Translation and Software Localization Blog

The Devil is in the Details!

2009-06-30T12:36:00.002-04:00

With all the advances in technology and tools, sometimes it's important to remind ourselves of the basics. One of the key features of successful projects is efficient information exchange. This is true for all businesses including localization projects.

A translation management system is a great tool to help keep the project files and resources organized and available to all at any time of the day. It also greatly facilitates communication and collaboration. But often, while handling complex projects and multinational teams, it's easy to forget the power of the little details!

Here are a few examples where old fashioned communication trumps technology.

Recently, one of our sales reps mentioned to the project manager that a new client's preferred style of communication was via phone as opposed to email, which is the basic mode of operation within our translation management system. This simple piece of information resulted in the localization project manager calling the client for the initial introduction and kick-off of the project instead of sending an email, which started off the project on a positive note with the client. First impressions are always very important!

In another case, the client had a very tight delivery schedule for a new UI product. Requirements were discussed between the sales rep and the client without much success on increasing the localization time. The project manager then got involved and additional conversations took place with the client. Throughout this process, it became clear that translation consistency and quality were more important than the delivery schedule. As a result of that conversation, the schedule was reset to allow for correctly handling consistency and accuracy.

Introductions between the different stakeholders of the project can also help eliminate reoccurring problems. Introducing members of the localization teams to each other can provide a sounding board for specific discussions. When multiple languages are being localized, one language often moves ahead of the others uncovering issues that need special attention for all languages.

Nothing takes the place of efficient information exchange. If you have access to a translation management system, great! Use it! But as everything gets more fast-based and technology driven, don't forget the basics. The devil is often in the details!

Google’s free translation portal

2009-06-22T13:41:00.003-04:00

Recently, Google released its Translation Toolkit enabling the translation of HTML and DOC files via an easy to use web portal that offers a WYSIWYG translation environment integrated with its Machine Translation engine.

If you don’t mind correcting machine translations, or retyping the English source text when you need to revert back to English, then the environment will be a plus for the average translator that does not currently use computer aided translation (CAT) tools.

Google smartly predicted that professional translators, which are a key crowd that Google wants to attract, will not be satisfied with just the machine translation option. So they included the ability to upload glossaries and translation memories. This helps produce more consistent and professional translations that machine translation cannot accomplish.

The WYSIWYG translation environment is helpful to visualize the source and get a better idea of the overall context; it is better than translating HTML at the text level and deal with all the tags and code. But the limits in language pairs and supported file formats (I was very surprised that they are not supporting XML and that only English source was allowed), and the fact that you need to work online, quickly offset the gained benefits for the professional translator, who is used to using similar CAT tools without these limitations.

So what will the impact be on the translation and localization industry?

In the short term, less experienced translators will be drawn to use the Google translation environment and will quickly learn the limits of machine translation and the benefits of translation memories and building accurate glossaries. This will help them mature and become more experienced translators. As more translators use the system to produce quality translations, it will help improve the Google Statistical Machine Translation accuracy, enabling Google to facilitate international markets reach, improving its bottom line.

Established CAT publishers will have to work harder to outdo Google or integrate with it. What Google built so far is not very hard to duplicate; Microsoft already has a similar environment to handle translations of its knowledge base. But long term, it will be very hard for others to keep up with the bilingual corpora that Google will amass. It is the corpus that the statistical machine translation industry is after to improve its Statistical Machine Translation engine.

Google still has to work on ensuring the protection of intellectual property to their rightful owners (the ones who pay for the translation in the first place). But as statistical machine translation quality improves, translation efficiency may significantly improve to possibly make this issue mute, or at least not as pressing. But this will not happen for many more years.

Some are cautioning that Google’s offering may not be free forever. That may be the case. But so what? We pay for other SaaS tools like CRM, online meetings, telecom, email… No one will mind paying a fee when the ROI is well justified!

Google Wave- The Future of Localization Collaboration

2009-06-15T13:43:00.004-04:00

This month Google released the Google Translation Toolkit. But what overshadowed this release was the preview of its new Wave technology geared for release as an open platform at the end of this year.

