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Today, one of the buzz words of the software industry is “localization”. International software sales represent an important and growing source of revenues for software manufacturers. In 1997, estimates indicate that more than 50% of software industry revenues were derived from international sales. It is no wonder then, that so many software producers are investing in the localization of their products. But what exactly does localization mean and what does it encompass?

At a basic level, localization means the translation of all visible text strings, such as dialog boxes, menus, on-line help, etc., as well as all user documentation and promotional and packaging material, into a foreign language. It further involves adjusting the sizes of the displays to accommodate the language expansion.

At a deeper level, it also means adapting your product to a certain country or region. It takes into account the cultural context of the country where you want to sell your product and helps ensure that the target users can interact with the software on all levels, not only in their own language but also using their cultural conventions. Many conventions that we take for granted, such as date, time, currency formats, measurement systems and units, capitalization rules, etc., vary totally from one country to another. In fact, when localizing software, sample files containing culture-specific information may often need substantial rewriting. Numbers, colors, symbols, and historical references have totally different meanings depending where you live. For example, in the US “13” is usually considered unlucky, but in Japan, “4” and “9” are considered unlucky. In the US, July 4th always refers to Independence Day, and “9 to 5” usually means a full day of work. These cultural idioms, even if translated correctly, may not be understood by people from another country because of a different cultural background.

Finally, in some cases, localization may also involve adapting the software content to maintain compliance with local laws and regulations.

Software localization does not begin and end with translation. To achieve acceptance in a target market, translating cultural features and assuring compliance with regulatory requirements and laws are as important as translating the language. Localizing software into the language and culture of a target market gives its manufacturer an enormous competitive advantage, and this translates into higher revenues and higher profit.