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THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR LOCALISATION
September 2005
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VOL. 4 Issue 3€7.50 / $7.50 USISSN 1649-2358
REACTION TO ACQUISITIONANNOUNCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 4–5
FOCUS ON EDUCATIONLRC SUMMER SCHOOL 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 8
TECHLINK – THE EUROPE-ASIA INITIATIVE . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 9
ACADEMIC CURRICULAR REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 22–24
FOCUS ON RESEARCHCONCEPTUALISING THE FUTURE OF TRANSLATION WITH LOCALISATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 13–16
THE LOCALISATION OUTSOURCING DECISION: HOW TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 17–20
REACTION TO ACQUISITIONANNOUNCEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 4–5
FOCUS ON EDUCATIONLRC SUMMER SCHOOL 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 8
TECHLINK – THE EUROPE-ASIA INITIATIVE . . . . . . . . . . . PAGE 9
ACADEMIC CURRICULAR REVIEW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 22–24
FOCUS ON RESEARCHCONCEPTUALISING THE FUTURE OF TRANSLATION WITH LOCALISATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 13–16
THE LOCALISATION OUTSOURCING DECISION: HOW TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . PAGES 17–20
7–9 September 2005: 28th UNICODEConference, Orlando, Florida, USA; www.global-conference.com/iuc28/13–14 September 2005: LRC – X, GILC, the Development Localisation Event, LRC,Limerick, Ireland; www.localisation.ie/learning/conferences/2005/index.htm12–16 September 2005: Machine Translation Summit X, Phuket, Thailand;www.aamt.info12–16 September 2005: Computers andTranslation Part 1 — Computer AssistedTerminology Management, Saarbrücken, Germany;http://fr46.uni-saarland.de16–17 September 2005: I ABRATES InternationalTranslation Congress, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil;http://www.abrates.com.br/congresso/port/19–23 September 2005: Computers andTranslation Part 2 — TM Systems and SoftwareLocalisation, Saarbrücken, Germany;http://fr46.uni-saarland.de
7–8 October 2005: New Research in Translationand Interpreting Studies, Tarragona, Spain;http://isg.urv.es/seminars/2005_new_research/program.html11–13 October 2005: The 2nd International JointConference on Natural Language Processing (IJC-NLP), Jeju Island, Korea; www.afnlp.org/IJCNLP05/15 October 2005: Translation & Censorship, DublinIreland; http://www.monabaker.com/tsresources/cediary_more.php?id=2804_0_3_0_M25–27 October 2005: Localization World Seattle, Seattle, Washington, USA; www.localizationworld.com27–30 October 2005: Between Text and Image - Updating Research in Screen Translation,University of Bologna at Forlì, Italy; http://screentranslation.sitlec.unibo.it/ENG/Information.htm7–11 November 2005: LISA Forum Europe, Zurich, Switzerland; http://www.lisa.org/events/2005zurich/
9–12 November 2005: ATA 46th AnnualConference, Seattle, Washington, USA;http://www.atanet.org/conf2005/3–4 November 2005: Cultural Borders andBridges: Europe and Asia, Clayton Victoria,Australia; http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/lcl/conferences/cultural_borders/index.html11–12 November 2005: Translation and/asCulture, Clayton, Victoria, Australia;http://www.arts.monash.edu.au/lcl/conferences/translation/index.html11–13 November 2005: Asia in the AsianConsciousness: Translation and CulturalTransactions, Baroda, India; 21–24 November 2005: Language, Culture andGlobalization, Owerri, IMO State, Nigeria;www.apnilac.4t.com24–25 November 2005: Translating and theComputer 27, London, UK; www.aslib.co.uk/training/conferences/index.htm
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Localisation Focus online atwww.localisationshop.com.
Publisher InformationLocalisation Focus – The International Journal forLocalisation is the publication of the LocalisationResearch Centre (LRC). It is distributed to thelocalisation community and those with an interest in localisation. Please notify the LRC (email: [email protected]) if you or one of your colleagueswould like to receive Localisation Focus regularly.
Editor: Reinhard Schäler
Assistant Editor: Thomas Keogan
Production: Litho Studios Ltd., Kylemore Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin 10. Tel: +353 1 626 6123Fax: +353 1 626 9369Email: [email protected]
Published by: Localisation Research Centre, Dept. of Computer Scienceand Information Systems,University of Limerick,Limerick, Ireland.Tel: +353 61 202 881Fax: +353 61 202 734www.localisation.ie
© 2005 Localisation Research Centre
Tim Altanero, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages, AustinCommunity College, Texas, USADonald Barabé, Operations Vice-President, Canadian Bureau ofTranslationTeddy Bengtsson, CEO of Idea Factory Languages Inc., Buenos Aires, ArgentinaLynne Bowker, Associate Professor, School of Translation andInterpretation, University of Ottawa, CanadaJosé Eduardo De Lucca, Co-ordinator of Centro GeNESS and lecturer at Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, BrazilCarla DiFranco, Program Manager, Windows Division, Microsoft, USABert Esselink, Solutions Manager, Lionbridge Technologies,Netherlands and author of A Practical Guide to LocalizationDebbie Folaron, Assistant Professor of Translation andLocalisation, Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, CanadaPatrick Hall, Professor of Computer Science, Open University, UKJames M. Hogan, Senior Lecturer in software engineering at theQueensland University of Technology, Brisbane, AustraliaSarmad Hussain, Associate Professor and Head of the Center forResearch in Urdu Language Processing at NUCES, Lahore, PakistanLisa Moore, Chair of the UNICODE Technical Committee, and IM Products Globalisation Manager, IBM, San Jose, California, USASharon O’Brien, Lecturer in translation studies, Dublin CityUniversity, Ireland
Maeve Olohan, Senior lecturer and program director of MA inTranslation Studies, University of Manchester, UKPat O’Sullivan, Test Architect at IBM’s Dublin Software Laboratory,IrelandAnthony Pym, Director of translation- and localisation-related postgraduate programmes at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili,Tarragona, Spain Harold Somers, Professor of Language Engineering, University of Manchester, UKMarcel Thelen, Lecturer in translation and terminology, Zuyd University, Maastricht, NetherlandsGregor Thurmair, Chief Technology Officer of Lernout & Hauspie’s Language Technology DivisionKim Wallmach, Freelance translating and interpreting project manager and lecturer in translation and interpreting,University of South Africa, Pretoria, South AfricaSue Ellen Wright, Lecturer in translation, Kent State University,Ohio, USAOm Vikas, Senior Director and Head of Computer DevelopmentDivision in the Ministry of Communication & Information Technology(Government of India), New Delhi, IndiaAngelika Zerfass, Freelance consultant and trainer for translation tools and related processes, lecturer in same at University of Bonn, Germany
Members of the Localisation Focus Editorial Board
Upcoming Localisation Events
LOCALISATION FOCUSSEPTEMBER 2005 3
Cont
ents
CONTENTS.editorial
From the Editor
NO OTHER INDUSTRY HASANNOUNCED ITS OWNDEMISE AS OFTEN AS THE
LOCALISATION INDUSTRY. Over thepast years, “expert” observers havedeclared the end of the localisationindustry in articles, on websites and during conferences – and thebeginning of something much better and brighter. The latestincarnation of the localisation industry is called GILT, an acronymstanding for Globalisation, Internationalisation, Localisation,Translation.
In today’s fast-moving world where the shelf life of services andproducts is getting close to zero, the localisation industry is beingvery prudent as it constantly reviews its direction and comes upwith new strategies to develop and grow its business. Being part ofthe localisation community, the LRC is no different.
Real change is good. It adds colour and diversity, it keeps theindustry in tune with the ever-changing world of internationaldigital publishing, and it makes it an interesting place to work in.
However, change introduced for the sole purpose of grabbingthe headlines of some insider magazines is bad. It only plays to thehome constituency, confuses the customers and diverts theattention from the main job on hand: the consolidation anddevelopment of a still young industry.
Change can only be applied to a well-defined body of processes,of standards, of practices, of services. Therefore we believe thatour efforts should concentrate on the definition of these processes,standards, practices and services.
This is also why the LRC is supporting the XLIFF andTranslation Web Services initiatives under the umbrella of OASIS,the Certified Localisation Professional (CLP) programme of TILP,as well as the European IGNITE and TechLink projects sponsoredby the European Community.
This year marks the 10th Anniversary of the establishment ofthe LRC. While we celebrate our achievements, we are alsoreviewing our position and role in the localisation community,which is now considerably different from what it was in the mid-1990s. We will do this with the assistance of Irish-based firmProduct Innovator, the members of our Industrial Advisory Board,the Localisation Focus Editorial Board and you, the LocalisationCommunity.
The LRC originally defined itself as the information,educational, and research centre for the localisation community,thus providing some of the central ingredients for an emergingindustry. Some of these functions are now being taken over byother organisations, such as the Globalisation and LocalisationAssociation (GALA), The Institute of Localisation Professionals(TILP) and Localisation World. This leaves the LRC with moreroom and better opportunities to re-position itself and concentrateon core activities.
Although this process is still ongoing, some recent developmentsalready point towards our new direction – such as theannouncement of a whole series of industry-sponsored researchprojects and the launch of the Global Initiative for Local Computing(GILC) at this year’s annual localisation event, LRC – X.
Despite some marketing-driven and effect-seekingannouncements, localisation is here to stay. It needs to develop itsprofessionalism, standardise its processes, methodologies andtools, and establish a solid body of research. All this will involvechange, gradually and over time, but not the sudden and dramaticdisappearance of a whole industry. We at the LRC, will be there todrive some of that change, together with our partners in academiaand industry.
Reinhard Schäler
Opinions expressed by individual authors do not necessarily reflect those of the editor
When you change address, remember to update us at [email protected]! This way you will be able to enjoy reading
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CONTENTS2 Industry News and Events in
Localisation – 2005
4 Industry Reaction to Recent AcquisitionAnnouncements
6 Welcome to the New Editorial Board – Part 3
8 LRC Summer School 2005: Hands-On Localisation
9 Techlink - The Europe-Asia Localisation TrainingTechnology Initiative
11 Gruppo L10N’s Experience of TeachingLocalisation in Italy
12 News from GALA & TILP
Research
13 Conceptualising the future of translation withlocalisationMinako O’Hagan
Research
17 The Localisation Outsourcing Decision: How toJohn Papaioannou
Personal Profile
21 It just will not get boringBert Esselink
Academic Curricular Review
22 Globalising Localisation Training: AcademicCurricular ReviewRomina L. Marazzato
Country Focus
25 Localisation in AustraliaJames M. Hogan
26 Readers’ Forum
28 Teaching Localisation in Spanish UniversitiesMontserrat Bermúdez Bausela
30 Localisation Research Centre News
32 The LRC and its Functions
The front cover image shows The Three Sisters rock formation in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales, Australia.
LOCALISATION FOCUS SEPTEMBER 20054
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The PASS Engineering View
“Like It Or Not, It Is Going To Happen”. This is what we hearthese days about company and technology mergers. “SDL BuysTRADOS”, “Lionbridge Buys Bowne”; those are the two majorheadlines that have given us an industry reality check. ManyLSPs will worry about the loss of choice or even tougher compe-tition against the big players, but many will be just concernedwith the future choices they will have to make when it comes togoing with one tool or the other.
PASSOLO, one of the market leaders in software localisationtools, offers cutting-edge localisation technology, proven usabili-ty across all the major software platforms, powerful interfacesfor customisation and integration, has been following the eventsvery closely. The SDL/TRADOS merger does not significantlychange our current business model, as we are true believers instrong partnerships ourselves. We have had close relationshipswith both SDL and TRADOS for many years. From the earlyclose integration with TRADOS — in our product since PASSO-LO 2.0 in 2001 — to the recent activities in close collaborationwith SDL in providing solutions for SDLX to further enhanceautomation and workflow solutions, we have been anything butrestless in constantly finding that instant ROI for our clients.
Our open technologies through object models and our abilityto provide API’s for specific custom workflow solutions, place usstrongly as we are already scaled up to the current trends.Whether SDL will end up keeping TRADOS as a brand in itsown right, or whether Lionbridge/Bowne will torpedo the marketwith a new TM solution of its own, we are ready to continue tobe their (and their clients’) partners. With our continuous globalexpansion, we too believe in partnerships. Having establishedpresences in North America, Japan, and Eastern Europe, wewant to be globally present where our clients need us and thuscontinue our tremendous growth worldwide. We will ensure thatSDL/TRADOS or Lionbridge/Bowne and all of their valuedclients can seamlessly continue to rely on us as their partners.SDL’s five-year commitment to support both product offeringsshows that they have done their share in providing a smoothseamless transition that will give all involved partners ample timeto make any necessary adjustments to their processes.
The acquisition of TRADOS itself will clearly allow SDL tofully focus on the development of the product instead of havingto fight against its major competitor. While their services compe-tition might worry about pricing and support, usability, compat-ibility and workflow integrations will continue to improve. PAS-SOLO will be there, right alongside as a supporting partner,increasing their productivity and automation while continuingthe decrease in time-to-market for global products. In the end,everyone will eventually benefit from greater efficiencies.
About PASS Engineering. PASS Engineering is a leading
provider of visual localisation tools and technologies.Enterprises across the globe benefit from the quality, consistencyand reliability of PASS’s localisation technologies. Providingcomprehensive support for all the major development and locali-sation platforms, including Windows, Java, .NET, Palm OS,XML/XLIFF, and Borland VCL, PASS Engineering is widely rec-ognized as a technological leader in software localisation.
PASS Engineering GmbH, Remigiusstr. 1, 53111 Bonn,Germany. Tel: +49-228- 697242, Fax: +49-228-697104, E-mail: [email protected], Web: http://www.passolo.com
Tony O’Dowd, CEO and President, Alchemy Software,Dublin, IrelandThe acquisition of TRADOS by SDL plc creates the world'slargest globalisation technology company with technology relat-ed revenues in the region of US$25m–30m per annum.Leveraging existing development expertise and channels to mar-ket the combined groups clearly have synergies and economiesof scale which they can use to position themselves as the domi-nant provider of TM and globalisation technology to the vastnumber of LSPs in the industry. However, the LSP sector has tra-ditionally purchased their technology from independent soft-ware vendors in the full knowledge that they are not competingpartners. With the announcement of the acquisition, purchasingtechnology from the combined group may not sit well withmany of the rival LSPs currently competing head-to-head withthe SDL services divisions. Why would they invest in SDL tech-nology and fund the future technology growth and revenuestream of a competitor? Is there an alternative? Currently it ishard to see a consolidator in the industry that could bringtogether sufficient technology to compete directly with the com-bined offering of SDL and TRADOS; however the desire for anindependent supplier of technology to the industry may driveadditional M&A activity in the short-term. The industry hasseen some recent M&A activities centred on technology acquisi-tions — Lionbridge purchasing LogoPort, Transware acquiringGlobalSight — and this trend is sure to continue in the immedi-ate aftermath of the SDL announcement.
Pat Hall, Professor of Computer Science, OpenUniversity, UKMy concern is that smaller specialist companies seem to be dis-appearing, and what that might do for the industry. But at leastthis consolidation is within a separate localisation industry, andnot back into the main software suppliers and content mer-chants.
Marcel Thelen, Lecturer in translation and terminology,Zuyd University, Maastricht, NetherlandsSDL's acquisition of TRADOS came as a complete surprise but,in fact, it is not surprising — since a number of tools of both
Reaction to Recent Acquisition Announcements
On 20 June SDL announced its plan to acquire TRADOS and on the 27 June — just one week later —Lionbridge revealed its intention to buy Bowne Global Solutions. Such a large-scale shake-up is
unprecedented — both in terms of the close timing and the sheer magnitude of the players involved.Here we take a closer look at how the industry perceives the potential impact.
We speak your language.
Everywhere.
ADAPTL O C A L I Z A T I O N
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companies are quite comparable, notably the translation mem-ory and the terminology management tools. It remains to beseen if the respective tools will remain separate tools or beintegrated into even more powerful tools. I think that the com-bination of SDL and TRADOS is very exciting, especially sinceTeamworks (TRADOS) and Knowledge-based Translation(SDL) could become a good team.
I hope neither acquisition will have adverse effects on thecontacts between the new companies and the academic world— in terms of cooperation and involvement of the new com-panies in curricula, the acquisition by educational institutes oftools and licenses, or the number of placements for students.
Nico van der Water, Manager of DocSolutions,Nijmegen, NetherlandsTRADOS were having a lot of competition in the marketplace.This coupled with the limitations of their application-specifictools may have made them vulnerable to the more aggressivestrategy recently adopted by SDL.
Tim Altanero, Associate Professor of ForeignLanguages, Austin Community College, Texas, USATrados was essentially a one-product company and SDL wasdoing what TRADOS did and more but lacked the namerecognition and market penetration of Trados in the TM field.The purchase of TRADOS makes great sense for SDL and willhopefully move us toward a standard in TM file formats,among other advantages.