Soon, emails, instant messages, blogs, forums, wikis, tweets, tickets, bugs, queries, docs… will all morph into a Wave!

The promise of Google Wave is to store all that information in a content manager and allow users, or collaborators, to access it simultaneously in an easy to use environment, eliminating local storage, check-in, checkout, locking and unlocking requirements.

Since there is no information sending and receiving (no ftp, pop or smtp servers), the information is static in location but dynamic in content, while simultaneously accessible to all needed users. It also fully tracks the users who create it, the ones who change it, and where and when the changes are introduced. Versionitis will be forever eradicated in a Wave!

Teams can communicate and collaborate to create content, expand it, update it, edit it, translate it, review it, proof it, all at the same time. A replay feature allows anyone to see the history from the origin of the Wave to its end. This ensures accountability and authenticity.

Let’s look at how riding this Wave can impact localization and translation tasks.

Imagine technical communication groups developing documentation in Waves, where all needed experts are simultaneously involved. Developers, technical writers, expert users and translators can contribute to help build the most useful source documentation needed by worldwide users.

Imagine also a localization collaboration environment where style guides, glossaries, translation memories and translation queries all reside in Waves, created, updated, answered and consumed by all the localization project stakeholders. These Waves will be living documents shared by translators, reviewers, editors, proofreaders and other localization resources around the world. The Waves live in the cloud and are used on all the projects that they are needed in and intended for.

Imagine translations being reviewed, edited and proofread in a WYSIWYG environment without the need to download or upload PDFs, without cluttered bilingual files, or tagged files, or separate translation memories, glossaries and other translation assets; and more importantly without having to worry about revision control and folding changes back into the source documents or the translation memories.

The evolution and growth of the localization industry is all about making the translator and localization professionals in the process more efficient. This often means giving them better access to translation assets and resources. In the short term, Wave technology can be used to manage evolving style guides and to address translation queries. Later glossaries can be developed and managed in a Wave while extensions link them to the source documents. Finally, translation memories can also be linked to Waves to enable translation reuse and consistency.

When the collaboration tools and processes in the localization industry catch the Wave, and they will over the coming years, the long term effect on the localization process will be phenomenal!

Are New England companies behind the curve on globalization?

2009-06-08T17:52:00.007-04:00

On Friday I attended the acclaimed Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council UnConference about the “Future of Software and the Internet”.

The event drew some 250 attendees including many C-Level executives, technology gurus, entrepreneurs and venture capitalists from Massachusetts and the surrounding area.

Now keep in mind that this was an unConference. The agenda was to be assembled by the attendees at the beginning of the event. To help let the juices flow, the organizers offered some ideas by email and during the registration process to include the following:

Market Forces & Innovation Catalysts
- Industry Consolidation -- Good, Bad, or Ugly?
- Innovation Catalysts -- Low barriers are bringing in new competition: who are the rising stars and who are the established forces to be reckoned with?
- Localization & Globalization

Business Models, Platform Shifts, & Infrastructure
- Traditional to Cloud Computing: the changing business, access and technology models
- Perpetual License, On-Demand or hybrid?
- Mainframe, Mini, PC, Handheld -- what's next?
- Broadband -- will it be the next utility?
- Privacy, Security, IP, Data Retention, Jurisdiction -- what do businesses need to know when operating in the cloud?

Technology Trends
- Mobility -- Anytime anywhere access
- Social Networking, Twittering, Crowd Sourcing, Collaboration
- Business Intelligence, Search, Data Mining, AI, Modeling, Predictive Markets, Analytics -- how do you monetize data?
- Interoperability, Standards, Open Source.

Having seen “Localization & Globalization” (I underlined them above) as a possible topic of discussion on the list, I planned to attend my first unConference.

When the discussion topics were solicited from the audience at the unConference, I was waiting for someone to propose a topic on Globalization & Localization. When no one did, I proposed the following: “The impact of Web2.0 on Globalization & Localization”.

