?
Although I have been
involved in setting up and getting out of a number of international
joint ventures, I thought I would do some research on what
was said about Chinese-Western joint ventures. And although
I have a Master’s Degree and come from a tribal society, I
didn’t know what “exogamic” meant until I read it in an egghead
(ok, I’ll be polite), academic heading to an article…
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the full article…
Doing Business in
Poland
Established as an
independent nation in the middle of the 10th century, Poland
reached its political and military zenith in the 16th before
internal fighting combined with external influence provoked
its partition. Poland briefly regained its independence in
1918 only to see it lost again following the invasion by German
and Soviet troops in 1939…
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the full article…
How to get management
buy-in for web globalization
This article is for
corporate marketing and business development professionals
who understand the need for a truly globalized corporate website,
but have yet to receive the kind of top-down mandate and funding
that would make such an undertaking a success. The current
state of their corporate website may, at first glance, appear
to be globalized…
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the full article…
7 Steps to Great
Translations
Follow these seven
steps for an efficient and cost-effective translation process.
1. Get Organized.
A well-organized project will reduce stress, save money, and
deliver a solid translation. Before you begin…
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the full article…
Successfully Mounting
Software Operations in China
For technology behemoths
like IBM, Microsoft and GE establishing software development
operations in and for China is relatively easy. They have
the money, people and wherewithal to build operations quickly
and efficiently. However, for medium and small size companies
less able to mount software development operations on their
own in China the answer is simple: outsourcing…
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the full article…
Learning how to
negotiate with the Chinese
Whenever a client
of ours comes back from their first trip to China to negotiate
a deal I always ask “Did you remember not to say when you
were returning?”
The three pillars of successful negotiating are: time, power,
and knowledge. You can make a better deal for yourself if
you have all three in your favor. The only thing I can really
help a client with is knowledge…
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the full article…
Ten Ways to Make
Sure You Get a Really Bad Translation
(for corporate entities outsourcing translations in any language
combination)
1. Never plan in advance
what to translate or when. Why save time and stress when you
can do things the hard way? Put some zest in your life! Improvise!…
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the full article…
Research on Localization
Practices
Conversis, a localization
company based in the UK and US, in partnership with the Localization
Program at California State University at Chico, has released
the findings of a research project that examines the localization
practices of multinational corporations and how well they
adapt to other countries, cultures, and languages…
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the full article…
Going local in China
Clientside News recently
interviewed Shinichi Kojima, Country Manager of TOIN China,
to get an insider’s perspective on how China and the general
emergence of Asia is impacting the localization industry…
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the full article…
Vessels large may
venture more, but little boats should keep near the shore
You know you’re in
deep trouble when a top floor executive conceives a brilliant
strategy to reduce the cost of localization. It’s bound to
happen: the sight of so much money spent on “just a bunch
of words” irresistibly calls for an ingenious cost-cutting
scheme, one that leads to a fatter executive bonus…
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the full article…
XML and DITA
Producing documentation
for a global marketplace is a challenging proposition, especially
for smaller companies. As most technical writers can attest,
creating and delivering content in a multilingual environment
increases demands on the documentation group. Often times,
information is produced at the end of the product development
cycle, under reduced time lines and tremendous pressure…
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the full article…
E-commerce Across
Borders
Interested in expanding
your potential online audience by 200 million people? Add
French, Italian, German, and Spanish Web sites. Add Japanese
and Chinese Web sites and you will gain another 300 million
potential visitors — without opening a single international
office…
Does Language Matter?
Have you ever been
on the “wrong” side of a conversation in another country,
where your language skills stopped at “where’s the bathroom?”
Or while searching online, have you found the perfect website,
only to realize you couldn’t read the text? In the former
scenario, you likely would seek out the concierge or anybody
who might help you communicate. On the Web, however, you are
more likely to skip to the next website in your search results…
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the full article…
Globalizing Translation.
What Hope For The Translator?
Globalization and
translation both deal with languages and cultures. They attempt
to remove cultural and language barriers but while translation
targets better understanding among people and maintains cultural
diversity, globalization moves towards reducing languages
and cultures to the language and culture of the global village.
In view of the differences and similarities between the two
terminologies, an attempt is made to study the basic contributions
of globalization to translation…
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the full article…
On-Demand Translation
Management Technology
Most of the technology
used to add value to the language translation process still
remains in the hands of language service providers (LSPs)
and translators. But client demand for more strategic control
is growing. To the educated and globally aware, language translation
is no longer just another task to enable product launch; it
is becoming strategic. It now garners the attention of senior
level executives who want more from it. They want a strong
return on their investment…
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the full article…
How much bang are
you getting for your buck?