Sharon O’Brien, Lecturer in Translation Studies, DublinCity University, IrelandOne has to wonder if SDL really wants to continue developingand selling rival software or if they plan to ‘retire’ it after sometime? How can SDL afford to support and develop two tech-nologies? Perhaps they'll abandon SDLX and concentrate ondeveloping TRADOS? This development clearly means thatcompetition has been reduced, which is not a good thing in myview.
Gisela Donnarumma, Technology Manager, IdeaFactory Languages, Buenos Aires, ArgentinaThe cost of software licenses has always been prohibitive inSouth America so if a monopoly situation arises, industrytools may become completely unaffordable here. Positiveeffects include the possibility of SDL investing more in R&Dand small developers may now be forced to explore alternativesolutions and meet user’s needs at less cost.
Teddy Bengtsson, CEO, Idea Factory Languages,Buenos Aires ArgentinaI think the industry will continue in ‘business as usual’ mode.The key changes and challenges lie with Lionbridge and SDLthemselves to capitalise on the opportunities and negate therisks involved in making such substantial acquisitions.
The majority of language buyers will continue to look forthe most cost-effective way of meeting their specific require-ments, and the optimal answer may not be a supersized part-ner. Mid-sized MLVs may benefit — buyers want choice and amore personal relationship — and regional or single languagevendors even more so as clients look to save costs by goingstraight to the source.
Lynne Bowker is Associate Professor at the School ofTranslation and Interpretation of the University ofOttawa (Canada). From 1996-1999, she taught atDublin City University (Ireland). She has a PhD inLanguage Engineering from UMIST (UK) and is a cer-tified translator with the Association of Translatorsand Interpreters of Ontario (Canada). Lynne is theauthor of Computer-Aided Translation Technology: A
Practical Introduction (2002, University of Ottawa Press), and her teaching andresearch interests include technical translation, terminology, translation technolo-gy and localisation. Lynne may be contacted at [email protected]
Debbie Folaron earned her Masters and Ph.D. in 1999at Binghamton University in New York. Her disserta-tion focused on the theory and practice of drama andtheatre translation in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia.She worked as Language and Technology Manager atEriksen Translations in New York City, and taughtonline translation courses at New York Universityfrom 2000-2004. She also served as Program Directorfor the ATA-chapter New York Circle of Translators.She accepted a full-time Assistant Professor position in
2004 at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, where she teachestranslation, localisation and translation technologies. Her areas of research andteaching also include: translation and new technology laws; applied social andcommunications network theories to translation and localisation; online teaching;and translation for social justice and social services. She has written articles onelearning, localisation and multilingual project management for MultilingualComputing and Technology, and recently contributed to the upcoming publicationIssues in Localisation (edited by Keiran Dunne for the ATA Scholarly MonographSeries). Debbie may be contacted at [email protected]
Patrick Hall has been Professor of Computer Scienceat the Open University since May 1991, and previous-ly at Brunel University from 1987. Prior to this he heldvarious jobs in industry concerned with the develop-ment of large software systems, from database man-agement systems to command and control systems, incompanies from research organisations to productbuilders to software houses. His general research
interests are in software technology, with major funded projects on testing andsoftware components and reuse. A strong thread of his research has been in soft-ware globalisation arising from a commercial assignment in Saudi Arabia in thelate 1970s, and pursued since then in a number of projects across Europe and inSouth Asia. During 1993 and 1994 he led the EU-funded Glossasoft project con-cerned with exploiting ideas from software architectures and components anddevelopments in computational linguistics to facilitate the globalisation of soft-ware. The results of this were published in the book Software without Frontiers.In 1997 and 1998 he spent 9 months in Nepal looking deeper into cultural issues
concerning software and the way it fits into other cultures. In early 2001 togetherwith Professor McEnery at Lancaster University, he was given a grant by the EUAsia IT&C programme to run a series of expert conferences to share languageengineering knowledge between Europe and South Asia. Patrick may be contactedat [email protected]
Maeve Olohan is senior lecturer at the Centre forTranslation and Intercultural Studies, University ofManchester, where she is programme director for theMA in Translation Studies. She teaches Technical andCommercial Translation and Research Methods inTranslation Studies at postgraduate level, and German-English translation at undergraduate level. She isauthor of Introducing Corpora in Translation Studies
(Routledge, 2004) and editor of Intercultural Faultlines: Research Models inTranslation Studies I (St Jerome, 2000). Her current research interests lie in theareas of non-literary translation, corpora in translation studies, translator trainingand the translation process. Maeve may be contacted at [email protected]
Lisa Moore works for IBM where she manages theglobalisation of IBM's Information Management (IM)products. Her organisation leads the globalisation andtranslation efforts at the Silicon Valley Lab (SVL) inSan Jose, California, and she manages the adoption ofnew globalisation features for the IM portfolio ofproducts.After joining IBM in 1981, Lisa worked for ten
years in networking and data communications. As a software engineer she developed communications device support. For three years, she managed a depart-ment that developed OSI communications layers protocols; she was also the IBM lead for resolving multi-vendor OSI interoperability testing problems. Shemoved to IBM's Software Group in 1991 to take a position in the globalisationdepartment at SVL. In the area of Globalisation, Lisa has led the IM division ofIBM to ship translated and fully globalised products. From Unicode to GB18030and W3C standards, IM has shipped leading-edge globalisation in database, busi-ness intelligence, and content management products across a wide range of plat-forms. In the IT industry, Lisa has contributed actively to the ongoing development of theUnicode Standard since 1993. She was co-author of the Unicode Standard,Versions 2, 3, and 4. She was appointed a Vice President of the UnicodeConsortium in 1996 and has been Chair of the Unicode Technical Committee, andVice-Chair of the INCITS L2 Committee (US National Standards Body CharacterEncoding Committee) since May, 1999, in which capacity she manages the techni-cal agenda of the Unicode decision-making body. She chaired or co-chairedInternational Unicode Conferences from 1995 to the Spring of 2005, running theconference program committee. She has received awards in recognition of herglobalisation contributions from IBM and INCITS. Lisa may be contacted [email protected]
LOCALISATION FOCUS EDITORIAL. board SEPTEMBER 20056
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Editorial Board – Part 3Localisation Focus – The International Journal for Localisation welcomes its new Editorial Board. These eminent individuals, from
academia, government and industry, have agreed to provide direction to the Localisation Research Centre for the further developmentof its quarterly journal. Localisation Focus – The International Journal for Localisation is the only journal dedicated exclusively tolocalisation and localisation research.
Continuing with our introduction to the new Localisation Focus Editorial Board, in this edition we will introduce the final nine mem-bers, putting faces to the list of names and giving you an insight into the extraordinary expertise represented by these individuals. Inthis issue, we introduce you to Lynne Bowker, Debbie Folaron, Patrick Hall, Maeve Olohan, Lisa Moore, Anthony Pym, Om Vikas,Gregor Thurmair, and James M. Hogan.
Together with the other members of the Editorial Board, this team of highly respected academics and government and industry-basedprofessionals from around the world will help us to build on the success and reputation of Localisation Focus. We will develop it fur-ther as a platform for the exchange of high-quality internationalisation and localisation research, and cover topics emerging from dif-ferent geographical, linguistic and cultural backgrounds.
Anthony Pym teaches at the Universitat Rovira i Virgiliwhere he is director of postgraduate programmes intranslation and localisation and director of the PhDprogram in Translation and Intercultural Studies. Heworks on sociological approaches to intercultural rela-tions and holds a doctorate in sociology from the Écoledes Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris. His pub-lications include Translation and Text Transfer (1992),
Epistemological Problems in Translation and its Teaching (1993), Pour uneéthique du traducteur (1997) Method in Translation History (1998), Negotiatingthe Frontier – Translators and Intercultures in Hispanic History (2000) and TheMoving Text. Localization, Translation, and Distribution (2004). He has alsoedited the volumes L'Internationalité littéraire (1988), Mites australians (1990),Les formations en traduction et interprétation. Essai de recensement mondial(1995), and The Return to Ethics (special issue of The Translator, 2001). Dr Pym’sinterest in localisation is based on the belief that cross-cultural relations are thesource of the world’s most serious problems, and that communication technolo-gies are the most powerful factors influencing those relations. Hence the need forsociology and ethics, along with the technology. Anthony may be contacted [email protected]
Om Vikas – Ministry of Communications &Information Technology, New Delhi. Dr Om Vikas isthe senior Director and Head of the ComputerDevelopment Division in the Ministry of Commun-ication & Information Technology (Government ofIndia). His current research interests include Computerarchitecture, Data Design, Multi-lingual computing,and Informatics curriculum development. Dr Vikas hasvast experience of R&D, teaching, project planning
and international cooperation in industry, academia, government, and the mis-sions abroad. He has been an active member of several regional and internationalconference committees spearheading the promotion of multi-lingual informationprocessing of Asian Languages, Technology for Object Oriented Languages andSystems (TOOLS), Thesaurus Modelled Sanskrit Database (Univ. of Texas), HighPerformance Computing Conference 2002, Spoken Language Conference 2002.Dr Vikas is also coordinator of the national program on Technology Developmentfor Indian Languages (TDIL) that covers Human Machine Interface Systems,Translation Support Systems, Knowledge/Lexical Resources, KnowledgeProcessing Tools, Localisation, and Standardisation, and Human ResourceDevelopment for Indian Languages. He has significantly contributed towardsevolving Indian Scripts Standard Code for Information Interchange (ISCII) and
now interfaces with UNICODE. He represented India and actively participated inthe Expert meeting on Multi-lingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace. He was awarded the Fellow of the Russian Academy of Informatization ofEducation (1999). He is a member of the IEEE and a fellow of the Institute ofElectronics & Telecommunication Engineers. He has published several researchpapers, conference articles, and techno-economic analysis reports. He is founderand chief editor of the Journal VishwaBharat@tdil on language technology inIndia. He received several national awards for his outstanding contributionstowards the promotion of Science & Technology in Hindi. Om may be contactedat [email protected]
Gregor Thurmair is a NLP researcher. He worked atSiemens Central Labs in information retrieval andspeech understanding from 1978 to 1986. He headedthe METAL machine translation development from1986 to 1994. Gregor is a member of GMS / Lernout& Hauspie / SailLabs, and a researcher and managerof several EU projects in the area of translation, terminology and cross lingual retrieval, e.g. OTELO
(terminology, lexicon exchange), Aventinus (cross lingual retrieval and informa-tion extraction), SENSUS, TQPro (translation quality for professionals), and ISLE (lexicon models and standards). Gregor may be contacted [email protected]
James M. Hogan is a Senior Lecturer in software engi-neering at the Queensland University of Technology,where he leads Faculty initiatives in software interna-tionalisation, software engineering and research proj-ects in bioinformatics and natural language processing.Dr. Hogan has given numerous industry and academicseminars on I18N within Australia and New Zealand,and contributed regularly to the LISA newsletterGlobalisation Insider. Since 2004 he has organised the
series of Asia-Pacific Workshops on Software Internationalisation (Dunedin 2004,Brisbane 2005, Sydney – mid 2006), and his team have contributed significantlyto work enhancing the use of XML standards in open source localisation. Late in2004 he established a roundtable of business, government and academia toadvance knowledge of internationalisation and localisation issues within theQueensland software industry, leading recently to the award of a grant to developa substantial “Software Internationalisation Starter Kit” for the industry, which isbelieved to be the first of its kind. James may be contacted at:[email protected]
LOCALISATION FOCUSEDITORIAL. boardSEPTEMBER 2005 7
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Call for Papers: RESEARCH.locWith the appointment of the new Editorial Board, Localisation Focus will also offer researchers the opportunity to publish
longer, more in-depth, peer-reviewed research papers in the specially designated central section RESEARCH.loc.
Recognising the rapidly converging economic and technological forces that necessitate global interaction, Localisation Focus– The International Journal for Localisation will be the international forum for the discussion and dissemination of research
relating to any and all of the many facets that comprise internationalisation and localisation, which we define in thebroadest sense.
We invite essays that explore issues of importance to the disciplines of internationalisation and localisation, including topicsin the theory and practice of internationalisation and localisation, in best practices, computer science, education,
globalisation, project management, language and cultural issues, standards, and translation.
The submission of reviews, notes, and books for review is also encouraged. Since the audience of our publication representsa wide cross-section of disciplines, submissions should be written in lucid, jargon-free prose.
By submitting their articles, which should not have been published previously, authors agree for their work to be publishedby Localisation Focus – The International Journal for Localisation, both in printed and in electronic form.
Following the review of the work submitted, authors will receive detailed feedback from the reviewers – where applicablewith recommendations for possible improvements.
As Localisation Focus is published quarterly, the lead time between submission and publication will be considerably lessthan in the case of other, less frequently published journals.
Submissions for RESEARCH.loc should be sent to [email protected]
LOCALISATION FOCUS EVENT. review SEPTEMBER 20058
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THE UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK WAS THE VENUEfor LRC Summer School 2005, the 5th such event run bythe LRC, which took place from the 13th to the 16th of
June. It covered all aspects of localisation and internationalisationas well as featuring contributions from TILP experts on the reali-ties of working in the localisation industry. Attendees came fromas far afield as India and America (North and South) withContinental Europe and Ireland also represented.
In a departure from the format of previous years, the core ofSummer School 2005 was composed of two one-day courses onLocalisation and Internationalisation that were developed ‘in-house’ by the LRC. These courses aimed to give participants apractical introduction to the work that takes place when prepar-ing a software product for release into an international market.
However, it was first necessary to set the scene by giving a thor-ough grounding in the principles and theory of localisation andinternationalisation. This task fell to LRC Director andUniversity of Limerick lecturer, Reinhard Schäler. On Day OneReinhard introduced the attendees to the theory behind localisa-tion and internationalisation activities, as well as providing aninsight into the history of the industry and an explanation of theever-present acronyms that populate the I18N and L10N world.This crash course gave everyone a core knowledge that would bereinforced and augmented over the following two days as theyundertook a sample localisation project.
With Day Two came the start of the practical work, which con-sisted of hands-on localisation activities where participants wereguided through a number of tasks common to the localisationprocess. The course was designed to be non-tool specific andaimed at letting the students experience the various stages of thetechnical localisation process from the perspective of thoseinvolved: from translators, to engineers, to QA professionals.Theorising that the most effective way to highlight the impor-tance of internationalisation was to show the problems caused byits absence, Day Two of the Summer School saw attendees local-ising a custom-designed, non internationalised product.
Over the course of the day participants analysed a new applica-tion, localised the Graphical User Interface (GUI), tested the
localised application and finally fixed any problems that arose.Carrying out these tasks on a non-internationalised product gavethe students a first-hand insight into the difficulties that theseproducts create and the benefits of properly internationalising aproduct during its design.
Day Three built on the skills acquired in Day Two by guidingthe students through the task of creating an internationalised ver-sion of the application that they worked on during Day Two.Through practical exercises each participant was introduced tothe principles of programming for a global audience. They werethen assisted in setting up an engineering working environment,which they used to repair internationalisation issues and recom-pile the application.
The culmination of Days Two & Three was an exercise designedto reinforce the lessons covered in both days. Students were askedto use what they had learned over the two days to localise thenewly internationalised application as if it were an update of theoriginal.
At the end of Day Three, attendees and tutors alike wererewarded for their hard work with a scenic boat trip on LoughDerg, one of Ireland’s most famous and beautiful lakes. Theevening was rounded off with a fantastic meal and traditionalIrish music in the quaint lakeside village of Garrykennedy in Co.Tipperary.
The final day of Summer School 2005 gave everyone theopportunity to learn about the realities of working in localisationas industry professionals from Alchemy Software (PatriciaMcKenna), Con[text] (Martin Beuster) and CPL Recruitment(Philip Brady) kindly gave their time and expertise to talk toattendees and answer questions about their experiences in engi-neering, translation and recruitment for the localisation industry.
The LRC Summer School 2005 was a resounding success andthe LRC would like to thank everyone that contributed to thiseducational and enjoyable event. As always the LRC will strive touse the experiences and lessons learned — so the 2006 SummerSchool should be even better!
See you next year…
LRC Summer School 2005:Hands-on Localisation
Presenters: Reinhard Schäler, Karl Kelly, Kevin Bargary, Patricia McKenna, Martin Beuster, and Philip Brady.
Figure 1: Hard at work during the LRC Summer School 2005
Figure 2: Some of the course participants relaxing on the LRC Summer School 2005 outing
LOCALISATION FOCUSLOCALISATION. orgSEPTEMBER 2005 9
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LOCALISATION IS THE LINGUISTIC AND CROSS-CULTURALADAPTATION OF DIGITAL CONTENT for users in foreignmarkets or locales. It is crucial to provide equal access to the digi-
tal information society independently of an individual’s cultural and lin-guistic background or their geographical location.
