Perspectives on Localization
Editor
Over the past two decades, international trade agreements such as GATT and NAFTA have lowered international trade barriers. At the same time, the information revolution has fueled profound shifts in the ways companies conduct business and communicate with their customers, and worldwide acceptance of the ISO 9000 standard has established the notion that quality must be defined in terms of customer satisfaction. Falling trade barriers and rising quality standards have made linguistic and cultural issues increasingly important. To successfully compete in today’s global on-demand economy, companies must localize their products and services to fit the needs of the local market in terms of language, culture, functionality, work practices, as well as legal and regulatory requirements. In recognition of the growing importance of localization, this volume explores a certain number of key issues, including:
- Return on investment and the localization business case
- Localization cost drivers and cost-containment strategies
- Localization quality and customer-focused quality management
- Challenges posed by localization of games, including Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs)
- Using a meta-language to facilitate accurate translation of disembodied content
- The case for managing source-language terminology
- Terminology management in the localization process
- Reconciling industry needs and academic objectives in localization education
- Localization standards and the commoditization of linguistic information
- The creation and application of language industry standards
- Rethinking customer-focused localization through user-centered design
- Moving from translation reuse to language reuse
[American Translators Association Scholarly Monograph Series, XIII] 2006. vi, 356 pp.
Publishing status: Available
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
Table of Contents
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Introduction: A Copernican revolutionKeiran J. Dunne | pp. 1–11
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1. The localization business case
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Quantifying the return on localization investmentDonald A. DePalma | pp. 15–36
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GMS technology making the localization business caseClove Lynch | pp. 37–46
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Localization CostCarla DiFranco | pp. 47–66
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2. Localization quality
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Quality in the real worldScott Bass | pp. 69–94
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Putting the cart behind the horse: Rethinking localization quality managementKeiran J. Dunne | pp. 95–117
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3. Game localization
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Issues in localizing computer gamesFrank Dietz | pp. 121–134
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Localizing MMORPGsEric Heimburg | pp. 135–151
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4. Terminology management
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A practical case for managing source-language terminologyRobin Lombard | pp. 155–171
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Terminology workflow in the localization processBarbara Inge Karsch | pp. 173–191
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5. Localization education
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A discipline coming of age in the digital ageDeborah A. Folaron | pp. 195–219
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6. Localization standards
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Localization standards, knowledge- and information-centric business models, and the commoditization of linguistic informationArle Lommel | pp. 223–239
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The creation and application of language industry standardsSue Ellen Wright | pp. 241–278
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7. Rethinking the paradigm
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Melding paradigms: Meeting the needs of international customers through localization and user-centered designSusan M. Dray and David A. Siegel | pp. 281–307
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Corpus enhancement and computer-assisted localization and translationGregory M. Shreve | pp. 309–331
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Appendix: Localization-related standards and standards bodies | pp. 333–342
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Suggestions for further reading | pp. 343–345
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Contributors | pp. 347–350
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Index | pp. 351–356
“[...] one of the few theoretical examinations of an area which is still evolving, still misunderstood and still evading categorization [...] addresses a real need for theory in localization. [...] Dunne has assembled a collection of contributions covering a diverse range of topics to produce a book which builds substantially on the hitherto hands-on work previously available [...] should be required reading for those pursuing localization studies.”
Jody Byrne, University of Sheffield, in The Interpreter and Translator Trainer Vol. 3:2, 2010
“[...] the book functions exactly as the title suggests, giving various perspectives on a collection of areas within the field of localization. Its strength lies in its diversity, pointing out the many ways in which localization affects a company, a scholar, a manager, an accountant, an engineer, and more.”
Tim Altanero, Austin Community College, USA, in Translator Training, XXI no. 2, 2008.
Subjects
Communication Studies
Translation & Interpreting Studies
Main BIC Subject
GTC: Communication studies
Main BISAC Subject
LAN004000: LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Communication Studies