December 2004 - Localisation Research Centre

Transcription

December 2004
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR LOCALISATION
Be recognised as a
Localisation Professional
Join TILP
www.tilponline.org
LOCALISATION EVENTS:
THE
THE 5TH
5TH INTERNATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL LRC
LRC LOCALISATION
LOCALISATION
SUMMER
SUMMER SCHOOL
SCHOOL (13-16
(13-16 JUNE
JUNE 2005)
2005)
&
& THE
THE 10TH
10TH ANNUAL
ANNUAL LRC
LRC INTERNATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL LOCALISATION
LOCALISATION
CONFERENCE
CONFERENCE (13-14
(13-14 SEPTEMBER
SEPTEMBER 2005)
2005) .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page
Page 66
LOCALISATION IN PAKISTAN
DR.
DR. SARMAD
SARMAD HUSSAIN
HUSSAIN &
& SANA
SANA GUL
GUL .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page
Page 13
13
LOCALISATION SHOP
MICHAEL
MICHAEL BOURKE
BOURKE .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page
Page 16
16
THE GLOBAL INITIATIVE
FOR LOCAL COMPUTING .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Page
Page 19
19
VOL. 3 Issue 4
€7.50 / $7.50 US
ISSN 1649-2358
INDUSTRY.news
SDL Launch Chinese Version of its
Translation Memory Tool, SDLX
SDL International has announced the launch
of a Chinese version of its popular Translation
Memory tool, SDLX.
This represents the first time a major translation technology player has localised its product
for the growing Chinese market, and provides
an insight into SDL's strategy on the importance
of China as a global economy and key player in
the field of localisation.
For more, visit www.sdl.com
PASSOLO Sets Up Alliances With
RapidTranslation and TRADOS
PASSOLO has recently set up alliances with
two other leading providers of translation and
localisation technologies - RapidTranslation and
TRADOS to deliver integrated software localisation solutions and services.
The integration of TRADOS and PASSOLO
provides significant benefits in the localisation
process. Working in the PASSOLO translation
environment, users can automatically get translation suggestions from a TRADOS TM and can
also access a common MultiTerm database, with
PASSOLO offering active terminology recognition. With RapidSwitching technology
from RapidTranslation the user can integrate
runtime language switching into software
without programming knowledge and without modification of the source code.
For more, visit www.passolo.com
iSP Strengthens Management Team
iSP (International Software Products) has
announced further investment in the
Group's continuing growth.
Events in Localisation - 2004/2005
10 December 2004 - The Europe of 25: New
Challenges, New Opportunities, GALA,
Brussels, Belgium; www.gala-global.org
06-08 April 2005 - Twenty-seventh
Internationalization and Unicode Conference
(IUC27), Unicode, Berlin, Germany;
www.unicode.org/iuc/iuc27/iuc27cfp.html
11-14 April 2005 - Eighth International Open
Forum on Metadata Registries (Open Forum
2005), Allround Team GmbH / TermNet,
Berlin, Germany; www.berlinopenforum.de
30-31 May 2005 - EAMT 10th Annual
Conference, EAMT, Budapest, Hungary;
www.eamt.org/eamt2005/
Opinions expressed by individual authors do not
necessarily reflect those of the editor
13-16 June 2005 - 5th LRC International
Localisation Summer School, LRC, Limerick,
Ireland; www.localisation.ie/learning/courses/
summerschools/2005/index.htm
When you change address, remember to update
us at [email protected]! This way you will be able to enjoy
reading your magazine wherever you go.
13-14 September 2005 - LRC – X The Global
Initiative for Local Computing (GILC), LRC,
Limerick, Ireland; www.localisation.ie/
learning/conferences/2005/index.htm
To strengthen the management team,
the company has been able to attract
two senior figures - one from the
Localisation industry and one from the
world of Finance. Roy Steenman, an
independent specialist Advisor to growing
businesses will have responsibility for
iSP's growth strategy and Hedley ReesEvans former Marketing Director at SDL
will
be
responsible
for
Business
Development.
For more, visit www.isp.nl
PUBLISHER INFORMATION
Localisation Focus is the publication of the
Localisation Research Centre (LRC). It is
distributed to the localisation community and
those interested in localisation. Please notify the
centre if you or one of your colleagues would
like to receive Localisation Focus regularly.
Editor: Reinhard Schäler
Assistant Editor: Deirdre Coffey
Production: Cosmon Ltd. 66 Fitzwilliam Lane,
Dublin 2. Tel. 01 676 3911
Fax. 01 661 1158.
Email: [email protected]
Published by: Localisation Research Centre,
Dept. of Computer Science and Information
Systems, University of Limerick, Limerick,
Ireland.
Tel. +353-61-202881
Fax. +353-61-202734
Web: www.localisation.ie
© 2004 Localisation Research Centre
CONTENTS.editorial
DECEMBER 2004
CONTENTS
LOC ALIS ATION CENTRAL
2
4
6
Industry News and Events in Localisation – 2004/2005
Localisation Conference: LRC ’04
LRC 2005 Localisation Events
7 News from GALA & TILP
8 Globalisation as Localisation – Gary Muddyman
9 Awards
Understanding the Localisation Process
of Mobile Text Messaging
Huatong Sun
10 The 2004 2nd Annual LRC Best Global Website Award
11 “Optimum-Cost-Ware” in Translator Training
Manuel Mata
12
Personal Profile
The Question(ing) of Standards
Nico van de Water
13
Country Focus
Localisation in Pakistan
Dr. Sarmad Hussain and Sana Gul
14 LRC Professional e-Learning Courses
16 Localisation Shop – Michael Bourke
17 Alchemy TRADOS Component – Tools Review
Rafael Guzmán
18 Readers’ Forum
19 The Global Initiative for Local Computing
21 LRC News
22 The LRC and its functions
From the Editor
2004 – More conferences, more associations,
more initiatives than ever before; first signs of
an economic turnaround in the IT sector (but
not much more); activities in economies so far
ignored by main stream localisation.
2005 – A widespread implementation of the
XML-based standard localisation file format
and the standardisation of localisation processes will finally allow
large-scale localisers to build the localisation factories they have
been planning for such a long time. Avant-garde localisation, drawing attention away from the traditional mainstream localisation
efforts driven exclusively by commercial concerns, will move from
its alternative, marginal and irrelevant niche onto the main stage,
promoted by The Global Initiative for Local Computing – and
efforts by the world’s largest publishers to cater for huge, but not
yet commercially viable, new markets.
On behalf of all of us at the LRC, I would like to wish you, your
family, friends and colleagues a very Happy Christmas and a
Happy New Year!
Reinhard Schäler
To subscribe to Localisation Focus, visit
www.localisation.ie/publications/locfocus/changes.htm
For accessing your issue online: please go to www.localisation.ie
and click on “issue online”. Password: Dec0412 ; Username: LocMag12
SPONSORSHIP AND ADVERTISING
To advertise in or to sponsor an issue of Localisation Focus,
contact the LRC at [email protected] and find out about the benefits.
GET YOUR COMPANY NOTICED
Send your press releases to [email protected] and get your company on the
Localisation Focus INDUSTRY.news page
LOCALISATION FOCUS
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4
LOCALISATION.conference
LOCALISATION FOCUS
DECEMBER 2004
LRC ’04- Open Source Localisation
The 9th Annual Localisation Conference
and Industry Exhibition
organised by the LRC
O
n the 21st and 22nd September the University of Limerick
played host to the Annual Localisation Conference hosted
by the Localisation Research Centre (LRC). This was the ninth
annual localisation conference organised by the LRC and marks
the second time that it has been held at the University of
Limerick.
The theme of this year’s conference was Open Source
Localisation, a topical subject that is set to play a huge role in the
future of both the localisation industry and multicultural computing in general.
This theme highlights the constant evolution of the localisation
industry and also shows the drive, determination and desire
of people residing in locales that are considered unprofitable or
disadvantaged, to enter the global IT market and promote the
development of their cultures and languages in the electronic
world.
Group at Registration and Exhibition Area
LRC ‘04 was also the venue for the presentation of the annual
Localisation Research Centre awards. This year’s event saw the
presentation of both the LRC Best Global Website Award and the
LRC Best Localisation Scholar Award and the announcement of
the winner of the 8th Annual LRC Best Thesis Award.
CENTRAL AND EASTERN
EUROPEAN SPECIALISTS
Branches in:
Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia,
Lithuania, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia,
Germany, Belgium, China
10 years’ experience on the market
Localization, DTP and graphics services
Translations in all fields, top quality
large volumes within unrivalled deadlines
a registered vendor of the EU.
www.skrivanek.net
[email protected], Prekladatelsky servis skrivanek, s.r.o., Nad Zaloznou 499/6,
Prague 8, 18200 CZ, tel.:+420 233 320 560, tel.: (USA): 1-917-254-4455.
This theme highlights the
constant evolution of the
localisation industry and also
shows the drive, determination
and desire of people residing in
locales that are considered
unprofitable or disadvantaged, to
enter the global IT market and
promote the development of their
cultures and languages in the
electronic world
EN ISO 9001: 2000 quality certification
The Best Global Website Award, sponsored by Euro RSCG
Interaction was presented to Santosh Sinha of the BBC World
Service for their “Your Voice” websites. This award was presented to Santosh by Reinhard Schäler (Director of the LRC), Roger
Downer (President of UL) and Mario De Bortoli (localisation specialist, Euro RSCG Interaction.
DECEMBER 2004
LOCALISATION.conference
LOCALISATION FOCUS
The winner of the 8th annual LRC Best Thesis Award, sponsored by Symantec, was also announced at the conference with
the award going to Ms Huatong Sun, of the Rennselaer
Polytechnic Institute in the USA.
This year’s conference
programme consisted of two days
of highly focused workshops
and plenary sessions …
(L-R) Reinhard Schäler (Director, LRC), Santosh Sinha
(BBC Word Service - Winners of the LRC’s Best Global Website
Award, Roger Downer (President, University of Limerick)
and Mario De Bortoli (Euro RSCG)
This year’s conference programme consisted of two days of
highly focused workshops and plenary sessions, a meeting of the
LRC’s Industrial Advisory Board (representing 18 localisation
companies), the Annual General Meeting for The Institute of
Localisation Professionals (TILP) and the TILP Annual
Localisation Industry Dinner at the Castletroy Park Hotel.
