Localization on the WWW

About the author

Sara Baig works for Hewlett-Packard as localization program manager for the Software Support Services Division. She is interested in following the trends in publishing of local language content on the Web, and in identifying "triggers" and means to measure them) that will help companies decide if and when to invest in localization of Web content.

Overview

Web connectivity and use is continuing to grow rapidly all around the world, including countries and communities that have a low tolerance or understanding of English. While English remains prevalent on the Web, many companies are today investing - or considering investing - time and money into localizing content on the Web for non-English speaking audiences:

recent survey of 67 companies carried out in conjunction with LISA (Localization Industry Standard Association ), showed that 75% of surveyed publishers & vendors were localizing content on the Web, or considering doing so.

Recent articles in Computing Japan, Communicationsweek International, and @internet reporter- to name but a few - all report that the trend for multilingual content on the Web is growing.

Multilingual browsers are sprouting, online service providers are supplying more and more local language content, and there are now web page translation tools available.

The problems associated with localizing on the Web:

• How to ensure that users can view or print the localized information (uniformity in extended capability of browsers, character set, style sheet and font problems)
• How to manage localization of web pages (backoffice management, localization and management of links, handling large volumes & high turnover, version control, deciding on languages, lack of tools, need for guidelines, handling localization of sound files, how to bring the COST down )
• Knowing the users ( can't predict who will access page in which countries, and d ifficult to track this also; business case for localization difficult to obtain)
• Handling design issues for international audiences (are graphics the way to go? can a page be designed for international access, or does each page have to be tr anslated and offer local "look and feel"; is there any point localizing interfa ce, messages, and help files, if the underlying content is in English? how to provide the language choice in the first place? handling switches between languages...)

What are the triggers?

A certain number of trends need to be observed and tracked by companies who are localizing or considering localizing to help them to determine when and how muchto localize on the Web; these triggers might be:

• legal requirements for web localization number of local language servers use of translation web browsers
• internet penetration (and web use) per country
• the market place (within a sector what content is competition analysing and into what languages)
• improvements of MT technology
• the existence of guidelines and standards for creating, managing and accessing localized Web content

But how can these triggers be reliably measured? Are there other triggers that need to be tracked?