Globalization

Internationalization: Step One Moving Towards Localization

Globalization, Localization Comments Off

Jun 252012

The Localization process begins with Internationalization of the software or website.

Internationalization photo: www.tbmagazine.net

The Internationalization of your software and/or website is the first critical step towards Localization. But let’s start with a quick overview of exactly what Internationalization is. LISA, the now defunct Localization Industry Standards Association, defined it as follows:

Internationalization is the process of generalizing a product so that it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions without the need for re-design. Internationalization takes place at the level of program design and document development.

Basically, prior to sending the source material to the localization vendor, the product must be made ready for international markets. This process entails the removal of text to be translated from the software source code. “String files, or if you prefer, “resource files,” are created to house the translated text. Next, the Continue reading “Internationalization: Step One Moving Towards Localization” »

Internationalization

Globalization Comments Off

Jun 182012

Internationalization is the first step in the Globalization process.

UN Flags on display, photo: UN Photo/Joao Araujo Pinto

When a professional translation agency begins a Localization project, Internationalization is the critical first step in the process. This procedure includes designing software applications so that they can be adapted to a variety of languages and locations without engineering changes. This procedure includes the separation of text to be translated from the software text code. The text files are then placed in separate “string files” or “resource files,” creating a core of content that is not limited to any one language or market. The translators on the project receive only these translatable text files in an attempt to prevent any inadvertent changes to the program code.

This also streamlines the revision process of the text files, as it eliminates the need for editors to wade through hundreds of lines of code to locate the translated text. It’s all right there stored in Continue reading “Internationalization” »

Globalization Comments Off

Jun 122012

Globalization refers to the combined steps of Internationalization and Localization.

Image by Craig Roth www.wordle.net

As a term, Globalization can be used in several different ways. But here in the translation industry, it has manifested itself as the overall function of translating and “localizing” software and websites. In this capacity, software and web sites are enabled to accommodate non-English speaking readers. This particular version of Globalization is generally employed by sales and marketing departments as they target themselves towards taking their products global in international markets

Note: G11n is often used as an abbreviation for globalization, where “11″ indicates the number of letters between the “g” and the “n”.

LISA, The Localization Industry Standards Association, now defunct, defined Globalization as follows: Continue reading “Globalization” »