Language localisation
Encyclopedia
Language localisationThe spelling "localization", a variant of "localisation", is the preferred spelling in the US and Canada.
(from Latin
locus (place) and the English term locale
, "a place where something happens or is set") is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation (for specific countries, regions, or groups) to account for differences in distinct markets, a process known as internationalisation and localisation.
Language localisation is not merely a translation activity
, because it involves a comprehensive study of the target culture in order to correctly adapt the product to local needs. Localisation is sometimes referred to by the numeronym
L10N (as in: "L", followed by ten more letters, and then "N").
The localisation process is most generally related to the cultural adaptation and translation of software, video games, and website
s, and less frequently to any written translation (which may also involve cultural adaptation processes). Localisation can be done for regions or countries where people speak different languages, or where the same language is spoken: for instance, different dialects of Spanish, with different idioms, are spoken in Spain than are spoken in Latin America; likewise, word choices and idioms vary among countries where English is the official language (e.g., in the United States
, the United Kingdom
, and the Philippines
).
There are two primary technical processes that comprise globalisation, internationalisation and localisation.
The first phase, internationalisation, encompasses the planning and preparation stages for a product that is built by design to support global markets. This process removes all cultural assumptions and any 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 localisation, adding time and expense to the project. In extreme cases, products that were not internationalized may not be localisable.
The second phase, localisation, refers to the actual adaptation of the product for a specific market. The localisation phase involves, among other things, the four issues LISA describes as linguistic, physical, business and cultural, and technical issues.
At the end of each phase, testing, including quality assurance
, is performed to ensure that product works properly and meets the client's quality expectations.
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 forms for dates, addresses and phone numbers; the choices of colors; and many other details, including rethinking the physical structure of a product. All these changes aim to recognize local sensitivities, avoid conflict with local culture and 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 the place it is published.
Suppose someone is working for a company that, until now, has operated exclusively in the United States. However, the company is now opening a major office in China, and needs a Chinese-language website. The company offers the same products and services in both countries, with only some minor differences, but perhaps some of the elements that appeared in the original website targeted at the United States are offensive or upsetting in China (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 localize the website and the products offered in it 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 12 separate localisation efforts.
alpha-2 code; in HTML, the language codes are generally defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force's Best Current Practice
(BCP) 47.BCP is a persistent name for a series of IETF Request for Comments
(RFCs) whose numbers change as they are updated. The latest one is RFC 5646, Tags for the Identification of Languages. The decision to use one type of code or tag versus another depends upon the nature of the project, and any requirements set out for the localisation specialist.
Most frequently, there is a primary sub-code that identifies the language (e.g. "en") and an optional sub-code, in capital letters, that specifies the national variety (e.g. "GB"). The sub-codes are typically linked with a hyphen, although in some contexts it's necessary to substitute this with an underscore.
There are multiple language tag systems available for language codification. For example, the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) specifies both two- and three-letter codes to represent languages in standards ISO 639-1
and ISO 639-2
, respectively.
(from Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
locus (place) and the English term locale
Locale
In computing, locale is a set of parameters that defines the user's language, country and any special variant preferences that the user wants to see in their user interface...
, "a place where something happens or is set") is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation (for specific countries, regions, or groups) to account for differences in distinct markets, a process known as internationalisation and localisation.
Language localisation is not merely a translation activity
Translation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, because it involves a comprehensive study of the target culture in order to correctly adapt the product to local needs. Localisation is sometimes referred to by the numeronym
Numeronym
A numeronym is a number-based word.Most commonly, a numeronym is a word where a number is used to form an abbreviation . Pronouncing the letters and numbers may sound similar to the full word: "K9" for "canine"...
L10N (as in: "L", followed by ten more letters, and then "N").
The localisation process is most generally related to the cultural adaptation and translation of software, video games, and website
Website
A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
s, and less frequently to any written translation (which may also involve cultural adaptation processes). Localisation can be done for regions or countries where people speak different languages, or where the same language is spoken: for instance, different dialects of Spanish, with different idioms, are spoken in Spain than are spoken in Latin America; likewise, word choices and idioms vary among countries where English is the official language (e.g., in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
).
The overall process: internationalisation, globalisation and localisation
As the former Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA) explained, globalisation "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. Localisation is an integral part of the overall process called globalisation.The first phase, internationalisation, encompasses the planning and preparation stages for a product that is built by design to support global markets. This process removes all cultural assumptions and any 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 localisation, adding time and expense to the project. In extreme cases, products that were not internationalized may not be localisable.
The second phase, localisation, refers to the actual adaptation of the product for a specific market. The localisation phase involves, among other things, the four issues LISA describes as linguistic, physical, business and cultural, and technical issues.
At the end of each phase, testing, including quality assurance
Quality Assurance
Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...
, is performed to ensure that product works properly and meets the client's quality expectations.