The 2004 LRC Best Localisation Scholar Award, sponsored by
IBM, was also presented during the conference. This award was
presented to Manuel Mata Pastor, a Madrid based language consultant, technical writer, translator and editor, as well as a specialist in translation and localisation projects. Ray Loughran (senior
development manager – Lotus Engineering) of IBM joined
Reinhard Schäler in presenting this award, along with a top of
the range IBM Thinkpad, to Manuel on the second day of the
conference.
Group enjoying the TILP Social event
Representatives of organisations such as IBM, Sun
Microsystems, ORACLE, Bowne Global Solutions, PASS
Engineering, Vivendi Universal Interactive, LinuxTag and
Connect Global Solutions attended the conference and gave presentations and talks on Open Source and it’s implications for the
localisation industry. In addition Paul Gampe, the director of
engineering for RedHat Asia Pacific, gave a very well received
keynote speech for this event.
(L-R) Paul Gampe (RedHat Asia Pacific), Reinhard Schäler (Director,
LRC) and Roger Downer (President, University of Limerick)
5
6
LOCALISATION FOCUS
LOCALISATION.events
DECEMBER 2004
Localisation Summer School
LRC 5th International Localisation Summer School
13-16 June 2005, University of Limerick, Ireland
The 5th LRC International Localisation Summer School will take place this June at
the University of Limerick in Ireland. The summer school will feature four days of localisation
theory, practical assignments and professional discussions as the LRC guides attendees through
the different stages of the internationalisation, localisation & product life-cycle.
Over the course of three days, June 13 to 15, the LRC will offer an intensive introductory course designed to instruct the
attendee on both the theory and practice of Software Localisation. The fourth day of the summer school, June 16, will
be dedicated to a series of professional workshops organised by The Institute of Localisation Professionals (TILP) and
focusing on the most important developments in localisation today.
◆ Monday June 13 – Localisation Theory, a day of lectures aimed at providing a solid background to the theory behind
software localisation covering all aspects of the industry.
◆ Tuesday June 14 – Practical Development and Internationalisation, a mix of lectures and practical workshops based
around the creation and internationalisation of an application based on a supplied specification.
◆ Wednesday June 15 – Practical Localisation, continuing the previous day’s theme of workshops and lectures attendees
will localise the application that they designed and created the previous day.
◆ Thursday June 16 - TILP Professional Workshops, a series of workshops aimed at encouraging discourse and collaboration between professionals from the three main areas of localisation: engineering, translation and project management.
This summer why not spend a few days at the Localisation Research Centre and learn about International Software
Development, Localisation and Internationalisation. Take advantage of the opportunity to attend TILP professional
workshops to discuss localisation with industry experts and relax at one of Ireland’s premier universities.
For event updates log on to www.localisation.ie or email [email protected]
To register log on to www.localisationshop.com
LRC – X
The Global Initiative for Local Computing (GILC)
13-14 September 2005, University of Limerick, Ireland
The 10th Annual International Localisation Conference and Industry Exhibition organised by the LRC
will take place on the 13th and 14th of September 2005 at the University of Limerick in Ireland.
This event will mark the 10th anniversary of the Localisation Research Centre and as such the LRC would like to invite
you to join us at the University of Limerick to celebrate the first 10 years of the Localisation Research Centre and the
launch of the Global Initiative for Local Computing.
This event will take place in the brand new, state of the art, engineering building on the University of Limerick Campus.
This promises to be a very special event and is one that should not be missed.
Log on to www.localisation.ie for updates and visit www.localisationshop.com to register for this event.
Contact the LRC at [email protected] if you have any queries or if you (or your company) would like to take part in the conference and Industry Showcase.
LOCALISATION.central
The inside information on localisation
News Update from the Localisation Associations
The Globalization and
Localization Association (GALA)
The Institute of
Localisation Professionals (TILP)
GALA is a fully representative, non-profit,
international industry association for the translation, internationalisation, localisation and
globalisation industry. The association gives
members a common forum to discuss issues, create innovative solutions,
promote the industry, and offer its clients unique, collaborative value.
Web: www.gala-global.org
For more information contact [email protected]
TILP is a non-profit organisation owned by
its members and directed by its elected
Council. TILP’s aim is to develop professionalism in the industry. Individual professionals
can apply for associate or professional membership.
Web: www.tilponline.org
For more information contact [email protected]
Events
Events
“The Europe of 25: New Challenges, New
Opportunities” in Brussels
Annual General Meeting (AGM)
December 10. Brussels, Belgium. GALA is hosting a one-day multidisciplinary seminar on business and trading in the enlarged European
Union. Decision-makers from the corporate world, legal community,
regulatory agencies and academia will highlight topics critical to doing
business in the Europe of 25. The seminar will cover major issues tied
to expansion, including strategies for conducting business within new
regulations, guidelines for meeting language and translation requirements and marketing to new diverse communities.
News
GALA Announces Newly Elected Board Members
GALA is pleased to announce that Aki Ito and Arancha Caballero have
been elected by the GALA membership to the Board of Directors for the
2005-2006 term. Aki Ito is the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at
Prisma International (USA) and Arancha Caballero is the co-founder
and COO of TSG (Servicios de Traducción GLOTAS) (Spain). The
GALA Board is composed of five volunteer members who serve for twoyear terms. Current Board members are Hans Fenstermacher from
ArchiText Inc. (USA), Renée Sztabelski from Hitext s.a. (Belgium), and
Daniel Carter from TOIN Corporation (Netherlands). The newly-elected board members will replace Hedley Rees-Evans from SDi Media
(UK) and Don DePalma from Common Sense Advisory Inc. (USA), who
both served for two years on the GALA Board.
GALA at Localization World San Francisco
At the Localization World conference last month, GALA hosted vendor
roundtables to discuss industry operations as well as sales and marketing. Vendors from around the world gathered to share strategies for
growth and improvement in both areas. GALA also united twelve
member companies to sponsor a large exhibit booth on the conference
exhibit floor. Participating companies were: Aliquantum Inc.,
ArchiText Inc., Binari Sonori, Future Group, Gamax Kft., Hitext S.A.,
iDisc Information , Technologies, S.L., LinguaNet Group, LocTeam,
s.l., MAGIT, Prisma International, Yamane Documentation Inc.
GALA Annual Meeting in San Francisco
On November 15th, GALA members gathered at GALA’s second
annual meeting to share ideas about the growth of the association, the
industry as a whole and to take advantage of the opportunity to network for potential collaboration opportunities.
GALA Supports Industry efforts in South America
Last month, GALA sponsored two industry events in South America.
The one-day Jornada Internacional de Traducción conference in
Rosario, Argentina addressed today’s main challenges facing translation into the Spanish language. Afterwards, GALA hosted a networking and info-exchange dinner that evening where representatives from
industry companies gathered for exchange. A week later, GALA was
association sponsor of LISE Brasil in Florianopolis, Brazil a conference
aimed at introducing software publishers to the need for professional
internationalisation and localisation.
TILP held its 2004 AGM on 21 September in the Board Room of the
Library, University of Limerick. A number of members, present both in person and via telephone conference, discussed TILP’s work over the past year
and agreed the major focus for 2005: The development of the Certified
Localisation Professional Programme launched at LRC ’04.
The meeting ratified the results of the 2004/2005 Council elections. The
following members were elected to the Council: Matthias Caesar, Daniel
Carter, Gisela Donnarumma, Carla diFranco, Siobhan King-Hughes, Xavier
Maza, Arturo Quintero, Florian Sachse, Angela Starkmann, Nico van de
Water, Angelika Zerfass. They will join the following Council members who
were not up for election: Fiona Agnew, Alan Barrett, Ian Dunlop, Wendy
Hamilton, Barbara Jarzyna, John Malone, Marilyn Mason
Following the AGM, the Council elected Nico van der Water as Vice
President and re-elected Alan Barrett as President for another term.
For Your Diary
Meet TILP at any of the following events:
08-10 December 2004 Summit on Localisation, organised by the
Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) under the
aegis of the Technology Development of Indian Languages (TDIL), Ministry
of Communications & Information Technology, New Delhi. TILP’s CAO
has been invited by the organisers to deliver a keynote to delegates and to
contribute to a number of sessions during the event. www.mait.com
06-08 April 2005 Twenty-seventh Internationalization and Unicode
Conference (IUC27): Unicode, Cultural Diversity, and Multilingual
Computing, Berlin, Germany (Special Localisation Track organised by
TILP). www.unicode.org/iuc/iuc27/iuc27cfp.html
10-13 July 2005 IPCC 2005: Making Connections, University of Limerick,
Ireland. http://ieeepcs.org/conference/limerick/
News
Renew your membership
It is now possible to renew your membership online at www.tilponline.org,
using secure online forms and payment facilities. Members can also check
and update their details online and see whether their membership is up-todate. For those who would like to join TILP, membership application forms
can also submitted online.
LttN
The Localisation Teaching, Training and Research Network (LTTN), initiated under the umbrella of the LRC, has been accepted by TILP as one of its
special interest groups. The LttN website has also moved and can now be
accessed via TILP’s homepage (www.tilponline.org).
CLP
At LRC ’04, TILP officially launched its Certified Localisation Professional
Programme (CLP) and announced the accreditation of the University of
Limerick and ClobalAnswers Ltd. as providers of courses leading to CLP
certification. Representatives of both the University of Limerick and
GlobalAnwsers welcomed the accreditation and expressed their believe that
the CLP programme will lead to better recruitment, more focussed career
development opportunities and higher quality training for the localisation
professionals.
TILP Contact
For general information on TILP, membership application forms (associate
and professional) and news visit www.tilponline.org or email [email protected].
LOCALISATION FOCUS
LOCALISATION. central
DECEMBER 2004
Globalisation as Localisation:
A Model for Measuring Cultural Diversity
Globalisation
8
To globalise or to localise? That is the question. Here, Gary Muddyman
takes a look at globalisation as localisation and how business managers
and localisers must plan and think within the dimension of their target
markets in order to ensure a successful localisation campaign.