Lately,
it’s no secret that customers are treating translation
as a commodity — how many words at what rate? It
is not unusual for a potential client to ask about
rates before they discuss scope or expectations.
While many clients insist that price is only one
consideration in the buying decision, it seems to
always be the first question…
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the full article…
43+ Million New
Users Are Waiting For Arabic SEO
Dubai-based
research firm Madar reports that Arabic-speaking
Internet users should grow to 43 million in 2008
from 16 million in 2004. The Arabic online market
should grow to $150 million in 2008 from $10 million
at present. How can your business get ahead of the
competition in this fast growth market?…
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the full article…
The Looming Crisis
of Content
Significant
change, especially in organizations, doesn’t happen
because someone wakes up one day and suddenly decides
to do things differently. Change comes as the result
of a crisis that underscores a problem so dramatically
and forcefully that it can no longer be ignored.
Since the technology bubble burst half a decade
ago (and probably even before that), such a crisis
has been looming in the way we conceive of, create,
and deliver content…
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the full article…
Technology Acceleration
Technology
is a GOOD THING. Well, most of the time it is. I’m
sure you’ve seen articles bemoaning the NEGATIVE
role that technology advancement has played in our
lives. I have recently joined the ranks of those
doing the bemoaning…
Read
the full article…
Giant Lessons for
Wal-Mart Behemoth
At the 2006
ClientSide News Expo, Echo International shared
a fascinating case study involving global awareness
and cultural sensitivity. CSN is pleased to share
the case study in more detail. Many thanks go to
Echo International for sharing this research…
Read
the full article…
When The Divide
Is Only A River, Not An Ocean
“Go to East
Austin and everything is different – the look, the
smells, the feel.” states Eliza May, President of
the GAHCC (Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce).
GAHCC was awarded the 2004 National Hispanic Chamber
of the Year award, honoring, in part, their many
innovative Spanish-language technology training
programs. Why does this matter?…
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the full article…
Building multilingual
websites
When building
websites in multiple languages, you are faced with
a variety of challenges. Translation is an important
part of the process, though not the only one. Some
of the things to consider are discussed below…
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the full article…
Multicultural Marketing: Why One Size Doesn't Fit All
As the general population in the US continues to become more diverse, with ethnic Americans of African, Asian, and Hispanic descent making up 25% of the population, the days of one-size-fits-all marketing are gone forever.
Today, marketers are much more aware of the significant opportunity that the varying demographic groups present…
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the full article…
Translators could
help to bridge the divide between the Muslim and
Western worlds
Do bi-lingual,
multi-lingual, multi-cultural educated indivduals
have a role to play in bridging the gap between
cultures? Asks Sahar Moussly, Executive Director
of overseas ATC member, Trans Gulf Management Consultants…
Read
the full article…
Shall We Dansu?
A Westerner reports on learning about the Eastern
mindset
Willy Brandt
once said, "If I'm selling to you, I speak your
language. If I'm buying from you, dann müssen Sie
Deutsch sprechen." This quote has served as the
epigraph for a number of papers on localization,
yet it seems to me that the former German chancellor's
words only address half of the issue concerning
our vendors, prospects and clients in the Far East.
In a globalized world, and especially in the localization
industry, one can even speak the client's language…
Centralization or
Decentralization?
A brief
review of the two approaches to advertising and
marketing communications localization.
It is easy in 2005 to labor under the misconception
that globalization was only invented in the 1990s.
However, the concept of globalization was being
hotly debated in the 1960s when the big question
was "Can you standardize multi-national marketing?"
and Robert Buzzell [1] argued that "There are significant
opportunities for cost reduction via standardization
in a global marketing strategy"…
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the full article…
Intelligence Report:
Within Borders: Globalization at Home
Customer
service at many companies is broken. Localization
teams and the language service providers who support
could increase their strategic value by tackling
the online duo of inadequate ethnic marketing and
flawed English-language customer service…
Read
the full article…
Getting China Straight
Today in
2005, how many people in the world can go a day
without using a product ‘Made in China’? Although
the answer is not yet “none”, it soon will be. Whether
people know it or not, the Chinese tide is already
lapping at our feet. Yet most people remain ignorant
of what it stands for…
Read
the full article…
How Far Should the
European Union Reach?
