Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Simple Definition
Table of Content
Think Globally, Act Locally.
* http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2012/08/z-business-quotations
Although this is unlikely to be a concern in a country with more than 1 billion potential users, it
does limit potential future growth.
Google, on the other hand, has been out to break into most markets thanks to its
internationalized software. Because its easily adaptable to a wide variety of locales, it can
present interesting information that meets the searchers requirements, whether that person is
in South Africa, the United States or Russia. In a similar vein, its Android operating system,
Google Chrome browser and numerous other products are all effectively internationalized, so
they can be easily converted to meet the users cultural and personal requirements.
do for a pair of objects (one potato, two potatoes). Even worse, some words are just not
translatable, so the translator has to create an approximation that gets the meaning across
accurately.
Disambiguation is also essential, particularly for homonyms. A homonym is a word that has
multiple meanings, which, unfortunately, is the majority of English words. Context tells us a lot,
but when you have multiple strings to be translated, it may not be obvious what that context is.
Take the word comment. Is it a comment on the site, or are you being asked to make a
comment? The differences in other languages can make a difference to the success of your
software. When using PHP, use _x() to create a comment defining what the word means.
Other languages, such as Java, are relatively easy to internationalize, but even then, Java
internationalization is a tricky subject for those not used to the process. Thats why its best to
start the process correctly from the beginning and use tools designed specifically for
internationalization.
All of this also makes it easier for translators to understand and modify your text without
affecting how the website, software or app functions.
In addition, different parts of the world use different date forms. In the United States, January 2
would be written 1/2. In the UK, that would mean February 1. This can make a big difference to
delivery dates and could be a big factor as to whether your customer wants to purchase from
you.
Partial translations are often the result of bad internationalization, as well. In some cases,
menus may be untranslated, or perhaps essential contact information may be only in English.
Similarly, the website may be able to translate certain portions at all which is particularly
common when untranslatable JPEGs or PNGs are used instead of text. This is quite common
with adverts.
Different layouts are also required for different cultures. Typically, a minimalist layout is fine for
many countries, but in some, such as Japan, a much denser layout is more common. Good
internationalization means that you can present different products, layouts and even colors for
different audiences, whereas bad internationalization means you have to use exactly the same
layout for everyone.
Bad translation is often example of bad localization rather than internationalization, but its
still important to know that these two are highly interlinked subjects.
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