I intentionally scheduled the meeting to take place during the 3rd hour of the event. It seemed to me that much of the audience was interested to hear about cloud computing which was scheduled for the 1st hour. I figured, by the 3rd hour, everyone will be back from the clouds to earth.

There were many good sessions proposed, roughly 10 or so for each of the 4 hours. So there was some hefty competition among the sessions. But with 250 attendees, I figured I’ll have 10 or 15 people interested to discuss Globalization and Localization.

When the session’s time came, only one person showed up! Only one out of 250 people was interested enough to hear about Globalization trends to show up! We nevertheless had a spirited discussion about globalization trends and how Search-Engine Marketing and Geo-optimization of web campaigns can facilitate international market evaluation, validation and penetration.

But we could not help but wonder why no one else joined us. Is New England so much ahead of the curve in globalization that people don’t need to discuss global issues or trends anymore? Or are we so far removed from globalization that people don’t really care to discuss them?

What do you think?

International Markets: Stars, Cash Cows, Question Marks and Dogs

2009-06-04T16:41:00.013-04:00

In the 70s, the Boston Consulting Group developed the product life cycle matrix to help companies analyze their product portfolios for the purpose of strategic planning and effective resource allocation.

They divided products into 4 groups:

1. Low relative market share and low market growth rate: They called it a “dog” and recommended phasing out these products.

2. Low relative market share and high growth rate: They called these products a “question mark” and recommended investing in some.

3. High relative market share and high growth rate: They called this category a “star” and recommended heavily investing in them.

4. High relative market share and low growth rate: They called it a “cash cow” and recommended maintenance only, milking the product till it turns to a “dog” then phasing it out.

BCG emphasized the need for companies to have a product portfolio that contains products in all of the question mark, star and cash cow quadrants.

Fast-forward to the globalization era. Your geographical market portfolio should match your product life cycle matrix portfolio!

The same techniques and principles can be applied when appraising your international markets and how they rank within these four quadrants. Based on that, you can decide on the amount of resources to apply to product localization.

But if you are new to international markets, how do you avoid investing in dogs?
The first step is Market Identification. You can do so by considering your strategic marketing goals, your strategic international relationships with clients or partners, and/or GDP numbers.

The Market Evaluation stage (question mark) is the research stage where you can analyze and measure the importance of each strategic market, individually. Localized search-engine marketing campaigns for each of the strategic markets are ideal to inexpensively perform your analysis.

Once you’ve identified the key geographies that appear to have the most potential, you can transition the top 1 to 3 geographies to the Market Validation stage (star), while keeping the others in evaluation. Your goal in the market validation stage is to establish sales channels and marketing strategies to actively pursue selling your product in these promising geographies.

When justified, these target markets can move into the Market Penetration stage (cash cow). This is where you want to be long term for the top 10 world markets.

It is no secret that successful international companies earn over 50% of their revenues from international markets. So build and balance your international market portfolio by moving them from one stage to the other, just like you build and balance your product portfolio in the BCG matrix. Using this approach to geographies, you can penetrate the world by dividing it and then conquering it!

Contact GlobalVision for a free white paper detailing this staged approach while integrating and cost-justifying product localization.

Localization tools are only as good as their users

2009-05-27T11:59:00.003-04:00

In all industries, including the localization and translation industry, new tools are continuously designed and sold to streamline the key processes used in the business. The overall goals of these tools center on improving efficiency, saving time and reducing cost.

Organizations that depend on the management of projects involving the expertise of multi-specialized professionals require a strong leader at the helm, no matter how sophisticated the tools. This is true for a general contractor for a large construction site, for a program manager for a manufacturing or software company, or for the project manager of an elaborate NASA shuttle mission. This individual is responsible for making sure that the end product of these cross-functional teams is delivered successfully.

The same holds true for the localization industry where the project manager must select appropriate resources with the proper expertise to complete the project per the required specifications, properly using the localization tools available to facilitate this effort.

