Localization

1
Localization

• Michelle Johnston, Firebird Services Ltd

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What is Localization?

• It is NOT just translation
• It IS
• Customising for culture
• Customising for language
• Customising for country
• It affects
• Language
• Design
• Structure/Content

3
Text Localization

• Translate word for word?
• Often does not work very well
• Takes a lot of maintenance
• Can allow for fast, generic translation
• Translate phrase for phrase?
• Works much better than word for word
• Can limit the size of the text substituted
• Is a good compromise
• Translation on the fly can be slow, do offline
• Translate text section for text section?
• Seems very natural
• May mean a bit of local customisation of design
• Has to be done offline really

4
Text Localization

• Must take into account different sizes
• Table properties
• Textual graphics
• Etc.
• Selection of text
• Database driven (easier to update/change)
• File driven (maintenance issues)
• Directory structure driven (can be efficient)
• Program driven (least efficient)

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Organization
6
Managing Changes

• Allow a super user per language to update?
• Allow a super user per content type to update?
• Allow a super user per locale to update?
• Update via database?
• Update a spreadsheet that is then used to update
  database?
• Replace files?
• Issues involved with each choice

7
Charset localization

• Same language in different countries
• E.g Spanish in Spain, Portugal, Mexico etc.
• How to determine charset?
• Browser setting?
• PC setting?
• Website choice that user has to make on seeing
  site?
• Portals offer personalisation of charset
• Which of the above overrides which?

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Charset in Programming

• Various levels at which charset is set
• HTML
• Program on the server side
• Database on the server side
• Flash (ISO 8859-1 unless japanese)
• Benefits of using unicode?
• Supports all charsets
• Universally understood
• Disadvantages

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Oddities

• Double byte translations
• Chinese/Japanese characters sometimes contract
  and sometimes expand the size of text
  translations
• Some languages (Hebrew) are written right to left
  and require special keyboards
• Be careful with special characters

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Customization Issues

• Punctuation
• Dates
• Weights/measures
• Addresses
• Content
• Hardware/software
• Programming for customization
• Movies

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Punctuation

• or
• Before or after the numeric? E.g 1000 FF
• Euros?
• Formats of phone numbers
• Formats of zip codes/postal codes

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Dates

• Does 03/04/01 mean March 4, 2001, or April 3,
  2001?
• Use a word/number combination system like
  15-Feb-2001 to reduce ambiguity?
• International time zones and presentation
  formats. Be aware that many countries present
  time in 24-hour notation (2315)
• Seasonal differences New Year is not Jan 1 for
  Chinese

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Weights/Measures

• Pounds or Kilos?
• Miles or Kilometres?
• Both?

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Addresses

• Formats of zip codes/post codes
• Post code required? Some countries dont have
  them
• State required? Different name region?

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Content

• Avoid puns, humour, colloquialisms etc. as they
  dont translate well

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Hardware/software

• Mobile phones in Japan, PC in the US are the most
  commonly used devices for Internet access
• 14.4 modems still common in some countries

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Customization Programming

• Server Side includes?
• For sections of the page that are repeated on
  each page, but may be different by language
• Template driven?
• Directory structure driven?
• Config files?

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Macromedia Movies

• System fonts and other text attributes
• Colour specs
• Any action script relevant to localization
• Info about animation
• Navigation and interactions

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Macromedia Movies

• Sample Specification document Localization_home.f
  la (Home page)
• Title text 36 point Vonnes Bold - Extended
  (embedded static text)
• Body text 14 point _sansNavigation buttons
  (created in Fireworks. FW_template_buttons.png
  Template is provided) up state 14 pt _sans.
  Hexadecimal value of ff9900. Button
  effect-linear gradient, inner bevel.
• down state12 pt _sans. Hexadecimal value of
  FF3300. Button effect-linear gradient, inner
  bevel.
• Marker names do not require localizationActionScr
  ipt does not require localizationScreen shots
  user_interface.bmp requires replacement shot
  using the localized operating systemText on the
  Products layer is masked by the ProductsMask
  layer. Turn off the masking to edit the text.

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The business side

• Ensure customer service staff have languages
  available to them
• Linguistic staff
• Email programs that accept foreign chars etc
• Form values can be submitted in English despite
  the captions on the screen to enable easier
  processing
• Site review by locals!

21
Semantics

• Colours means different things to different
  cultures