One of the
most frequently discussed questions in globalizing
business is how far the European Union Single Market
should reach. Companies want to expand, to open
subsidiaries, to cooperate with local partners,
not only for mere expansion reasons but also because
their competitors are active on a regional or global
scale…
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the full article…
LISA Best Practice
Guide: Managing Global Content
What is
Global Content Management? What are Globalization
Management Systems (GMS) or Global Translation Management
Systems (GTMS)? Why do they matter to companies
doing business internationally? How can you implement
them to support your own business and to further
your international goals? These are the questions
that Managing Global Content is designed to help
you answer…
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the full article…
What is the Largest
Information Ecosystem?
It might
be said that "Virtual Space" is the largest information
ecosystem; several factors support this idea.
All communication is human-based, whether it be
linguistic (spoken or written) or bodily (posture,
gesticulations, etc.) The simple fact is that all
humans communicate and interact with each other,
resulting in an exchange of information in one way
or another…
Capitalizing On
The Benefits Of A Foreign Language Translation Firm
In today’s
ever-expanding world of business on an ever-shrinking
planet, not only is it easy to market your organization’s
products and services globally, but it is also just
good business sense. With the prevalence of the
Internet in every aspect of our English-speaking
culture and society, it makes sense to reach out
globally and put your products and/or services out
for the whole world to take advantage of…
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the full article…
Translation
for the global travel industry: attention to detail
pays
As the World
Travel Market opens in London, with over 50,000
representatives from 190 different countries, what
better time to consider how travel and tourism as
a sector can best respond to the challenge of communicating
internationally and growing overseas markets. Travel
and tourism is an inherently international industry,
and is already one of the largest online market
sectors…
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the full article…
Is
thinking global killing local?
Successfully
integrating local insights into global strategy.
The world
order is changing once again. Strong brands alone
are not enough to conquer new markets. Global competition
is hotting up and the battlefield has many fronts.
Whether we are thinking and acting locally or globally,
our customers are judging us at every point of contact
and assessing how much we really value them…
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the full article…
Globalization Market Overview
The unstoppable pace of globalization coupled with the growth of the Internet have fundamentally changed the way that enterprises do business. The Web, in particular, is creating a low-cost global platform for communicating and doing business with people in countries far away from the bricks and mortar headquarters of organisations…
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Are You Talkin' to Me?
Over the last year or so, our clients have been asking us the following question with increasing frequency: Why do we need to pay for localization when most of the developed world has some understanding of English? This is a perfectly reasonable question. As global companies reach out into more markets without commensurately larger marketing budgets, they need eassurance that money spent on culturally - adapted marketing materials and high quality translations will generate a good return on investment …
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Globalisation Management Systems Discussion
This article
discusses the choice between a vendor such as thebigword
and a GMS solution such as Trados GXT, Globalsight,
Idiom, etc.
A
GMS is designed to allow a company to manage many
parts of the translation workflow themselves. It
allows them to deal directly with translators. It
also allows them to deal with translation vendors
but removes much of the project management, file
handling and memory management resource so allows
negotiation of much better prices, and allows much
easier swapping of vendors…
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the full article…
Web Globalization Tips for Translation Agencies
Last week I spoke at the Association of
Language Companies conference in Pasadena on Web globalization. I'm glad I went.
I'm seeing more and more agencies trying to grab a share of the rapidly growing
Web globalization market. My presentation was on the "Web globalization
opportunity (and threat)." Because I had so many requests for the presentation,
I've posted it online at the link below. Some of the key points from the
presentation are…
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Where Business Meets World: Move over FIGS; Here Comes BRIC
Emerging markets are driving the Web globalization revolution.
Investment bankers use an acronym that is going to have a major impact on the future of the globalization industry: BRIC.
BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India, and China, the four countries that pose the greatest opportunities for long-term growth among emerging markets. Of course, the key words are “long term” – these markets are anything but sure bets over the short term...
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Maturing Internet Markets Warrant Increased Web Globalization
That's what Tekrati has to say about Nielsen//Netratings' latest global Web usage report.
Their research shows that people in the US (and a few other markets) are spending the same (or less) time online, while people in markets such as Italy, Japan, France and Australia continue to increase their time spent online...
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Demystifying Software Globalization
Representing a growing segment of the translation industry, software globalization (G11N) remains shrouded in mystery to many. What is Globalization? G11N ensures availability of a software product in languages besides the language of origin, traditionally US English. It is driven by huge revenue opportunities outside the Anglophone world for software companies and translators alike. This presentation will introduce both the basic concept of globalization and how it involves the translator, in particular. In this paper we will describe the process from early design and coding to release in the global marketplace.