As the economies of Asia develop and access to computing equipmentand infrastructure becomes less of a problem, the linguistic and culturalissues around the use of Information and Communication Technology(ICT) largely remain. Localisation into and out of Asian languages is nowbecoming an essential requirement. While there are already significantlocalisation activities under way for the languages and cultures of Asia’sleading economies, this is not the case for economically less-developedregions and languages.
TechLink will integrate three organisations — Europe’s premier educa-tional institution in the area of localisation technology (the LocalisationResearch Centre (LRC), based at the University of Limerick, Ireland) andEurope’s premier provider of distance education (the Open University inthe U.K.) with one of India’s premier software technology centres (the C-DAC Mumbai, formerly the National Centre for Software Technology)— thereby supporting its efforts to provide accredited teaching and train-ing for localisers. The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP) willcontribute its expertise in the area of professional certification.
AimsTechLink will organise university and technical training courses in locali-sation, using European technology, information, curricula and teachingmethods, adapted to the needs and requirements of its Asian partners.Localisation skills will be upgraded, knowledge transferred, institutionalcapabilities improved, research integrated and curricula developed.Beneficiaries will include students as well as academic and business pro-fessionals — especially Asian SMEs. The liaison and collaboration estab-lished during this project will be long-lasting.
ObjectivesTo achieve its aims, TechLink will:◆ Establish and reinforce links between educational centres working
with the localisation communities of Europe and Asia. ◆ Raise awareness among the European localisation community, espe-
cially amongst researchers, educationalists, tools and technology devel-opers and standards bodies, to the needs and requirements of Asianlanguage communities.
◆ Analyse the educational and training needs of localisers in Asia, specif-ically India and South East Asia (requirement specification).
◆ Adapt existing curricula and existing localisation teaching and trainingcourses to fit these educational and training needs.
◆ Develop distance teaching and training courses (eLearning).◆ Facilitate the accreditation of Asian educational and training partners
by The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP).◆ Offer localisation education and training courses in Asia.◆ Establish the TechLink network of teaching and training organisations
and collaborate with industry associations, including the Globalisationand Localisation Association (GALA) and the Localisation IndustryStandards Association (LISA).
The Consortium:The Localisation Research Centre (LRC) at the University of Limerickhas been the educational, research and infrastructural support centre forthe localisation industry in Ireland, which is one of the world centres of
localisation, since 1995. It has an Industrial Advisory Board representingtwenty of the world’s leading localisation service providers, eContentpublishers, software developers, tools developers and training organisa-tions.
The Open University (OU) is probably the world’s premier provider ofdistance learning facilities. Professor Pat Hall of the OU’s ComputingDepartment has been involved in several localisation-related projects —with a special focus on the needs of localisers in developing countries. Heis also the author of a standard textbook on localisation. Dr. ShaileyMinocha, also of the OU, is an expert in the evaluation of the usability ofeCommerce systems and their use across cultures. The OU is the idealpartner for the development of distance learning material on localisation.
The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP) is a not-for-profit,membership-based organisation, which is directed by a Council that iselected by the Institute’s members at its annual general meeting. The mainaim of TILP is to develop professionalism in the localisation industrythroughout the world. TILP runs the Certified Localisation Professional(CLP) programme; a programme aimed at providing professional certifi-cation for professionals working at all levels of expertise in the localisa-tion industry.
The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) is ascientific society of the Department of Information Technology, Ministryof Communications and Information Technology, Government of Indiathat is engaged in research, development, education, and deployment inareas of advanced Information Technology (IT). C-DAC has operatingunits at more than 10 different locations in India. C-DAC Mumbai, oneof the centres of C-DAC, pursues Research and Development in areassuch as 3-D graphics and visualisation, artificial intelligence, educationaltechnology including eLearning, open source software development, andsoftware localisation. This centre also runs some prestigious educationalprogrammes — both short-term and long-term — for human resourcedevelopment in various aspects of Information Technology. C-DAC hasclose ties with Indian industry and academic institutions, with respect tocollaborative research programmes and project development.
While the TechLink consortium will drive the completion of the pro-ject’s main activities, it is important that the wider teaching, training andlocalisation communities support the initiative as a whole.
This support will be solicited via two groups:
1. TechLink Network – a group open to anyone who has an interest inthe Europe-Asia Localisation Training Technology Initiative and whois prepared to review and comment on the TechLink activities.Feedback will be solicited mainly by electronic means and at onemajor TechLink event per year.
2. TechLink Curriculum Council – a group of experts, invited from theteaching and training communities, who will regularly attend workingconferences in order to formulate detailed advice and feedback for theconsortium.
If you (or your company) are interested in joining the TechLink Networkcontact the Localisation Research Centre at [email protected].
TechLink – the Europe-Asia LocalisationTraining Technology Initiative
Introducing Techlink, an ambitious project that aims to adapt conventional,localisation-related curricula and training material, from university and technical
courses, for use in Asia and for delivery as distance learning courses.
it is important that the wider teaching,training and localisation communities
support the initiative as a whole.
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DESPITE THE RAPID GROWTH OF THE LOCAL-ISATION INDUSTRY ON A GLOBAL SCALE,Italy still lags behind other countries in its educa-
tional, professional and technological resources. AlthoughItaly has a huge need for a modern educational programmein localisation, it suffers from insufficient and inadequateeducational channels, resources, and infrastructure.
There are approximately 25 translation programmes inundergraduate and postgraduate courses offered in schoolsand universities in Italy, but virtually none of these pro-grammes actually deal with localisation, language technolo-gy or project management.
Three years ago a group of GILT (Globalisation,Internationalisation, Localisation and Translation) profes-sionals decided to found Gruppo L10N in order to help uni-versities forge highly specialised skills to meet the industry’sdemand for professional resources. Since its inception,Gruppo L10N has been working towards implementing alocalisation educational programme.
Gruppo L10N’s main goal is the establishment of a GILT competence centre to support localisation profession-als and localisation service providers, and reduce the ever-widening gap between university training and the real needsof a rapidly developing market. In fact, the lack of efficientand reliable business partners for localisation clients in Italyhas been limiting the growth of the Italian localisationindustry.
Shortly after its foundation, Gruppo L10N was invited tojoin LUSPIO’s (Libera Università degli Studi S. Pio V inRome) new postgraduate course in localisation. This coursewas aimed at teaching localisation basics to translationgraduate students in order to provide them with some of theskills and competencies needed to work in the localisationindustry. To complement this new postgraduate course,Gruppo L10N launched a series of specialised half-yearlyworkshops for seasoned professional translators willing toventure into a localisation career.
LUSPIO’s course was entitled Masters of Arts inLocalisation and was the first of its kind ever held in Italy.300 hours in duration, run over two semesters and with anacademic value of 60 credits; this course was based on prac-tice-oriented teaching. Most of the course activities incorpo-rated working on a real localisation project, thereby addinga practical dimension to the course. Students were trained intranslation techniques for localisation as well as in a num-ber of software applications and they received a thorough
grounding — both theoretical and practical — in comput-ing, with special reference to the localisation process.
Translation memory and localisation software providerssuch as ITR, SDL International, Synthema, TRADOS andPASS Engineering sponsored the course from the outset,offering free educational licenses for their flagship softwarepackages to all students.
When choosing the translation and localisation tools, afew simple but strict requirements were followed. All soft-ware must:
◆ Be capable of handling a large number of file formats,including executable, binary, resource, HTML, and evenXML-based files
◆ Support all the major platforms
◆ Be easy to use and set up
◆ Provide for simple standard-based data exchange andmaintenance mechanisms
◆ Contain a WYSIWYG editor to handle all the elementsof the user interface, without any danger of accidentaldeletion or change
◆ Provide for efficient compilation and easy exchange andprocessing of translation data
◆ Use state-of-the art translation memory technology toallow reuse of existing translations — even from applica-tions translated using different software
Since project management — one of the main componentsof the course — requires a lot of statistical feedback, an
Luigi Muzii
Gruppo L10N’sExperience of Teaching
Localisation in Italy Software integration of a different kind:
Luigi Muzii explains how Gruppo L10N selects the correct software to complement their courses.
Translation memory and localisation software providers
sponsored the course from the outset.
… all software had to have a reliable statistics feature …
LOCALISATION FOCUSLOCALISATION.centralSEPTEMBER 2005 11
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reliable statistics feature that would allow for a separateanalysis of both translated and non-translated text and enu-meration of repetitions to be performed per file, language,or project. Finally, the software had to offer a very gentlelearning curve that would enable students take an intuitiveapproach, even for their home classes.
Even though no ‘barriers’ were set on admission, theentry requirements for the M.A. in Localisation coursewere, by necessity, very selective. Unfortunately strict selec-tion criteria did not prevent accepted students from encoun-tering difficulties in mastering the challenges presented bythe course. Consequently, LUSPIO discontinued the M.A. inLocalisation course, but recently introduced localisationinto the Literary and Technical Scientific Program as a cur-ricular subject. This new subject has integrated terminologyand computer-assisted translation modules and will preparestudents for entry into the postgraduate course in localisa-tion, which is expected to have a grand re-opening in thenear future.
The same software requirements were adhered to for thenew localisation module as for the M.A. in Localisation.Other software tools (Alchemy Catalyst, SDL Insight, andBome Restorator) were investigated, but PASSOLO becamethe preferred solution due to its ease of use and customisa-tion — neither of which are compromised by its use of cut-ting-edge localisation technology. Other factors, such as theability to exchange data with all major translation memorysystems also influenced this decision, but the key featurewas PASSOLO’s customer support together with a willing-ness to provide free and constantly updated educationallicenses.
SDLX and TRADOS were selected for the computer-assisted translation module. Atril (Déjà Vu X), STAR(Transit Satellite PE) and WordFast (3.35x) were also con-sidered based on their market position (however, these com-panies showed little or no interest in the localisationcourse). In any case, these latter products all proved to bedifficult to integrate in a localisation environment. Sincestudents must complete the computer-assisted translationmodule and pass the associated exam in order to attend thelocalisation module, ease of use and support, together withthe ability to handle multiple formats, were key factors indeciding on SDLX. TRADOS — despite displaying instabili-ties when used by LUSPIO — was chosen almost exclusivelyfor its pervasiveness and for being widely required by allmajor Translation Service Providers (TSPs). In any case,after SDL’s recent acquisition of TRADOS, the SDLX-TRA-DOS combination became an inescapable choice.
No specific tool will be used for the terminology module.Together with terminology basics (research, collection, vali-dation and processing of terminology data), students will betaught to set up and distribute — in TBX format — atermbase using a standard database management system.Synthema Terminology Wizard will be used occasionally forterminology extraction.
Gruppo L10N will also be pursuing its educational goalsthrough its ongoing program of specialised twice-yearlyworkshops; the next of which will feature translation andlocalisation tools and technology, games localisation, quali-ty, terminology, and single sourcing as key subject matter topics.
Finally, Gruppo L10N is also committed to the establish-ment of an industry-wide advisory board. This board willassume responsibility for defining the requirements of futureinitiatives, such as the creation of a comprehensive educa-tional program, and start-up financing for new projects.The first of these new projects will be the institution of anaward for the best thesis on a subject related to the languageindustry.
Luigi Muzii is one of the founders and the team leader ofGruppo L10N, a group of GILT (Globalisation,Internationalisation, Localisation and Translation) profes-sionals ‘volunteering’ in localisation educational programsin order to help universities forge highly specialised skillsthat will meet the industry’s demand for professionalresources and build a common platform for networking. Hecan be reached at [email protected].
Figure 1: The Gruppo L10N Building.
…ease of use and support, together with the ability to handle multiple formats,
were key factors...
LOCALISATION.orgThe inside information on localisation
News Update from the Localisation Associations
The Institute of LocalisationProfessionals (TILP)
TILP is a non-profit organisation owned by itsmembers and directed by its elected Council.TILP’s aim is to develop the professionalism inthe industry. Individual professionals can applyfor associate or professional membership.Web: www.tilponline.org
For more information contact [email protected]
EventsTILP Council Working MeetingThe TILP Council will carry out a major review of its 2005 activities at its sec-ond working meeting on the eve of LRC – X, the 10th Annual LocalisationConference organised by the Localisation Research Centre (LRC) on 12September 2005. This will be the second time that the TILP Council will meetfor a longer working session, in addition to its monthly meetings.
AGMThis year’s AGM will take place on Monday, 12 September 2005, at theUniversity of Limerick. All TILP members are invited to attend. For those notable to attend in person, telephone conference facilities will be put in place.
TILP Annual Social EventThe 2005 TILP Annual Social Event will take place following this year’s AGMon 12 September 2005 at the University of Limerick, Ireland.
For Your DiaryMeet TILP at any of the following events:7–9 September 2005 IUC 28 The Internationalisation and UnicodeConference, Orlando, Florida. www.unicode.com12–13 September 2005 LRC - X The Global Initiative for Local Computing,University of Limerick, Ireland. www.localisation.ie25–27 October 2005 Localization World, Translation and Technology, Seattle(WA). www.localizationworld.com/LWSeattle200510–11 November 2005 LISE Brasil 2005, The Conference on SoftwareLocalization and Internationalization for Export, Florianópolis, Brasil.http://sl.geness.ufsc.br/lise-en/
TILP Dates12 September 2005 TILP AGM 2005, 16:30-17:30, University of Limerick,Ireland12 September 2005 TILP Annual Social Event, 19:00 - late, Limerick, Ireland.
NewsTILP CouncilOnline voting for the 2005/2006 TILP Council will take place in the week prior tothe TILP 2005 Annual Conference, starting on Monday, 05 September 2005.Voting will take place online. The ballot will close on Saturday, 10 September 2005.
Ask the ExpertsTILP has organised three additional Ask The Experts sessions:
25 October 2005:Exploring Issues in Terminology ManagementSeattle, USA (on the eve of the Localisation World Conference)
11 October 2005:Microsoft .NET localisationDublin, Ireland
09 November 2005:The CLP ProgrammeFlorianópolis (on the eve of LISE Brasil)
For up-to-date information on Ask The Experts sessions visit www.tilponline.org
Discussion ForumTILP Members can now get in touch with each other and discuss issues ofinterest to their profession on the newly created TILP Members' DiscussionForum. The Forum is only available to TILP Members and you must logon tothe Members Only section of www.tilponline.org
TILP ContactFor general information on TILP, membership application forms (associate andprofessional) and news visit: www.tilponline.org or email [email protected].
The Globalization andLocalisation Association
(GALA)In the three years since its creation, GALA hasgrown to an association of more than 160 compa-nies from 34 countries. GALA is a fully represen-
tative industry association run by a board of directors who are elected by themembership. The GALA Board emphasises open communication and com-plete transparency. In addition to providing opportunities to find new clientsand expand their business, GALA is helping members to develop better, moreprofitable, businesses. Members have already benefited from unique network-ing opportunities, innovative marketing and sales opportunities, group dis-counts, additional exposure for their companies, and more. At the request ofour members, we are starting new industry initiatives to influence the futuredirection of the industry. Membership is open to companies providing transla-tion, localisation, internationalisation, or globalisation products or services,including tools developers, training suppliers, and consultancies.
GALA Annual Meeting in SeattleGALA will hold its Annual Meeting for members on 25 October inSeattle during the pre-conference day of the Localization World con-ference. The focus of the meeting will be interaction and input frommembers on key issues for the association. Results of the 2006-2007GALA Board officer elections will be announced.
Localization World Seattle25-27 October. The theme of the autumn 2005 conference is‘Translation and Technology’. GALA will host a vendor-only sessionand a group of member companies will exhibit in a GALA sharedbooth. As a follow-up to the successful closing ceremonies at theBonn conference (June 2005), GALA will organize the conferenceClosing Ceremonies, with prize drawings for items donated by mem-ber companies.
Industry Articles Database – Call for ArticlesGALA invites authors to submit new and previously published arti-cles on globalisation, internationalisation, localisation and transla-tion for the forthcoming online GALA Articles Database. Thisresource will be searchable by keyword, author, title and subject.Please send your submissions to [email protected].
Past EventsGALA Activities in BonnBefore and during the Localization World conference in Bonn lastJune, members participated in a number of activities:
Representatives from 47 GALA member companies took part in theGALA member meeting. Members worked in small group discussionsto create specific initiatives in the areas of quality, standards, pricing,technology and regional liaisons. Each group identified strategies andaction items for the association and its member volunteers.
During the afternoon of the pre-conference day, GALA hosted avendor roundtable discussion on marcom localisation. The round-table speakers were Gordon Husbands (Wordbank) and HansFenstermacher (ArchiText), moderated by Renée Sztabelski (GALABoard).
Eleven GALA member companies shared in a group exhibit at theconference: ACP Traductera (Czech Republic), Binari Sonori S.r.l.(Italy), Commit Inc. (Greece), GAMAX Kft. (Hungary), Hitext S.A.(Belgium), iDISC Information Technologies, S.L. (Spain), Locatech(Germany), LocTeam, s.l. (Spain), Logrus International (Russia),MAGIT (Poland), and Rosario Traducciones y Servicios (Argentina).
