LOCALIZATION

Localization (l10n)* is the process of taking software or content and adapting it for local use. It involves fonts, input methods, speech synthesis, script layout, musical instrumentation, collating order, date & number formats, dictionaries, and spellcheckers. Localization refers to the adaptation of a product, application or document content to meet the language, cultural and other requirements of a specific target market (a locale, e.g., Hong Kong for Traditional Chinese or Cantonese). Localization is sometimes written as l10n, where 10 is the number of letters between l and n. Localization is the process not just of translation to a local language, but of adapting content to other local requirements, whether of law, culture, or custom. In order to localize software, it must first be internationalized. That is, any assumptions derived from the language, culture, and customs of the developers must be removed. Much content can be written in a neutral international manner, but there are specific items that must be programmed so that the local equivalents can be easily substituted.

Very often being thought of only as a synonym for translation of the user interface and documentation, localization is usually a substantially more complex issue. It can entail customization relating to:

Dates, numeric and time formats
Keyboard usage
Use of currency
Collation and sorting
Varying legal requirements
Symbols, icons and colors
Text and graphics containing references to objects, actions or ideas which, in a given culture, may be subject to misinterpretation or viewed as insensitive.
and many more things.

Localization (l10n) may even necessitate a comprehensive rethinking of visual design, logic, or presentation if the way of handling business (eg., accounting) or the accepted paradigm for learning (eg., focus on individual vs. group) in a given locale is substantially different from the originating culture.

The software programmers in the Europe and US for many decades were able to assume 1 character = 1 byte, but this is no longer the case. Each Chinese character is composed by 2 bytes. The most common character encoding today is the variable-length UTF-8 form of Unicode. We cannot assume that money is in US dollars. We cannot assume that people have family names, or area codes, or ZIP codes. Even when people have family names, the family name is not always the last name.

Can we define the software internationalization, localization, globalization ?

Localisation, i.e. the adaptation to another language and culture of software (Simplified Chinese or Traditional Chinese), has an impact on software engineering. In a first step, software should be internationalized (I18N), i.e. be designed in a way that it can be adapted to various languages and regions (not just one) without engineering changes to the programming logic. In principle, it is stuff that has to be done only once. However, sometimes I18N is done in stages. Often programmers can forget that some languages are more verbose than others. E.g. the English word "redo" is translated into the German "wiederherstellen" (4 times a long) and that means that menu items must be much wider. Also, developers forget that some languages work in other directions. For example, Arabic and Hebrew work from right-to-left (but quoted English phrases are still spelled from left to right). The ancient Chinese text runs vertical. More subtle points concern sorting, e.g. in some languages extended characters such as the "Ö" would be placed after the Z. A really difficult issue concerns the sentence structure. Most often, programmers work with simple placeholders. In English phrases words don't change very much if one word changes, whereas in other languages changing a single word can imply changes to other words. E.g. "important %s" can become "X important" or "Y importants. In German this becomes "wichtiger X" "wichtige Y" and "wichtiges Z". Read J. Wittner & D. Goldschmidt (2007) technical challenges and localization tools for a good summary of major internationalization issues.

Localization (L10N) means adaption of a product following the needs of a particular population in a precise geographic region (for example, you may need to localize your English website into Cantonese Chinese for Hong Kong users or Traditional Mandarin Chinese for Taiwanese market). Needs include linguistic, cultural and ergonomic aspects. (Le grand dictionnaire terminologique). McKethan and White (2005) define localization as “the process of adapting an internationalized product to a specific language, script, cultural, and coded character set environment. In localization, the same semantics are preserved while the syntax may be changed.” The authors further argue that “Localization goes beyond mere translation. The user must be able to not only select the desired language, but other local conventions as well. For instance, one can select German as a language, but also Switzerland as the specific locale of German. Or you may select Chinese as a language, but also Singapore as the specific locale of Chinese. Locale allows for national or locale-specific variations on the usage of format, spell-checker, currency, punctuation, etc., all within the single German language area.”

* l10n and i18n are abbreviations for the terms localization and internationalization, where 10 or 18 stands for the number of letters between the first and last letters of the term, respectively. i18n was coined at Digital Equipment Corporation in the 1970s or 80s[1].

We are confident of handling all of your internationalization, localization and globalization needs to and from Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Mandarin & Cantonese.