The overall process: internationalization, globalization and localization
The former Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) said that globalization “can best be thought of as a cycle rather than a single process”. To globalize is to plan the design and development methods for a product in advance, keeping in mind a multicultural audience, in order to avoid increased costs and quality problems, save time, and smooth the localizing effort for each region or country.
The globalization process
(based on a chart from the LISA website.)
There are two primary technical processes that comprise globalization: internationalization and localization.
The first phase, internationalization, encompasses the planning and preparation stages for a product built to support global markets. This process removes all cultural assumptions, and country- or language-specific content is stored so that it can be easily adapted. If this content is not separated during this phase, it must be fixed during localization, adding time and expense to the project. In extreme cases, products that are not internationalized may not be localizable. Internationalization is often written as ‘i18n’ in the localization industry, where the number 18 is the number of letters between i and n in the English word
The second phase, localization, refers to the actual adaptation of the product for a specific market. The localization phase involves, among other things, the four issues LISA describes as linguistic, physical, business and cultural, and technical issues. Localization is sometimes written as ‘l10n’, where the number 10 refers to the number of letters between l and 2
At the end of each phase, testing (including quality assurance) is performed to ensure that the product works properly and meets the client’s quality expectations.
Translation versus localisation
Though it is sometimes difficult to draw the limits between translation and localisation, in general localisation addresses significant, non-textual components of products or services. In addition to translation (and, therefore, grammar and spelling issues that vary from place to place where the same language is spoken), the localisation process might include adapting graphics; adopting local currencies; using proper format for date and time, addresses, and phone numbers applicable to the location; the choices of colours; cultural references; and many other details, including rethinking the physical structure of a product. All these changes aim to recognise local sensitivities, avoid conflict with local culture, customs, common habits, and enter the local market by merging into its needs and desires. For example, localisation aims to offer country-specific websites of the same company or different editions of a book depending on where it is published. It must be kept in mind that a political entity such as a country is not the same as a language or culture; even in countries where there exists a substantially identical relationship between a language and a political entity, there are almost certainly multiple cultures and multiple minority languages even if the minority languages are spoken by transient populations. For instance, Japan’s national language is Japanese and is the primary language for over 99% of the population, but the country also recognises 11 languages officially, others are spoken by transient populations, and others are spoken as second or other languages.
Globalisation versus localisation
Whereas localisation is the process of adapting one product to a particular locale, globalisation designs the product to minimise the extra work required for each localisation.
Suppose that a company operating exclusively in Germany chooses to open a major office in Russia and needs a Russian-language website. The company offers the same products and services in both countries with minor differences, but perhaps some elements that appeared in the original website intended for a German audience are offensive or upsetting in Russia (use of flags, colors, nationalistic images, songs, etc.). Thus, that company might lose a potential market because of small details of presentation.
Furthermore, this company might need to adapt the product to its new buyers; video games are the best example.
Now, suppose instead that this company has major offices in a dozen countries and needs a specifically designed website in each of these countries. Before deciding how to localise the website and the products offered in any given country, a professional in the area might advise the company to create an overall strategy: to globalise the way the organisation does business. The company might want to design a framework to codify and support this global strategy. The globalisation strategy and the globalisation framework would provide uniform guidance for the twelve separate localisation efforts.
Globalisation is especially important in mitigating extra work involved in the long-term cycle of localisation. Because localisation is usually a cycle and not a one-time project, there are new texts, updates, and projects to localise. For example, as the original website is updated over time, each already translated and localised website must be updated. This work cycle is continuous as long as the original project continues to evolve. A streamlined globalisation processes is therefore important for ongoing changes.
Localisation technology
The use of technology has developed into an important aspect of translation and localization. The industry now holds a strong preference for the use of technology in the translation, editing, and proofreading process as it provides major benefits in project management workflow automation, terminology consistency, quality assurance. The most commonly used language technologies include:
Translation Management Systems (TMS)
Computer Aided/Assisted Translation (CAT)
Machine Translation (MT)
Translation Memory (TM)
Content Management Systems (CMS) with APIs
A Translation Management System (TMS) is a software program that supports the organization and facilitation of translation and localisation projects. A localisation project usually involves multiple individuals often located in different locales, this makes the TMS a necessary tool in piecing together everyone’s efforts. The TMS provides organization and automation to the project management workflow, collects project data, generates reports, and integrates necessary elements such as machine translation (MT), translation memory (TM), and sometimes provides access to quality assurance tools.
In essence, the TMS provides a workbench for all the necessary tools involved in a successful translation and localization operation.