GALA members organised two vendor-only sessions for the con-ference — one on managing currency fluctuation and the other on avendor metrics initiative proposal. GALA also organised the confer-ence closing ceremonies, a festive gathering with prize drawings fromeighteen member companies.
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1. IntroductionThe birth of localisation coincided with the opening of internationalmarkets for the computer industry that began to emerge in the1980’s (Esselink, 2000). Although the single largest component oflocalisation still is translation, the process of localisation as a wholediverges greatly from conventional translation as the latter is prima-rily based on print media which is the hallmark of the industrialsociety. Software localisation involves a number of linguistic andcultural adjustments, concerning not only documentation in print,but software itself. The task therefore is a combination of transla-tion in its conventional sense and software engineering. Many earlylocalisation companies sprung up from the software engineeringsector rather than conventional translation operators which foundthe engineering dimension beyond their scope. This origin hasmeant that localisation tended to create its own path, more akin tosoftware engineering and separate from conventional translation.However, the 1990’s saw a sea change in this notion as the localisa-tion industry firmly established itself to be a significant segment ofthe modern translation business. The clearest contribution waslocalisation of the World Wide Web (Web).
In the advent of the Internet and its requirements to enable multi-lingual environments, new modes of language support emerged.One was localisation of Web sites, enabling the user to view andnavigate the content of a given Web site in his or her language.Sophisticated Web sites are now offered in multilingual versions andupdated simultaneously across all languages. Enabling and main-taining Web sites in a number of languages was almost immediatelyestablished as a localisation task rather than that of conventionaltranslation because this involved software engineering in additionto translation. The localisation industry established best practicesand led the translation industry into this new era of multilingualInternet. Web localisation cemented the position of localisation asbeing indispensable for meeting the emerging need for languagesupport on electronic communications platforms.
Needless to say, however, not all Web sites are localised into alllanguages and this allowed another popular language support todevelop on the Internet in the form of online machine translation(MT). Today many portals and search engines integrate MT as partof their basic utilities to enable the user to obtain the required infor-mation in his or her chosen language. The rationale for employingMT was clearly linked to the need for (near) real-time translation,seamless integration of language support into the user’s online envi-ronment and also cost consideration in line with the ‘free informa-tion’ culture still prevalent on the Internet. To this end, MT services
on the Internet are mostly provided free of charge. MT-based lan-guage support is well suited to meeting the needs that arise from theWeb for low cost real-time information ‘jisting’.
As these two examples illustrate, the user environment in whichlanguage support is required is changing. Conventional translation,characterised as an asynchronous process catering to print-basedtext for physical distribution, is becoming less and less compatiblewith the rapidly expanding ICT-based communications infrastruc-ture. It seems reasonable then to assume that future translation willbe increasingly sought in the context of electronic modes of commu-nications based on digital technology. The author calls the emerginglanguage support teletranslation (O’Hagan, 1996; O’Hagan &Ashworth, 2002) to highlight the change from conventional transla-tion. This change will not mean that conventional translation willdisappear, but rather, new modes of language support will subsumethe function of the former. The term teletranslation is used to meanlanguage support provided to enable interlingual communicationsin electronic modes whereas the term conventional translationrefers to language support in conventional non-electronic modessuch as translation of text to be used for offline print media.
2. New Contexts of Translation-mediated Communication(TMC)
2.1 Definition of TMCIn its broadest sense the term Translation-mediated Communication(TMC) can encompass any interlingual exchange enabled by theassistance of a translator or an interpreter. For example, a transla-tion of foreign literature, a subtitled foreign film and a meetingassisted by an interpreter can all be regarded as TMC. The wordTranslation in Translation-mediated Communication includes inter-pretation as well as translation. Further, in the context of thispaper, the main focus of TMC, as in O’Hagan & Ashworth (2002),is interlingual exchanges occurring in electronic modes such asCMC (Computer-mediated Communication) rather than the con-ventional modes based on physical print media or face-to-face inter-actions. The term TMC in this paper therefore takes the narrowmeaning of translator- or interpreter-assisted electronic communica-tions. On the basis of Shannon’s (1949) communication model,TMC can be examined in terms of the Sender of the Message in theSource Language (SL) and its Receiver in the Target Language (TL)communicating via Translator (either translator or interpreter) whoconverts the Message from SL to TL. In particular, the TMC frame-work focuses on the role of technology by analysing its impact onthe Sender, the Receiver and the Message itself in a qualitative man-
Conceptualising the future of translation
with localisationMinako O’Hagan, School of Applied Language and
Intercultural Studies, Dublin City University
The widespread use of electronic communications modes for international exchanges is making localisation relevant tothe emerging need for new language support. Indeed, the recent demand for enabling Web sites in multilingual versionshas established localisation as integral to the modern translation business. As a consequence, conventional translationis being increasingly replaced by what the author terms teletranslation as the means to enable translation-mediatedcommunication (TMC) in electronic modes. This paper explores how elements of localisation practice are providing thebasic building blocks of teletranslation. The author therefore maintains that localisation provides insights into the futureof translation.
Minako O’Hagan
LOCALISATION FOCUS RESEARCH.loc SEPTEMBER 200514
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transmission function of telecommunications in a quantitativesense. The set of terminology with capitalised first letters (Sender,Receiver, Message and Translator) are used throughout this paperwhenever they are referred to in the context of TMC. Nida andTaber (1969) highlighted the role played by the translator on thebasis of the Shannon’s model and this is relevant to illustrate TMC.
Figure 1. Translation-mediated Communication (modified from Nida & Taber, 1969)
The fundamental function of the translator as the Receiver of theMessage in SL and the Sender in TL remains the same between con-ventional translation and teletranslation, but the way in which theMessage is transmitted, stored and processed show marked differ-ences. The following section takes the case of localised Web sitesand examines it in the framework of TMC.
2.2 Localised Web sites as TMCIn the late 1990’s multilingual Web sites started to emerge in recogni-tion of the nature of this communication platform being immediatelyglobal. This created a new domain of language support whichrequires localisation of a Web site into given locales. In order to high-light the difference from print-based text subject to conventionaltranslation, the following diagram shows the typical lifecycle of Webcontent also in relation to the Sender and the Receiver of the Message.
Figure 2: Web content lifecycle (modified from Lockwood, 1998)
The Web allows its users to disseminate and assimilate informationin an interactive manner enabled by hypertext. The lifecycle of con-tent for a Web site starts with authoring, which may range fromentirely text-based to incorporating audio, moving images andother non-textual elements. Once the site is published by theSender, it goes global unless access is limited such as on an intranet.The Receiver accesses the site by some kind of IT device whichtoday includes mobile phones and PDAs (Portable Digital Assistant)in addition to desktop computer terminals. Once the Receiver com-prehends the content, he or she may act upon the received informa-tion. For example, the Receiver may decide to place a bid on anitem in an auction site. The Sender of the Web site is normally ableto gather various user information automatically and may use suchfeedback to update the site. The cycle continues in this manner. The
localisation process is typically applied between the authoring andthe publishing stages although an application of the internationali-sation process will, in effect, advance the overall localisation plan-ning to prior to authoring. Internationalisation is further elaboratedin the next section. Because the whole lifecycle is embedded in thedigital environment, all aspects of information storing, processingand transmitting of Web content are conducted by computer. Giventhe frequent updates required of the information, ongoing contentmanagement is a significant dimension of maintaining localisedWeb sites. This is similar to the continuous cycle of software ver-sioning, but is new to conventional translation which generallydeals with text not requiring such frequent updates. In the TMCframework, a localised Web site can be characterised as follows:
The Sender in SL: Originator of the Message. (1) The Sender is increasingly aware that once the site goes online,
anybody can access it (unless access is deliberately restricted)and the circulation tends to be wider than that for offline print-based translations.
(2) Web authoring has become a specialised technical task as itinvolves understanding the characteristics of the Web. Forexample, readability of the content as well as its aesthetics onscreen rather than on paper needs to be taken into considera-tion. Furthermore, the Receiver environments such as operatingsystems, browsers, character encoding, etc. also become relevantfactors to consider.
(3) The application of internationalisation may affect the Sender toallow for subsequent translatability of the content.
The Receiver in TL: Unspecified recipient of the Web site. (1) Localised Web sites will be exposed to a wide range of TL read-
ership and accessed via an increasing range of devices, includingmobile phones.
(2) Interactivity based on hypertext allows the Receiver to arrive atdifferent parts of the text, not necessarily in the order in which itis originally written.
(3) The Receiver will soon discover if the given site is user-friendly interms of functionality as well as linguistic and cultural dimen-sions. A localised Web site facilitates the Receiver to understandthe content, but depending on the extent of localisation, not allinformation or functionality may be available in TL. Some Websites are only partially localised and this may prompt the Receiverto apply ad hoc language support such as online MT.
The Message: Web content (1) In addition to text, Web contents often include non-textual com-
ponents which may require adapting to the Target culture. (2) Web content needs to allow for the fact that information is often
scanned quickly on screen by the Receiver, at least in the firstinstance to gather relevant information.
(3) The increasing use of mobile devices to access the Web hasmeant that the content needs to be further tailored to smallerscreens of such devices.
(4) Web content is normally updated at much more frequent inter-vals than that of offline print media.
The Translator: Web localiser (1) The task of converting a Web site from SL to TL involves trans-
lation of text in a conventional sense and software engineering. (2) The Translator needs to be aware that the Web content is nor-
mally exposed to much wider TL readership than offline text,thus the content has to sound and look natural to a wide rangeof TL native speakers.
(3) It is essential for the Translator to understand the characteristicsof the Web as described earlier.
(4) The Translator will have to be familiar with content manage-ment requirements and be required to use certain translationtools such as Translation Memory to facilitate efficient updatingof the content.
A number of differences from conventional translation are obvious.The impact of the new mode of communication on the overall trans-lation process is clear in response to the changes in the characteristicsof the Message, how the Sender has to present the Message and howit is consumed by the Receiver. The overall process involved in local-ising a Web site is akin to software localisation in that the task is pos-sible only if supported by computer to fit into the digital lifecycle ofWeb content. For example, unlike conventional translation, qualitycontrol involves computer-based testing in terms of the user environ-ment as in localisation of software. The use of certain computer-basedtools is also essential — particularly in view of the ongoing mainte-nance of the content, which results in frequent changes for updates.In what follows, an emerging example of teletranslation is explored.
3. Emerging teletranslation practice: DVD localisation The localisation process has evolved in response to the need for lan-guage support in new technological environments such as computersoftware and the Internet. With the widespread use of the Internet,localisation of Web sites became the fastest growing area within thetranslation sector in the late 1990s (Lockwood, 1999). Similarly, thegrowing use of DVD for audiovisual content may see this mediumbecoming the next big wave of localisation. DVDs offer enhancedstorage and information processing capacities. For example, as com-pared with CD-ROM which has a storage capacity around 700MB,a single DVD has 4.7 to 17 GB and is able to embed subtitles in upto 32 languages or up to 4 dubbed versions (Karamitroglou, 1999)with both subtitles and dubbed versions on the same disk.Furthermore, DVDs allow interactive features such as scene-basedsearches, various processing possibilities of selected scenes and useroptions to show/hide or select subtitles. The capacity of DVDs tosupport multilingual speech and text will make them an ideal plat-form for audiovisual content distribution in the global market. Theimplications of this could be that certain localisation practices suchas simultaneous shipping (simship) may become applicable to DVDreleases in the same way as for popular computer software and Websites. This will likely mean that screen translation becomes subject tocertain standard localisation processes such as project management,workflow and quality control procedures. Furthermore, the subti-tling and dubbing processes themselves may be affected. Given thenew interactive features as well as processing and storage capacitiespertinent to DVDs, a new mode of screen translation could develop.For example, today’s subtitles as a linear text stuck at the bottom ofthe screen could change to incorporate hypertext and multimodalelements, even combining subtitles and dubbing techniques togetherso as to optimise the effectiveness of language support.
On the basis of the TMC framework, the communication processof a subtitled audiovisual content can be seen as: the audiovisualcontent (the Message) which was originally produced in SL is aug-mented by the subtitler (the Translator) who produces subtitles inTL for the TL audience (the Receiver) that enable the equivalentimpact intended by the director/producer of the content (the Sender)on the SL audience. In this, DVD as a medium is likely to affect thenature of the Message as well as the Sender and the Receiver andalso the Translator. DVD provides durable digital storage of theaudiovisual content and this is likely to affect the ephemeral natureof subtitles as something which disappear as the frame of the scenechanges. Unlike film viewing in the cinema, the Receiver of DVDwill be able to see subtitles as many times as they wish and alsoprocess certain selected scenes, using DVD’s interactive features.Videotape recording also made subtitles more permanent, but wasnot able to provide the interactive features in the way afforded byDVD. Such characteristics of DVDs give rise to several potentials.One is the emergence of DVD as an audiovisual database whichallows the user to compare the original line in SL1 against the subti-tles and the dubbed version in a selected TL. This will provide subti-tler training resources (Chen, 2003) and also background researchresources for subtitlers to learn from prior solutions in terms of cer-
tain colloquial phrases, expressions, etc. which may be relevant totheir assignment in hand. Given that a new medium always finds anideal content, it is likely that as DVD becomes more widespread newcontent will be developed to take advantage of the unique features ofthis medium. One possible candidate may be animations which haverecently seen significant advancement with digital technology.
As demonstrated by recent examples such as Web localisation, thedemand for DVD localisation will be market-driven and new opti-mum procedures will ensue in response. While each new mediumwill demand different localisation procedures – making it difficult toenvisage exact details – there may be some key aspects within today’slocalisation processes which remain as core to the emerging practicesof teletranslation. The next section focuses on a particular dimensionof localisation which the author considers as significant.
4. Significant dimension of localisation: Internationalisation
4.1 Today’s internationalisationThe author maintains that localisation provides a theoretical basisfor emerging language support. One particular dimension whichseems to have a far-reaching impact is the concept of makingallowance for localisability and translatability when developing thesource content in SL. This is the process called internationalisation(see Esselink, 2000; Kano, 1995) increasingly applied to productswhich are subject to subsequent localisation.
Confusion over different definitions of the terms as regards tolocalisation, internationalisation and globalisation are often pointedout (Esselink, 2000). For the purpose of this paper, the authoradopts the definition by Cadieux and Esselink (2002) who suggest:Globalisation = Internationalisation + N x Localisation. This formula shows that globalisation of a product or service involvesinternationalisation and localisation into a given number of locales.Both internationalisation and localisation therefore can be seen askey steps to achieve globalisation. In particular, internationalisationmeans preparatory tasks for subsequent localisation and thereforecan be understood as localisation-enablement (Cadieux & Esselink,2002). As such this approach makes a stark contrast with conven-tional translation which has typically taken the SL text as a givenand thus applied to already completed SL text. In fact, one of themajor characteristics of conventional translation has been the con-straint imposed by SL text in relation to TL text production. Bycomparison, the internationalisation process aims to deal with fore-seeable localisation and translation difficulties in advance at theinception of SL content.
The internationalisation process applied to software productsinvolves technical adjustments to externalise all translatable compo-nents (Esselink, 2000). This means that internationalised productsare designed and developed with such necessary modifications inmind as different character encoding systems (single byte vs. multi-ple byte characters), different lengths of TL text in relation to thoseof SL text, different conventions for expressing time, date and anyother culturally specific elements in the Receiver context.Internationalisation of e-commerce Web sites may involve adjust-ments of non-textual elements, ranging from the design of the page,appropriateness of certain icons and images, to payment methodsmost suitable in the target culture in addition to consideration interms of user inputs such as different currencies, digits for telephonenumbers or the need or absence of postal zip code, etc.
Some may see internationalisation in association with earlierattempts at the use of controlled language applied to the sourcetext. Controlled language is primarily intended to make theMessage more machine-friendly by eliminating in advance those ele-ments which are known to be problematic when the Message is des-tined for computer-based translation. Similarly, the concept of pre-editing of text for the use of MT is not new. However, the mostextensive application of internationalisation is a novel approach inthat the Message is controlled in its inception in terms of its techni-
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The internationalisation process can thus be seen as a comprehen-sive effort to make the Message amenable to the subsequent human-and machine-based translation processes and the use of controlledlanguage can be regarded as a subset of the same attempt. As such,it is a clear contrast to the traditional treatment of translation as anisolated downstream activity where the Sender in SL has typicallyno regard for the Receiver in TL when creating the Message.
It is easy to demonstrate the advantage of internationalisation inthe context of TMC with media such as computer software and theWeb. For example, by recognising the fact that a software productoriginally produced in the USA will be marketed in China, Japanand Korea, technical allowances can be made to accommodate dou-ble-byte character sets required by these Asian languages as well asother culture-specific aspects in terms of the overall design of thesoftware. If such consideration is not given at the beginning of thesoftware development cycle and is not technically inbuilt, expensivere-development is likely to be necessary. The question of how theproactive approach such as internationalisation will impact on theoverall TMC will be relevant in exploring further implications ofinternationalisation for emerging language support.
