April/May 2006 U.S

Language | Technology | Business

Industry Focus: Mobile Applications Embedded multilingual mobile applications Mobile applications for the Arabic market Chinese input on mobile devices Multilingual handwriting recognition technology

Search engine marketing in multiple languages

Open source: a model for innovation

April/May 2006 U.S. $7.95 Canada $9.95 Getting Started Guide: Content Management

01 Cover #79 LW331-7.indd 1 4/10/06 8:02:59 AM 02-03 ads.indd 2 4/10/06 7:38:35 AM 0ODFVQPOBUJNFy

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LB ad MLC free 31306 indd 1 3/17/06 1:19 PM 02-03 ads.indd 3 4/10/06 7:38:49 AM MultiLingual #79 Volume 17 Issue 3 April/May 2006

Editor-in-Chief, Publisher: Donna Parrish Managing Editor: Laurel Wagers IN THE GLOBAL MARKETPLACE, Translation Dept. Editor: Jim Healey Copy Editor: Cecilia Spence News: Kendra Gray, Becky Bennett Illustrator: Doug Jones Production: Sandy Compton Webmaster: Aric Spence Assistant: Shannon Abromeit Advertising Director: Jennifer Del Carlo Advertising: Kevin Watson, Bonnie Merrell Editorial Board Jeff Allen, Henri Broekmate, Bill Hall, Andres Heuberger, Chris Langewis, Ken Lunde, John O’Conner, Mandy Pet, Reinhard Schäler Advertising [email protected] www.multilingual.com/advertising 208-263-8178 Subscriptions, back issues, customer service [email protected] www.multilingual.com/subscribe With business moving at lightning speed, you need Submissions, letters the expertise of a partner experienced at navigating the [email protected] evolving global landscape. Our three decades of quality- Editorial guidelines are available at focused, advanced solutions have resulted in long-standing www.multilingual.com/editorialWriter client relationships. While other localization companies Reprints: [email protected] have come and gone, Merrill Brink International continues MultiLingual Computing, Inc. to lead with service and technology developments that 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2 keep our clients right where they want to be – ahead of Sandpoint, Idaho 83864-1495 USA the competition. Put us to the test and benefit from expertise that makes a world of difference. [email protected] www.multilingual.com

© MultiLingual Computing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited. For reprints and e-prints, please e-mail [email protected] or call 208-263-8178. MultiLingual (ISSN 1523-0309), April/May 2006, is published monthly except Apr-May, Jul-Aug, Oct-Nov for US $58, international $78 per year by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., 319 North First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495. Periodicals postage paid at Sandpoint, ID and additional mailing ofﬁ ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to MultiLingual, 319 North www.merrillbrink.com First Avenue, Suite 2, Sandpoint, ID 83864-1495. Translation | Localization | Internationalization | Globalization 4 e-Learning | Custom Solutions

04 Masthead #79.indd 4 4/5/06 4:15:53 PM u ti in ua M l L g April/May 2006l Language | Technology | Business #79 Volume 17 Issue 3

Q Up Front 6 www.multilingual.com Industry Focus: Mobile Applications 7 Post Editing Q Q News 35 Embedded multilingual mobile applications 8 News James Zheng 20 Calendar 39 Mobile applications for the Arabic market Q Reviews Yahia Alaoui 22 Hispanic Marketing by F. Korzenny and B.A. Korzenny 43 Chinese input on mobile devices reviewed by Donald A. DePalma Milos Djokovic

Q Columns & Commentary 44 Multilingual handwriting recognition technology Up Front 25 Off the Map Stan Miasnikov Tom Edwards 28 World Savvy John Freivalds 30 Step by Step QBusiness Kit Brown 32 Perspectives 47 Search engine marketing in multiple languages Donald A. DePalma Ian Harris 82 Takeaway Open source: a model for innovation Reinhard Schäler 52 Vic Dickson Q 71 Basics 55 Communicating in the international virtual office 73 Buyer’s Guide Q Lei Meng 41 Translation Showcase 81 Advertiser Index Q Tech 59 Understanding the new language tags, Part 2 Addison P. Phillips 64 What’s new in the .NET Globalization namespace, Part 2 Bill Hall

About the Cover Kala means fi sh in Votic, a Finno-Ugric language spoken in two villages, Krakolye and Luzhitsy, which are situated along the Russo-Finnish border. Votic is an endangered language with fewer than fi fty speakers and, until recently, no written alphabet. This painting was purchased from an art show in St. Petersburg, Russia, to benefi t efforts to record and save the language.

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual 5

05 Contents #79 LW330.indd 5 4/5/06 4:17:01 PM on the web at www.multilingual.com

Free downloads News from the language industry

Our annual Resource Directory and Editorial Our news items are updated daily. The latest Index for 2006 is now available for download news is shown on our home page. at www.multilingual.com/resourceDirectory at no cost. This is a handy way to fi nd index informa- Interested in historical information? We have tion for all the issues of 2005. And with links a searchable database of over 4,600 news items built in for the resources, it is an easy way to dated from March of 1994 until now. You can fi nd help online for your language andHave technol- you receivedcheck out company or product history, or fi nd ogy needs. when it was announced that someone changed your fi rst issuecompanies. of The url www.multilingual.com/news All of our Getting Started Guides are also is a quick link to this information. available for downloading. At www.multilingual .com/supplements you can fi nd seventeen If you would like a free e-mail of news every guides to download in either screen format (for two weeks, you can subscribe to our newsletter, slower connections) or print format (for nicer MultiLingual NEWS, at www.multilingual.com/ print quality.) CHFHS@KmultilingualNews We are happy to provide these useful intro- Do you have news to tell the world? Go to ductory guides at no charge. We also have www.multilingual.com/multilingualNewsSubmit some extra print copies of some of these guides to send your news to us. in-house. If you are interested in receiving ? one of them, please contact subscriptions@ multilingual.com If you are a MultiLingual subscriber and you did not receive an e-mail about MultiLingual DigitalHow ,to go use to www.multilingual.com GO TO the home page to see daily news www.multilingual.com/digitalupdates and links to new website content as well eBooks to sign up for youras current free jobonline postings. We offer useful infor- RESEARCH past articles by looking through mation in versionthe form ofof the ourmagazine. list of online articles at www.multilingual eBooks. These valuable .com/featuredArticles resources can be found only at www.multilingual FIND a technology or service by searching our .com/eBooks database of over 1400 industry resources at Here you will fi nd the www.multilingual.com/industryResources fi rst three sections of Bill Hall’s book on .NET glo- KEEP UP TO DATE with current industry balization and George news at www.multilingual.com/news Bell’s classic on alphanumeric identifi cation of Chinese characters. PLAN your travels by checking the calendar of events at www.multilingual.com/calendar

6 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

06-07 Web & PE.indd 6 4/5/06 4:18:15 PM Post Editing Laurel Wagers

Beautiful BHAGs and little furry lobsters

Thinking about big goals (or even BHAGS — Big Hairy Audacious Goals), ambitious projects and lifelong passions can lift one’s eyes from the ground, the nose from the grindstone and hopes from the mud. And in the meantime, small successes and Tsurprises keep us amazed and moving forward — which reminds me of one of my favorite recent news stories, the discovery of the blond furry lobster Kiwa hirsuta (www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/03/08/furry.lobster.ap/index.html). According to the Associated Press report, “researchers said that while legions of new ocean species are discovered each year, it is quite rare to fi nd one that merits a new family. The family was named Kiwaida, from Kiwa, the goddess of crustaceans in Polynesian mythology.” (Note the multilingual Polynesian > Latin naming.) This tiny creature surprised the experts, doesn’t match expectations and doesn’t turn easily into an acronym. But it’s a delightful reminder that we don’t know anywhere near everything about the world around us. With this issue, MultiLingual appears for the fi rst time in a digital edition. It’s the same magazine, plus web functions, and subscribers will receive it in addition to the print edition. See page 6 for a link to more information. So, what’s in this fi rst paper-plus-digital edition? An Industry Focus on mobile applications, beginning with an overview of the way to build embedded applications by James Zheng; requirements of the Arabic market by Yahia Alaoui; Chinese input by Milos Djokovic; and multilingual handwriting recognition technology by Stan Miasnikov. In the Business section, Ian Harris suggests ways to make sure that search engines can fi nd your website in multiple languages; Vic Dickson makes a case for the use of open-source development in building language tools; and Lei Meng outlines best practices for communication in the international, multilingual virtual offi ce. In issue #78 we published the fi rst part of Addison P. Phillips’ article about new language tags; part 2 is in this issue. And Bill Hall continues his series outlining the new developments in the .NET Globalization namespace. Donald A. DePalma reviews the book Hispanic Marketing, and in a Perspectives column he offers his take on the future of localization. Reinhard Schäler points out that sometimes genuinely foreign is more interesting than faux localized. And col- umnists Tom Edwards, John Freivalds and Kit Brown explore the passion aroused by fl ags, the rise of middle-tier companies and the best practices to consider regarding in-country reviews. Included with this issue is a “Getting Started Guide” on the topic of content management. Sandi Castle, Bret Freeman, Markus Romberg, Sacha Fedier, Dave Rosenlund, David Terry and Shannon Zimmerman offer background, examples and support for people beginning to think about their need for managing multilingual content, whether in a local project or on a website. Registration’s open for Localization World Barcelona (May 30-June 1), where the topic is “Working — Together.” Imagine, everybody sharing what they know, helping one another reach their individual BHAGs — and even if they’re not discovering blond furry lobsters, fi nding a few “new species” of ideas along the way. :

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06-07 WebWeb & PE &.indd PE.indd 7 7 4/5/06 4:18:52 PM Announcements Common Sense estimates that the market rules of professional conduct and quality for outsourced language services was $8.8 standards in the industry, and promote the Symbio’s Beijing Development billion worldwide in 2005, growing at 7.5% translation and localization industry in the Center sees more growth per year to over $9 billion in 2006, and reach- Czech Republic. ACTA is a member of the The Symbio Group, a provider of ing an estimated total of $12 billion in 2010. European Union of Associations of Transla- software development, testing and Common Sense Advisory, Inc.Inc., tion Companies. globalization outsourcing services, [email protected], ACP Traductera, s.r.o.s.r.o., [email protected], has announced a 50% increase in www.commonsenseadvisory.com www.traductera.com capacity in its Beijing Development Association of Czech Translation AgenciesAgencies, Center. This is the fi fth major expan- Lionbridge joins DITA technical [email protected], www.acta-cz.org sion of the center, which has grown committee, publishes white paper News 500% over the last three years. Lionbridge Technologies, Inc., a provider of GALA announces career center Symbio currently has four full- globalization and testing services, has joined The Globalization and Localization Asso- scale software development centers the Darwin Information Typing Architecture ciation (GALA) has launched a new Career spread across China, Taiwan and the (DITA) working group as a member of the Services Center offering an online resume United States. These development technical committee. Current members of database and improved job postings features. centers are fully integrated. the working group include The center was developed to The Symbio GroupGroup, IBM, Intel, Innodata Isogen support professionals emerg- [email protected], and Sun Microsystems. ing from the new localization www.symbio-group.com In support of the mission of certifi cation program organized the working group, Lionbridge by California State University Basis Technology named to list has also released a white paper (CSU), Chico, in partnership Basis Technology Corp., a software solu- called “DITA in Localization: with GALA and The Localization tions provider, has been selected by KMWorld Five Steps to Ensure Successful Institute. Companies will be magazine as one of the “100 Companies Localization Using the DITA able to search candidate pro- That Matter in Knowledge Management.” Framework.” The paper is avail- fi les of industry professionals Selected from over 1,500 companies, the list able online at www.lionbridge and students seeking to enter is assembled by KM practitioners, theorists, .com/kc/DITA the localization arena. Indus- customers, analysts and editors. Lionbridge Technologies, Inc.Inc., try professionals worldwide Basis Technology Corp.Corp., [email protected], are invited to register their [email protected], www.basistech.com www.lionbridge.com resumes with the site; however, only GALA members and companies participating in Opticentre announces newsletter Lingo Systems’ guide wins awards the CSU recruiting fair will have access to Opticentre, a facilitator of optimized Lingo Systems’ fi fth edition of The Guide those resumes. Anyone visiting the site can hosted workfl ow to improve globalization to Translation & Localization: Preparing search for job postings. processes and performance, has announced for the Global Marketplace was recently Globalization and Localization AssociationAssociation, the launch of its newsletter — OptiWrap! awarded two awards from the Society for [email protected], www.gala-global.org — an e-mail digest of what’s happening in Technical Communication (STC). The fi fth California State University, ChicoChico, the world of globalization, localization and edition of the guidebook was copublished [email protected], translation. The newsletter delivers bite-size in November 2005 with MultiLingual mag- www.csuchico.edu/localize chunks of the events and happenings that azine and won the Excellence Award for impact the industry to readers’ desktops, Technical Publications. The guidebook was ELIA launches across Europe mobile, PDA and other devices. also given a Merit Award in the Technical The European Language Industry Associa- OpticentreOpticentre, [email protected], Art category for the cover design. Three tion has announced its offi cial launch. The www.opticentre.net previous editions of the guidebook have association aims to become the umbrella also won awards from STC. professional organization for translation Common Sense Advisory Lingo SystemsSystems, [email protected], companies across Europe, as well as to releases top 20 ranking for 2005 www.lingosys.com establish relationships with colleagues Common Sense Advisory, Inc., an inde- and related organizations in Europe and pendent business research and consulting ACP Traductera cofounds ACTA other parts of the world to fi rm for the globalization, internationaliza- ACP Traductera, s.r.o., a Central and East- tion, localization and translation industry, ern European language service provider, Corrections has released the ranking of the top 20 has announced the establishment of the language service providers doing business Association of Czech Translation Agencies #78 March 2006 Göran Nordlund’s fi rst in North America and Europe for 2005. (ACTA) in the Czech Republic. ACTA is a name was misspelled in The list, which is based on the 2005 fi scal nonprofi t industry association for the the note on page 37; we year, includes Lionbridge, SDL International translation and localization industry. The apologize for the error. and Hewlett-Packard ACG. Welocalize and association aims to connect translation We spelled Papiamentu Skrivanek join the list this year, coming in and localization service providers, provide as Papiamento in one instance; both are 18th and 19th, respectively. a forum for their cooperation, promote the acceptable, but consistency is preferable.

8 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

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make the voice of the translation industry Translation Summit seeks to define language goals heard worldwide. It also aims to share information, provide a forum for networking and Sputnik, the Russian satellite launched in 1957, was a “wakeup call” for math and sci- promote the concept of ethics and quality ence study in the United States and led to the moon landing of 1969. The September 11, standards throughout the industry. 2001, terrorist attacks have been called a comparable event in the realm of culture and European Language Industry AssociationAssociation, language. But Sputnik was the reference most often cited as representatives of govern- [email protected], ment, education and the language industry gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah, on March 20 www.elia-association.org in a Translation Summit to discuss national goals, language needs, training and technology. No single goal emerged, but participants agreed on a variety of approaches to developing CSU, Chico offers Localization language skills in the United States. The discussion will continue. Certifi cation Program Ideas for building educational infrastructure included working with heritage speakers; California State University (CSU), Chico, organization of resources such as a language corps; class- in partnership with the Globalization and room instruction from an early age; research; intensive Localization Association and The Localiza- university and continuing education; and the development tion Institute and sponsored by Lionbridge of a clear national language policy. This policy should cre- Technologies, is offering an intensive Local- ate a sense in society, said Kathleen Diamond of LLE, that ization Certifi cation Program, designed for “it’s a fi ne thing to speak a couple of languages.” international marketing, localization/trans- Alexander Raïnof, associate professor at California lation and web development professionals State University, Long Beach, noted that the long-term and students. investment starts in kindergarten: “It takes 25 years to Online instruction started on April 5, produce a good translator.” A clear language policy is 2006. The second component of the Local- crucial, he said, but it has been “mired in inaction” because of tension between plural- ization Certifi cation Program is a three-day ists (promoting multilingualism, minority languages and language as a civil right) and summer workshop, June 20-22, 2006, on assimilationists (English-only, emphasizing national unity and a secondary place for the Chico campus. The full speaker list and minority languages). schedule are available online. “Yes, it takes 25 years to grow a professional linguist,” Diamond said. “Let’s not California State University, ChicoChico, discourage them too soon.” She recommended that linguists speak about the value of [email protected], languages and multilingualism to advance their political agenda at the local, state and www.csuchico.edu/localize federal levels. Various speakers talked about the need for a Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) — a @International Services wins awards language goal that will be understandable to people in the street. Sue Ellen Reager, CEO of @International Glenn Nordin, cochair of the Defense Language Action Council, stated the BHAG that Services, a provider of international voices, under new guidelines, all US military offi cers will study a language and all general-rank translation and localization services, is the offi cers will have second-language skills. “Progress has happened,” he said. Since 1995, recipient of the “Keeping America Strong” translator/interpreter job descriptions have been established; translators and interpreters award. Reager is also the recipient of the are actively sought; and the Interagency Language Roundtable has established skill level Top 10 Innovation Award, in recognition of descriptions that are widely used for evaluating linguists. He cited a “general momentum her invention “System Localizer.” Addition- for lasting change” in the military and in government as well as the January 2006 National ally, @International Services is the inventor Security Language Initiative that aims for expanded knowledge of critical languages, of GC System Localizer, a concatenation improved expertise and resources for teachers of languages. localization code bridge that assures perfect Short-term goals included better communication about language careers and use of prompt playback order and international- current approaches such as outreach by professional associations to high schools and izes internal voice recognition and text-to- colleges; the associations, National Virtual Translation Center (NVTC) and government speech in 200 languages. agencies working together to educate their government and corporate clients about @International ServicesServices, language; and recognition for high-school students who study a second language. www.internationalservices.com NVTC director Everette Jordan described how the NVTC develops partnerships with freelance translators, translation companies, universities and other government agencies, LinguaCounsel offi cially launched rather than bringing translators in-house. Marian Greenfi eld, president of the American LinguaCounsel, a Montréal-based local- Translators Association (ATA), talked about the ATA’s outreach efforts to students and the ization consulting fi rm, has announced its business community as well as professional development opportunities for translators offi cal launch as of April 1, 2006. Its web- and interpreters. Panels addressed 1) the role of professional training in translation and site provides visitors with product reviews, interpretation and 2) translation technology issues. industry news and monthly effi ciency tests, Donald A. DePalma of Common Sense Advisory, summing up the themes of the summit, in addition to explaining the counsel’s core described the current situation as “the chaos of early development” that any industry service offerings. LinguaCounsel receives experiences. no commissions on the solutions it recom- The summit was cosponsored by the NVTC and the ATA. Organizing sponsors were NWB mends, which allows it to act as an unbi- Technology, LLC (Shosone Translation) and the Brigham Young University (BYU) Center ased industry consulting service. for Language Studies, whose director, Ray Clifford, associate dean of the BYU College LinguaCounselLinguaCounsel, [email protected], of Humanities, served as master of ceremonies. A show report will be published in an www.linguacounsel.com upcoming issue of MultiLingual NEWS. — Laurel Wagers

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A $100 laptop for the world’s children Changes A laptop with fl ash memory powered by a hand crank — for $100? That’s what One Laptop per Child spanishbackoffi ce opens new center (OLPC), a nonprofi t association in partnership with spanishbackoffi ce SA, a provider of Span- MIT Media Labs, plans to use to bridge the digital ish project management and language solu- chasm between the rich and the poor in developing tions, has opened a new production center in countries. OLPC will sell the laptops to governments Mendoza, Argentina. Eliana Alonso has been in developing countries that will, in turn, give the appointed manager of the Mendoza opera- laptops to children for educational purposes. Nicho- tions and will coordinate an initial team of las Negroponte, former chairman of the MIT Media department and the Media Lab’s seven translators and editors. The new cofounder, announced the initiative at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in Mendoza offi ce will work in tandem with January 2005. the staff of sixteen at spanishbackoffi ce’s In December, OLPC selected Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan as the original design man- main production center located in Cordoba, ufacturer. In January 2006, the project gained more momentum when the United Nations Argentina. Development Programme (UNDP) and OLPC signed a partnership agreement under which spanishbackoffice.comspanishbackoffi ce.com SASA, UNDP “will work with local and international partners to design and develop programmes contact@spanishbackoffi ce.com, to deliver OLPC technology and learning resources to schools in the Least Developed Coun- www.spanishbackoffi ce.com tries (LDCs).” In order to meet the $100 price tag and survive in rugged environments, the laptop Argos updates website will be Linux-based with a 500MHz processor and 500MB of fl ash memory instead of a In the fi rst quarter of 2006, Argos Company hard disk. It will also have four USB ports with a dual-mode display. The laptops will be Ltd. offi cially launched its newly designed and connected via a wireless broadband that will allow them to work as a mesh network, a fully updated corporate website. Sections concept that was developed at MIT and the Media Lab. An alternative power source such such as services, industries, languages and as wind-up will be used instead of a battery. others have been expanded while all of the Founding corporate members Advanced Micro Devices, Brightstar, Google, News Cor- content has been revised and updated. Other poration, Nortel and Red Hat have already provided $2 million each to fund OLPC and changes include a daily updated news section the initial laptop design. on the state of the translation industry in A launch of fi ve million to fi fteen million units is planned with one million units each Eastern Europe. Argos also plans on offering a in China, India, Brazil, Argentina, Egypt, Nigeria and Thailand. A small number of units free online Polish/English translator service. will also be used to seed development communities in other countries, and a commercial Argos Company Ltd.Ltd., version of the machine is also being explored. Manufacturing will begin when fi ve million [email protected], to ten million machines have been ordered and paid for in advance. The preliminary goal www.argostranslations.com is to start shipping in early 2007. — Kevin Watson IDT Global Services integrates units IDT Global Services, a provider of outsourced contact solutions, has announced the integration and expansion of its three language design business units — IDT Translation, IDT Desktop Publishing and IDT Graphic Services — under the management team of IDT Translation Services and based in Jerusalem. IDT Translation Services has tripled its resources for 2006 in areas of specialty including translation/DTP in bidirectional Middle East languages and nonstandard European and Asian languages. IDT Global ServicesServices, [email protected], www.idttranslation.com

LSP Arancho expands in Finland Arancho Srl, which provides multilingual documentation management and localization solutions and operates four offi ces in Italy, Finland and Spain, continues to implement its growth and global strategies by opening a new Arancho Nordic offi ce in Vaasa, Finland. The new offi ce will consolidate the group’s

10 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

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activities in Finland, which began in Helsinki ISO-certifi ed process. It feels that these Weaver products, including the Custom- in 2003. offerings will give the translation and inter- izer and TM Generator, in Japan. Basis Arancho SrlSrl, [email protected], preting graduates a solid understanding of provides software solutions for extracting www.arancho.com the translation and localization world. meaningful intelligence from unstructured Translation Services GLOTASGLOTAS, text in Asian, European and Middle Eastern Idiom opens new California offi ce [email protected], www.tsg-global.com languages. Idiom Technologies, Inc., a provider of Miracle Machines has provided high-end scalable software solutions for accelerating Opticentre partners with PASS, equipment to Language Weaver to help the and optimizing globalization initiatives, Heartsome Holdings company test its latest software versions has opened a new West Coast offi ce in San Opticentre, a facilitator of optimized and will act as a distributor in Indonesia Mateo, California, to meet the increasing hosted workfl ow to improve globalization and Southeast Asia. demand for its WorldServer platform. processes and performance, has announced Language Weaver, Weaver [email protected], Idiom Technologies, Inc.Inc., a premium partnership with PASS Engi- www.languageweaver.com [email protected], www.idiominc.com neering GmbH, developer of PASSOLO Basis Technology Corp.Corp., — localization technology for all major [email protected], www.basistech.com Epik Solutions changes name Windows development platforms to process Translations.com Inc., a provider of lan- Windows software. Opticentre will provide MultiCorpora awarded DND contract guage and technology solutions, has com- fi rst-line support and retail for PASSOLO MultiCorpora, a provider of software-based pleted a transaction whereby Epik Solutions throughout Europe, the Middle East and enterprise language management solutions, will become Epic Global Solutions, a division Africa (EMEA). The release of PASSOLO ver- has announced that its fl agship MultiTrans 4 of Translations.com. Epik is a globalization sion 6.0 is scheduled for spring 2006. software suite has been selected by Canada’s solutions company comprised of consultants, Opticentre has also announced a strate- Department of National Defence (DND) for project managers and software developers. The gic partnership with Heartsome Holdings the implementation of a large-scale defense group will operate as an independent division Pte. Ltd., developer of the Heartsome new terminology management system. MultiTrans and continue to be based in Colorado. generation Translation Suites. Opticentre 4 will provide DND with a secure distributed Translations.com Inc.Inc., will provide fi rst-line support and retail [email protected], for Heartsome throughout EMEA and the www.translations.com Americas. OpticentreOpticentre, [email protected], MultiLing acquires Localize-IT www.opticentre.net MultiLing Corporation, a provider of lan- PASS Engineering GmbHGmbH, [email protected], guage services and technology, has acquired www.passolo.com the translation company Localize-IT. Multi- Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd.Ltd., Ling’s new German headquarters — renamed [email protected], www.heartsome.net MultiLing Deutschland GmbH — will feature conferencing technologies as well as the Monotype Imaging licenses font company’s own in-house translation software technologies to QUALCOMM known as Fortis. Monotype Imaging, Inc., a provider of MultiLing Deutschland GmbH will employ font and imaging technologies, has licensed staff members from all over the world, with its font rendering and text layout solution native translation teams specializing in to QUALCOMM Incorporated for its BREW French, German, Spanish and several Eastern solution. The Monotype technologies will European languages. provide BREW handset manufacturers with MultiLing CorporationCorporation, a standard framework to support scalable [email protected], fonts and multilingual text layout capa- www.multiling.com bilities. QUALCOMM will also incorporate Monotype Imaging’s technologies into its Collaboration uiOne offering. Monotype Imaging, Inc.Inc., TSG enters agreement with ISTI www.monotypeimaging.com Translation Services GLOTAS (TSG), a localization company, has signed a coopera- Language Weaver adds resellers tion agreement with the Institut Supérieur Language Weaver, a developer of enter- de Traducteurs & Interprètes (ISTI), from the prise software for the automated transla- Haute École de Bruxelles. Students from the tion of human languages, has formed new Master Traduction et Industries de la Langue strategic reseller agreements with Basis can benefi t from this agreement by being Technology and Miracle Machines. trained in a real working environment. Basis Technology is an In-Q-Tel portfo- TSG implements the latest tools in ter- lio company, as is Language Weaver, and minology and translation and has its own will function as a distributor of Language

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terminology management capability, which DocZone.com to localize Spyker Cars in embedded speech interfaces for mobile will be integrated with a TextBase translation DocZone.com, provider of an XML-based devices, handheld electronic products and memory tool to facilitate DND terminology content management (CM) solution, has systems and processors, has announced its standardization in translated documents. announced the sale of a fi ve-year ASP con- Fonix DECtalk text-to-speech (TTS) will be MultiCorpora R&D Inc.Inc., tract to Spyker Cars. Under the terms of the used on three new electronic dictionaries [email protected], service agreement, Spyker Cars will use the marketed in Korea and manufactured by www.multicorpora.com DocZone XML-based CM and publishing Casio Computer Co. Ltd. The devices are platform to manage the creation, localiza- targeted to university, junior high and high Net-Translators and ISD partner tion and publishing of automotive manuals school students, as well as businesspersons Integrated Software Development (ISD) for Spyker vehicles. seeking to improve their foreign language Ltd., a provider of enterprise software, has DocZone.com provides an “all inclusive” skills. signed a contract to have Net-Translators XML content life cycle system, including Version 4.6.4 supports the widest array of Ltd., a provider of translation and localiza- XML authoring, CM, workfl ow, translation hardware platforms and operating systems tion services, provide expertise in the area memory and single-source publishing. on the market and offers nine voices (four of software localization, including graphi- DocZone.comDocZone.com, female, four male and one child’s voice) and cal user interface, online help and docu- [email protected], seven languages (US and UK English, Cas- mentation into more than 40 languages. www.doczone.com tilian and Latin American Spanish, French, Net-Translators specializes in translations German and Italian). of hardware, software and biotechnology Basis completes Unicode-enabled Fonix CorporationCorporation, [email protected], material for compliance with international version of Microsoft Dynamics AX www.fonix.com regulations. Basis Technology Corp., a provider of Integrated Software Development Ltd.Ltd., software solutions for multilingual text Lionbridge enters master services [email protected], www.isdsoft.com mining and information retrieval applica- agreement with Microsoft Net-Translators Ltd.Ltd., [email protected], tions, has completed a Unicode-enabled Lionbridge Technologies, Inc., a provider www.net-translators.com version of Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 of globalization and testing services, has (formerly Microsoft Business Solutions announced a three-year master services Axapta), a business management solution agreement with Microsoft. Lionbridge local- designed for midsize to large companies. izes a broad range of Microsoft products and Basis worked with Microsoft to simulta- content in as many as sixty languages. neously support a variety of European The company is a Microsoft Premier Ven- and Asian languages, including German, dor under the Microsoft Vendor Program, Russian, Czech and Simplifi ed Chinese. In which identifi es qualifi ed and competitive addition, Basis wrote a database upgrade suppliers that can handle the majority of tool that reads a Microsoft Dynamics AX Microsoft’s global outsourced services. 3.0 database and converts all the non- Lionbridge Technologies, Inc.Inc., Unicode data to Unicode to work with [email protected], www.lionbridge.com Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0. Basis Technology Corp.Corp., [email protected], Interverbum chosen by www.basistech.com Secured eMail for localization Secured eMail, an e-mail security program AGCO cultivates customer service that uses standard encryption, has launched SDL International, a global information its e-mail security program internationally management solutions provider, has entered and has chosen Interverbum, a language into an agreement with AGCO Corporation, services company, as a cooperating partner. a worldwide designer, manufacturer and dis- Interverbum will be responsible for the tributor of agricultural equipment, to provide localization of Secured eMail to different an integrated end-to-end solution for the languages and markets. authoring, management and publishing of At the same time, Interverbum will begin technical service documentation to AGCO’s to use Secured eMail in its e-mail com- global customers. With up to 25 languages munication with customers and translation to support, the new solution is expected to partners to ensure that sent information can provide a return on investment within 18 only be opened by the intended recipient. months. Interverbum ABAB, [email protected], SDL InternationalInternational, www.interverbum.com [email protected], www.sdl.com Financial Casio selects Fonix TTS for Korean electronic dictionaries viaLanguage repeats sales growth Fonix Speech Inc., a wholly-owned sub- viaLanguage, a provider of localization and sidiary of Fonix Corporation that specializes online translation services, achieved several

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important milestones in 2005, including McElroy appoints manager development experience in mobile content, major customer wins. Other growth factors for sales strategy/development multimedia software and interactive games. included the fourth release of its online McElroy Translation Company, a provider Allan also worked in Europe at Apple Com- translation software; expansion of the Pune, of localization and translation services, has puter and Aldus Software for ten years and India, offi ce; and a growing partnership pro- appointed Jessica Rathke as manager for speaks several languages fl uently. gram. viaLanguage plans to increase its staff sales strategy and development. Rathke has Unn Villius has also been appointed as by nearly 35% in 2006. thirteen years of experience in developing vice president of worldwide business devel- viaLanguageviaLanguage, [email protected], software localization business and has opment. Villius, who established the fi rst US www.vialanguage.com provided senior-level marketing expertise offi ce in 1998, will oversee business devel- for companies in both the United States opment in Europe and in the United States SDL releases preliminary charting the company’s expansion into new results for 2005 sectors of the technology arena. She is also SDL International, a global information on the board of directors. management solutions provider, has posted VistaTECVistaTEC, [email protected], www.vistatec.ie its unaudited preliminary results for the year ending December 31, 2005. The com- MultiCorpora appoints pany had revenue of £78,479,000, an in- new director of sales crease of 25% over last year. Its profi t MultiCorpora R&D Inc., a provider of soft- before tax and amortization of intangibles ware-based enterprise language management was £7,169,000, an increase of 38%. SDL solutions, has announced the appointment also reports that the integration of TRADOS of Joseph Kranitz to the position of director is ahead of schedule. Signifi cant 2005 new and the United Kingdom. Rathke is actively of sales. A twenty-year veteran of the high- business wins included AMD, Best Buy, involved in information technology and technology, medical and aerospace industries, Chrysler Group, Emerson, France Telecom, localization industry organizations. Kranitz brings a wealth of business skills and GSK, Honda, Le Meridien, Regus, Siemens McElroy Translation CompanyCompany, capabilities to the company. Prior to joining Medical, SMS Demag, TI and more. [email protected], MultiCorpora, Kranitz held a variety of sales SDL InternationalInternational, www.mcelroytranslation.com and management positions with companies [email protected], www.sdl.com such as Roche Diagnostics; Versalys, a divi- VistaTEC looks to expand sion of Telus; Lexacom; and Hewlett-Packard People VistaTEC, a globalization services provider, Canada Ltd. has added information technology veteran MultiCorpora R&D Inc.Inc., TOIN announces new VP Nancy Allan to its business development [email protected], TOIN Corporation, an Asian localization team. She brings twenty years of business www.multicorpora.com and communications solutions provider, has hired Aki Ito as vice president. Active in the technical communication and localization industry, Ito has been featured as a speaker at several international conferences. He has been in the localization industry for ten years and is currently serving as the chairman of the board for the Globaliza- tion and Localization Association. TOIN Corporation, Corporation [email protected], www.to-in.com

The Geo Group adds staff The Geo Group has recently added Brian Liston and Neeraj Kaushal to the Madison, Wisconsin, ofﬁ ce staff. Liston is an independent contractor who is joining the company as an A/V engineer. Kaushal joins the information technology department. The Geo Group is a translation agency providing translation, desktop publishing, AV/multimedia production, software localization, website localization, interpreting services, technical writing and US Hispanic consulting. The Geo GroupGroup, [email protected], www.thegeogroup.com

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Moravia hires localization manager permits and licenses from multiple agencies for signal processing applications. Text- Moravia Worldwide, a globalization solu- at the same time. to-speech enhancements include support tion provider, has hired Cecilia Piaggio as Eriksen Translations Inc.Inc., [email protected], of seven languages using less than 2MB localization group manager. Piaggio will www.erikseninc.com memory; improvements to English, Ger- leverage her production and business exper- man, Italian and Latin American/Castilian tise and will lead one of Moravia’s growing SDL appoints VP North Spanish; and a unifi ed phoneme set across global production groups focused on clients American enterprise sales languages. Automatic speech recognition in North America and Europe. SDL International, a provider of global enhancements include phonetic localiza- A native of Argentina, Piaggio has worked information management (GIM) solutions, tion, improved phoneme estimates and in the localization and translation industry for has strengthened its North American com- improved speech detection. over ten years with Argentina-based providers mercial team in response to an increase in Fonix CorporationCorporation, [email protected], of Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese transla- demand for its enterprise software solu- www.fonix.com tion services. tions. Brad Lyon has joined SDL in the role of Moravia WorldwideWorldwide, vice president of North American enterprise LTC Organiser Version 5.2 available [email protected], sales. Lyon will be responsible for taking The Language Technology Centre Ltd. www.moraviaworldwide.com SDL’s GIM message to a group of carefully (LTC), a language technology provider, has targeted corporations where globalization released a new version of its LTC Organiser Eriksen joins Mayor Bloomberg has become an increasingly pressing issue. software program. The Organiser helps to to announce new initiative SDL InternationalInternational, [email protected], speed up workfl ows, and the new version President and CEO Vigdis Eriksen of Eriksen www.sdl.com offers improved control of administration Translations Inc. recently joined New York City and management. The software features Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the Department of Products order management and scheduling as well Small Business Services Commissioner Robert as automatic invoicing, payment tracking Walsh and a small group of business leaders to Fonix Speech releases and reporting functions. Data security has announce the fi rst steps to expand the online enhanced solution for Blackfi n also been improved. capacity of NYC Business Solutions, the city’s Fonix Speech Inc., a subsidiary of Fonix The Language Technology Centre Ltd.Ltd., comprehensive business assistance program. Corporation, developer of embedded speech [email protected], www.langtech.co.uk The cornerstone of the expansion will be interfaces for mobile devices, handheld “Business Express,” a website under construc- electronic products and systems and pro- Nisus Software announces tion that will allow small business owners to cessors, has released its enhanced speech Nisus Writer Express 2.6.1 set up personal accounts and get the help interface solution for the Blackfi n family Nisus Software, Inc., a developer of text they need to start and grow their businesses, of processors, made by Analog Devices Inc., and productivity tools for the Macintosh, access incentives, as well as secure necessary a global manufacturer of semiconductors has released Nisus Writer Express 2.6.1, an update to the multilingual word processor for Mac OS X. This new release is a universal binary, which allows Nisus Writer Express to run natively on both PowerPC and the new Intel-based Macintoshes. Current Nisus Writer Express owners can upgrade to Express 2.6.1 for free on the website. Nisus Software, Inc.Inc., [email protected], www.nisus.com

Projetex 2006 now available The new version of Projetex 2006: Project Management Software for Translation Agen- cies has been released by Advanced Inter- national Translations, a translation agency and localization and software development company. Projetex 2006 contains more than 50 new features and enhancements. Advanced International TranslationsTranslations, [email protected], www.translation3000.com

Alivox demonstrates ALiS Alivox Ltd., has announced the fi rst dem- onstration version of AliS, its automatic language identifi cation system. ALiS identifi es a language from a clip of speech. It uses

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speech and signal processing techniques that Blast Radius announces authoring Language Weaver introduces fi gure out the language dependent features solutions for bidirectional content new language translation modules and an innovative comparison methodology Blast Radius, Inc., a provider of XML Language Weaver, a developer of enter- to relate the speech sample to the closest content creation and collaboration solu- prise software for the automation of human language set. tions, will include bidirectional support language translation, has added three new Applications that are the main focus of for XML content creation in its upcoming language translation modules into English: ALiS include multilingual call centers, emer- release of XMetaL Author and XMAX. Prior Italian, German and Russian. All three mod- gency centers, e-education, telecommuni- to this release, XMetaL fully supported ules are being introduced as general-purpose cation, security, international conferences the creation of content in Cyrillic and translation systems that can be customized and universal speech recognition systems Asian languages, such as Chinese, Greek, to accurately translate industry-specifi c doc- such as phones and translators. Japanese, Korean and Russian. This release uments with additional customer supplied Alivox Ltd.Ltd., [email protected], www.alivox.com now incorporates the additional support of training data. Middle Eastern languages such as Arabic, Language Weaver, Weaver [email protected], ]project-translation[ version 3.1 Farsi and Hebrew. www.languageweaver.com integrates many enhancements Blast Radius, Inc.Inc., [email protected], ]project-open[, a provider of open-source www.xmetal.com LocalizationWords.com releases based project management software, has offi cial version of website released version 3.1 of ]project-translation[. DDR launches Spanish LocalizationWords.com, a vertical search The new version integrates more than 100 Family Health Budget engine for the localization industry, has posted enhancements, including a “simplifi ed free- DDR Global Company, a multicultural the offi cial version of its website, with a sister lance confi guration” option for individual marketing, advertising and translation ag- site named LocalizationDirectory.com. With freelancers. ency, has launched the Spanish version of collaboration from Transco Ltd., a localization ]project-translation[ is an integrated trans- the Family Health Budget (www.family service provider, LocalizationWords.com was lation workfl ow and project management healthbudget.com), an online resource that initiated in July 2005. system for translation agencies and language was developed jointly by Humana, Inc., and Transco Ltd., Ltd. [email protected], www.transco.cn service providers. the advocacy group Consumer Action. ]project-open[]project-open[, www.project-open.com Originally unveiled in English and designed Resources to help families throughout the United Vasont offers standard DITA setup States successfully plan for and manage tekom publishes tc world magazine Vasont Systems, a provider of content their health-care expenses, the site is now tekom, the German professional orga- management (CM) software and data ser- fully navigable in Spanish. nization for technical communication and vices, is including a standard Darwin Infor- DDR Global CompanyCompany, information development, is publishing a new mation Typing Architecture (DITA) setup [email protected], www.ddrglobal.com English-language magazine called tc world. with every installation of the Vasont Content Management System. Users can choose to install the optional DITA setup when installing Vasont. Originally created by IBM, DITA is an open standard, XML-based architecture for authoring, editing and publishing technical information that has become popular in the CM industry. Vasont SystemsSystems, [email protected], www.vasont.com

Safe Software announces French localization add-on for FME Safe Software, Inc., a supplier of interoperability tools for exchanging spatial data, has released a French localization add-on for its core product, the Feature Manipulation Engine (FME). The French localization was prepared by Veremes, one of Safe Software’s resellers based in France, and is the second localization of FME to be completed. The localization, which is distributed separately from FME, is available as an FME add-on from Veremes and Safe Software’s reseller network in French-speaking countries. Safe Software, Inc.Inc., [email protected], www.safe.com

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Globalization and the growing complexity L0059 Offensive Word Filter 1; L0060 Offen- the benefi ts, goals and upcoming events of of international organizations require mul- sive Word Filter 2; L0061 The Oxford Spanish the association. Future episodes will cover tilingual information management within Dictionary; L0062 French Source Lexicon; important business topics such as technol- companies. tc world focuses on the organiza- L0063 Spanish Source Lexicon; L0064 Ital- ogy, legal issues, best business practices tional, technical, cultural and human aspects ian Source Lexicon; T0368 Multilingual and company profi les. of corporate communication and addresses Wordbank; T0369 Multilingual Phrasebank; “Word of Mouth” is available for free and managers whose companies are working for T0370 Dictionary of Law; T0371 Dictionary can be downloaded for playback on a PC, international markets. of Medicine; S0209 Oxford English phonet- Mac or any portable music device. Listeners tekom GmbHGmbH, [email protected], ics fi les; S0210 Shorter Oxford English Dic- can visit www.alcus.org/podcast or fi nd the www.tekom.de tionary — Audio Files; and W0041 Corpus of podcast on iTunes. Contemporaneous Spanish Novels. Association of Language CompaniesCompanies, ELRA updates catalogue ELRA/ELDAELRA/ELDA, [email protected], www.elda.org [email protected], www.alcus.org The European Language Resource Asso- ciation (ELRA/ELDA) has added new speech ALC produces podcast Boston Globe reports UN may language resources to its language resources The Association of Language Companies outsource translation jobs catalogue. The LC-STAR Catalan phonetic (ALC) has introduced “Word of Mouth,” a According to a February 10, 2006, Boston lexicon of proper names and the LC-STAR professionally produced podcast for the Globe article by Joe Lauria, the United Nations Spanish phonetic lexicon of proper names language industry. The 16-minute program (UN) is considering a proposal to outsource — each comprises a set of more than 45,000 is available for downloading on the ALC hundreds of translation and documenta- proper names including person names, fam- website and on Apple’s iTunes. It features tion jobs to private, for-profi t companies. ily names, cities, streets, companies and news, commentary and insight from the Secretary General Kofi Annan commissioned brand names with phonetic transcriptions in leading industry experts. a study by two US consulting fi rms, Epstein SAMPA. Other updates include L0058 British The fi rst episode features an interview & Fass Associates and Faulkner & Associates, English Source Lexicon (BESL) version 2.2, with ALC president Suzanne Robinson on to lay out the pros and cons of privatization. A preliminary draft of the study describes possible options, from retaining a slimmed- down, in-house translation service — and allowing about 200 jobs to be lost to attri- tion by 2009 — to outsourcing the work of the translation and publishing department, which currently employs more than 800 workers. Annan will send recommendations to the General Assembly, which will decide whether to enact the changes. The UN’s General Assembly and Confer- ence Management Department, which is responsible for the translation, interpretation, printing documentation and tran- scripts, cost $565 million in the 2003-2005 UN budget. But the study commissioned by Annan says privatization may not save money in the end. It notes that the cost of such services depends on market factors and on how outsourcing is managed. The study also warns of other problems with privatization, including issues surrounding secrecy and the translation of private meetings, loss of institutional memory and the “political unacceptability to member states.” United Nations HeadquartersHeadquarters, www.un.org

Critical Languages Program announces new titles The University of Arizona Critical Lan- guages Program has announced the availability of ﬁ ve new language learning titles in its Critical Languages Series: Beginning Ukrainian, Intermediate Cantonese, Inter- mediate Turkish, Intermediate Kazakh and Advanced Kazakh.

