Translation, globalization and localization

With increasing globalization of the marketplace, it is increasingly important that documentation be adapted or localized to the individual market segments, some of which can be quite small. Important language resources are available through translators and interpreters, but one must know where to find them and how to evaluate competence, including familiarity with specific fields. For proper localization of documentation, variations in national or local terminology can be of vital importance. The big problems often lie in the little differences in the same language used in different countries. Translation and the language professions are making ever-increasing use of modern communications and computer technologies, but these bring with them new problems to be solved, including electronic filing systems, compatibility of word processing formats and standardization of character sets. The paper discusses these problems and considers the use of technology for translation