4.2 Future implicationsLocalisation processes have evolved under highly competitive com-mercial conditions and therefore cost-efficiency is a key factor. Thisfocus is manifested in such tools as Translation Memory and work-flow programs to shorten the time of localisation while maintainingthe quality of the output. The need for internationalisation alsoarose to conduct a localisation task in a much more efficient way.Internationalisation has the potential to be extended to become awidely accepted general practice to make SL content amenable forTMC to the extent that most content used in electronic communica-tions platforms are in effect internationalised. Given their potentialglobal reach, such content will have a greater chance of being sub-jected to TMC without the Sender necessarily intending such an out-come. This means that the Sender with the internationalised Messageonly prepared in one language now has a better chance of getting themeaning across different languages and cultures in the event of somekind of language support being subsequently applied. This will fur-ther affect the role of the Translator and also the Sender in SL astheir roles may increasingly be synchronised. In the context of locali-sation, a Translator may be working directly with the softwaredeveloper as in a future scenario suggested by Esselink (1999) and insome cases the translation process may change into something closeto synchronous sight translation turning out the TL content almostsimultaneously with SL content production. Extended internationali-sation may see the Translator in some cases becoming a designer ofSL content in view of the potential Receiver in TL. For example,with DVD localisation, internationalisation may be applied to theaudiovisual content to allow for the strategic application of subti-tling and dubbing in combination. This will completely change theassumption of conventional screen translation with which the sourcecontent is not able to be modified. Such an approach may require theSender and the Translator to work in collaboration.
In his future scenario for the localisation industry, Esselink (1999)proposes a database-driven dynamic model of localisation supportedby a multilingual database as well as Translation Memory. In thismodel, the key is to reduce the time lapse between the content creationand its localisation by maximising the leverage of prior translationsand by way of efficient workflow systems. Unlike MT-based real-timeservices, today’s localisation is not a synchronous process and thisremains as a challenge. Localisation seeks language support solutionsby optimising the use of technology and, as a result, created produc-tive tools specifically designed for localisation tasks. The increasedapplicability of localisation methodologies to a wider area of transla-tion is seen in a widespread interest in Translation Memory systems.The concept of re-use of prior translations in a systematic way has anapparent appeal and a certain degree of applicability to a wide range
of commercial translation. It is likely to impact the whole cycle oftranslation as Translation Memory evolves into a more generic tooland thus an integral part of the translation process as word processingis today. In this scenario, every translator needs to recognise the possi-bility of his or her translation reappearing at some future time some-where. At the same time, this could mean that the translator does nothave to translate the same sentence ever again. The concept of interna-tionalisation and the approach based on efficient re-use of existingtranslations may significantly affect the translation process in future.
5. ConclusionThis paper endeavoured to demonstrate how localisation hasbecome established in the modern translation business and is provid-ing insight into emerging practices of language support. Web locali-sation and localisation of audiovisual content on DVDs were dis-cussed as examples of existing and potential teletranslation practicesusing the TMC framework. The paper highlighted the internationali-sation process as a significant dimension of new language support,suggesting its potentially far-reaching consequences. It seems justi-fied to assume that teletranslation is developing, building on today’slocalisation rather than conventional translation. The author thusargues that localisation provides a theoretical basis to the future lan-guage support which is emerging from the nexus of language andtechnology particularly shaped by the society’s shift to the infrastruc-ture based on digital communications technology. This is creatingnew contexts of TMC. To this end, localisation research holds a sig-nificant key to understanding the future direction of translation.
Endnote1. Some DVD titles will have subtitles in the Source Language aswell as in the Target Language(s).
References:Cadieux, P. & B. Esselink (2002), “GILT: Globalisation, Internationalisation,
Localisation, Translation.” LISA Newsletter 11, 1.5. Online athttp://www.lisa.org/archive_domain/newsletters/2002/1.5/ (consulted21.2.2003).
Chen, S.J. (2003). “Training the Next Generation of Subtitlers.” LISANewsletter 12, 1.5.
Esselink, B. (1999), “The End of Translation as We Know it”. In: LanguageInternational 11(5).
Esselink, B. (2000), A Practical Guide to Localisation. Amsterdam,Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing.
Kano, N. (1995), Developing International Software for Windows 95 andWindows NT (Microsoft Programming Series). Redmond, Wash:Microsoft Press.
Karamitroglou, F. (1999), Audiovisual Translation at the Dawn of the DigitalAge: Prospects and Potentials. In: Translation Journal 3 (3). Online atwww.accurapid.com/journal/09av.htm (consulted 22.03.2003)
Lookwood, R. (1998), “Language technologies and technical communica-tion opportunities in FP5.” In: Computing & Control EngineeringJournal 9 (6), 253-56.
Lookwood, R. (1999), You snooze, you lose. In: Language International 11 (4).
Nida, E. A. & C. Taber (1969), The Theory and Practice of Translation.Leiden: E.J. Brill.
O’Hagan, M. (1996), The Coming Industry of Teletranslation. Clevedon:Multilingual Matters.
O’Hagan, M. & D. Ashworth (2002), Translation-mediatedCommunication: Facing the challenges of globalisation and localisation.Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Shannon, C.E. & W. Weaver (1949), The Mathematical Theory ofCommunication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Minako O'Hagan is a lecturer at Dublin City University, Ireland,where she teaches translation technology and Japanese. Her currentresearch project investigates the applicability of CAT (Computer-aided Translation) tools to translating subtitles for DVD audiovisu-al content. She is the author of The Coming Industry of Tele-trans-lation (1996), and co-author, with David Ashworth, of Translation-mediated Communication in the Digital World (2002).
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1. IntroductionThe potential advantages of outsourcing are:
◆ Efficiency, improvement of operational performance, includ-ing cost (McFarlan and Nolan, 1995; Embleton and Wright,1998; Hiemstra and van Tilburg, 1993; Akomode et al.,1998; Downey, 1995; Lonsdale and Cox, 2000; Blumberg,1998; Lankford and Parsa, 1999), speed (Brown, 1997;Lonsdale and Cox, 2000; McFarlan and Nolan, 1995;Embleton and Wright, 1998), quality (McFarlan and Nolan,1995; Embleton and Wright, 1998; Akomode et al., 1998),dependability (Embleton and Wright, 1998), and flexibility(Embleton and Wright, 1998; McFarlan and Nolan, 1995;Brown, 1997; Hiemstra and van Tilburg, 1993; Fill andVisser, 2000; Downey, 1995)
◆ Strategy, flexibility to redefine the organisation (Peters andWaterman, 1982; Winkleman et al., 1993; Downey, 1995;Quinn et al., 1990; Akomode et al., 1998; Embleton andWright, 1998; Lonsdale and Cox, 2000)
◆ Image, how the operation looks in the books (Lonsdale andCox, 2000; Beulen et al., 1994; Downey, 1995) or to thestakeholders (Embleton and Wright, 1998; PA ConsultingGroup, 1996)
◆ Human resources and politics, to enhance someone’s careeror to reduce conflict (McFarlan and Nolan, 1995; Beulen etal., 1994; Embleton and Wright, 1998).
The main disadvantages and risks are:
◆ Cost escalation, due to management overhead and vendorprofit margin (Embleton and Wright, 1998; Akomode et al.,1998; Downey, 1995; Lonsdale and Cox, 2000; Lonsdale,1999). Deterioration of the quality of service resulting fromthe vendor assigning the best resources to other business(Terdiman, 1996; Downey, 1995; Embleton and Wright,1998; Lonsdale and Cox, 2000).
◆ The reduction of the strategic flexibility from hollowing, los-ing over time the skills necessary for the outsourced tasks,and subsequent dependency on the vendors (Downey, 1995;Lonsdale and Cox, 2000; Embleton and Wright, 1998;Downey, 1995; Lonsdale, 1999)
◆ The potential impact on human resources, where outsourcingcreates redundancies or limits the careers on the customerside (Papaioannou, 2002)
◆ The risk of loss of the opportunity to re-engineer. Once anyactivity is outsourced, the priority in-house tends to focus onretained activities (Papaioannou, 2002)
2. The Outsourcing DecisionThe level of outsourcing most appropriate to the organisationdepends on a variety of factors, which even when commonbetween organisations, will often carry different weights andtherefore lead to a different recommendation.
To facilitate the decision, a decision model such as the SimpleMulti-attribute Rating Technique (SMART) (Edwards, 1977) orAnalytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) model (Saaty, 1990), can beused. A software product such as Criterium® DecisionPlus® byInfoHarvest Inc. provides both options.
The criteria need to be established based on the goals of thedecision, the organisational context, and the stakeholder issues.Disadvantages and risks need to be represented in the model, toensure the decision takes a balanced view. So the criteria willinclude both goals and constraints. The criteria selected may bestructured in multiple levels, although not necessarily a treestructure for the AHP model.
Weights to the criteria will likely require multi-point feedback,representing the stakeholder interests, including the organisa-tion, the customers of the process, and the localisation team.These weights can be assigned on user-specified scales, and eachalternative then needs to be evaluated for each criterion.
Uncertainties can be factored into the decision, by specifyingan uncertainty distribution for any score. The decision scores inconjunction with the sensitivity analysis will not only point to adecision, but aid in better understanding the risks and tradeoffs.
For our organisation, the primary goal was to increase throughput, while maintaining quality and cost constraints. Thestakeholders for the performance objectives were the internalcustomers of the localisation operation, the stakeholders for theHR criteria were the localisation team itself, and the stakehold-ers for the strategic criteria were the organisation itself.
The stakeholders were asked to evaluate the relative impor-tance of the criteria that affected them. For the regional offices,
The LocalisationOutsourcing Decision:
How toJohn Papaioannou, Bentley Systems, Inc.
The level of localisation outsourcing in the software industry typically varies between outsourcing all translation,engineering, and DTP, to outsourcing only translation and DTP, and keeping engineering in-house. In both cases theproject management function is duplicated on both the customer and vendor side.
The first solution is most commonly found in applications with simple engineering, and well documented,independent processes. It requires fewer resources for handling the projects but more resources for structuring them.The second allows for much more complexity on the customer side, and project handling need not be as structured.
Each alternative may be appropriate to an organisation, given its structure, culture, priorities and context. A decisionmodel can help with the decision, helping evaluate the potential advantages and of each alternative, and can provideinsight in the tradeoffs involved, and reveal weaknesses and risks of the chosen alternative.
John Papaioannou
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the internal customers of the operation, the scores themselveswere then weighed based on their budget.
Figure 1: The decision tree
The results based on the assigned weights and scores are (Figure1):
• Outsource: 0.626, the recommended alternativegiven the highest score
• Expand group: 0.500• No change: 0.483
Including the “no change” alternative helps clarify the failings ofthe current state, as well as the disadvantages and risks intro-duced with the alternative chosen.
The criteria scores of each alternative provide an overview ofthe advantages and disadvantages of each alternative. In thiscase, the recommended alternative is full outsourcing, and whileit is expected to improve throughput, dependability, flexibilityand the HR scores, it points to reduction of the strategy score,which then needs to be managed (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Criteria scores for alternative solutions
Sensitivity analysis produced a criticality score of 27.3%,translating into a very stable model, and many criteria would allneed to be weighed incorrectly, and all in the same direction,before the Outsourcing alternative was no longer the recom-mended alternative. Criticality scores of 5% or less indicate anunstable model.
3. The Implementation — The New Localisation ModelAs a result of the decision model scores, the Outsourcing alter-native was chosen, and a New Localisation Model (NLM) wasdeveloped. The question then became which functions should beoutsourced.
In the old localisation model (Figure 3) the client project man-agers were managing the project schedule and costs, mediatingin all communications including problem resolutions, coordinat-ing all source and translated material transfers, as well as dis-cussing business requirements internally, managing vendor per-formance.
In the new localisation model (Figure 4), the goal was for the vendors to expand their roles, to handle all day-to-day issues independently. For example, to resolve technical queries,the main vendors were put in direct contact with multiple parts of the organisation, redeploying the customer project man-agers in vendor, technology, and customer relationship manage-ment functions. Upstream, the vendors are in contact with thegroups that generate source for translation. Downstream, thevendors were put in contact with the reviewers in the regionaloffices.
In summary, the vendors are left to manage the projects day-to-day, and the customer staff is responsible for mid- and long-term goals, in addition to acting as enablers: acting from thesidelines, they provide the vendors with the information theyneed to do their job.
Vendors access directly the source code control system,retrieve the previous translation, update it, seek linguisticapproval with the regional reviewers, and put the updated trans-lation back in the source code control system.
Because the goal is to make the vendors as independent as possible, structuring the communication process and providing up-to-date information was critical. A password-pro-tected Extranet was set up, providing information such as the contacts matrix including phone number and time zone of the contacts, the source materials schedule, product dependencies for installation and leveraging, generic and prod-uct-specific instructions, temporary license files, and variousutilities.
Vendors post technical queries though a newsgroup, and cc the appropriate contacts so that the query is always “pushed”to the primary recipient. Queries are addressed on the news-group. Any information with long-term value is collated into the
Figure 3: The old localisation model
Figure 4: The new localisation model
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appropriate document in the Extranet. Further vendors cc eachother in their technical queries, working essentially in collabora-tion.
4. Actual Benefits
4.1 CustomerWith the elimination of the project management bottleneck, ini-tial results show doubling of capacity. With a staff of two, thethroughput is expected to reach 250 projects in 2003.
Free from project management, process performance can nowreceive more attention. For example while in the past scheduleperformance was only measured vs. the target release date,twelve milestone dates are now tracked for all projects, toensure that attention is focused on the more important bottle-necks. Further customer performance is now measured systemat-ically, to ensure that the increased capacity offered by vendors isnot still hindered by internal bottlenecks.
4.2 Vendors (companies)Vendors have increased visibility and prestige within the cus-tomer organisation. Their value-added is significantly increasedfrom deeper integration and customer understanding. This offersopportunity for additional services, for example consulting.Further it becomes very difficult for any new vendors to com-pete.
Because of the increased discretion in scheduling, vendorshave improved opportunities for capacity planning. The NLMprovides the vendors with an important opportunity for organi-sational learning, and a solid reference account when they pur-sue similar arrangements with other customers.
The vendors are working in a collaborative relationship,cross-checking leverage statistics and helping each other over-come technical difficulties. Originally counterintuitive, the col-laboration was virtually automatic when it was clarified that thecustomer had a "two-vendor policy" and that no matter the per-formance, no vendor would ever be assigned all languages.
4.3 Vendors (people)The vendor teams have found the new set-up very motivating.The expanded scope of responsibility challenges them to growprofessionally, and allows them to use a wider range of skills.Increased autonomy is also associated with the new roles.Instead of being asked “here is the source; when can you deliverit translated by?” the question is “we need to release this prod-uct up to x days after the English release; you can start whenyou like, reschedule and rearrange priorities of concurrent proj-ects at will, as long as the product is released by the targetdelta”. Of course there are also cost targets to be met so thatearly start does not increase rework unnecessarily.
5. Tradeoffs and risks
5.1 Hollowing, dependency and reversibilityThe reduction of the strategic flexibility through hollowing anddependency is a key risk, which however had already become aproblem as the number of products and technologies proliferat-ed. To reduce the risk from dependency, two main vendors areused in parallel, each handling a group of languages. Becausetheir work does not have interdependencies, they have completecontrol of their work, and the responsibilities are clear.
Whenever the two vendors handle languages with the same orsimilar legacy translations, the leverage statistics and proposedwork volumes (but not the work unit rates) are compared. Thisserves to avoid two problems. First, even when their internalprocesses are different, matching leverage statistics shows that
the processing variables are similar. In cases of differences thereason was either incorrect processing of the source files (forexample, trying to leverage unresolved instead of resolvedSGML files) or different settings during alignment. Second,inconsistency in engineering or testing hours revealed dramaticdifferences in work scope. This has been an opportunity to spec-ify exactly the testing steps needed, to ensure that all requiredtesting takes place and no more.
One factor inherent in the reduction of risk is the use of ven-dors with whom there is a long-standing relationship. This is 7years with one vendor and 10 years with the other. Sharedprocesses are being developed for the vendors, to ensure that themodel is protected from personnel changes, and to provide uni-form service.
Further, while the reversibility of this model is reduced, onevendor can act as a backup if the other is having trouble.
5.2 Operational performance risksIf outsourcing allows for increased capacity without proportion-al increase in internal resources, the cost can be seen as reduced,at least proportionally to the increased capacity. However itshould be recognised that outsourcing results in some costincrease. First, if the vendor work increases, so will the cost. Theassumption is that the cost will increase less than the work, orthat the freed up resources will be put to better use, such as pro-ductivity improvements. Second, outsourcing requires manage-ment. Relationship management, face-to-face meetings, andincreased coordination imply additional costs, including traveland relationship building.
