1 Susan Su, manager Asian Globalization Center, Sun Microsystems August Localization imperatives, challenges, and solutions

2 Agenda 1- globalization at Sun 2- internationalization 3- localization 4- translation processes and challenges 5- translation in the era of open source Q&A

3 Globalization at Sun With distributed teams around the world and with broad technical expertise globalization team can guide the globalization requirements of a product Enable the product teams to focus on core functionality, rather than worrying about globalization issues Provide internationalization best practices to product teams Provide internationalization testing, localization testing, help product teams with internationalization bug fixing Help product teams to grow their international revenues One-stop shop for all globalization needs of Sun's software Offer coverage for web, training, legal, etc. contents for Sun users in Corporate, Marketing, Sales, and Service functions

4 I18n - Internationalization Process of > Removing all cultural context from software, rendering it culturally neutral > Externalizing strings and structuring forms, search and display (UI, date formats etc.) so that user visible messages can be easily translated I18n is required for Localization

5 I18n – an example getResourceBundle "File" "Edit" "View" " 文件 " " 编辑 " " 查看 " locale=en locale=zh_CN dialog.properties menu1=File menu2=Edit menu3=View dialog_zh_CN.properties... menu1= 文件 menu2= 编辑 menu3= 查看

6 L10n - Localization Process of > Adding locale specific functions to specific product types > Translating product's User Interface, messages, documentation, online help, marketing collateral, corporate messaging, training, legal contents as well as new content types (wikis, blogs...) etc., in a culturally sensitive way into target language(s) > Testing and integrating the translations with the source product or offering > Reporting localization bugs and bug fixing

7 Translation includes both vendor/internal processes and technologies/tools: > Drive cost reduction, control translation quality, manage delivery schedule, develop and maintain partner relationship, including outside language service provides, and opensource community engagement. > Strong partnership with internal product development and quality engineering teams, documentation teams, services and developer outreach teams. > Modernization efforts to enable automation and improve effectiveness and efficiency in both program and operations management.

8 Translation process Start ● Evaluating scope ● Preparing vendor ● Quality strategy ● Kickoff meeting Handoff to vendor Cost & schedule review Vendor translates & delivers Linguistic & technical review Final delivery to: - QA_matrix.ods - issue RFW PASS FAIL -> software build -> docs.sun.com -> Sun web sites Post-mortem meeting upon agreement

9 Translation quality framework QA matrix > Sun's translation quality standards > Involves both linguistic and technical experts Style guide > Available in all major tier languages > Accessible in Open Translation website Terminology management – Sungloss > A Sun open source glossary tool, at > Manages and maintains terminology contents of glossaries Vendor scorecard > Quarterly quality metrics > Total vendor scoring

10 Vendor management Manages all translation vendors approved for use throughout Sun > Brings in new vendors through qualification process > Strategic cost reduction through Dynamic Bidding Event (DBE) every two years. > Regular vendor performance tracking through Vendor Scorecard > Translation quality tracking through quarterly QA metrics > Quality improvement through Corrective Action Reviews (CAR)

11 Quality challenges What if vendors didn't provide up-to-standard or stable translation quality? Vendor Recognition Program > Before – passing rate as low as 50-60% > After – see below

12 Quality challenges What was achieved through Vendor recognition program? > vendors well motivated to provide up-to-standard translation quality > translation quality remains stable across vendors and product lines > client-vendor relationship nurtured

13 Open translation Translation in the era of opensource Open translation web site:

14 Open source translation projects - Participate! OpenOffice.org > 97 language communities in OpenOffice.org > OpenOffice.org in your language - Netbeans > NetBeans Localization and Translation Projects > OpenSolaris Community: Internationalization and Localization - Java > Via DocWeb - etc.

15 Thank you! Questions?

16 Localization imperatives, challenges, and solutions