A Very Big Village

In recent years a lot has been said and heard of the global world, a village in which advanced computer technology and communications equipment blur geographic boundaries and enable local companies to market their products worldwide. Companies seeking to market in-house developed products in foreign markets face not only substantial logistics challenges, but another, frequently dismissed challenge too, the cultural challenge. Localization (known as L10n in the industry), defined as the adaptation of a product developed locally with blood, sweat and tears to foreign markets where cultural nuances are totally different, is a task that deserves to be taken very seriously, all the more so when it comes to the Chinese and Japanese markets which require comprehensive adaptation of business processes, but also in the case of Western European and American markets.

Many companies, including Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft, HP and Google, and numerous others, even startups with far more limited resources, put their software and peripheral products through a comprehensive and meticulous localization process, including professional translation and custom tailoring to the culture of the target country, in a wide range of languages. These companies have standardized the localization stage, setting up whole departments dedicated to this complex and intricate work, and effectively assigning localization to the overall product management process.

In view of the growing importance of localization as a critical stage in product management, preparations for it begin already in the initial product development phase. A localization-oriented organizational approach, and adaptation of the development environment with a view to expanding into foreign markets starts with an internationalization process, known in the industry as I18N: the planning and implementation of products and services to prepare them for adaptation to various languages.

Few companies in Israel have adopted I18N and L10n as an integral part of their product development, marketing and management. Israeli high-tech companies seeking to expand and sell their products abroad are obliged now, possibly for the first time, to address the challenges of localization.

Those seeking to sell their products to foreign markets quickly come to realize that they cannot simply make do with a translation. Adapting a product to a target audience requires not only knowledge of the target language, but also knowledge of the locale: adaptation of the product to the local culture, both in terms of content and in terms of layout and design.

Localization itself is divided into several stages: translation and customization of the user interface and/or the website; translation and adaptation of the technical and marketing documentation; and layout and design of the final documents. The initial stage, translation and adaptation to the target audience, must be undertaken by translators who live and breathe the target language, who are familiar with the subject matter (video, cellular, CRM, medical equipment, telecom, data security, etc.) and who are thoroughly acquainted with the local culture. It also requires compilation of a glossary to ensure terminology that is consistent and uniform, a style guide to define the tone of the finished product ("Hooray, no spam here") and other reference materials.

Next comes the editing stage, designed to ensure that the final product uses the correct terminology, is free of spelling and grammatical errors, and flows smoothly as if written in the target language. Translation and editing are executed using computer-aided translation tools based on cumulative memory (translation memory or TM for short) and incorporate the glossary built at the start of the project. Translation tools streamline the work process, preventing repeat translation of sentences translated before, thereby ensuring consistent text and terminology, reduced work times, and major cost savings.

Like the technical QA stage in your development department, localization also includes a quality control stage where content and layout are checked in a broader and fuller context. Those sentences translated outside their context in the translation tool now appear in their actual context: a dialog box, a web page, a mobile phone screen, etc. The full context enables a visual and content-based check to ascertain that the end product is officially ready for launching.

All the above stages ensure that when you finally launch your product in a foreign market, a product in which you have invested extensive financial and organizational resources, you will enjoy a greater market share in those markets, and hence, by definition, a greater return on your investment.