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Produced in association with the National study, teaching, learning, research and Members of the OASIS ODF Adoption Association of Self-Instructional Language application of general translation and, more Committee include representatives of IBM, Programs, these new titles are in DVD-ROM particularly, of specialized translation from Novell, and Sun Microsystems, as well as format and require a computer running and into the Portuguese language. government agencies, such as the National Windows 2000 or XP. These materials, which ATeLP is open to all those interested in Informatics Center of the Government of contain many video clips, thousands of native translation, whether they are researchers, India and the Netherlands Tax and Customs speaker audio recordings, several types of translators, teachers, students, customers, Administration, and other ODF advocate interactive exercises, are equivalent to a one- translation teachers, translation consul- organizations. Participation remains open year college course. tants or specialists in another fi eld. to all. Other language titles in the Critical Lan- ATeLPATeLP, [email protected], www.atelp.org OASISOASIS, [email protected], guages Series — all at the beginning level www.oasis-open.org — include Brazilian Portuguese, Cantonese, OASIS seeks to build support Chinese, Kazakh, Korean and Turkish. for OpenDocument format Teens exercise language skills University of Arizona, Arizona http://clp.arizona.edu/cls Members of the OASIS standards consor- in bid for World Cup glory tium are collaborating to provide expertise Students in the United Kingdom are being ATeLP formed to serve and resources to educate the marketplace encouraged to show off their language skills Portuguese translation on the value of the OpenDocument Format for a chance to win a trip to Munich, Ger- ATeLP — Associação de Tradução em (ODF) OASIS Standard. By raising awareness many, during the World Cup tournament in Língua Portuguesa (Association of Transla- of the benefi ts offered by a truly open fi le the summer of 2006. The competition is part tion in the Portuguese Language) — was format, the new OASIS ODF Adoption Com- of a campaign to encourage young people offi cially announced on March 1, 2006, in mittee will increase the demand for and to discover other European languages and Lisbon, Portugal. ATeLP is a cultural and availability of ODF-conforming products, cultures and appreciate the benefi ts of scientifi c association that has the aim of thereby resulting in a greater choice of tools regular exercise and healthy eating. cultivating, developing, promoting and dis- and platforms and expanding the ODF com- All UK secondary schools will receive a seminating information about the practice, munity of users, suppliers and developers. resource pack which includes a series of

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15 worksheets, an interactive quiz and Dutch and of CRM SalesLogix to German Service Across Cultures and Time Zones. posters, as well as a website with materi- and French. Granered’s background includes extensive als in German, Italian, Dutch and Czech. Sage SoftwareSoftware, www.sagesoftware.com call center, organizational communication CILT, the National Centre for Languages, and strategic learning experience. is working with the Physical Education Telelanguage offers IMSS solution In addition to the Culture in the Work- Association and German publisher Zeitbild Telelanguage Services, a provider of cus- place Questionnaire, ITAP owns a suite of to make the Starwatch materials available tomized telephonic interpretation services proprietary tools. to schools across the United Kingdom. and translation solutions, has developed ITAP International, Inc.Inc., [email protected], CILT, the National Centre for LanguagesLanguages, an online interpreter management and www.itapintl.com [email protected], www.cilt.org.uk scheduling software (IMSS) solution aimed at changing the methods and priorities Conversis launches ‘Cultural Services of many language company executives, Commentaries: a closer look’ health-care organizations, courts, govern- Conversis, a translation and localization Sage Software launches center ment agencies and virtually all users on the company, has launched a new report service Sage Software, a provider of business interpreter end. called “Cultural Commentaries: a closer management software and services, has The solution is completely customizable look” that presents a cultural overview of added a Dublin, Ireland-based localiza- for any language services provider, includ- doing business in other countries. These free tion and application hosting center to its ing organizations that have their own reports, which are available on a monthly global customer relationship management language departments. basis on the Conversis website, offer a (CRM) infrastructure, thereby enabling the Telelanguage ServicesServices, unique perspective on various countries. company to accelerate the development of [email protected], Currently available reports cover China, localized CRM products to meet country- www.telelanguage.com Germany and Russia. speciﬁ c needs and to provide hosted CRM Each document contains information services to small and medium-size busi- Cross-cultural audit tool available that can be used in client presentations nesses throughout Europe, the Middle East ITAP International, Inc., a cross-cultural and meetings or to educate employees and Africa. consulting company, has launched its pro- who will be travelling abroad or meeting Sage CRM Solutions portfolio includes prietary Culture in the Workplace Ques- with foreign clients. The reports provide ACT! by Sage for individuals, small busi- tionnaire to perform cultural audits on users with the basic information they need nesses and enterprise workgroups, and Sage an organization’s global customer service to be informed regarding the fundamental CRM SalesLogix that provides customizable footprint. conditions within a country, such as type CRM for medium-sized businesses and small Joining ITAP to support this line of ser- of government, economic and business enterprises. Sage is planning localization vices is Erik Granered, author of Global Call climate, social customs and attitudes. of ACT! into German, French, Spanish and Centers: Achieving Outstanding Customer Conversis, Ltd.Ltd., [email protected], www.conversisglobal.com

Babel completes dialogue You just want a quality translation, quick turn time, production of two titles Babel Media, a provider of specialist ser- competitive price and very responsive customer service... vices to the global games and interactive entertainment industries, has announced that its audio department has recently completed dialogue production for two We don’t think that’s of 2006’s most critically acclaimed game too much to ask. titles, with localized audio for Majesco’s Psychonauts and English dialogue for SCEI’s new survival horror Rule of Rose. For Psychonauts, Babel provided fully localized French and German versions. More than 50 actors were cast for the project. Babel was contracted by Frognation to provide English casting, direction and recording services for SCEI’s Rule of Rose, the story line of which revolves around an English orphanage in the 1930s. A permanent facial capture camera in the vocal booth was used to help the animation team capture the actors’ lip movements MMcceelroylroy ttranslationranslation and expressions to aid with the animation. +1 512-472-6753 www.mcelroytranslation.com +1 800-531-9977 Babel MediaMedia, [email protected], www.babelmedia.com

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Major Sponsors

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08-20 News&Calendar #79.indd 19 4/5/06 4:23:06 PM CATS Annual Conference May May 27-29, 2006, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. CATS Congress, [email protected], www.uottawa.ca/associations/ Audiovisual Translation Scenarios act-cats/Eng/congress/congress.htm May 1-5, 2006, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Universität des Saarlandes, [email protected], Third Inter-American Language Management Seminar www.euroconferences.info May 29-31, 2006, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Terminology and Language Industries Directorate, [email protected], tekom Spring Conference http://dtil.unilat.org/tercer_seminario/index_en.htm May 4-5, 2006, in Weimar, Germany. tekom, [email protected], www.tekom.de GALA Member Meeting May 30, 2006, in Barcelona, Spain. STC 53rd Annual Conference & Exposition Globalization and Localization Association, [email protected], Calendar May 7-10, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. www.gala-global.org Society for Technical Communication (STC), [email protected], www.stc.org/53rdconf/exhibitors/index.asp Localization World Barcelona May 30-June 1, 2006, in Barcelona, Spain. New Horizons in Translation Studies Localization World, [email protected], May 11-12, 2006, in Ankara, Turkey. www.localizationworld.com Hacettepe University, [email protected], www.mutercim-tercumanlik.hacettepe.edu.tr/duying.shtml June Translation and Cultural Exchange Localization Project Management (Europe) in the Age of Globalization June 7-8, 2006, in Dublin, Ireland. May 16-19, 2006, in Barcelona, Spain. The Localization Institute, [email protected], Universitat de Barcelona, [email protected], www.localizationinstitute.com www.ub.edu/lettere/congres_2006 14th European Conference on Information Systems XML and Localization Seminar June 12-14, 2006, in Göteborg, Sweden. May 17, 2006, in Paris, France. ECIS, [email protected], www.ecis2006.se/02_conferencetracks/ The Localization Institute, [email protected], semwebis.html www.localizationinstitute.com EAMT 11th Annual Conference Online Educa Madrid 2006 June 19-20, 2006, in Oslo, Norway. May 17-19, 2006, in Madrid, Spain. European Association for Machine Translation, [email protected], ICWE GmbH, [email protected], http://eamt.emmtee.net www.online-educa-madrid.com/english/index.php TC-STAR Workshop on Speech-to-Speech Translation First World Congress on the Power of Language June 19-21, 2006, in Barcelona, Spain. May 22-26, 2006, in Bangkok, Thailand. ELRA/ELDA, [email protected], www.elda.org/tcstar-workshop Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburee, info@powerofl anguage.org, www.powerofl anguage.org Triple Certifi cation in Localization June 20-22, 2006, in Chico, California USA. LREC 2006 California State University, Chico - College of Business, May 22-28, 2006, in Genoa, Italy. [email protected], www.csuchico.edu/localize ELRA/ELDA, [email protected], www.lrec-conf.org/lrec2006 4th ALC Annual Conference WWW2006 June 20-24, 2006, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA. May 23-26, 2006, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Association of Language Companies, [email protected], WWW, [email protected], http://www2006.org www.alcus.org/events/articledetails/?id=6

Going Global in Microsoft .NET Translation in Global News May 24, 2006, in San Jose, California USA. June 23, 2006, in Coventry, UK. The Localization Institute, [email protected], University of Warwick, [email protected], www2.warwick.ac.uk/ www.localizationinstitute.com fac/arts/ctccs/research/tgn/events/tgn

Spanish Audiovisual Workshop Translation Research Summer School May 26-28, 2006, in Monterey, California USA. June 26-July 7, 2006, in Bloomsbury, London, UK. Monterey Institute of International Studies GSTI, rachel.christopherson University College London, [email protected], @miis.edu, www.miis.edu/gsti-about-overview.html www.researchschool.org

20 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

08-20 News&Calendar #79.indd 20 4/5/06 4:23:22 PM 21 SDL ad #79.indd 21 4/5/06 4:23:51 PM Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective

Reviewed by Donald A. DePalma

An indispensable resource for market research into ethnic populations Reviews

In 2004 Common Sense Advisory conducted an experiment in e-mail response. We sent questions to the websites of the top 100 global brands. Using mostly online forms at theI corporate websites and sending some in the 1990s, conducting some of the seminal e-mails to the info@ mailbox, we submitted research into the market behavior and accul- four inquiries in Spanish and the same four turation of the US Hispanic population. I have queries in English. The questions asked about referenced his research for years, from the time I fi rst took up my interest in multicul- the availability of content for Spanish speak- tural marketing at Forrester in 1998 through ers in the United States. our continuing research today. Several years ago Felipe joined the faculty at Florida State We were not surprised to fi nd that only one-third of University and established a center for train- the companies responded to our Spanish questions, nor ing and research on Hispanic marketing com- were we shocked to fi nd of those who did answer, most munication, the fi rst of its kind in the United responded in English. What did astonish us were some States. This book builds on the foundation of memorable answers such as Exxon Mobil’s “English his earlier research and applies his more recent please. Thank you!” and Ericsson’s “If you are referring Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural studies into cultural determinants, bilingual to the country site in the US at http://www.ericsson Perspective by Felipe Korzenny practices, marketing by US consumer compa- and Betty Ann Korzenny, .com/US then we are afraid we will not put any content Butterworth Heinemann/ nies, media and Hispanic identity. in Spanish due to that it’s not the offi cial language of the Elsevier, September 2005, country. Please don’t hesitate to get back to us (in Eng- $29.95 A guide to reading the book lish) if you feel we have misunderstood your question.” My only real quibble with the book can It is exactly this kind of response that makes Felipe Korzenny be dealt by reading the book in a different order than what and Betty Ann Korzenny’s Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Per- the authors intended. Read chapters 9, 10, 8, and only then spective about marketing to Hispanics in the United States such a chapters 1 through 7. For anyone not steeped in the study of timely contribution to the fi eld. The surge of Latinos in the United multicultural marketing in general and the US Hispanic popu- States infuriates some Americans and delights others, especially lation in specifi c, reading the book in this order will provide marketers and advocates of multiculturalism. The Korzennys aim a solid foundation for the informed analysis that precedes their study at the latter group, but this book will prove a valuable them. Chapter 9 details the history of Hispanic marketing in aid to anyone, xenophobes included, who wants to understand the United States since the 1980 US census “discovered” the the impact of Hispanic population growth, culture, political clout minority; Chapter 10 outlines the future of the Hispanic mar- and economic power in the United States. Furthermore, while ket; and Chapter 8 provides an overview of the Hispanic media the Korzennys restrict their observations to Latinos in the United choices available to marketers. States, their methodology can guide researchers elsewhere on Given the academic and theoretical nature of some sections of this what to observe, categorize, capture and act on in other markets. book, I also think that some readers might want to read the informa- As such, the book provides a use- tive case studies at the end of each chapter before ful baseline for market research Donald A. DePalma, founder reading the chapters themselves. This approach will into ethnic populations in other and president of Common Sense ground marketers seeking guidance in the reality of countries. Advisory, is the author of Business successful marketing campaigns before making them Mexican-born Felipe Korzenny Without Borders: A Strategic dive into the sometimes obtuse theoretical underpin- was a principal at Cheskin Research Guide to Global Marketing. nings of multicultural marketing.

22 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

22-24 Review - DePalma.indd 22 4/5/06 4:24:21 PM Reviews

Introduction to multicultural marketing be coworkers when he or she considers purchasing insurance, his The fi rst chapter introduces the role of culture in marketing across or her classmates when discussing a book, or a time-pressed par- different ethnic groups. Its discussions of psychological, social, eco- ent when choosing a fast-food restaurant. nomic and cultural issues offer a good review for anyone who slept Critical to this chapter and predicting how Hispanics will through his or her second-semester marketing class in behavioral behave is Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which holds predictors. It outlines the challenges for agencies in dealing with that humans learn behavior from others through observation and diversity in education, economic status and national origin. But modeling. The Korzennys argue that Hispanics are more likely to while acknowledging the differences in Hispanic populations, the identify with other Hispanics and to use them as their reference Korzennys begin making their case for a unifi ed approach to Latino group under many circumstances, a behavior that properly tar- marketing based on market size, purchasing power, shared percep- geted marketing could reinforce. tions, motivations, values, Catholicism and, of course, a common Thus, marketers need to fi nd stability and predictability in con- language. Although there is no “Walter Cronkite” dialect of net- sumer behavior as they build their models. The authors say that work Spanish, Spanish acts as a uniting force. the marketing question should be “What is the most prevalent identifi cation of the group of Hispanics under consideration?” For The complexity of the American Hispanic example, labels can tie them to the US geography or their home- The second chapter begins peeling the onion of ethnic mar- land. Some labels result from convenience, others from pride, and keting complexity in the American Hispanic community, a com- still others from political impetus. munity which is itself multicultural. Emphasizing the fact that Each chapter ends with implications for marketers. For this one, American Latinos hail from many Spanish-speaking countries, the the authors raise the challenge of determining personal identity Korzennys note “striking similarities in very complicated cultural without infl uencing the answer. Werner Heisenberg’s classic prin- beliefs.” As they do in every chapter, they offer detailed case stud- ciple of ensuring that the observation or experiment should not ies from well-known US companies that have targeted the Latino infl uence the results means that marketers should avoid stereotypi- population in their national marketing efforts. Here the authors cal assignments of values and self-applied identity. They also argue cite the work of Procter & Gamble for its Charmin toilet tissue that marketers should consider infl uences from both similarity and campaign in 2003. success groups to build a campaign and should keep in mind the The Korzennys point to Hispanic migration out of US states infl uence of mainstream US culture on Hispanic identity. with a high cost of living toward locales with high labor needs. More recent Census Bureau information from late 2005 — not Where language fi ts in multicultural marketing available at the time of the book’s publication — validates this The fourth chapter’s analysis of language in multicultural mar- observation. The movement of Hispanics across the United States, keting will be familiar territory to some readers of MultiLingual away from traditional ports of entry, has tremendous implications and terra incognita for others. Here the authors explore the Sapir- for marketers, business in general and government, which can no Whorf notion of how language infl uences the speaker’s world longer focus their efforts on a limited number of densely popu- view, arguing that translation does not always work because some lated areas, causing, for example, more spending by marketers. cultural referents do not translate or fall outside the reference The authors contend that this distribution of Latinos around the group in play. For example, technical materials such as software United States heralds the paradoxical increase of Hispanic infl uence manuals need not be translated because most American Hispanics on American cultural life balanced by more use of English among His- can handle English while trying to fi gure out an obscure function panics. The Korzennys here question whether Hispanics will assimilate in Word. as their concentration in a given area decreases, but the authors take The bigger question for marketers will always be the choice of the more contentious view that pride in heritage will cause retention Spanish, English, both or even Spanglish. Semioticians from Sapir of language and culture as the diaspora from traditional population and Whorf onward have wrestled with the symbols that conjure centers such as New York and Los Angeles continues. images, thoughts and emotions that vary from language to lan- The authors factor in income level, family size, economic behav- guage. Our own research shows that many consumers default to ior and education to develop a nuanced view of the Hispanic their mother tongue when making critical life decisions, standing population. For example, they estimate the impact of immigration in a supermarket choosing between two products or sitting in by elite, middle class and working class Hispanics: “The reality in front of a computer in their underwear while buying a book on 2005 is that the ranks of US Hispanics who come from humble Amazon or downloading MP3 fi les. These behaviors reinforce the backgrounds are rapidly growing. These consumers start with little Korzennys’ focus on the importance of reference groups in dif- consumer knowledge and evolve into the US consumer society as ferent contexts. many forces, including their children, lead them to learn how to Considering a broader political and economic context, the authors function in the United States. Here is where many marketers have wonder whether bilingualism in the Spanish population could lose missed an opportunity.” momentum due to tighter border restrictions that limit the fl ow of new Hispanic immigrants into the United States. However, the Personal identity of American Hispanics Korzennys think that more restrictions could reinforce the drive Chapter 3 tackles the tough question of personal identity toward cultural preservation, increase outsiders’ interest in Spanish — how Hispanics think of themselves. This more philosophical and culture, support some economic advantage of being bilingual, and academic chapter concludes that cultural identity is not binary drive retro-acculturation (that is, the adoption of cultural elements — “I’m Mexican” vs. “I’m an American” — but rather a function among assimilated immigrations) among Latinos. of how people refer to themselves in specifi c circumstances. For This chapter on language also addresses the importance of mar- example, the reference group for a Spanish-speaking Latino may keting to Hispanics in English, but this issue returns marketers to

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22-24 Review - DePalma.indd 23 4/5/06 4:24:32 PM Reviews

the question of which identity is in play for If they are to be successful, marketers to learn about these dimensions as they the targeted consumer. As with any other must refi ne their understanding of their apply to Hispanic literature, art, cinema, element of the multicultural marketing Hispanic targets to the level of accultura- music and market behaviors in the United puzzle, reference groups and context will tion in a given context or reference group. States. Incidentally, companies interested always play a critical role. Earlier in the book the authors note that in assessing the quality of their cultural cultural fundamentals will always prevail: customization can get a free review of their Assimilation vs. acculturation “In many cases a culturally relevant mes- Hispanic sites conducted by Nitish Singh Chapter 5 refreshes Felipe Korzenny’s sage strategy is more important than the and Arun Pereira, authors of The Culturally research from the late 1990s on accul- actual language.” Customized Website (go to www.common turation, enculturation and assimilation senseadvisory.com/survey for details). of migrant populations. The Korzennys Cultural determinants at play believe that for Hispanics, unlike many In Chapter 6, the authors investigate cul- Research methodologies immigrant groups before them, assimila- tural archetypes, employing the methodology Chapter 7 will prove useful to anyone tion into the general population may not of Geert Hofstede. Based on data collected interested in undertaking his or her own be the end state. They maintain that the from consumers, the Korzennys note that research into ethnic populations in the size and power of the population are cre- most marketers give too much weight to United States or elsewhere. The authors ating a new model in Hispanics who can collectivism, emphasizing the importance of outline various approaches to research- retain their bilingualism without socio- family and friends. However, they argue that ing culturally diverse markets and discuss economic stigma. Indeed, anyone who “overusing one of these dimensions can lead the paradoxes of research methodologies. travels to Arizona, California, Florida and to its wearing out and becoming less relevant They argue for a combination of qualita- New York will fi nd that residents can slip and effective,” thus introducing other cul- tive research — focus groups, mini groups, in and out of English and Spanish without tural dimensions and archetypes that mar- interviews and ethnographic interviews missing a beat. keters should consider in their efforts to — plus quantitative methods such as mail, The authors claim that Hispanics tend to reach US Hispanics. For example, the authors telephone interviews, on-street intercepts, adapt or acculturate, but not to assimilate. contrast the multitasking ability of clerks door-to-door and the increasingly popular This leads to a key fi nding for marketers as and hotel receptionists in Latin American online interviews. The bottom-line advice they segment the Hispanic market: “Accul- countries with the more linear approach to researchers is to use the right tools to turation is not linear but at a minimum favored in the north. Differing notions of support a culturally informed strategy of bidimensional if not multidimensional. It time and its importance should drive mar- getting data. did not make intuitive sense that Hispan- keters to more nuanced, Hispanic-sensitive ics would have to abandon their original approaches to customer care and expecta- Foundation chapters culture to become increasingly accultur- tions about product usage. As noted earlier, the last three chapters ated.” They contend that acculturation is What this all means is that marketers are the ones you should read fi rst. Chapter a continuous rather than a discrete process. must look for hidden differences. They need 8 outlines the Hispanic media environment, offering data and insight into the radio, television, online, fi lm and print we do media. Chapter 9 chronicles the evolution > translations in all languages of Hispanic marketing in the United States and language combinations from 1980 onward, while Chapter 10 pre- > localizations > cross-cultural consulting dicts the future of the Hispanic market > linguistic and professional and its growing infl uence on the main- proofreading by native speakers stream American population. Echoing a > DTP processing and graphic design theme common to our own research and > software solutions my own book, the Korzennys state that “lifestyle and economic borders replace our advantages national borders.” > single contact point for all languages > a registered supplier for the EU Summary > ISO 9001:2001 certified In summary, this book should prove > 12 years in the market indispensable to anyone interested in or International Management involved in marketing to the Hispanic Centre Prague population in the United States. For lan- [email protected] guage service providers and technology +420 233 320 560 suppliers, it will provide essential information that will help in engaging with the companies and marketing agencies targeting this demographic. For practitioners, the rich case studies that cap Belgium Bulgaria China Czech Republic Estonia Germany Hungary Latvia Lithuania Poland Slovakia Slovenia USA each chapter will provide guidance on best practices. M

24 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

22-24 Review - DePalma.indd 24 4/5/06 4:24:48 PM 25 Column | 4/5/064/5/06 4:25:32 PM 4:25:32 PM ag ag ags: nd fl nd ags embody embody ags MultiLingual ags as symbols of cult-to-fi ags far more spar- ags far more nd in searching for a for a nd in searching ag content — particularly realized. ag usage have been Off the Map Off the ags to be among the most overt, enduring legacies ags of countries in all parts of the world.” ags. I consider them to be wonderful artifacts of ag is often viewed as a certain embodiment of mean- c kind of antique or stamp or coin. So, to recommend c kind of antique or stamp or coin. So, to recommend rst emphasizing two important aspects: fl emphasizing two important aspects: rst Like geographic names (see “Off the Map” in the March 2006 the Map” in the March names (see “Off Like geographic While most countries wouldn’t claim that their fl I love fl power and as a historical legacy. power and as a historical legacy. issue), a fl I think it is ing for a particular political entity and/or culture. statement by Whitney Smith of best summarized in this 2001 Massachusetts, who is Center in Winchester, the Flag Research expert on fl foremost to be perhaps the world’s considered icons, and other objects “Since earliest times fetishes, relics, the power have provided believed to be imbued with sacred the success of a government, an social cohesion that guarantees as a whole. Understand- a social system, and the country army, symbols associated with those holy objects came to be ably, and modern banners, royal battle standards, in the incorporated national fl a tangible power that supports their success, many do consider their fl which their citizens can of their nation and symbols around Tom Edwards is owner and principal consultant of Englobe, a of Englobe, a and principal consultant Edwards is owner Tom Seattle-based consultancy for geostrategic content manage- geogra- spent 13 years at Microsoft as a Tom ment. Previously, pher and as its senior geopolitical strategist. ingly may seem like a bit of a contradiction, but let me explain but let me explain ingly may seem like a bit of a contradiction, by fi bit unrealistic about the ubiquity of fl about the ubiquity bit unrealistic while the following comments are On the contrary, on the web. complexi- of geocultural based on an academic understanding business application practical also seasoned with ties, they are fl the pitfalls of frivolous wherein hours Spending and politics, both past and present. culture down a particularly diffi — or days — tracking fi can be as much fun as other collectors specifi use fl managers and project that designers . vex- the study of for ags as “eye candy” candy” ags as “eye Flags, culture Flags, and politics logia ags, from the Latin ags, from ags, whether referring ags, whether referring c piece of content. While I will cance in culture and politics cance in culture c study of fl ags with careful discretion. But to be But to be discretion. ags with careful ags unless absolutely necessary for convey- and the Greek root root and the Greek

ag ﬂ

cult times now past. However one chooses ag usage in user interfaces and other contexts has arisen meaning They are often bright and colorful and quite often bright They are The cultural and political association is a relevant issue issue and political association is a relevant The cultural is- the of experience as a content “geostrategist,” In my years frequently contain interesting designs and pat- interesting contain frequently a deep sense of terns. In some cases they invoke For some fervent patriotism. history and in others a symbol pride, for others great signs of they are of diffi into history. back far stretches to approach the subject of fl the to approach and other to national, state, territorial, regional is without doubt there uses, organizational to these a tangible level of passion attached objects whose signifi

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 T Tom Edwards Edwards Tom for those of us in today’s information-driven, globalized information-driven, globalized for those of us in today’s linguistic clarity across communicating with world where boundaries is critical for success, particularly in and cultural to communicate clearly and business. Our goal is, of course, climate of heightened awareness in today’s Yet succinctly. to use content imperative sensitivities, it’s and cross-cultural even as common as fl illum viewpoint this geographer’s Rather the intention is to provide should be more and content managers on why designers discerning about their choices to employ fl for consumer consumption, whether on a website interface, or for marketing and other materials. in a product, sue of fl to each incident has been time and again, and my response similar: Do not use fl ing information about that specifi opposition to their use may that such I realize explain further, as that of a picky academic type who is being a come across clear, this column entry doesn’t intend to act as a primer on this column entry doesn’t intend to act as a primer on clear, vexillology — the scientifi 25-2725-27 C Edwards #79.indd 25 C Edwards #79.indd 25 Column

rally. From Denmark’s white cross-on-red fl ag (considered to be one of the oldest in terms of constant use) to the fl ag of the country of Georgia (one of the more recently adopted designs), national and cultural fl ags are ascribed a special status and respect that is almost unparalleled in terms of national symbology. For example, in some 2006 Events countries, burning the national fl ag in protest or opposition is considered akin to the desecration of that nation’s very ideals. During international meetings, competitions and confl ict, national fl ags dominate the landscape and are leveraged frequently as assertions of authority. Even consider the familiar sight of the victors in Olympic events wrapping themselves in their national fl ags and/or parading the fl ags in the arena to underscore their dominance. Similarly and often in conjunction with the notion of national power, a fl ag can symbolize the deep legacy of a locale’s history and culture. As such, the fl ag contains an April 23-26 additional meaning as “the history of our people” or “that which is most important to Santa Cruz, California us.” In some cases the fl ag might carry culturally signifi cant or even sacred information Management Roundtable that could understandably become a serious issue if tampered with, such as: Q Saudi Arabia. This green fl ag contains white text in Arabic which represents sacred verses from the Islamic Qur’an. To deface The reality of the or alter the fl ag could likely have broader ramifi cations. geographic distribution May 30-June 1 Q India. Centered on India’s national fl ag Barcelona, Spain is the blue chakra (a 24-spoked wheel), a of languages doesn’t Localization World Conference Buddhist symbol that represents change. Q Cambodia. Angkor Wat, the famous make using a fl ag complex of the Khmer dynasty and source of national pride, serves as the centerpiece of very useful this fl ag. Q Turkmenistan. The fl ag of this former or accurate. June 20-22 Chico, California Soviet state contains a vertical red stripe Localization Certification Program near the left side in which fi ve guls are visible (guls are well-known local tribal designs used in carpet production). Given that fl ags can be symbols of power and authority as well as icons of the socio- historical roots of countries and regions, one still might wonder: Why avoid the use of fl ags if they can be such powerful and recognizable icons for a locale? One of the most common practices is the use of a fl ag to represent language in interfaces, and the basic rationale is understandable: designers are looking for a compact, easy-to-deploy September 19-21 content element that quickly conveys the desired information. But in response, consider Lake Tahoe, California the following points that should help enlighten on why this practice can be ultimately Project Manager’s Roundtable more negative than positive — for representing the idea of language or other concepts, such as country/region. Q Currency. While it may seem that fl ags do not change very often, the fact is that revisions occur fairly frequently, both to existing fl ags as well as new fl ags for countries, regions, states and so forth. Deploying fl ag content thus requires an ongoing commitment to timely management of these content elements unless one is willing to risk the October 16-18 sensitivity of using a locale’s former fl ag. Montréal, Québec, Canada Localization World Conference Q Locality. With the exception of very few countries, the language of a particular locale is not contained within that locale. To illustrate, it may seem intuitive and logical to use the fl ag of Japan to represent the Japanese language. It makes much less sense to use the fl ag of France to represent a language as ubiquitous as French. What fl ag should be selected for English? For Spanish? For Arabic? In some cases (such as British Eng- lish) the specifi c language-locale model might work, but the reality of the geographic The distribution of languages doesn’t make using a fl ag very useful or accurate. Thus, it’s a practice best avoided. To underscore this point, consider this recommendation: “The use Localization of national fl ags to denote language, although convenient to implement, is another Institute potential source of major irritation to the users, particularly for native speakers of the language outside the thus-indicated country” (from European Culturally 4513 Vernon Boulevard, Suite 11 Specifi c ICT Requirements (CWA 14904), European Committee for Standardization Madison,WI 53705 USA (CEN), January 2001). Phone 608.233.1790 Q Exclusivity. When many languages are spoken in a particular region and a single Fax 608.441.6124 fl ag is used, this can foster a sense of exclusion for those in the affected locale. More www.localizationinstitute.com [email protected] 26 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

25-27 C Edwards #79.indd 26 4/5/06 4:26:45 PM Column

Two examples of sensitive fl ag issues (see the sidebar “Two examples of sensitive fl ag issues”). In one case, I recall how a software product miniaturized the fl ag of Saudi Arabia so that the sacred Qur’an text was reduced to a mere three pixels. The absolute removal of all fl ags in all contexts is not a prag- matic recommendation, nor would it properly serve those valid contexts where the usage makes sense. If you value the peace of mind that comes with not having to worry about latent “time Flags of (FYRO) Macedonia: When the (Former Yugoslav) Republic bombs” in your content, then minimize the use of fl ags in the of Macedonia became independent in 1991, it chose the fl ag design user interface and consider some viable alternatives to convey above on the left in 1992 using the Vergina Sun — an emblem associ- the concept of “language” or “country/region”: ated with Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. Greece vehemently protested the use of this “Greek” symbol, eventually forcing Q Use the ISO standard 639’s 2- or 3-letter language codes. the new country to choose an alternate design (right) in 1995. Q Display the country/region name in the local language and script. This technique is becoming much more widely used because it allows local users to readily identify their specifi c languages or locales. Q Do not use maps as an alternative to fl ags for indicating location. This can be and often is even more problematic than fl ags. So when is it appropriate to use a fl ag? As might be sur- mised, a fl ag works best when it is required in direct association with information that describes the fl ag-related and/or Flags in Greater China: The fl ag of Taiwan above on the left is country-related information that would naturally call for the sensitive in almost any context if displayed within the People’s Repub- associated fl ag to be used. From the view of a geographer but lic of China (PRC). Its usage virtually guarantees a PRC government even more so from designers, artists, content coordinators response as its use could be viewed as harboring sympathy towards and business managers, the use of fl ags should be a careful Taiwan nationalism. The new fl ag for the Special Administrative Region task that thoughtfully considers the implications to the tar- of Hong Kong (right) is not sensitive by itself, but could be an issue if get audiences for one’s products and/or services. When used classifi ed as a “country” fl ag, since the territory has been under PRC appropriately, fl ags can be an excellent enhancement and an control since 1997. aide to content comprehension, but, when used frivolously, they can potentially lead to the kind of harmful, local market than once I have seen the fl ag of India used synonymously with backlash that no business would welcome. M “Hindi,” while in reality the nation contains many, many distinct languages. Recommended Resources Q Controversy. In some cases, a certain locale’s fl ag might Flag Research Center, Dr. Whitney Smith: [email protected] actually be a serious problem if used in another locale, since even ISO Standards: www.iso.org (use the site’s search for “ISO 639”) the sight or misuse of a particular fl ag can raise geopolitical stress Flags of the World website: www.crwfl ags.com/fotw/fl ags

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25-27 C Edwards #79.indd 27 4/5/06 4:27:16 PM World Savvy John Freivalds

The ‘rising middle class’ Column

More than a decade ago, AT&T Business Transla- Lucent could do in-house, although the costs were pretty con- tions was formed. AT&T was selling big telephone sistent. No thought was given to the size of the fi rms selected — just their ability to do the work. The languages requested were switching systems around the world. It needed Spanish, Portuguese, Simplifi ed Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Rus- Msomeone with the capacity to translate 15,000 sian, French, German and Arabic. Instructions were included for pages of documentation at a time. No one, in AT&T how Lucent’s FTP site could be accessed to download the English management’s opinion, was around to do it, so source SGML along with FrameMaker fi les for the two documents to be quoted upon. they set up their own fi rm. In 1994 it was the fi rst No one said, “Let’s be sure to get the two biggest fi rms to translation service fi rm to gain ISO 9002 certifi ca- quote and contact a few others.” So, in a short period of time tion. It was a big deal. They handled around $20 we have gone from no fi rms being able to handle Lucent’s work million in translation annually — not only its own, to 16, but more could have been included. The 16 were all members of the Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), but also for outside clients. It had one of the fi rst which now has 200 members. And in reading through the list of localization operations of any translation fi rm. GALA members and their descriptions, probably 50 would have had the capacity to handle some parts of the Lucent work. In 1996 AT&T Business Translation became part of Lucent Technologies, fi rst as ILT Solutions and now as Lucent Localiza- Technology, communications, people tion Solutions. This in-house group based in Winston-Salem, One of the 16 quotes sought by Lucent was Welocalize. I North Carolina, had to continually justify its existence to asked Willem Stoeller of Welocalize about this situation. Stoeller corporate superiors housed somewhere else. At fi rst the justifi ca- has been around this industry for a number of years and has tion depended on judging its translation and localization efforts enough perspective to identify the big trends and what has against its telecom competition: Nortel, Motorola, Siemens, made mid-tier fi rms successful, something I have termed the Alcatel, Ericsson, Fujitsu and later Cisco. Then that wasn’t “rising middle class.” enough of a metric as outsourcing became the word. The ef- We probably need to defi ne some terms. Insofar as localization fi cacy of the group had to be judged against language service goes, it is companies with US$10-$20 million in sales. The top- providers (LSPs). The managers who oversaw the language group tier fi rms we know, and then there are the smaller fi rms that are could make points in the corporate hierarchy not by increasing between the small and the large, many of which are GALA mem- sales but in reducing “headcount.” bers. Smith Yewell, CEO of Welocalize, believes that there is an Last year Lucent Localization Solutions “imbalance” between buyers of services and went in to the marketplace to get quotes providers in this middle area. He feels the to compare vendors’ costs and to see which John Freivalds is managing director of the real growth opportunity is for fi rms his size fi rm could help Lucent deal with overload. marketing communications fi rm JFA and is that are looking for growth and that have Quotes came from a total of 16 fi rms that the marketing representative for his native vertical specialties and scalability to offer. could handle the highly technical nature of country, Latvia. He has worked for most of “Starting out,” says Stoeller, “there were the work. The technology and procedures ex- the companies mentioned in this column only two levels of companies in the transla- hibited by the vendors often exceeded what at some time. tion industry: mom-and-pops with no

28 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

28-29 C Freivalds #79.indd 28 4/5/06 4:27:50 PM Column

technical localization experience and large translation vendors has a corporate communications department that follows its who had gained experience by working with big fi rms. But even own course and deals usually with public relations and investor- they did not have repeatable processes.” relations issues. Sometimes there is a corporate traffi c cop who So what do mid-tier fi rms have which didn’t exist before? makes sure information is shared and sometimes not shared. “First,” Stoeller says, “the internet with fast broadband ac- So, if you are a mid-tier or even smaller company in sales, cess. Second, increased productivity. In the past a company may there are plenty of opportunities for you to say “Microsoft is my have needed 80 full-time employees to handle $5 million to $7 client.” The localization work for Windows is tied up with the million in revenues. Welocalize has been able to handle twice largest fi rms, but the other divisions offer lots of opportunities. that volume with half the number of people. Third, innovation It is always amazing how many Microsoft people show up when — the industry has mature processes and tools now. Buyers want Localization World is held in Seattle. As Dev Ganesan, former a stable and reliable mid-sized choice; many companies do not CEO of TRADOS and now on Welocalize’s board of directors, says, want to deal with the mega-vendors and their needs can’t be it is important “to match accounts with your infrastructure.” met by smaller vendors.” Csaba Dosa, former head language coordinator at DuPont and When I interviewed the head of marketing for one of the now a consultant to an emerging mid-tier company, was amazed largest LSPs, I asked him where his growth was going to come at who showed up at his door at DuPont. Dosa had a budget for from. Not surprisingly, he responded, “All the big projects are languages of several million dollars and was happy to hire some gone; we are going to go looking at where the smaller fi rms are translators directly, as well as fi rms whose infrastructure could operating.” handle lots of small jobs. He was also amazed when armies of salespeople from the Decentralization spurs the middle class largest-tier companies would show up on his doorstep and ask When I fi rst got into this business, a new salesman (an for work. Dosa would say that they were too large and too ex- unsuccessful salesman, as it turned out) for a competing LSP pensive and couldn’t handle small projects. They would respond, asked me, “How do I get into 3M?” Right away I saw he was “But can I call you again in six months?” a failure, for 3M at that time was 38 separate divisions doing Yewell concludes that neither he nor the people he does busi- 38 separate things and using multiple vendors. It’s no differ- ness with have time to waste on a match that doesn’t work. “It ent than General Electric, which had many disparate divisions really doesn’t refl ect well on your company if you are calling on including lighting, turbines, locomotives, aircraft engines and people whom you can’t serve well. It shows that you didn’t do medical imaging, to mention a few. Each Fortune 1000 company your homework.” M A ‘tierful’ journey

I met Marylène Craney seventeen years ago. We were both person who dispatched her was dispatched in the very same man- working for a small (less than ten people including the janitor) ner the next day. language service provider. Craney was one of two project manag- So what now? She will catch her breath and work with her ers. This fi rm was later acquired by LMI, which was acquired by present company and not try looking anywhere else. Some could a larger Berlitz. Berlitz was acquired by an even larger Bowne say she is bitter about the experience, but she says, “I will never Global Solutions, which was then acquired by the largest one of work with a large fi rm again.” all, Lionbridge, in the top tier. Marylène now is an independent But let’s be fair. I remember the head of a small translation contractor for a company in Pittsburgh. She is working with many service provider who once told me of his employment strategy. He of the same people she worked with seventeen years before, thus would get young people right out of college to be project manag- making a complete circle. ers, pay them very little and work them hard until they burned So what does Marylène say about this tierful journey? “It out. At that point, they realized they had been overworked and seemed like with each acquisition I lost part of myself. I did the underpaid, and they would leave. Then he would hire new ones, same work, sometimes for the same clients (Cordis was one), but and the cycle would repeat itself. “Keeps the cost down,” he told I was out of the loop. I began to feel like a number.” And she no- me. His fi rm is still in business but has not grown. I wonder why. ticed a larger disconnect between what she as a project manager I think the lesson in all this is that the client should focus on could physically accomplish and what the sales staff promised the quality and dedication of the project managers in hiring a ser- a client. Yet the larger the fi rm became, the more indispensable vice provider, not just the price. I was not a project manager when — but less appreciated — she was. It became a big deal to get I was selling language services, so I would always have people like even a half-day off when she was sick. From her viewpoint this Marylène or Charlene Nagy (for whom Marylène now works) on seemed anti-logical; the larger the fi rm she worked for, the less the line. One “middle class” fi rm, as an example, did away with support and backup she had to work with. the conventional sales approach and has that function wrapped She did like the benefi ts of the 401(k)s and the medical plans. up with the project management aspect. Her time sheets never had any slack. She always charged time Along this same line, an acquaintance who runs an advertising against projects. Then one day her boss called her into her offi ce fi rm once told me, “Let’s be realistic. I am irrelevant and behind and told her she was fi red and to clear out her things by 5:00 p.m. the scenes. Clients see me twice: when we get an account and Tears welled in her eyes even though she knew beforehand she when we lose it.” It’s the people who manage the work who are couldn’t keep on working there. But no one likes to be dispatched the key to success. in this manner. There was some satisfaction, however, as the —John Freivalds