Refocusing at least some of the freed resources on vendormanagement and productivity improvements can help offset theincreased cost.
To protect the organisation from deterioration of service, twovendors are used in parallel, handling similar projects. Vendorperformance can then be compared, and realistic targets forimprovement may be set.
Process documentation needs to happen before the tasks areoutsourced, and the documentation needs to be kept up to date.This can help both standardise the service over time and acrossvendors, and can help reduce the learning curve of new vendors.
5.3 Human resource risksWhether redundancies are created or not, human resource planning is necessary. For remaining employees training may be needed as preparation for their changed roles, and for any redundancies both retraining and redeployment may beneeded.
Because of the multiple relationships, there is an increasedpossibility of difficulties due to personalities. To ensure thatproblems are avoided before they happen, vendors include intheir weekly status report, an evaluation of the relationship ofeach member of their staff, in contact with the customer. Therating is aggregated in a database, watching out for trends inemerging difficulties specific to one person upstream or down-stream.
Because of the emphasis on relationships, any time a resource changes relationships (including credibility and trust)need to be rebuilt. This is a bigger challenge than just replacingthe skill set and knowledge of products and technologies. Tofacilitate, the customer care manager and the vendor managermediate for this, primarily through the organisation of face-to-face meetings.
5.6 Loss of opportunity to re-engineerRe-engineering and productivity improvements are instrumentalin the new set of client responsibilities. In fact, with the
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New Localisation Model, attention can now be focused on re-engineering systematically. These can help with cost control,maintenance of quality of service and increase of strategic flexi-bility.
6. Conditions for successOutsourcing is not suitable to all clients and vendors. Key fac-tors for success are:
• Suitable company culture
• Senior management support
• Availability of suitable vendors
• Long-term commitment
• Relationship management
The organisation must be flexible enough to change, becauseoutsourcing requires a culture shift, including the willingness towork with interdependencies and to take risks.
While some costs, such as fixed internal resources, will bereduced or avoided, some other costs such as communicationsand travel will increase. The organisation needs to be able to seethese in the context of direct cost savings, and the costs whichwould have been necessary should outsourcing not have beenchosen. Furthermore the benefits of outsourcing can be non-financial, such as improvement of the quality of service.
Vendors need to have a track record with the client, becauseincreased outsourcing is more demanding on the skill sets on thevendor side, and the commitment required on the vendor side tomake this work. Investment in relationship building is key, andvendors should be willing to refocus on a relationship levelrather than a project level.
Long-term commitment is required from both parties, asresponsibilities and processes change. The longer and deeper theoutsourcing, the harder it is to reverse the arrangement.
Management does not stop when outsourcing starts.Outsourcing needs constant management, so that it stays ontrack. The focus shifts from the project level to longer-term per-formance metrics, but management does become even moreimportant.
7. ConclusionOutsourcing can increase operational efficiencies, whose bene-fits outweigh the risks to strategic flexibility and humanresource development.
Outsourcing is not optimal for everyone. Each organisationneeds to develop its own set of criteria, rate them according toits strategy and stakeholders interests, and manage both the rela-tionships and the risks.
8. ReferencesAkomode O.J., Lees, B., and Irgens C. (1998), Constructing cus-
tomised models and providing information to support IToutsourcing decisions, Logistics Information Management,Vol. 11, No. 2, MCB University Press
Beulen, E.J.J., Ribbers, P.M.A. and Roos, J. (1994), Outsourcingvan IT-dienstverlening: een make or buy beslissing, Kluwer,Bedrijfswetenschappen, Dordrecht
Blumberg D.F. (1998), Strategic assessment of outsourcing anddownsizing in the service market, Managing Service Quality,Vol. 8, No. 1, MCB University Press
Brown, M, (1997), Outsourcing, Management Today, January1997
Downey J.M. (1995), Risks of outsourcing – applying risk man-agement techniques to staffing methods, Facilities, Vol. 13,No. 9/10, MCB University Press
Edwards, W. (1977) How to use Multi-attribute Utility Theoryfor Social Decision Making, IEEE Trans. Systems Man,Cybern
Embleton, P.R. and Wright, P.C, (1998), A practical guide tosuccessful outsourcing, Empowerment in Organisations, Vol.6 No. 3, MCB University Press
Fill, C. and Visser E. (2000), The outsourcing dilemma: a com-posite approach to the make or buy decision, ManagementDecision, 38/1, MCB University Press
Hiemstra, G. and van Tilburg, J.J. (1993), Inzicht in uitbested-ing: ondernemingsstrategie en besturing, Van Gorcum, Assen
InfoHarvest (2002), Corporate web site http://www.infohar-vest.com
International Data Corp., (1998), European OutsourcingMarkets and Trends, 1995-2001, IDC, London
Lankford W.M. and Parsa F. (1999), Outsourcing: a primer,Management Decision, 37/4, MCB University Press
Lonsdale, C. (1999), Effectively managing vertical supply rela-tionships: a risk management model for outsourcing, Supplychain management: An international Journal, Vol. 4, No. 4,MCB University Press
Lonsdale, C. and Cox, A. (2000), The historical development ofoutsourcing: the latest fad? Industrial Management & DataSystems, 100/9, MCB University Press
McFarlan, F.W. and Nolan, R.L. (1995) How to Manage an ITOutsourcing Alliance, Sloan Management Review 36, no.2,Cambridge
PA Consulting Group (1996), Strategic Sourcing: InternationalSurvey, PA Consulting, London
Papaioannou, J. (2002), The Localisation OutsourcingDecision. Warwick Business School. MBA dissertation.University of Warwick.
Peters, T. and Waterman, R. (1982), In Search of Excellence,Harper & Row, New York, NY.
Rothery, B. and Robertson, I. (1995), The Truth aboutOutsourcing, Gower Publishing, Aldershot
Quinn, J.B., Doorley, T.L. and Paquette, P.C. (1990), Beyondproducts: services-based strategy, Harvard Business Review,March-April
Saaty, T.L. (1990), How to make a decision: The analytic hierar-chy process, European Journal of Operations Research, Vol.48, No. 1
Terdiman, R (1996), in Schmerken, I., and Goldman, K.,Outsourcing megadeals: Drive for New IT Economy, WallsStreet & Technology 14(4)
Winkleman, M., Dole, D., Pinkard, L., Molloy, J. et al., (1993),The outsourcing source book, Journal of Business Strategy,Vol. 14, No. 3
John Papaioannou has an MBA from the University ofWarwick, and over ten years experience in the localisationindustry. He is responsible for the localisation and international-isation strategy, business performance management, vendormanagement, and process and technology management inBentley Systems Inc., in Paris. John can be reached [email protected]
LOCALISATION FOCUSSEPTEMBER 2005 21
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THIS YEAR MARKED MY 15TH ANNIVERSARY INLOCALISATION. In 1990, while I was still studyingtranslation, I started proofreading translated user manuals
for Adobe products to earn some surplus cash for the weekends.It was the perfect job for a student. On Saturday morning a hugestack of paper arrived on my doorstep, and on Sunday night thereviewed pages were to be returned by snail mail, to be completedby the translators in the office on Monday.
After graduating in technical translation in Maastricht, (myfinal project being a dissertation on the launch of Windows 3.0), Ipursued my strong interest in the (at that time) strange mix oflanguage and technology by joining a Computational Linguisticsprogram at the University of Amsterdam. I never made it past thefirst year though as the company I was proofreading for,International Software Products (ISP), was recruiting localisers.Unsurprisingly, the thought of localising state-of-the-art graphicsapplications appealed more to me than another year of program-ming grammar parsers at university.
At ISP I learned all the tricks of the trade, especially withregard to localising Mac applications. During those years, I localised most of the major Adobe applications for the Dutch market, including Illustrator, Premiere, Acrobat, andPhotoshop. Apart from the translation of the software itself, Iwas involved in most of the engineering, compiling, online helpbuilding, and testing of the applications. My activities at ISP wereso diverse that I even helped repaint the office during a few quietsummer weeks.
In 1996, after several intensive and busy but great years at ISP Itook the opportunity to help start up a new Dutch localisationoffice for ALPNET, managed by Jaap van der Meer. Within a yearwe expanded the office from three people in a basement near theVondelpark to about 40 people in a prestigious office overlookingthe Amsterdam harbour. My responsibility was the localisationengineering department. Many people with varying backgrounds— both linguistic and technical — were recruited and most ofthem had to be trained from scratch as people with localisationexpertise were simply not available. To avoid having to tell thesame story over and over again, I started documenting the locali-sation knowledge I possessed at that time. These written proce-dures resulted in the publication of my first book on localisationin 1998. After four years at ALPNET I took three months off to"upgrade" the book to the version it is today, published inSeptember 2000. For this second edition I focused less on tools
and their features, and more on the processes and basics of locali-sation in all its facets.
In January 2000 I joined Lionbridge’s professional servicesteam to work with a global team of consultants on various typesof projects, mostly related to web globalisation, multilingual con-tent management, and enterprise localisation solutions. This ismore or less the position I still hold today — even though overthe past few years the type and nature of the programs and solu-tions has continuously changed. In addition to localisation, Ipicked up many new skills along the way, including basic ERPand SAP knowledge, content management expertise, and, morerecently, e-learning.
While working for Lionbridge, I started an ongoing ‘promotiontour’ for the book and localisation in general, speaking at manytranslation or localisation events and universities around theworld. To my surprise, the book was adopted by many transla-tion schools and universities, who found that it was the onlyresource available that explained even the more complicatedaspects of localisation in non-technical terms. Obviously, the timehas now come to update the content. Even though for a five-year-old publication most of the content is still valid today, manyimportant developments of the past few years are missing — suchas web application and XML localisation, multilingual contentmanagement processes, server-based workflow and translationmemory technology, and multimedia and games localisation.Instead of updating the book, however, I am considering buildingand publishing a series of e-learning courses specific to each func-tion in localisation, e.g. project management, engineering, trans-lation, and product development.
Life and work at Lionbridge is exciting these days. Recent tech-nology investments and implementations are innovative andpromising, and the acquisition of Bowne Global Solutions pro-vides us with even more scale and flexibility to build outsourcingsolutions for the largest enterprises in the world. Some insidersclaim that supplier consolidation will bring more stability to thelocalisation industry, which in a way would be a shame. For me,the ongoing change and evolution of our business has been theultimate driver. It just will not get boring.
Bert Esselink is Solutions Architect at Lionbridge. He is theauthor of A Practical Guide to Localization. He can be reached [email protected]
It just will not get boring
Bert Esselink looks back over 15 fulfilling years in the business, and tells us what has been his driving force.
Bert Esselink
Many translation schools and universities found it was the only
resource available that explained localisation in
non-technical terms.
Most of them had to be trainedfrom scratch as people with localisation expertise were
simply not available.
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Globalising LocalisationTraining: Academic
Curricular ReviewRomina L. Marazzato discusses Localisation Training,
and explains how curricular review needs to be an iterativeprocess if course content is to match course goals.
Romina L. Marazzato
LOCALISATION FOCUS
CURRICULAR REVIEW IS ANECESSARY PHASE in the histo-ry of academic programmes and a
sign of healthy development. Yet continu-ous and steady improvement alwaysproves to be a challenge; even more sowhen a discipline emerges with such brioand voracity as localisation has.
Localisation — the adaptation of anoffering for different markets or locales —started as an add-on process to domesticdevelopment and release, especially in theIT industry, where the term gained itspopularity. The task of localising prod-ucts, services, and documentation was leftto small and often overburdened in-housegroups or external vendors who gatheredad-hoc teams from a variety of small busi-nesses and freelancers.
In just a few years, external multilingualvendors (MLVs) became the norm, provid-ing translation, engineering and manage-ment services that went unmonitored byend-clients, who usually focused on thedevelopment of the familiar domestic offer-ings. This layered outsourcing model —paired with the rapid growth of localisationdemand — estranged the localisationprocess from its final users and customers,and in so doing created two gaps where sys-tematic knowledge is desperately needed.
On the one hand, language and localisa-tion resources are isolated at the end of along chain of (mis)communication. Theylack integration into enterprise-wideprocesses and coordination is often remedialrather than instrumental. On the otherhand, senior management has been removedfrom the localisation process, losing controlover key decision-making steps. As morecompanies embark on global business, morelanguages are added to business processeswhich results in cost and inefficiencyincreases. To reduce costs and inefficiencies,managers need to be aware of the impor-tance of their role if they are to be effectiveleaders in the overall translation process.1
Larger companies are trying to reversethis estrangement and monitor the locali-sation process more closely. Some choose,for instance, to actively participate in theselection and quality assurance of theresources used by MLVs. Some choose torepossess the management of languageand localisation vendors themselves.Meanwhile, smaller companies look onexpectantly at these activities, awaitingthe emergence of proven processes. Inturn, these situations require language andlocalisation resources to expand theirtechnical and business skills to createmore advanced solutions.
The change, however, is not a matter ofperfecting a tactical approach, but ratherlooking for strategic solutions, as CEOand Managing Director of Conversis,Gary Muddyman, points out in a recentClientSide News article. He identifiesthree new areas where sophisticatedexpertise is needed: • “advanced technological solutions” • “cultural consulting and local market
intelligence” • “enterprise-level strategic planning”
These three knowledge areas corre-spond roughly to traditional academicofferings in • IT and computer sciences • languages and culture• business and marketing
But traditional programmes lack theinterdisciplinary approach necessary toproduce the expertise and resources need-ed today.
So far, customised training in localisa-tion has been primarily focused on techni-
cal expertise, as the need for technicalknowledge and skills in software interna-tionalisation, localisation, and testing wasalmost epic.2 The University of Limerick(UL) offers the most established degrees inthis field; a Graduate Diploma and aMaster of Science in Software Localisation.These programmes train students with noprior computer expertise in “those aspectsof computing which impinge on the locali-sation process,” including software engi-neering, programming, global design, test-ing, and quality control.
A few specialised non-degree pro-grammes have been created in other insti-tutions to fill the need for technical knowl-edge. The Austin Community College(ACC) offers a Localisation GeneralistCertificate Programme and the Universitéde Montréal (UM) offers a Certificate inLocalisation through its ContinuingEducation School. Both certificates includetraining in internationalisation issues,quality control, translation and localisa-tion tools, and project management.
Traditional translation programmes, atboth undergraduate and graduate levels,have also been including localisation-relat-ed courses — which cover translationtechnology, localisation issues, and projectmanagement — in their curricula. Thesecourses are usually designed to fill the gapin technical knowledge that languageresources need to successfully interactwith other players in the localisationarena. Some of the graduate schoolswhich train translation students in techni-cal issues include: Institut Supérieur deTraducteurs et Interprètes (Belgium),Université de Montréal (Canada),Universidad de Salamanca (Spain), KentState University and the MontereyInstitute of International Studies (USA).
(The information above is not intended as a compre-hensive list of localisation-related programmes, butrather a sample of how academic institutions areresponding to the new demands in the industry.)
The University ofLimerick offers
the most establisheddegrees in the
localisation field…
1 The upcoming Localisation World Conference in Seattle on Translation and Technology focuses on streamlining translation processes through automation, inte-gration, and sharing, and bringing innovative business models to the spotlight.2 In a presentation on localisation careers at the First LRC International Localisation Summer School, CPL Recruitment Consultant Nicola Gosling remembered theearly days of the industry when companies were almost “at the mercy” of willing candidates; such was the lack of technical resources.
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At the Monterey Institute ofInternational Studies (MIIS), staff at theGraduate School of Translation andInterpretation (GSTI) and the FisherGraduate School of International Business(FGSIB) have recognised the need for aninnovative and comprehensive approachto localisation education for language andmanagement professionals. Both schoolsstarted a challenging process of curricularreview to welcome new content, courses,and technologies into their programmes.
Translation students looking to acquirecomprehensive training in language, tech-nology, and business now have the optionof enrolling in a new Master of Arts degreein Translation and Localisation Manag-ement (MATLM), due to start in Autumn2005. The new MATLM degree is organ-ised around three axes: translation, tech-nology, and business — thereby drawingon the strengths of both the translation andthe business schools.3 The translation trackwill develop students’ translation skills, aswell as their language and cultural profi-ciency, through a variety of required andelective courses including courses fromGSTI, the Graduate School of Languageand Educational Linguistics (GSLEL) andthe Graduate School of InternationalPolicy Studies (GSIPS). New technicalcourses developed at GSTI will coverprocesses standardisation, web site locali-sation, translation automation, IT andworkflow strategies, and project manage-ment tools. Tools used in class includeAlchemy Catalyst, Passolo, SDLX andTrados, Star Transit and Workflow. Finally,the business track will cover key businessmanagement areas — such as principles ofproject management, multilingual market-ing, managerial economics, product devel-opment, and international business strate-gy in courses offered by FGSIB.