T
o many, “globalisation” is just one of the countless buzzwords permeating the business world today. Despite its
prevalence, however, many – if not most – business people have no
real understanding of what globalisation actually means. Ask a
typical businessperson to define it, and you’re likely to get a vague
commentary on the top international brands – like Coca Cola,
McDonalds and Disney – but no real definition of globalisation
itself.
For those of us in the localisation industry, the need to understand the process of globalisation is critical. Whether you are the
localisation expert yourself or the client manager responsible for
multinational initiatives, a fuzzy concept of what globalisation
entails will eventually lead to failure. Yet, a debate among many
multinationals continues to rage: To globalise or to localise?
That is the question, and the answer is far more complex than a
buzzword’s semantics.
The complexity lies in the need to include local cultural issues
in every multinational program. Whether it is predominantly
global, international or local in design, every intercultural initiative is also a localisation campaign, and the boundaries between
globalisation, internationalisation and localisation are frequently
blurred. Global and international campaigns that ignore local
sensitivities will, at best, be less effective than intended or, at
worst, fail completely. As former German Chancellor Willy
Brandt said, “If I’m selling to you, I speak your language. If I’m
buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.”
Global and international
campaigns that ignore local
sensitivities will, at best be less
effective than intended or, at
worst, fail completely
But flawless translation isn’t enough to ensure a successful localisation campaign. For maximum effectiveness, business managers
and localisers must plan and think within the dimensions of their
target markets. The challenge is to identify what these dimensions
actually are, rather than to assume the source messages will convey their intended connotations in foreign markets.
Dutch psychologist, Geert Hofstede, conducted a comprehensive study on how workplace values are influenced by culture.
After analysing more then 100,000 people in 50 countries around
the world, Professor Hofstede has developed a model that differentiates cultures according to five measurable dimensions: Power
Distance, Individualism, Masculinity, Uncertainty Avoidance, and
Long-Term Orientation. Understanding how these five cultural
dynamics are structured in diverse target markets can help globalisers and localisers alike avoid serious pitfalls.
Power Distance Index (PDI)
focuses on the degree of equality, or inequality, between
people in a specific society. A
high PDI ranking indicates
inequalities of power and
wealth within the society. A
low PDI suggests a society that
de-emphasises the differences
between citizens’ power and
wealth.
Individualism
measures
Gary Muddyman
the degree the society reinforces individual achievement.
A high Individualism ranking indicates that individuality and personal rights are paramount within the society.
A low
Individualism ranking typifies societies of a more collectivist
nature, cultures that reinforce extended families and shared
responsibility.
Masculinity addresses the degree the society does or does not
reinforce the traditional masculine role model of work-related
achievement, control, and power. High Masculinity societies are
marked by strong gender differentiation, and males dominate the
culture’s power structure. A low Masculinity ranking indicates
the country has a minimal level of differentiation and discrimination between genders.
Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) focuses on the level of tolerance for uncertainty and ambiguity within the society. A high
UAI describes a culture that dislikes unstructured situations, laying the foundation for a society with excessive laws, regulations
and controls. A low UAI indicates the country has less concern
about ambiguity and more tolerance for a variety of opinions and
social risks.
Long-Term Orientation (LTO) describes the degree the
society embraces, or disregards, a long-term devotion to traditional values and commitments. A high LTO indicates a culture
with a strong work ethic and an inclination to honour its
long-term commitments, but businesses may take longer to
develop in this society, particularly for an “outsider”. A low
LTO indicates the country has a short-term, non-traditional
orientation. In this culture, change can occur more rapidly
because traditions and prior commitments are not an impediment.
Professor Hofstede’s model gives businesses, to quote the professor himself, “the edge of understanding” required to duplicate
success in other cultures and languages. Whether the question is
to globalise or to localise, the answer is always to empower your
message with cultural sensitivity.
Gary Muddyman is Managing Director of Oxford Conversis, a Bicester,
England-based provider of Localisation, Translation and Interpretation
(LTI) services. He can be reached at [email protected]
DECEMBER 2004
LOCALISATION FOCUS
Huatong Sun, winner of the 2004 LRC Best Thesis Award,
explains her winning entry
W
hen mobile text messaging was designed and introduced as a
voicemail alerting service a decade ago, nobody had imagined the
great impact it would have on contemporary culture and communication
technologies. Mobile text messaging has been a popular communication
mode in East Asia, Europe, Australia, and other parts of the world no
matter if the cultures in those regions are described as high-context, lowcontext, collectivist, or individualist.
The popularity of mobile text messaging challenges our prior assumptions of technology use and pushes us to think of issues of culture,
usability, and localisation in a broader context. From a design point,
mobile text messaging is a hard-to-use technology with inherent limitations (for example, small display, poor inputting methods, and moving
environments). From a localisation point, the technology of text messaging involves only minimal localisation work at the developer’s site —
phone manufacturers mainly just translate the interface and menu into
local languages for operational affordances.
Why do a large group of users worldwide adopt and stay with a hardto-use and poorly-localised technology? To obtain local explanations and
understand cultural factors surrounding this technology use, I conducted
comparative case studies of frequent users of mobile text messaging in
two distinctively different cultural contexts: the US and China. Methods
included survey, diary study, qualitative interview, and shadowing observation. Forty-one frequent users of mobile text messaging participated in
the study, with ages ranging from 18 to 30. Among whom, 19 came from
the US, and 22 from China. I developed a new framework of cultural
usability (Sun, 2004) bringing social-cultural contexts into user activities
to guide my research.
The fieldwork shows that despite unsatisfactory localisation work at
the developer site— “developer localisation”, the localisation work at
the user’s site — “user localisation” —seems to be very successful:
Frequent users have been developing localisation strategies and successfully localised this technology into their daily lives. They used mobile
text messaging to cope with emotional moments, enhance work and personal life, maintain social contact with old friends, send wedding invitations, exchange funny jokes, coordinate activities between friends and
loved ones, and so on. Furthermore, with effective user localisation at
local sites, different social affordances of the technology were realised
upon similar instrumental affordances of the technology. In the US, participants primarily used text messaging as a form of fun communication
and small talk while in China participants used it as a way of staying in
contact with friends to exchange longer threads of information.
A cultural circuit (Hall, 1997) view of mobile text messaging will help
us better understand the localisation process here. As we can see from
Fig. 1, the developer localisation only occurs during the process of production, designing the instrumental affordances of mobile text messaging
for local users, while the user localisation pervades the processes of consumption, regulation, representation, and identity. Clearly there is a
stronger element of user localisation rescuing the weaker developer localisation in mobile text messaging, making the circulation of the technology on the circuit possible.
The circuit view also raises questions for current developer localisation. The links between these processes should be two-way transactions,
but the fieldwork rarely found how the production process responded to
the use patterns emerging from the processes of consumption, representation, and identity. For example, though mobile text messaging technology was used for different communication purposes, the fieldwork was
unable to find out how the
localised messaging applications provide instrumental
affordances for these different
communication functions. If
this situation continues, the
current successful user localisation might not be able to be
sustained as the momentum of
this circuit decreases.
What do the contrasting
phenomena of developer localisation and user localisation
Huatong Sun
suggest for our future localisation practices? We need to have
an expanded vision of localisation process that includes efforts from
design through use, i.e., developer localisation and user localisation. The
scope of localisation should go beyond a single stage in the software
design and engineering cycle (for example, translation and interface
design) and enter the site of local use and consumption. Second, the cultural issue of localisation needs to be situated into concrete use activities
within concrete contexts, and the cultural issue of localisation needs to
be understood in a dynamic fashion and in a broad way. Third, the focus
of localisation work needs to move from localising for operational affordances to localising for social affordances.
Fig. 1: Localisation Process on a Cultural Circuit
References
Hall, S. (Ed.). (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and
signifying practices. London: Sage.
Sun, H. (2004). Expanding the Scope of Localisation: A Cultural
Usability Perspective on Mobile Text Messaging Use in American and
Chinese Contexts. Unpublished PhD's dissertation, Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, Troy.
Huatong Sun is Assistant Professor of Digital Rhetoric at Grand Valley
State University in Michigan, USA, with a PhD from Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute. Her research interests lie in user-centered information design, international technical communication, and software localisation. She has been
working on website localisation and cultural usability since her Master’s project four years ago. She can be reached at [email protected]
Awards
Understanding the Localisation Process of
Mobile Text Messaging on a Cultural Circuit
9
10 LOCALISATION FOCUS
DECEMBER 2004
Awards
The 2004 2nd Annual LRC
Best Global Website Award
The Localisation Research Centre’s 9th Annual Localisation Conference
“Open Source Localisation”, at the University of Limerick in Ireland, was the venue for the
presentation of the 2nd Annual LRC Best Global Website Award, sponsored by
Europe’s largest interactive marketing agency, Euro RSCG Interaction.
T
he aim of the Best Global Website
award is to find Europe’s most innovative multilingual and multicultural website and to raise the awareness for these
issues amongst web developers and policy
makers. The award attracted a large
number of entries from many different
types of organisations ranging from relatively low-scale community sites to
extremely high-tech commercial sites. The
2004 edition is the second year of this
award, which was initially established as
part of the European Union European
Localisation Exchange Centre (ELECT)
project.
The review panel for this award consisted of eminent experts in the area of marketing, web design, internationalisation
and localisation from various different
European companies. The panel highlighted the importance of the award as a
significant encouragement to business
people and web developers to integrate
multilingual and multicultural mechanisms into their website designs.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/arabic/
talking_point/default.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/
interactivity/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/interactivity/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/
forums/default.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/russian/
talking_point/default.stm
BBC World Service broadcasts programmes around the world in 43 languages and is available on radio and
online at www.bbcworldservice.com. Its
international online sites attract around
280 million page impressions and reach
more than 16 million unique users a
month.
The “Your Voice” websites were
launched in Spanish, Russian (see fig 1),
Arabic, Persian and Urdu in October 2003
with the objective of making online
debates between people in different countries possible throughout the world.
