the use of TM technology. Moreover, after general release, most software
products are updated at least once a year. These updates usually just add
features onto a stable base platform, making it all the more important to be
able to reuse—or leverage—previously produced content and translations.
Another type of translation technology commonly used in localization
projects is software user interface localization tools. These tools are used to
translate software resource files or even binary files and enable the localizer
to not only translate but also resize and test the user interface. Examples of
localization tools are Alchemy’s CATALYST and PASS Engineering’s
PASSOLO.
By the end of the 1990s the Internet had changed many things in localization,
such as the introduction of globalization management systems
(GMS). Riding the dot-com wave, various companies offered revolutionary
new ways of managing translation and localization projects, storing and
publishing multilingual content and fully automating localization processes.
Although this new technology had some impact on existing outsourcing
models and processes in the localization industry, it became rapidly clear
that although a GMS could be useful for content globalization programs (for
example multilingual Web sites), the world of software localization still
required a lot of “traditional” expertise and dedicated teamwork.
With Web sites containing more and more software functionality and
software applications increasingly deploying a Web interface, we can no
longer make a clear distinction between software and content when we
discuss localization. The traditional definition in which localization only
refers to software applications and supporting content is no longer valid.
Today, even producing a multilingual version of an on-line support system,
e-business portal or knowledge base could be defined as a localization
project.
In other words, the turn of the century also introduced a new view
towards localization and translation.
What Lies Ahead
So, what is so different now in localization compared to what we got used to
during the 1990s?
Not as much as you might expect. After all, many localization projects
fit the profile that we have grown accustomed to over the past years:
Windows-based desktop software products with some translatable resource
files, basic engineering and compilation requirements, HTML files to use for
the online help and possibly some product collateral or manuals to be printed
or published in PDF format.
Even though these typical software localization projects may still be the
bulk of the work for many localization service providers, they are quickly
being supplanted by new types of localization projects where the focus is on