Translation versus localisation
Localisation is often treated as a mere "high-tech translation", but this view does not capture its importance, its complexity or what it encompasses. 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, grammarGrammar
In linguistics, grammar is the set of structural rules that govern the composition of clauses, phrases, and words in any given natural language. The term refers also to the study of such rules, and this field includes morphology, syntax, and phonology, often complemented by phonetics, semantics,...
and spelling issues
Spelling
Spelling is the writing of one or more words with letters and diacritics. In addition, the term often, but not always, means an accepted standard spelling or the process of naming the letters...
that vary from place to place where the same language is spoken), the localisation process might include adapting graphics; adopting local currencies; using proper forms for dates, addresses and phone numbers; the choices of colors; and many other details, including rethinking the physical structure of a product. All these changes aim to recognize local sensitivities, avoid conflict with local culture and 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 the place it is published.
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 someone is working for a company that, until now, has operated exclusively in the United States. However, the company is now opening a major office in China, and needs a Chinese-language website. The company offers the same products and services in both countries, with only some minor differences, but perhaps some of the elements that appeared in the original website targeted at the United States are offensive or upsetting in China (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 localize the website and the products offered in it 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 12 separate localisation efforts.
Language tags and codes
Language codes are closely related to the localizing process, as they indicate the locales involved in the translation and adaptation of the product. They are used in various contexts; for example, they might be informally used in a document published by the European Union, or they might be introduced in HTML tagging under the lang attribute. In the case of the European Union style guide, the language tags are based on the ISO 639-1ISO 639-1
ISO 639-1:2002, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 1: Alpha-2 code, is the first part of the ISO 639 series of international standards for language codes. Part 1 covers the registration of two-letter codes. There are 136 two-letter codes registered...
alpha-2 code; in HTML, the language codes are generally defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force's Best Current Practice
Best Current Practice
A best current practice is a de facto, dynamic level of performance in engineering and information technology. It is more flexible than a standard, since techniques and tools are continually evolving....
(BCP) 47.BCP is a persistent name for a series of IETF Request for Comments
Request for Comments
In computer network engineering, a Request for Comments is a memorandum published by the Internet Engineering Task Force describing methods, behaviors, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems.Through the Internet Society, engineers and...
(RFCs) whose numbers change as they are updated. The latest one is RFC 5646, Tags for the Identification of Languages. The decision to use one type of code or tag versus another depends upon the nature of the project, and any requirements set out for the localisation specialist.
Most frequently, there is a primary sub-code that identifies the language (e.g. "en") and an optional sub-code, in capital letters, that specifies the national variety (e.g. "GB"). The sub-codes are typically linked with a hyphen, although in some contexts it's necessary to substitute this with an underscore.
There are multiple language tag systems available for language codification. For example, the International Organization for Standardization
International Organization for Standardization
The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...
(ISO) specifies both two- and three-letter codes to represent languages in standards ISO 639-1
ISO 639-1
ISO 639-1:2002, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 1: Alpha-2 code, is the first part of the ISO 639 series of international standards for language codes. Part 1 covers the registration of two-letter codes. There are 136 two-letter codes registered...
and ISO 639-2
ISO 639-2
ISO 639-2:1998, Codes for the representation of names of languages — Part 2: Alpha-3 code, is the second part of the ISO 639 standard, which lists codes for the representation of the names of languages. The three-letter codes given for each language in this part of the standard are referred to as...
, respectively.
| Language family | ISO 639-1 code | Language variant |
|---|---|---|
| English | en-GB | British English |
| en-US | American English | |
| en-CA | Canadian English | |
| Spanish | es-ES | Castilian Spanish (as written and spoken in Spain) |
| es-MX | Mexican Spanish | |
| es-AR | Argentine Spanish | |
| es-CO | Colombian Spanish | |
| Portuguese | pt-PT | European Portuguese (as written and spoken in Portugal) |
| pt-BR | Brazilian Portuguese | |
| Chinese | zh-CN | Mainland China, simplified characters |
| zh-TW | Taiwan, traditional characters | |
| zh-HK | Hong Kong, traditional characters |
See also
- Internationalisation and localisation
- Globalisation
- American and British English differencesAmerican and British English differencesThis is one of a series of articles about the differences between British English and American English, which, for the purposes of these articles, are defined as follows:...
- Spanish dialects and varietiesSpanish dialects and varietiesSpanish dialects and varieties are the regional variants of the Spanish language, some of which are quite divergent from one another, especially in pronunciation and vocabulary, and less so in grammar....
- Variety (linguistics)Variety (linguistics)In sociolinguistics a variety, also called a lect, is a specific form of a language or language cluster. This may include languages, dialects, accents, registers, styles or other sociolinguistic variation, as well as the standard variety itself...
External links
- Localization Industry Standard Association (LISA) - They offer an interesting glossary on localization
- Globalization and Localization Association (GALA)
- Localization World Conference
- Worldware Conference - Global Software Strategies
- Localisation Research Centre
- Localisation Service Provider in India
- Mozilla Localization Project
- 22 Ideas for Better Game Localization - Tips and ideas on how to improve the localisation process for video games
- I18nguy: Internationalization (I18n), Localization (L10n), Standards, and Amusements
- Foreignword - List of translation magazines
- Developing Tips: Language tags
- W3C: Internationalization - Language tags in HTML and XML
- Library of Congress List of ISO 639-2 (alpha 3) Language Codes