Translation memories are one of the tools heavily used by localization teams with great success. A more recent tool added to the internationalization arsenal is the translation management system or TMS. This enterprise-level localization tool is used to facilitate packaging and distribution of translation kits, centralize the data repository for translation assets, and facilitate communication and collaboration among all the project stakeholders.

Used properly, a TMS can greatly increase the efficiency of file and terminology exchange, as well as the communication and clarity of project requirements. But in order for the project to be a success, the proper resources must be selected for all phases of the project. Translators must be chosen with native language expertise in the subject matter and style of the material being translated. Desktop publishing teams must be versed in the proper file types, language nuances during layout, and attention to detail for the final quality assurance. Translation memories, terminology glossaries and other reference materials must also be selected properly. And last but not least, the project manager must structure the workflow and communicate the proper details to ensure that end results meet the client’s requirements.

Localization tools can be a tremendous help in organizing and packaging data as well as providing a central point of communication. But they are no substitute for a skilled and knowledgeable localization team. Successful use of a TMS only complements the proper localization resources in the execution of localization projects; it does not replace them!

Translation Collaboration Portal

2009-05-15T09:13:00.006-04:00

With the advent of the internet and Web2.0 technologies, collaboration portals are put to use in all industries, including translation and localization.

Exactly a year ago, GlobalVision released the industry’s first online collaboration portal to handle translation and localization queries between all translation and localization projects’ stakeholders.

Immediately after the release, translators began initiating queries regarding the text they are translating from within the translation management system allowing our clients’ in-country, documentation and engineering experts to respond to these queries in a secure easy to use environment with a web browser.

gvCollab, the online translation collaboration portal, quickly became an integral part of GlobalVision’s larger translation management system (TMS), gvAccess*, seamlessly handling hundreds of queries, and facilitating the translation and review tasks which constitute roughly 65% of a localization project’s efforts.

What used to take days to compile, document, forward, allocate, answer and disseminate is now done automatically and expediently in the translation management system, enhancing response time along with the receipt of timely knowledge for translators and reviewers to accurately complete their translation and localization tasks.

This, not only improved the efficiency of our translators, it also improved the end-quality of the localized product and minimized the quality assurance steps needed to achieve a proper release.

Since Web 2.0 technology was used to develop gvCollab, translators now submit queries online in a wiki environment tied to the project’s query and terminology databases. Project managers then moderate them online allowing servers to automatically route notifications to the expert personnel on the client side. The experts in turn answer the queries online, swiftly and securely. Since the data is SQL based, it resides in a knowledge base that constitutes a critical component for accurate future projects’ completions.

While in the past we had Translation Memories (TM) and Terminology Databases (TD) to rely on, now we have Query Databases (QD) as well. QDs are as important assets to translation and localization projects as TMs and TDs.

The following are the benefits gained from the translation collaboration portal, gvCollab:

• Preserve translation knowledge assets by organizing queries and automatically storing them in a SQL knowledge base for future use accessible to all stakeholders
• Reduce redundancy by eliminating duplicate queries through automatic search of queries already in the knowledge base and avoiding unnecessary queries by automatically searching the terminology database
• Create efficiency by streamlining the routing and notification of queries to the desired language experts or authors for timely responses

Today, GlobalVision's worldwide translators, project managers and clients are benefiting from this enterprise-wide collaborative database that is streamlining their translation and localization project efforts. The days of ad-hoc querying by email and forever waiting for redundant answers are eternally gone!

* gvAccess and gvCollab are offered free of charge to GlobalVision’s translation and localization clients. To learn more about them, or to attend a free webinar or to get a free white paper about the benefits of translation management systems, visit http://www.globalvis.com/.

The Language of Business is the Language of the Customer!

2009-05-10T11:38:00.007-04:00

Last week, we got the following email from a prospective client: “I am aware of the services for translation and localization that exist in the market place such as yours. My challenge is on how to then take the translated / localized versions of our field service solution and go to market with it in the foreign marketplace. To accomplish this in house would not only require investment into the translation services but complete hiring of an internal bi-lingual marketing / sales / support staffing.