Members of the 2004 expert panel
were:
◆ Alasdair Scott (Creative Partner, Filter)
◆ Scott Rodgers (Creative Director, Euro
RSCG Interaction)
◆ Mario De Bortoli (Localisation
Specialist Euro RSCG Interaction)
◆ Chiara Galvan (Translator and Project
Manager SOGET)
◆ Mats Wennerholm & Premton
Gervalla (www.modersmal.net - 2003
award winners)
The panel agreed to include the following areas as part of their review:
◆ Number of languages.
◆ Regularity of update schedule.
◆ Excellent quality at all levels (linguistic,
content, design, usability, programming).
◆ Cultural compliance.
This year the judging panel agreed to
present the 2004 LRC Best Global
Website Award to the BBC World Service
“Your Voice” websites:
Fig. 1. “Your Voice” Russian edition
The objective of the “Your Voice” sites
is to enhance the news services of the
World Service with a more interactive and
connected forum of debates around key
global issues. Activity in and between
these languages facilitates debates across
the Muslim world, and the voices emerging from such debates enrich World
Service and News content in English and
other languages.
The sites are administered by their own
teams to define the editorial direction and
generate content. These teams meet regularly to ensure that language isn’t a barrier
to sharing good content – something generated by Arabic may be as relevant, edi-
torially, to Persian or Russian. The aim is
to ensure that a truly global story is
shared and read by a global audience in
their own language.
LRC director Reinhard Schäler was
quoted as saying: "The judging panel was
impressed by the clear and user friendly
design, respect for native language and
success in promoting and creating cross
cultural dialogue."
Myra Hunt, Head of BBC World
Service New Media, commented: "It is an
honour to receive recognition for the skills
and expertise of the Your Voices online
team and to be able to play a vital role in
bringing different voices across the world
together to debate the issues that affect all
our lives."
In explaining their decision, the judging
panel commented that “among the reasons for this decision is the thoroughness
of content localisation, the clear and userfriendly design, the respect of the natural
language, the successful and flawless management of large amounts of very dynamic
content, the success in promoting and creating cross-cultural dialogue, the careful
choice of content to be published in each
language according to editorial relevance
for that market, the integration of audio
elements, and the innovative use of dialogue-promoting tools (blogging software,
for instance). All these factors result in an
amazing and captivating website of great
cross-cultural interest and service”
The panel and the LRC congratulate the
BBC World Service on winning the award
and wish them every success for the future
and evolution of their website.
The LRC would like to thank the
awards’ sponsor, Euro RSCG Interaction
for their continuing commitment to the
award and for all the support they provided.
The LRC would also like to acknowledge and thank every site that entered and
supported this award. The span of entries,
ranging from small community driven
websites to expansive multinational
backed sites shows the importance of presenting and promoting multilingual and
multicultural websites on the web.
DECEMBER 2004
LOCALISATION FOCUS 11
2004 Winner of the LRC Best Scholar Award,
Manuel Mata, tells us about his winning proposal
O
ver the past decade or so, translator-training institutions
(TTIs) around the world have been making substantial
efforts to successfully meet the demands of the localisation market. Initiatives aimed at including localisation as a subject matter
within TTIs’ existing curricula and courses, in order not to lag
behind the ever-changing needs of the localisation market, have
often involved major investments by TTIs, which still face a number of obstacles concerning not only pressing infrastructure and
equipment costs but also a shortage or lack of lecturing time allocated to localisation, grant schemes, trainers' training initiatives
and research funding.
Within this context, "optimum-cost-ware" (OCW) may open up
promising opportunities to achieve a more affordable and successful
approach to translator training for this market. The notion of OCW
embraces two sides of the same coin:
◆ A pool of readily available resources whose cost may be affordable to any TTI willing to implement them —including fullyfledged commercial products under special pricing conditions,
beta versions, (satel-)lite versions, demos, shareware, freeware,
open-source software or self-made solutions.
◆ A thoroughgoing review of the long-term objectives and overall
methodological approach normally adopted in translator
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) training
including, as core aspects for its redefinition: promoting the ability for self-learning, adapting to new work environments and
empowering students.
Hence, OCW refers not only to the kind and the number of tools
being used in the learning process but also to new ways of using them
that entail questioning some product-based, interface-driven learning
strategies usually employed in this field, in addition to other aspects of
learning such as the materials and assessment systems employed.
The adoption of an OCW-based approach to translator training
entails a cost shift whereby the actual barrier is no longer
the price of a certain commercial product, but the factored cost
of long-term investment in renewed training strategies. Today
the high or prohibitive price of buying, putting into place, maintaining
and upgrading a certain product for academic purposes no longer
seems to be a valid excuse. In fact, just a few years ago TTIs were
obliged to acquire a specific licence package at market prices or with a
symbolic and oftentimes token discount in the best-case scenario.
Today, however, other possibilities are on hand, ranging from free pack-
ages and substantial volume-based
discounts to a wide variety of inkind licensing schemes (through
advertising or different sponsorship
or collaboration formulas). It
seems that Computer Aided
Translation (CAT) tool developers
are gradually becoming aware of
the advantages that can be garnered from their product(s) being
used in translator training centres.
With regard to the use of OCW
Manuel Mata
for streamlining the learning
process, once TTIs’ existing curricula are reviewed, it seems as if
most of them, especially at undergraduate level, are still focusing
their objectives, methodological grounds, course materials and
assessment practices on an underlying training model based on just a
handful of highly priced commercial applications —namely, half a
dozen well-known translation memory systems or localisation
suites—. Thus, the teaching/learning process is, more often than not,
geared by a "(single-)application-towards-processes" approach
rather than by a "processes-through-(many) applications" approach.
This model is proving to be reasonably successful. However, not
only does it entail a substantial investment effort (barely affordable to
many); it also reflects an approach to translator training which neglects some essential aspects of effective training such as the authentic
empowerment of learners and the true development of life-long (self)
learning skills. It is partly the TTIs’ responsibility to provide translators with the necessary elements and skills during their initial training
to be in the best possible position to take their own personal decisions. To a great extent, the breadth of their professional horizons
will largely depend on such decisions, and an OCW-based approach
to learning may greatly facilitate such a complex task.
Manuel Mata Pastor received a BA degree in Translation and
Interpreting from the University of Granada in 1989. He currently
lectures in localisation and CAT tools at the Universidad
Complutense and the Universidad Autónoma, both in Madrid, as
well as in several postgraduate courses. He also works as a freelance
localiser and as a strategic consultant for the Spanish globalization
company Linguaserve. He can be reached at [email protected]
Special Mention, Best Thesis Award
This year, the judging panel for the Best Thesis Award decided to give a special mention to one author, Alessia Lattanzi, for a detailed
case study of a localisation project into Italian, backed up by a review of localisation-relevant literature published in Italian:
Localizzazione di Catscradle, submitted to Libera Università degli Studi “S. Pio V” di Roma as a Tesi di laurea in localizzazione.
Special Mention, Best Global Website Award
The judging panel of this year’s Best Global Website Award also gave special mention to two sites for their contributions to multilingual and multicultural web design.
www.volldamm.es - The Volldamm website presents exceptional design and creativity, all perfectly communicated in all three languages. It works perfectly for it’s purpose and can easily be defined as one of the most imaginative and good looking online brochures
on the web.
www.riberbar.com - This well-balanced site is almost perfectly realised and receives a special mention for its refreshing user-friendly
design, the consistency of content quality in each language and the excellent management of frequent updates.
Awards
“Optimum-Cost-Ware” in Translator
Training for the Localisation Market
Personal Profile
DECEMBER 2004
The question(ing) of standards
Not everyone remembers all the important questions in one's life,
but Nico van de Water certainly remembers that one question on the
afternoon of the 16th June 1987, during a phone call from Ireland, "Would
you be interested in the position of Dutch translator with us?"
N
ico has always had an interest in languages as such, and
English in particular. He went to Teacher Training
College (with degrees in English and Geography), and continued his studies at Nijmegen University (Netherlands), with
special interest in Linguistics, Modern American Literature
and Portuguese. He took up teaching English in 1979, but it
wasn't long before the language bug caught him again, and in
1986 he sat the rather notorious State Exam. Even before, but
especially during his teaching days, he had already been
involved in freelance translation work, mainly for a Social
Sciences research institute in his hometown. Passing the exam
made him decide to switch from teaching to translating fulltime. Hands-on translation experience heightened his interest
in grammar, semantics and lexicology, and he found a useful
and pleasant "application" in solving English-language cryptic crosswords.
More puzzling, and much more of a challenge, were his first
steps in localisation. Nico's approach was (and is) both thorough and original, service-minded as well as with the end-user
interests at heart. Together with a software engineer, Nico
redesigned the database structure of one of his first projects in
Softrans – in hexadecimal format! Nowadays, this would be
unthinkable, for various reasons, not in the least those of
cost-effectiveness and budgets.
During his Softrans days he joined the ITA (Irish
Translator’ Association), but returned to the Netherlands, and
started doing localisation and translation assignments for
companies like IBM and (then) Digital Equipment
Corporation (DEC). At this time, Nico had his first experience with tagged file formats, with the forerunner of
Translation Manager and SDML (Standard Digital Mark-up
Language), respectively.
It is beyond me why most
programmers and technical authors - US
and non-US alike - still use words and phrases that cost their employers money in terms
of localisation or translation
Through his translation and localisation projects for these
two companies, he discovered the importance of correct terminology and terminology management. Also at DEC he was
asked to write, rather than translate, a manual for an in-house
application. It was the first in a whole series of technical
authoring assignments, and an introduction to User Interface
(UI) design, programming, and the relevance of linguistic
input into the design and development cycles.
His experience over the years has given Nico valuable
insight into the relations between software development, software localisation, technical authoring, and the translation of
manuals and Help systems, and has increased his emphasis on
standards, quality, the right tools for the job, and how these
combine to do a job well
(he hopes to publish an
article on these aspects
shortly). It also fuelled his
desire to get more formal
training, ranging from
courses in HTML, XML,
and XSLT, to a year of
post-graduate Theoretical
Linguistics at Trinity
College Dublin, more than
three years of legal translation studies at Maastricht
University, and attending
numerous seminars.