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 29

28-29 C Freivalds #79.indd 29 4/5/06 4:28:04 PM 03 rw 7.nd30 #79.indd Brown C 30-31 CBrown #79.indd30 30 R | the choice,willalwayschoosea product that hasdocumentation form tomaimorkillone’s customers, mostcustomers, ifgiven and ethicalblack-eye.Asidefrom thefactthat it’s rather bad international companies,notto mentionthefi poor ornon-existenttranslations can result inhugeliabilityfor misread thedosage requirements. tions orapatientoverdosing onadrug becausehisorherphysician machinery becauseheorshedidn’tunderstand thesafety instruc- the potentiallyfatal,suchasanoperator losinganarminapieceof mildly annoying,suchastheblinkingclockmentionedabove,to even forproducts where translation isnotrequired. local languageversions are expectedbycustomers simultaneous languagereleases are could workaround theproblem. Today, however, cal information,localizationvendors andclients language versions ofsafety, mechanicalandmedi- EU institutedstringentrequirements aboutlocal months aftertheoriginalversion andbefore the the localizedversions ofaproduct were released bottleneck totheprocess. Backinthedaywhen they are oftenpoorlymanagedandbecomea MultiLingual the qualityassurance process duringlocalization. world. Thatiswhyin-countryreviews are criticalto a machine’s operation couldbetheendofsomeone’s isn’t theendofworld,notcorrectly understanding While havingyourVCR/DVDrecorder fl of abadtranslation andalackofin-countryreview. In mostcases,thatgibberishwasthecombination love tohatebecausetheywere completegibberish? While mostcountriesare notaslitigious astheUnitedStates, Problems resulting from apoorin-country review range from the Problems thatcanarise In-country reviews are thebaneofeveryone’s existencebecause Column Remember allthoseelectronics manualsthatwe Step by reviews: bestpractices Effective in-country pi/a 06 [email protected] April/May2006 de rigueur KitBrown , and , and nes, badpublicity ashing 12:00 importance ofthem. understand the management doesn’t is thatupper reviews gowrong reason in-country The numberone people selectedtodothein-countryreviews lackeitherthe volunteer worktendstofallrapidly downtheprioritylist. getting paidwhentheyreview thetranslations. Asyoucanimagine, localization industry. tries, aswellseveralyearsworking a consultantinthe medical, biotech nology, environmental andcomputerindus- She has16yearsofexperience writingandconsultingforthe a technicalcommunicationservicesandconsultingcompany. Kit (M.Katherine) Brown istheprincipal ofComgenesisLLC, market share, dilutetheirbrand, blemishtheircustomerservice the competitors’ products. provided intheirnativelanguage,evenifitcostsabitmore than The secondreason thatin-countryreviews failisthatthe information thatyoucanapplyimmediatelytoyourbusiness. vendor. Ihopethatthesearticlesprovide youwithpractical relationship betweentheclientcompanyandlocalization Companies thatfailtorealize thisbitofhumannature lose This column is the third in a series that explores the This columnisthethirdinaseriesthatexplores most salespeople work on commission, they aren’t most salespeopleworkoncommission,theyaren’t the localizationwouldhavebeen. one oftheseissuesismuchmore expensivethan record andopenthemselves uptolawsuits.Any tion offi international offi place tofacilitatetheirsuccess.Frequently, the doesn’t puttheappropriate infrastructure in understand theimportanceofthemand,therefore, go wrong isthatuppermanagementdoesn’t The numberonereason in-countryreviews Why in-countryreviewsgowrong ces rather thandevelopmentoffi ces are primarilysalesand distribu- ces. Since //643:2PM 4:30:02 4/5/06 4:30:02 PM Column

language skills or the technical skills to who was responsible for all the French more than one occasion, the review process conduct an adequate review. In addition, clinical trials and regulatory compliance. has stalled or has gotten delayed because they may not have a good understanding You can imagine how diffi cult it was to contact information was outdated or of what such a review entails or how get the reviews back in timely fashion. unavailable. Verify the contact information much time it would take to do. Q Consider hiring a localization man- with every project. The third reason that in-country ager for each international offi ce. If you Q Defi ne success. Work with the reviews fail is that the reviewers lack have a signifi cant volume of documenta- in-country reviewers to defi ne success for the time to perform the review because tion, this person can facilitate the reviews both the review and for the quality of the the reviewers’ time was not planned and ensure that they happen in a timely localization. Ensure that reviewers provide into the original product development and effective manner. The advantage feedback on any localization issues in the schedule. The in-country reviewers of this approach is that you will have a English content as well. Such feedback typically work for the client company, professional who specializes in linguistics, helps you to continuously improve the not the localization vendor, so the who understands project management and quality of all language products. localization vendor has little control who knows the product well. He or she Q Be appreciative. Ensure that the over what the reviewer does. can also act as a verifi cation step that the in-country reviewer knows that you documentation meets local regulations appreciate his or her efforts. Such appre- Reviewer skills needed and can funnel any issues back to the ciation builds rapport. The ideal in-country reviewer has the documentation team. following skills: Q Provide a written checklist of Conclusion Q native speaker of the target language expectations. While the in-country In-country reviews don’t have to be Q fl uent in English reviewer should certainly mark egregious onerous if you clearly defi ne the process Q training in linguistics language errors, his or her primary focus is and the reviewer’s responsibilities and Q deep technical knowledge of the on the technical accuracy of the transla- if upper management recognizes the product tion, whether it meets local regulatory importance of the reviews and provides Q deep understanding of the target requirements, and whether it meets the the infrastructure to support them. M customer’s technical skills, preferences, needs of the local customer base. and so on Q Plan for the in-country review in Q good project management skills the project plan for product develop- Q fl exibility ment. Ideally, the in-country reviewers Q ability to play well with others (he should be consulted on their availability or she must be willing and able to work during this key phase of the project and with both the documentation team and should be kept apprised of schedule the localization vendor and to provide changes and product changes that will feedback constructively and on time) affect the review cycle. For example, planning an in-country review for August Best practices may make your European reviewers very Because the in-country reviewers work unhappy, as most Europeans take the for the client, it is the client’s responsibil- month of August for vacation. Respect- ity to develop an effective process for ing and planning for the international managing these reviews. While most holidays and vacation schedules help to localization vendors can provide recom- make the review go more smoothly. mendations, ultimately the directives must Q Provide a liaison from the come from senior management at the documentation team to the in-country client company: reviewers and to the localization vendor. Q Engage upper management. This liaison can establish a rapport with Many times, the international offi ces are the in-country reviewers, as well as with semi-autonomous business units over the localization vendor and can provide whom you have little infl uence or control. assistance when there are questions about By getting upper management to engage the product or the content. and understand the business case for Q Ensure that the in-country in-country reviews, you can improve the reviewers have access to the same likelihood of success. translation memory tools as the local- Q Defi ne the in-country review as ization vendor. If both the localization part of the person’s job. In defi ning the vendor and the in-country reviewers are task as part of the position, be sure to using the same tools, it greatly facili- include the skills required to do the job tates the process, as well as improving effectively. If it’s not part of their job terminology management. description, it will always get a lower pri- Q Ensure that both the localization ority. At one company, the French reviewer vendor and the in-country reviewers have was the medical director for the offi ce the appropriate contact information. On

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 31

30-31 C Brown #79.indd 31 4/5/06 4:30:13 PM Donald A. DePalma

What the future of localization holds Perspectives

As I write this, two piles of paper overfl ow the left purchasing and effi ciency. These enlightened buyers learned corner of my desk. One stack contains notes, articles some valuable lessons in economics in the supermarket, where and case studies about the best practices for buying reducing the price of a can by a few cents can shift the behavior of the buyer. Given how many LSPs position themselves on the services online. The other mound — much bigger — is triad of best price, highest quality and best service, it’s easy for Aan eclectic assortment of consumer, business, cultural, buyers to assume equal levels of quality and service from any automotive, sports and other news items about vendor — and test them on the promise of best price. The eco- globalization and its positive, humorous and surprising nomic buyer in the procurement department will benefi t from consequences. This second pile will feed my idea reduced cost, but we know that the actual localization buyer factory for a future report, will become the subtext will wonder about the loss of rhetorically compelling translation and elegant product localization that will come from this focus of the next edition of Business Without Borders on price. and will inspire many cocktail-party conversations. The second future promises to be much more interesting but Together, these two collections of paper represent stressful nonetheless. In this scenario, companies recognize that two possible futures for the localization practice. their buyers live in dozens of countries around the world. These nations and the consumers in them are interconnected by cross- The fi rst future is a bleak one for everyone with the notable border industry, investment, individuals, information and the exception of Ariba. Translation will continue down the slippery internet. Following the lead of software and hardware companies, slope to commoditization, where the end result is an Ariba-enabled manufacturers the world over are thinking about simultaneous online auction with bidding increments of 1/100 of a US cent. That shipment (simship), deployment, publication and web marketing. auction actually happened recently in the United States. This new model of simship puts a premium on practitioner vision We empathize. We reluctantly participated in our fi rst reverse and innovation. At the same time it raises the bar substantially auction last month. Our prospective consulting client wanted to for supplier responsiveness, ability to deliver within aggressive buy some advice on global content management, help in defi ning timeframes, buyer-supplier collaboration and automation. their business case for globalization, assistance in isolating the Different vendors have named it. SDL calls it global information requisite processes, and work to identify and formalize best management. Lionbridge labels it Localization 2.0. Others have practices within the company. Our contacts told us that they called it the age of the simultaneous enterprise. would make their choice based on an array of criteria, not just What is different about this new wave of localization? Two price. Not surprisingly, when we logged in with our bid, the only years ago we labeled this phenomenon the real world enterprise, information we could see about our rivals was their prices. The with the emphasis on “world enterprise.” Aspirants to becoming only operative point of comparison for the bidders was how much a world enterprise deal with a fl ood of code, content and data their competitors were willing to settle for to do the job. Needless that does not respect national, organizational or even corporate to say, the contract went to the company with the lowest price. borders. They have to create language- and locale-independent That wasn’t us, so it looks like I won’t be driving that new Porsche processes to transform this content into a form, language and any time soon. But I can still smoke most minivans with my ten- year-old T5 Volvo. Our research shows slow but steady growth of online auctions. Donald A. DePalma, founder and president of Common Sense We hear more and more tales of language service providers Advisory, is the author of Business Without Borders: A Strategic (LSPs) getting squeezed on price in the name of scientifi c Guide to Global Marketing.

32 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

32-33 Perspectives DePalma.indd 32 4/5/06 4:31:14 PM Perspectives

style appropriate to the needs of consum- scope of the real-time enterprise — until shipping digital deliverables, products ers in disparate markets and roles. the next unwelcome surprise originates that embed multilingual content, internal Three realities will drive forward-think- in a business unit that operates in a datafl ows and inter-company communi- ing companies to become truly world language, currency and practice unknown cations across international boundaries. enterprises and change the practice of at headquarters. In the last few months This won’t be news to larger software localization forever. we have seen companies such as Google, and computer hardware suppliers that 1. Many manufacturing companies Disney and Yahoo and countries such as simship products to many international already operate like software development Denmark surprised by local and global locations. However, this effort will put houses. Java, microprocessors and Linux response to their actions in what they a strain on development, marketing and continue to creep inside an ever-widening thought were standalone markets. These support organizations long accustomed array of devices. Manufacturers of cars, factors demand the monitoring, analysis to simple product rollouts within a single medical devices, phones and MP3 players and transfer of huge volumes of informa- national market. regularly create software-enabled, multi- tion wherever your company operates, The world enterprise model opens lingual applications for markets around the putting a new burden on database, an opportunity for today’s localization world. Nokia ships 55 mobile phones local- knowledge and enterprise resource professionals to share their expertise in ized into 80 languages. Microsoft will sup- management systems. simship with the rest of the industry and port nine Indian languages in a version of What does this mean in practice? To for suppliers to distinguish themselves Windows customized for the subcontinent. deliver on the promise of the world enter- on their performance in rapid product, Worldwide rollouts of complex offerings prise, companies will have to think less application, and content development such as BMW’s iDrive depend on localized about being an American or German com- in many languages for many markets. variants being available in all markets at pany and more about structures, products, I think both practitioners and suppliers the same time. Even small companies will organizations and applications that work would bid more for this second future fi nd the need to compete on a global basis. globally fi rst, nationally second. To execute than the supermarket madness of auc- Development groups at these companies on this vision, they will need to adopt and tions and the inevitable cents-off coupon have come to resemble independent adapt the techniques of simultaneously of that model. M software vendors in composition, metrics and schedules. They deal with streaming content and code for rolling product releases. While cost will never disappear as a factor, availability and support are paramount in these new-age software applications. 2. Global marketing pivots on websites. Consumers in São Paulo can see products and prices on your domestic website as soon as you post them. At best, this cross- border transparency creates demand. At worst, it embarrasses you by showcasing products that you can’t deliver because you don’t have a Portuguese interface or a Brazilian distributor. To avoid embar- rassing inconsistency and confusion, world enterprises increasingly harmonize branding and messaging across their global sites. In this scenario, companies become accidental publishers, distributing massive amounts of information directly to consumers through their websites. Travel and leisure companies, consumer electronics, and automotive manufacturers lead the charge to providing more pre-purchase help and post-sales support through their websites. Rhetorically compelling, targeted information provided in a dozen major languages and dozens of “smaller” languages will be the norm. 3. The world enterprise fl ows across borders. Most companies will consider “foreign” operations to be outside the

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 33

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34 Alchemy ad.indd 34 4/6/06 9:07:55 AM 35 Industry Focus | Tools 4/5/064/5/06 4:32:26 PM 4:32:26 PM MultiLingual built-in the OS is often considered native support. For example, a Chinese mobile e-mail application that requires a Chinese-OS phone is not a multilingual application to its users simply because supporting Chinese is On the other what the device’s Chinese OS is intended for. hand, if the same handset can run a Japanese e-mail application, then the Japanese e-mail application would Is your multilingual mobile Is your multilingual mobile application truly multilingual? typically are built on Multilingual applications or functions is dependent on the If your multilingual mobile application One could argue that a true multilingual mobile application c geographic locations and are only supported by wireless c geographic locations and are only supported the OS-dependent model, requiring support from the device OS, the OS-dependent model, requiring support Building multilin- whether it’s a computer or mobile device. Asian languages, into gual capabilities, especially support for multilingual compo- a mobile device normally would require resources such as nents such as fonts and additional on-board the cost of the device and which will in turn increase memory, largely to the fact that may complicate things. This contributes for users at spe- localized mobile devices are normally intended ciﬁ carriers/operators in those locations. device’s OS-level multilingual support, then you need to realize How- this fact and target your applications to such users only. bilingual-capable or multilingual-capable mobile users ever, without localized handsets are everywhere. The OS-dependent model simply means such users are out of luck, and such applications developers could only reach a portion of their potential customers. should be one that runs on a handset without having multilingual capabilities built into the OS. The reason is very simple. An application that requires multilingual functions built in the OS may not be considered multilingual by its user since having such language capabilities on a phone that has the same language capabilities James Zheng is president and CEO of HZ Multimedia, Inc. cantly different process t from them and t from them and

rst introduces a new approach in developing in developing rst introduces a new approach Embedded multilingual Embedded applications mobile James Zheng

Compared to desktop or laptop computers,Compared to desktop or laptop This article fi mobile devices typically run on a different oper- mobile devices typically run on number ofating system (OS) and have a reduced due to the limi- resources and features available memorytations such as physical size, on-board are often asso- and slow internet connection that top of the dif- ciated with wireless handhelds. On mobile devices,ferences between computers and too. Mobile- the way a device is used is different, to use the handheld device users are more likely result, care mustat any time from anywhere. As a when developing mobile multilingual be taken applications. A signifi than the one used in building desktop multilingual applications may be required. multilingual mobile applications — a truly embedded, OS-independent model — along with the challenges associated with this approach. Some important factors and steps that a into consideration when developing developer should take mobile multilingual applications are then discussed. Differ- ent design techniques and implementation issues are further examined. The focus is on networking applications because devices by nature. As you will mobile devices are networked see, these topics and issues are often interrelated. It is therefore critical to understand and evaluate all issues and options during your application planning and design stage. The author will share his experiences, hoping that other developers can benefi can eventually save time and cost in their multilingual mobile application development effort.

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 CC 35-3835-38 F Zheng.indd 35 F Zheng.indd 35 Industry Focus

be considered a multilingual application by to fonts, since the entire data set does not the user of the phone. If you make the assumption have to reside on the mobile device all at The solution is to develop truly multilin- that all content will be once to display the content. The DIY tech- gual mobile applications as embedded, OS- nique does spell out some extra time and independent applications. While solving the encoded in Unicode and processing power required as it likely takes problems that a traditional OS-dependent more lines of code to render the content approach may experience, this embedded build your application to on display. Regardless of which route you OS-independent approach brings its own expect and handle Unicode take, using fonts or font data requires test- challenges that a developer must face. The ing to fi nd out which one works. A license rest of this article will examine these chal- only, you are guaranteed to to embed and use the fonts or data in your lenges in detail and outline some of the have a lot of unhappy and application needs to be obtained unless important issues that a developer should the font data are independently created pay close attention to while developing an disappointed customers. by yourself. The cost associated with dis- application. playing multilingual content needs to be included in your project budget because Which encoding(s) should your application some developers may not be aware of it and may encounter a support? Unicode vs. native/legacy encoding surprise down the road. While developing a multilingual application, a developer has to deal with content encodings and decide what and how encod- Do I need to build an IME into my application? ings are properly handled by the application. In an ideal world, OS-dependent vs. embedded model everything would be in Unicode encoding. In reality, neverthe- That will depend on how you implement your application and less, legacy encodings for various languages/character sets are how important the multilingual input capability is to your applica- still widely used in OSs as well as in applications such as e-mail. tion. If your application is OS-dependent, chances are that an input This simply means if you make the assumption that all content method editor (IME) is provided by the mobile device already; if an will be encoded in Unicode and build your application to expect embedded model is what you are going after and if your applica- and handle Unicode only, you are guaranteed to have a lot of tion must have multilingual input capabilities, then you need to unhappy and disappointed customers. work out a solution to content display fi rst and then build your An application can be built to use Unicode encoding, and any IME. Keep in mind that an IME engine is likely to increase your non-Unicode encoded content will fi rst be converted to Unicode. overall project fi le size signifi cantly depending on the multilingual The conversion process requires cross-mapping tables and addi- languages support in the IME. tional coding to do the job. All of these will have an impact on the actual size of your application and may affect the speed or Where does data processing get done? performance of your application. Front-end vs. back-end processing If you are building a multilingual mobile application that How would my application display multilingual involves networking connectivities and functions, then you content on a mobile device? Fonts vs. DIY have the option to make the front end or back end process Content display normally requires fonts in the OS. However, data. To process a relatively large amount of multilingual data, if you are building an application in an embedded fashion, the processing on a fast back-end computer server should be faster application should take care of displaying multilingual content than processing it on a slow mobile-device processor in the without requiring multilingual fonts residing on the mobile device. front end. Depending on the device and your embedded application, you may Where and how data gets processed also affects the user implement multilingual content display in one of two ways. when application upgrades take place. For front-end process- Q Fonts loading – if the device supports/allows fonts loading ing, whenever your application changes, a user would need to either during an application run time or via independent instal- re-install the application on the mobile device. On the other lation, you may consider having the necessary fonts installed hand, if the back-end does pretty much all data processing and fi rst before your application is launched or content is displayed. the front-end is mainly to interpret data received from back- A reality check will show you, however, rarely will a mobile end, when changes take place in the back-end, as long as data device allow installation of fonts by users. format remains the same, the front-end application installed Q Do-it-yourself (DIY) — again, depending on the mobile on the user’s mobile device could stay the same. Back-end device and the programming language you use to develop your processing could also help keep the size of the application application, you may be able to render the multilingual content down as most or all of multilingual content handling data using a special or proprietary data format. such as cross-mapping tables and fonts are kept on the back- Multilingual fonts, especially CJK fonts, are larger in fi le size, end servers. which translates to more memory required. Requiring a large The best practice would be, whenever possible, build or at least multilingual font to be installed onto a regular, non-localized prototype the applications in both models and compare them. mobile device is somewhat unrealistic and is likely to exclude many of the low-memory-capacity models. The DIY approach, Which programming language to use? on the other hand, often enables your application to display Java vs. the rest multilingual content using a smaller amount of data compared The answer is mainly determined by four factors:

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Q Native multilingual support in the Where should data be stored Q Your application may not behave language. Since you are developing a in my application? Handheld vs. exactly the same on a real device as it multilingual mobile application, a pro- external server does on an emulator. Differences are typi- gramming language with built-in multi- Where a user’s sensitive information, cally found in user interface and speed. lingual or Unicode support will help you such as account login information, is Q Each device maker may have a every step of the way. Java may be your stored may ultimately determine if the slightly different implementation of #1 candidate. user will be your customer. For net- an industry standard on its devices. Q Device compatibility. If you want working applications, it would give a Take J2ME, for example: even though to build an application to be compatible user peace of mind if his or her sensi- MIDP and CLDC are well defi ned, it with a wide variety of mobile devices, tive information is stored on the mobile is very common that the same J2ME then you need to choose a language device instead of an external server and application looks somewhat differently that is widely supported on mobile simply passes through the back-end on mobile devices made by different devices. Again, Java or J2ME would servers. The application would be even manufacturers because it is up to the probably be your choice. However, more appealing if two-way data encryp- device manufacturer to do the actual if you are building applications for a tion is built-in. implementation of MIDP and CLDC on specifi c mobile-device maker, model or its devices. When the implementations confi guration, it would be a good idea Would my application size differ among devices, the touch and feel to look into language(s) supported by matter? Over-the-air (OTA) vs. or even the behavior of your application your particular platform of interest. desktop installation may vary as a result. A platform's “native” programming/ You bet! If your application targets Q Wireless network is different from development language typically will high-end PDA mobile devices, you could computer network. You must test your give you direct or better access to its relax a little when it comes to how much networking application on real devices OS functions and result in a faster per- memory your application would require and at different locations to get a real formance application. to install and operate. For low-memory- sense of the performance and user Q Special features. If the application capacity mobile devices, every kilobyte interface of your application. An emu- needs to utilize any functions or features counts. To make matters worse, a mul- lated network connectivity using your provided by the device's OS, chances are tilingual mobile application normally you need to write your code in the lan- would have a bigger footprint than the guage that affords you native support. same application without multilingual Q Back-end functions. If your appli- functionality. Optimization of algorithms cation requires back-end support via and coding would help you reduce the network connectivities, it is not uncom- size of your application. Your best bet mon to use different languages for the for keeping your multilingual applica- Web-lingo is a South African-based language front end and back end, although using tion compact would probably be to build translation and localization agency covering the same language may keep your cost the application on a back-end process- 85 languages and dialects and specializing down and simplify the maintenance. ing model as we discussed earlier. Aside in more than 20 African languages. The from knowing that many of today’s company offers general and technical Is encryption necessary? mobile devices are still low-memory- translation services to diverse businesses Performance vs. security capacity models, one important thing in the ICT, construction, legal, engineering, The short answer is absolutely. Data to know is some wireless carriers may marketing, medical, telecoms (fixed-line encryption is probably one of the most impose limitation on the size of applica- and mobile), health-care, research and e-commerce sectors, to name a few. important features a user would look tions that can be downloaded via OTA to for in today’s software applications, mobile devices. OTA download may be Languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, Sesotho, especially internet or networking appli- the only option for some mobile users if, Setswana, IsiSepedi, Xitsonga, Siswati, cations. Your multilingual mobile appli- for whatever reason, they cannot con- Ndebele and Tshivenda (the official South cation is no different. There are many nect their mobile devices to a desktop African languages), as well as Swahili, good cryptography solutions which are computer for application installation. If Otjiherero, Nama/Damara, Shona, Yoruba, beyond the scope of this writing. There your application is over the size limita- Hausa, Igbo, Portuguese, French and others. is one tip worth mentioning, however, in tion, such users are out of your reach. developing multilingual mobile applications. It may be necessary for you to do How would I test my Web-lingo.com a base64 encoding on the multilingual mobile applications? 8 Dixon Street, EK Green Building data before encryption, or unexpected Emulator vs. real devices 2nd Floor results may occur. Another thing to keep You should fi rst test your application De Waterkant, Cape Town 8001 in mind is you should try out different on device emulators provided by mobile- South Africa cryptography algorithms to fi nd the one device manufacturers. Fix all the issues 27-21-421-3008 that gives you the best result in terms you fi nd in emulators and then move Fax: 27-21-421-0561 of speed and data security. Published on to the next important step — testing E-mail: [email protected] results/benchmarks may not be true on on real devices. Why on the real mobile Web: www.web-lingo.com mobile devices. devices? Here are three main reasons.

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computer network is likely to be fast and stable. The same is providers in order to submit their applications for distribu- often not true on mobile devices. tion to wireless customers. Some of the service providers may If you are developing an embedded multilingual mobile require an automated, often web-based, user authentication and application, it is more important that you test the application key generation process before they can distribute your mobile on real devices as your application offers multilingual capa- application. The whole process may require some time to com- bilities that are not provided by the device OS, so you need plete, so you need to plan ahead and start early. to be sure that multilingual functions work well on all mobile Q Marketing on your own. You can build a website to make devices/platforms that your application targets. your multilingual mobile application available to potential Testing on mobile devices costs money, period. Here are three customers. Because your application is multilingual, it is best options to consider. if the website clearly spells out the requirements on mobile Q Developer program. Join a developer program where the devices and the distinctive features that your application manufacturer will offer free or discounted devices for testing. offers. Since your application is for mobile users, it is very Q In-house testing. Purchase or get a hold of the devices you helpful if your website is designed for wireless application need to conduct tests on. protocol browsing. Q Testing facilities. Do your tests at a company that offers In conclusion, developing a mobile application could be dif- mobile-application testing service on a wide variety of devices fi cult. Adding the multilingual fl avor on top of it would make it at its facility. a challenge. Three things would help make multilingual mobile No matter which option you choose, it is always helpful applications popular — more powerful mobile devices, increased to have some in-house testing capabilities since other options wireless network speed and cheaper data plans. would normally require a certain amount of turnaround time. In the end, what matters most is whether you can deliver Timing is critical, especially when it comes to debugging your your multilingual application to mobile users having just application. regular, not localized OS handsets. Why is this so important? Multilingual is typically for a special and often small group of How do I get my application to end users? people. Building a multilingual mobile application that works Distribution channels vs. do-it-yourself on a larger pool of mobile devices is likely to increase your Like any other product, no matter how great your applica- customer base. Developing such multilingual mobile application is, it will not do you any good if it cannot get into the tions in a truly embedded way will help you achieve that goal. hands of end users. Since your mobile application is multi- Extra steps and care must be taken while building such an lingual by nature, you are targeting a special and often small application. group of mobile users who have such needs. How to get your As in building any other software application, start with the application to this special group requires extra effort. You most important features that can distinguish your application may consider: from others. Above all, develop your multilingual mobile appli- Q Marketing your application through mobile application cation based on a fl exible and open architecture which will allow focused venues. Many wireless carriers utilize third-party plat- you to extend or change, relatively easily, the functionality of forms to offer mobile applications to its users. Developers are your application as the needs in multilingual and technological often required to establish membership with those third-party capabilities of mobile devices change over time. M

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Industry Focus c Tools 4/5/064/5/06 4:34:03 PM 4:34:03 PM MultiLingual exibility brought by c mobile application, c industry such as plant c eld is periodically central- rst graphical handheld, the eld activity in relation with a specifi of the term which t the current meaning Route accounting mobile applications are rst portable computers, such as the 23.5-pounds rst portable computers, such rst mobile vertical applications in the 1980s ran on DOS- eld are then used by a number of agents. The mass of cities of the Arabic language and how it is supported on cities of the Arabic language and Some examples of mobile applications are: Route accounting. Mobile vertical applications market Since the fi business logic and Mobile vertical applications handle the Mobile vertical applications that run on handheld computers The fi for businesses such as the distribution of goods to shops or and the market of mobile computing grew in a big way. of mobile and the market WindowsCE, Symbian), added to the large reduction of cost induced by replacing slow manual processes by IT communicating processes, every industry could have its specifi specifi in mobile projects mobile devices. I will then show how Arabic has to insure compat- has to work beyond the simple device and ibility with back-end hosts and peripherals. (11 kg) Osborne-1 in 1981, and the fi kg) Osborne-1 in 1981, (11 While in mobility. Apple Newton, a long path has been covered label today to laptops we can apply the “mobile computing” writ- the general-purpose work (such as document and PDAs, and so on) done on ing, notetaking, contacts gathering, agenda these devices doesn’t fi is more about on-the-fi type of business or industry. requirements associated with a specifi business, inven- operations, route accounting for a distribution tory management, meter data collecting in a water and electric- maintenance control and so forth. ity company, in the fi data collected by the agents in the fi ized to a host server for reporting or analysis needs. Handheld computers are also often “ruggedized” to stand to the eventually tough environment constraints: they must work in a dusty environment, should withstand being used on the ground, should withstand heat and so on. based, power-limited machines. With the fl GUI-based applications running on new powerful devices (PalmOS, eld ed agents eld operations by nal users of on-the-fi eet management and other activities are operations that eld

cer, military and so on), and are not generally cer, Mobile applications applications Mobile Arabic market for the Alaoui Yahia Yahia Alaoui is the general manager of Mughamrat, Yahia an Arabic localization multiplatform software development company in Ifrane, Morocco.

cient, communicating and user-friendly computing cient, communicating Goods distribution, route accounting, stock Goods distribution, route accounting, t perfectly. t With the introduction of new, powerful, transportable, bat- With the introduction of new, warehouse management, data collecting, main- warehouse management, data collecting, tenance control, fl similar on-the-fi are always costly in money and in time, due to are always costly in money and and reporting the organization, centralization agents efforts involved in managing distributed and processes. rapid growth has In the Middle East region, where oil-fueled This article will go into the details of mobile computing and Furthermore, in this region, the fi www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 tery-effi devices, opportunities started to pop up everywhere to reduce devices, opportunities started to pop up the costs and delays involved in on-the-fi intensive use of information technologies (ITs). intensive use of information technologies projects (oil plants, initiated numerous and recent large scale sea water desalination plants, large scale distribution and collecting, port operation, e-government initiative, military equip- ping and so on), new mobile computing technologies appeared to fi agent, customs supermarket warehouse controller, (truck driver, and frontiers offi educated in foreign languages. They can therefore only work in their native languages, thus the need for mobile computing with a user interface in the Arabic language. and then will go through the of the vertical applications market

applications are more often middle or low qualiﬁ GG 39-4239-42 F Alaoui.indd 39 F Alaoui.indd 39 Industry Focus

collecting milk from farmers. The software permits the user to Q Glyph shaping. Within Arabic words, letters change their program the best route to go through all the stop points with shape depending on their position. Most Arabic letters can have minimum time and distance. four shapes (isolated, initial, medial and fi nal forms). Some Arabic It also permits the tracking of uantitiesq shipped or collected letters such as dal or zayn, however, can have only two shapes. directly on the device to have them centralized at the end of the Q Right-to-left alignment. In Arabic, text is inputted and tour to a main server for statistics. written from right to left, while in English, text is inputted and If the agent carries along a mobile printer, the shopper or written from left to right. Since the computer industry started in farmer can even get at the end a receipt printed from the input- English, all low-level assumptions for string and drawing text ted data. have been made for left-to-right isolated languages. Data collecting. Data collecting mobile applications are The solution to support Arabic in computing was to add some very useful for utility companies such as water and electric- processing algorithms to the standard text processing to address ity providers. The agents in the fi eld can read meters with the specifi c issues. For internal processing, Arabic is handled as any device and centralize the information back to the other language, that is, in an isolated shape central servers. and in left-to-right alignment. This form is Another application is for polling companies. called the logical form. Then, when the Arabic When conducting a survey, a team of agents can text is about to be displayed, it goes under ask people on the street a set of prepared ues-q Arabic-specifi c algorithms that convert it to a tions using mobile software to guide them. The text ready to be displayed to the screen. This is collected data is automatically validated during called the visual form. the input of the answers and is centralized back For example, the word hello (salam) is in the offi ce when the fi eld agents return there. stored in its logical form (from left-to-right: Maintenance. Maintenance mobile applications seen -> alef -> lam -> alef -> meem) and is are often used in a delivery business when the displayed in its visual form (from left-to-right: agent who ships the goods can make the receiver isolated seen -> fi nal alef -> medial lam -> sign directly on the device. The sender then can be initial seen). updated by the confi rmation of the delivery. These Other minor specifi cities are involved applications are also practical for repair docu- (encoding, bidirectionality and so on) and need ments and checklist documents in plan mainte- their own processing. If there is no language- nance, for example. specifi c support, trying to work with Arabic E-government. Police, for example, can have An Arabic-enabled Palm V. will show only garbage. mobile devices with mobile applications for park- In mobile platforms, manufacturers simply ing fi ne collecting or road infraction fi nes. A police agent with overlook this issue and do not implement any particular Arabic his or her device can be on patrol. If a car is in violation, he or she support. For example, even for the support of Arabic on Windows can do plate reading on the device and then fi ll in the descrip- desktop, it was implemented years after the fi rst English release. tion and the associated fee of the infraction. The information is ecently,R because the market is starting to grow thanks to some processed, and the driver receives a notice by mail detailing the dynamic markets (Dubai and Saudi Arabia), Microsoft started fi ne to pay. to make available some support of Arabic language in its latest release of Windows CE. Support of Arabic on mobile devices In mobile platforms, Arabic can be supported in two ways: Analysts estimate that the Middle East and orthN Africa by a third party through a system-patch or by a third party (MENA) IT market is set to grow to around 13$.4 billion by through a software developer kit (SDK). 2008. The MENA region is currently the third fastest growing IT region in the world after India and China, and mobiles are System patch supposed to have a non-negligible share. A system patch codes the needed Arabic algorithms into Mobile software and hardware companies are actively tar- the system where it is installed. It is intended to ease integra- geting this market. However, the common thought in having tion for the consumer. The purpose is to add Arabic support a mobile solution — usually originally in English — to support but wrap it in a way that is transparent for the user who is Arabic is a straightforward operation of translation since Arabic supposed to have the impression that the Arabic is built in support is common on desktop computers based on Windows. with the device. But Arabic is not supported by default in most mobile platforms. Therefore, any Arabic data he or she manipulates will be So, the Arabic issue arises generally in the advanced stages of displayed correctly because the system will take care of all the mobile projects, and project managers have to rewrite plans and processing. secure extra budgets at the last minute. By principle, however, system patches bring many fl aws and Why does the Arabic language need extra technical process- instabilities to the device. ing and how can it be handled on mobile platforms? Q A system patch implies to identify the system libraries that take charge of the text display and inject Arabic process- Arabic characteristics ing into them. But the information about the underlying system In comparison to a Latin-based language, Arabic needs extra is usually confi dential to the device manufacturer or to the processing because of the following characteristics: operating system provider. So, the developer of a system patch

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has to work by trial and error to guess where to inject the arabization code — thus, the risk of errors and unwanted modiﬁ cations. Q System libraries are used every- Europe’s No. 1 where in the device, even in places where Arabic is not needed. So, any extra code Greek Localizer added by a system patch will be executed Precise, Competitive and Since 1986, EuroGreek has been providing high-quality, everywhere, even if it is not needed. Effective Translation turnkey solutions, encompassing a whole range of client This can increase considerably the risk needs, for the following language combinations: of error propagation and instability and What makes One Planet different? A deep understand- can cause a general slowdown. ing of corporate culture. Our clients require accuracy, • English into Greek measurable productivity and excellence in communication. • Greek into English SDK • German into Greek How can one firm specialize in areas such as high • French into Greek An arabization SDK is a development technology, medical products and technical manufacturing? All EuroGreek’s work is produced in our Athens kit that is provided to mobile application By blazing the path in translation since 1979, we utilize production center and covers most subjects: developers who can use it to arabize their knowledgeable translators in the United States, Europe own applications while having control and Asia in every field and every specialty. • Technical over the process. • Medical/Pharmaceutical • Technical translation An arabization SDK usually contains • IT/Telecommunications • Software localization graphical controls and libraries that have • Economics/Legal • Multilingual website development been redeveloped with integrated Arabic All EuroGreek’s work is fully guaranteed for quality Our customers from Ametek to Unisys like the fact support. Basically, the developer replaces and on-time delivery. the original English graphical controls of that we function as an extension of their teams. its in-development application with the EuroGreek Translations Limited equivalent Arabic graphical controls. He One Planet EuroGreek House, 93 Karagiorga Street or she then has to do the work of inte- 820 Evergreen Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15209 Athens 16675, Greece gration by paying attention to the print- 888-677-1010 • Fax: 412-632-1071 30-210-9605-244 • Fax: 30-210-9647-077 ing process, to the host communication [email protected] • www.one-planet.net [email protected] • www.eurogreek.com and to compatibility with the database as explained in the next section. The advantage is that arabization is applied only at the level of the devel- The Tool oper’s application, not elsewhere in the system. Thus, the developer has more You Reach For control over the mobile application and over the process of arabization. More Often Arabic integration Medical Translations in mobile projects • LogiTerm is offered in various versions at very Having the Arabic language working MediLingua is one of Europe’s few companies affordable prices. Powerful search functions, a on a device is just part of the solution. specializing in medical translation. We provide all very robust alignment tool and very handy data Mobile solutions need also to synchro- European languages (31 today and counting) and conversion and deformatting tools. nize data with a central host for valida- Japanese as well as the usual translation-related • LogiTrans has been designed to answer the services. Our 100-plus translators have a combined tion, analysis and reporting, as well as to question you may often ask yourself: “Haven’t I communicate with the paper world via medical and language background. seen this already somewhere?” It allows you to mobile printers. We work for manufacturers of medical devices, obtain even more added value from your bitext Support and compatibility of Arabic on instruments, in-vitro diagnostics and software; printers must be ensured. Synchronization pharmaceutical companies; medical publishers; and full-text documents. in Arabic with a back-end server, provid- national and international medical organizations; • LogiTermWeb — A fast and easy way to ensure ing compatibility of mappings between the and medical journals. consistent terminology and phraseology host database and the mobile database, throughout your organization. must be guaranteed. Call or e-mail Simon Andriesen or visit our website for more information. • TransSearch — A web-based bilingual concordancer. Arabic support in printers While in a desktop PC the printer driv- MediLingua BV ers provided by printer manufacturers hide Poortgebouw, Rijnsburgerweg 10 Terminotix Inc. the technical details of printing (the user 2333 AA Leiden, The Netherlands 240 Bank Street, Suite 600 just selects “Print”), in mobile computing 31-71-5680862 • Fax: 31-71-5234660 Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2P 1X4 and printing there are no such drivers. [email protected] 613-233-8465 • Fax: 613-233-3995 www.medilingua.com [email protected] • www.terminotix.com www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 41

39-42 F Alaoui.indd 41 4/5/06 4:34:29 PM Industry Focus

Mobile printers only provide support that can then be chosen and enabled Synchronization with hosts of low-level printing languages such as (using PCL or ESC/P commands); or the Arabic mobile projects also involve ESC/P or PCL along with a limited set of printer does not contain an Arabic font, synchronization between the devices and resident fonts. That means that for the so an Arabic font has then to be devel- the host. Each platform brings its own user to print from mobile devices, he or oped and downloaded to the printer protocol (ActiveSync for WindowsCE, she has to manipulate such languages (again using PCL or ESC/P commands). HotSync for PalmOS and so on). either manually or through a library. Another issue to deal with while print- For support of Arabic between hosts The main reasons for this lack of high- ing in Arabic is the encoding type to and devices, special care should be brought level drivers are 1) the devices usually do use. If the device is enabled to work in to Arabic encoding compatibility between not have enough capacity and 2) with Arabic either with a system patch or with the two machines by making sure either the multiplicity of platforms (Symbian, an SDK, the encoding used is usually the the Arabic encoding is the same in both PalmOS, WindowsCE, Linux, and so on), classic 1-byte CP1256 or the 2-byte Uni- sides or by providing a conversion layer mobile printer manufacturers are reluc- code. But on the printer side, because of that does the matching job. tant to provide a driver for each mobile more memory restriction, encodings used platform. are even smaller — such as the IBM code Arabic support in databases So, the printing work is done using page Arabic-864 that contains only two The database is also a sensitive issue, only the PCL or ESC/P languages (or a variations per Arabic letter instead of the since mobile projects usually deal a lot close proprietary variant) using the set standard four variations. Designers of this with databases. We have fi rst to be sure of resident fonts which are usually only mapping considered that two variations the database supports Arabic or at least for Latin scripts. You can fi nd tools and are enough to produce a readable Arabic has the option for Arabic support to be libraries for some platforms that serve as output. In this case, the printing process enabled. Such databases include Access, a simplifi cation middle layer. should take care of the conversion from Oracle, SQL 2000/CE and so on. For printing Arabic text, either the the device mapping (CP1256 or Unicode) Then we have to pay attention to the printer contains a built-in Arabic font to the printer mapping (IBM-864). encodings used for Arabic between the device and the server to be sure they are compatible or at least are properly converted during transfer or before display. For example, a database in the host made with Microsoft Access and fi lled with Arabic CP1256 encoded data will be shown as garbage in a device supporting only Unicode Arabic. Conclusion We have seen how the Arabic language is integrated to the fi eld of mobile computing both at the mobile terminal level and at the project level of communicating with peripherals and hosts. My experience in the arabization arena has revealed that the process of adding Arabic to a mobile project should itself be considered as a massive project for which resources, budget, choice of tools and training should be planned at the early stages — not to mention the necessity of being supported by an arabization expert/ partner who can provide strong technical support. For example, products such as mobile devices and printers sold by major IT companies can be marked as “Arabic enabled” — but in reality, Arabic still being relatively a niche market, there is usually no dedicated support team. Therefore, it can be hard to obtain help to effectively have the Arabic working on these products. At Mughamrat we have often ended up doing for our clients technical support and investigation of software and hardware provided by others. M

42 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

39-42 F Alaoui.indd 42 4/5/06 4:34:48 PM 43 Industry Focus | 4/5/064/5/06 4:35:51 PM 4:35:51 PM Tools ve zhe ). For mi and , re na , , do MultiLingual pie , must be ve strokes shu , rst fi rst cial writing systems to keys of the keypad. of the keypad. keys heng 9 and 7 , 6 Phonetic input for Pinyin and Bopomofo This technology supports a range of phonetically represent Chinese characters — uses letter symbols to narrow down to desired character candidates. implementation variations that are based — the only two offi ciency and ease of use, the generic turn-like solution that designed as a stroke-based cally cer stroke can be split into three additional strokes which are three additional strokes can be split into stroke cer and cer Stroke input input for electronic communication devices is based Stroke the fi For instance, for device keypads, Phonetic input During the development of a Chinese input system, the prod- During the development of a Chinese input With stroke-based input, strokes are selected in the same input, strokes With stroke-based on selecting from the same basic shapes people have been using on selecting from the same basic shapes Predictive text tech- to write characters for thousands of years. nology was specifi into either eight or fi summarizes the 29 basic Chinese strokes based on common shape and size. This helps speed the strokes entry process for the end user. Ministry of Informa- labeled in the order regulated by China’s This arrangement coincides with the order people tion Industry. — commonly refer to the strokes ucts are designed to take advantage of the commonalities of the advantage ucts are designed to take the prediction process.Chinese language in order to speed up and phonetic writing for compo- This includes employing stroke sition of characters. (like musical notes are referred to in the order musical notes are (like increased input effi zhe logically arranged on the character composition order taught in the school system. This Chinese charactertechnology predicts and displays the most likely entered. A user may selectcandidates based on the series of strokes input process,from these candidates at any point during the stroke thus providing more control over the entire text entry process. Milos Djokovic is chief Milos Djokovic operating offi chief technology offi at Zi Corporation. rst-time users of electronic nd natural and intuitive so that the

Chinese input Chinese devices on mobile Milos Djokovic

The challenge for a Chinese input system is to The challenge for a Chinese input In addition, the Chinese written language is composed of Dozens of Chinese input systems use academic principles to resolve the ambiguity of a language that con- resolve the ambiguity of a language characters sists of more than 20,000 individual sets and multi- that contain different character parameters ple phonetic dialects with the limited devices. of today’s electronic communication tools to input Device challenges include limited symbols, or form character shapes and phonetic capabili- as well as device display and memory also include the ties. Mobile device limitations memory foot- small form factor of the keypad, for the print and easy use of mobile applications mass market. cult on a small mobile device. www.multilingual.com April/May 2006

characters whose smallest fundamental elements are basic shapes used which refer to the individual brush strokes called “strokes,” it is write a character proportionally, to paint characters. To order” of important to follow a standard sequence or “stroke This writing process becomes dif- together. compiling strokes fi presses retrieve characters, which reduces the number of key required to input text, but this often affects the accuracy of the text input. Another approach focuses on language tools users fi that mass-market input process is obvious even for fi communication devices. As an example, Chinese predictive text entry Zi’s eZiText product employs the fundamental building blocks of the language, either written to quickly or phonetic sounds, strokes compose text in its most familiar format to the user. TT 43-4543-45 F Djokovic&Miasnikov.indd 43 F Djokovic&Miasnikov.indd 43 Industry Focus

on key press requirements and conversion capabilities. One- conversion step by step. The display of both the Pinyin spelling touch input with Mixed Two Step character conversion is and its corresponding converted character(s) acts to visually recommended as the default phonetic input setting for mobile guide the user intuitively along the input process, while still devices. This form of character conversion combines a two-step allowing direct character selection. spelling-to-character conversion process with the option to directly select characters. Phrase-level input For instance, as a user enters key presses to spell a target It is also benefi cial if the input system goes beyond single- character’s phonetic pronunciation, characters are presented character composition to provide users with associated charac- based on one precise spelling option. The cursor highlights ters to build words and phrases. Beyond character association, specifi c characters on the character line. If the desired Pinyin these Chinese input systems are designed to offer phrase-level spelling is the fi rst displayed Pinyin candidate from the range input, phrase-level forward prediction, phrase-level learning of spellings available, then a user may directly select a cor- and initial-only phonetic input. This enables mobile phone responding character candidate. However, if the Pinyin spelling users to move seamlessly and effortlessly between character- is not displayed, the user can either continue to complete the level and phrase-level input and prediction. spelling or toggle to the correct spelling. With these approaches to Chinese input systems, users The user benefi t of this recommended implementation is a benefi t from passive recognition and selection of candidate better screen interface that takes the effort to display input and characters. M Multilingual handwriting recognition technology Stan Miasnikov

Tablet PCs, Pocket PCs and Smartphones fi ll The neural net is a collection of handwriting samples taken the briefcases and pockets of professionals and from several hundred different individuals. In our case, the youngsters alike in this age of mobile devices, handwriting samples are processed by a special program which and there must be an effective way to commu- trains the net by back propagation and generates a binary table, T which is stored inside the recognition engine. The handwriting nicate multilingually using those devices. One recognition engine performs recognition in three stages: seg- way is to use handwriting recognition software mentation and character-level analysis, classifi cation, and dic- that recognizes words and characters handwrit- tionary search. ten on the device screen in several different lan- In the beginning of the recognition session, the engine compares the user’s handwriting against the samples while guages and converts them to digital text. segmenting the ink to fi nd individual characters. The top PhatWare Corporation makes handwriting recognition soft- fi nishers within the output vector of probabilities are then ware for mobile devices that can recognize numerous Western entered into the dictionary search engine, which provides the European languages in addition to US English. The software, best estimate of the most likely word given several strings called CalliGrapher (for Windows mobile-based Pocket PCs and of possible characters. To manage the segmentation without Smartphones) and PenOffi ce Multilingual Edition (for Microsoft context to the neural net of individual characters, the net Windows-based tablet, desktop or portable PCs), uses advanced considers many possible segmentations. The fi nal decision is fuzzy logic and neural net techniques to recognize arbitrary not made until the dictionary is searched. As the user inputs alphanumeric strings of handwritten data and then turns it characters, each individual stroke is grouped with its neigh- into the digital text. The software analyzes pen strokes written bors in every possible combination to be sent to the neural anywhere on the device screen or in the designated input area, network, while fuzzy set methods represent degrees of belong- converts the pen strokes into text and sends ing of individual strokes or parts of the recognized text to a target application. a stroke to individual characters. The network’s possible classifi ca- How does the handwriting Stan Miasnikov is a tions with higher probability (0.5+) recognition engine work? software developer and are sent to the search engine which Many of the handwriting recognition engines president of PhatWare looks up the minimum-cost path on the market use neural network technology. Corporation. through its dictionary.