…
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Because Knowing Is Not Preferring
The mere mention of “globalization” these days is sure to stir a variety of emotions. While the term conjures up images of bad press on world economic summits, protesters and job migration, it also heralds exciting new business frontiers
…
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Eliminating Barriers to Web Globalization
There’s a reason they call it the World Wide Web. Simply put, the web enables organizations to connect with a diverse audience—no matter where they’re located or what language they speak… That is, as long as you can speak their language
…
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GILT: Observations from a Technical Communicator’s Perspective
Bringing a technical communicator’s perspective to GILT, Steve Dyson comments on how even the biggest companies have not yet thought through the many ramifications of globalization in the economic and GILT senses of the word. He then provides some insights into why the marketing efforts of GILT technology companies have not been as successful as perhaps they should
…
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Is a Person’s Name Really Important?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, or would it? Names connect people with a face, a personality, a culture and even a family line. Especially in Asian cultures, where names are written in Chinese ideograms, every character tells a story of its meaning and history. So would a person’s name be the same when written out in a foreign language? That would change the individual’s name all together…
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Gentium: Providing Type to the World
Gentium is a Unicode typeface that contains Roman, Greek and Cyrillic characters, including many characters seldom seen in even the most ambitious typefaces. Far from being a luxury, these characters are needed to write many of the over 6,000 languages thought to exist in the world. In this interview, Victor Gaultney, who originally created the typeface as part of a masters program at Reading University, discusses the Gentium project, the task of making a typeface look “right” for various areas, and how the creation of typefaces for less common languages can help eliminate the “Digital Divide.”
…
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Globalization of Voice Applications: It’s Only the Beginning!
Globalizing software (creating software for multiple languages and locales), and the follow-on process of localization, is challenging enough for “normal” software products and not-too-complex web sites. However, when it comes to one of the “newest kids on the block,” voice-enabled applications, the fun really begins
…
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Project Management, ROI and Efficiency
It is tempting to get lost in the details of day-to-day project execution, but strategic decisions such as (1) alignment of project execution with business needs, (2) implementation of standards and (3) identification of "hidden" resources, can only be effectively considered early in the project lifecycle. These strategic choices are levers that can be pulled to increase the overall efficiency of the project, thus enabling the Localization Project Manager to deliver more - with less
…
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Globalization: People, Process and Technology
People are not just an item on the checklist. People (like language) are a fundamental dimension of the problem space. Both processes and technology must be defined with people in mind. They must support the activities that information workers need to perform and generally make their lives easier and more efficient. People must remain on top and in control of their world; technology should be designed and perceived as a useful tool, not as a surrogate dictator
…
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GILT Metrics – Slaying the Word Count Dragon
One of the most enduring features of the GILT (Globalization, Internationalization, Localization and Translation) industry has been the inconsistency of word counts, not only between rival products, but even between different versions of the same product. Trying to establish a measure for the size of a given GILT task is not unlike trying to fight a many-headed dragon
…
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Globalization Is Here! The Year of Content
Language is a double-edged domain. On one hand, one of the saddest things about our industry is that language-related features are often considered after all others. Most often, new technologies are first thoroughly developed in English before any real language support is implemented. On the other hand though, the drive towards globalization is unstoppable: the world is getting smaller, the Internet is here to stay. Companies need to grow sales via global markets and the need for translation is constantly growing
…
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Follow the Money to Latin America
Globalization has indeed come to the localization industry, but it remains to be seen which path we will follow. According to Rory Cowan, CEO of Lionbridge Technologies, in his keynote at the recent LISA Forum USA in Washington, D.C., localization will increasingly be recognized as part of a larger outsourcing trend and will eventually be ”featurized” within the larger framework of offshore services
…
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Menace to Polish Language
One of the side effects of liberating the Eastern European markets since the collapse of totalitarianism in 1989, is the corruption of the Polish language by the huge influx of mainly English lexicon and syntax. To some extent this is due to the impact of Western, American led culture and technologies, which spread around the globe, influencing many languages
…
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GILT: Globalization, Internationalization, Localization, Translation
As the title suggests, we should perhaps feel a little GILTy that of the above four terms, only translation is generally well understood. In a past issue of the LISA newsletter, Donald DePalma and Hans Fenstermacher argued that our industry cannot even agree on what globalization, internationalization and localization mean. Don and Hans also pointed out the lack of "coopetition", i.e. collaboration among competitors, in our industry
…
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Globalisation and Translation - A discussion of the effect of globalisation on today's translation
The objective of an article I published in September 2003 in De Linguaan, a magazine for members of the Netherlands Society of Translators and Interpreters, was to clarify my statement that, because of the current trend of globalisation, the translator no longer has the absolute need to always find a translation of a term in the target language if this would make the target-language text lose credibility. This is what I have called excessive translation
…
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