His interest in standards,
Nico van de Water
for example, led to a presentation on XLIFF during
the 8th Annual LRC Conference in Dublin in 2003. He joined
TILP, was recently elected on its Council (where he is going to
chair the Membership committee), and is also a member of
GALA, OASIS-OPEN and STIC (the Dutch technical authors'
interest group). In addition, he is looking for a way to share
his broad and diverse experience, possibly through a course for
technical authors. "It is beyond me why most programmers
and technical authors – US and non-US alike – still use words
and phrases that cost their employers money in terms of localisation or translation. Take specs like '1024MB'. Each time the
number changes, for example into '512MB', it becomes a new
localisable string. Using the ISO convention of a space between
the number and the unit would lift the necessity of translating
such strings, because most CAT and localisation tools parse
and treat them in a different way."
Through the TILP Council, Nico hopes to contribute to the
standing and appreciation of the profession of localisers,
mainly because localisation and translation have become too
much of a commodity. "Especially independent localisers and
small localisation companies are under increasing
pressure–both in terms of finance and time–to meet almost
unobtainable objectives and deadlines. In addition, most
localisation and translation professionals are faced with linguistically speaking badly developed or written source material, and in many cases end up rectifying errors from developers
and technical authors." As a standards-oriented person, Nico
wants to contribute to raising the professional standards of
localisers as well as translators. "Sometimes, just asking questions is not enough. That's when questions turn into questioning, when raising standards and standing becomes a requirement, and when personal commitment in the form of active
involvement is called for."
Nico van de Water is a full-time Technical Communicator
and runs <pro_file> DocSolutions in Nijmegen (Netherlands).
He can be reached at [email protected]
DECEMBER 2004
Dr. Sarmad Hussain & Sana Gul take a look at the localisation industry in Pakistan
W
ITH 150 million people speaking more than 60 languages,
localisation has become an important requirement for the IT
industry in Pakistan. Urdu is the national language of Pakistan and
also the lingua franca. Other main languages include Punjabi,
Siraiki, Pashto, Sindhi and Balochi, all of which are written in
Arabic script in Pakistan. Local language computing in Pakistan
dates back to the early 1980s, when DOS based word processors
first started emerging. Eventually, systems were developed for
Microsoft Windows 3.1. Most of these systems were based on
Naskh style of writing and supported Urdu and many other
Pakistani languages. However, the preferred style of writing (especially for Urdu) has been Nastaleeq. As the latter style is very complex, because, for example, it is much more cursive and context sensitive, initial word processors could not support it. Commercial
level Nastaleeq support first emerged in the mid-1980s when
Monotype released the Inpage Urdu word processor. This software
is still widely used and is now slowly being replaced with the advent
of Open Type Font technology based software.
At first, most of the word processors developed were not based on
any standards. However, the advent of the internet forced encoding
standardisation. Most of the existing software now is either based
on Unicode or provides export and import facilities to it. The
Unicode standard has also been updated by a proposal from Pakistan
to include initially missing characters of Urdu and other major languages of Pakistan. Although it has minor problems (for example the
letter Hamza joins in Urdu, but is defined as a non-joiner in
Unicode), Unicode 4.0 supports these languages fairly well. Work is
also underway to develop other computing standards in joint efforts
by the National Language Authority and the Ministry of IT within
the Pakistani Government. Work is already in progress on locale
standardisation including the definition of keyboards and collation.
Work is also underway to translate and standardise terminology on
the interfaces of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) like computers, mobile phones, and handheld devices.
Internet and email have widely triggered the need for localisation
in Pakistan. Local language internet, email and chat programs have
also developed the expectations of the user to have other applications in local languages as well. This increased demand from users
has encouraged the localisation industry, which was earlier limited
to desktop publishing, to develop. Having realised this necessity,
multiple large projects are also being initiated by the public sector
for its internal use and for providing services to citizens through egovernment programmes. This is giving a further boost to the localisation industry in Pakistan.
One of the major public sector localisation initiatives has been the
National ID cards project. Hand-written manually made National
ID cards were previously issued in Pakistan. In 2001, the National
Database and Registration Authority (NADRA, www.nadra.gov.pk)
was specifically commissioned to automate this work. Their task
was to develop a complete Urdu language database of Pakistani citizens and issue them with computerised local language ID cards. To
date, over 18.3 million Pakistanis have been issued these identity
cards. Most recently, the Pakistani Government commissioned
NADRA to develop computerised Pakistani passports as well as
managing birth certificates and other similar national projects.
Though many of these projects are developed in-house, some work is
also out-sourced to national and international localisation companies, for example, NCR’s TeraData is being used by NADRA for
development of multilingual (English and Urdu) data storage systems.
Another large-scale initiative of the Punjab state Government
includes the automation of land revenue records. Similar projects are
Dr. Sarmad Hussain
Sana Gul
also being started in Pakistani states. Smaller projects include recently developed software that records Senate and Government proceedings in Urdu. Recently, work has also stared on converting parts of
the official Pakistani Government website (www.pakistan.gov.pk)
into Urdu. Most of this work is being outsourced to private localisation/web-development companies by the Ministry of IT. Many of
these companies are also involved in developing localised websites in
other languages such as Spanish and German for European businesses
requiring e-commerce portals.
The Pakistani Government is also eagerly supporting Research
and Development projects to help develop local language support.
At the moment, the Government is supporting an Urdu Localisation
Project (www.e-government.gov.pk) which aims to develop an
English to Urdu Machine Translation system to help enable citizens
to access English centric information on the internet in their local
language. The project also aims to develop an Urdu text to speech
system to target the illiterate and disabled population. This three
year project will end in June 2006.
Due to the increased usage of computers and the internet,
localised operating systems are also under development. Work is in
progress to localise both Microsoft Windows, Mircosoft Office
suite and Linux. In addition, the localisation of hand-held devices is
also being completed by the private sector. However, except for
Urdu, little work is being done for other local languages.
With incredible development in the mobile sector, there is high
demand for localised handsets and services. Companies like Nokia
and Samsung are already providing localised interfaces in Urdu,
though work in other languages is still missing. Only limited services
are being provided by telecommunication service companies at the
moment but there is presently huge potential in the market, from
local language SMS messages to more advanced localised services.
The last few years have seen an immense realisation and focus
shift from earlier English-centric work to localised tools and technologies. With increased customer demand and technological possibilities, the localisation industry in Pakistan looks more promising
and dynamic than ever.
Dr. Sarmad Hussain heads the Center for Research in Urdu
Language Processing (CRULP) at the National University
of Computer and Emerging Sciences (www.nu.edu.pk) in
Lahore, Pakistan. His interests include local language computing,
including script, speech and language processing. He can be
reached at [email protected]
Sana Gul is Regional Research Officer at the Center for Research
in Urdu Language Processing (CRULP) for PAN Localisation projects focusing on Asian localisation. She is actively involved in document localisation for Asian languages. She can be reached at
[email protected]
Country Focus
Localisation in Pakistan
e-Learning
DECEMBER 2004
LRC Professional e-Learning Courses
For many, a lack of available training, long distances, high fees, and tight professional
timetables make it very difficult to keep up-to-date with new localisation technologies.
In order to overcome this, the LRC has started to provide professional courses via e-Learning.
The need for e-learning in
localisation tools
During
the
Second
International
Workshop on Language Resources for
Translation Work, Research and Training
held in Geneva (September 2004),
Reinhard Schäler explained how professional translators are constantly challenged with the preparation of very
large quantities of digital content simultaneously for different markets at affordable
costs. This can only be done, he said,
with the support of language resources
as well as the appropriate software
tools.
However, at that very same workshop,
Angelika Zerfass warned that translation
tools can be complex to learn and are constantly changing.
Some of the reasons for this problem is
the lack of available training, long distances, high fees, and tight professional
timetables, which make it very difficult for
most people to keep up-to-date with new
localisation technologies.
In order to overcome this, online training via e-Learning can be an excellent and
much cheaper alternative to traditional
courses for many people. e-Learning
allows localisation professionals to update
their skills in current localisation tools
available for different fields (for example
Project Management, Translation, QA,
and Engineering). Another advantage is
that e-learning allows users flexibility to
attend online courses from anywhere in
the world, at their own pace and in their
own time.
e-Learning courses offered
by the LRC
The LRC has so far provided three types
of e-learning courses: Introduction to
localisation tools, Tools for QA and
Testing and Tools used for translating
Websites.
Who are the targeted participants?
These courses are targeted at lecturers and
students of localisation, along with anybody who may be interested in getting an
introduction to the different types of
localisation technologies.
So far, more than 50 people from 25
countries have participated, including
countries such as Brazil, Egypt, Lithuania,
Slovenia, and the USA.
The professional background of participants varied, but most were Translators,
Engineering Coordinators, Project Managers, and some University Lecturers.
Level of the courses
The level of the courses is basic-intermediate.
Duration:
On average, the total duration of each
course has been 10 hours (not including
live chat sessions) spread over 2 weeks.
However, this depends on the actual professional experience and previous knowledge of each participant.
The LRC e-learning portal
As Fig. 1 shows, the LRC e-learning web
portal comprises of eight different sections.
Fig. 1: Structure of the LRC e-learning portal
a) Home
This section introduces the course participants to the course and its aims, and
objectives.
b) Announcements
Course participants can check this section
on a regular basis for announcements
made by the course facilitator, regarding
any aspect of the course.
For example, during past courses, participants fully localised and tested the Graphical
User Interface (GUI) of an application, tested and fixed a Help file. They also translated
a Website, generating a budget and a report.
Assignments also included the use of
Machine Translation (MT) and the creation
of Translation Memories (TM).
e) Course material
This section allows participants to download all the relevant sample files and documentation necessary to complete the
assignments onto their own PCs.
f) Communication
This is one of the most exciting sections,
as it enables participants to interact with
each other and with the course facilitator.
The LRC e-learning portal provides two
main types of communication tools (apart
from email): chat sessions and a discussion board.