44 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

43-45 F Djokovic&Miasnikov.indd 44 4/5/06 4:36:21 PM Industry Focus

Unfortunately, the standard lan- engines that can recognize handwritten statistical analyzer enabled, CalliGra- guage dictionaries contain many words text, but only when the input context pher learns the user’s writing habits by that have similar handwriting patterns, is known, such as handwritten address accumulating statistical information for example, clear and dear. This might labels on letters (commonly used by about each used word. When enough cause the dictionary search stage to the US Postal Service) and handwritten data is collected, the analyzer automati- produce two or more results with same checks (such software is used in banks). cally fi xes common recognition errors or almost the same probabilities. To This technology relies heavily on the based on the user’s writing patterns. In improve recognition in this situation, databases that contain necessary context order to get the best recognition results the latest version of PhatWare’s hand- information. For example, in the case for each language, CalliGrapher creates writing recognition software includes of address labels, the database contains a separate fi le of statistical data for each the statistical analyzer module which a relationship among street name, city, language — even if the same person records the user’s writing patterns and state and zip code, which allows the writes in both languages. uses them during a dictionary search engine to minimize recognition errors. With these handwriting recognition to fi nd the most probable sequence of At this time, I am not aware of any OCR solutions, users can switch languages characters or words. software that can recognize free-hand on-the-fl y. For example when writing The quality of recognition is deter- handwriting. a sentence in Spanish, one can include mined by the quantity and diversity an Italian phrase mid-sentence. The user of handwriting samples in the neural How does multilingual can switch between different languages net — the more samples and the more handwriting recognition work? using the language change gesture or diverse writing styles in those samples, CalliGrapher and PenOffi ce natively the toolbar button. When switching to a the better quality of handwriting recog- recognize US English written text, but different language, CalliGrapher unloads nition. However, it is important not to PhatWare also provides handwriting rec- the current recognition engine, diction- overload the neural net, as an extremely ognition “packs” for eleven Western aries and word lists and loads necessary large net may actually decrease the European languages — Danish, Dutch, fi les to the newly selected language. This recognition quality. In addition, the French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Por- happens almost instantaneously, so the quality of recognition depends on the tuguese (Brazilian and European), Span- user’s performance is not affected. mathematical algorithms that are used ish, Swedish and UK English. Each The handwriting recognition engines to search the net for correct samples, different language has an individual rec- for each language were developed in fuzzy logic algorithms that are used ognition engine that is specifi cally opti- C++ and share the same source code, but for ink segmentation to fi nd individual mized for that language. In addition to compiled with a different tool because of characters, the algorithms that are used the recognition engine, each language the differences in the Windows XP and to search the word list for a most prob- includes a language-specifi c dictionary Windows Mobile operating systems. The able word and the dictionary itself. and user-defi ned fi les, such as a personal- main and user-defi ned dictionaries are Since different recognition engines that ized user dictionary and autocorrector platform-independent and can be shared currently exist on the market use differ- word list, which is used to automatically between Pocket and Tablet PCs. ent algorithms, neural nets and diction- replace an incorrectly recognized or mis- While US English handwriting rec- aries, users will fi nd different quality spelled word with a specifi ed alternative. ognition engine and dictionaries are recognition results. The combination The supported Western European lan- included with CalliGrapher, the eleven of the number and diversity of samples guages are based on the Latin alphabet, other languages are available through in the neural net, the algorithms and but include additional characters which additional language packs, which are dictionaries of PhatWare’s handwriting differ from one language to another. For sold separately. This reduces the amount recognition software gives users quality example, while most of the characters of memory occupied by fi les for unused recognition. in French and German languages are languages on Pocket PCs. Since there are A similar technology called optical the same, French contains additional usually no storage space concerns on character recognition (OCR) allows com- characters such as à, ê, î, ô, û and ç, and Tablet PCs, PenOffi ce Multilingual Edi- puters to recognize printed or written German contains ä, ö, ü and ß charac- tion includes all eleven languages. Dur- text characters on a hard copy, such as ters. To develop each language’s neural ing PenOffi ce Multilingual’s installation, paper. The technology helps to transform net engine, developers took handwrit- however, a user may choose to install information from a hard copy, such as ing samples for each language to cap- only selected languages. The storage a book page, into electronic fi les. This ture the differentiating characters. After space required to install each language technology scans the text character by each language’s engine was created, the pack on Pocket or Tablet PCs varies character, analyzes the character image main language dictionary was added. between 1.2MB and 2MB depending on and translates it into character codes Thus far, each language pack includes the size of the language’s main diction- that the computer uses to perform the a recognition engine optimized for the ary and the neural net. recognition. Some OCR engines also specifi c language and a word list for the Yes, there is a way to communicate use a neural network for recognition, language. multilingually in the fast-paced, tech- but instead of handwritten samples Additionally, the statistical analyzer savvy, mobile-minded world — whether OCR neural nets contain typefaces for helps improve the overall handwrit- you’re a foreign language student tak- common computer fonts, such as Times ing recognition quality by addressing ing notes or an executive working on a Roman and Arial. There are also OCR common recognition errors. With the product design in Germany. M

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 45

43-45 F Djokovic&Miasnikov.indd 45 4/5/06 4:36:33 PM 46 GALA ad #79.indd 46 4/5/06 4:36:58 PM 47 |

BusinessTools 4/5/064/5/06 4:37:29 PM 4:37:29 PM rst MultiLingual SEO is tailoring the SEO is tailoring the in “A Google book search page for Google book search page for in “A A rst translation. rst A Google book search page for “computer books.” A Google book search page for “computer To consider website marketing in other languages, let us ﬁ consider website marketing To Search engine optimization (SEO). ‘computer books.’” content and the structure of the site and pages so that the content and the structure of the site and pages so that the search engines rank the site in the natural search listings. The natural search listings on Google appear in the area of the with an screen marked to do the job correctly, website marketing should have begun website marketing to do the job correctly, prior to the ﬁ on the English site. This can consist describe website marketing of a number of channels. rst websites for the of Search cofounder and thenned and tracked, Laboratory. Ian Harris is

rst place was to increase conversions by reach- Search engine marketing engine marketing Search languages in multiple Ian Harris

rst place? You can hear the sighs of relief as the web- can hear the You While we may breathe a sigh of relief that the site is local- The localization project In the late 1990s, companies wanted their ﬁ In the late 1990s, companies wanted their

site localization project comes to a close or to a close or site localization project comes organized enters maintenance mode. However the local- the client and however professional website localization is a pain- ization vendor, least we can tick ful process. Now it’s over — at that says “have multilingual website.” the box we localized in After all, is that not the reason the fi Y same reason — to tick the box. They soon started, however, to however, They soon started, same reason — to tick the box. judge and optimize their websites based on hits, then page views, worth his any web marketer then unique and repeat visitors. Now, or her salt will be working to maximize conversions. A conversion on a website can be a sale on an e-commerce site, the completion me” form on a company information site or whatever of a “contact as a result of visitingaction you want your web visitors to make the site. Conversions must be clearly defi the site must be optimized for maximum conversions. The major part of this process is search engine marketing. upon this painful ized, the real reason the company embarked journey in the fi should not stop once the site is translated, since a localized site with no conversions is a waste of all that pain. It is now when website mar- fact, should begin. In keting ing new markets. ing new markets. www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 2006 April/May www.multilingual.com 47-5047-50 Biz Harris #79 130.indd 47 Biz Harris #79 130.indd 47 Business

Pay-per-click (PPC). PPC is an in- take each one and translate to the most creasingly important method of driving common, most sensible alternative in traffi c where the company bids money his or her language. Unfortunately, to appear high in the search engine’s this will lead to a reduction in key- sponsored listings. In “A Google book words. Windscreen and windshield may search page for ‘computer books,’” this translate to the same common term in is the area marked B. Bids are placed on French. Replacement and repair may keywords which show advertisements translate to the common term used in when an internet user types that word French for glass replacement. This is not into the search engine. The highest bid what is required. shows at the top of the list, and the com- 3. Google is the most common global pany only pays the bid price if the user search engine and therefore the one to actually clicks on the advertisement and consider. True, Google is the most impor- visits the company’s website. tant player in the global search engine Banner ads, affi liate marketing and market, but in Russia the search engine others. Many other channels exist that Yandex is signifi cantly outperforming add to the mix of methods of driving Google and likewise for Baidu in China. traffi c and conversions. Their suitability Whatever your target market, you need depends on the nature of the website that to consider the engines in that country. is being promoted. What, therefore, should we actually do to market our site in-language? Multilingual web marketing We will concentrate on the main two How to localize a site and methods, SEO and PPC, to see how a remain search-engine friendly multilingual site could be marketed. Fortunately, some simple steps can There is normally some success on be taken to ensure the site remains the English language — or whatever the searchable in-language. However, simi- source language of the site — before the larly to working with your English site, multilingual marketing begins, so it is in order to maximize the return on in- important to understand what we can vestment (ROI) from the localized sites, reuse from the source language market- further steps will maximize your re- ing; what source language marketing we turns. Here are steps to follow in trans- can simply translate; and which elements lating the site. we must entirely develop again. Q Find a quality localization com- Some major false assumptions that are pany. Ensure that you ask for examples made when considering promotion of the of websites that it has localized before, multilingual versions of the site are: and have your in-country people — if 1. For SEO, optimize the English site, you have them — validate the transla- then translate it well, and it will be opti- tions on the reference sites. mized in-language by default. Multilin- Q Get your page-by-page keyword gual SEO is often ignored because of the glossary translated and approved fi rst. belief that if the English site is optimized Much effort went into the generation of for search engines, the language sites will keywords for each page of the English be too. This is not the case. site. Your English pages are rich with 2. For PPC, simply translate the ad these keywords. Put the same effort copy and keywords. Imagine a set of into the translation of these keywords. English keywords for a site selling a glass This should be done fi rst, before any replacement service for cars. The marketing localization of the pages begins. These specialist or PPC executive would use his translations should be approved by your or her knowledge of the industry and the in-country marketing representatives if language to expand out a set of keywords you have them or be double-checked by that a user might type into a search engine. your translation company (using special- They might come up with terms such as ist marketing translators) if not. vehicle glass replacement, car windscreen Q Ensure that the site is profession- fi xing, windshield repair and so on. ally localized. The site must be well For this simple service there is a mul- formed (no broken HTML or other code), titude of ways of describing the window, must be translated well and must not the vehicle and the replacement service contain broken links (links to pages that that spawn a large number of keyword have not been migrated to the language combinations. A good translator would site and therefore throw an error).

48 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

47-50 Biz Harris #79 130.indd 48 4/5/06 4:37:44 PM Business

Quality localization requires a quality ROI tracking. The great thing about in the United Kingdom, with some com- localization company using specialist your search campaigns is that using the panies bidding over £2 per click. Imagine fi lters to protect page code and to check latest analytics tools you can determine the spend on clicks on this keyword if few it once the localization is complete. exactly where each internet order has come people actually booked on your site. Q When translating the website, use from. You can track which keyword was Using PPC, each click can be tracked the keyword glossary electronically. Do used on which engine and tie these back to to completion, so it is possible to see, not leave it to chance. Your translation the profi t you received for the order. ROI for each keyword, how many clicks it company should be using the translated tracking is essential, and it will determine received, how much it cost, how many keyword lists in electronic glossaries so where next month’s focus will lie for your orders were achieved from those clicks that the translators are automatically in-country search engine spend. and how much profi t was made on prompted with the approved language those orders. PPC marketing can there- version of the keyword whenever they Multilingual PPC fore be analyzed precisely to the penny are translating an English equivalent. You can achieve instant success using and then adjusted to try to maximize This will ensure that any chosen key- PPC. A campaign can be set up, and your the return. word for which this page is optimized, website can start receiving visitors and In order to manage a PPC campaign a regardless of how contrived the sentence orders as soon as it goes live. A company marketer needs to: is (in order to use that keyword), and selling golf equipment can buy its chosen Q Create a keyword list including every will be translated in the same way each keywords, create some ad copy (the text phrase a user who may be interested in time this keyword appears. This ensures that shows when the user searches for the product or service may type in. that the translated pages are equally as those keywords) and start receiving visi- Q Organize these keywords around ad rich in the desired keywords. tors straight away. Using PPC advertising, text that will show when those keywords Following these steps will ensure that the golf-equipment supplier can tailor its are searched. the site gets the basics right and can be message on the search engine to attract Q Set budgets so that costs do not effectively indexed on the correct key- the user and can choose in which position grow too quickly, but so that conversions words by the engines. But to maximize the company would like to appear on the are maximized. your returns and to ensure you are get- list (as long as it can afford the clicks). Q Track and monitor the impressions ting the correct prominence on the search Contrast this with normal SEO work (number of times the ad showed due to engines, you need to read on. where position in the list and the text that keyword), clicks, conversions, costs that displays to the searcher are largely and profi t on every individual keyword. Advanced multilingual up to the discretion of the search engine’s Q Change bid prices, ad text, landing search marketing algorithms. pages (the page at which the user arrives If you want to perform in your for- You can also instantly waste money when the ad is clicked), match types eign markets and fully capitalize on your using PPC. The keyword cheap fl ights (keywords can be matched in multiple localization investment, you may want achieves millions of searches every month ways to search text) and other variables to consider these steps. Engine-specifi c optimization. This in - volves the identifi cation of important engines by country for your target market. Google is not necessarily the dominant player in all countries. In order to identify and then optimize and monitor for these engines, you will probably require support from external specialists. PPC in each locale. PPC is the fastest method to achieving search engine prominence in any country. PPC gets further attention later in the article because of its potential in multilingual markets. Recreation of page titles. The page title is one of the most important pieces of text for most search engines. It can be a very worthwhile exercise, following localization, having the page titles rewrit- ten for the local market. This should be performed by web marketing specialists. Link-building campaigns. In the same way as you have built vast numbers of links to your English site, the in-language version is a rich and often untapped source of links.

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 49

47-50 Biz Harris #79 130.indd 49 4/5/06 4:38:08 PM Business

to optimize the performance of the whole act of renting a car (again I have chosen aims, knowledge of searching and tools campaign. four). This four-by-four matrix would to help the process. Doing all this is not easy, especially multiply up to 16 possible keywords, Ad text must then be created. Again, considering that even a small campaign although for simplicity I have included this is not a translation job. There are selling one or only a few products can only four. A good French translator may restrictions on the length of each line, so easily spawn over a thousand keywords. choose the best translation for each of each character has to be used wisely to Now imagine the campaign in multi- these terms independently and would sell the product or service. While some ple languages. The management problem arrive at location de voiture. You can see ad text works well to generate conver- gets a whole lot worse when you can’t the keyword reduction illustrated in the sions, other ad text may not. The worst even read the keywords or ad text. diagram. ad text is that which generates clicks but Keyword lists must be created in-language. Simply translating the English text is not the correct approach. Translating keywords leads to a reduction in keywords, whereas a good keyword list explores all colloquialisms, common misspellings and all terms for all items. See the simple example of, as we would say Even instructing a translator to “have not sales. Subtle changes can cause large in the United Kingdom, car hire. a think” while translating is not good swings in the success rate. In English, there are a number of ways enough. What is required is a systematic The entire campaign must be managed of referring to a car (I have chosen four), expansion of every possible term. It re- going forward. This involves making and a number of ways of referring to the quires an understanding of the website’s decisions about the performance of keywords. Masses of keyword statistics need to be analyzed to ensure that they are all performing at their chosen bid prices. As competitors change their bid prices, this process is constantly evolving. The great news is that very often the price of clicks in other languages is much lower than in English, so you can expect a better return on click spend in non-English markets. It is, therefore, well worth the effort. Conclusion Some basic and low-cost steps taken during and after the localization process will ensure that your site remains largely search-engine friendly. If you really want your multilingual website to work for you and pay back the effort, you need to put the same degree of investment into the promotion of the other-language versions as you do with the English/source-language version. For this you will probably need expert help. The quickest route to market is normally PPC, but solid SEO should underpin any search marketing initiative since it will provide sustained results for the long term. Simply translating English PPC campaigns is a route to wasted opportunity or worse. Campaigns must be created by in-country specialists and, ideally, managed centrally for consistent reporting across your global organization. Rewards for doing it right can be signiﬁ cant. M

50 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

47-50 Biz Harris #79 130.indd 50 4/5/06 4:38:27 PM EUROPEAN DIRECTOR OF LOCALISATION INTEGRATION Madrid, Spain up to €110,000 base + 25% bonus + car allowance + benefits + relocation (if applicable)

World-leader in Interactive Entertainment Software Looking for Exceptional Localisation Professional

Electronic Arts (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, • Set standard with respect to operational excellence for all California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment shared service organisations. software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, • 3 direct reports with up to 100 indirect reports both publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for full-time and seasonal. videogame systems, personal computers and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: Experience Required EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. • 6 years’ experience in Senior Operations and/ or Development (application/ software development) roles In fiscal 2005, EA posted revenues of $3.1 billion and had within a global multi-cultural organisation in the 31 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's localisation industry. homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. EA employs 6 years’ experience in management of multidisciplinary over 6000 people globally and has offices located throughout • teams (50+ people). the US, Canada, Asia Pacific and Europe. • Experience in management of US$10+ million To support tremendous growth in Europe, EA now has an departments or projects. opening for an exceptional localisation professional with • Demonstrate in-depth understanding of software proven capabilities in managing people, contractors, processes development. and budgets in a young, fast-paced, mission-critical and • Past experience of improving departmental performance dynamic environment. and efficiencies. • Demonstrate previous experience of building, maintaining Main Purpose of the Role and influencing at senior management levels within an • General Manager of the European Localisation Integration organisation. Studio. • Drive localisation worldwide to the next stage through To apply strategic communication with business partners in EA’s We welcome applicants from both EU and non-EU countries. development Studios worldwide and International Publishing organisation. To apply in confidence, please email your CV including • Establish and enforce standard integration model for current salary details to our retained consultant Inger Larsen worldwide Studios to achieve efficiency and quality. at Larsen G11n. Email: [email protected].

Larsen G11n is a specialist recruitment company for the localisation industry worldwide, with offices in London, Dublin, Paris and Boston. www.larseng11n.com.

51 EA ad #79.indd 51 4/5/06 4:38:54 PM 25 iko.nd52 Dickson.indd 52-54 Dickson.indd 52 52 | business strategies. initiated open-sourceprojects aspartoftheir IBM, Apple,HP, SGI,Oracle,CiscoandIntelhave companies includingGE,Sun Microsystems, and CollabNetaresuccessstories.Meanwhile, such asRedHat,SuSE,CheapBytes,VA Software of thesoftwareindustry, open-sourcebusinesses model. Whileclosed-sourcedevelopmentisstillthemainstream mean thelossofprofi community forthelocalizationindustryinJanuary2006. Technology Initiative(OSTTI)toformanactiveopen-source 2005; andTranscosettinguptheOpenSourceTranslation October 2005,followedbypublishingthetoolsinNovember open-sourcing ofitstoolssuiteduringLocalizationWorld in Logos, atMTSummitXinSeptember2005;ENLASOdeclaring model foroneofthefi for Artifi in June2005;GlobalWare AG andtheGermanResearchCenter ization customer, open-sourcingitsXLIFFTranslationEditor for translationtoolsincludesSunMicrosystems,amajorlocal- Unicode Conference(IUC23)in2003. for OpenSourceDevelopment”attheInternationalizationand milestone speech,“MachineTranslationManifesto—AProposal as 2001. RenatoBeninattoofCommonSenseAdvisory gavea released ForeignDesk5.7.1asopen-sourcesoftwareearly A MultiLingual

Moving to open-source development does not necessarily Moving toopen-sourcedevelopmentdoesnotnecessarily An acceleratingtrendofadoptingtheopen-sourcemodel Open sourceisnotnewtothelanguageindustry. Lionbridge software. than acquisition:openthesourceandfree in developingsoftware,wehaveanoptionother the resourcebottleneckforhigherproductivity talents scatteringallovertheworld.To tackle all theprominentlinguisticandprogramming external resources,butit’simpossibletoacquire Business Acquisition isthetraditionalwayofobtaining cial Intelligenceannouncingtheopen-sourcelicense Vic Dickson a modelforinnovation Open source: pi/a 06 [email protected] April/May2006 t. It just means a new philosophy and a new t. Itjustmeansanewphilosophyand rst commerciallyavailableMTsystems, Beijing, China. based in CEO atTransco, Vic Dicksonis and understandwhyhowtoachieveanall-winoutcome. participants, weneedtoconsideropensourcecomprehensively stage inthisindustry. To accelerateitsgrowthandengagemore more than2%.We cansaythatopensourceisinapreliminary tion projectsand51 localizationprojects,withatotalshareofno category ofSoftwareDevelopmentincluded77internationaliza- projects. InDecember2005,the6,410 registeredprojects inthe development website,listsmorethan100,000 open-source the originsofproducts.” odology relatedtoproductionpracticesthatpromoteaccess to source isgenerallyaphilosophyorotherwisepragmaticmeth- any singledeveloperinourindustrycanafford. generation toolsmayrequiremoreresourcesandinvestment than complex thantheTMtoolsweusetoday. Developingsuchnew- productivity remarkably. Thatrequires newtechnology, more tation andconvinceproviderstopaymustbeableimprove less. Thenvendorswillhavesmallerbudgetsfortools. viders cannotsatisfycustomers;andthecustomerswanttopay more andhavenoresourcestobuildnewproducts;servicepro- because doingsodoesn’tbenefi SourceForge.net, the world’s largest open-source software SourceForge.net, theworld’slargestopen-sourcesoftware What isopensource?TheWikipediadefi A newhope:opensource Translation toolsthatmaymeettheendcustomer’sexpec- If usersorserviceprovidersareunwillingtoupgradethetools The peril persons/groups orfi terms cannotincludediscrimination againstany derived worksbyanypersons. Thedistribution must allowfreeredistribution, modifi to declarethattheirsoftwareisopensource,they uct andaccesstothesourcecode.Ifpeoplewant Open sourcedoesn’tjustmeanfreeuseofprod- t them,developers cannotsell eldofendeavor. Furthermore, nition says,“Open cations and and cations //643:3PM 4:39:23 4/5/06 4:39:23 PM Business

the license of open-source software must be technically neutral. It is particularly hard for small businesses when their money, people must neither be specifi c to a product nor restrict other software. and time have been consumed in developing the product. Can open source address the issue we have in developing From a public-interest perspective, closed-source models grant localization tools — ineffi cient use of resources such as limited monopoly. In the short term, the monopoly brings higher prices. investment and software programmers in face of the need for In the long run, it can threaten future innovation, although the more powerful tools at cheaper prices to deploy? business may have an economic interest in continuous innova- Consider Linux, a free implementation of Unix. It was and tion for keeping competitive. still is developed by a group of volunteers, primarily on the In contrast, open-source models emphasize use value. With internet, who exchange code, report bugs and fi x problems in open-source models, the business gives up restriction to access an open environment. Linux can turn any PC into a worksta- and use the product. In return it expects to use outside resources tion and is being used to drive big servers, the largest disk for developing the product. It is obviously impossible for external arrays and multiprocessor systems. Engineers cluster multiple people to contribute to product development without access to Linux machines to solve complex computing problems. With the source code. Further, the business (owner of the product) has the Samba software suite, Linux can act as a Windows fi le and to give up the right of charging for use of the product because print server. no one would be willing to contribute if the business claims the This is the power of open-source software development. The economic benefi t of these contributions. language technology industry can refer to the experience of Linux In a closed-source situation, a user might participate in testing to strengthen confi dence and speed up the pace. The following of a beta release. For open-source products, users can do much sections will analyze the features of open source as a business more — report bugs, write documentation, improve codes or even model — how companies (tool developers, service providers or develop new features for the product. even localization customers) may gain economic benefi ts with When external contribution becomes possible, the open-source developing open-source localization tools. model gives the business opportunities to address economic challenges by using resources that are outside the organization. Closed source vs. open source Despite the disputes on how many resources can be obtained Closed-source models emphasize end value while open- with open-source models, we see in the real world that many source models emphasize use value. projects have aggregated remarkable resources and many usable With closed-source models, the business develops the soft- products are released, from operating systems (Linux) and data- ware products and gains economic benefi t mainly from the base engines (MySQL) to web applications (Nucleus, on which value of software as end products or the value as fi nal goods. BetterLocalization.com is based.) The products are fenced with intellectual property (IP) protec- While open source can be a solution to resource constraint, tion. The business charges users for using (renting) the products what economic value can the business obtain from its open-source under a licensing agreement. products — and how, since open-source licensing allows using the products without a fee? Without enough economic value, a Items Closed Source Open Source business has no reason to carry out open-source projects. This Value Focus End value Use value is different from the situation of individuals, who may launch open-source projects for purposes other than economic benefi ts. Resource Limited and internal Unlimited and external The answer is that it is often possible for the business to use Market Feature Monopoly Competitive open-source products as a tool or intermediate goods (use value) Access Control License Free to generate the same or even greater economic benefi t than as an end goods to sell (end value). There are two elements for the This IP-rent model gives the business a number of advantages open-source business model to generate profi t: fi rst, maximize in deriving economic value from the software product, among use value by expanding user base as much as possible; second, which the most important would be the potential of getting a extract economic benefi t from the use value. large profi t margin. The sales of a product depend on the price that users are willing to pay and the number of users. As those Business models of open source two factors are not necessarily in proportion to development cost, Open-source models typically maximize user value in two the business can aim at a large potential profi t margin. ways: by expanding the user base with free use, access to source This model has some disadvantages. It is based on restricting and redistribution; and by obtaining user contribution by build- access to the products, which prevents users from using products ing a user community and motivating members to participate. freely and confi nes the business in using external resources. The Because maximizing use value of open-source products is at business must generate all of the value provided with the products the cost of giving up end value, open-source business models must since it takes all of the benefi ts. This becomes a challenge when enable the companies to extract economic value to cover costs the complexity or scale of products demands more resources than and make profi t. Mainstream profi t-making models include: the business possesses. Q Support service provider (such as consulting service for an For economic benefi t, creating the product is necessary but not open-source content management system [CMS]). This model enough. The business must sell a certain number of licenses to generates revenue by providing the services that facilitate the break even, and marketing and sales activities demand signifi cant use of open-source products including installing, deploying, resources. Although those activities do not generate value to users, customizing, maintaining the software, training and consulting sometimes selling will become more important than developing. It and so on.

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Q Reputation builder and cross seller (such as translation products so that their competitors will have a hard time if the service with open-source CMS). The business builds brand and products are replaceable and compatible to each other. reputation among the users of the open-source product, based Some service providers developed their own tools in the early on which business can better sell other closed-source products days of localization (the 1990s). Today, many of them have turned or services. to commercial software, but some still develop tools and utilities. Q Accessory sales. Distributing physical goods associated Some of these providers offer localization tools and services at with the open-source software can generate revenue, such as the same time. selling a CD with the software. A realistic motivation for LSPs to open source their tools or Q Brand licensing. While making its software open source, to launch open-source projects would be to build brand and the business may reserve the rights to the trademark and intel- reputation, based on which they may place themselves in a better lectual property associated with it. Other businesses that want position to sell their localization services to customers. to use the trademark will have to pay for that. When adopting this model, the tools’ owners might not care Q Competitive advantage seeker. In addition to generating that their competitors would use the tools as well. Competitors’ direct revenue from the secondary markets, gaining general use of the tools would be helpful in building their reputations, competitive advantage is an important motivation to a business and the benefi ts received by the owners would exceed what the in adopting open source. competitors might obtain. In addition to making the existing tools open, LSPs may also Motives for open-sourcing localization tools initialize open-source projects for the same purpose. Localization customers develop proprietary tools for improving the cost-effectiveness of their localization projects. As these First movers and challenges companies develop the tools for internal use, they might lack the Since localization tools are a niche market, many products drive for obtaining economic benefi t with these tools because the that are specifi c to the localization industry have a limited num- size of the market for localization tools is too small to become ber of potential users. Companies may have diffi culty increas- part of their business. Open-source development would help them ing the use value of open-source products to a level at which address the issue of resource constraints and improve the quality they can generate enough economic benefi t. At the same time, and functionality of tools. some software tools such as MT applications have many users The idea obviously doesn’t work with tools that are designed outside the localization industry. From the view of maximizing for unique needs. If the owner is the only user, no one else would use value, choosing this sort of product to open source would be interested in contributing. On the other hand, if the tools are have more promise of profi t if the purpose of the business is not common ones that have a number of potential users, the business just for general competitive advantage. may question whether the benefi ts are worth the cost since these Some questions face the open-source localization tool busi- tools are available to their competitors as well. ness, such as how to motivate more people from the localization The more a localization customer relies on external service industry to contribute when traditionally they separate them- providers and tool developers for localization, the less likely it is selves from each other in developing tools; how to attract more to launch open-source projects for localization tools. However, is participants from outside the localization industry when local- it possible for some of them to “donate” their legacy tools to the ization is not known by most of them; and how to maximize the open-source community so that the tools can be continuously use value while the size of the user base is relatively small. improved? Theoretically the answer is yes, but I know of no real- world cases so far. Conclusion Tool developers, as we know, mostly adopt the closed-source The open-source solution gives the localization industry an business model. In theory, open-source business models are fea- option for developing and using tools, and it extends the poten- sible for only certain types of localization tools. In MT software, tial players of tool development from traditional developers to a for example, a business may offer the software free but obtain larger group including both LSPs and localization customers. All revenue by selling language data (that is, a database of rules or potential players can fi nd one or more business models in which examples), populating the database or buying it from the devel- they may gain economic benefi ts from open-source development opers; helping users train, tune or improve the system for better activities. As a result, translation technology can be upgraded to handling content related to a specifi c industry; or customizing a higher level with joint efforts from global software and linguis- the products for integration with users’ existing systems. tic talents. A powerful tool will be created at a low deployment For many other localization tools, however, the number of cost due to its open-source nature. LSPs’ productivity can be potential users is limited. The developer must calculate carefully improved at no signifi cant cost increment. Customers will also whether the revenue obtained from supportive services may enjoy the benefi t of shortening time-to-market. An all-win situ- cover the cost of development and operation before open-sourc- ation will be the natural consequence. ing products. The “loser leaders” — the small or newly established Innovation is always a hot topic, although many innovations localization tool businesses — are more likely to choose open require a lengthy period, often years, from the time they become source for gaining general competitive advantage. available to the time they are widely adopted. But we have to For developers of desktop products such as TM translation act without delay. To those sitting on the innovation fence, tools, it is hard to gain enough revenue from support services business writer Gary Hamel has a dire prediction: “Out there in (these desktop-level tools require little support) or from sale of some garage is an entrepreneur who’s forging a bullet with your add-on products such as parsers for specifi c fi le formats. Again, company’s name on it. You’ve got one option now — to shoot however, the loser leaders would choose to open source their fi rst. You’ve got to out-innovate the innovators.” M

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52-54 Dickson.indd 54 4/5/06 4:39:49 PM 55 Business | Tools 4/6/064/6/06 6:18:25 PM 6:18:25 PM ict cations for the MultiLingual ce. In his presentation “Intercultural confl ed with a subordinate’s sales proposal, theed with a subordinate’s sales proposal, how supervisors might use direct or indirect communication to react to similar situations: “If a North American supervisor is unsatis- fi response will probably be explicit and direct: ‘I can’t accept this proposal as submitted, so A Korean come up with some better ideas.’ Individuals from different cultures often have different rhetori- Individuals from different cultures often are from both low-context and high-contextWhen coworkers are in a country inFor example, suppose some team members Directness and indirectness will also pose problems for the in- c customer to the organization, the exact specifi most challenging. Different cultures generally hold different values,most challenging. Different cultures generally own attitudes and whichwhich affect how individuals shape their in turn guide their communication behaviors. a pattern of com- cal expectations in communication. Accordingly, culture might not bemunication that works best for a particular For example, individuals may come from a effective for another. or high-context, or directculture that is predominantly low-context or indirect. cultures may be confusedcultures, team members from low-context is communicating.by the implicit way in which the other person conveyed clearlySuch individuals need background information from high-context cultures while their coworkers and explicitly, information. tend not to verbalize all of the background to be high-contextAsia — where many cultures are considered to Europe, which are generally understood — and some in Western may expect European coworker be low-context cultures. A Western considerable detail regarding, for example, the importance of a specifi customer’s deliverables, and precise timelines. The team member from Asia may communicate from the standpoint that such information is already known or understood or that certain words or phrases he or she has used already provide, through implication, the information the other team member needs. In such cases, it is best for both team members to discuss their expectations for the level of background information that is necessary to complete the project. ternational virtual offi patterns and intercultural training implications for Koreans,” Pro- Hee Choe of the University of Suwon, Korea, illustrates fessor Yun Lei Meng is a project manager at International Communication by Design. ce.” This environment ts, but presents unique challenges.

Communicating in the in Communicating office virtual international Lei Meng

ce to include coworkers from varied national from varied ce to include coworkers Online communication across continents hasOnline communication across Cultural factors Because the practice of information communi- Researcher Kirk St. Amant suggests that for reasons such as Individuals from different cultures usually speak different lan- Individuals from different cultures usually Problems that can hamper communication —Problems that can hamper communication productivity — in this setting and consequently, factors in fouroriginate, for the most part, from laws and regu- primary areas: linguistics, culture, lations, and technology. Linguistic factors offers benefi helped to change the traditional concept of thehelped to change the traditional offi resulting in theand cultural backgrounds, thus “international virtual offi uence the communication process, and the prob- www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 cation varies among cultures, cultural factors will infl lems that arise from cultural differences can be the

guages. This fact presents a basic challenge because informationguages. This fact presents a basic challenge through the useamong team members is communicated primarily and written language. Without a “universal language”of spoken that all team members can understand, communication cannot take place. Because it is becoming a global language, English is helping to bridge the communication gap, but linguistic factors will still present unique challenges for team members. limited access to good“limited access to native English speakers, teaching materials and effective and competent instructors, or the nature of a given educational system,” English-as-a-second-language (ESL) team members may not understand all of the “nuances and intricate uses of the language.” In addition, different dialects of English may cause misunderstanding about the information being conveyed. So, problems caused by linguistic factors still remain, even if all of the team members speak a “universal language” such as English. OO 55-5855-58 Meng LW with ad.indd 55 Meng LW with ad.indd 55 Business

supervisor, in the same situation, might diffi cult to determine which laws govern rapid exchange of information. Obsolete say, ‘While I have the highest regard for employee behavior and communication. technology, in particular, poses signifi cant your abilities, I regret to inform you that I According to St. Amant, this “fuzzy sit- problems. If an organization’s intranet am not completely satisfi ed with this pro- uation” poses specifi c problems regarding fails for one team member, the exchange posal. I must ask that you refl ect further copyrighted material and privacy issues. of information is delayed, including the and submit additional ideas on how to He indicates, for example, that if one team transfer of data to other team members for develop this sales program.’” member originates from a country having eventual distribution to the customer. In The individual from the indirect cul- a strict copyright law and another mem- addition, if coworkers do not have suffi - ture may feel uncomfortable if the team ber’s country of residence has more liberal cient knowledge of how to use e-mail, how member from the direct culture uses an copyright laws, potential legal problems to use fi le transfer programs to upload or imperative and direct tone. And because will arise if the colleague governed by the download fi les or how to encrypt impor- the team relies on computer-mediated and liberal law uses copyrighted material. Use tant data, communication is hindered or, often asynchronous communication, the of such material may be legal in that team worse, unsafe. problem is exacerbated as the speaker and member’s country but against the law in Network maturity can be of particular the receiver of the information will not be the colleague’s country. concern for team members in nations in a position to grasp the tone or see the Similarly, since two nations may not that are in the process of upgrading their facial expression of the other person. share the same laws and ethics on privacy, telecommunications infrastructures. Some confl icts and even legal sanctions can re- Eastern European nations that have re- Legal factors sult if one team member exposes the orga- cently joined the European Union, for Legal issues can also affect the quality nization by failing to protect information example, are in the process of enhancing of communication. Such issues are typi- deemed to be private according to the laws and expanding broadband access to work- cally complex since laws are often promul- of another team member’s country. ers and private citizens in those countries. gated based on cultural values and because While these nations are striving for parity few, if any, laws can be applied to every Technical factors of network availability and speed with culture. A complicating factor is that since Because the international virtual offi ce their Western European counterparts, some communication in the international virtual relies heavily on technology, communica- communication delays and differences in offi ce usually occurs electronically, borders tion cannot succeed if the technological processing time may still occur. become blurred. For this reason, it may be environment does not support the free and As an example, suppose that a team member (Bob), who works in a large North American branch of a global fi rm, is collaborating on a multimedia presentation with another team member (Mary), who is at the fi rm’s branch offi ce in Warsaw. Net- work outages can and certainly do occur in any geographic location at any time. Bob is also aware that in Mary’s location, WANT TO BE A HERO? the telecommunications infrastructure is being overhauled and that she may not be able to receive and send the large fi les that they need to exchange for their project. So, Mary and Bob distribute the work in TURN YOUR COMPANY’S TM DATABASE such a way that they can limit the size of any fi les that Mary will need to review. She will work on the text portions of the pre- INTO A PROFIT CENTER. sentation, and Bob will convert his large multimedia and graphics fi les to PDF format and compress the fi les before sending them to her for fi nal review. Bob will then assemble the fi les and take responsibility for delivering the fi nal product. As Mary’s network capabilities improve, she will keep Bob informed so that they can continually reassess their capabilities and optimize 208 265 9465 their project plan. Team members should be aware of US TOLL FREE 888 533 7886 such differences in the technology avail- THE TRANSLATION [email protected] able to their colleagues, and companies should work toward investing in the in- MEMORY BROKERS WWW.TMMARKETPLACE.COM frastructure to facilitate communication among coworkers.

