Mona Baker & Gabriela Saldanha. Routledge Encyclopedia of Translation Studies (2nd edition)

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andneedsoftheirpotentialcustomers.Itisthereforeimportanttohighlightwhat

makeslocalization,aswerefertoittoday,differentfromprevious,similar

activities,namelythatitdealswithdigitalmaterial.Tobeadaptedorlocalized,

digitalmaterialrequirestoolsandtechnologies,skills,processesandstandards

thataredifferentfromthoserequiredfortheadaptationoftraditionalmaterial

suchaspaperbasedprintorcelluloid,asShadbolt(2003)andScattergood

(2003)pointout.

In2007,thelocalizationindustrywasestimatedtobeworthinexcessofUS$10

billionperannum(BenninatoandDePalma2006)andtogeneratearound60

percentoftheoverallincomeofmanylargemultinationaldigitalpublisherssuch

asMicrosoft,OracleandSAP(Sprung2000a:ix).Forthesecompaniesand

theirserviceproviders,localizationispredominantly‘bigbusiness’.Although

Fry(2003:10)seeslocalizationasameansto‘leveltheplayingfieldandredress

economicinequalities,helpingtocreateabetterworldinwhichnooneisleft

out’byallowing‘speakersoflesscommonlanguages[to]enjoyaccesstothe

sameproductsthatthoseinmajormarketsuse’,otherobservers,suchas

Kenniston(2005),believethatlocalizationinitscurrentformisactively

contributingtowideningwhathasbecomeknownasthe‘digitaldivide’(see

alsoMINORITY).

Origins

Inthemid1980s,largesoftwarepublisherswerelookingfornewmarketsfor

theirproducts,mainlywordprocessorsandspreadsheetapplications.They

quicklyrealizedthattherewasademandforthoseproductsincountriessuchas

France,Italy,GermanyandSpain,wherepotentialcustomershadthefinancial

meanstopayforthem,butwouldonlydosoiftheyweretranslatedintotheir

respectivelanguages.Themultinationalslearnedtheirlessonquickly,alesson

neatlyencapsulatedintheformerGermanChancellorWillyBrandt’sfamous

quote:‘IfI’msellingtoyou,Ispeakyourlanguage.IfI’mbuying,dannmüssen

SieDeutschsprechen!’(thenyoumustspeakGerman).Asaconsequence,

‘localizationhasbecometheshowcasemarketstrategyofinternational

capitalism’(Pym2004:47).

Manyearlylocalizationprojectsturnedouttobeextremelydifficult,andsome

endedinfinancialdisasterforthecompaniesinvolved.Theyunderestimatedthe

technicaldifficultiesinvolvedintranslatingtext(‘strings’)buriedinthousandsof

linesofcode.Sometranslatorssimplydeletedthecodesurroundingthestrings

theywereaskedtotranslate(andintheprocessrenderedthenowtranslated

digitalcontentunusable),whilecomputerprogrammersdidnotseethepointof,

andineffectdeleted,those‘funnycharacters’,suchasaccentsorumlauts,on

topofwhattheyconsideredtobeperfectlywellformedwords(andinthe

processrenderedthecontentdisplayedtousersmeaningless).Educatingthe

translators,aswellasthedesignersanddevelopersofdigitalcontent,quickly

became(andstillis)oneofthemostimportanttasksoflocalizers.

Asthedigitalcontenttobelocalizedbecamemoresophisticated,sodidthe

localizationprocess.Thefocusonshorttermreturnoninvestmentdrovethe

largemultinationaldigitalpublisherstoconcentrateontwoareastoreducethe

costofthelocalizationeffort:recyclingtranslationsandinternationalization.The

abilitytorecycleorleverageprevioustranslationsusingTranslationMemory

Systemshasbeenamilestoneinthehistoryoflocalization(seeCOMPUTER

AIDEDTRANSLATION).Internationalizationistheprocessofdesigning(or

modifying)softwaresoastoenableuserstoworkinthelanguageoftheir

choice(evenifthesoftwareisnotlocalized)andtoisolatethelinguisticallyand

culturallydependentpartsofanapplicationinpreparationforlocalization.The

betterdigitalcontentisinternationalized,thelowerthecostoflocalization.The

returnoninvestmentininternationalizationobviouslygrowssignificantlyasthe

numberoftargetlanguagesincreases.Theultimate,idealaimofthiseffortisthat

aproductworksoutoftheboxinanylanguage;thatistosay,userscaninput

andgenerateoutputintheirownlanguageandwritingsystem,eventhoughthe

userinterfacemightstillbeintheoriginallanguage(inmostcasesEnglish).Ifthe

objectiveoftheinternationalizationeffortwasevertobeachieved,localization

couldbereducedtojust translation(Schmitt2000),withnoengineeringand

testingeffortrequired.