Although it is not compulsory to attend
any of the chat sessions, the course facilitator is available for eight scheduled hours
(GMT) during the courses. During each
session (see Fig. 2), any participant can
mention (in real time) the problems and
difficulties that they are having, or any
comments on any aspect of the course
they wish to make. The main advantage of
this is that they normally get an immediate
answer either by the course facilitator or
their peers. Shortly after each chat session,
an edited transcript is made available on
the LRC portal, where it is easy to identify
the main topics covered. This is particularly useful for those participants who
cannot participate at the scheduled times
due to work commitments.
c) Calendar
This section displays the scheduled dates
for the chat sessions and deadline for submitting the course assignments.
d) Assignments
This is the section where the course participants access their course assignments.
Each assignment focuses on providing
hands-on experience on how to use different types of tools to translate text, or fully
localise different types of files.
Fig. 2: Chat sessions
The discussion board (see Fig. 3) has also
proved to be very useful for sharing problems/solutions and different comments
DECEMBER 2004
Localisation Tools Donated to LOTS Online
Catalyst 5 (Alchemy Software
Development)
Lucas (Celar Pawlowsky)
Metatexis 2.41 (Hermann Bruns)
Star Transit/TermStar XV (STAR
Language Technology)
Caterpillar (Stormdance Software)
Multilizer 6.1 (Multilizer)
Terminology Wizard (SYNTHEMA Srl)
Crystal Translator Professional 2.2
(Softlang)
Multiterm (TRADOS)
Trados 6.5 (Trados)
Multitrans 3.7 (Multicorpora)
Tramigo (Avral Technologies Ltd)
Passolo 4.0 (Pass Engineering GmbH)
Translate Magellan (Logomedia Corp.)
Personal Translator (Lingenio)
Translation Office 3000 (Advanced
International Translations (AIT)
Déjà vu X (Atril)
Globalisation Image Assistant
(Bjorn Austraat)
Heartsome TMX/XLIFF
(Heartsome)
Petra Expert (SYNTHEMA Srl)
Practicount (Practiline Software)
LTC Organiser 4.6 (The Language
Technology Centre)
Promt Expert (Promt)
LTRAC (Language Translation Resource
Automation Console)
SDL Localisation Suite (SDL Desktop
Products)
among participants on the main features
and limitations of the tools covered in the
courses. Having participants from a wide
variety of countries and cultures enriches
these courses. For example, some participants localising some files from English
into Japanese or Arabic found some bugs
or limitations in some tools. Of course,
feedback was passed on afterwards to the
relevant tools developers, who greatly
appreciated it.
RC-Wintrans Pro 7 (Schaudin.com)
Visual Localise Premium (Applied
Information Technologies AG)
WebBudget 3 XT (Aquino Software)
Word Fast 4 (Wordfast)
donated by different tools developer
companies.
The sample file types available on
LOTS Online include .XML, .EXE.
RESX, .HTML, terminology, Crystal
reports, databases, documentation, Flash,
Help, Images, and buggy files (for example containing clipping and overlapping).
Fig. 5: Localisation of a sample .EXE file into
Arabic over the Internet using Catalyst 5 on
LOTS Online
h) ELECT Portal
Fig. 3: Posted messages in the
LRC discussion board
g) LOTS Online:
LOTS Online section is one of the
major learning components of the
LRC’s e-learning portal. It is a server that
allows course participants to access a
virtual laboratory containing a large
number of current localisation tools (see
Fig. 4), sample files, and tutorials. All
the tools available in LOTS have been
Fig. 4: The localisation tools available on
LOTS Online are organised into different
categories
As Fig. 5 shows, LOTS Online enables
users to practise using full versions of
the tools covered in the course, to try
other related tools and also to compare
their features, advantages, and disadvantages.
The ELECT Portal section links to an
external localisation portal (also run by
the LRC), which provides resources
and information for localisation professionals, for example news, localisation
directory, courses, white papers, tutorials.
www.electonline.org).
Future courses
The LRC is currently planning more professional e-learning courses focused on
Software Localisation and Computer
Aided Translation (CAT) tools. For more
information, visit www.localisation.ie/
learning/courses/index.htm
Feedback
"These courses have been a useful look at some of the tools available, especially those to help translators".
Liz Andoe, Engineering Coordinator (UK)
"The programs/tools that were provided gave a good overview of what is possible with regards to the localisation of web pages.
The instructions were clear enough to be able to work with the programs and to try out different things."
Vincent van Gelderen, Project Manager (The Netherlands)
"The assignments helped me to learn about the main features of localisation tools and how I could use them in my future work."
Tatjana Jevsikova, Researcher (Lithuania)
"I found the course very well designed and interesting."Alexandra Alburquerque, Lecturer (Portugal)
"The guidelines/instructions of the tutor complemented the assignments so well that I really enjoyed the work."
Mia Dintinjana, Translator (Slovenia)
"I think the material has been very useful to practice with." Angela Blum, Translator (Spain)
Localisation Shop
DECEMBER 2004
Localisation Shop
Where do you go if you want to buy the latest localisation publications?
What site allows you to advertise specifically to a localisation audience?
Where can you find and register online for localisation related events?
The answer is Localisation Shop (www.localisationshop.com) the new
website created and run by the Localisation Research Centre (LRC).
A
s the name suggests, the Localisation Shop is dedicated to all things
localisation, all of which can be purchased online instantly. It sells
goods and services produced by the Localisation Research Centre (LRC)
and select third-party affiliates.
The site is essentially made up of five different areas, detailed below.
today’s wired world and with the
Localisation Shop, registration for a localiMichael Bourke
sation event can be completed in minutes
(see Fig. 2). Each event listing includes detailed information about the
event, including location, duration and agenda.
Fig 2: Event registration page
Fig. 1: Home page of the Localisation Shop
Services
Online Payment
With the Localisation Shop (see Fig. 1), services such as banner advertisements and job advertising can be purchased and set up online. With banner advertisements, customers can purchase advertising space, specify a
banner of their choice to run, and see their advertisement up and running
within minutes. The Localisation Shop allows users to submit job advertisements to the LRC’s jobs section, a localisation specific job advertising
section with very high exposure. The Localisation Shop helps you to target localisation professionals with focused advertising, and find the cream
of the industry for your job vacancies.
Purchasing goods online with credit cards is now standard everywhere,
and the Localisation Shop is no exception. It supports online credit card
payments allowing all goods and services to be purchased immediately –
there are no annoying invoices or lengthy registration processes to deal
with. The Localisation Shop’s payment system is secure and private, using
industry standard encryption to keep customer details safe.
Subscriptions
Want to subscribe to important industry magazines and periodicals? You
can do so immediately with the Localisation Shop. Delivery details and
payment are all handled online, so now you have no excuse for not keeping up with the latest industry developments with magazines such as the
LRC’s Localisation Focus.
Memberships
There are a growing number of organisations and industry groups of interest to localisation professionals. The Localisation Shop will soon allow
individuals to join such groups online. The shop automates the details
gathering process and supports immediate online payment of registration
fees.
Items
These are magazines, books, papers and other items for sale that do not
fit into the other main categories. Following online payment, each item
is immediately dispatched to customer. Also available are items that
can be downloaded following purchase – the customer does not have to
wait for delivery. Such items include PDF versions of magazines and
reports.
Events
Often event organisers require attendees to print out a form, complete it
and post it along with payment. It’s an old and outdated method in
Affiliates
The Localisation Shop mainly sells items and services produced by
the Localisation Research Centre. We will soon begin selling items
produced by third-parties and services offered by affiliated organisations
and we are currently looking for suitable organisations to work with.
The shop will handle payment and details gathering on behalf of the
affiliate. For instance, the site would offer registration and payment
facilities for an upcoming conference on behalf of another organisation.
If you or your organisation would be interested in becoming an
affiliate, please contact us for more information (see below for contact
details).
Future
When we were creating the Localisation Shop we wanted to create a
system that was useful for localisation professionals and easy to use.
We hope we have achieved that goal. You’ll be able to peruse the comprehensive list of products for sale and read through the services offered. We
are also keen to receive feedback and suggestions from the industry, so
visit the Localisation Shop soon and see what it can do for you.
For further information, please visit www.localisationshop.com or
email [email protected]
Michael Bourke is a Research Associate at the Localisation Research
Centre where he works on several projects. He is responsible for designing
and developing the Localisation Shop. He can be reached at
[email protected]
DECEMBER 2004
Rafael Guzmán reviews the latest enhancement to Alchemy CATALYST
In October 2004, Alchemy announced the
integration of a new TRADOS component for
CATALYST. This new component is a plug-in
that allows CATALYST users to export translations into TRADOS Workbench (TWB) or
TRADOS Multiterm termbases.
The TRADOS plug-in is part of the CATALYST Service Pack 3 (available for download
on Alchemy’s Website). After installing this
service pack, CATALYST will then be
upgraded from version 5.02 to 5.03.
However, CATALYST will run in demo
mode, and, therefore, the user will need to
request a (free) updated certificate file to reactivate CATALYST.
DOS authentication” option. The user then
needs to click the “Connect” button.
Fig. 4: The Alchemy TRADOS component in
CATALYST 5.03 allows users to easily export
translated terms from a CATALYST .TTK file
into TRADOS Multiterm termbases
How the Alchemy TRADOS
Component works
Once an application has been translated in
a CATALYST .TTK file (see Fig. 1), the user
can export the translations into TWB. To do
this, the user needs to click on the “Tools”
menu on the CATALYST main toolbar, and
then select “Export terminology”. The user is
then presented with two options in relation
to exporting the terminology, option one
being “TRADOS Workbench” and option
two “TRADOS Multiterm”.
Verdict
Fig. 2: The Alchemy TRADOS component in
CATALYST 5.03 allows users to easily export
translated strings from a CATALYST .TTK file
into TRADOS Workbench
Once the connection to TRADOS TM
server has been established, or the local TM
selected, the user can specify filters to extract
the translations (see Fig. 2). For example, the
user can choose to extract translations from
all strings in a project or from one object.
Other filter options include extracting strings
marked as “signed off” and “hotkeys”. The
user then needs to click Ok, and CATALYST
will extract the translations accordingly
depending on the selected options into the
specified TRADOS TM.
In Fig. 3 we can see how the translated segments exported can be leveraged.