56 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

55-58 Meng LW with ad.indd 56 4/6/06 6:18:38 PM Business

Proposed practices “Success in the International Virtual Of- behaviors of their coworkers. Employers Some basic policies can help organiza- fi ce” that this practice is essential not only can also offer to their employees training tions to address these issues, can increase in creating a positive fi rst impression but in the basic concepts of directness and productivity, can improve the fl ow of in- also in demonstrating commitment to the indirectness as well as low-context and formation among team members and can overall relationship. Team members will high-context cultures, especially if those help avoid personal confl icts and legal see that their colleagues value their con- employees will work in an international liability. tributions. Practicing tolerance — even if virtual team. Whenever possible, organi- Practice for linguistic aspects. Orga- one team member may not behave in a zations should make available an expert nizations can require team members to manner that is considered appropriate in on intercultural communication who can convert culturally specifi c wording into the culture of another — can help to avoid help workers resolve problems that may more general wording and to use a stan- compromising the business relationship. arise based on cultural differences. dard vocabulary so that the international Q Workers should acquire basic knowl- Practice for legal aspects. Legal fac- audience can easily understand the infor- edge about intercultural communication tors in international virtual offi ces are mation. Specifi c practices that can be put and their colleagues’ cultural backgrounds. complex but can be more easily resolved into place include: By knowing more about other cultures, if the organization adopts a “strictest law” Q Avoid culturally specifi c wording team members can adjust their behavior policy. This means that the company will such as idiomatic expressions and meta- to adapt and respond appropriately to the fi rst evaluate the national laws that govern phoric expressions that are, in St. Amant’s phrase, “linked to a particular cultural pattern of use.” Regardless of how fl u- ently an international coworker speaks English, it is unrealistic for that individual to know and stay current on all of the idiomatic or metaphoric expressions in the English language. Such expressions are largely culturally dependent, and understanding them requires that the individual have regular contact with the culture. Avoiding idiomatic and metaphoric expressions helps to preclude the possibility that the receiver of the information will skew the speaker’s intended meaning. Q Use standard, simple English in communication. Since many coworkers in the international virtual offi ce are ESL speakers who have been taught standard English grammar and usage, those team members may not know the nuances of the language. To help ensure that ESL speakers will not be confused by a particular expression, using simple words and standard sentence structure is recommended. For example, avoid using demonstrative pronouns such as this or that; use parallel structure when listing individual items; and avoid long or overly complex sentences. Q Attach glossaries to written materials when both the sender and receiver of the information are using written communication. An organization may also take the additional step of building a standard glossary for use by the team to explain terms, abbreviations and uncom- mon words so that the information can be communicated correctly. Practice for cultural aspects. Organiza- tions should consider implementing policies such as these for team members: Q Show respect for and appreciation of other cultures. St. Amant suggests in

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55-58 Meng LW with ad.indd 57 4/6/06 6:18:50 PM Business

behavior and communication of all team members. The company use of the technologies that work best in the online environment will then develop an internal policy that ensures that the strictest while saving technical support staff time in resolving the issues. laws among those examined govern the behavior of all team members — regardless of the country in which the employee works. Conclusion For example, the nation in which one team member works The success of communication in the international virtual of- may have a liberal copyright law, while strict copyright laws are fi ce is closely related to linguistic, cultural, legal and technical in force in the country in which another team member works. In factors. By being aware of these factors and proactively putting this case, the company’s internal policy should meet the expecta- policies in place to address them, companies can help increase tions of the nation with the strictest copyright law. their productivity and avoid communication problems, person- Practice for technical aspects. Obsolete technologies also nel confl icts and legal liability. Awareness of cultural differences pose problems for the international virtual offi ce. For this reason, and the willingness on the part of both the organization and its companies should pay close attention to the technical factors that employees to adapt are keys to success. M can impede communication among team members and be pre- References pared to invest in the infrastructure that will foster collaboration 1. St. Amant, Kirk. “Designing for Translation.” Internal graduate and productivity of team members. class course material. Texas Tech University. 2003. As Jim Suchan and Greg Hayzak suggested in a 2001 article 2. St. Amant, Kirk. “Legal and Ethical Aspects of Globalization.” in IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, “The Com- Internal graduate class course material. Texas Tech University. 2004. munication Characteristics of Virtual Teams: A Case Study,” 3. St. Amant, Kirk. “Chapter V: Success in the International Virtual companies need to invest in technologies and networks and re- Offi ce.” Telecommuting and Virtual Offi ces: Issues and Opportunities. cruit talented technical support staff so that the technologies are Ed. Nancy Johnson. Hershey, PA: Idea Group Publishing, 2001. 80-99 maintained at a level suffi cient to meet the work requirements 4. Suchan, Jim and Greg Hayzak. “The Communication Characteristics for all team members. In addition, technical problems should be of Virtual Teams: A Case Study.” IEEE Transactions on Professional resolved quickly and effi ciently by the technical support staff so Communication 44. 3 (2001): 174-186. that the communication among team members is not delayed. 5. Choe, Yun Hee. “Intercultural Confl ict Patterns and Intercultural If companies provide appropriate training to their employees, Training Implications for Koreans.” 2003. February 2006. http://segero including individual training, then team members can make full .hufs.ac.kr/library/iar/9-6.pdf

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58 | MultiLingual April/May 2006 [email protected]

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ToolsTech 4/5/064/5/06 4:41:55 PM 4:41:55 PM fth MultiLingual t the RFC 3066bis t the syntax above or icting assignments if or when nes each type of subtag according to its posi- nes each one came from in a bit), there is also just one table containing the values located in a single place. The IANA Language Subtag Registry still that subtags are tracks the ISO standards, except never withdrawn and there are clear rules for dealing with confl these arise. ve separate lists of codes (we’ll cover where the fi Language tags still consist of a sequence of “subtags” Language tags still consist of a sequence RFC 3066bis defi language tag is also As noted above, any valid RFC 3066 tags are “grandfathered” tags: these are The few exceptions a few The big difference with RFC 3066bis is that, excepting all of the new tags were valid to register under RFC 3066. under RFC 3066. all of the new tags were valid to register consisted of tags that Indeed, more than half the registry the time the new rules followed the RFC 3066bis structure by were adopted. between one and eight separated by hyphens. A subtag can be the ASCII letters and characters in length and is restricted to and 0-9). Uppercase and lowercase numbers (that is, a-z, A-Z “EN” is considered to be letters are not distinguished, so the tag or “eN.” the same as the tag “en” for these tags is showntion and size in the tag. The complete syntax list of tag types in RFC 3066bis” on the following page. in “A are now composed of a valid under the new scheme. Most tags syntax. sequence of subtags using the generative registered under RFC 3066 that don’t fi were obsolete before its adoption. Any existing content or software can thus continue to use these tags. There are 34 of these, of which eight are obsolete and ten more will be made obsolete in the near future. Four grandfathered tags fi pattern, but were not made redundant initially. grandfathered registrations, all tags are now generative. Because ISO code lists were not always free and because they change registry idea was to create a permanent, stable over time, a key for all of the subtags valid in a language tag. This means that instead of fi Addison P. Phillips is Phillips is P. Addison globalization architect with Quest Software. ers used in protocols c processing or formatting c

c language or set of languages.

Understanding the new the Understanding 2 tags, Part language Phillips P. Addison

Language tags are identifi In the last issue (#78) we considered the current design of In the last issue (#78) we considered the The resulting design works by placing additional restrictions Any implementation that could or document formats to indicate the natural lan- or document formats to indicate a user’s prefer- guage of the content or to express ence for a specifi a computer sys- Language tags can be used by tem to apply specifi For manner. to the text in a language sensitive be used to assist example, a language tag might which dic- in default font selection or to select tionary to use in the spell-checker. LL www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 language tags, which are broadly used to identify the language language tags, which are broadly used on the internet and in of content or the preferences of the users called BCP 47, had other computer technologies. This standard, and in the last install- its most recent incarnation as RFC 3066, ment we considered some of the problems that might need to be Registry addressed in the revision that the IETF’s Language Tag This working group completed last November. Update (LTRU) revision, called RFC 3066bis in this article, addresses those problems while trying to maintain strict compatibility with existing software and content. on the format of a language tag, that is, language tags cannot vary as widely under RFC 3066bis as they could under either Since only a few tags were actually registered, this predecessor. doesn’t impose a new burden on users or software. This means that any tag that was valid under RFC 3066 is still a valid RFC 3066bis tag, too. It is usually the right tag as well, that is, users usually will not choose a different tag today instead of the RFC 3066 tag of yesterday. handle the registered tags of RFC 3066 should be able to handle the tags generated by RFC 3066bis, since 59-6359-63 Tech Phillips #79.indd 59 Tech Phillips #79.indd 59 Tech

A Language-Tag consists of: respectively, while the language subtag en has a “Suppress- langtag ; generated tag Script” fi eld in the registry indicating that most English texts -or- private-use ; a private use tag are written in the Latin script, discouraging a tag such as -or- grandfathered ; grandfathered en-Latn-US. registrations Region. Region subtags we’ve also met. These are based mostly on ISO 3166-1 code and indicate the country or langtag = (language regional variation. The region code can also include selected ["-" script] UN M.49 region codes (this is the missing “fi fth” standard). ["-" region] UN M.49 codes cover larger areas of the earth or provide for *("-" variant) confl ict resolution should ISO 3166 reassign a code already in *("-" extension) the registry. In fact, ISO 3166 depends on UN M.49 to defi ne ["-" privateuse]) what is or is not a “country” or region worthy of a code. The region code can occur at most once — it may be omitted — and language = "en", "ale", or a registered must follow any language and script codes. For example, the value tag es-419 represents “Spanish as used in Latin America and the Caribbean” while es-CO represents “Spanish as used script = "Latn", "Cyrl", "Hant" in Columbia.” Variants. Variant subtags region = "US", "CS", "FR" ISO 3166 codes A critical point of are not based on an external standard. They are all individ- "419", "019", or UN M.49 codes debate was the ually registered values, mostly indicating particular dialects variant = "rozaj", "nedis", "1996", positioning of the or other language variations multiple subtags can be script subtag after not covered by scripts or used in a tag the language subtag regions. Multiple variant subtags can be included in a tag. extension = single letter followed by Each variant has fi elds in the additional subtags; more than but before the registry, though, indicating one extension may be used in region subtag. which subtags it is intended a language tag for use with. For example, the nedis subtag has a prefi x of sl (Slovenian) since it represents a private-use = "x-" followed by additional dialect of Slovenian. Variants shouldn’t be used together unless subtags, as many as are one variant lists the other in its “prefi x.” For example, the tag required sl-IT-nedis identifi es the Nadiza dialect of Slovenian as Note that these can start a used in Italy. tag or appear at the end Extensions. Extensions are a mechanism whereby future (but not in the middle) additions to language tags can be standardized. Each extension has a single character subtag (a singleton) that identifi es grandfathered = tags listed in the old registry it. Various restrictions apply to extensions and how they are that are not otherwise formed, used and administered. Extensions form the basis for redundant(a closed list) future addition of features to language tags. Private use. Private use subtags are not based on any A list of tag types in RFC 3066bis. standard at all. They are for use by individuals or groups Each type of subtag has unique length and content restric- that need to identify something language related that might tions. The tag always begins with a language subtag — either not rise to the level of standardization. RFC 3066 included one of the ISO 639 codes or a registered value. It can then, private use tags, but the whole tag was private use (this is optionally, be followed by various subtags. Today there are fi ve still valid, of course). Now private use and generative subtags kinds of subtags that follow the language identifi er: scripts, can be used together. The single-letter subtag x identifi es regions, variants, extensions and private use. The order, length where the private use subtags begin. For example, en-US- and content of each subtag type are fi xed, so a tag processor x-twain might identify writing by Mark Twain between two can always identify exactly which type of subtag it has, even if colleagues studying American literature. One benefi t of this the processor doesn’t have that subtag in its copy of the registry ability to mix the two is that vendors who extend language or has no copy of the registry at all. tags for proprietary reasons in the future can do so while Script. Script subtags we’ve already met. These are based preserving the maximum amount of interoperability between on ISO 15924 and indicate the writing system. The script sub- their system and others. tag can occur at most once — it may be omitted — and must The new tag syntax uses length and content to distinguish appear directly after the language. Some languages have a each type of subtag, making it easier than ever to validate the fi eld in the registry indicating that a particular script code contents of a tag, even without a copy of the registry. The table should be “suppressed.” For example, zh-Hant and zh-Hans “Examples of new tag syntax” shows a number of examples of represent Chinese written in Traditional and Simplifi ed scripts the new tags.

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On the other hand, script is usually more closely associated Tag Form Meaning with language than regional variations are. Prefi x matching en language English produces more sensible results when the script subtag is closer de-AT language-region German as used in Austria to the language subtag than the region is. In order to work, users who require script subtags must use or omit them in a es-419 language-region Spanish as used in Central consistent fashion, in both their requests and their content. (UN M.49) and South America Another problem was the ambiguity of RFC 3066 regarding the de-CH-1901 language-region- German as used in generative syntax. The idea of “language-dash-region” language variant Switzerland, orthography tags was easy enough to grasp; most users didn’t read RFC 3066 of 1901 directly or consider the unstated-but-realized implication that sr-Cyrl language-script Serbian as written in other subtags might sometimes occur in the second position. Cyrillic Ultimately it was decided that the closer relationship between sr-Cyrl-CS language-script- Serbian as written in script and language made the second position a better choice region Cyrillic as used in Serbia than artifi cially placing it last. This decision was partially and Montenegro guided by the recognition that another type of subtag might be sl-Latn-IT-rozaj language-script- Slovenian as written in necessary in the future (which we’ll get to later). region-variant Latin as used in Italy, In addition to the subtags themselves, the new subtag registry Resian dialect contains information to help users select the best combination to identify a particular language. Critical to the acceptance of the Examples of new tag syntax. position of the script subtag was the inclusion of information The great script debate in the registry to make clear the need to avoid script subtags A critical point of debate during the development of the new except where they add useful distinguishing information. Thus, language tags was the positioning of the script subtag after the the registry entry for the language subtag en (English) has a language subtag but before the region subtag. As noted earlier, fi eld called “Suppress-Script” indicating that the script subtag nothing in RFC 1766 or RFC 3066 guaranteed that the region Latn should be avoided with that language, since virtually all subtag would appear in the second position and, prior to 2003, English documents use the Latin script. when this effort started, no registered tags existed that would Note that this doesn’t mean that en-Latn tags will never be clarify whether it was valid to assume that the region code, if used. There are cases where the script will provide information it existed, would always appear second. It was quite clear that that distinguishes content. For example, a document that con- other values, such as script, could appear second. tains both Latin script and Braille might need to distinguish the Some people felt that putting scripts into the second position two forms. However, these are unusual cases, and the exception presented some problems. In particular, some feared that the script will be sensible and even obvious in those cases. subtag would interfere with common language selection or lan- In any case, for virtually any content that does not use a guage negotiation mechanisms. These mechanisms, such as the one script subtag today, it remains the best practice not to use one described in RFC 2616 (HTTP 1.1), use a prefi x called a “language in the future. Languages that do use more than one script or range” which is specifi ed by the user in order to select content. are undergoing a script transition — such as those listed above This form of matching assumes that the user’s preference — can and should benefi t from identifying content using script “matches” a piece of content if the user’s language tag is a subtags. Just over a year from its registration, a quick look at prefi x for that of the content. This selection mechanism relies a search engine shows over 8,000 pages in Simplifi ed Chinese on the assumption that languages which share a prefi x are usu- mentioning the tag zh-Hans alone. The generative syntax will ally “mutually intelligible.” (Note that this assumption is often greatly assist the use and acceptance of script subtags for lan- wrong.) Here are some examples of prefi x matching: guages that need them.

Language Does The IANA Language Subtag Registry Range Matches not match The new IANA Language Subtag Registry contains the information about each subtag which is valid for use in a language de de, de-CH, de-AT, de-DE, en, fr-CH de-1901, de-AT-1901 tag. The registry is a text fi le in a special, machine-readable, format called “record-jar.” Each subtag has its own record, con- de-CH de-CH, de-CH-1901, de, de-DE, de-1901, sisting of several lines of text, which identifi es the subtags, their de-CH-1996 de-AT, etc. use, and some information useful in selecting which subtags are zh-TW zh-TW zh-Hant-TW, right for specifi c circumstances. zh-Hans-TW Here are some examples of some “language” subtag records: zh-Hant zh-Hant, zh-Hant-TW, zh, zh-Hans, zh-TW zh-Hant-HK %% Type: language Inserting the script subtag between language and region Subtag: cs might have a negative effect on existing user requests or on Description: Czech content that doesn’t use a script subtag. Instead of the expected Added: 2005-10-16 match, the user might receive no content or a less accurate Suppress-Script: Latn match. This is shown by the last example above. %%

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Type: language Other fi elds that can appear include a removed, and there are rules to prevent the Subtag: cu “Deprecated” fi eld that shows a date on meaning of a subtag from being “mutated” Description: Church Slavic which a particular code was deprecated. to mean something completely different. Description: Old Slavonic This almost always appears with another The fi le itself contains a “File-Date” Description: Church record, showing the last time the registry Slavonic Some languages exhibit was updated. Combined with the various Description: Old Bulgarian date fi elds in the records themselves, it Description: Old Church long-lived, stable, is possible to validate any particular tag Slavonic well-described variations or its subtags for any given date, past or Added: 2005-10-16 present. %% that are not particularly Type: language well-described by Work remaining Subtag: cv Matching. RFC 3066bis actually con- Description: Chuvash national boundaries. sists of three parts. First, there is the Added: 2005-10-16 document that describes the syntax of %% fi eld called “Preferred-Value,” which indi- language tags and the registry, as well cates a more appropriate subtag to use for as how language tags are maintained Each record contains the subtag that value. For example, the code “TP” and so forth. This document is an Inter- itself, its type (“language,” in this case), was deprecated by ISO 3166 when that net-Draft called “draft-ietf-ltru-regis- a description or set of descriptions, and country changed its administration and try-14” and is about 62 pages long. the date that the record was added to the name in 2002: Then there is the initial contents of the registry. All of the initial records have %% IANA Language Subtag Registry, which, the date 2005-10-16 as shown above. Type: region confusingly, is contained in an Internet- Additional information is sometimes Subtag: TP Draft called “draft-ietf-ltru-initial-05.” available. For example, in the record for Description: East Timor This document was edited and main- the Czech language (cs) above, you’ll Added: 2005-10-16 tained by Doug Ewell. notice a fi eld called “Suppress-Script.” Preferred-Value: TL The last piece of the puzzle is an This fi eld indicates that most texts in Deprecated: 2002-11-15 Internet-Draft on matching of language Czech are written in the Latin script and %% tags. This document was being worked that the Latn script code is inappropri- on at the time this was written, and its ate for most language tags identifying The registration process can still be used then current name was “draft-ietf-ltru- content in Czech. That is, a tag such as to add information to or update informa- matching-08.” The IETF website hosts cs-CZ is recommended, while a tag such tion about specifi c records, as well as add- all of these documents, or you can fi nd as cs-Latn-CZ is strongly discouraged. ing entire new subtags. Records cannot be them all listed on my personal website (www.inter-locale.com). Matching, as noted earlier, is fairly well understood in its simplest, “prefi x matching” form, which is described above in the section on scripts. However, there are some intriguing applications for RFC 3066bis style tags in matching, as well as some well-known matching schemes that were not well documented in RFC 3066. This work should go to Last Call by the time you are reading this. ISO 639-3 and macro languages. Despite the changes in how language tags are formed and maintained, a few cases remain which the new design does not fully address. A notable problem is that of identifying variations of a language or within family of languages. While variant or region subtags are often useful for this purpose, some languages exhibit long- lived, stable, well-described variations that are not particularly well-described by national boundaries. In addition, ISO 639 has occasionally assigned codes to “macro-languages,” which are language

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families that contain a number Tag Meaning are enclosed by which Macro of recognizably related (but not Languages. Thus, Mandarin Chi- necessarily mutually intelligible) zh-cmn Mandarin Chinese nese (a spoken variation) will be languages. zh-cmn-Hant Mandarin Chinese as written in Traditional script identifi ed by the ISO 639-3 code An excellent example is once zh-cmn-Hans Mandarin Chinese, Simplifi ed script cmn and rules will require that again Chinese. The ISO 639-1 code, when used as a subtag, code zh identifi es “Chinese,” but zh-cmn-Hant-HK Mandarin Chinese, Traditional script, to always appear with its mac- the concept of Chinese encloses a as used in Hong Kong SAR rolanguage zh (Chinese). This number of distinct languages or zh-cmn-Hans-CN Mandarin Chinese, will fi nally make it possible to dialects that share certain traits. Simplifi ed script, as used in China tag Chinese content accurately While these languages are writ- zh-gan Gan Chinese in all dimensions, as in “Chinese ten very similarly (making tags language tags today.” zh-hak Hakka Chinese such as zh-Hant and zh-Hans There are about forty different useful), spoken content is very zh-yue Yue Chinese (Cantonese) languages other than Chinese different indeed. And, again, zh-hsn Xiang Chinese that are defi ned as Macro Lan- the available regional options guages in the prototype for ISO are poor proxies for the spoken zh-yue-Hant-HK Cantonese, Traditional script, Hong Kong SAR 639-3. Most of these are minority dialects (many of which are Chinese language tags today. languages, and it is possible that confi ned to mainland China). the ability to accurately identify RFC 3066bis provides part of the solution to this conundrum these language variations in content may have an impact on their by reserving space for yet another kind of specialized subtag, preservation amongst the living languages. called an “extended language subtag.” These are three-letter In any case, extended language subtags are already fully codes that follow the primary language subtag but occur before specifi ed and are merely waiting for ISO 639-3 to fi nally be offi - the script subtag. There are very clear rules for when one of these cial and complete before being included in the list of language subtags can be used (they must be used only with the specifi ed subtags. Note that implementers merely need to update their copy prefi x), and it is anticipated that a very small revision to RFC of the registry when ISO 639-3 is added, as long as they have fol- 3066bis will take place in mid-2006 to make these available. lowed the implementation requirements already in RFC 3066bis. “If the requirements for these codes exist now and we know what they are, why weren’t the codes just incorporated into RFC Conclusion 3066bis?" one might ask. The reason for the delay is that the basis The new version of BCP 47 provides the ability to accurately for defi ning the extended language subtags is expected to be ISO tag or request content using stable, well-defi ned tags. These 639-3. Just as ISO 639-2 is a superset of ISO 639-1, ISO 639-3 tags address a number of long-standing problems with language defi nes an even larger set of language codes, based originally on identifi cation, leading, hopefully, to richer language-aware fea- the codes in the SIL Ethnologue (SIL, in fact, is the “Registration tures in our software and better support for language in our Authority” for ISO 639-3, that is, the folks who will maintain the documents. Understanding these tags and their format will help code list in the future). ISO 639-3 also defi nes which languages users adopt them and use them wisely and consistently. M

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59-63 Tech Phillips #79.indd 63 4/5/06 4:43:06 PM 47 ehHl at223id 64 223.indd 2 part Hall Tech 64-70 Tech Hallpart2223.indd 64 64 code colors the 2.0 labeled rows blue in code colorsthe2.0labeledrows bluein or isnewin.NET2.0.Aroutine inthe to whetherapropertyisfrom.NET 1.1 “2.0” intothecommentfi erties. Ialsoenterthestrings“1.1”or include descriptionsofthenewprop- vantageous asitmakes iteasytoidentifythenewadditions. old. Ofcourse,thenewoneslackdescriptions,butthatis ad- 2.0. Whenexecuted, thenewpropertiesappearalongwith fi works equallywellforconstructors,methodsand generated byrefl corresponding propertyname(leftcolumn),itself string thatreturnseachdescriptionissimplythe But thatwouldbequitealotofwork.)Theaccess information wouldbeaccessibleprogrammatically. provide descriptionsasattributes.Then,eventhat of theproperties.(Itwouldbeniceif.NETcould .NET .resx(resource)fi the UnitedStates.To enhancethedisplay, Iadda shows the1.1propertiesofa properties, methodsorfi under .NET1.1thatappliesrefl ization classes.IstartfromasimpleWindowsformcompiled in trackingdownnew.NET2.0featurestheexistingglobal- .NET isapowerfultoolwithmanyuses.Itespeciallyhelpful | T elds. Next,Iporttheapplication’scode to.NET MultiLingual

Finally, Iextendtheresourcefi I mentionedinthefi Using reflectiontofindnewfeatures copy. (See read Part 1,youwillfi original .NET1.1classes.Ifyouhavenotyet features foundin.NET2.0thatarenewtothe enumerations inMicrosoft.NET. HereIcover updates totheinternationalizationclassesand Tech This isthesecondofaseriesdiscussingrecent Bill Hall Globalization namespace,Part2 What’s newinthe.NET pi/a 06 [email protected] April/May2006 MultiLingual ection code.Thesametechnique rst articleinthis seriesthatrefl le containing descriptions eld according elds ofaclass.Figure1,forexample, RegionInfo ection tothelistofconstructors, le to le to nd ithelpfultohavea #78,March2006). ternationalization. Heisauthor objectinstantiatedfor of speaker andconsultantonin- the Microsoft.NETPlatform. Globalization Handbookfor Bill Hallisawriter, teacher, in preparation. parts areavailable;thelastis based onversion1.1.Three though theyarecurrently .com/monographs, even books atwww.multilingual you canrefertomyonline .NET globalizationfeatures, For amoreextensivelookat ection in see immediatelythat the application(Figure2)asrefl class. Ifyouwanttogeneratevaluesforaparticularinstance, methods, fi As forrefl elds orconstructorsrequiresonlythe Figure 1: ection itself,toenumeratealistofproperties, accessing commentsina.NETresourcefi .NET .resxfi to-use meansforreadingthecommentfi who helpedmetodeviseaneffi thanks toYves Savourelof ENLASOCorporation, I stillhadtoprovidedescriptions.Myheartfelt created someusefulteachingexamples.Ofcourse, globalization classes,savedmuchsearchtime,and name fortheregion,andaGeoidentifi and nativenamesforthecurrency, alocalized I followed the same approach for the existing I followedthesameapproachforexisting RegionInfo part ofthisseries. covered herewillbediscussed inthenext has beenaddedin.NET2.0. The onesnot of theother1.1classesandfi For now, let’sgetonwithalook atsome come backtothe you alsoneedaninstantiatedobject.I’ll RegionInfo les. Ididnotfi ection loadstheinformation.You in .NET 2.0 now provides English in.NET2.0nowprovidesEnglish propertiesin.NET1.1. RegionInfo nd a direct method for nd adirectmethodfor cient andeasy- nd outwhat classlater. Type er. le. ofthe elds in in elds //644:8PM 4:43:48 4/5/06 4:43:48 PM Tech

Figure 2: RegionInfo properties in .NET 2.0, Figure 3: Month view of the Taiwan Era Calendar. An ported from .NET 1.1. The region is India. exception occurred for exceeding its minimum range. Calendar available calendars and exercises the new features except for the The .NET 1.1 calendars inherit from the abstract Calendar less exciting Clone, ReadOnly and IsReadOnly. In another part of class. Table 1 shows the new features that have been added this series, you’ll see a set of similar results for the new calendars for .NET 2.0. Fields and constructors remain the same. Some of .NET 2.0, including the interesting Far East lunisolar types and of the additions — Clone and ReadOnly, for example — seem to two additional Islamic calendars, one lunar and one solar. be oversights in the previous .NET version. Unfortunately, still As you roam through the output of Figure 4, compare the missing are friendly names for each calendar. It would be much Gregorian date at top left with the equivalent ones of the other nicer to have understandable and localized names, especially calendars. Note in particular the year and month and whether it when presenting a selection of calendars. Note that calendars is a leap year. Also check the number of months. For example, affect the format and content of date expressions as well as the Hebrew calendar for the selected year has 13 months; the providing means for calculating date information in other eras. seventh is the leap month. The chosen year is not a leap year for In some cases, a user may want to be able to choose a particular the Gregorian calendar, but, if so, then those calendars that are calendar rather than accept the default calendar. essentially Gregorian in behavior (even though they have different start eras) also have leap years. Included in this group are Properties Description the KoreanCalendar, JapaneseCalendar, ThaiBuddhistCalendar and AlgorithmType Gets a value indicating whether the TaiwanCalendar. the current calendar is solar- based, lunar-based, or a CompareInfo combination of both (lunisolar) CompareInfo has one new property and one new method (Ta- IsReadOnly Calendar is read-only ble 2). The Name property is simply the .NET RFC 1766 identifi er used to instantiate a CultureInfo object. In .NET 1.1, CompareInfo MaxSupportedDateTime Latest date and time supported has only an LCID property. Both Name and LCID are read-only. by the calendar IsSortable has been added to ensure that a string or single MinSupportedDateTime Earliest date and time supported character to be compared contains content recognized by the by the calendar SortKey class. SortKey itself is an adjunct to CompareInfo, and Methods Description the actual comparison operation occurs there. Clone Creates a copy of a Calendar Property Description object. Name The name of the culture identifi er used for sorting GetLeapMonth (Overloaded) Calculates the leap operations by the CompareInfo object. The identifi er is month for a specifi ed month and an RFC 1766 identifi er. year or month, year, and era. ReadOnly (Static) Makes the object read Method Description only. IsSortable (Overloaded for Char and String.) A string is sortable if each Unicode element is part of a CompareInfo sort Table 1: New features of the .NET 1.1 Calendar classes. table and is not reserved, for private use, or a high or Among the new properties, I found the MinSupportedDate- low surrogate. Time and MaxSupportedDateTime to be quite useful. Previously, Table 2: New features of CompareInfo. the only indication that you had exceeded the range of a calendar came through exception handling (Figure 3). This example was An instance of CultureInfo contains a single, suitably instantiated written for Part III of my monograph. CompareInfo object as a property. But about a dozen .NET cultures Let’s look at some of the new features in action using the .NET actually have more than one way to sort strings. Known as optional 1.1 calendars, but running in .NET 2.0, of course. For this pur- sorts, they have long been a part of Windows, can be enumerated pose, I created a console application that runs through each of the there, and have been available in .NET from its beginning. However,

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New Calendar Properties and Methods Test date: Tuesday, February 01, 2005 Calendar: System.Globalization Calendar: System.Globalization .GregorianCalendar .HebrewCalendar AlgorithmType: SolarCalendar AlgorithmType: LunisolarCalendar IsReadOnly: False IsReadOnly: False MinSupportedDateTime: MinSupportedDateTime: 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM 1/1/1583 12:00:00 AM MaxSupportedDateTime: MaxSupportedDateTime: 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM 9/29/2239 11:59:59 PM Months in year: 12 Months in year: 13 Is Leap Year: False Is Leap Year: True Calendar’s Date: 2005-02-01 Calendar’s Date: 5765-05-22 LeapMonth: 0 LeapMonth: 7 Calendar: System.Globalization Calendar: System.Globalization .HijriCalendar .JapaneseCalendar AlgorithmType: LunarCalendar AlgorithmType: SolarCalendar IsReadOnly: False IsReadOnly: False MinSupportedDateTime: MinSupportedDateTime: 7/18/0622 12:00:00 AM 9/8/1868 12:00:00 AM MaxSupportedDateTime: MaxSupportedDateTime: 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM Figure 5: Alternate sort for Japanese. Months in year: 12 Months in year: 12 Is Leap Year: False Is Leap Year: False the alternate sorts are more diffi cult to use in .NET 1.1. You are not Calendar’s Date: 1425-12-22 Calendar’s Date: 0017-02-01 likely to remember their LCIDs, and you cannot enumerate them LeapMonth: 0 LeapMonth: 0 conveniently (although you can do so inconveniently). Calendar: System.Globalization Calendar: System.Globalization In .NET 2.0, Microsoft has taken a half-step toward making .JulianCalendar .KoreanCalendar their use simpler. Since a Name property is now part of the AlgorithmType: SolarCalendar AlgorithmType: SolarCalendar class, there is also a corresponding RFC 1766 identifi er for each IsReadOnly: False IsReadOnly: False alternate sort, although you have to fi gure them out yourself. MinSupportedDateTime: MinSupportedDateTime: Although .NET 2.0 documentation carries over the table of al- 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM ternate sorts from 1.1, the corresponding RFC 1766 identifi ers MaxSupportedDateTime: MaxSupportedDateTime: 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM are not listed except for the DIN 5005 German phonebook sort, Months in year: 12 Months in year: 12 mentioned in a code example. You can, however, discover the Is Leap Year: False Is Leap Year: False values by creating cultures with the alternate sort LCIDs and Calendar’s Date: 2005-01-19 Calendar’s Date: 4338-02-01 then retrieving the values of the corresponding Name prop- LeapMonth: 0 LeapMonth: 0 erty. Or you can consult this paper (See Table 3). You can Calendar: System.Globalization Calendar: System.Globalization then use that identifi er to instantiate a CultureInfo object that .TaiwanCalendar .ThaiBuddhistCalendar references the CompareInfo object providing the alternate sort. AlgorithmType: SolarCalendar AlgorithmType: SolarCalendar Even though the RFC 1766 alternate sort identifi ers are not IsReadOnly: False IsReadOnly: False entirely easy to remember, they are simpler to learn than 20 MinSupportedDateTime: MinSupportedDateTime: bits of hex values. 1/1/1912 12:00:00 AM 1/1/0001 12:00:00 AM MaxSupportedDateTime: MaxSupportedDateTime: Alternate Sorts LCID Name (2.0) 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM 12/31/9999 11:59:59 PM Chinese (Hong Kong S.A.R.) 0x00020C04 zh-HK_stroke Months in year: 12 Months in year: 12 Is Leap Year: False Is Leap Year: False Chinese (Macao S.A.R.) 0x00021404 zh-MO_stroke Calendar’s Date: 0094-02-01 Calendar’s Date: 2548-02-01 Chinese (PRC) 0x00020804 zh-CN_pronun LeapMonth: 0 LeapMonth: 0 Chinese (Singapore) 0x00021004 zh-SG_stroke Figure 4: Some new 2.0 properties and methods for the .NET 1.1 Calendar classes. Chinese (Taiwan) 0x00030404 zh-TW_pronun Figure 5 shows an alternate sort in action. Many interesting Georgian (Georgia) 0x00010437 ka-GE_tradnl examples can be illustrated with this program. For example, I German (Germany) 0x00010407 de-DE_phoneb can demonstrate two different ways of comparing Japanese: one is Go-Juu-On, a sort based on an equivalent sound rep- Hungarian (Hungary) 0x0001040E hu-HU_technl resentation of Kanji characters; the other is derived from CJK Japanese (Japan) 0x00010411 ja-JP_unicod Unicode order. (The sorting of Japanese is more complex than Korean (Korea) 0x00010412 ko-KR_unicod my simplistic explanation provides.) The phonetic ordering of the two characters for one (ୌ) and Asia (ல) puts the latter fi rst. Spanish (Spain) 0x0000040A es-ES_tradnl However, if I change the sort to Unicode, the alternate sort, Table 3: Alternate sorts with Name property for .NET 2.0. then, as seen in the fi gure, the comparison is reversed.

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Many other interesting ex- Properties Description CultureInfo amples can be explored using CultureInfo has several inter- the program, including ordinary IetfLanguageTag Gets or sets a culture name from the esting new methods and proper- sorts as well as traditional sort- RFC 3066(bis) standard ties, some of which are infl uenced ing in Spanish, Hungarian tech- KeyboardLayoutId Gets the active input locale identifi er by the newer RFC 3066 standard nical sort, German DIN 5005 for (usually a keyboard layout name) (Table 4). For example, if you pre- handling personal names and CultureTypes Provides the applicable members of fer working with RFC 3066 (bis) so on. You can also see how the the CultureTypes enumeration rather than RFC 1766 identifi ers, SortKey class works. The origi- use the IetfLanguageTag property nal strings are reduced (using Methods Description (IETF is the Internet Engineering proprietary algorithms) to a se- GetConsoleFallbackUICulture Gets an alternate user interface Task Force) to create a CultureInfo quence of bytes — here shown in culture suitable for console object using this identifi er (see the hex — and the resulting arrays applications where the default last entry in the table). This usage are then compared in ordinal graphic user interface is unsuitable may become more popular over order to obtain the classic result GetCultureInfo(Int32) (Static) Gets a cached, read-only time since the RFC 1766 standard of less than, equal to or greater instance of a culture using the LCID itself has been offi cially “obso- than zero. identifi er leted” according to the RFC 3066 I said that Microsoft took a GetCultureInfo(name) (Static) Gets a cached, read-only document from the IETF. half-step toward handing mul- instance of a culture using an RFC You can also read the key- tiple comparison objects for the 1766 identifi er board identifi er appropriate same culture. Why not apply GetCultureInfo(name, (Static) Gets a cached, read-only for the culture — information the same techniques used for altName) instance of a culture using the that has long been available providing alternate calendars? culture name and with TextInfo and in Win32 (GetKeyboardLayout- Many cultures have more than CompareInfo objects from another Name). Also note that you can one Calendar object. In .NET 2.0 culture retrieve a more suitable fallback you can fi nd as many as seven GetCultureInfo- (Static) Retrieves a cached, read- culture if you are working with for some cultures, and they are ByletfLanguageTag only instance of a culture using the a console application that has easily accessible from the Op- specifi ed RFC 3066(bis) culture name problems rendering the charac- tionalCalendars property of ters you are trying to display. CultureInfo. Would it not be pos- Table 4: New features of CultureInfo. Note: You can already use sible to manage the alternate Com- UTF-8 as a code page, but unfortu- pareInfo objects in the same way by nately, the font support remains very providing an OptionalSorts property limited. However, .NET 2.0 has added in CultureInfo? an easy-to-use method for altering Another approach for making the the console output code page. For alternate sorts more accessible is to example, to change to UTF-8, the create custom cultures and register code line Console.Output En- them so they can be enumerated in coding = Encoding.UTF8 suf- a list of cultures. Of course, this refi ces. By redirecting the output of quires that you do the work. In a later the program to a text fi le and then part of this series, I hope to show you opening it with Notepad or Word- how this might be done using the Pad, you can see the Unicode output. CultureAndRegionInfoBuilder class of You can try the supported code page .NET 2.0. encodings as well (test with the com- Finally, to test IsSortable, I cre- Figure 6: Testing IsSortable in CompareInfo. mand chcp code_page_number) ated two Unicode strings in diverse to view the output directly if the scripts — Japanese and Russian, Japanese and Hindi. As you can console font is rich enough. English versions of Windows sup- see, the strings were recognized as sortable. However, in the last port a wide range of Windows and console European code pag- string — a composite of Latin elements U+0041+U+0300+U+ es and scripts including Czech and Polish (1250, 852), Greek 0042+U+0043 — which is sortable, I added a UTF-16 element (1253, 869), Russian and Bulgarian (1251, 855, 866) and so on. U+0900, currently a reserved Unicode code point, at the end of And if you don’t mind playing with the system locale, you can the string. If you omit the character U+0900, the string is sortable coax out Japanese and other Far East scripts in the console. even though it contains a character A + combining grave accent The several static methods for getting a cached read-only that is not encoded in Unicode but was created using combining CultureInfo object are noted in the new documentation as being elements. Similarly, the Hindi glyphs in the string are as likely as much more effi cient than creating a new one using a construc- not to have a particular glyph that is in 1:1 correspondence to a tor. Note that using a cached, read-only object is useful when single UTF-16 element. Many Hindi letters are actually produced changing the thread or UI culture. You avoid the overhead of from composites of UTF-16 elements. The string object accepts creating a new constructor. the value. However, as seen by the response (Figure 6), the result The static methods also work with the alternate sort RFC is not sortable (as expected). 1766 identifi ers. You should read the details if you plan to use

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them, especially if you are concerned about the nature of the two scripts for the same language. Note that in the RFC 1766 cached data. Remember that the constructor is overloaded so identifi er the script tag follows the region component, whereas you can retrieve different kinds of cached data. in RFC 3066 it follows the language component. The latter Two of the static methods provide for obtaining a particu- does seem to be more intuitive, especially in dealing with .NET lar read-only culture — by an RFC 1766 identifi er or an LCID Parent (language only) cultures — ones that contain no region- — and you can also retrieve a hybrid culture with TextInfo and specifi c information. Unlike Java and some other systems, a CompareInfo objects from another culture. This latter and seem- .NET language-only CultureInfo object does not have an as- ingly peculiar method might be useful when developing a cus- sociated default region. tom culture. In .NET 2.0, you can create custom CultureInfo Other items to observe are the keyboard identifi ers and and RegionInfo classes from existing objects, but you cannot some new CultureTypes, now a property of CultureInfo and modify the CompareInfo and TextInfo properties. Microsoft is previously described in Part 1 of this series. Admittedly, some currently reluctant to reveal how it manages string comparison, of the combination cultures don’t make sense — combining and that information is not available for customizations. Hence Chinese with a US sort, for example — but I did want to test any custom culture you build can be somewhat handicapped the possibilities. in performing culturally correct string comparisons if you cannot provide a corresponding customized CompareInfo object. RegionInfo However, you can always try to get something reasonable by Finally, let’s look back at RegionInfo again, this time for its combining two cultures that taken together will represent your new features in .NET 2.0. As mentioned, four properties have effort. I will test this possibility in a later part of this series. been added (Figure 2) along with a new constructor that accepts To illustrate some of the new features of CultureInfo, I RFC 1766 identifi ers. Being able to use the latter is an improve- wrote a console program that runs through all the .NET cul- ment since it is not always easy to remember or extract the ISO tures selecting only those where the RFC 1766 and the RFC 3166 country codes. However, which of the two you choose af- 3066 identifi ers differ. In this way, you can get a glimpse of a fects the class’s Name property. bit of the philosophy behind the RFC 3066 effort. For example, It is curious that .NET 1.1 did not have the fi rst, second and look at Azeri, Uzbek and Serbian (Figure 7) where you have last properties since they have been part of Windows for a long

