March 02, 2007

Language Most Challenging Aspect of Localization

Although localization engineers must have a perfect understanding of software formatting, language often presents the biggest challenge.

“Software localization is the process of making software work for people who live in a different culture than the software was originally developed in. Localization breaks down into two broad areas: language and formatting…The formatting of dates, currencies, etc., all tend to appear the way that they should appear with little or no developer intervention. Language is, however, more challenging as it's not a matter of moving around periods and commas. It's a matter of selecting the right word, having different abbreviations, and generally making the right words work.

Most of the time, we barely recognize that the software has language embedded in it. Labels are prime candidates for needing to be converted as are error messages. Anything that you might display in the body of the web part qualifies as text that may need to be localized...The localization technique must make it easy to take working code and convert the strings which are already hard coded into a language specific string.”

Extract from the Intranet Journal (February 26, 2007)

Localization is a complex process, yet one which can help your company succeed in today’s global market. Language Translation Inc. specializes in localization, and is ready to help your company get your message across in any culture. “We speak your language – and theirs.”

Betty Carlson

Subscribe to Language Lines, our monthly newsletter, for current information about language and technology in the global marketplace.


	Language Translation, Inc.
	Language Translation Inc., a San Diego-based company has been serving the U.S. and countries abroad for over 17 years with professional document translation, certified conference interpreting, and software / website localization services.
	http://www.languagetranslation.com/

Topic Tags: business document translation, global market, language specific, language translation, localization, qualified interpreters, Software and website localization, spanish to english translation, spanish translation

by Adriana Nevin

↑top

link to this

Post a Comment

Title:

Summary:

Comment:

Links:

Your info:

Name:		Required; will be displayed with comment.
E-mail:		Required (in case we need to contact you); will NOT be displayed with comment.
Web:		Optional; will use to hyperlink your name in the comment.
Twitter:		Optional; allows visitors to follow you on Twitter.
Save this in my browser

Verification:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Letters are case sensitive.

Notice: Your thoughtful opinions are valued and encouraged, but all comments are moderated so there will be a delay between the time you post your comment and when it appears in this site. Please don't be offended if your comment is edited for clarity or to avoid questionable matters. Offensive or off-topic comments will be deleted.