Content Localization & Gilbane Conference Boston Nov 28, 2006 C. Donner Whats this? Taxonomies

en_US Traditional Localization … Language code Country code

3 Language code: ISO 639-1, Country code: ISO E.g. 'ca_EN' and 'ca_FR'. AFAFGHANISTAN AXÅLAND ISLANDS ALALBANIA DZALGERIA ASAMERICAN SAMOA ADANDORRA AOANGOLA … aaAfar abAbkhazian aeAvestan afAfrikaans akAkan amAmharic anAragonese arArabic … The codes

4 en_US Language = English Country = United States Locale.setDefault( new Locale("en", "US") );

5 How Language experts see it … (Globalization sells better than Localization) Then, reduce Localization to the act of translating: Globalization = Internationalization + n x Translation (the GIRT equation)

6 Slide by Pierre Cadieux (i18n.ca) - Reused with permission

7 Something is missing …. Localization is not only about what language users see, but also about what content users see in different locales.

8 Give the user the content that he wants, in the format that he understands. Localization Once he had the Babel Fish in his ear, Arthur understood perfectly.

9 en_US? ? ?

10 A Localization Taxonomy Where is it from? What region is it for? What region is it about? In addition, there is a 4th localization dimension that defines the language. Note that the dimensions define regions, not countries. In the reference taxonomy for managed content in multinational organizations, every piece of content can be fully described by three dimensions related to geography:

11 Where is it from? This can be the name or location of a regional office, for instance. This information is not very important for the site user in most situations It can be important internally to control workflow and track content production Press releases and articles from News feeds are well- known examples of how the source of content is made available to the user/consumer Still, I dont know a single example of a website taxonomy that uses this dimension for search and navigation

12 What region is it for? This dimension describes the target audience(s) for the content It can be populated automatically based on business rules E.g. the London office writes for the European markets Or manually, based on the judgment of an expert E.g. this article is universal, therefore I will post it to the global region A site typically uses this dimension to automatically retrieve content based on a users profile or selection of a region

13 What region is it about? Content metadata in its original sense, this dimension discusses what is in the content The most important of the three dimensions, this one is what the users need to conduct searches and retrieve meaningful results It is also the most difficult one to populate, because the person tagging the content must be a subject matter expert

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15 Traditional localization techniques deal with countries and languages Country may be too granular or too coarse for your business objective Markets do not always align with countries Examples: EMEA, Asia, Central America Country is limiting us

16 Region is better For fine-grained control, let countries roll up into regions, forming a geography dimension Regions should align with markets, countries can be added to allow for local specifics

17 Going global The global level node of the geography dimension may not be at the top Rolling up regions to a global category will create an unusable collection of content Global can, however, be a separate and independent region, e.g. when there is a corresponding global market Global content can be used for a global landing page that is transitional for most users

18 The cube

19 Real-world examples …

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21 One-dimensional Localization Language only Everybody gets to see the same content User can select the language in which the content is presented Suitable for global organizations with global content No regional targeting of content possible Content must be translated into all languages Using a uniform page layout is unlikely

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Yahoo.de Yahoo.fr Today we plan to show you process, practice, and… Yahoo.com Yahoo.de Yahoo.fr

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25 Three-dimensional Localization Content is not shared between Locales Translations typically not required User selects a Locale and gets content specific for this Locale Used on News and Web portals with regional versions Also used by global organizations with strong regional presences and autonomous regional content production

Today we plan to show you process, practice, and… A closer look … Compare: Sports, World, Karikaturen, etc.

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28 3½-dimensional Localization Categories differ across Locales Some similarities across categories can be deceiving, but: Even differences in the order are important Where is Sports on the German site? In German media, Sports is not considered News Where is World on the German site? German media often does not distinguish between National and International politics

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30 Complex n-dimensional Taxonomy Target region Global Language English Content category – up to 5 levels (3 in the example) Indices – Equity – Italian Indices Content type News & Analysis – Index News Content region Europe

31 microsoft.com Several years ago, Microsoft had a diverse set of loosely integrated local sites There were common design cues, but specifically the content was not shared in any way Imagine the cost of maintaining a local site in every country Microsoft does business in Today, there is a single design, taxonomy, shared content, translation process, all the works.

32 From the WayBackMachine …. March 2000

33 The Future: Convergence

34 Take-away Content Localization Taxonomy Localization Web CMS Localization

35 Thank you! Q&A