**Localization Process Overview:**
– Globalization is a cycle involving planning for multicultural audiences to avoid costs and quality issues.
– Internationalization prepares products for global markets by removing cultural assumptions.
– Localization adapts products for specific markets, considering linguistic, physical, business, and technical issues.
– Testing at the end of each phase ensures the product meets quality expectations.
**Translation and Localization Comparison:**
– Localization goes beyond translation by addressing non-textual components like graphics, currencies, and cultural references.
– It aims to recognize local sensitivities and merge into specific market needs and desires.
– Differentiating between political entities, languages, and cultures is crucial in the localization process.
– Examples like Japan recognizing multiple languages highlight the complexity of localization efforts.
**Globalization and Localization Relationship:**
– Globalization minimizes extra work for localization by designing products with adaptability in mind.
– Companies may lose potential markets due to small presentation details that are offensive in different locales.
– A streamlined globalization process is crucial for ongoing changes and updates in localization projects.
– Video games are highlighted as products requiring adaptation for different markets.
**Localization Technology and Tools:**
– Technology enhances project management workflow automation in translation and localization.
– Tools like Translation Management Systems (TMS) and Computer-Aided Translation (CAT) tools improve efficiency.
– Language technologies like Machine Translation (MT) and Translation Memory (TM) are commonly used.
– Content Management Systems (CMS) with APIs facilitate managing and integrating translation elements efficiently.
**Language Codes and Tags for Localization:**
– Language codes are vital for indicating locales involved in translation, such as in the European Union style guide.
– HTML uses language tags under the lang attribute, following specific standards like ISO 639-1 and BCP 47.
– Language tag systems provide two- and three-letter codes for language representation.
– Effective localization considers both language and national variety subcodes for accurate localization of products and services.
Language localisation (or language localization) is the process of adapting a product's translation to a specific country or region. It is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation (for specific countries, regions, cultures or groups) to account for differences in distinct markets, a process known as internationalisation and localisation.
Language localisation differs from translation activity because it involves a comprehensive study of the target culture in order to correctly adapt the product to local needs. Localisation can be referred to by the numeronym L10N (as in: "L", followed by the number 10, and then "N").
The localisation process is most generally related to the cultural adaptation and translation of software, video games, websites, and technical communication, as well as audio/voiceover, video, writing system, script or other multimedia content, 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 German, with different idioms, are spoken in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Belgium.