i18n - scope

localization

• Addresses

  • Country code
    • CA (Canada),
    • FR (France),
    • US (United states, etc)
  • State code (when available)
  • Zip code pattern
    • 75015 (France -> Paris/15 arrondissement)
    • M5R 3H5 (Canada)

• Currency

  • Symbol ($, £, ¥)
  • Placement (£127.54 | 3,99 €)
    • EU: €6,28 --> FR: 6,28 €

LOCALIZATION

Linguistic issues concerning the euro

LOCALISATION

• Numerals

  • Thousands separator
    • US: 1,000,000
    • FR: 1 000 000
  • Decimal separator
    • US: 5.023
    • DE: 5,023
  • Negative display placement
    • UK: -555
    • DK: 555-
    • Parts of India & Financial records (555)
  • Digit grouping
    • US: 123,456,789
    • Hindi: 12,34,56,78

Localisation

• Numerals - continue

  • Percentage
    • 23%
    • 23 %
    • 23 pct
    • %23
    • In Finnish, the percent sign is always spaced, and a case suffix can be attached to it using the colon (e.g. 50 %:n kasvu 'an increase of 50%')

    • In Czech, the percent sign is spaced if the number is used as a noun, whereas no space is inserted if the number is used as an adjective (e.g. “a 50% increase”

    • In Persian, the percent sign precedes rather than follows the number

LOCALISATION

• Numerals continue

  • Telephone/Fax numbers
    • FR: 01.23.45.67
    • US: (123) 456 7890
    • zn-CN: 1234 5678
  • Dates
    • US: Wednesday, March 07, 2014 
    • US: 2014-10-27 (yyyy-mm-dd)
    • SP: miércoles, 07 de marzo de 2014
    • SP: 27-10-14 (dd-mm-yy)
    •  
  • Time
    • Character separator for H/M/S
    • CA: 23:59, FN: 23.59, DE: 23.59 Uhr
    • Timezone
  • Units of mesures (Metric vc non Metric)
    • Kilometer vs Mile
    • kilogram vs Pound

culturalization

• Government  regulations

  • Privacy laws
  • Consumer labeling requirements
  • Internet censorship
  • Accessibility
  • Tax where applicable
  • Political issues (border disputes, naming conventions etc)
  • Migration
  • Minority experience
  • Gender
  • Nationalism
  • Colonisation
  • Ethnic background
  • Religion
  • Nudity

CULTURALIZATION

• Aesthetics

  • Color palettes
  • Offending pictures
  • Cultural beauty considerations
    • Fat vs skinny
    • Skin color and tone
  • Etc

Culture affects everything we do, say, read, hear and think and even websites cannot escape the influence of culture.

Reported in the September 27, 2001 UK Telegraph:

The Italian ambassador describes his first visit to an English pub; He was hungry and asked the barmaid: "Can I have a quickie?".

He was mortified when the man next to him explained: "The word is pronounced quiche."

CULTURALIZATION

Age of Empires (1997)

CULTURALIZATION

CULTURALIZATION

Fallout 3 (2008)

Brahmin

On October 22, 2008, Microsoft announced that the game would not be released in India on the Xbox 360 platform. Religious and cultural sentiments were cited as the reason

CULTURALIZATION

Some governments require by law that maps conform to their local worldview.

India: Jammu and Kashmir

US

India

CULTURALIZATION

Japan

The West

CULTURALIZATION

Captain America  - The winter soldier - View list

CULTURALIZATION

• POINTS TO CONSIDER

  • Body language and human images are not universally understood
  • Images of plants and animals as ideas
    • Dove  (West: peace, China: Fecundity)
    • Owl (West: wisdom, China: Stupidity)
  • Political issues & symbols
  • Religious symbols
  • Icons (pointing arrows)
  • Audio & Video
    • Correct buzz audio

To provide a localization package for a given language/locale is in itself a non trivial undertaking, requiring specialized technical writers to construct a culturally appropriate context for complicated concepts.

translation

• PLURALS
  • US: You vs Tu/Vous in FR
  • Spain vs Latin America - Tú, Vos, Usted
• TRANSLATION CONTEXT!
  • "Aim at the tank"
    • Aim at the fuel container?
    • Aim at an armored vehicle?
  • "Pedometer"
    • Weight loss application
    • In Belgium...

translation

Zero Wing

"all your base are belong to us"

http://www.allyourbasearebelongtous.com/

babel

Translation process architecture

smartling

Cloud based translation system

babel - add project

babel - add key