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Chinese (Simplified) Azeri (Cyrillic, Azerbaijan) Rfc 1766 Id: zh-CHS Rfc 1766 Id: az-AZ-Cyrl Rfc 3066 Id: zh-Hans Rfc 3066 Id: az-Cyrl-AZ Console Fallback UI Culture: zh-CHS Console Fallback UI Culture: az-AZ-Cyrl LCID 0x00000004 LCID 0x0000082C Keyboard Layout Id: 0x00000804 Keyboard Layout Id: 0x0000082C CultureTypes: NeutralCultures, FrameworkCultures CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures 0x00000004, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: 0x0000082C, Read Only: True zh-CHS, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and az-AZ-Cyrl, Read Only: True CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and CultureInfo Name: zh-CHS, TextInfo Name: CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US CultureInfo Name: az-AZ-Cyrl, TextInfo Name: en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US Azeri (Latin, Azerbaijan) Rfc 1766 Id: az-AZ-Latn Uzbek (Cyrillic, Uzbekistan) Rfc 3066 Id: az-Latn-AZ Rfc 1766 Id: uz-UZ-Cyrl Console Fallback UI Culture: az-AZ-Latn Rfc 3066 Id: uz-Cyrl-UZ LCID 0x0000042C Console Fallback UI Culture: uz-UZ-Cyrl Keyboard Layout Id: 0x0000042C LCID 0x00000843 CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, Keyboard Layout Id: 0x00000843 InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures 0x0000042C, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: 0x00000843, Read Only: True az-AZ-Latn, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and uz-UZ-Cyrl, Read Only: True CompareInfo from another culture, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and CultureInfo Name: az-AZ-Latn, TextInfo Name: CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US CultureInfo Name: uz-UZ-Cyrl, TextInfo Name: en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US Uzbek (Latin, Uzbekistan) Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia and Montenegro) Rfc 1766 Id: uz-UZ-Latn Rfc 1766 Id: sr-SP-Cyrl Rfc 3066 Id: uz-Latn-UZ Rfc 3066 Id: sr-Cyrl-SP Console Fallback UI Culture: uz-UZ-Latn Console Fallback UI Culture: sr-SP-Cyrl LCID 0x00000443 LCID 0x00000C1A Keyboard Layout Id: 0x00000443 Keyboard Layout Id: 0x00000C1A CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: 0x00000443, Read Only: True 0x00000C1A, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: uz-UZ-Latn, Read Only: True sr-SP-Cyrl, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True CultureInfo Name: uz-UZ-Latn, TextInfo Name: CultureInfo Name: sr-SP-Cyrl, TextInfo Name: en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US

Serbian (Latin, Serbia and Montenegro) English (Caribbean) Rfc 1766 Id: sr-SP-Latn Rfc 1766 Id: en-CB Rfc 3066 Id: sr-Latn-SP Rfc 3066 Id: en-029 Console Fallback UI Culture: sr-SP-Latn Console Fallback UI Culture: en-CB LCID 0x0000081A LCID 0x00002409 Keyboard Layout Id: 0x0000081A Keyboard Layout Id: 0x00002409 CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, CultureTypes: SpecificCultures, InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures InstalledWin32Cultures, FrameworkCultures Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: Cached read-only CultureInfo LCID: 0x0000081A, Read Only: True 0x00002409, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: Cached read-only CultureInfo Name: sr-SP-Latn, Read Only: True en-CB, Read Only: True Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and Cached read-only CultureInfo with TextInfo and CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True CompareInfo from another culture, Read only: True CultureInfo Name: sr-SP-Latn, TextInfo Name: CultureInfo Name: en-CB, TextInfo Name: en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US en-US, CompareInfo Name: en-US Figure 7: Testing new features of CultureInfo

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time. You can access them with the Win32 API GetLocaleInfo; Note the following interesting behavioral change from .NET the LCTYPES are LOCALE_SENGCURRNAME, LOCALE_SNA- 1.1. If you instantiate RegionInfo using an RFC 1766 identi- TIVENAME, and LOCALE_SNATIVECTRYNAME, respectively. fi er, it also shows up as its Name property. If you employ the Of course, the return values in Win32 don’t always correspond ISO 3166 identifi er, then that one becomes the Name property. exactly to the .NET values. For example, if you look at the Finally, if you are working with customized cultures (to be Win32 region and language names and compare them to the discussed in a later article), you should not use the LCID as a closest values in .NET, you can discern differences in some constructor. instances. As for the GeoId property, this identifi er fi rst appeared in Constructor Description Windows 2003 and Windows XP. It is one of several regional RegionInfo(string) Creates an instance of RegionInfo using an values that are returned by GetGeoInfo. Be aware that this API RFC 1766 Id for a specifi c culture or an ISO is only partly functional in its current implementation. The 3166 region identifi er items that are supposed to be returned are nation, latitude and longitude, ISO 2 and ISO 3 identifi ers, RFC 1766 identifi ers, the Properties Description Windows LCID, friendly and offi cial names, time zones and of- CurrencyEnglishName The English name of the currency used in fi cial languages. As an example, the output from the Windows the region Geo API for Argentina is shown in Figure 8. The ones marked CurrencyNativeName The name of the currency used in the region by an asterisk are either missing or incorrect. in the local language

GEO_NATION: 11 GeoId A unique identifi cation number for a GEO_LATITUDE: -35.63 geographical region, country, city, or location GEO_LONGITUDE: -65.159 NativeName The name of the region in the local language GEO_ISO2: AR GEO_ISO3: ARG Table 5: New constructor and properties for RegionInfo. *GEO_RFC1766: fr-ar *GEO_LCID: 0000040C The 1.1 version of RegionInfo can be a bit of a nuisance GEO_FRIENDLYNAME: Argentina if you are trying to enumerate a selectable list of regions. GEO_OFFICIALNAME: Argentine Republic As there is no available method in .NET, you have to devise *GEO_TIMEZONES: 0 your own. Basically, you fi nd the region name by extract- *GEO_OFFICIALLANGUAGES: 0 ing the ISO 3166 portion of the RFC 1766 Id and use that as Figure 8: Geo information for Argentina. the constructor. However, this approach results in duplicate objects with the same DisplayName when the same world region supports multiple languages and/or scripts (India, Azer- baijan, Canada, Switzerland and so on). So, you have to fi lter out the duplicates as there is no way to visually distinguish among them. Fortunately, duplicated RegionInfo objects in .NET 1.1 have the same hash code, so you can easily eliminate them by using a hash table as the collection method. If you try to insert a duplicate, an exception is thrown, so you have to write the code to bypass the problem using exception CHFHS@K handling. In .NET 2.0, RegionInfo objects for those areas having multiple languages and/or scripts do not duplicate their hash codes. The new properties, CurrencyNativeName, Currency- Symbol, GeoId, NativeName and so on, ensure that there are always differences in objects including those representing the MultiLingual same region. But you cannot really tell them apart if you rely only on the DisplayName. For example, in Figure 2, is it obvi- is now available ous to you that the sub-region being referenced is the Tamil- speaking state of India? There are, however, ten other Indian online. RegionInfo objects, each with the same display name but differing in language and script for the native names of currency and region, the currency symbol and (depending on which For more information constructor string you use) the Name property. It seems that the duplicate RegionInfo objects of 1.1 have morphed from go to identical siblings into multiple personalities in 2.0. Maybe it is time to eliminate RegionInfo entirely and merge the data into www.multilingual.com/digital CultureInfo. In the next article, additional .NET 1.1 classes and their new features will be covered. If space permits, some of the .NET 2.0 classes and enumerations will be introduced. M

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Basics | 4/5/064/5/06 4:46:28 PM 4:46:28 PM A system that MultiLingual Especially in a computing A technology that translates In this context, the term refers to In this context, the process of adap- Namespaces provide a simple method for The shape representation or pictograph of a The shape representation or pictograph annual Resource Globalization (g11n). Globalization management system (GMS). Glyph. Internationalization (i18n). Localization (l10n). Machine translation (MT). Namespaces. the process that addresses business issues associated withthe process that addresses business such as integrating localization launching a product globally, andthroughout a company after proper internationalization product design. and localization cyclesfocuses on managing the translation content management.and synchronizing those with source linguistic assets inProvides the capability of centralizing glossaries andthe form of translation databases, leveraging branding standards across global content. character. product so that it cancontext, the process of generalizing a conventions (currency, handle multiple languages and cultural number separators, dates) without the need for redesign. ting a product or software to a specific international language or culture so that it seems natural to that particular localization considers language, culture, cus- region. True toms and the characteristics of the target locale. It fre- writing system quently involves changes to the software’s and may change keyboard use and fonts as well as date, time and monetary formats. using terminol- text from one human language to another, ogy glossaries and advanced grammatical, syntactic and semantic analysis techniques. qualifying element and attribute names used in eXten- sible Markup Language (XML) documents by associating , MultiLingual’s A system used Computer techno- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week 24 hours a day, A large body of natural language ). Rules for assigning numeric value The process of translating a document corpora This section offers terminology, abbreviations, acronyms and other acronyms abbreviations, terminology, This section offers Basic terminology resources, especially as related to the content of this issue. For more to the content of this issue. For more especially as related resources, section of see the Glossary definitions, Directory and Index (www.multilingual.com/resourceDirectory). A symbol standing for the smallest abstract A symbol standing for the smallest An abbreviation for Encoding scheme. 24/7. Back translation. Character. Computer-aided translation (CAT). Content management system (CMS). Corpus (plural www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 (code points) to characters. Encoding is a method by which a character set is turned into computerized form for transmis- sion and preservation. text used for accumulating statistics on natural language text. Corpora often include extra information such as a tag for each word indicating its part-of-speech and perhaps the parse tree for each sentence. Also, a large body of source- language text used for a translation. including holidays and days otherwise that may alter limita- including holidays and days otherwise 24/7 identifies a tions of work. In commerce and industry, of the current time orservice that will be present regardless be offered by a restaurant, gas station, manned as might day, supermarket or help information line. datacenter, another language backthat has already been translated into by an independentto the original language — preferably translator. including sounds,component of a writing system or script, to glyphs. syllables, notions or elements, as opposed logy applications that assist in the act of translating textlogy applications that assist in the from one language to another. to store and subsequently find and retrieve large amounts of data. CMSs were not originally designed to synchronize translation and localization of content, so most of them have been partnered with globalization management systems (GMS). 71-7271-72 Basics copy.indd 71 Basics copy.indd 71 BasicsBa cs

them with namespaces identified by URI references. XML and automate the process of converting translation memo- Namespaces are the solution to the problem of ambiguity ries (TMs) from one format to another. and name collisions. Unicode. The Unicode Worldwide Character Standard .NET. Microsoft platform for applications that work over (Unicode) is a character encoding standard used to represent the internet. text for computer processing. Originally designed to support 65,000 characters, it now has encoding forms to support Notified bodies. Organizations designated by the national more than one million characters. governments of the member states of the European Union as being competent to make independent judgments about XML. eXtensible Markup Language, a programming lan- whether or not a product complies with the protection — guage/specification, is a pared-down version of SGML, essential safety — requirements laid down by each CE mark- an international standard for the publication and deliv- ing directive. ery of electronic information, designed especially for web documents. Optical character recognition (OCR). Recognition of XML Localization Interchange File Format (XLIFF). Spe- printed or written characters by a computer. Involves com- cifically designed to support the localization of data, XLIFF puter software designed to translate images of typewritten has features for updating strings, revision control, marking text — usually captured by a scanner — into machine-edit- different phases of the localization process, word count able text or to translate pictures of characters into a standard calculations and the provision of alternative or suggested encoding scheme representing them in ASCII or Unicode. language translations, among others. XLIFF is an open Outsource. To hire a third-party provider to perform tasks standard. or services often performed in-house. The third-party provider is then referred to as the outsourcer. Resources Pay per click (PPC). An advertising technique used on websites, advertising networks and search engines. With ORGANIZATIONS search engines, PPC advertisements are usually text ads American Translators Association (ATA), www.atanet.org placed near search results. When a site visitor clicks on the CM Pros (Content Management Professionals), advertisement, the advertiser is charged a small amount. www.cmprofessionals.org Fédération Internationale des Traducteurs / International Search engine. A program designed to help find informa- Federation of Translators, www.fit-ift.org tion stored on a computer system such as the World Wide Web or a personal computer. A search engine allows a user Globalization and Localization Association (GALA), www.gala-global.org to ask for content meeting specific criteria — typically those containing a given word, phrase or name — and retrieves a Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA), www.lisa.org list of references that match those criteria. The Localization Institute, www.localizationinstitute.com Search engine optimization (SEO). A set of meth- The Unicode Consortium, www.unicode.org ods aimed at improving the ranking of a website in search World Wide Web Consortium, http://w3c.org engine listings. SEO is primarily concerned with advancing PUBLICATIONS the goals of a website by improving the number and position MultiLingual (formerly MultiLingual Computing & Technology). of its organic search results for a wide variety of relevant Selected articles available at www.multilingual.com keywords. The Guide to Translation and Localization, published Translation. The process of converting all of the text by Lingo Systems, www.lingosys.com or words from a source language to a target language. An Globalization Handbook for the Microsoft .NET Platform understanding of the context or meaning of the source lan- by Bill Hall, published by MultiLingual Computing, Inc., guage must be established in order to convey the same mes- www.multilingual.com/monographs sage in the target language. WEBSITES Translation memory (TM). A special database that stores Open Source Initiative (OSI), http://opensource.org previously translated sentences which can then be reused on SourceForge.net, www.sourceforge.net a sentence-by-sentence basis. The database matches source to target language pairs. Wikipedia, www.wikipedia.org User-built, web-based encyclopedia with articles in numerous Translation Memory eXchange (TMX). An open stan- languages. Top ten are English, German, Japanese, French, dard, based on XML, which has been designed to simplify Polish, Swedish, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.

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goal is to guarantee high quality, timeliness and flexibil- years, EuroGreek’s services have been extended to cover most ity. We are accustomed to working for clients throughout subject areas, including German and French into Greek lo- the world who need to reach the Italian market with their calization services. All of EuroGreek’s work is produced in- products. Our project managers, translators and revisers are house by a team of 25 highly qualified specialists and is fully ADAPT Localization Services trained to solve today’s challenges of translation/localiza- guaranteed for quality and on-time delivery. Languages More than 50 Description ADAPT Localization tion projects, regardless of text length or the software tools EuroGreek Translations Limited Services (founded in 1999 as transline Localization) offers the to be used. Fields of expertise are software, hardware, tele- London 27 Lascotts Road, London N22 8JG UK communications, finance, training, web and marketing. 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Our services of in-house, full-time professionals and a carefully selected cover localization, translation, consultancy and web con- and assessed freelance database which allows us to tackle any tent management. Our customer base includes many of size of project in our areas of expertise, mainly software lo- the world’s leading IT, pharmaceutical, medical instrumen- calization, technical and telecom documentation, ERP and tation and automotive companies. CPSL employs state- marketing. As a single-language localization company, we of-the-art technology, including LUCAS, our proprietary leverage from long-time experience using TRADOS, IBM workflow management system, to streamline complex Translation Manager and other translation tools. Highly projects. CPSL is one of the most competitive companies Alliance Localization China, Inc. (ALC) technical capabilities, in-house know-how and professional in terms of pricing and quality of service. Our quality pro- Languages Major Asian and European languages Description support are guaranteed by iDisc’s Support and Development cesses are underpinned by a strict adherence to DIN2345 ALC offers document, website and software translation and lo- and ISO 9001 standards. All of our project managers are Department. Contact us for a quote or other details. calization, desktop publishing, and interpreter services. We fo- multilingual and fluent in English. iDisc Information Technologies Passeig del progrés 96, 08640 cus on English, German and other European languages to and Olesa de Montserrat, Barcelona, Spain, 34-93-778-73-00, Fax: 34- CPSL from Chinese, Japanese, Korean and other Asian languages. 93-778-35-80, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.idisc.es USA E-mail: [email protected] We use TRADOS, CATALYST, SDLX, Transit and other CAT Barcelona Torre Llacuna, Llacuna 166, 9a planta, 08018 Barcelona, tools, as well as DTP tools including CorelDraw, FrameMaker, Spain, 34-93-486-42-82, Fax: 34-93-300-00-40, E-mail: ljimenez@ FreeHand, Illustrator, InDesign, PageMaker, Photoshop and celerpawlowsky.com QuarkXPress. Our customer-oriented approach is supported Galway Apt. 7, Cimin Mor, Cappagh Road, Galway, Ireland, 353-91- by strong project management, a team of specialists, a large 591-015, Fax: 353-91-591-050, E-mail: [email protected] knowledgebase and advanced methodologies. We always pro- Madrid Ediﬁ cio Prisma, Colquide 6, Portal II, Planta 2oA, 28230 Las vide service beyond our customers’ expectations at a low cost Rozas, Spain, 34-91-636-36-11, Fax: 34-91-636-04-87, E-mail: and with high quality, speed, dependability and flexibility. [email protected], Web: www.celerpawlowsky.com See iSP — The Localization Experts ad on page 11 Alliance Localization China, Inc. (ALC) Suite 609, Building B, Languages From English into all major languages Description Number 10 Xing Huo Road, Fengtai Science Park, Beijing 100070, iSP (international Software Products) is a distinct provider of P.R. China, 86-10-8368-2169, Fax: 86-10-8368-2884, E-mail: localization services. For twenty years iSP has served its clients [email protected], Web: www.allocalization.com with the principles of honesty and customer-centric services. Not surprisingly, first-time customers and new customers have always stayed with iSP. We are dedicated to delivering the highest quality localized products. Our flat, in-house organizational structure means decision-making and action-taking are quick EuroGreek Translations Limited and simple. We are located near Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Language Greek Description Established in 1986, EuroGreek where we surround ourselves with languages. Our services Binari Sonori Translations Limited is Europe’s number one Greek localizer, cover all aspects of localization. We are in the heart of Europe. Languages From all European languages into Italian De- specializing in technical and medical translations from Eng- We are iSP. We are the localization experts. scription Binari Sonori has served the localization and lish into Greek and Greek into English. EuroGreek’s aim is to iSP — international Software Products B.V. Dorpsstraat 35-37, translation market since 1994. Binari Sonori has been provide high-quality, turnkey solutions, encompassing a whole 1191 BH Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, The Netherlands, 31-20-496- awarded a number of crucial projects and has become one range of client needs, from plain translation to desktop/web 5271, US: 650-966-8468, Fax: 31-20-496-4553, E-mail: localization of the major players in the Italian localization industry. Our publishing to localization development and testing. Over the @isp.nl, Web: www.isp.nl WHY ? TOTAL SOLUTIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS IN THE KOREAN MARKET Globalization staffing services Software localization • Internationalization • Software testing helps you successfully do business in Korea by providing high-quality localization services. We also provide the full scope of Localization training software testing services in Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Unix.

Visit us: http://www.comsysglobalization.com ACCUMULATED LOCALIZATION EXPERIENCE has successfully accomplished many major projects for For jobs, go to: http://www.comsys.com customers such as Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, InternetSecurity or contact: Michael Klinger Systems, Sun Microsystems, BMC Software, Sony, BEA Systems and 781-907-6277 PeopleSoft based on accumulated experience and know-how. [email protected] • www.e4net.net [email protected] 822-3465-8500 • fax: 822-3465-8501

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offerings, Lionbridge adapts client products and content to products. Moravia’s solutions include localization and product meet the linguistic, technical and cultural requirements of testing services, internationalization, multilingual publishing customers, partners and employees worldwide. Lionbridge and technical translation. Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, offshoring services include the development and mainte- Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Symantec are among some of New markets for your products and solutions nance of content and applications as well as testing to ensure the companies that depend on Moravia Worldwide for ac- the quality, interoperability, usability and performance of curate, on-time localization. Moravia Worldwide maintains Janus Worldwide Inc. clients’ software, hardware, consumer technology products, global headquarters in the Czech Republic and North Ameri- Languages Russian, Ukrainian, CIS and Baltic languages websites and content. Lionbridge offers its testing services can headquarters in California, with local offices and produc- Description Janus provides localization, translation and DTP under the VeriTest brand. Lionbridge has more than 4,000 tion centers in Ireland, China, Japan and throughout Europe. services for Russian, Ukrainian, CIS and Baltic languages. employees based in 25 countries worldwide. To learn more, please visit www.moraviaworldwide.com Our deep expertise, flexibility, diversity and exceptional value Lionbridge 1050 Winter Street, Waltham, MA 02451, 781-434- Moravia Worldwide of services are recognized by many industry-leading custom- 6111, Fax: 781-434-6034, E-mail: [email protected], Web: USA 199 East Thousand Oaks Boulevard, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360, ers and partners worldwide. Our business services have ISO www.lionbridge.com See ad on page 3 805-557-1700, 800-276-1664, Fax: 805-557-1702, E-mail: info@ 9001:2000 quality certification. Our uniqueness is a solid moraviaworldwide.com, Web: www.moraviaworldwide.com team of the best professionals in all relevant areas — localiza- Asia 86-25-8473-2772, E-mail: [email protected] tion engineers, language specialists, QA officers, DTP and Europe 420-545-552-222, E-mail: [email protected] software engineers and more. We do it end-to-end — from Ireland 353-1-216-4102, E-mail: [email protected] servers to handhelds, from ERP to automotive solutions and Japan 81-3-3354-3320, E-mail: [email protected] from interface specifications to legal notices. Our clients See ad on page 62 sound truly Russian. Janus Worldwide Inc. Derbenevskaya nab., 11B, Ofﬁ ce 113, Moscow Logrus International Corporation 114115, Russia, 7-495-913-66-53, Fax: 7-495-913-66-53 ext. 299, E- Language Russian, formerly USSR Description Logrus Inter- mail: [email protected], Web: www.janus.ru See ad on page 16 national Corporation is focused on software localization and translation for the IT industry, as well as on multilingual engineering and testing. With offices in Philadelphia and Moscow, Logrus provides a winning combination of transparent and convenient front-end for clients all over the world and top- PTIGlobal notch, affordable services rendered by an experienced team in Languages All commercial languages for Europe, Asia and Moscow. Logrus is famous for the amazing engineering skills the Americas Description PTIGlobal is committed to de- Jonckers Translation & Engineering s.a. of the team that can solve even the most sophisticated prob- veloping ongoing, long-term partnerships with its clients. Languages All Description Formed in 1994, Jonckers Trans- lems with minimal external support and thorough experience This means a dedication to personal service, responsiveness, lation & Engineering is headquartered in Brussels and main- with large projects (operating systems, office suites, ERP sys- high-quality output, and sensitivity to clients’ cost goals and tains offices and strategic partnerships in all key markets. With tems and so on). Most major software publishers are our cli- timelines. Backed by over 25 years of experience in technical customers such as HP, IBM, Adobe, Canon, Morgan Stanley, ents. For more information, visit our website or call/e-mail us, translation, PTIGlobal provides turnkey localization services in 27 languages simultaneously for software, web applica- EADS and Philips, we address the GILT needs of global indus- and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by our unique quality/price tions, embedded devices, wireless applications and gaming try leaders and provide end-to-end solutions in areas such as ratio for engineering and testing services. technology. Projects are customized to fit client needs and software, multimedia and courseware localization, as well as Logrus International Corporation Suite 305, 2600 Philmont Ave- feature our expertise in end-to-end project management; technical documentation and fast turnaround time transla- nue, Huntingdon Valley, PA 19006, 215-947-4773, Fax: 215-947-4773, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.logrus.ru See ad on page 38 internationalization consultation; glossary development; tions. With its strong company culture based on values which native-language translation; multilingual web content man- foster consistent performance and customer-oriented attitude, agement; translation memory maintenance; localization en- Jonckers is positioned as a unique player in the market. Jonck- gineering; linguistic and functionality QA; high-end desktop ers is a founding member of LCJ EEIG (a European economic publishing, including graphics localization; and complete interest group) and a Microsoft Premier Vendor. & multilingual video and audio services. Jonckers Translation Engineering s.a. Avenue Herrmann- PTIGlobal 9900 SW Wilshire, Suite 280, Portland, OR 97225, 888- Debroux 15a, B-1160 Brussels, Belgium, 32-2-672-80-30, Fax: 32-2- Loquant Localization Services 357-3125, Fax: 503-297-0655, E-mail: [email protected], Web: 672-80-19, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.jonckers.com Languages English, Brazilian Portuguese Description Lo- www.ptiglobal.com quant bases its operations on the experience of its founders and collaborators, professionals who closely follow the ongoing evolution of technology and the latest processes in internationalization and localization of information. Adhering to rigorous processes that were developed by the software localization industry during the last few decades, Loquant is able to prepare the most diverse products for the primary world Lingo Systems, Translation & Localization markets. To do this, Loquant counts on the best project man- Languages 72 Description Lingo Systems provides cus- agers, native translators, engineers and desktop publishers to tomer-focused translation and localization services for global guarantee a quality control recognized internationally by the Sajan companies. We specialize in software, online applications, main international standards organizations. Languages All Description Sajan provides language transla- technical documentation, training materials, e-learning solu- Loquant Localization Services Rua Luís Carlos Prestes, 410/114, tion services and technology to companies doing business tions and business systems (including ERP, CRM and data- 22775-055, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 55-21-2104-9597, Fax: 55-21- around the world. We offer globalization solutions that fuse base tools). Our ability to complete complex, multilanguage 2104-9597, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.loquant.com leading-edge technology with personalized customer service projects on time with superior quality sets us apart. Our cli- and ISO quality controls. Sajan’s GCMS (global communica- ents consistently rate us a 6 out of 6, and we have never caused tion management system) platform integrates and simplifies a late release. Providing exceptional project management, ex- the entire translation workflow process, from authoring to ceeding client expectations and delivering measurable value publication. GCMS is the only single, seamless, end-to-end are our raisons d’être. For a free copy of our award-winning solution in the industry. Plus GCMS is web-based. There is Guide to Translation & Localization: Preparing for the Global no software to buy, install or upgrade. We focus on how our Marketplace, visit www.lingosys.com technology can simplify globalization efforts. By listening to Lingo Systems 15115 SW Sequoia Parkway, Suite 200, Portland, OR Moravia Worldwide our clients, we continually broaden, enhance and innovate 97224, 503-419-4856, 800-878-8523, Fax: 503-419-4873, E-mail: Languages All Description Moravia Worldwide is a leading our product and service offerings. [email protected], Web: www.lingosys.com See ad on page 48 globalization solution provider, enabling companies in the in- Sajan 625 Whitetail Boulevard, River Falls, WI 54022, 715-426-9505, formation technology, e-learning, life sciences and financial in- 877-426-9505, Fax: 715-426-0105, E-mail: [email protected], dustries to enter global markets with high-quality multilingual Web: www.sajan.com Stay Current — Stay Informed Lionbridge Software and Content Localization Languages All Description Lionbridge provides globalization and offshoring services that enable clients to develop, local- www.multilingual.com/multilingualNews ize, test and maintain their enterprise content and technology applications globally. Through its globalization service

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latest information online, schedules and query logs and al- marketing cycles of software products. VistaTEC has head- lows them to keep track of their projects at all times. To learn quarters in Dublin, Ireland, and satellite offices in the United more about Tek, contact: States. Additional information on VistaTEC is available at Tek Translation International C/ Ochandiano 18, 28023 Madrid, www.vistatec.ie Spain, 34-91-414-1111, Fax: 34-91-414-4444, E-mail: sales@ VistaTEC SDL International — tektrans.com, Web: www.tektrans.com See ad on page 15 Europe VistaTEC House, 700 South Circular Road, Kilmainham, E-nabling Global Business Dublin 8, Ireland, 353-1-416-8000, Fax: 353-1-416-8099, E-mail: Languages All Description SDL International is a leader in [email protected], Web: www.vistatec.ie USA East 2706 Loma Street, Silver Spring, MD 20902, 301-649- the emerging market for global information management 3012, Fax: 301-649-3032, E-mail: [email protected] (GIM) solutions that empower organizations to accelerate USA West 131 Shady Lane, Monterey, CA 93940, 831-655-1717, Fax: delivery of high-quality multilingual content to global mar- 831-372-5838, E-mail: [email protected] See ad on page 42 kets. Our enterprise software and services integrate with existing systems to manage global information from authoring TOIN Corporation Welocalize to publication and throughout the distributed localization Multiple Platforms Languages More than 40 European, Middle Eastern and Asian supply chain. Global industry leaders rely on SDL to provide Languages Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Thai, Viet- languages Description Our services fulfill the translation, engi- enterprise software or full outsourcing for their GIM pro- namese Description For most Western companies, Asia is neering, testing and cultural needs inherent in releasing prod- cesses. SDL has implemented more than 100 enterprise GIM their most difficult market. This is due not only to technical ucts globally. We enable our clients to meet these challenges solutions and has over 100,000 software licenses deployed complexities, but also to differences in culture between East and achieve fluid international product development and across the GIM ecosystem. Our global services infrastructure and West. Founded in 1964, TOIN has been helping bridge faster global release cycles without increasing international de- this culture gap for over four decades. 100% focused on spans 50 offices in 30 countries. velopment costs. Welocalize provides localization, testing and SDL International 5700 Granite Parkway, Suite 410, Plano, TX Asian localization, TOIN’s staff is well versed in the technical, translation services to leading companies, including AOL, Ap- 75024, 214-387-8500, Fax: 214-387-9120, Web: www.sdl.com linguistic and cultural issues in each Asian market. TOIN is ple, Cisco Systems, Computer Associates, IBM, Sun, Symantec See ads on pages 21, 84 based in Tokyo with regional offices in China, Europe and the and Xerox. The company maintains offices in Frederick, Mary- United States. Global 1000 clients, including IBM, Microsoft, land; Portland, Oregon; Dublin, Ireland; Wakayama, Japan; Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, Sun and Sybase, rely on TOIN for and Saarbrücken, Germany. their Asian localization needs. Welocalize 241 East 4th Street, Suite 207, Frederick, MD 21701, TOIN Corporation 301-668-0330, Fax: 301-668-0335, E-mail: [email protected], China Room 411, No. 223 Xikang Road, Shanghai, 200040, China, 86- Web: www.welocalize.com See ad on page 63 21-6279-2235, Fax: 86-21-6279-3962, E-mail: [email protected] Symbio Europe Dodaarslaan 55, 3645 JB Vinkeveen, The Netherlands, 31- 297-212-091, Fax: 31-297-212-086, E-mail: [email protected], Languages 46, with emphasis on Japanese, Simplified/Tra- Web: www.to-in.com ditional Chinese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish, USA 4966 El Camino Real, Suite 101, Los Altos, CA 94022, 650- Brazilian Portuguese and Latin American Spanish Descrip- 966-8468, Fax: 650-949-5678, E-mail: [email protected], Web: tion Symbio is an IT services and outsourcing company www.to-in.com that provides end-to-end globalization solutions for technology companies. From internationalization and localiza- WHP tion through in-country services such as customer product Languages All European and major Middle Eastern and implementations and technical support services, Symbio acts Asian languages, including local variants Description WHP, as an extension of our clients’ organizations to roll out prod- a major supplier for the industry-leading corporations, lo- ucts and content globally. Symbio has unmatched expertise calizes software, documentation and web content. WHP has and scale in the technology industry, including the largest been benchmarked “Best Localization Vendor” by Compaq. in-house group of internationalization engineers and global- Ushuaia Solutions Clients specifically appreciate WHP’s dedication to high ization testers in the industry. With 12 development centers Languages Spanish (all varieties), Portuguese (Brazil) De- quality and strict respect of deadlines and, consequently, and offices around the world, Symbio works with most of scription Ushuaia Solutions is a fast-growing Latin American entrust WHP with their most sensitive projects. WHP also the world’s leading technology companies, including AOL, company providing solutions for translation, localization and helps many fast-growing companies to get their first localiza- BMC, CA, EMC, FileNet, IBM, Microsoft, Nokia, Sony and globalization needs. Ushuaia Solutions is focused on being cre- tion projects smoothly off the ground. WHP’s flexible and over 300 others. ative and proactive to meet tight time frames with a high-qual- open workflow technology adapts to any production process. ity level and a cost-effective budget. Customizing its processes, SymbioSys, Inc. 1803 Research Boulevard, Suite 508, Rockville, MD WHP’s high standards satisfy the most demanding globaliza- 20850, 301-340-3988, 866-469-4116, Fax: 301-340-3989, E-mail: Ushuaia assures project consistency and technical and linguistic tion requirements. [email protected], Web: www.symbio-group.com See ad on accuracy, thus reducing clients’ time-to-market. Ushuaia com- WHP Espace Beethoven BP102, F06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex, page 42 bines state-of-the-art technology with top-notch experienced France, 33-493-00-40-30, Fax: 33-493-00-40-34, E-mail: gunther native translators, editors and software engineers. Our mission [email protected], Web: www.whp.net, www.whp.fr See ad on page 68 is to work together with our clients, thereby creating a flexible, reliable and open relationship for success. Ushuaia Solutions Rioja 919, S2000AYK Rosario, Argentina, 54-341- 4493064, Fax: 54-341-4492542, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.ushuaiasolutions.com Tek Translation International Languages European, Scandinavian, Latin American, Middle Eastern, Asian Description Tek Translation has over 40 years of experience in working worldwide for the leading technol- WORDSTATION GmbH ogy companies. Now, thanks to the web, we operate globally Languages British and US English, German, French (other from one production center offering a complete transla- VistaTEC European languages are available upon request) Description tion, web and software localization service into more than Languages All Description VistaTEC is a leading provider Since its founding in 1991, WORDSTATION has become a 50 languages at lower prices than our major competitors. of globalization services, and specializes in localization and superior quality provider of localization services, including Our English-speaking project managers, specialist transla- testing of enterprise, mobile and desktop applications. terminology work, software and documentation translation, tors, linguistic controllers and engineers are all connected via VistaTEC provides translation, technical consulting, engi- electronic publishing and film production — starting from Tek’s exclusive Project Web, which provides clients with their neering and testing during the design, development and the bytes of the software down to the final details of the documentation. We also conduct prototype translations to ensure translatability of software and documentation. WORDSTA- TION is large enough to ensure security and continuity, yet MultiLingual is now available digitally! small enough to provide numerous advantages: no administrative overhead, short communication channels, fast and efficient feedback, short production cycles, high motivation To learn more about the digital edition go to and excellent team spirit. Updates and follow-up versions are done by the same specialists. WORDSTATION GmbH Max-Planck-Strasse 6, D-63128 Dietzen- www.multilingual.com/digital bach, Germany, 49-6074-91442-0, Fax: 49-6074-91442-29, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.wordstation.com

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makes it applicable for everyone. A free evaluation copy is LOCALIZATION TOOLS available at www.visloc.com RECRUITMENT/STAFFING AIT — Applied Information Technologies AG Auberlenstrasse 21, D-70736 Fellbach, Germany, 49-711-520473-10, Fax: 49-711- 520473-30, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.visloc.com Idiom Technologies Multiple Platforms Languages More than 120 Description Idiom Technologies COMSYS Services LLC Alchemy Software Development Ltd. optimizes the globalization supply chain by aligning global Languages All Description COMSYS Services LLC’s Globaliza- Multiple Platforms enterprises, language service providers and translators. Award- tion Practice has a ten-year track record of providing prequali- Languages All Description Alchemy Software Development winning WorldServer™ software solutions expand market reach fied just-in-time globalization project resources (onsite, offsite is the market leader in localization technology. With over and accelerate multilingual communication with a proven and offshore) to support our Fortune 500 customers with 8,000 licenses worldwide, Alchemy CATALYST is the domi- platform for automating translation and localization processes. their internationalization and localization staffing require- nant choice among professional development companies, Idiom works with global organizations including Adobe, Au- ments. We provide experienced professionals for both contract localization service providers and global technology leaders todesk, Continental Airlines, eBay, Motorola and Travelocity and permanent positions: program managers, localization that need to accelerate entry into international markets. Al- to cost-effectively translate global websites and applications, project managers, internationalization engineers, localization chemy CATALYST 5.0 boosts localization velocity, improves streamline software localization and delivery, and speed time- engineers, localization desktop publishing specialists, localiza- to-market for international product documentation. Idiom quality and reduces localization cost. Supporting all Mi- tion QA engineers, bilingual testers and translation/localiza- also partners with consulting firms, systems integrators and crosoft platforms and development languages (VB, .NET, tion specialists. Our experienced consultants can also provide technology vendors to help customers achieve high-quality C++, C#), Borland C++Builder and Delphi, XML/XLIFF onsite training and consulting on a range of topics, including results and maximize existing enterprise infrastructure. and databases (Oracle, MS-SQL), it is an indispensable Unicode enabling, Java, C++, project management, documen- Idiom Technologies, Inc. 200 Fifth Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451, solution for software localization, helping clients achieve tation writing for localization, and web content localization 781-464-6000, Fax: 781-464-6100, E-mail: [email protected], and management. near-simultaneous release of their translated applications. Web: www.idiominc.com See ad on page 58 Corel Corporation holds a 20% equity stake in Alchemy COMSYS Services LLC 400-1 Totten Pond Road, Waltham, MA 02451, 800-890-7002x6277, 781-907-6277, Fax: 781-907-6214, Software Development. E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.comsysglobalization.com Alchemy Software Development Ltd. Block 2, Harcourt Business See ad on page 74 Centre, Harcourt Street, Dublin 2, Ireland, 353-1-708-2800, Fax: 353-1-708-2801, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www .alchemysoftware.ie See ad on page 34 RESEARCH PASSOLO Version 5.0 for Windows 98, Me, NT and Windows 2000 Languages All, including Eastern European, Asian and bidirectional languages using Unicode support Description PASSOLO offers cutting-edge localization technology for all major Windows development platforms to process Windows Make Our Knowledge Your Power Visual Localize software, Microsoft .NET, Borland Delphi/C++Builder, Java, XML, XLIFF, text files and databases. Complex localization Description Common Sense Advisory is a research and consult- Windows 98, NT, 2000, XP ing firm committed to improving the quality of international Languages All, including Eastern European, Asian and bi- projects based on different file formats can all be handled with a single localization tool. The integration of translation mem- business and the efficiency of the online and offline operations directional languages using Unicode support Description ory systems (for example, TRADOS), terminology databases, that support it. We provide independent research, executive Visual Localize is a leading application that fully supports spell-checkers and WYSIWYG editors guarantees high-quality sales and management workshops, and business consulting to the software localization process of Microsoft Windows and short turnaround cycles. PASSOLO offers fuzzy-match- help companies make informed decisions about the technol- applications (including .NET applications), databases and ing, pseudo-translation, numerous check functions, statistical ogy, business services and organizational structures on which a XML files. It dramatically reduces cost, effort and complex- reports and experts for project setup, alignment and update global enterprise depends. Of course, keeping abreast of the fast ity of software localization. With its MS Explorer “look and processes. Automation and integration technologies provide pace of a global economy, whether you are a vendor or a buyer, feel,” it is user friendly and intuitive to use. After a very short users the means to adapt quickly to special requirements and is difficult, at best. Get accurate information. Profit in a global introduction time, you will be able to handle all kinds of lo- nonstandard file formats. market. Contact Common Sense Advisory today. calization projects. Visual Localize remembers all previous PASS Engineering Remigiusstrasse 1, D-53111 Bonn, Germany, 49- Common Sense Advisory, Inc. 100 Merrimack Street, Suite 301, translati ons and thus maximizes reuse. With Visual Localize 228-697242, Fax: 49-228-697104, E-mail: [email protected], Web: Lowell, MA 01852, 866-510-6101, E-mail: info@commonsense no programming skills are required for localization. This www.passolo.com See ad on page 7 advisory.com, Web: www.commonsenseadvisory.com See ad on page 13