Fig .1: Translating the User Interface of an .EXE
file from Arabic into English in a CATALYST
5.03 .TTK file
If the user chooses to export the translations into TWB, a dialogue box will appear
(see Fig. 2). The user can then choose
whether the TRADOS Translation Memory
(TM) is to be stored in his or her local PC
(“File” option), or on a remote server
(“Server” option). If the TRADOS TM is
stored in the local PC, the user can simply
browse to the exact location where the TM is
saved and select it.
When exporting the translations to a
remote server via the intranet or the Internet,
the following information needs to be entered
in: the name of the TRADOS TM server and
the name of the actual TRADOS database to
which the translations are exported (for
example “MyApplication_ArEng”). The user
then has to choose to authenticate him or
herself using either the “Windows” or “TRA-
been exported to Multiterm, the user can
leverage them (see Fig. 4).
Fig. 3: Strings translated in CATALYST .TTK files
can be reused in TRADOS Workbench
The process of extracting translations into
TRADOS Multiterm is identical to exporting
to TRADOS Workbench. However, if the
user needs to export the translations into a
TRADOS Multiterm termbase located on a
remote server, you need to enter a username
and password. Once the translations have
In the previous version, CATALYST could
import TRADOS TMs (.TTX or .TMX) as
glossaries to generate leverage. However,
with the new TRADOS component, CATALYST 5.03 can locally interact with TRADOS
in both directions. Like most features in
CATALYST, the TRADOS component is easy
to use. Other software localisation tools such
as Passolo also offer local integration with
TRADOS resources. As well, Multilizer is
intending to offer remote integration with
TRADOS in the not too distant future.
However, to my knowledge, CATALYST is
currently the only software localisation tool
connecting to a TRADOS TM server over the
internet although it still does not allow the
user to import TMs remotely. Other than
this, the new Alchemy TRADOS component
is an excellent enhancement to CATALYST.
About Alchemy Software
Development
Founded by Tony O’Dowd and Enda
McDonnell in December 2000, Alchemy
acquired the intellectual rights of the former
Corel CATALYST toolset, and has successfully developed it since then. Alchemy, based
in Dublin, have a sales and administration
office in Oregon (US), and a number of
partners in different countries in Europe and
Asia. Used by over 200 companies worldwide, Alchemy CATALYST provides localisation technology for all MS Windows programs, and supports a wide range of
different file formats.
For further information, contact Alchemy
Software Development Ltd., Tel: +353-17082800; Fax: +353-1-7082801.
E-mail: [email protected].
Web: www.alchemysoftware.ie.
Rafael Guzmán is coordinator of the LRC’s
Localisation Technology and Showcase (LOTS).
He can be reached at [email protected]
Tools Review
Alchemy TRADOS Component
Readers’ Forum
DECEMBER 2004
Readers’ Forum
Last issue’s proposition was:
After more than a decade, standards seem to be on the top of the agenda again in the Localisation Industry.
This happens at a time when efforts to protect corporate Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are also rising to the top of the industry's agenda.
Standards can only be developed jointly and involving all stakeholders while IPR claims are explicitly designed to keep the competition out.
Do you believe that the industry can resolve the tension between its strive for IPR on one hand, and the need to cooperate, even with competitors, on the other? Are there any organisational frameworks available which are particularly suited for this kind of cooperation?
Once standards are developed and agreed who, do you believe, should verify compliance?
“Hot topic” for industry trade groups
I have a great deal of respect for the activists
who are working on behalf of the industry to
create industry standards and who are exploring mechanisms by which they can feasibly be
regulated. This is a "hot topic" for industry
trade groups.
Although my opinion may not be "politically
correct" in the current climate of ambitious
goal setting, I have found that my time is best
spent focused on quality via continual system
evaluations and improvements and via investment in proprietary technology upgrades.
The market regulates quality and will continue to do so, especially as the sophistication of
buyers increases. Companies that have, follow,
and publish quality processes get and keep customers. Others don't.
General Manager Shelly Orr Priebe leads
McElroy Translation where she has spent seventeen years. She values technology, process
and people, and she is willing to assert a controversial opinion. She can be reached at
[email protected]
Talking about standardisation in a
service industry where the main goal
is to please the customer is a waste
of time and effort
before they become established, talking about
standardisation in a service industry where the
main goal is to please the customer is a waste
of time and effort. In the localisation industry,
we need to stop talking about ourselves (standards) and start talking about our clients' needs
(differentiation). After all, who is going to
refuse work from a client that does not comply
to a standard?
On the other hand, some clients occasionally
want to stimulate the creation of standards to
avoid unnecessary work. My message to them is
short: "You are the client. Ask, and you shall get
whatever you want (for a small fee, of course)."
Renato Beninatto is a partner at Common
Sense Advisory, Inc., a research and consulting
firm specialising in localisation and globalisation. A corporate strategist and international
business consultant, Renato has more than 20
years of executive-level experience in the localisation industry. He can be reached at
[email protected]
The current technology that is becoming available on the market is challenging expensive legacy tools and
improving our business
TMX is a great example of an open
standard, created by leading companies in the
Who is saying that standards are the top of the industry, agreed and documented to a high
agenda of the industry?
level, that has been adopted by many in the
In a world of ever-evolving technologies industry. Any company that is prepared to
where processes and practices become obsolete
invest in R&D to enhance the productivity of translation is a plus to the
industry. It costs a considerable amount
to invest in technology development so
Localisation Focus invites its readers to comment
only a small number will have the
resources and the skills to do this propon this statement and send their contributions to
erly. If these companies are also [email protected] by 28 January 2005.
pared to sell the technology onto other
Current mainstream localisation efforts are primarily
players in the industry this also will
driven by commercial concerns: no market – no localisation. Localisation initiatives not focusing on Return on
help the industry develop and improve.
Investment (ROI) are generally not even considered by
The current technology that is becomthe industry who look on them as unrealistic, uncoordiing available on the market is challengnated, and unworkable – doomed to fail.
ing expensive legacy tools and improvThe Global Initiative on Local Computing is aiming to
ing our business.
bring together companies, organisations and individuals
With regards to organisational framewho believe that there are other reasons to localise, e.g.
works available, LISA is probably the
political, social and cultural. They believe that there is
best-suited independent forum.
evidence to support the claim that their efforts are gainOnce standards are developed and
ing large-scale support by governments and supraagreed,
a professional body that has the
national organisations which will eventually break the
capabilities to follow a scripted certifidominance of the commercially driven, licensed-based
cation should verify compliance.
industry players in internationalisation and localisation.
Mark Lancaster founded SDL in
Do you believe that there are other important reasons
1992 having identified the need for a
to provide access to local computing to communities
high level service provider for the globaround the world? Is there a need for local initiatives to
alisation of software. He was a founder
coordinate their work, organise forums to exchange
director of LISA, the Localization
their experiences and pool their resources? Are the aims
of the Global Initiative for Local Computing, to support
Industry Standards Association, with
local computing across geographical, political, social
which he continues his involvement. He
and economic divides, achievable?
can be reached at [email protected]
Next Issue
Standards increase market access
and acceptance, improve sales efficiency and lower trade barriers
The economic output of Europe and the
Americas is increasingly based on conceptual
rather than physical products and services. Alan
Greenspan, Chairman of the U.S. Federal
Reserve Board, remarked on this recently*:
"This trend has, of necessity, shifted the emphasis in asset valuation from physical property to
intellectual property and to the legal rights
inherent in intellectual property." So you are
right to stipulate that this is an industry driver.
However, most companies can distinguish
the intellectual properties that are central to
their core competencies, from those which
although they have value, are not as significant
to their business strategy.
Meanwhile, we have seen that standards
have created immense opportunities for our
industry. The Internet, Web, and Unicode being
obvious examples. I have to change cell phone
technology when I travel to each of Asia,
Europe or the US, which inhibits my usage and
purchases of related services. However, I can
access the Web and Internet worldwide and in
several languages. This has made global commerce accessible to small businesses and greatly increased sales of products and services.
Businesses therefore see the benefits of standardisation and can trade-off the value of intellectual property that is not critical to their core
competencies, against the lowered costs and
increased revenue opportunities that standards
bring with them. This is why so many companies have contributed to Open Source projects
and standards organisations such as the W3C,
OASIS and Unicode.
Standards increase market access and acceptance, improve sales efficiency andlower trade
barriers. They provide economies of scale and
reduce development time and costs. Often
products have increased value where standards
have made integration with other products possible. XLIFF is a small but relevant example in
our industry.
Many companies today recognise that the
economic benefits of having standards in place
far outweigh the asset value of many of their
intellectual properties, and therefore are content to stipulate to standards organisations that
their concepts can be used without fear of fees
or retribution.
* www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200402272/ Remarks of Alan Greenspan.
Tex Texin is founder of XenCraft, a consulting and training company specialising in software globalisation and helping companies
around the world move to new markets and the
web. Tex is also an active participant in Open
Source and Standards organisations such as the
Unicode Consortium, WorldWide Web
Consortium and IBM ICU. He can be reached
at [email protected]
DECEMBER 2004
LOCALISATION. initiative
LOCALISATION FOCUS
The Global Initiative for Local Computing
M
ainstream localisation efforts have so far concentrated on languages and cultures rich enough to
provide a profitable market for localised products.
Therefore, companies have localised their products for
the Danish market (with 3 million Danish speakers), but
not for the languages of Asia and Africa, some them spoken by more than 100 million people.
If it is true that access to Information and Commu
nication Technologies (ICT) is crucial for economic and
social development, then the lack of access must increase
the already existing divide between the rich and the poor.
There is a strong argument that says that all peoples of
the world, regardless of culture or language, religion
or ethnicity or gender, geographic location or economic
means, should benefit from the use and application of
ICT. The use of ICTs should take place in the language and
culture of those peoples’ choice, with no negative affects
on that language and culture and their continued existence.
In the recent past, a number of largely uncoordinated,
commercial and non-commercial initiatives have been
established which aim to foster what could be called
avant-garde localisation, i.e. a strand of localisation
which uses new and fresh criteria to decide whether applications or digital content should be localised or not.