At FGSIB, students looking to earn aMaster of Business Administration willhave the opportunity to undertake a com-prehensive business approach to localisa-tion, with a specialisation in Globalisationand Localisation. The business school isreviewing existing courses and developingnew ones to cover areas such as managingdiversity and innovation, global productdevelopment, multilingual branding and
marketing, strategic partnering, interna-tional business law, technology transfer,and international small business expan-sion. Business students are also requiredto undertake a teamconsulting project thatresults in a specialised InternationalBusiness Plan. Finally, they will also beable to take advantage of globalisation-and localisation-related training offered atthe other three schools in the Institute;this training includes language and trans-lation, localisation technology, cross-cul-tural understanding and communication,and negotiation and conflict resolution.
To complement the coursework, MIIS students will also have the opportu-nity to work on localisation endeavoursthrough internships and other careerevents coordinated by the CareerDevelopment Office (CDO) at GSTI andthe Career Management Center (CMC) atFGSIB. Companies offering internshipsand participating in business plans atMIIS include Cisco, Hewlett-Packard,Lionbridge Technologies, Oracle, Sun, andSeagate.
In addition to the Institute’s new cours-es and programmes, the Fisher GraduateSchool of International Business has estab-lished The Center for the Globalizationand Localization of Business Exports(GLOBE), funded by a grant from the U.S.Department of Education. The GLOBECenter will draw faculty from all schoolsto provide research, education, and con-sulting in globalisation and localisationstrategies for companies looking to enternew foreign markets. David Richins, oneof the driving forces at the new Center,explains:
“The GLOBE Center has beendesigned to help companies see the bigpicture as they expand globally, andconnect them with the resources they
need to succeed… Together, theGLOBE Center and the GILT industryhave the international vision to helplead this endeavour to integrate global-isation and localisation on new levels.”
GLOBE research, consulting, and train-ing activities will also provide the schoolswith further knowledge and understand-ing of globalisation and localisationissues, technologies, and solutions thatcan in turn be transferred to course offer-ings. As a fertile meeting point, theGLOBE Center represents the key syner-gies that MIIS cultivates: the interaction ofstudents and faculty members from thedifferent schools, their dynamic coopera-tion, and the integration of their goals andmeans to achieve excellence.
Curricular Review at WorkThe convergence of this dynamic process
of curricular review with the new offeringsand opportunities at MIIS comes at a timewhen exciting changes are underway. On 24 June 2005, Middlebury College(Vermont) and MIIS (California) officiallyannounced their intent to make MIIS anaffiliate of Middlebury College in order tocombine the strengths of the two schoolsin the areas of international education onlanguages, cultural studies, and interna-tional business.
Curricular change is also taking place ata frantic pace in the European Union,where the Bologna Accord is currently inprogress. Started in 1998 with the signingof the Sorbonne Declaration by the educa-tion ministers of Germany, France, Italyand the United Kingdom, the BolognaAccord seeks to harmonise Europeanhigher education degree systems. To date,40 countries have signed up to this ambi-tious project of a common education,based in a two-cycle system, including abachelor’s degree (3 years) and a master’sdegree (2 additional years).
The GLOBE Center willprovide research,
education and consult-ing in globalisation andlocalisation strategiesfor companies lookingto enter new foreign
markets.
Both schools starteda challenging processof curricular review…
3 GSTI offers the most established graduate translator and interpreter programs in the USA, and stands as a de facto standard for professional quality, with 35 yearsof history—Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) is hosting this year its 50th Anniversary Conference on Translation and Interpretation (September 9-11,2005), visit http://gsti.miis.edu/conference/welcome.htm. The Fisher Graduate School of International Business (FGSIB) is accredited by the Association to AdvanceCollegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and is recognised as a top provider of international business training.
40 European countries have signed
up to the BolognaAccord, which seeks to
harmonise Europeanhigher educationdegree systems.
LOCALISATION FOCUS LOCALISATION.central SEPTEMBER 200524
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A fundamental question is the suitabili-ty of the new offerings to the institution’soverall mission and goals. Reviewersshould consider how new courses or pro-grammes will build and enhance students’skills for the careers they may pursue. It isimportant to seek the insight and sugges-tions of faculty members, students andalumni, professionals and employers, aswell as specialised organizations and inter-est groups. In localisation, several suchentities exist: GALA, LISA and LISAEducation Initiative Taskforce (LEIT),OASIS, ELECT, LRC, TLI, TILP and itsLocalisation Training and ResearchNetwork (LttN).
Another essential issue is the specificityof the new offerings. New courses shouldbe closely aligned with programme goalsand contribute in a novel way to the set ofskills students require for their futurecareers. If a new degree is being planned,the degree should have its own set of goalsand objectives, and coursework should bedesigned and sequenced accordingly. Inlight of the Bologna Accord, for instance,longestablished translation programmesare already phasing out their old structure(typically, 5-year license degrees), and areimplementing new or redefined specialisa-tions under their graduate or masteroptions.
During the planning stage, tasks such asseeking administrators’ approval, securingan initial budget, and gathering an ableteam and adequate resources can be cru-sades in themselves. In terms of humanand technical resources, critical challengesfor localisation include the search for spe-cialised faculty members and the introduc-tion of highly specific tools and technolo-gies. In this last area, the key is negotia-
tion with tool vendors — both for acquir-ing the necessary tools and receiving ade-quate technical support.
A solution for the lack of localisationexpertise among current faculty is toappoint industry professionals to tempo-rary positions, and to conduct seminarsand workshops. The downside, of course,is that turnover will not contribute to pro-gramme consolidation, and industry pro-fessionals may not have the pedagogicalskills required in the classroom or otherinstructional environments. A good com-promise is to appoint one active profes-sional on a full-time basis and welcomeothers on a part-time basis or as guestinstructors.
Another salient design challenge is thevalidity of the instruction. Students shouldbe given a variety of opportunities tolearn, develop, and apply the skills theyseek to acquire. Such opportunities shouldinvolve both classroom and out-of-class-room experiences, and, in both cases,include a combination of lecture, dialogueand counterlecture instruction. Thismeans that students should have theopportunity to receive knowledge astaught principles or demonstrations, totest this knowledge and apply it in interac-tive ways, and to then augment it byincorporating it into an original project.
Out-of-classroom experiences mayinclude internships, work-study and shad-owing programmes, professional mentor-ing, and monitored live projects with par-ticipating organisations. These opportuni-ties should be facilitated by career devel-opment offices, academic departments orwith the guidance of a course instructorwhose leadership will ensure that mentors,managers, or supervisors understand thegoals and dynamics of the activities under-taken. Classroom experiences todayinclude traditional face-to-face and virtualinteraction. In both cases, instructorsshould take advantage of the idiosyn-crasies of the group. At GSTI, forinstance, students from all languagedepartments (Chinese, French, German,
Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish)— as well as interschool and non-degreestudents — come together in the technolo-gy courses and contribute their diverselanguage, technical, and cultural traits,questions, and knowledge to the class.
Once the curricular change takes effect,an ongoing challenge is assessing the effec-tiveness of the change; in other words,whether or not students gain the knowl-edge and skills pursued. Appropriatecourse exit requirements should be createdor existing ones should be amended toreflect the new contents and goals. AllGSTI graduates, for instance, must com-ply with integral evaluations that assessstudents’ knowledge and skills as a whole,in addition to the final exams that assessthe learning for each individual course.The new MATLM degree will have specif-ic comprehensive exit requirements in theform of a portfolio project. Effectivenessassessment should use a variety of tech-niques — including follow-up on pro-gramme completion times, match ofemployment to specialisation, and analysisof dropout rates and enrolment growth.Also, the sustainability of the change interms of cost efficiency should be consid-ered. Finally, assessment results need to becommunicated clearly and fed back intothe curricular review process.
In the words of Robert Diamond, for-mer President of The National Academyfor Academic Leadership, curricularreview is always “difficult, time-consum-ing, and challenging”, but “as a facultymember, you can undertake few activitiesthat will have greater impact on your stu-dents than active involvement in thedesign of a curriculum or course youteach…”4
Romina L. Marazzato is a VisitingProfessor at Monterey Institute ofInternational Studies (MIIS, USA), whereshe helped develop the curricula for a newMaster of Arts in Translation andLocalisation Management and coordi-nates the translation technology and local-isation courses. Her background in bio-chemistry and linguistics (at UniversidadNacional de La Plata, Argentina) led herto translation (from pharmaceutical mate-rials to healthcare and medical instru-ments) on to telecommunications andsoftware localisation. She is also collabo-rating with the new GLOBE Center, aMIIS localisation training, consulting, andresearch initiative.
4 Diamond, Robert M. 1998. Designing and Assessing Courses and Curricula: A Practical Guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Reviewers should consider how new
courses will build andenhance students’
skills…
An ongoing challengeis assessing the
effectiveness of thecurricular change.
LOCALISATION FOCUSCOUNTRY. focusSEPTEMBER 2005 25
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ocusLocalisation in Australia
James M. Hogan explains how the emergence of a culturally rich Australia, together with input from
the open source community, has led to a vibrant localisation industry there
James M. Hogan
WELCOME TO BRISBANE, THENATURAL CENTRE FORSOFTWARE LOCALISATION.
Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi and Tamil?How about Japanese, Korean, Chinese, anda range of European languages and theirSouth American variants? Such an openingto a Country Focus article would have beenunimaginable even a decade ago; yet itreflects a burgeoning movement inAustralian localisation, and one which isattracting growing attention from local andprovincial governments seeking to enhancethe growth of knowledge- and technology-based industries.
Traditional translation services have along and successful history in Australia,driven largely by government, the post-warboom in exports to Japan, and the emer-gence of a vibrant tourism sector. ModernAustralia began as a British colony, andwhile (through good fortune) many aborigi-nal languages have survived, English, andall-things-English, dominated Australian lifefrom the early 1800s.
This inward, Anglo-centric focus survivedseveral waves of European and Asian migra-tion, losing its grip only gradually in the lastdecades of the twentieth century. Yet eachinflux brought with it an enhancement ofthe linguistic and cultural diversity of thecountry, laying the foundations for anexplicit multiculturalism and internation-alised economy which have characterisedAustralian life since the 1980s.
A growing cultural richness, coupled withexcellence in language education, has seenthe development over the past 20 years ofseveral successful localisation and contentmanagement providers. These firms haveattracted an impressive list of clients fromthe region, and indeed from as far afield asScandinavia — like their counterparts in
New Zealand, Australian localisation houseshave profited enormously from modern con-nectivity. Most companies maintain formalor informal relationships with internationalpartners — for example the CommercialTranslation Centre (CTC) is a member ofthe PRTi group, and the InternationalLanguage Company was acquired someyears ago by the New Zealand firm PacificInternational Translations.
In some respects, therefore, localisation inAustralia mirrors developments in othermid-size economies, with the more success-ful enterprises offering specialist domainservices, well-established, high quality cover-age in niche language areas and a recentbroadening to full content managementsolutions. Yet it is in the less traditional areaof software localisation — and particularlyin the dynamic environment of the opensource movement — that the most excitingdevelopments are emerging.
For Brisbane, the Queensland capital andour point of departure, is the home of theAsia Pacific headquarters of Red Hat, andthe key centre for localisation of the Linuxdesktop environment. The open source trans-lation model is a remarkably successful mixof strategic vendor investment and communi-ty involvement, with localisation proceedingrapidly from the economically viable core(for which localisation provides immediatecommercial returns to the vendor) to lan-guages and locales outside the commercialmainstream — for which the communitymodel provides the only chance of timelylocalisation. Quality assurance in these proj-ects is surprisingly good, reflecting the best ofthe open source bazaar, with volunteer andprofessional translators alike contributing tothe pool, and establishing credibility throughongoing exposure to community review andthe sustained quality of their contributions.
Over time, this combination has resultedin the successful migration of the KDE desk-top to more than 80 language-locale pairs.
One of the more intriguing issues in localisa-tion lies in whether this model may beadopted by proprietary vendors to extendtheir coverage into developing economies.Similarly intriguing — at least to the uniniti-ated — is the question of why anyone wouldrun a cutting edge localisation facility inAustralia in the first place.
The answer lies in the mix that is modernAustralia: a highly educated communitywhich includes many technically literate nativespeakers of European and Asian languages, acost structure which provides advantages overEurope and the United States without sacrific-ing political stability, and an established androbust university system which delivers therange of skills required. While localisation isinevitably becoming a globally-distributedactivity, vendors have been able to build ateam of experienced technical translators andsoftware localisation specialists from ‘local’talent, and to supplement this core by virtualparticipation — both professionals and volun-teers — from throughout the world.
A revolution in the making? Not yet, per-haps. But a proven template for cost-effec-tive localisation and broadening of coverage.And from the most surprising of sources.
James M. Hogan is a Senior Lecturer inthe Faculty of Information Technology atthe Queensland University of Technology,where he leads research and teaching inSoftware Internationalisation. His interestsinclude the role of XML standards in opensource localisation. He may be contacted [email protected]
Why would anyone run acutting edge localisation
facility in Australia?
It is in the open source move-ment that the most excitingdevelopments are emerging.
Figure 1: The Brisbane River and the OldBotanic Gardens, with central Brisbane in
background
Figure 2: The Gardens Theatre, Queensland University of Technology
We as an industry need to come up withinnovative and smart solutions — Peter Reynolds, Bowne Global Solutions.
There are a number of different issueswrapped together in this statement. At itscentre is the question as to how the localisa-tion industry must evolve in order to meet thechanging needs of emerging markets and dealwith the huge quantity of localisable content.We as an industry need to come up with inno-vative and smart solutions. We need to meetnot just these needs from emerging marketsbut existing customers of localisation arelooking to us for ways of increasing the valuethey get from their localisation budget.
People are central to localisation but it isclever use of smart technology which will givesome people the edge. I think there are excit-ing innovations in our industry which can helpsolve these issues. The Internet, Web Services,TM technologies such as Logoport, XLIFFand even MT in certain applications are exam-ples of where I believe the solutions lie.
Peter Reynolds is the Software develop-ment manager at the Dublin office of BowneGlobal Solutions (BGS) and is secretary ofthe XLIFF technical committee and chair ofthe Translation Web Service technical com-mittee at OASIS.
LRC’s Monthly One-question SurveyIn addition to Readers’ Forum, it is also possiblefor you to participate in the LRC’s research andto share with us your experiences of localisationthrough our online Monthly One-questionSurvey. A new question is added at the beginningof each month and all results from the previousmonths are displayed on the websitehttp://www.localisation.ie/publications/surveys/MonthlySurveys/index.php.
Some of the more recent survey questionsinclude:1. Should the decision to undertake localisation
activities be based solely on the commercialviability of the target locale? (January 2005)
2. Is there a need for a structured internshipstyle work placement programme for univer-sity trained workers looking to enter thelocalisation industry? (March 2005)
3. Do you think that SDL's recent acquisition ofTRADOS is a positive development for thelocalisation industry? (July 2005)
To see the response to these and other ques-tions relevant to our industry, log on to the LRChomepage (www.localisation.ie) and click on theTake part in our Online Monthly Survey link. Ifyou have a question to which you would likefeedback, simply submit it via the form on theMonthly Survey page or email it to [email protected].
LOCALISATION FOCUS READERS.forum SEPTEMBER 200526
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er’s
For
um Readers’ ForumLast issue’s proposition was:
Localisation is often seen as a low value commodity, which can be easily moved from one geography to another astechnology requirements and cost structures change. This perception goes hand-in-hand with the idea thatlocalisation is essentially a task which requires a high degree of human input and intervention, i.e. humanlocalisation is similar to human translation: it is labour intensive, repetitive and slow.
The problem the localisation industry is facing today is that more material needs to be localised into an ever-growing number of languages — without a significant increase in budget and without a significant increase inpersonnel. Digital content for the emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa simply cannot be localisedusing the old-style approach to localisation and the old-style localisation tools and technologies designed primarilyfor use by individual localisers.
What are the approaches, processes, technologies and standards necessary to face today’s localisationchallenges? What infrastructure is necessary to design, develop and implement new solutions? Whichorganisations, collaborative projects and research, development and training programmes are necessary?
Next IssueLocalisation Focus invites its readers to comment on the following statement and send theircontributions to [email protected] by 21 October 2005.
Over the years and on different occasions, industry observers have announced the death ofthe localisation industry. The reasons they give are varied: some believe that the linguistic andcultural adaptation of digital products and services has become part of the developmentprocess and is no longer the stand-alone activity it emerged as in the mid-1980s; othersbelieve that there is a new industry emerging out of originally separate industries, amongthem the globalisation, internationalisation, localisation and translation industries.
Other experts, however, point to the distinct lack of common processes, standards, method-ologies, research, tools and technologies in the localisation industry. They emphasise that,while localisation is constantly changing (as are other industries), core activities and coreissues remain the same and remain largely unsolved. They believe that efforts should concen-trate on the resolution of these core issues, and that discussions about the demise of the locali-sation industry are largely just marketing driven headline grabbers for industry-internal con-sumption, which divert the attention away from the core issues facing the industry.