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Process

Localizationteamshandleprojectsindifferentways,dependingon,for

example,whethertheyworkforapublisher(theclient)orforalocalization

serviceprovider(thevendor).Whilelocalizersrightlyclaimthateachprojectis

differentandthatthewayprojectsaretackleddependsonalargenumberof

variables–suchasthetypeofcontent,itsreleasecycle,size,accessibilityand

targetaudience–mostprojectshaveanumberofstandardtasksandstagesin

common,asdescribedbyEsselink(2000)andSchäler(2003):

♦Analysis.Beforeanyworkonalocalizationprojectcanstart,theoriginal

contentneedstobeanalysedandanumberofimportantquestionsanswered,

amongthem:Canthisproductbelocalizedforthetargetmarket?Somematerial

isnotsuitableforcertainmarketsorissospecificthatlocalizationwouldcome

closetoredevelopmentoftheoriginalproduct.Doestheoriginalproduct

supportthespecificfeaturesofthetargetlanguage(characters,script)?Areall

stringstobetranslatedandisallmaterialtobelocalized(images,symbols,etc.)

availabletothelocalizers?Whattoolsandtechnologiesarenecessaryand

suitabletosupporttranslators,engineersandtesters?Whatistheestimated

effortnecessarytolocalizetheproduct(wordcount,numberofpictures,dialog

boxes,etc.)?Oneofthestrategiesusedduringtheanalysisstageisthesocalled

pseudotranslation,whereoriginalstringsareautomaticallyreplacedwith

stringsexpandedbyacertainpercentageandcontainingcharactersfromthe

targetlanguageaccordingtopredefinedalgorithmsinordertomimica

translationandtodeterminetheeffectthistranslationwouldhaveonaparticular

product.Pseudotranslationisaquickandinexpensivewaytoshow,for

example,whetheraproductsupportsthecharactersofthetargetlanguage,

whateffectstringexpansionwillhaveonthelayoutoftheuserinterfaceandto

whatextentconcatenationwasusedbydeveloperstocreatemessages.The

outcomeofthisstageisareport.

♦Preparation.Basedontheoutcomeoftheprojectanalysisandoncea

projecthasbeengiventhegoahead,projectmanagers,engineersand

‘languageleads’(linguisticcoordinators)puttogetheraprojectplananda

localizationkit.Theprojectplanoutlinesthetasks,milestonesandfinancial

detailsoftheprojectandisunderconstantreviewthroughouttheproject’s

lifecycle.Thelocalizationkitcontainsallthematerialneededtolocalizea

productsuccessfully,fromsourcematerialtotools,localizationandtranslation

guidelines,testscripts,problemreportingmechanisms,deliveryinstructionsand

contactdetailsforallindividualsinvolvedinaproject.Thislocalizationkitis

madeavailabletotranslators,engineersandmanagers.

♦Translation.Asaconsequenceofdealingwithdigitalmaterial,translators

workinginlocalizationwillberequiredtoperformextremelytechnicaland

demandingadministrativetasksinadditiontotranslating,suchaspreparing

TERMINOLOGYdatabases;maintainingtranslationmemories;analysingand

pretranslatingtextusingautomatedtranslationsystems;usingandmaintaining

MACHINETRANSLATIONapplicationsandresources;managingthousands

ofsourceandtargetfiles;updatingprevioustranslationsandcheckingthe

consistencyoftranslations,acrossproductlines,versionsandcomputing

platforms.Thepressuretoproducehighqualitytranslationswithinshorttime

framesandatlowcostisextremelyhigh,andalthoughthisisseldomofficially

stated,timeandfinancialconstraintsareoftenmoreimportantthanthe

QUALITYofthetranslation.Whilevisuallocalizationenvironments–which

allowthetranslatorstotranslatestringsincontextandtoseethepositioningof

thesetranslatedstringsinrelationtootherstrings,controlsanddialogboxeson

thescreen–areavailableforsomecomputingenvironmentsandplatforms(such

asMicrosoftWindows),itisinthenatureoftranslatingdigitalmaterialthat

translatorsoftenhavetotranslate(sub)stringsoutofcontext.Thesestringsare

laterassembled,atruntime,tobecomethemessagespresentedtotheuseron

thescreen.Concatenationatruntimecancausesignificantproblemsinthe

localizeddigitalcontentandrequirescarefulcheckingandlinguisticquality

assurance.

♦Engineering/Testing.Properlyexecuted