Over the past
decades, localization has progressed from being an added effort by some
software publishers to a multi-billion dollar professional industry. In many
cases localization has proven to be the key factor for international product
acceptance and success. The term “localization” is derived from the word
“locale” which traditionally means a small area or vicinity. Today, locale is
mostly used in a technical context, where it represents a specific combination
of language, region, and character encoding . For example, the French spoken in
Canada is a different locale to the French spoken in France.
Localization
(also referred to as "l10n")
is the process of adapting a product or content to a specific locale or market.
Translation is only one of several elements of the localization process. In
addition to translation, the localization process may also include:
·
Adapting
graphics to target markets.
·
Modifying
content to suit the tastes and consumption habits of other markets.
·
Adapting
design and layout to properly display translated text.
·
Converting
to local requirements (such as currencies and units of measure).
·
Using
proper local formats for dates, addresses, and phone numbers.
·
Addressing
local regulations and legal requirements.
The aim of localization is to give a product the look and feel of
having been created specifically for a specific target market, no matter their
language, culture, or location.
Traditionally, translation is only one of the activities in a
localization project where material is transferred from one (source) language
to another (target) language. Other activities in traditional translation
projects include terminology research, editing, proofreading, and page layout.
In localization, many more activities have been added to the list. Examples of
activities in localization which are not necessarily part of traditional
translation include multilingual project management, software and online help
engineering and conversion of translated documentation to other formats,
translation memory alignment and management, multilingual product support.
Most large, multi-language localization agencies focus on these
additional activities while outsourcing core translation activities to
freelance translators of another vendors, only final quality assurance is
performed in-house by these vendors.
The key reasons why software publishers localize their products
are local market and legal requirements. In most countries users prefer to work
and have a material in their native language. In order to increase sales
opportunities in target countries or markets all producers have to localize
their products while local law often requires all imported hardware or devices
to be accompanied by a user manual in the local language.
There is a real case of Samsung:
Samsung
Despite gaining a later entry into the French market than
competitors such as Sony, Philips, and Nokia, Samsung has outperformed the
rest, owing to deliberate localization efforts from the beginning.
While Samsung may be a Korean company, they have not marketed
themselves as such, at least not in France. Appealing to the local desire for
artistic design, in 2010 Samsung hosted an art exhibition, displaying works of
art in high definition on their 3D TV sets. Held at the Petit Palais, the
exhibition saw 600,000 visitors in its first month.
In addition to public campaigns such as this, Samsung paid special
attention to the French mobile phone market when launching its own operating
system, ‘bada.’ By determining the most downloaded apps for the local market,
like the Yellow Pages and applications for navigating art museums, Samsung
released localized ‘bada’ optimizations, which were hugely successful. In a
matter of six months the operating system went from practically zero to 2,000
local apps. Rounding out a comprehensive localization initiative, Samsung has
not only marketed and produced locally, they have hired locally as well, giving
the brand that much more authenticity and even a sense of French ownership.