Where do you see the future of the localisation industry? Is localisation as we know it real-ly something of the past? Will localisation become part of a larger process and operation? Isit necessary for localisers to work on the definition of common processes, practices, stan-dards, research, methodologies and tools? What are the core issues in localisation that stillremain unsolved?
LOCALISATION FOCUSLOCALISATION. centralSEPTEMBER 2005 27
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LOCALISATION IS CURRENTLY A GROWING INDUS-TRY IN SPAIN. Most translation agencies have had to adaptto meet the demands and requirements of emerging markets.
According to the Spanish market registers, there are approximately775 translation agencies in Spain and it is estimated that 50% ofthem offer localisation services. However, there is still a disparitybetween the industry requirements and the training offered byUniversities. From the perspective of Spanish academia, this dispari-ty poses an important challenge; namely that of building a bridgebetween the industry requirements and the training on offer, inorder to compensate for the current lack of training.
Juan José Arevalillo Doval, Managing Director of HermesTraducciones y Servicios Lingüísticos, denounces this situation inSpain in his article Introducción a la localización, su presencia en elMercado y su formación específica, published in La linterna del tra-ductor nº 8 – March, 2004. He mentions that in 2001 there were775 translation companies in Spain that collectively declared anincome of €71,055,133.58, of which over €24m corresponded toone multinational localisation company. Also, according to theinformation provided by the American Translators Association(ATA), only 10% of world production in translation goes to literarytranslation, while the rest goes to technical, scientific, audiovisual,legal, economic translation and localisation. Taking these figuresinto account, it is quite puzzling that, up to now, Universities havenot paid much attention to providing the skills and specific industryknowledge — concepts, methods and tools — to train future locali-sation experts.
Another issue is to determine which University degree or degreesshould aim to provide localisation training. In Spain, universitydegree courses in Translation and Interpreting have recently begunteaching specific localisation-related subjects. On successful comple-tion of such a degree, a Masters in Localisation can be pursued.Software localisers in Spain mainly deal with the translation (asopposed to other technical issues) of software products, so thisdegree in Translation and Interpreting is a course which equipsfuture employees of this job profile with necessary skills.Localisation is usually part of the course programme in Universitiesthat offer a degree in Translation and Interpreting (they may alsooffer Masters or Postgraduate courses in Technical and Translationtopics). Localisation studies are also, in an incipient way, becomingan integral part of the syllabus of some undergraduate subjects.
The seed for the new academic demands can be found in thelocalisation industry itself. The needs of software developers forcedthem to look beyond their own frontiers if profits were to increase.Initially, it was in-house linguists, translators and technicians who
worked on the localisation tasks. But as the increased workloadbecame too heavy to remain in-house, software developers startedto outsource the translation and localisation parts of the projects —so it then became the turn of the translation companies to adaptthemselves to the new market demands. However, there was no for-mal training defined in University subjects or course syllabi to meetthese new demands.
The degree in Translation and Interpreting is relatively new inSpain. The first Spanish University that offered this degree was TheUniversidad de Granada in 1979 — even though in 1974 theUniversidad Complutense in Madrid created the InstitutoUniversitario de Lenguas Modernas y Traductores (UniversityInstitute of Modern Languages and Translators). It was around thistime that the localisation industry also came into existence.However, translation students from that period were probablyunaware of localisation and what it involved. Nowadays, on thecontrary, improvements have been made in order to build the afore-mentioned bridge between the industry requirements and the train-ing on offer so that students end up with the appropriate skills andknowledge needed in their future careers as localisation profession-als. Such skills and knowledge are mainly acquired by pursuingPostgraduate Diploma and Masters courses which are beginning toinclude the basics of localisation — as evidenced by the syllabus ofspecific subjects, usually under names such as ‘Translation and NewTechnologies’, or ‘Computing and Translation’. But more than thebasics of localisation, it is still the translation of texts — both soft-ware and technical — which is mainly taught, thereby placing moreemphasis on linguistic and translation aspects at the expense ofactivities that are specific to the localisation process.
Localisation studies are, for the most part, included in Mastersand Postgraduate Diplomas. It is not my intention to provide acomprehensive list of all Spanish Universities that offer training inlocalisation, but I would like to mention a few significant examples:Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona) offers a Masters inTranslation and Localisation over two academic years, and is run-ning since 2000. It also offers a Postgraduate Diploma inTranslation and Localisation over one academic year; theUniversitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona) offers a PostgraduateDiploma in Translation and Computing Processing Information,lasting one academic year; the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona(UAB) has recently started to offer a Masters in Tradumática,specifically aimed at professional translators; the Universitat JaumeI (Castellón) offers postgraduate studies in Translation andLocalisation technologies, also for a duration of one academic year.The Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio will begin offering aPostgraduate Diploma in Tradumática in November 2005. Thiscourse will consist of three modules: software localisation (whichincludes localisation, translation tools and videogame localisation),audiovisual translation (both dubbing and subtitling), and projectmanagement. The goal of all these courses is to produce localisationexperts who are fully competent in using translation and localisa-
Montserrat Bermúdez Bausela
Teaching Localisation inSpanish Universities
Montserrat Bermúdez Bausela discusses her experience of teaching localisation in Spain, and suggests how to bridge the gap between industry
requirements and the training on offer there.
The seed for the new academic demands can be found in the localisation
industry itself.
tion tools, as well as in project management. The target audience inall these Postgraduate Diploma and Masters courses consists mainlyof translators, teachers and technical writers working with Spanishand English.
Other Universities organise localisation training through summercourses, as well as conferences and congresses, e.g. this year theUniversidad Alfonso X el Sabio organised their second series ofconferences focused on localisation and new technologies. TheUniversidad Europea de Madrid, and the Universitat de Vic(Barcelona) also organise courses of this type.
Some universities include localisation specific training as part ofan undergraduate course syllabus. Such is the case at theUniversidad Alfonso X el Sabio (Madrid). I have been teaching soft-ware localisation for three years as part of the subject entitled‘Professional Translation BA’ in which B always stands for English(the second and compulsory working language) and A stands forSpanish (the first and native working language). It is a year-longmodule included in the 4th year of the degree and is one of threeelectives — the two other choices being ‘Legal Translation’ and‘Interpreting’. Although the course runs over a year, localisation isonly taught during the first semester, while in the second semesterscientific and technical translation, literary translation and audiovi-sual translation is taught. In total, the amount of time devoted tolocalisation is approximately 80 hours.
What follows is a brief account of the objectives, content topics,specific tools covered by the syllabus, and the methodology ofteaching; all of which take into account the specific audience of thecourse — final (4th) year translation students.
The objectives established in the course syllabus include:
• introducing students to the main concepts of software localisa-tion
• familiarising students with new terminology related to a typicallocalisation project
• providing hands-on experience with some of the localisationand translation tools available in the marketplace
• studying the specific difficulties of localising from English intoSpanish
• translating and localising part of a software product
• introducing students to the main concepts of project manage-ment.
The syllabus is divided into the following content topics:
• an overview of the history of localisation, as well as other intro-ductory topics
• an introduction to the main concepts
• the difference between translation and localisation
• localisation models
One of the most important units of the module deals with inter-nationalisation — including the importance of resource files foreffective internationalisation. This is followed by a unit on thelocalisation process, where students view a typical localisationprocess and are given instruction in the use of localisation tools,such as Catalyst, PASSOLO and SDL Insight. It is important tocover locales and teach students about linguistic, cultural and char-acter code issues as well as local conventions and localisation engi-neering issues in the process of localising from an English market toa Spanish one. Students then translate a software application and itsdocumentation, and are made aware of the elements in the graphi-
cal user interface that need to be localised: In doing this they learnabout graphical issues and the importance of cultural differencesand local conventions. Some of the applications students havelocalised in the past include Concapp (a lexicographical tool) andWordPad. In the final stage of the course, students investigate theprinciples of Project Management — both for the purpose of learn-ing how to use MS Project and so they have a chance to put intopractice their newly acquired knowledge of the typical localisationprocess.
Translation tools — such as translation memory tools, alignmenttools, machine translation tools, terminology and lexicographicaltools — are not taught in the ‘Professional Translation BA’ module.Instead they are taught in another module I teach (entitled‘Translation and New Technologies’), which is also included in the4th year programme.
Regarding the teaching methodology, I organise the module intodetailed tutorials — which are half way between tutorials and lec-tures in style — and laboratory sessions. I consider the labs to be ofthe utmost importance because it is here that the students learn howto use the various localisation tools and put into practice the knowl-edge acquired in the more theoretical classes.
Students also have the opportunity to gain practical experienceby working in translation companies, some of which also specialisein software localisation. This is a great opportunity for them tocomplement their studies while getting hands-on experience of theindustry. Work experience is aimed at 3rd and 4th year students. Itmay take place during either the academic year or the summer holi-days and the amount of working hours is flexible, depending on theneeds of both the employer and students. Each student is assigned asupervisor from the translation company who acts as a mentor.From the outset the student is required to fulfil translation and lin-guistic tasks and, before the final translation draft is delivered to theclient, their work is assessed by an editor (a senior translator or asenior editor who is, in most cases, the supervisor) who provides thestudent with all the necessary feedback to improve his or her skills.Students receive specific training in translation and localisationtools if the supervisor considers it to be necessary.
As we have seen, localisation is a growing industry in Spain.However, when one examines the training that future localisationexperts receive in Spanish Universities, there emerges a gap — dueto the lack of a specific syllabus that focuses on providing studentswith the appropriate knowledge of methods, concepts and tools.Such a syllabus is the keystone of a bridge that would close this gapbetween the industry requirements and the training on offer. For themoment this gap is being filled, albeit in a somewhat disjointedmanner, by the emergence of Masters Degrees, PostgraduateDiplomas and undergraduate subjects that include training andtuition in software localisation.
Monserrat Bermúdez Bausela is a lecturer at the UniversityAlfonso X el Sabio (Madrid, Spain), teaching English-SpanishProfessional Translation and Translation and New Technologiesamongst other subjects. Prior to this Monserrat worked for theUniversity of Valladolid (Spain). Her education includes a five-yeardegree in English Studies obtained from the University of Valladolid(Spain), followed by an MSc in Software Localisation from theUniversity of Limerick (Ireland) and an MA in SpecialisedTranslation from the University of Valladolid (Spain). She is cur-rently pursuing a PhD in Textual Linguistics, Translation andEnglish for Specific Purposes. Monserrat can be contacted at:[email protected]
The amount of time devoted to localisation is approximately 80 hours.
From the outset the student is required to fulfil translation and linguistic tasks.
LOCALISATION FOCUS LOCALISATION. central SEPTEMBER 200528
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LOCALISATION FOCUS LRC.news SEPTEMBER 200530
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LRC in PortugalTechnology for Translation Teachers was the title of a one-weekintensive training seminar — organised by the Consortium forTraining Translation Teachers (CTTT), in cooperation with theIntercultural Studies Group and the Institute of Arts andHumanities at the Universidade do Minho in Braga, Portugal —which took place from 27 June – 1 July 2005. The seminar wasbased on the models used in Tarragona in 2001, Vicenza in2002, Granada in 2003 and Tarragona in 2004, and designed tobring together both professional translators and translationteachers, as well as to facilitate exchanges between those groups.The seminar leaders were Bert Esselink (consultant withLionbridge Technologies Inc., Amsterdam), Belinda Maia(Associate Professor at the Faculdade de Letras da Universidadedo Porto), Minako O'Hagan (lecturer at Dublin CityUniversity), and Reinhard Schäler (director, LRC).
electonline.org – Professional DirectoryOne of the Web’s most comprehensive and free guides to locali-sation companies and organisations with almost 1,600 entries isnow available on electonline.org, the ultimate online resourcefor finding information on localisation (www.electonline.org/profdirectory.php). The directory can be searched using a formwhich allows you to fine-tune your search by type of organisa-tion (eContent Service Provider, eContent Provider andLocalisation Services Provider). Subcategories, keywords, andfiltering by region and country allow you to narrow down yoursearch to your desired level. Best of all – if you register with elec-tonline (no charge!), you will be able to submit and maintainboth your own and your company’s contact details.
Staff NewsThomas Keogan joined the LRC in June to take on the role ofTechnical Writer and to look after a number of key, publica-tions-related areas within the LRC. Tom has a degree inEngineering from Trinity College Dublin, a Graduate Diplomain Business Studies from University College Dublin, and aGraduate Diploma in Technical Communication from theUniversity of Limerick. He has worked for a number of years inthe IT industry for companies such as EDS, IBM and SAP. TheLRC welcome him aboard!
IEEE PCS Conference in Limerick The IEEE Professional Communication Society hosted itsInternational Professional Communication Conference 2005 atthe University of Limerick from 10-13 July.
Figure 1: (L to R) Marjorie T. Davies (Chair IEEE PCS, and MercerUniversity), Luke Maki (Vice President IEEE PCS, and The Boeing
Company), Reinhard Schäler (LRC and UL), and Gerry Slattery(Shannon Development, Ireland) at the IEEE PCS Conference in July
The theme of this year’s International ProfessionalCommunication Conference was ceangail (which is Irish formaking connections). With approximately 130 papers submittedfrom professionals from over 25 countries, this was a truly inter-national conference. While the majority of presenters were fromtechnical communications-related fields, there were also a num-ber of localisation related presentations and workshops; evi-dence of the close ties between the technical communication andlocalisation industries.
The keynote address delivered by Reinhard Schäler (of theLRC and University of Limerick) and entitled Communicationas a Key to Global Business set the tone for what was to followover the next three days. Reinhard articulated how localisationmust be the key enabler for making connections in the digitalworld — “language is the most important medium of communi-cation, even in the digital world”.
Localisation Research Centre News
Interested in Writing for Localisation Focus?If you would like to write an article for publication in
Localisation Focus there are two options available.
For a standard 1- or 2-page article on any aspect of Localisation and Internationalisation send the article
For a longer article or paper to be included in the peerreviewed section of Localisation Focus, RESEARCH.loc,
please send your paper to the editor, [email protected] with“Article for RESEARCH.loc” in the subject line
Deadline for inclusion in the next issue of LocalisationFocus is July 21st. If you would like more information
please contact [email protected]
1. Industry Intelligence• www.electonline.org - The localisation community's
online information resource
• www.localisation.ie - The website and archive of theLocalisation Research Centre
• Annual LRC Conference
2. Education and Training• Graduate Diploma/MSc in Software Localisation
• Professional Development Courses
• Summer School
• eLearning Courses
• Localisation Teaching, Training and Research Network(LttN)
3. Technology and Research• LOTS - The Localisation Technology Laboratory and
Showcase
• Standards Verification
• Localisation Process Automation
• Translation Technology
• Test Automation
LRC Industrial Advisory BoardThe LRC Industrial Advisory Board meets at least twice ayear to review the work of the LRC, advise on potentialprojects and strategies, and provide support for itsactions. Members of the board recognise the importanceof the LRC’s activities for the localisation industry andsupport its aims and objectives.
The board’s chairperson is Alan Barrett. He was elected atthe board’s first meeting in 1999.
Alan Barrett Retired
Gerry Carty General Manager, Vivendi Universal Publishing Ireland
Tom Connolly Business Development Director,PulseLearning
Ian Dunlop Independent
Mervyn Dyke Managing Director, VistaTec
Seamus Gallen National Informatics Directorate
James Grealis Director, EMEA Localisation, Symantec
Wendy Hamilton Vice President, Business DevelopmentBowne Global Solutions
Martin Hynes Director, The Embark Initiative, IRCSET
Brian Kelly Senior Vice President,Bowne Global Solutions
John Malone Director, International Sales & Marketing,Archetypon
Paul McBride Vice President, International OperationsVeriTest (Division of Lionbridge)
David McDonald Management Consultant
Eugene McGinty CEO, Connect Global Solutions
Michael O’Callaghan Vice President, Oracle Corporation
Terry Landers, Head of Corporate Affairs,Microsoft Ireland
Pat O’Sullivan Test Architect, IBM Ireland
Anthony O’Dowd President, Alchemy Software
Chris Pyne Business Partner Manager, SAP
Kevin Ryan Principal Investigator, Irish Software Engineering Research Consortium
Reinhard Schäler Director, LRC
THE LRC AT THE UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK (UL) is the focal point and the research and educational centre for localisation.It is one of the world’s leading intelligence, technology and educational localisation centres. The LRC was established in 1995 atUniversity College Dublin (UCD) under the Irish Government- and European Union-funded Technology Centres Programme as the
Localisation Resources Centre. When the centre moved to UL in 1999, it merged with UL’s Centre for Language Engineering and wasrenamed the Localisation Research Centre (LRC).
The LRC is owned by UL. It has a director, faculty members and project staff. Its Industrial Advisory Board represents a large section ofthe localisation industry. The LRC is supported by its Industrial Advisory board, UL, Enterprise Ireland, and subscribers to its services. Itsmain areas of research are:
THE LRC AND ITS FUNCTIONS