Localization: Measurable Examples

When reading articles in English with French students, we often run across American measurements: inches, miles, and feet. And French translations for these words do exist: pouces, milles, pieds. But they don’t mean much in France, because the country – like most of the world – uses the metric system. So the measurement must be explained, and a rough conversion given. This is an everyday example of the importance of localizing a translation to suit the target culture.

Now imagine an American website which includes product descriptions. If your company wants to translate it to another language, all of the measurements will have to be localized – and this means more than a quick conversion into the metric system. A deep knowledge of the culture is also needed. For example, although France is on the metric system, certain products such as TV screens are measured in inches!

In this crucial area of measurements and dimensions, “close doesn’t count.” That’s why at Language Translation Inc. our localization service engineers incorporate conversions set and approved by the client company in order to best respect industry standards. We also provide the project management services so important to website and software translation. “We speak your language – and theirs.”

Betty Carlson