Among those are:
◆ Open Source Localisation Initiatives – The Economist
reported in December 2003, that he leading desktop
interfaces for the open-source Linux operating system—
KDE and GNOME—are, between them, available in
more than twice as many languages as Windows. KDE
has already been localised for 42 languages, with a further 46 in the pipeline. Similarly, Mozilla, an opensource web browser, now speaks 65 languages, with 34
more to follow. OpenOffice, the leading open-source
office suite, is available in 31 languages, including
Slovenian, Basque and Galician, and Indian languages
such as Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam. And
another 44 languages including Icelandic, Lao, Latvian,
Welsh and Yiddish are on the way.
◆ University-based Localisation Projects and Research –
an increasing number of universities engage in localisation projects and research, encouraging students to
develop localisation and translation tools, helping out
with the definition of new character encoding schemes
for languages which are deemed not-commercially
viable. Among these are universities in Brazil, South
Africa, the USA, Canada, India, Pakistan, Iran, and
many European countries.
◆ Initiatives by commercial developers – some developers now provide low-cost solutions for low-cost countries which are integrated into their mainstream products, e.g. Microsoft’s Language Interface Pack (LIP);
other commercial developers have become involved in
initiatives such as the Common Locale Data
Repository or OpenFont.
Now that there is a critical mass of avant-garde localisation happening, it makes sense to pool together
resources, to exchange knowledge and expertise, and to
publicise and develop these efforts through a broad,
coordinated initiative.
This initiative is currently in its preparatory stages. We
hope to include as many organisations and as wide a
spectrum as possible in these preliminary discussions,
which will lead to the launch of the Global Initiative for
Local Computing (GILC) in September of 2005.
GILC will work with appropriate organisations around
the world to ensure that all people have access to computers and information technologies in their preferred
language and following their favoured cultural practices.
What we wish to see in the long run is that
◆ computers are able to work in all major languages,
with encodings and rendering engines for their writings systems and freely available software and fonts to
support their use;
◆ working groups are actively adding new languages to
those for which computers have already been enabled;
◆ local human activities in all their diversity are being
supported by appropriate software and information
technologies.
To achieve this, GILC will:
◆ maintain websites and databases as a source
of knowledge about software localisation and associated technologies, providing advice as needed via the
web;
◆ initiate and run projects researching into fundamental
issues in technologies and social sciences related to the
digital divide;
◆ initiate and run projects developing technologies to
help endangered languages survive;
◆ provide informed input into relevant standards development, notably through agencies such as W3C, ISO,
OASIS and the Unicode consortium;
◆ liaise with major technology providers in issues of the
digital divide;
◆ liaise with governments and their agencies concerning
policies and practices related to the digital divide;
◆ liaise with research and educational institutions, collaborating in projects and promoting programmes
aimed at overcoming the digital divide;
◆ provide consultancy services;
◆ run training programmes around the world, both as
face-to-face courses and as e-learning courses.
We are planning to organise workshops at some of the
internationalisation and localisation events over the coming months. We will also establish a website to facilitate
the discussions among interested parties interested in
providing input to the development of GILC and considering their participation.
We believe that it is about time to unlock the
enormous potential localisation has to contribute to
the creation of equal access to ICT for billions of
people currently excluded – and independent of their culture or language, religion or ethnicity or gender, geographic location or economic means. We invite you to
join us.
Pat Hall and Reinhard Schäler
If you are interested in joining GILC or would like
more information about this initiative, email [email protected]
19
DECEMBER 2004
LRC. news
LOCALISATION FOCUS
News from the
Localisation Research Centre
Localisation Shop
The Localisation Research Centre is pleased to announce the launch of the
Localisation Shop (www.localisationshop.com), an online store for the localisation
community. Recently launched, the Localisation Shop allows localisation professionals to purchase useful items and services as well as enabling people to register
for upcoming events online, including the 2005 LRC Conference. The Localisation
Shop aims to cater for the needs of all members of the localisation community.
The Localisation Shop uses industry standard encryption to ensure credit card
purchases are safe and secure. Many items for sale can be downloaded immediately
after purchase so customers don’t have to wait for the arrival of hardcopy goods.
Registrations for events can be completed online including payment and attendance
details. In addition, the Localisation Shop will soon carry third-party products and
services. For more, visit www.localisationshop.com.
LRC Conference
The 10th Annual International Localisation Conference and Industry Exhibition
entitled LRC – X: the Global Initiative for Local Computing (GILC) organised by
the LRC will take place on the 13 and 14 September 2005 at the University of
Limerick, Ireland. See page 6 for details or visit www.localisation.ie for more information and programme updates. Registration for this event is available at
www.localisationshop.com.
LRC Summer School
The 5th LRC International Summer School will take place this June at the
University of Limerick, Ireland. The Summer School will feature four days of localisation theory, practical assignments and professional discussions as the LRC guides
attendees through the different stages of the internationalisation, localisation &
product life-cycle. See page 6 for details or visit www.localisation.ie for more information and programme updates. Registration for this event is available at
www.localisationshop.com.
Localization Reader
The second annual 2004-2005 Localization Reader, containing articles from
Localisation Focus and MultiLingual Computing and Technology can now be downloaded from www.localisation.ie/publications/reader/2004/index.htm.
The 2004-2005 reader is made up of a selection of 36 articles, which have been
published over the past twelve months in both magazines. The reader is free and is
intended for teachers of localisation and translation and their students, who otherwise may not have access to up-to-date reading material.
Sun to Establish Localisation Lab at UL
Sun Microsystems Ireland and the LRC are to establish a Sun Localisation
Laboratory at the LRC. The facility will be used for research, teaching and doing
localisation work on Sun and open source platforms. Sun is kitting out the facility
with 10 computers running either Solaris - Sun's proprietary operating system - or
Linux.
The venture is intended to strengthen the relationships between industry and
education by allowing researchers to learn more about Sun and open source platforms and students to gain experience in the practical application of localisation
quality assurance (QA) concepts while gaining exposure to Sun technologies. (By
Brian Skelly. Press release published on www.siliconrepublic.com and in The Irish
Independent 20-09-04 Business and The Irish Times 21-09-04 Business). For more
information, visit www.localisation.ie/news.
21
ADVISORY.board
DECEMBER 2004
THE LRC AND ITS FUNCTIONS
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 Development
Bowne Global Solutions
Martin Hynes
LRC Industrial
Advisory Board
Paul McBride
The LRC Industrial Advisory Board
meets at least twice a year to review the
work of the LRC, advise on potential
projects and strategies, and provide support for its actions. Members of the
board recognise the importance of the
LRC’s activities for the localisation industry and support its aims and objectives.
The board’s chairperson is Alan
Barrett. He was elected at the board’s
first meeting in 1999.
Brian Kelly
John Malone
Director,
The Embark Initiative, IRCSET
Senior Vice President,
Bowne Global Solutions
Director, International
Sales & Marketing
Archetypon
Vice President,
International Operations
Veritest (Division of Lionbridge)
David McDonald
Management Consultant
Eugene McGinty
CEO,
Connect Global Solutions
David Murphy
Director, Localisation
Siebel Systems
Michael O’Callaghan
Vice President,
Oracle Corporation
Brian O’Donovan
Senior Development
Manager, IBM
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
T
he LRC at 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 at University College Dublin under the Irish
Government and European Union funded Technology
Centres Programme as the Localisation Resources
Centre. When the centre moved to the University of
Limerick (UL) in 1999, it merged with UL’s Centre for
Language Engineering and was renamed the
Localisation Research Centre (LRC).
The LRC is owned by UL. It has a director, faculty
members and project staff. Its Industry Advisory Board
represents a large section of the localisation industry.
The LRC is supported by UL, its Industrial Advisory
Board, subscribers to its services and Enterprise
Ireland. Its main areas of research are:
Industry Intelligence
www.electonline.org - The localisation community's
online information resource
www.localisation.ie - The website and archive of the
Localisation Research Centre
Annual LRC Conference
Education and Training
Graduate Diploma / MSc in Software Localisation
Professional Development Courses
Summer School
eLearning Courses
Localisation Teaching, Training and
Research Network (LttN)
Technology and Research
LOTS - The Localisation Technology Laboratory
and Showcase
Standards Verification
Localisation Process Automation
Translation Technology
Test Automation
Logrus
specializes in
complementary
solutions:
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management, engineering and testing)
• Large production site in Moscow
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• Multilingual Web content management
Logrus is a provider of multilingual solutions into a large number of languages,
making it possible for software publishers and other companies to ensure global
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Logrus was founded as a dedicated software localization company. We go beyond
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Resources, XML, Java, Borland Delphi)
! ezParse, a visual environment that helps you build file
parsers for virtually any file type or encoding system.
! A visual translation system that translates content
from the world’s most popular data base technologies
(Oracle, IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL and Access).
! An easy to use script language to automate many of
the manual steps in your localization process.
! The most comprehensive interface into TRADOS
Translator’s Workbench, MultiTerm, TM Server and
MultiTerm Server.
Visit us at www.alchemysoftware.ie
Contact your local Alchemy Consultant
today to find out how Alchemy
CATALYST can optimise your
localization processes!
Call us at:
Americas & APAC: +1-503-362-9372
EMEA: +353-1-708 2803
Email: [email protected]
ALCHEMY
CATALYST
5.0
The Visual Localization Solution
Alchemy Software Development has its headquarters at Block 2, Harcourt Business Center, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, Ireland
Developing professional practices
in localisation globally
Join the representative body of the localisation professionals
Apply online today for Associate or Professional Membership
Become a corporate sponsor ([email protected])
Founding sponsors
Alchemy Software Development, Bowne Global Solutions, Microsoft,
Novell, Lionbridge, Oracle, Symantec, VeriTest
TILP 2004-2005 Council
Fiona Agnew, Alan Barrett (President), Matthias Caesar, Daniel Carter, Gisela Donnarumma,
Ian Dunlop, Carla diFranco, Wendy Hamilton, Barbara Jarzyna, Siobhan King-Hughes,
John Malone, Marilyn Mason, Xavier Maza, Arturo Quintero, Florian Sachse,
Angela Starkmann, Nico van de Water (Vice President), Angelika Zerfass
Secretary and CEO: Reinhard Schäler
[email protected]
www.tilponline.org
TILP is a global organisation, owned by its members and directed by an elected Council.

December 2004 - Localisation Research Centre

Transcription

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