Before I can make the investment to engage in your services I would require assistance in identifying solid partner(s) with the ability to market / sell / support the translated & localized product in the corresponding foreign markets. Is this a challenge that you and your firm could assist in?”

What is heartening is that we seldom hear anymore doubt that globalization is here to stay. With a weaker US dollar overseas and the unrelenting pressure on Wall Street companies to constantly lower costs and increase profits, globalization trends have grown stronger by the day, despite the current worldwide economic turmoil.

Executives possessing a global vision are convinced now more than ever that to succeed internationally they must localize their products, websites and literature. The benefits are many:

• Better communications with international customers and prospects

• Unparalleled market penetration
• Tangible competitive edge

• International and local image that is hard to ignore

• Visible commitment to customers worldwide

With many years of global exposure, our clients continue to confirm that the language of business is indeed the language of the customer. Since localization and translation are not core competencies they possess, our clients believe that outsourcing those tasks to us is the obvious solution.

But for many emerging companies, going global is a catch-22 proposition. They understand the long term benefits, but cannot justify their upfront costs.

At GlobalVision, we believe that your international expansions do not have to be an expensive proposition. Read going global on a shoestring and discover our tested approach to achieve international market penetration incrementally and judiciously. It is a compass that will guide you as you embark on your international journey.

When you become our client, we take your global market commitment to a higher level. Your languages, schedules, budgets, processes, and goals become our business. We put them and your end-users first and foremost.

In short, your language becomes our language! Don’t accept any less from a language service partner!

Statistical Machine Translation for All

2009-05-05T12:37:00.005-04:00

In the 80s, I worked for a large European chip manufacturer who at that time was marketing a new technology in video chips. They architected a solid state CCD (Charge Coupled Device) relying on the Frame Transfer (FT) technology to compete with the common Interline Transfer technology adopted by most Japanese video camera manufacturers.

Although the FT technology was superior, it never took off. Why? The company focused on the scientific and professional markets instead of the consumer market that was dominated by Japanese companies. Lacking consumer volumes, they could not justify financing their technology for too long, hence its demise.

Lesson learned? Volume often trumps technology!

But what if someone has the volume, the technology, and offers it for free? How can anyone compete under such conditions? This is the case with statistical machine translation (SMT).

At core, all SMT solutions are based on the same algorithms. And by their nature, they all require intensive mathematical operations on very large sets of bilingual text corpus and even larger monolingual corpora to stand a chance to resemble human translation quality. The winner will not be the user of the better SMT technology, but the user of the one that relies on the largest volume of translation databases and computing muscle (read the unreasonable effectiveness of data).

Effectively, the power to harness SMT lies with the company that accesses, spiders, aligns and indexes the massive volumes of monolingual and multilingual corpora available to the public, while at the same time holds an enormous infrastructure in computing resources. The larger the volume of language corpora processed, the more valuable SMT will be.

But just like translation memory (TM) and rule-based machine translation (RbMT), SMT will not replace human translators or language service providers. With adequate integration in the translation environment, and in time, SMT will offer benefits similar or possibly better than fuzzy-match results from TM tools.

Certainly, human translators will keep on applying the final edits and linguistic quality control; localization and QA engineers will carry on ensuring that the localized product operates correctly; and, project managers will continue overseeing timely and on budget projects’ completions.

If you want to experiment with SMT technology today, don’t look far. Think volume, think cloud computing, think free! Think of the most popular search-engine company in the world. Get the picture?

Staged GUI Localization

2009-04-29T10:03:00.003-04:00

Often when companies decide to take on the world, they undertake the localization of their software product into multiple languages in parallel.

But in some cases, either due to limited resources or budgets, young software companies prudently consider their options and end up localizing their product into one language first, before embarking on more. This was recently the case with a small software publisher that was localizing its highly technical engineering software for the first time.

The first step taken was pseudo-translation. It ensured that no graphical user interface (GUI) text remained hardcoded and enough space was present in the dialog boxes to allow for text expansion after translation. With pseudo-translation, quality assurance time and dialog boxes resizing for all languages are minimized.