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of ATA (USA), ITI (UK) and UTR (Russia), Dr. Gerasimov TM BROKERS has nine years of experience in engineering (Ph.D. in data processing), 25 years of experience in translation, and 56 books translated to his credit. Recent clients include Volvo Cars Russia, Philips, Ericsson, Babylon Ltd. and more. Refer- ences are available at www.erussiantranslations.com Eriksen Translations Inc. Accurate Russian Translations Russia, 119571, Moscow, Lenin- Languages All Description Eriksen Translations Inc. is a lead- ski Prospect, 156-348, 7-095-434-1086, Cellular: 7-916-692-2809, ing provider of multilingual services, including translation, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.erussiantranslations.com interpreting, typesetting, project management, web localiza- The Translation Memory Brokers tion and cultural consulting. For 20 years, Eriksen has helped Languages All Description Central to most translation pro- a broad range of organizations in both the public and private cesses today is the database that contains previously translated sectors excel across print, desktop and web environments data: the translation memory (TM). The consistently growing in the domestic and global marketplace. With a worldwide size of the TM represents an ever-increasing value to you as its network of over 5,000 linguists, a commitment to leading owner. By the same token, it becomes increasingly attractive to ACP Traductera technologies, and an in-house staff dedicated to tailoring our TM buyers from the same industry to either jump-start a TM Languages Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, proven project management process to the individual needs or complement it with proven, industry-specific translations. Lithuanian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian of each client, Eriksen is your globalization partner. Through TM Marketplace, this asset can now provide an and Ukrainian Description ACP Traductera is a localization Eriksen Translations Inc. 32 Court Street, 20th Floor, Brooklyn, immediate return on investment through licensing to other service provider specializing in Central and Eastern European NY 11201, 718-802-9010, Fax: 718-802-0041, E-mail: info@eriksen parties. As TM brokers, TM Marketplace connects corporate languages. Our mission is to support the entry of your prod- inc.com, Web: www.erikseninc.com owners of translation assets with parties who want to license ucts into the Central and Eastern European market by offer- and benefit from those linguistic resources. ing high-quality services. From marketing communications to TM Marketplace LLC 319 North 1st Avenue, Sandpoint, ID 83864, technical documentation and user interface, we always make 208-265-9465, 888-533-7886, Fax: 208-263-6310, E-mail: info@tm your texts available to a Central and Eastern European audi- marketplace.com, Web: www.tmmarketplace.com See ad on page 56 ence accurately and appropriately. Our translation team consists of translators — native speakers living and working in the RAINING & EMINARS target-language country. Our project managers and software T S engineers are fluent in English and experienced in using a wide EuroGreek Translations Limited The Localization Institute range of translation and localization software tools. Languages Greek Description EuroGreek Translations Lim- Languages All Description The Localization Institute provides ACP Traductera, s. r. o. nam. Miru 169/I, 377 01 Jindrichuv Hradec, ited is Europe’s number one Greek production house, spe- training, seminars and conferences for the global localization Czech Republic, 420-384-361-300, Fax: 420-384-361-303, E-mail: cializing in technical and medical translations from English community. Best known for its four annual localization round- [email protected], Web: www.traductera.com See ad on page 12 into Greek and Greek into English. EuroGreek’s aim is to tables, the Institute’s events train localization professionals and provide high-quality, turnkey solutions, encompassing promote the sharing of experience and information. Seminars a whole range of client needs, from plain translation to include “Multilingual Websites,” “Writing and Designing for an desktop/web publishing to localization development and International Audience,” “Localization Project Management,” testing. Over the years, EuroGreek’s services have been ex- “Advanced Localization Project Management,” “Designing In- tended to cover most subject areas, including German and ternational Web and User Interfaces,” “Writing International French into Greek translation services. All of EuroGreek’s Software for Win32API,” “Introduction to Localization,” “Tools work is proofread by a second in-house specialist and is and Technologies for Localization/Internationalization,” “QA Beijing E-C Translation Ltd. fully guaranteed for quality and on-time delivery. of Global Products,” “Implementing a Translation Memory Languages Asian Description Beijing E-C Translation Ltd., EuroGreek Translations Limited EuroGreek House, 93 Karagiorga Street, Athens 16675, Greece, 30-210-9605-244, Fax: 30-210-9647- Process” and “Introduction to Unicode.” See our website for one of the largest localization and translation companies in 077, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.eurogreek.com details. Most seminars are available in-house. China, focuses mainly on software and website localization; See ad on page 41 The Localization Institute 4513 Vernon Boulevard, Suite 11, technical, financial, medical, patent and marketing transla- Madison, WI 53705, 608-233-1790, Fax: 608-441-6124, E-mail: tions; and desktop publishing services. We use TRADOS, [email protected], Web: www.localizationinstitute.com SDLX, CATALYST, TTT/PC, STAR Transit, Robohelp, Frame- See ad on page 26 Maker, PageMaker, InDesign, QuarkXPress, MS Office and other graphic and DTP tools. Having more than 150 full-time RANSLATION ERVICES employees located at Beijing, Taipei, Singapore, Seoul, Shang- T S hai, Hong Kong, Shenyang and Chengdu, we can handle Eng- Follow-Up Translation Services lish/German into and from Simplified Chinese/Traditional Language English, Brazilian Portuguese, Latin American Span- Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Thai. We guarantee that clients’ pro- ish Description With more than 15 years of experience, we jects will be handled not only by native speakers, but also know exactly how to help your products and documents pene- by topic specialists. Clients can expect and will receive high- trate South American markets faster and more efficiently. Trust quality services, on-time delivery and low cost. our expertise and leave your software/website localization with Beijing E-C Translation Ltd. 2nd Floor, Hua Teng Development us. Follow-Up gathers a select group of translation, localization, 2tr Soluções Globais Building, No. 23, Xi Huan Bei Road, BDA, Beijing Economic- DTP, engineering and project management specialists to always Technological Development Zone, Beijing 100176, P.R. China, 86- Languages Brazilian Portuguese Description Firmly com- exceed your company’s requirements of high quality and time- 10-67868761, Fax: 86-10-67868765, E-mail: service@e-cchina to-market. Our areas of expertise include IT, telecom, finance, mitted to providing top-quality services, 2tr is backed by the .com, Web: www.e-cchina.com proven track record of its founders, Adriana Ferreira and Jorge ERP, marketing, medicine and pharmaceuticals. Marinho, with over ten years’ experience in the localization in- Follow-Up Av. Presidente Wilson 165, Sala 1308, Rio de Janeiro, RJ 20030-020 Brazil, 55-21-2524-2994, Fax: 55-21-2210-5472, dustry. We specialize in technical translations, from a few words Celer Soluciones, S.L. Translation — Technology — Quality E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.follow-up.com.br See on a label to complex million-word projects involving TEP, ad on page 27 DTP, QA and testing of web, mobile and desktop applications Languages All major European languages Description Celer and documentation in fields ranging from IT, telecom, energy Soluciones provides suitable solutions to ensure we meet and pharmaceuticals to business, finance and legal affairs. We our clients’ objectives. We study their documentation re- are fully qualified in related localization services, such as DTP, quirements; produce translations that are adapted to specific engineering and testing in Western European languages. For markets and cultures; and prepare an end product in DTP or additional information, please contact us. printed format in accordance with the demands of each proj- 2tr Soluções Globais Ltda. Rua Voluntários da Pátria, 45 Sala 401, ect. Specialized fields include software localization; engineer- Rio de Janeiro, RJ, 22270-000, Brazil, 55-21-2266-6449, Fax: 55-21- ing and technology; life sciences; and institutional-corporate ForeignExchange Translations 2286-1694, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.2tr.com.br sector. Three elements of fundamental importance are devel- Language 42 languages and growing Description ForeignEx- oped and combined at Celer Soluciones: translation — good change is the global leader in providing translation services Accurate Russian Translations translation practice; technology — use of suitable computer- to life sciences companies. We work with many of the biggest Languages English, Russian Description Accurate Russian assisted translation, file-handling and management tools; pharmaceutical companies, medical-device manufacturers, Translations (Moscow, Russia), headed by Andrei Gerasimov, quality — quality in our client relations, quality of project biotech companies and CROs. Our proprietary Multilingual Ph.D., has provided English-Russian translation and local- management and quality of the documentation produced. Compliance Process combines expert linguists, best-of-breed ization services since 1980. Our services are notable for the Celer Soluciones, S.L. Plaza de España, 12, 28008 Madrid, Spain, 34- technology and measurable translation quality in a process dedication to project-specific QA procedures and a deep un- 91-540-0540, Fax: 34-91-541-9259, E-mail: [email protected], Web: that is both robust and completely scalable, ensuring your derstanding of the client’s target audience. An active member www.celersol.com See ad on page 16 projects are finished on time and within budget. For more

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information on how we can help meet your translation require- projects accurately and efficiently. We have 25 years of expe- ments or for a quote on your next translation project, please rience working with a broad range of leading global compa- contact us directly or visit our website at www.fxtrans.com nies and are able to provide clients with turnkey, integrated ForeignExchange Translations 124 Watertown Street, Suite 2B, language solutions. Working with the latest tools for enhanc- Watertown, MA 02472-2576, 866-398-7267, 617-926-2791, Fax: ing the quality and efficiency of their work, our teams deliver 617-926-2792, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.fxtrans.com some of the fastest turnaround times in the industry. Talk to See ad on page 10 LinguaLinx Language Solutions, Inc. us about service beyond the expected for translation, local- Languages All Description LinguaLinx is a full-service trans- ization, technical writing, design and formatting, electronic lation and localization agency specializing in the adaptation delivery, printing and distribution. Internet job initiation. of marketing and communications material into most of the Merrill Brink International 6100 Golden Valley Road, Minneapolis, world’s languages. Our enterprise language solutions range MN 55422, 763-591-1977, Fax: 763-542-9138, E-mail: info@ from glossary development and maintenance to translation merrillbrink.com, Web: www.merrillbrink.com See ads on pages 4, 81 memory deployment and global content management. In today’s highly competitive, global environment, it is becoming Hermes Traducciones y increasingly difficult to differentiate one translation agency Servicios Lingüísticos, S.L. from another. We stand apart by taking the most proactive Languages Spanish, Portuguese (Continental and Brazilian), approach to quality in the industry, utilizing stringent project English, French, Italian, German and other languages on de- management procedures, offering one of the most aggressive mt-g medical translation mand Description Established in 1991, Hermes Traducciones rate structures available and applying a sincere dedication to is a leading Spanish translation company, specializing in soft- providing the best possible service. Quality and Reliability for Our Clients ware and hardware localization and also undertaking a broad LinguaLinx Language Solutions, Inc. 650 Franklin Street, Suite 502, Languages All Description mt-g provides medical and Schenectady, NY 12305, 518-388-9000, Fax: 518-388-0066, E-mail: pharmaceutical translations of the highest quality. Specialist range of other translation projects. Comprehensive in-house [email protected], Web: www.lingualinx.com translation teams including translators, reviewers and lin- translations, localization, DTP/layouting, technical docu- guists with an expertise in Spanish and Portuguese, a knowl- mentation, project management, process optimization and edge of CAT tools, and a commitment to deliver cost-efficient, consulting plus the innovative software products mt-24 and reliable and high-quality services to customers. Hermes global-term form the main areas of our expertise. mt-g has Traducciones is a member of the International Committee become one of the most successful companies for specialist for the creation of the European Quality Standard for Trans- medical and pharmaceutical translations. Leading manufac- lation Services. Hermes Traducciones also organizes univer- turers all over the world put their trust in mt-g. Top-quality sity courses on localization and translation. McElroy Translation Co. services coupled with the latest communication media set the Hermes Traducciones y Servicios Lingüísticos, S.L. C/ Cólquide, benchmark. This expertise defines mt-g’s service know-how: Languages All Description Experience: 35 years of indus- 6 - planta 2 - 3.oI, Ediﬁ cio “Prisma”, 28230 Las Rozas, Madrid, quality and reliability for our clients. Translations are a mat- Spain, 34-916-407640, Fax: 34-916-378023, E-mail: hermestr@ try success providing legal, technical, medical and business ter of trust. Challenge us. We look forward to it. translation and website localization. Client Commitment: hermestrans.com, Web: www.hermestrans.com See ad on page 57 mt-g medical translation GmbH & Co. KG Schützenstrasse 19, D- Close communication with clients to establish schedules 89231 Neu-Ulm, Germany, 49-731-17-63-97-42, Fax: 49-731-17-63-97- and project benchmarks. Quality, price and service are the 50, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.mt-g.com cornerstones of our client relationships. Human Expertise: Translators and editors are selected based on experience and professional skills testing in subject matter and language pairs. Clients have dedicated technical support, account and International Communication by Design, Inc. project management throughout every project. Technology: Languages All major languages, including double-byte Selecting and building technology is based on its value to our Description Since 1991, International Communication by clients’ projects. Will it improve turn time, cost savings, com- Design, Inc. (ICD), has provided integrated translation munication, product quality or workflow processes? One Planet and technical communication services and solutions. Our McElroy Translation Co. 910 West Avenue, Austin, TX 78701, 800- Languages All Description What makes One Planet differ- specialties include help system and web localization, tech- 531-9977, 512-472-6753, Fax: 512-472-4591, E-mail: sales@mcelroy ent? A deep understanding of corporate culture. Our clients nical manuals, multiplatform desktop publishing, techni- translation.com, Web: www.mcelroytranslation.com See ad on page 18 require accuracy, measurable productivity and excellence in cal writing and simultaneous interpretation. ICD’s project communication. How can one firm specialize in areas such managers utilize a variety of translation memory tools that as high technology, medical products and technical manu- shorten project cycles and improve product consistency. facturing? By blazing the path in translation since 1979, we ICD — Translating your company into a global success. utilize knowledgeable translators in the United States, Europe International Communication by Design, Inc. 1726 North 1st and Asia in every field and every specialty. Services include Street, Milwaukee, WI 53212, 414-265-2171, Fax: 414-265-2101, technical translation, software localization and multilingual E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.icdtranslation.com website development. Our customers from Ametek to Unisys Medical Translations Only like the fact that we function as an extension of their teams. Languages All European languages and Japanese Description One Planet 820 Evergreen Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15209, 888- 677-1010, Fax: 412-632-1071, E-mail: [email protected], Web: MediLingua is one of the few medical translation specialists www.one-planet.net See ads on pages 14, 41 in Europe. We only do medical. We provide all European languages (31 today and counting) and Japanese as well as translation-related services to manufacturers of medical devices, KERN Global Language Services instruments, in vitro diagnostics and software; pharmaceutical Your language partner and biotechnology companies; medical publishers; national Languages All Description KERN Global Language Services is and international medical organizations; and other customers a leading provider in the area of global communication with in the medical sector. Projects include the translation of docu- over 35 offices worldwide. With more than 30 years of expe- mentation for medical devices, surgical instruments, hospital Skrivanek Translation Services rience, our services include translation and interpreting in all equipment and medical software; medical information for Languages All, with a focus on Central and Eastern Eu- languages; software, multimedia and website localization; ter- patients, medical students and physicians; scientific articles; rope Description Skrivanek is a leading language-service minology management; multilingual desktop publishing; and press releases; product launches; clinical trial documentation; provider focusing on translation, localization and language individual and corporate language training in all major lan- medical news; and articles from medical journals. teaching. Established in the Czech Republic in 1994, it has guages. KERN has established itself as a preferred insourcing MediLingua Medical Translations BV Poortgebouw, Rijnsbur- quickly achieved a dominant position on the Central Euro- and outsourcing solution provider for language services. We gerweg 10, 2333 AA Leiden, The Netherlands, 31-71-5680862, Fax: pean translation market, creating a network of outlets in 51 serve clients in all industry sectors, including the automotive, 31-71-5234660, E-mail: [email protected], Web: European cities, and is continuing to expand. With a staff of medical, pharmaceutical, chemical, IT and financial services in- www.medilingua.com See ad on page 41 professional translators and experienced project managers, dustries. To learn more about us, please visit www.e-kern.com software engineers and programmers, Skrivanek is able to KERN Global Language Services provide translation and localization services in any language USA 230 Park Avenue, Suite 1517, New York, NY 10169, 212-953- and has built up a diverse clientele, including Hewlett-Pack- 2070, Fax: 212-953-2073, E-mail: [email protected] ard, Nikon, Kraft Foods and L’Oreal. Its quality strategy is Europe Kurfuerstenstrasse 1, 60486 Frankfurt/M., Germany, 49-69- backed up by EN ISO 9001:2001 certification. 7560730, Fax: 49-69-751353, E-mail: [email protected] Merrill Brink International Skrivanek Translation Services, Ltd. Nad Zaloznou 499/6, 180 00 China Right Emperor Commercial Building, Unit B, 11/F, 122-126 Languages All Description With one of the largest full-time, Prague 8, Czech Republic, 420-233-3-20-560, Fax: 420-224-321- Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong, SAR China, 852-2850-4455, in-house staffs of professional translators and 60 locations 556, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.skrivanek.com See ad Fax: 852-2850-4466, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.e-kern.com worldwide, we’re ready to handle the largest multilingual on page 24

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Chinese/Japanese/Hebrew/German/French/Italian/Span- needs of all the people involved in the language industry. ish/Portuguese/Russian/Polish/Ukrainian/Dutch. MultiCorpora 102-490 St. Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, QC, J8Y 3Y7 Cross language pairs new releases: Arabic-French/Arabic- Canada, 819-778-7070, 877-725-7070, Fax: 819-778-0801, E-mail: German/Turkish-German. Translation Memory: Statistical [email protected], Web: www.multicorpora.com See ad on parallel corpora-based system decoupled/integrated with page 33 Syntes Language Group, Inc. MT. Webtrans: Web page translation — target language Languages All Description Syntes Language Group is a lead- page reconstructed with hyperlinks/images/applets/objects/ ing quality provider of customized language solutions to embedded scripts. MT API: For MT system integration (all business, government and professional clients. We deliver a languages with various solutions). NameFinder: Proper full line of service in translation, interpreting and conference noun detection (languages with no capitalization). MLIR coordination; product, software and website localization; (Multilingual Information Retrieval): retrieval of multilin- desktop publishing; multimedia production and voiceovers; gual content, including query translation, morphological SDL Desktop Products and consultation in both project-specific and long-term and thematic searches (geographic/personal/corporate) Multiple Platforms planning for the incorporation of foreign language elements name/event combinations. Languages All Description SDL Desktop Technology, a di- into your business. For fifteen years, we’ve offered proven Applications Technology, Inc. 6867 Elm Street, Suite 300, McLean, vision of SDL International, is the world’s largest provider expertise in all major fields of industry, delivered by accom- VA 22101, 703-821-5000, Fax: 703-821-5001, E-mail: info@apptek of technology solutions for global information management .com, Web: www.apptek.com plished, experienced professionals. All of this means you get (GIM), which benefit corporations and institutions, language the ultimate in customer care and the best value for your Heartsome CAT Tools and CMS service providers and freelance translators worldwide. With project dollars. Multiple Platforms the acquisition of TRADOS, SDL now has over 100,000 soft- Syntes Language Group, Inc. 7465 E. Peakview Avenue, Centen- Languages All language pairs without limitation on transla- ware licenses deployed across the localization supply chain nial, CO 80111, 888-779-1288, 303-779-1288, Fax: 303-779-1232, tion direction Description Heartsome is a new generation and has demonstrated proven ROI in over 100 enterprise E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.syntes.com language technology and service company with a product solution installations. SDL continues to deliver innovative software products that automate GIM processes and maxi- strategy that is founded on our four cornerstones of efficacy: Translations.com mize language translation productivity. The simultaneous genuine and total compliance with the latest versions of set Languages All Description Translations.com provides soft- service release of both SDL TRADOS 7.1 and SDLX 2005 SP1 standards; fully and completely cross platform; listen to the ware and website localization, as well as enterprise language represents the first interoperability versions of SDL’s leading users and innovate to meet their wishes in double quick time; solutions, to clients in virtually every major industry. Trans- translation memory products. and adopt a no-frill minimalist approach towards product lations.com’s business services are focused on the strategic SDL International 5700 Granite Parkway, Suite 410, Plano, TX embodiment design and packaging. Release 6 of Heart- needs of organizations seeking to communicate and conduct 75024, 904-683-9259, Fax: 904-683-9259, E-mail: naproductsales some XLIFF Translation Editor, Heartsome TMX Editor business in international markets. Translations.com has an @sdl.com, Web: www.sdl.com See ads on pages 21, 84 and Heartsome Dictionary Editor pushes the deployment of established global presence on three continents and continues open standards in CAT tools to a world first level far beyond to pioneer new techniques and technologies for the rapid de- those of similar products in the marketplace. The Heartsome velopment of multilingual business solutions. For more infor- Translation Suite is specially bundled to provide users with mation, visit the Translations.com website, www.translations the option of purchasing a complete set comprising three .com, or e-mail the company at [email protected] professional editions of all three Heartsome CAT tools. Translations.com Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016, 212- 689-1616, Fax: 212-685-9797, E-mail: [email protected], Web: Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd. 190 Middle Road, #19-05 Fortune SYSTRAN www.translations.com See ad on page 17 Centre, Singapore 188979, 65-68261179, Fax: 65-67883785, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.heartsome.net See ad on page 31 Multiple Platforms Languages 40 language combinations Description SYSTRAN Idiom Technologies is the market leading provider of language translation soft- Multiple Platforms ware products and solutions for the desktop, enterprise and Languages More than 120 Description Idiom Technolo- internet that facilitate communication in 40 language com- gies optimizes the globalization supply chain by aligning binations and in 20 domains. With over three decades of global enterprises, language service providers and transla- expertise, research and development, SYSTRAN’s software is TripleInk Multilingual Communications tors. Award-winning WorldServer™ software solutions the choice of leading global corporations, portals and public agencies. Use of SYSTRAN products and solutions enhances Languages All major commercial languages Description As expand market reach and accelerate multilingual commu- multilingual communication and increases user productiv- a multilingual communications agency, TripleInk has pro- nication with a proven platform for automating transla- ity and time-savings for B2E, B2B and B2C markets as they vided industrial and consumer products companies with tion and localization processes. Idiom works with global deliver real-time language solutions for search, content man- precise translation and multilingual production services for organizations including Adobe, Autodesk, Continental agement, online customer support, intra-company commu- audio-visual, online and print media since 1991. Our expe- Airlines, eBay, Motorola and Travelocity to cost-effectively translate global websites and applications, streamline soft- nications, and e-commerce. rience in adapting technical documentation and marketing SYSTRAN communication materials covers a wide range of industries, ware localization and delivery, and speed time-to-market North America 9333 Genesee Avenue, Plaza Level, Suite PL1, San including biomedical and health care; building and con- for international product documentation. Idiom also partners with consulting firms, systems integrators and tech- Diego, CA 92121, 858-457-1900, Fax: 858-457-0648 struction; financial services; food and agriculture; high- Europe Paroi Nord - La Grande Arche, 1, Parvis de la Défense, 92044 tech and manufacturing; and hospitality and leisure, as well nology vendors to help customers achieve high-quality results and maximize existing enterprise infrastructure. Paris La Défense Cedex, France, 33-825-80-10-80, Fax: 33-1-46-98- as government and nonprofit organizations. Using a total 00-59, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.systransoft.com quality management process and state-of-the-art software Idiom Technologies, Inc. 200 Fifth Avenue, Waltham, MA 02451, See ad on page 57 and equipment, our team of foreign language professionals 781-464-6000, Fax: 781-464-6100, E-mail: [email protected], Web: www.idiominc.com See ad on page 58 delivers the highest quality translations in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. TripleInk 60 South 6th Street, Suite 2600, Minneapolis, MN 55402, 612-342-9800, 800-632-1388, Fax: 612-342-9745, E-mail: info@ tripleink.com, Web: www.tripleink.com Solutions for Terminology, TRANSLATION TOOLS Full-text and Bitext Management Recycling past translations Windows and Web reaches new heights Languages Windows: All Roman alphabet; LogiTermWebPlus: Windows Unicode Description A single software package to manage your Languages All Unicode languages Description MultiCor- terminology and databanks. Efficient and effective consulta- pora is the provider of MultiTrans 4, the latest of the next- tion of terms and texts. The most robust alignment tool on the generation computer-aided translation systems. Using the market. More consistent use of terminology and phraseology best of MultiTrans 3, MultiTrans 4 was designed to extend in-house and by freelancers. Internal and external repetition Applications Technology, Inc. the benefits of the TextBase approach using comprehensive detection and pretranslation. The web version allows access to Multiple Platforms terminology management capabilities and revolutionary your terminology, bitexts and documents by translators, writ- Languages All Description Machine Translation systems text alignment technology. MultiTrans 4 recycles 100% of ers and subcontractors from anywhere in the world. (TranSphere): Fully automated (parsing + statistics), spe- past translations of any segment length and presents them Terminotix Inc. 240 Bank Street, Suite 600, Ottawa, ON, K2P 1X4 cial-domain dictionary stacking/update. Language pairs: in context for translators working with the most popular Canada, 613-233-8465, Fax: 613-233-3995, E-mail: termino@ English/Arabic/Turkish/Persian/Dari/Pashto/Korean/ editors. More flexible than ever, MultiTrans 4 addresses the terminotix.com, Web: www.terminotix.com See ad on page 41

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CAREER OPPORTUNITIES

Merrill Brink International Ltd. (www.merrillbrink.com) is a division of the Merrill Corporation (www.merrillcorp.com), a leading global provider of technology-enabled service solutions for the financial, legal, real estate and other corporate markets. Merrill Corporation combines deep industry expertise with superior service and infrastructure to deliver world-class document, brand marketing, print, fulfillment, language and e-business solutions. With more than 4,600 people in 60 locations, Merrill empowers the communications of the world’s leading companies. Merrill’s annual revenue is in excess of $700 million.

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT OPENING Position Details: Due to an expansion in business, we are currently looking for sales/business development person to cover Ireland, UK and Northern Europe. In order to be successful in this role, it is important to have a software or localization sales background selling into verticals such as manufacturing, medical/life sciences, automotive, SW and IT financial and consumer electronics. Position requires strategic lead generation as well as continuous development and maintenance of current accounts. This role will suit someone who is self sufficient and has a hunter mentality. This role is part of the European Business Development executive team and reports to the Vice-President of European Business Development. Teamwork, travel and the meeting of targets are a requirement.

Qualifications, Education & Experience: • Candidate must be educated to degree level (BA/BS), preferably MBA, with a preference for a degree in a computer technology or engineering field, plus a minimum of 5-10 years of consultative selling experience in the information technology field. • Must have proven corporate account sales experience and success with a consultative approach, at the Fortune 2000/enterprise account size. • Experience of selling services to the SW localization industry is desirable, while experience selling content services is a major plus. • Candidate must be organized, be self-directed and dedicated to spurring company growth. • Must enjoy professional social interaction and the challenges of a competitive industry.

To apply, please send your application (cover letter and CV) by e-mail to Orla Biggs, HR Manager, at [email protected]

See page 51 for an additional career opportunity advertisement.

COMPANIES ADVERTISING IN THE GUIDE TO CONTENT MANAGEMENT IN THIS ISSUE

Follow-Up Translation Services ...... www.follow-up.com.br One Planet Corporation ...... www.one-planet.net Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd...... www.heartsome.com Quadralay Corporation ...... www.webworks.com Idiom Technologies, Inc...... www.idiom.com Sajan ...... www.sajan.com Lionbridge ...... www.lionbridge.com SDL International ...... www.sdl.com Logrus International Corporation ...... www.logrus.ru TripleInk ...... www.tripleink.com

ADVERTISER INDEX The advertisers and their page numbers in this issue of MultiLingual. ACP Traductera, s. r. o. 12 Hermes Traducciones 57 Schaudin.com 77 across 2 Idiom Technologies, Inc. 58 SDL International 21, 84 ADAPT Localization Services 50 Janus Worldwide Inc. 16 Skrivanek Translation Services, Ltd. 24 Alchemy Software Development 34 Larsen G11n 51 STAR Group, LLC 83 Binari Sonori srl 49 Lingo Systems 48 Symbio 42 California State University, Chico 73 Lionbridge 3 SYSTRAN 57 Celer Soluciones, S.L. 16 The Localization Institute 26 Tek Translation International 15 Common Sense Advisory, Inc. 13 Localization World 19 Terminotix Inc. 41 COMSYS Services LLC 74 Logrus International Corporation 38 TM Marketplace 56 CPSL Worldwide 11 McElroy Translation Co. 18 Translations.com 17 E4NET 74 MediLingua Medical Translations BV 41 VistaTEC 42 EuroGreek Translations Limited 41 Merrill Brink International 4, 81 Web-lingo 37 Follow-Up Translation Services 27 Moravia Worldwide 62 Welocalize 63 ForeignExchange Translations 10 MultiCorpora 33 WHP 68 Globalization and Localization Assoc. 46 One Planet Corporation 14, 41 Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd. 31 PASS Engineering 7

www.multilingual.com April/May 2006 MultiLingual | 81

73-81 Buyer'sGuide #79.indd 81 4/5/06 4:50:23 PM 2Tkaa.nd82 Takeaway.indd 82 T ak eaw 82 ay .indd 82 web forthiskindofinformation. Sadly, thisiswhatyouwillmostlikelybeoffered whenyousearch the history oftheregion onalocalizedUSwebpage? when youtravel totheMiddleEast,read uponthe eat inBarcelona, Santiago,MadridorSeville?Or web-based, localizedUStravel guidewhere to to Spain,doyoureally wanttofi leads toacultural dilemma.Whenyoutravel adaptation guruGeertHofstedeandhisfollowers, cultures need technical experts to bring their content to the world so cultures needtechnicalexpertstobringtheircontent totheworldso remarkable engagementwithlife.Localcontentproducers andlocal trainer, toendhisinsularworldandthrusthimheadlongintoa political over-correctness tothem. no deviationfrom thenormandwithanalmostclinicalfeelofglobal every globalcitizen’s taste,beliefsandcustoms,withnosurprises projects more expensive.Theycreate websites thatare acceptableto from standards, whichmaketheirlivesmore diffi many e-contentpublishers dislikediversity, difference anddivergence Tourist and thesounds, color ofawebsite,thehandsignals,symbols because nomatterhowmuchyouchangethe most ofallfeelthatsomethingisnotquiteright chameleon. Butinmanycases,users knowand all therightsignalstouser, something likea efforts —isthataprogram orwebpagesendsout — largely followedbymainstream localization | MultiLingual The approach, alsoadvocatedbycultural Macon Leary needed Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience Macon LearyneededMuriel,adeliciously peculiardog-obedience Like travel writer MaconLearyinAnneTyler’s book The accidentallocalizer The result ofthiskindadaptationeffort Multilingual DigitalCulture project. Journal European editionof of nature,” wrote BenVickers inthe seem tohaveasoftspotforimages video downloads,andScandinavians TakeawayColumn A , whohatesbothtravel andanythingoutoftheordinary, feel. Dutchsurfers are keenon layout giveasiteGerman bright colors andageometrical have ablackbackground, while “A trendy Web siteinFrance will Reinhard Schäler , reporting on the EU-funded , reporting ontheEU-funded pi/a 06 [email protected] April/May2006 Reverse localization content willremain thesame. The Wall Street nd out from a nd outfrom a cult and their cult andtheir The Accidental The Accidental tural preferencesoflocaltargetaudiences. and India.Designerstrytorefl Coca-Cola websites: South Africa, China Coca-Cola websites:SouthAfrica,China ting culture in thatlocale. aim ofdifferentiating adigitalproduct orservicefrom thedomina- strangeness into digitalcontentforaparticulartarget localewiththe localization: keepingorintentionallyintroducing linguisticorcultural target country butbydoingexactlytheopposite,usingreverse by adaptingdigitalcontenttotheculture andthelanguageof by usingexistingstereotypes orbycreating newones.Itworksnot Hofstede, canbeasource ofattraction anddifferentiation. Itworks far from beingacauseofdisruptionandchaosassuggestedby to buyacoffee,orrather amacchio,latteorespresso. Strangeness, coffee drinkingwithItaly, whichiswhytodayoneneeds adictionary France; technologyandengineeringwithGermany;sophisticated editorial board. University ofLimerick,Ireland,and isamemberofthe Reinhard SchälerisheadoftheLocalisation ResearchCentreatthe ect thecul- originating from asingleculture. to thiscontent,notmore localizationofcontent needed ismore localcontentandbetteraccess tives andapproaches offered bythem.Whatis that theworldcanenjoydifferent perspec- cultures: perfume,fashionandromance with are associatedwithcertaincountriesand the localizationindustry. surprisingly, notevenbeenconsidered yetby strangeness worksforsales—lessonsthathave, national marketingstrategies showhow attractive sellingpoint: by removing whatcouldhavebeenitsmost commercial successoftheproduct orservice a devastatingeffectonthesaleabilityand of adigitalpublisher, thisstrategy couldhave content. Atworst, atleastfrom theperspective level ofalertnessandcriticalrefl value systemtotheirown.Thismayreduce their at wasproduced bysomeonewithasimilar viewers tobelievethatwhattheyare looking origin ofdigitalcontentcouldatbestmislead adaptation strategy thateffectivelyhidesthe adaptation are. Butindicators suggestthatan appropriate current approaches tocultural Itremains tobeproven howsuccessfuland One example is association. Certain products One exampleisassociation.Certainproducts Many examplesandlessonsfrom inter- Strangeness M strangeness ection on the ection onthe MultiLingual . //645:1PM 4:51:01 4/5/06 4:51:01 PM Brilliance through Transparency

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84 SDLSDL ad ad#79 #79 84 84 4/5/06 4:51:59 PM CONTENT MANAGEMENT April/May 2006 GETTING STARTED:Guide

Moving Into CM: ® A Company’s Story

What Content ® Belongs in a CMS?

Understanding ® Information and Systems

Integrating Globalization ® Into Content Life Cycle

Multilingual Web ® Content Management

® ROI Considerations

® Authoring Technology

01 Cover #79 Supp LW 3.indd 1 4/6/06 10:51:51 AM CONTENT MANAGEMENT : GETTING STARTED CONTENTS Guide

Getting Started: Now, more than ever, managing online and print infor- Content Management mation is critical for organizations. Throw multiple lan- Editor-in-Chief, Publisher Donna Parrish guages into the mix and you have a recipe for disaster Managing Editor Laurel Wagers — that is, unless you have a system for managing your Translation Department Editor Jim Healey content. In this guide, we have collected valuable information on what questions to ask and Copy Editor Cecilia Spence News Kendra Gray, Becky Bennett how to implement the answers in your content strategy. Illustrator Doug Jones Donna Parrish, Publisher Production Sandy Compton Editorial Board Moving Into CM: A Company’s Story Jeff Allen, Henri Broekmate, Bill Hall, Andres Heuberger, Chris Langewis, page 3 Sandi Castle Ken Lunde, John O’Conner, Sandi Castle is director of marketing and communications at SiberLogic, Inc. Mandy Pet, Reinhard Schäler Advertising Director Jennifer Del Carlo What Content Belongs in a CMS? Advertising Kevin Watson, Bonnie Merrell page 4 Bret Freeman Webmaster Aric Spence Bret Freeman is eastern regional sales manager for Vasont Systems. Assistant Shannon Abromeit Advertising: [email protected] Understanding Information and Systems www.multilingual.com/advertising 208-263-8178 page 5 Markus Romberg and Sacha Fedier Markus Romberg is an information analyst at STAR AG in Switzerland. Subscriptions, customer service, back issues: [email protected] Sacha Fedier (far right) is marketing director at STAR Group America. Integrating Globalization Into Content Life Cycle www.multilingual.com/subscribe Submissions: [email protected] page 8 Dave Rosenlund Editorial guidelines are available at Dave Rosenlund is vice president of marketing and www.multilingual.com/editorialWriter new business development at Idiom Technologies. Multilingual Web Content Management Reprints: [email protected] This guide is published as a supplement to page 11 David Terry MultiLingual, the magazine about language David Terry is vice president of sales and technology, localization, web globalization and marketing at Hot Banana Software, Inc. international software development. It may be ROI Considerations downloaded at www.multilingual.com/gsg page 13 Kevin Bolen Kevin Bolen is chief marketing ofﬁ cer at Lionbridge. Authoring Technology page 14 Shannon Zimmerman Shannon Zimmerman is CEO of Sajan, Inc.

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02 Contents Pg #79-1.indd 2 4/6/06 6:11:27 PM CONTENT MANAGEMENT GETTING STARTED:Guide Moving Into CM: A Company’s Story

SANDI CASTLE

n the early 1990s I worked at the United I remember being asked to translate the to the point where substantial organiza- Kingdom-based satellite ofﬁ ces of a Gettysburg Address so that examples and tions with sufficient funding and commit- Isuccession of North American software training material for a word processing ment could see a return on their investment, vendors as they began to make their sales product wouldn’t have to be devised from especially in the retranslation of material for push into the lucrative European market- scratch. new versions of products. place. The job of the European subsidiary Translation was done manually, tools Tools, techniques and best practices was generally to ensure the acceptability were home grown and pretty wobbly, the all have made inexorable progress over of these software products to European learning curve was steep and frustrating the years. Documentation translation has users. Our main tasks were to: — and local-language product releases become a mature process, and localiza- Q port the software onto the hardware were considered a major success if they tion and globalization and all the similar platforms popular in Europe at that time happened within six months of an English “ations” are not big scary black holes, but — SG Indigo, ACT Apricot, Apple Mac, ICL businesslike activities that are supported and so on. by recognized best practices, professional Q make sure the product worked with ocalization and tools and even industry standards such as the relevant local language system soft- L the translation subcommittee of the OASIS ware and customs. Depending on the globalization DITA technical committee, where the DIR software, this could be as varied as word attribute is currently being debated to hyphenation rules for office automation and all the similar better support Hebrew, Arabic and other software or charts of accounts for finan- differently directioned languages. Con- cial packages. ‘ations’ are not big tent management systems (CMSs) offer Q ensure that all user-facing material specific translation support, and the holy — screens, prompts, user documentation, scary black holes, grail of simultaneous release of products marketing material and so on — was pre- in both English and local languages can

sented in the relevant local language or but businesslike be pretty much achieved without trans- CONTENT MANAGEMENT languages. continental nervous breakdowns. The United Kingdom was of course not activities. CM is invaluable for managing the considered a translation necessity, sepa- translation activity for organizations that rated though we were — and still are, to need to generate the same product docu- some extent — by the same language. launch. We couldn’t translate software mentation in many languages. Especially But to be successful in Europe, there was strings nor documentation until the English when the underlying product is evolving a requirement to translate both software version was complete and frozen because and/or complex, documentation teams and user documentation into local lan- of the huge effort to continue work in par- need to manage the tracking of which guages — generally starting with French allel. When a new version of an existing translated content goes with which origi- and German, then moving to Spanish, Ital- translated product was scheduled, every- nal language content, and which original ian, Swedish, Dutch, and with some trepi- one’s hearts sank because it was such a language content matches which version dation and fingers crossed, a move into complex task to identify — in each local of the described product. When multiple Japanese. language — what had changed from one products are involved and content is Software localization was truly a night- version to another and where. Highlighter reused across different product docu- mare because the software developers pens were often the best tool we had avail- ments, keeping track of the content, the had no idea how to make life easier for us, able. Eventually we gave up translating in- relationships between the different con- and we initially had no idea how to advise house and outsourced our projects, paying tent elements, and the documents where them how they could help us save time and dearly for the privilege of having someone they are used quickly becomes more than effort and therefore money. I remember else take over these headaches. one person can or should have to track in trying to tell one US-based business unit I remember looking at automated transla- his or her head. manager why it wasn’t possible to keep tion systems when they started to emerge. CM has long been viewed as part of the same user guide page numbering in Many companies were hoping for miracles, the authoring process for teams produc- German as in English. I remember trying which of course did not happen. We scoffed ing material in XML. With built-in support to explain to the development team in the at first because the output was more often for workflow, collaboration and remote United States why it was so challenging for hilarious than useful. But companies bigger contribution, most large XML authoring us when they tried to save space by dis- than those I worked for were able to perse- teams have recognized the benefits in playing dynamically-generated messages. vere with them and they steadily improved terms of cost and time savings offered by

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a CMS. Teams who need to use outside a file system to store their documentation. original and translated content. When translation agencies can now also enjoy With a growing number of products and updated content appears in the original the benefits of lower translation costs variants, they became increasingly aware content, the translated content for each by ensuring that static content only gets of the restrictions of this editing platform, changed element will switch back to translated once. mainly with respect to text reuse, transla- the original language so the translation Here is an example. ICOS Vision Sys- tion management, print and web output office can immediately find the changed tems Corporation NV (ICOS) is a Belgian and customer-specific manual generation. content. ICOS finds XML and DITA to be public company and a worldwide devel- They knew they wanted to migrate to XML. better than a standard word proces- oper and supplier of inspection equip- Eventually, in discussions with CMS ven- sor for technical documentation, due to ment, primarily for use in the electronics dors, they learned of DITA and immedi- functionality such as WYSIWYG model- assembly and back-end semiconductor ately liked the concept of topic-oriented ing, context-sensitive element display, markets. ICOS manufactures and sells documentation development and the high attribute display, conditions support and inspection systems for the semiconduc- reuse factor. so on. tor packaging industry as well as inspec- Their specific DITA CMS lets them create Of course, it is not just translation sup- tion systems for the final outgoing visual an exact linked copy of the original manual, port that makes a CMS good for transla- control of chips before they are used in replace the images by the translated ver- tion. Workflow control ensures an efficient various applications such as PCs, cars, sions (while keeping the original xrefs) and process even when documentation devel- mobile telephones, digital cameras, flat will only allow them to change the content opers are in one location and translators panels and so on. of the elements. Content creators cannot in another (or many more). And translated Until 2005, ICOS team members used remove or add elements, which guarantees material is never presented unnecessar- Microsoft Word as their text editor and used a one-to-one equivalency between the ily for retranslation, thereby saving time, effort and cost in both the original language and all future language variants for What Content Belongs in a CMS? future product releases. ICOS creates 20 different variants of each of its manuals in A common question regarding content management (CM) is “What content belongs in a each of the languages supported. A CMS content management system (CMS)?” My answer is “What kind of content do you have?” It makes this type of version control much stumps people every time, but the answer is crucial. To understand your CM needs, you must easier. understand your content. The ICOS team can manage the trans- Start by analyzing what your organization publishes. Most content can be categorized as lation of content into other languages cost-reducing or revenue-generating content. For example, a manufacturer publishes a user’s while minimizing translation costs by manual and an online help desk for each product. This is cost-reducing content because it helps allowing the assembly of documents that customers use the products safely, thus reducing the manufacturer’s customer service and legal costs. only include content to be translated. The manufacturer also publishes parts catalogs and fee-based training materials. This is revenue- The document manager can elect to cre- generating content because it generates sales for the manufacturer. ate a translation stream when he or she Are you surprised by the volume of content your organization generates? Most people are. Cost- feels that the document is sufficiently reducing and revenue-generating content is ideal for CM because there are large amounts of it to be mature to start the translation effort. organized and shared. As work continues on the original docu- Once you know how much and what kinds of content your organization has, ask: ment, translation can start in the trans- Do I have duplicate (or almost duplicate) content? As much as 90% of the content an organiza- lation stream. Then, once the document tion publishes is often duplicate content or is similar enough that it should be the same content. A is ready for final release in the develop- product description in a user’s manual may be the same as the description in the product catalog. A ment stream, a new translation stream safety warning may be repeated in multiple sections of an installation manual. Content that is used is created that merges the content from in multiple ways is ideal for a CMS because it allows you to store content “chunks” one time and reuse them many times, thereby making content messaging accurate across publications. the first translation stream and from Do I publish in different languages? Publishing content in multiple languages greatly increases the development stream. The resulting the amount of content you must manage. One product manual may need to be translated into eight translation stream contains only valid different languages – generating eight times more content! This content is ideal for a Unicode- translations and content that needs to be compliant CMS that integrates with translation memory systems. translated. Is my content used across multiple channels? Do you publish your content as printed manuals? Translation has therefore been assimi- To the web? On a CD-ROM? In PDF files? To mobile devices? A CMS quickly repurposes and delivers lated as a mainstream process and is content for multiple media channels. now viewed as part of the documenta- Do I use this content often? You probably have many old files. Many organizations find it is only tion process, rather than an addition or worthwhile to store frequently used content in a CMS. A CMS is different than an archive; it organizes afterthought once the English version content so that it can be used quickly and efficiently. has been produced. Teams can manage Is compliance an important issue? For organizations with compliance needs, version tracking the translation effort as part of the docu- and content security are important issues. Content that must meet specific regulations is ideal for a CMS because the system can eliminate the paperwork and time associated with compliance by ment development process by using CMS automating processes, such as automatically tracking changes to content and controlling authorized support for translating whole lines of user access. development. Analyze and understand your content. If you answer “Yes” to any of these questions, you have We’ve come a long way in the last ten content appropriate for a CMS. — BRET FREEMAN years. G

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MARKUS ROMBERG & SACHA FEDIER

basic “quality” principle states that This places certain demands on the conceived, created and formatted for use the quality of output from any sys- system: by a person. The content can then only A tem is a direct reﬂ ection of the qual- • Ensure that an item of information can be analyzed in more detail by a person. ity of understanding that went into the only be logically stored in one place. To that end, specific elements of the implementation of the system. • Ensure that information can be stored document, such as headings, are visually A strategic approach to a documenta- and retrieved systematically, even by peo- highlighted by formatting. A computer, tion produc tion system will establish goal s ple other than the originator. however, cannot discern on the basis of such as the highest level of quality docu- • Prevent the storage of redundancies, formatting alone whether the content mentation on demand in any format and which reduces the volume of data. describes a function or a component des- media; maximized reuse of information; • Finally, the information should be ignation. So, a computer cannot analyze minimized redundancy and translation managed in a shared database so that ev- the actual content of a document. At the costs; and long-term cost minimization. ery user accesses the same, current data same time it is evident that the following Achieving these goals requires an in- source — and every change is logged. constituents of a document are insepara- depth understanding of the existing informa- bly linked and can only be reused in the tion to be documented. It is also necessary particular form in which they exist: to understand the value of separating infor- he flexibility • Content — the message to be com- mation from layout and understanding how T municated. to separate the two. Consider that it takes to publish in any • Structure — the order of and hier- 20% more characters to describe a concept archical relationship among the items of in Spanish than it does to describe it in Eng- format can only be information. lish — yet companies want to use the same • Format — the presentational attri- layout for both documents. guaranteed if butes of the content identifiable by human Developing and leveraging this level of readers.

understanding for a company’s documen- information is With an information management sys- CONTENT MANAGEMENT tation require discipline. Those compa- tem, however, individual content constitu- nies that have developed this discipline stored and managed ents (items of information) are managed are reaping substantial rewards. within a structural component — an IU. Characteristics of information. Informa- independently At this point there is no formatting in- tion is the only production factor that is volved. The aim is to present information easy to duplicate, can be used simultane- of the final layout. in a versatile and, above all, automati- ously at multiple locations and does not cally analyzable form — in other words, wear out with use. However, information a form in which the constituents of an IU can easily be altered on its passage from In the end, it is the quality of the database can be interpreted (for example, identifi- the originator to the user — a feature that that determines the quality of the output. able function and component designa- can call its reliability into question. Discipline. Task-based multiuser data tion), handled and manipulated (such as Availability and reliability of informa- input and the precisely detailed system physical measurement units converted) tion. The problem of a lack of information structure allow high levels of productiv- by a computer. This enables different pub- has been overshadowed by one of locat- ity when essential process stages such as lication mechanisms to produce different ing or retrieving the correct information at translation and publication are partially documents from the same information the required time. The constantly growing or fully automated. This requires that the with the actual degree of detail and con- deluge of information has to be organized information needs to be distilled into the tent of a document being determined by by means of an intelligent and effective smallest reusable, discrete elements or the publication algorithm. An appropriate system so that each individual can distin- units (from now on referred to as “informa- level of duplication can then be produced guish information that is reliable and rel- tion units,” abbreviated as IUs). From this in the published document, thereby sim- evant to his or her specific needs. it is clear that the originator of an item of plifying handling for the user. System requirements. Ensuring that in- information, such as the editor, has a large As an example, a list of required tools is formation is reliable and up-to-date re- responsibility and must work in a disci- provided for each operation in a sequence. quires a system that assists the originator plined fashion when creating and manag- In addition, an overall list of tools can be with the production of the information ing content. produced at the end of the document. All and compiles the information in a manner Information management. A document of this information is generated from the suited to the needs of the user. is a usable collection of information same data source.

