Intro to Internationalization and Localization

Localization World Conference 2010, Seattle

Angelika Zerfasszerfass@zaac.de

Adam Asnesadam@lingoport.com

Internationalization:

Your Company, Code and Building it for the World

Adam Asnesadam@lingoport.com

+1.303.444.8020

Internationalization Challenge

• Adapt software to display and manage worldwide character set requirements and cultural formats– Compare data processing

• US English, German, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew

Internationalization and Localization Fit

• Internationalization– Development oriented consulting and products– Adapt products so they can be localizable for any

market

• Localization– Tailored translation specific to market needs– Coordinated management of strings for translation– Linguistic Testing and more

Globalization Implications

• Global initiatives– Expanding opportunities, New customers

• Competitive pressure• Lost time to market• Iterative code fixing, problems keep slipping

through• Development costs in the hundreds of

thousands to millions of dollars

Is It Internationalized?

• Developers often underestimate i18n requirements

• Most don’t know the answer• Agile or other feature and release requirements

often overrun less formally measured i18n requirements

• There is a Management Value in being able to confirm global readiness

Internationalization Challenge

• Software Data Path - it’s not just the display

Display Input Transform

Store

RetrieveTransform

I18n Architectural Challenge

DatabaseCharacter encoding

support

Application Codee.g. Java, C++, VB

3rd Party Products

U/Ie.g. JSP,

ASP, ASPX

Business LogicPlatforms, Browser Support Requirements

Marketing RequirementsLocale behavior

I18n trouble spots – developer’s challenge

• Embedded Text & images• Character set support• String Concatenation • Date/time formatting• Sorting & searching• Currency• Transaction process• User Locale Handling

• Telephone formats• Postal formats• Region-specific functions• Shipping conditions• Numerical formats• Page layout• Reporting, workflow• Database enabling• Multi-byte enabling

Practical Challenges

• Sift through hundreds of thousands or millions of lines of code

• Managing fixing complex problems among teams of developers and outsourced resources

• Creating a product that looks, feels and behaves natively to its worldwide users

• Source code must be adapted to seamlessly adapt to any language, streamlining support and updates

Traditional Approach - repeat, and repeat, and repeat, and repeat

Globalyzer Server and Clients

Server

Client Command Line

Sample Internationalization Issues

Example: Hard-Coded English Text

1 million lines of source codeTypically Found:

At least 40,000 Embedded Strings which cannot be efficiently translated

String orderStatus = “Your order has been processed. A confirmation e-mail will be sent to you shortly.”;

Example: US-Centric Date Formatting

Typically Found:Over 10,000 Locale-Sensitive Formatting Calls

sStartTime = Format(rsData("StartTime"), "mm/dd/yyyy")

“Double-Byte” Character Encoding: The Binary Capital Letter A

“UTF-16 Unicode Double-byte encoding for all Languages

00000000 01000001

ISO-Latin1 (and even UTF-8)Single-byte encoding for Western European Languages

01000001

Example: Encoding Corruption

Attempted to add a Chinese Unit Name via an example ASP page

Example: Correct Encoding

Successfully added Chinese Subject, Location & Notes text

Not Just for Older Applications

• Issues for every programming langauge• Most newer programming languages are simpler

to internationalize– That’s good for business actually– More predictable processes, costs and results

I18n Needs: Stakeholders

Our Software must be in Japanese, French, German, Chinese, and Spanish by November

Multi-tiered application?String extraction?

Database components?Unicode?

Testing Plan?

Localization a downstream concern

• “Somebody else’s problem” in the world of many developers

• Creates an opportunity to educate and shepherd through globalization

Release Planning

• Agile• Sequencing with testing• You never stop internationalizing• Maintain your business drivers - REVENUE

Internationalization

Adding a way to attach things to a mobile phone so that it is more attractive for users in Asia

Adding the possibility to set the steering wheel on the right-hand side

Easily switch the cover of a fridge door – a pink cover would sell more fridges in Asia than a white cover

Internationalization

Documentation

Internationalization of Documentation

• One style does not fit all• Text and graphics / paper size• Provide whitespace for text expansion during localization• Marketing material cannot be translated but usually has to be re-

created in the target language to be effective• Renault Slogan

– Germany: Creáteur d'Automobiles– UK: Cars for you

Germany Japan

Text and Graphic

When text is separated by a graphic, the translator cannot use a translation memory system effectively.

28

Text Expansion

• Expansion rate per language• Source text pages should leave enough space for translation

Multilingual Workflow Management 29

EnglishFont size 10

ChineseFont Size 10.5Text decreases

GermanFont size 10Text expands

Tools and Technologies in Localization

Tools and Technologies

• Control of terminology in authoring process– Up to controlled language for use with machine translation

• Translation Tools– Translation Memory System

– Terminology Database (term check in authoring and translation environment)

• Interfaces to project management systems• Interfaces to content management systems• Use of standard formats (TMX, XLIFF…)

Tools

• Most solutions focus on one specific area of the process– Select tools that already have an interface with each other

– Create your own interfaces (if API is available)

• Content creation and localization belong together and should be seen as inter-dependent, not isolated processes

Technologies

• Standard formats for – exchange of translation memory data (TMX – Translation Memory

Exchange format)

– exchange of terminology data (TBX – Termbase Exchange format)

– file format-independent localization format (XLIFF – XML Localization Interchange File Format)

• They don't solve all problems, but the most pressing ones

Managing Localization

The Traditional Process

Translating

Content Repository

Leveraging

Effort assessment

Reviewing

UpdatingLinguisticsassets

Linguisticsassets:

TMsTerms

Glossaries

Preparing

Packaging and delivery

Contentproviders

Contentproviders

Project Phases

• Kick off meeting– Touch on a all aspects of project, size, timeline, number of languages etc.

• Analysis of source material– Outline potential L10n/I18n issues with source code, documentation…

• Scheduling and budgeting– Based on size, timeline, number of languages etc. schedule resources, quotes,

• Terminology setup– Create glossary leveraging existing glossaries, adding additional terminology

• Preparation of Source Material• Translation of Software / Documentation

– Translation, editing and proof-reading (TEP) of software

• Testing the Software– Testing of software for functional, linguistic and cosmetic defects

• Screen Captures / DTP

Communicate

– The Project Manager is the central point for all communication• client PM

• client market centers

• product developers / product designers

• authors

• Translators / proofreaders / reviewers / editors

• testers

• Designers / DTP

– Timely communication on process, problems and suggestions for solutions can greatly impact the success of a project

Questions and Answers

Adam Asnesadam@lingoport.com

Resourceshttp://lingoport.com

Whitepapers, newsletter & articles

http://i18nblog.comLatest updates

Angelika Zerfasszerfass@zaac.de

Resourceswww.zaac.de

Presentation downloads in English and German

http://www.zaac.de/uebersetzer.html