 Introduction
- Globalization and Localization
What is localization?
To be successful in this challenging environment, organizations
must modify their offering to give them the look and feel
of local products. The Language Industry Standard's Association
(LISA) defines localization as "the process of modifying
products or services to account for differences in distinct
markets". In practice, localization needs to address
three main categories of issues:
Linguistics issues
These relate to the translation of a product's user interface
and documentation.
Content and cultural issues
In many cases, the information and functionality contained
in products need to be adapted for local audiences.
Cultural issues concerning the presentation of information
may also need to be taken into account.
Technical issues
Supporting local languages and content may require redesign
and reengineering. What is globalization?
Products have to be globalized before they are localized.
In its broadest sense, globalization can be defined
as "making all the necessary technical, financial,
managerial, personnel, marketing, and other enterprise
decisions necessary to facilitate localization".
More narrowly, a well-globalized product is one that
has been enabled at a technical level for localization
(also know as "internationalization").
Successful global product development is
thus a combination of globalization and localization.
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