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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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…
English Portuguese

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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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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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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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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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 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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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…
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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…
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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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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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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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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…
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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…
English Portuguese

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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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…
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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…
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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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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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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…
English Thai

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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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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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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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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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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