Localization Michelle Johnston, Firebird Services Ltd

What is Localization? It is NOT just translation It IS – Customising for culture – Customising for language – Customising for country It affects – Language – Design – Structure/Content

Text Localization Translate word for word? – Often does not work very well – Takes a lot of maintenance – Can allow for fast, generic translation Translate phrase for phrase? – Works much better than word for word – Can limit the size of the text substituted – Is a good compromise – Translation on the fly can be slow, do offline Translate text section for text section? – Seems very natural – May mean a bit of local customisation of design – Has to be done offline really

Text Localization Must take into account different sizes – Table properties – Textual graphics – Etc. Selection of text – Database driven (easier to update/change) – File driven (maintenance issues) – Directory structure driven (can be efficient) – Program driven (least efficient)

Organization

Managing Changes Allow a ‘super user’ per language to update? Allow a ‘super user’ per content type to update? Allow a ‘super user’ per locale to update? Update via database? Update a spreadsheet that is then used to update database? Replace files? Issues involved with each choice

Charset localization Same language in different countries – E.g Spanish in Spain, Portugal, Mexico etc. How to determine charset? – Browser setting? – PC setting? – Website choice that user has to make on seeing site? – Portals offer personalisation of charset – Which of the above overrides which?

Charset in Programming Various levels at which charset is set – HTML – Program on the server side – Database on the server side – Flash (ISO unless japanese) Benefits of using unicode? – Supports all charsets – Universally understood Disadvantages

Oddities Double byte translations Chinese/Japanese characters sometimes contract and sometimes expand the size of text translations Some languages (Hebrew) are written right to left and require special keyboards Be careful with special characters

Customization Issues Punctuation Dates Weights/measures Addresses Content Hardware/software Programming for customization Movies

Punctuation $ or £ Before or after the numeric? E.g 1000 FF Euros? Formats of phone numbers Formats of zip codes/postal codes

Dates Does 03/04/01 mean March 4, 2001, or April 3, 2001? Use a word/number combination system like 15-Feb-2001 to reduce ambiguity? International time zones and presentation formats. Be aware that many countries present time in 24-hour notation (23:15) Seasonal differences – New Year is not Jan 1 for Chinese

Weights/Measures Pounds or Kilos? Miles or Kilometres? Both?

Addresses Formats of zip codes/post codes Post code required? Some countries don’t have them State – required? Different name – region?

Content Avoid puns, humour, colloquialisms etc. as they don’t translate well

Hardware/software Mobile phones in Japan, PC in the US are the most commonly used devices for Internet access 14.4 modems still common in some countries

Customization Programming Server Side includes? – For sections of the page that are repeated on each page, but may be different by language Template driven? Directory structure driven? Config files?

Macromedia Movies System fonts and other text attributes Colour specs Any action script relevant to localization Info about animation Navigation and interactions

Macromedia Movies Sample Specification document: Localization_home.fla (Home page) Title text: 36 point Vonnes Bold - Extended (embedded static text) Body text: 14 point _sansNavigation buttons (created in Fireworks. FW_template_buttons.png: Template is provided) up state— 14 pt _sans. Hexadecimal value of #ff9900. Button effect-linear gradient, inner bevel. down state—12 pt _sans. Hexadecimal value of #FF3300. Button effect-linear gradient, inner bevel. Marker names: do not require localizationActionScript: does not require localizationScreen shots: user_interface.bmp requires replacement shot using the localized operating systemText on the Products layer is masked by the ProductsMask layer. Turn off the masking to edit the text.

The business side Ensure customer service staff have languages available to them – Linguistic staff – programs that accept foreign chars etc Form values can be submitted in English despite the captions on the screen to enable easier processing Site review by locals!

Semantics Colours mean different things to different cultures

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