Website Localization
What is Localization?
The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) defines localization as "the process of modifying products or services to account for differences in distinct markets".
There are many competing, yet related, definitions of this translation industry buzzword. For our purposes, localization is the process of crafting a text to the langauge and culture of a specific audience. In this regard, localization can be viewed as the art of giving a generic text a bit of local color as an English text can be adapted to an audience in Boston, Los Angeles, Wales or Sydney.
What does it have to do with technology?
The term localization is most often associated with technology such as websites and software. About the web defines it thus: "The process of adapting a computer program for a specific international market, which includes translating the user interface into a foreign language, resizing dialog boxes to fit the new language, customizing features if necessary, and testing results to ensure that the original program still works."
How does it differ from translation?
In the case of a website, all buttons, images, scripts, etc. would have to be adapted to a target audience for it to be considered truly "localized." Translating the body text into a foreign language yet leaving the remainder in English would be considered translation, but not full localization.
The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) defines localization as "the process of modifying products or services to account for differences in distinct markets".
There are many competing, yet related, definitions of this translation industry buzzword. For our purposes, localization is the process of crafting a text to the langauge and culture of a specific audience. In this regard, localization can be viewed as the art of giving a generic text a bit of local color as an English text can be adapted to an audience in Boston, Los Angeles, Wales or Sydney.
What does it have to do with technology?
The term localization is most often associated with technology such as websites and software. About the web defines it thus: "The process of adapting a computer program for a specific international market, which includes translating the user interface into a foreign language, resizing dialog boxes to fit the new language, customizing features if necessary, and testing results to ensure that the original program still works."
How does it differ from translation?
In the case of a website, all buttons, images, scripts, etc. would have to be adapted to a target audience for it to be considered truly "localized." Translating the body text into a foreign language yet leaving the remainder in English would be considered translation, but not full localization.