Our client also understood that GUI localization is not only a test of their internationalization efforts, but also a potentially tricky linguistic endeavor particularly given that their highly technical GUI strings can be misinterpreted when out the context.

So they proceeded with GUI localization into Spanish first. The first round of translation always invokes many contextual queries by the translators. Also, internationalization mistakes not detected during pseudo-translation are encountered and flagged throughout the GUI localization process. Using our translation management system (TMS), gvAccess, and its translation collaboration module gvCollab, the translators entered their queries online, got answers from the client experts online, and answers were stored in the online TMS query database to be searched and used by future translators involved in localizing the product into other languages.

The first localization effort also involved optimizing guidelines specifying textual objects to translate or leave as is. Although these guidelines were provided at the start of the project by the client, throughout the translation, the translators did uncover many inconsistencies. These inconsistencies required reworking the macros and parsers that we wrote to prepare the GUI files for translation. Given that only one language was in progress, we were able to make the necessary corrections with a minimal amount of rework. Had multiple languages been underway, this rework would have been multiplied by the total number of languages involved.

The Spanish application was then checked by in-country reviewers in a test build runtime environment. Additional errors detected with improper use of variables and new line returns were corrected in the source code benefiting future localization efforts.

It took a couple months to complete the first language. But subsequent languages were done in a matter of weeks and with much lower effort than if all done in parallel.

Doing things in parallel is not always the shortest path! Ensuring that your software is localization ready before undertaking multi-language localization can pay lucrative dividends in time, cost and quality!

The Ripple Effects of Source Change

2009-04-16T17:28:00.007-04:00

Localization projects always take place at the end of the development lifecycle and are unfortunately often planned late in the release resulting in a very tight execution and delivery time-table.

Prudent localization teams will always try to satisfy the schedule needs while minimizing the impact on quality and cost. When schedules are tight, one typical reaction is to throw more localization resources at the project to get it done sooner. In some cases this is effective, but in many localization projects, there is a direct negative impact to cost and quality.

Here is an example where the use of translation management systems (TMS), coupled with proper planning, coordination and collaboration between the localization and development teams, ultimately benefits everyone.

Many projects involve the translation, review, layout, quality assurance (QA) and print of manuals. The localization team is usually very aware of the requirements for each of these stages of the process and handles them accordingly. If your developers or technical writers have a tendency to make updates to the source files during the localization process, it is important to make them aware of these stages so that updates can be introduced at the appropriate time with minimal impact on cost and schedule.

Making changes before the translation has started is always the best scenario. But if that is not possible, then the next best time to introduce changes is before the review phase begins. This allows the localization team to prepare the new source files, leverage the translation that is already done using translation memory tools, perform the review cycle on the entire target files, and then layout, QA and send to print. This usually incurs the lowest additional cost and time.

Making changes to the source once the text is in layout or QA, results in additional time needed to complete the project, more cost to rework the layout with the changes for each language, and more risk of errors when changes are introduced manually. It is not the desired timing.

Making changes after the manuals are printed is even more costly!

Understanding the localization project lifecycle, and setting deadlines for any source changes before the key localization cycles start, allows the most time and cost effective window to introduce revisions. When a translation management system (TMS) portal, such as GlobalVision’s gvAccess, is used, these events are clearly identified and communicated to the stake holders. Also, automatic alerts and notifications can be put in place to ensure open communications and status updates for all.

For more information, read: Are Last-Minute Updates Wreaking Havoc with Your Localization Budget?

Localization in a recession

2009-04-04T12:55:00.012-04:00

I’ve answered many calls recently from localization managers complaining that their budgets are being cut, asking for advice. If you are suffering from the same symptom, here are a few pointers to consider.

Don’t panic! In a recession, it is normal to cut budgets in an effort to reduce costs. Evaluate the amount that you are asked to cut and compare it against other budget reductions within your company. If you are asked to make relatively bigger sacrifices than others, don’t be afraid to argue for fairer and more equitable cuts.