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System’s concept. The system’s concept should be characterized by a transparent management system for storing self-contained IUs according to the single-source principle, that is, in a single data source. The IUs can be managed and used more than once by linking them together. By linking IUs, redundancies can be avoided and information-related interconnections documented whereby the linked IU more precisely defines the content of the referring IU. This concept enables on-demand, automatic production of derivative documentation. For example, a Quick Start Guide may be a derivative of an owner’s manual, which again is a derivative of a maintenance and repair manual, which is a derivative of the original engineering documentation and so on.

A typical example in the automotive world Editor with terminology and sentence proposal The IU that describes an assembly sequence is linked to the IU for a tool that should be even more support. Besides difference between two versions to be is required for a specific assembly op- data entry and spellchecking, the system identified at any time. In addition, you eration. Each of the two IUs is self-con- should make context-sensitive terminology should be able to view the actual content tained in terms of content. The assembly and sentence proposals simultaneously of an IU at a previous processing stage or instructions describe all the required op- while writing. “Editor with terminology and temporarily reset the entire database to erations in the assembly sequence, and sentence proposal” shows an editor built a time in the past. This will enable you to the tool description contains all the tech- for this purpose. republish a document with precisely the nical details of a particular tool. Linking Note the sentence and terminology pro- same information that it contained at enables the tool data to be accessed posals on the bottom of the screen, which that time. from the assembly instructions, and in are based on the existing content within Design similarities. In many products, the tool description there is a reference the system’s database. Terminology pro- design solutions are often used many to a practical use for the tool showing posals are either from the database or times. For example, a particular assem- what it is used for. taken from a terminology management bly may be used in several places in a From this example it can be seen that tool interfaced to the system. As a result, product and in different product ver- IUs can be subdivided into different consistency throughout the whole enter- sions. Oftentimes a product within a classes (such as assembly instructions prise can be increased while translation product family may be 70% to 90% the and tool descriptions). Each class then costs can be minimized due to reuse of same as another product in the product represents what is referred to as an in- previous translations. family. These design similarities normal- formation type, which has characteristic History management. A high-quality doc- ly lead to significant redundancies in the content components that are necessary umentation passes through a number documentation. for understanding. That means that all of refinement stages from data entry In such cases, the adapted system IUs of a particular information type have through the checking of linguistic and should enable the information to be pro- the same content structure. This principle technical accuracy to the point at which jected or virtually copied with the aid assists the originator with the processes it is finally approved for publication. All of links so as to minimize duplication. of research and production and guaran- changes at all stages must be automati- As a result, that link describes identi- tees the user completeness of content cally documented. cal design features in the product mod- of an IU, for example, in a publication. The system should have an auditing or els which are documented at one point Content-related identification of the indi- history management facility allowing each and automatically available at all other vidual information components gives the individual IU to be traced from its incep- points of the information model in all lan- database intelligence, without which au- tion to publication and translation. Even guages. If there are differences in detail tomated subsequent processing (such as if an IU is deleted, all previously created that require documentation in particular analysis or intelligent publication) would versions of it should be retainable. places (such as different versions for dif- not be possible. It should document who (such as ferent countries), you need to be able to Data entry. With the above-mentioned what user or system) makes what content break the individual link and enter the information structures and benefits in changes or sets which processing statuses specific information. mind, the technical writer will be greatly when and at which workstation. A differen- Consequently, you will spend your time assisted with a good editor. But there tial comparison function should allow the not creating a document from scratch, but

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working only on the difference between current and previous versions. This significantly reduces the time and effort necessary to document subsequent products while at the same time increases the overall quality of the documentation. Publication process. The IUs created TripleInk: Translations 15 Years of Well-managed and translated can then be automatically output with the aid of various publication for Global Markets Brazilian Translations mechanisms. Each publication mechanism TripleInk is a multilingual communications agency This is what you get: is defined within a publication type. A that provides industrial and consumer products publication type defines a particular or- companies with precise translation and multilingual • Quality in customer service, deliverables and ganization of the content according to the production services for audio-visual, interactive and open communication target medium and the communication tar- print media. From technical documentation to • Responsiveness and ability to adapt to ever get (such as a specific target readership). advertising, we offer complete, integrated changing requirements That means that not only the formatting is communication solutions. Employing a total quality • Customized service with no compromise to adapted, but also that the structure of the management process along with state-of-the-art translation quality, even in challenging volumes content is rearranged. technology resources, our knowledgeable project • Promptness to raise issues and prevent any Thus, for example, from the same se- managers and international communication lected IU one publication type might pro- disruptions to project quality professionals deliver the comprehensive services This is what we get: duce a comprehensive printed document you need to meet your global business objectives • Extremely satisfi ed customers such as an instruction manual, while an- — on target, on time and on budget. other might produce browser pages in XML If you’re not one of them yet, experience the difference! or HTML arranged according to topic, and yet another a data pool for a CD and so on. TripleInk Follow-Up Because the publication process takes 60 South 6th Street, Suite 2600 Av. Presidente Wilson 165 / Sala 1308 place automatically, standardized docu- Minneapolis, MN 55402 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil 20030-020 mentation in terms of level of information, 612-342-9800 • Fax: 612-342-9745 55-21-2524-2994 • Fax: 55-21-2210-5472 layout, handling and corporate design is [email protected] • www.tripleink.com [email protected] • www.follow-up.com.br ensured. This increases quality while elim- inating time-consuming and error-prone desktop publishing work. This approach enables unprecedented flexibility to produce from a single source any kind of publication, including any current or even yet-to-be-established industry standard, which then can be exchanged with other databases. For example, today a company could publish ATA 100 (Air Trans- Multilingual Online portation Association Standard for Mainte- nance Manuals)-compliant documentation Publishing Solutions Content Management and tomorrow publish the same data to the AECMA Spec 1000D (European Associa- Quadralay Corporation is the market leader in tion of Aerospace Industries Standard) or online publishing and content-review solutions for With Translation Capability into the emerging standard DITA (Darwin Microsoft Word and Adobe FrameMaker users. Others are still talking about ultimate integration. Information Typing Architecture, OASIS Quadralay’s WebWorks ePublisher Pro allows Heartsome is well into it — a cross-platform CMS fully Standard). developers, writers and groups to easily create integrated with translation productivity software. The The flexibility to publish in any format professional content for the web, professional online can only be guaranteed if you store and Help systems, portable devices, and enterprise-ready Heartsome Content Manager effi caciously combines manage your information absolutely in- XML, directly from Word or FrameMaker. Robust mul- a multilingual content server, a versatile translation dependent of the final layout. Otherwise, tilingual support includes most European and many memory server and a complete set of translation tools. you have to produce redundant informa- Translators, translation vendors and corporate teams tion while rewriting your content and giv- double-byte languages, enabling the effi cient delivery ing it a new structure and format, which of localized content for every major online format. are free to work in Linux, Mac or Windows interface. ensures ever-increasing quality problems and additional significant translation and Quadralay Corporation Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd. publication expenses. 9101 Burnet Road, Suite 105 190 Middle Road In the end, it’s all about understanding Austin, TX 78758 #19-05 Fortune Centre your information, your goals and how to 512-719-3399 ext. 501 Singapore 188979 achieve them. G [email protected] • www.webworks.com [email protected] • www.heartsome.net

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CONTENT MANAGEMENT Guide: GETTING STARTED Integrating Globalization Into Content Life Cycle

DAVE ROSENLUND

t’s not unusual to ﬁ nd global organiza- stored in a repository or file system. Gen- the management of a particular type of tions that have a number of content erally speaking, a CMS is a software ap- content (web CM, document management, Imanagement (CM) strategies and solu- plication that allows people to more easily digital asset management, software con- tions that have emerged within the orga- change and update content. Leading CMS figuration management and so on), these nization over time. Taken individually, each vendors include EMC Documentum, Hum- systems helped companies manage the may help achieve the CM and single-source mingbird, IBM, Interwoven, Microsoft and life cycle associated with their content publishing goals of the product or func- Vignette. assets. More recently, enterprise con- tional team they support. More often than Used broadly, the term globalization can tent management (ECM) solutions have not, however, the result of these collective mean many different things to different emerged. These systems use one or more investments is a distributed, disparate as- people. In this case, according to Byte Level of the CMSs listed above to help compa- sortment of CM platforms and approaches Research, globalization refers to the pro- nies manage all of their content assets in that make the adoption of a cohesive and cess of adapting a business and its prod- a single platform. In order to maximize CM comprehensive content globalization strat- ucts and promotions to a new audience, investments, globalization efforts must egy a nightmare. leverage these existing systems. Many companies have traditionally con- The globalization industry is experienc- sidered investments in content globalization lobalization can ing explosive growth. Not surprisingly, one a luxury, akin to investing in personalization G of the most significant market forces driv- and other enterprise CM extensions. Global no longer be an ing this growth is the internet. A primary in- companies are under increasing pressure to fluencer of the new “global economy,” the protect and expand their customer base in afterthought internet continues to dissolve traditional order to drive revenue increases and protect boundaries between companies and new their bottom line. As such, they need to refo- to broader international markets, causing the demand cus on how to efficiently and cost-effectively for globalization to skyrocket. The resulting communicate with audiences in different lan- globalization pressures felt by today’s glob- guages, both within their own country and CM strategies. al enterprise take many different forms. with others around the world. This global • Top-line growth. Companies must ex- business pressure has helped shine the typically one that is in a different country. pand their global presence to meet revenue spotlight on globalization software, with Globalization encompasses internation- and growth objectives. companies realizing globalization can no lon- alization, translation and localization. As • Increased competitive pressures. As ger be an afterthought to their broader CM such, globalization software solutions en- more and more companies offer products strategies. able efficient management of translation and information in local languages, other For companies looking to better under- and localization cycles as well as the ongo- companies in the same industry feel the stand the relationship between CM and ing synchronization of “source” (the origi- competitive pressures to do the same. content globalization, this article will serve nal) and “target” (translated) content. An • Increasing global demand for prod- to define the two categories, discuss the effective globalization solution maximizes ucts and services. As more and more roots of the technologies and address how global content reuse, improves global con- international consumers learn about a the two can be integrated within an en- tent quality and accelerates new content company’s products and services, demand terprise to drive more effective, targeted into global markets while containing or is stimulated in new, global markets. global business communication. even reducing the cost of globalization. • Shorter product and content life cy- The globalization industry is comprised cles. Product life cycles are shrinking in al- Defining the market of software vendors such as Idiom Tech- most every industry, and this in turn results and available solutions nologies, TRADOS (recently acquired by in a higher frequency of globalization. Let’s start with basic, industry-accepted language service provider SDL), STAR • Real-time or on-demand business. definitions for what we are addressing. Group and Transware; and language ser- The days of batch processing are largely According to the CM Pros website, a vice providers (LSPs) including iSP, Lion- behind us. Today, companies strive to de- content management system (CMS) is a bridge, Localize Technologies, One Planet, liver products and information when and software tool designed to help content SDL, VistaTEC and Welocalize. where they are needed, instantaneously. managers create, manage and publish their content. The CMS uses a database or Market history and industry trends The globalization process and automation other mechanisms to track the location of The late 1980s marked the rapid emer- When it comes to globalization, orga- and relationships among content elements gence of CM solutions. Often tailored to nizations are learning to strike the right

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balance between using internal resourc- Business process automation solutions by the translator. Automation can be used es, external resources and software to attempt to accelerate well-defined, labor- to greatly reduce the time and human re- optimize their efforts. As enterprises intensive processes through software. sources required for this process. extend their reach around the world, de- In the context of this article, this means Translation. While humans are generally mand for globalization services increas- automating the time-consuming and la- required to perform actual translations, es dramatically, and the balance shifts. bor-intensive aspects of globalization as systems based on machine translation As a result, many have had to rethink outlined above. At a high level, here are (MT) and translation memory (TM) can be their approach to content globalization the areas of globalization that are ripe for used to greatly accelerate the process. by more closely analyzing their goals, automation. Project management and workflow. such as to meet the increasing demand Internationalization. While it is not pos- The larger the globalization initiative, the for information; to reuse and repurpose sible to remove humans from the inter- more complex the project management existing content; to deliver information nationalization process, automation can and workflow requirements. As globaliza- more efficiently; and/or to contain or re- be used to enforce adherence to internation efforts grow, so too will the required duce costs. tionalization best practices, thereby mini- number of project managers, translators So, how does a company meet the seem- mizing the amount of human intervention and localization specialists. Automation ingly conflicting globalization goals of in- required to ensure that content is ready for can be used to streamline and accelerate a creased demand, faster turn-around times translation and localization. large number of the tasks that would oth- and cost cutting and containment? There Content preparation. One of the most la- erwise be performed by these resources. are three primary approaches, each of- bor-intensive tasks in globalization is con- It can also be used to automate workflow, fering distinct advantages and disadvan- tent preparation. Content is created using significantly reducing the amount of manu- tages. Choosing the right one will depend myriad tools, and the list of file types and al effort required to move content through heavily on the particular organization’s cir- formats generated by the typical global the globalization content life cycle. cumstances and plans. We briefly outline enterprise can be enormous (documents, Vendor management. Expanding global- the options below, but for the purposes of HTML, XML and so on). Unfortunately, ization efforts also lead to fairly complex this article, we will focus on the third, “au- translators generally do not use the same and time-consuming language-vendor man- tomation.” The three approaches are: tools to perform translation. They work agement requirements. Whether a com- 1. Status quo. Simply continue to do with computer-aided translation (CAT) pany outsources to a single multi-language things the way you do them today. tools to translate text that is extracted vendor (MLV) or to a number of smaller lan- 2. Increase capacity. Continue to do from the original file — either by the glob- guage vendors, the complexity and level of things the way they’re done today, but ex- al enterprise or by the global enterprise’s effort required to effectively manage them tend and expand your capacity so you can LSP. Once the translation is complete, lo- grows considerably as globalization re- do more. calization engineers or specialists must quirements grow. 3. Automate. Use software and global- reassemble the content asset in question CM integration. In order to preserve and ization best practices to streamline and using the newly translated text supplied fully leverage previous investments in CM automate the globalization effort wherever possible. Many enterprises have a globalization process today. However, the level of so- phistication and expertise within an organization varies widely. Even the most sophisticated and experienced organizations tend to follow a process that can best be described as a waterfall approach to global content management. • Content is created. • Content is edited and finalized. • Content is managed. • Content is published in its original (source) language. • Content is globalized. • Content is managed. • Content is published in its translated (target) languages. This approach lends itself well to either a decentralized or centralized globalization effort. In both cases, globalization is done only at or near the end of the content life cycle, and more often than not, it is accomplished entirely through outsourcing to LSPs.

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systems, globalization solutions must le- required for project overhead will again verage these systems as much as possible. grow unexpectedly. Here again, automation can provide a Combine increasing volumes of content number of compelling advantages. For ex- with increases in the number of languages, ample, it is significantly more efficient to and project overhead will grow exponen- automatically detect changes in original tially. Since globalization platforms can (source) content through software, and automate large portions of globalization then automatically initiate the correspond- workflow and project management, they ing globalization workflow that should en- can have a correspondingly significant im- sue from those changes. pact in this area. CF:8C But what factors will help you determine 3. Frequency of change. The more fre- whether or when automation will make quent the changes to items being global- @EJ@>?K sense for your organization? ized, the more effort required. Here again, Four areas of globalization will have the the “combination effect” can be dramatic. most significant impact on your decision. Globalization solutions can be used to >CF98C automate change detection, initiate work- BEFNC<;>< flow and accelerate time-to-globalization. 4. Number of systems. Few, if any, global Combine organizations have all of their content assets in a single repository. Typically, those :FEK

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t may have taken a few years longer than expected, but the global expansion of the Multilingual Web Iinternet is now truly underway with China, India, Eastern Europe and many other devel- Content Management oping countries recently coming on-stream. This web explosion is also validated by Ya- DAVID TERRY hoo, MSN and Google quickly moving into many overseas markets with speciﬁ c search engine languages and localization strategies as a new way for proﬁ t growth. can’t compare to some up-and-coming, low- been English. From there, you can then set up With this global expansion of web content er-cost, mid-market WCM solutions. your additional language websites. So what and internet surfers in mind, are you ready to do you need? play the multilingual search engine optimi- First things first — planning 1. WCM software that follows multilingual zation (SEO) game? Does your current web Let’s begin with business planning for the website management best practices with an content management system (WCM or CMS) special requirements of managing search easy-to-use interface for non-technical staff. organically rank your multilingual content re- engine friendly multilingual content and a lo- 2. An easy-to-set-up and flexible trans- ally well — for example, at the top of the first calization strategy. It’s absolutely critical to lation workflow process built into the WCM page of Google? Or are you losing out your start planning the business rules, keywords software. A good WCM will be able to mold to organic search engine page rankings to your and asset locations for translation workflow the organization’s workflow structure. competitors because they have a more flex- at the initiation of the project. Not only does 3. A WCM that creates a multilingual, ible WCM that is SEO friendly? this reduce risk, but it will save money. Also, search engine friendly website that ranks In this article, I will look at the best prac- think in terms of the desired and most effi- high in Google, Yahoo and MSN. tices for building search engine friendly, mul- cient business process and outcomes. Think- 4. A W3C standards-based, generic archi- tilingual websites using a WCM. ing locally has never been so relevant before, tecture for multilingual websites that is easy The bottom line is that the design and meaning that content authors, editors and to design and maintain, providing compliant maintenance of multilingual websites re- translators may be in one region and manag- usability and accessibility standards. quires WCM software, processes and tech- ers giving approvals may be in a completely niques that are well beyond what is needed different part of the world. The key to creat- A few words on multilingual for a normal “monolingual” website. And ing a localized web presence, which is cost ef- WCM best practices without the suitable tools, multilingual web- fective, is for the whole design, development WCM is all about storing and managing sites can be very expensive to create and and content team to think “multilingual” and content in one place and then dynamically manage. So it’s a great idea to have the best “what is search engine friendly” right from delivering that content throughout the web-

SEO/WCM practices, processes and func- the beginning. site and across multilingual web locations. CONTENT MANAGEMENT tionality in place. Once the structure of the multilingual This saves an organization lots of money The standards to achieve these goals website is established, how do the vari- though efficiency and improved productivity have to be high. Multilingual websites have ous language versions of text, resources and can facilitate the publishing of very com- to be near perfect or very well put together and graphics fit into the overall structure? plex multilingual website content. at least; otherwise, the risk is high that the Moreover, anticipation that some localized Many WCM systems exist to ease the website may never be found by a search en- pages may be created in different ways and task of managing content for a website. Un- gine. The old motto “The competition is just sometimes have a different layout due to lan- fortunately, many of these solutions are de- a mouse click away” is very true in the mul- guage constraints also needs to be planned signed to build monolingual websites, and tilingual website world. Forrester research ahead. Where possible, define and organize some have no regard for being search engine mentions that customers who are addressed the website having in mind a set of the mul- friendly. One of the issues is that they don’t in their own language will stay at a website tilingual rules that facilitate the information take into account the fact that the same page twice as long, and they will spend three times localization process and never forget which will be present in different languages or that as much money when they can use their own local language the search engines are look- the application should interact in different language. Therefore, making sure you have a ing for. Again, this will help to decrease the ways with the same database in order to multilingual web presence is essential, and overall cost involved and minimize risk down come out with a dynamically generated, lo- making it search engine friendly is critical. the road. calized, language specific web page. When considering how to create a multilin- So what are the main technology features I recommend that these are some of the gual website that will last for at least the next to look for? most important items to look out for in a mul- five years, there are dozens of features worth The great thing about a multilingual WCM tilingual WCM: looking at beyond what I can cover here. is that it can seamlessly integrate with the 1. One of the most important require- Some enterprise content management level translation workflow process so content can ments for a multilingual website is to store software solutions and integrated global in- be uploaded into the right location (digital content in the database in the Unicode formation management and document solu- asset management). This significantly re- Standard (www.unicode.org/standard/What tions can do the job to the extreme, as they duces the overhead of managing global con- IsUnicode.html). Unicode is what allows the have all the capabilities, but they can be cost tent through the localization process. In our system to handle languages with unique prohibitive. Even at that level, some don’t ad- experience, we recommend working from a character sets, such as Japanese, Chinese or dress the fundamentals of SEO and therefore root language website which typically has Arabic. If the system is not Unicode-enabled,

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then it is not able to handle multilingual multilingual content is a complex process If text is updated frequently and is lin- content. with many steps, so strong workflow capa- guistically standard, then automatic trans- 2. Website accessibility and compliance bilities minimize mistakes and errors and lation systems can produce sufficiently via W3C standards are becoming more im- increase site management efficiencies. good translations. If these can be integrat- portant in the not-for-profit and govern- 6. Digital asset sharing is the ability to ed into the workflow of the WCM, then the ment sectors around the world and are part share assets such as flash movies, external benefits of speed will pay off; however, we of a wider compliance movement towards hyperlinks, product images, banners, pdfs, do advise that translation editors give the universal usability and accessibility stan- Microsoft Office documents and so on. Con- final approval and that the translators are dards. W3C standards also greatly enhance siderable time can be saved by uploading savvy enough in search engine keywords the “searchability” of websites by the major multilingual website assets and resources that the text can at least hit the minimum search engines and by the internal website into one, well-organized digital asset man- standards set for the site. search tools. ager so that they can be shared on multiple 3. Themes, images, code, text, naviga- websites. What’s a search-engine-friendly tion and campaigns should be separate, 7. Page layout/theme sharing — being multilingual WCM? stored once and reused multiple times. This able to manage the look and feel of a site Most CMSs are notoriously bad at generat- is a critical process that will ensure that con- centrally or as a group — will keep the global ing pages which rank well in search engines. tent is always accurate with no duplication. brand and design integrity standards intact. However, there area few WCMs out there that Translation costs can therefore be signifi- 8. Analytic tracking by language site — do a great job with multilingual websites and cantly reduced through an effective content by providing separate web analytics track- they are also search engine friendly. SEO is reuse strategy. ing tags by language site — will open up a all the buzz this year and has become a very 4. The best multilingual websites need new world of tracking and measurement of important strategy for e-marketing profes- to be able to switch back and forth between website visitors’ behavior, and, most im- sionals to adopt to drive targeted traffic and languages at the page level (one-to-0ne portantly, what works well on the site and qualified leads to a website. mapping). This is a tremendous usability what is working badly so that corrective ac- A search engine friendly WCM simply feature as most multilingual websites are tion can be taken. makes it easy to configure your website in separate sites for each language. With a Best practice for any website is to have an a way that allows the search engine spi- proper multilingual WCM you can build a editorial policy in place for frequent updates ders and robots to visit and crawl deep into “one-to-many” language ability so that you and additions to web content. Not only does every web page. The search engines will can switch, or toggle, between languages this keep the content fresh for returning visi- like what they find because search engine from one web page. tors, but it also keeps the search engines in- friendly multilingual websites are well de- 5. Workflow and approval process (mul- terested in the site as they like to index new signed, use quality W3C web standards of tilevel configurations based on the section content. This therefore becomes more dif- design and code, and possess logical navi- of the website) can be variable depending ficult and complex for multilingual websites gation. With these attributes, the robots upon the page, section and language area of that have to react quickly to content chang- and spiders can then crawl deep inside the the website. A WCM should allow workflow es in other core languages. Updates in the website, indexing practically everything as groups, complex approval procedures and source language need to be reflected in the they move around. high-level content change notifications to other languages, preferably simultaneously, The best WCM for your organization, be applied to different sections or pages of and this requires an extremely quick turn- therefore, will not only be loaded with mul- the website. And most importantly, you may around time for translations. Therefore, the tilingual content management features, but need to coordinate different localized trans- updating of multilingual web content often will also allow the controlled optimization of lation services for different sections and/ requires critical automation to manage com- the website attributes in order to allow web or different country websites. Managing plex workflows. page content to be organically indexed and ranked by major search engines in their native language. Any adjustments that need to be made to improve the organic search engine rankings, such as title page names, URLs, meta tags, keyword copy, keyword and description tags, graphics titles and internal/external hyperlinks, need to be easily changed and kept up-to-date within the WCM software. Again, the goal is to make this as simple a process for as many non-technical users as possible. Let’s not forget that our focus needs to be kept on the plan, and our goal is to have a multilingual website that is easy to design, code and manage. This just so happens to be what the search engine robots and spiders are looking for when they visit a website to index it for organic rankings.

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The most important WCM SEO controls to design elements such as separating design, Additionally, search engines are becoming look out for in a multilingual website are na- graphics, code, navigation and text. the primary source of website traffic for many tive language search engine friendly URLs; organizations, and therefore the ranking of clean XHTML-compliant code; keyword and Conclusion website content in these search engines is of key phrase analysis tools; robots.txt man- The need for full SEO-friendly multilin- equal importance to that of delivering a solid agement on a page-by-page basis; metada- gual capabilities in a WCM system is already multilingual website. ta formulation controls; page titles, browser evident. Soon, the number of non-English However, many multilingual CMSs are dif- titles and window titles, navigation label, speaking people who are connected to the ficult to use, aren’t search engine friendly, way finding and alt tags all with native lan- internet will outnumber English speakers. It are expensive to set up and maintain, and guage naming controls; internal and exter- has been shown that the large majority of in- lack flexibility, standards and focus. It’s nal link management; clean site navigation ternet users prefer to be addressed in their worth looking around for the one that follows elements and site architecture; website ana- native languages, and therefore the demand the SEO/WCM standards and is just right for lytics and behavior profiling; and website for true multilingual websites is on the rise. your organization. G

ith the increasing focus on global Wrevenue generation for companies ROI Considerations of all sizes, information technology (IT) managers and business unit managers KEVIN BOLEN alike are finding themselves involved in the creation and deployment of content SOLUTION: Reduce complexity by auto- across projects can save as much as 30% in multiple languages. Here are the five mating transactions. Selecting and preparing of the total translation costs. By opening up key challenges in multilingual content content for localization and then routing it to your TM corporate-wide, that same 30% is management and how to improve return appropriate managers can take a worker from multiplied by each translation project. The on investment (ROI) in each case. 30 minutes to several hours. For 20 handoffs more expansive the TM, the greater return to Global IT infrastructure. If your organiza- per week, tools that automatically identify, you as your corporate lexicon is standardized tion has already implemented a content select and route content for localization and available for your future projects. Look management system, you are now consider- would save US $60,000 to $90,000 per year, for applications that integrate at source-level ing if it will support your company’s multilin- per project initiative, not counting the finan- with your existing single-language content gual content needs. While some vendors still cial benefits of speeding up the process. repository and become part of the automated sell an entirely new system just to handle Costly delays. If you miss six weeks in a workflow. multilingual content rollouts, adding new nine-month sales cycle localizing content for Hidden costs. Communication, logistics, applications is not the quickest way to ROI. your global channel (or three days in a 20-day reporting and auditing are not easy when In fact, add-on systems undermine the ROI of sales cycle), you’ve lost 15% of your selling you are managing employees and suppliers your existing content platform. days and possibly 25% of your total revenue. across multiple regions and time zones. Invis- SOLUTION: Move toward a single envi- If your product is a web-based customer self- ible costs of administering global programs ronment for authoring, editing, localizing help support site, and if critical information such as productivity loss due to glitches in and publishing global content. If content is is “lost in translation,” you are suffering from communication are high. Most companies moved to and from the translation process “reverse” call deflection, with per-call costs cannot track translation expenses across without loss of formatting or metadata, then up to 50 times higher. If your in-country chan- multiple business units because costs are the multilingual content life cycle is managed nel has the product but no training support hidden in the line-item detail of project as a unified process within a single system. material because of delays in localization, budgets across many departments. This approach minimizes up-front cost and that channel may sell a competitor’s product SOLUTION: Use a knowledge portal for deployment issues for the global system, in the meantime. globalization activities. It is critical for all thereby enhancing the ROI of your original SOLUTION: Shorten time to money by participants to share information. Collabora- content management investment. stamping out delays. Through translation tion and information portals allow project Complex content management. From workflow automation, multiple companies managers to monitor schedules, translators writers to designers, programmers to have shortened their product release cycles and publishers to collaborate, reviewers to testers, editors to brand or product manag- from nine months to three months by speed- approve content, and executives to audit ers, many disciplines serve as “actors” ing the flow of content from source to each cost performance. during source content creation. Localizing target language. Others have shortened the Getting started. Whether your content that content requires actors from just as multilingual release of critical information is printed manuals, packaging, web pages many disciplines. Imagine in a given week and technical updates to a matter of hours. or even multimedia and software, the need you have twenty different documents Translation costs. Translation and termi- to carefully manage content from source- needing translation. Each project visits nology research are labor-intensive proces- language creation through a translation seven of these actors before it is approved ses, both dependent upon highly trained process to distributed, multilingual deploy- for publication. You are localizing into individuals. Translation memory (TM) and ment is paramount. Streamlining and auto- six languages. Single-language content terminology management systems save real mating processes where possible, opening management would mean dealing with 140 money – one by recycling, the other by reduc- up TMs company-wide, and thinking globally transactions per week. But in your case, ing the effort of terminology research. from the beginning will have a dramatic multilingual content management multi- SOLUTION: Reduce volume by cross-lever- impact on your company’s global effective- plies that to 840 transactions per week. aging existing translations. Sharing TMs ness, operations and revenue. G

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CONTENT MANAGEMENT Guide: GETTING STARTED

egin with the end in mind is Habit 2 in Stephen Covey’s book The Seven Authoring BHabits of Highly Effective People. This same principle is true of global communica- Technology tion management. You may note that I did not say language translation. That would be SHANNON ZIMMERMAN taking too speciﬁ c a view of the opportunity before us. Global communication management is a more accurate term because it extends beyond language translation and ties revealed itself as a key value component Authoring memory together the traditionally disparate func- to users. Enforcing global communication meets translation memory tions of content creation and translation. standards in an interactive manner was vir- It sounds simple enough — take the Looking at the whole process, the greatest tually nonexistent and became appealing. same technology approach used to reuse value is realized when the right balance of Interestingly, all of these benefits could be multilingual content and apply it to the technology and service is fused. achieved, and we had not yet extended into source language. Create small databases the language translation process. of previously used source content and use What’s the problem? All benefits seemed to explode once the them just as translation memory (TM) files Many language service providers (LSPs) respondents began to evaluate these key had been used in the past. This approach can attest that uncontrolled change and opportunity points when distributed across would offer the user a database of source inconsistency in the writing or authoring numerous languages. If the source language segments to draw from, but would only solve process can result in significant challenges is the “one” to the “many” target languages, a fraction of the problem. later, when content is translated. Specifi- then it became critically apparent that de- The research clearly noted that the role, cally, costs are often increased; deadlines signing a solution to interactively enable a function and methods used by a writer are may now be in jeopardy; and in many cases writer to reuse source content would have different from those used by a translator. To the explanation to the client is difficult be- exponential gains later on. generically apply the same solution used by cause he or she views it as a simple single- The opportunity was becoming more vis- the translators would fall short. sentence change. The client forgets that the ible, yet numerous complexities remained. The concept of authoring memory made change may impact the multitude of lan- The largest was the notion that a software sense to the extent that it could be labeled guages currently being worked on and may package would “tell” the writer what to similarly to what is already well known — TM. trigger compound changes elsewhere in the write. Stylistic approaches vary, but in gen- This enabled users to immediately establish translation process. eral, the more rigid or strict the presenta- a correlation from one concept to another, This describes the first problem, looking tion of previously used content, the more but that is where the similarities stop. at it through the eyes of the LSP. A marketer strongly the writer would revolt. Authoring memory would need to pres- or brand manager may have a different per- For writers who have spent their lives ent different search methods to be useful spective. Consistency in both source and tar- creating technical content, consistency was to writers. The logical storage and method get languages is important. A writer who can not new. Many of the Fortune 500 compa- of indexing the data would need to be done work with an authoring memory tool at the nies’ technical writers have devised effec- differently so that it could be more useful. segment level during the construction phase tive ways to organize past content so they Writers want to search in a variety of ways. generates benefits independent of those re- can navigate through it to locate previously They want to incorporate advanced rules alized later during translation. authored material. and terminology management when extract- The time associated with creating new or Last, but certainly not least, was the small ing content. editing existing content also presents chal- issue of the writer’s software tool of choice. The solution would also require a common lenges to writers. Finding methods to ac- Writers use a multitude of different software ground for authoring data and translation celerate the content development process packages to create new content or edit ex- data to integrate. The Translation Memory would be a useful benefit. isting content. A range of products including eXchange (TMX) standard was chosen. For Sajan began research in late 2002 to de- Microsoft Word, a variety of XML editors, those who will not use the product for trans- termine if connecting authoring and trans- graphic design and publishing software lation, it can be exported in this XML format lation would generate enough value to packages and virtually any other type of ed- and repurposed as needed. For those who warrant investment in a technology prod- iting package would make solution design would be concerned with integrating this with uct; to verify the need; and to quantify the challenging. translation data, TMX was a logical choice. opportunity. The effort began with identifi- The research results identified measur- In 2003 Sajan developed the first release cation of a broad base of content produc- able opportunity for a better way of creat- of its authoring tool and filed patent appli- ers. Writers were solicited from several ing source content. The isolated benefits cations. A number of current clients and re- industries and departments: technical writ- found at this point in the global communi- search participants began using the tool in ing, product management, marketing com- cation supply chain would warrant the in- production environments. munications and legal. The collected data vestment of time and money alone to solve The first generation of the application validated many ideas and also revealed op- it. When combined with the exponential worked with specific editing software pack- portunities that had not been considered. benefits found later in translation, how- ages — Microsoft Word in most cases. Consistency would prove to be one of ever, connecting the two seemed to be the As the writers constructed or edited docu- the greatest benefits. Production time also best course to follow. ments, the authoring tool worked in the

page 14 The Guide From MultiLingual

14-15 Zimmerman.indd 14 4/6/06 8:56:33 AM CONTENT MANAGEMENT GETTING STARTED:Guide

background, seeking like matches based on process. This number generally increased to also beneficial. The process does not force one of three search algorithms. Users speci- plateau at nearly 25%. This measured only writing methods but helps to remind writers fied how they wanted the tool to notify them the time associated in historically creating of past segments. of results found, and selected segments for content. “Before” and “after” content was For two years, the tool was not broadly review. Appropriate segments were placed then reviewed for consistency discrepan- promoted or offered publicly. The technol- in the working document directly and re- cies. Content consistency rose on average by ogy and surrounding methods were used by placed the source segments entirely. nearly 22%. Why not more? This was a mea- clients along with a global communication Users searched with random key words to sure of similar or like segments that were management system to integrate authoring locate and isolate content and save time min- intended to be the same. and translation. Now, importing and export- ing through past documents, subdirectories The next assessment came with content ing in TMX format, working with any Micro- and network folders. Many users employed that would then require translation. Using soft Windows application, the tool is offered the tool in conjunction with their existing authoring technology on a document to as a standalone product that may be used content management systems (CMS). A “clean it up” prior to translation versus pro- with other industry TM applications that CMS typically does a great job of converting cessing that same document against a TM support the TMX standard. documents into searchable XML but is often file resulted in a 22% reuse improvement. Authoring for translation is the process unstructured or uses minimal metadata for In the past, these slight variances may a writer uses to construct content so that indexing. The new tool leveraged a reposi- have been detected during the translation translation will be easier, more consistent tory of structured, well-organized segment- process by the LSP or translator in a fuzzy and in context with the original thought and level content for specific use in assisting search. The LSP or translator, however, often intent. Use of authoring technology repre- writers and other content producers. did not have the authority to alter source con- sents a new opportunity to create value and tent but had two options: to treat it entirely also represents recognition of a single global The results as new content and perform translation or to communication process — which, when in- Initial results showed an average of 15% notify the client and request disposition. tegrated, can remove difficulties that result production time improvement when the Systematic visibility into previously ap- when the functions of content creation and authoring tool was used during the writing proved content during the creation stage is translation are carried out in isolation. G

April/May 2006 • www.multilingual.com/gsg page 15

14-15 Zimmerman.indd 15 4/6/06 8:56:47 AM ontent supply chain bal c Orchestrate your glo

• Web-based collaboration and system integration optimizes 2006 global information workflows

• Unified ecosystem and integrated platform minimizes global content transformations

• Complete flexibility for hosted, in-house, desktop or web-based deployment

Successful global enterprises select SDL GIM solutions. Find out how you can be in tune with the market at www.sdl.com/tms.

16 SDL ad.indd 24 4/6/06 8:57:14 AM CONTENT MANAGEMENT GETTING STARTED:Guide An invitation to subscribe to

This guide is a component of the newly redesigned MultiLin- Managing Content gual, formerly MultiLingual Computing & Technology. With a new How do you track all the words and the changes that occur in look and a new sense of purpose, MultiLingual continues to lead a multilingual Web site? How do you know who’s doing what and the world in keeping track and informing its readers of the latest in where? How do you respond to customers and vendors in a prompt the electronic universe. manner and in their own languages? The growing and changing In addition to the coverage we provided before, the new maga- field of content management and global management systems zine provides mores insights from industry leaders, an improved (CMS and GMS), customer relations management (CRM) and other news section and expanded calendar and a continuing and collect- management disciplines is increasingly important as systems be- ible section of industry basics. come more complex. Leaders in the development of these systems Published nine times a year, filled with news, technical devel- explain how they work and how they work together. opments and language information, MultiLingual is widely recognized as a useful and informative publication for people who are Internationalization interested in the role of language, technology and translation in Making software ready for the international market requires our twenty-first-century world. more than just a good idea. How does an international developer Four of our annual issues include Getting Started Guides like prepare a product for multiple locales? Will the pictures and col- this one, primers for moving into new territories, both geographi- ors you select for a user interface in France be suitable for users cally and electronically. in Brazil? Elements such as date and currency formats sound like The magazine itself covers a mulitude of issues. simple components, but developers who ignore the many international variants find that their products may be unusable. You’ll Translation find sound ideas and practical help in every issue. How are translation tools changing the art and science of communicating ideas and information between speakers of different Localization languages? Translators are vital to the development of international How can you make your product look and feel as if it were built in

and localized software. Those who specialize in technical documents, another country for users of that language and culture? How do you CONTENT MANAGEMENT such as manuals for computer hardware and software, industrial choose a localization service vendor? Developers and localizers of- equipment and medical products, use sophisticated tools along with fer their ideas and relate their experiences with practical advice that professional expertise to translate complex text clearly and precisely. will save you time and money in your localization projects. Translators and people who use translation services track new developments through articles and news items in MultiLingual. And there’s much more Authors with in-depth knowledge summarize changes in the Language technology language industry and explain its financial side, describe the chal- From multiple keyboard layouts and input methods to Unicode- lenges of computing in various languages, explain and update enabled operating systems, language-specific encodings, systems encoding schemes and evaluate software and systems. Other that recognize your handwriting or your speech in any language articles focus on particular countries or regions; translation and — language technology is changing day by day. And this technol- localization training programs; the uses of language technology in ogy is also changing the way in which people communicate on a specific industries — a wide array of current topics from the world personal level; changing the requirements for international soft- of multilingual computing. ware; and changing how business is done all over the world. MultiLingual is a critical business asset in our electriconic MultiLingual is your source for the best information and insight world. Nine times a year, readers of MultiLingual explore language into these developments and how they will affect you and your technology and its applications, project management, basic ele- business. ments and advanced ideas with the people and companies who are building the future. G Global Web Every Web site is a global Web site, and even a site designed for one country may require several languages to be effective. Experi- We invite you to subscribe to MultiLingual. enced Web professionals explain how to create a site that works for To subscribe, use our secure 0n-line form at users everywhere, how to attract those users to your site and how www.multilingual.com/subscribe to keep it current. Whether you use the Internet and World Wide Be sure to enter this on-line Web for e-mail, for purchasing services, for promoting your business or for conducting fully international e-commerce, you’ll benefit registration code: supp79 from the information and ideas in each issue of MultiLingual.

April/May 2006 • www.multilingual.com/gsg page 17

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