Know the priorities. Do you know what geographical areas your company depends on for making the sought after revenues? Do you know what international markets can potentially help your company better navigate this recession? Can you show how they can contribute to reduce risk and increase diversification? Connect with your international colleagues and arm yourself with the facts, then defend your turf!

Be creative and know your options. There are known ways to reduce localization costs. It is not prudent to take drastic measures or force your vendors into deep concessions. Look for ways to eliminate fat and reduce costs without seriously impacting your long term prospects with your suppliers or your ability to deliver on future requirements once the bull chases the bear away. For instance, while some of our clients are scaling back their recurring localization projects, cutting new languages or postponing the localization of new products, others are investigating more efficient processes and technologies.

Jump off the sinking ship. If your localization vendor is in possible trouble, don’t be caught unprepared. Your management still expects you to do your job and deliver your localized product on time and within the quality parameters that your users demand. Keep an eye on the stability of your vendor and if you hear of layoffs coupled with financial difficulties, start looking at other vendors and be ready to switch horses even in mid-race. The severe economic turmoil that we are experiencing will claim vulnerable companies in most sectors, including the localization industry.

Don’t lose focus of the big picture. Budgets are not cast in stone. They can be “fine-tuned”. Keep in mind that in a recession, management seeks to cut costs, not revenue. If the delay or lack of a localized product can negatively impact your company’s bottom line, you have the fiduciary responsibility to alert your management and fight for what you need to get your job done!

Use idle time effectively. Meanwhile, take the opportunity to strengthen your processes, your technology, your team and your suppliers. When the bull returns, and the bull will return, it will do so furiously and when we least expect it!

Know Thy Customer

2009-03-10T08:30:00.010-04:00

One of my colleagues in our Beirut, Lebanon office forwarded the below anecdote to me.

Due to its relevance to localization, I felt compelled to publish it in this blog. It ties nicely to our recent blog Save your money! Credit goes to its unknown author. Enjoy...

A disappointed salesman of Cola returns from his Middle-East assignment. A friend asked, "Why weren't you successful with the Arabs?"

The salesman explained: "When I got posted in the Middle-East, I was very confident that I would make a good sales pitch as Cola is virtually unknown there. But, I had a problem. I didn't know how to speak Arabic. So, I planned to convey the message through three posters...

1st poster: A man lying in the hot desert sand, totally exhausted and fainting.
2nd poster: The man is drinking our Cola.
3rd poster: Our man is now totally refreshed.

And then these posters were pasted all over the place.

"Then that should have worked!" said the friend.

"Yes it should have!” said the salesman, “I just didn't realize that Arabs read from right to left!"

True Technology Independence

2009-03-06T09:31:00.007-05:00

In the February issue of Client Side News, Ben Sargent highlighted very clearly the paradox that many localization buyers are facing with technology independence vis-à-vis Translation Management Systems (TMS) and localization technology in general.

Sargent stated that 60% of language service buyers that responded to his survey indicated that they would like to remain technology independent from their language service providers. He also stated that 61% (most likely the same crowd) remain reluctant to acquire independent technology in fear that their independence is short-lived. [It is no secret that most technology providers end up being gobbled-up by language service providers (remember Trados, Idiom, Passolo and Catalyst?)]

What complicates matters more is that a de facto standard is not in place to force everyone to rally around it. Trados used to be that in Translation Memory (TM), but it lost its edge after it was acquired, and it is definitely not the standard with TMS. No one so far has succeeded in the TMS arena. In our humble opinion, it is because the majority of language service buyers don’t have budgets for TMS (Translation Management Systems); they have budgets for TS (Translation Services)!

So what is the alternative? Open source? Perhaps, but can you find a workable open source solution today? Nothing out there works out of the box. To leverage open source, you need to have a dedicated internal IT team to acquire, install, setup, learn, customize and support the code when and where needed. If you don’t have that dedicated internal IT team, then you may be again at the mercy of the vendor that supports this open source solution for you, which brings you back in full circle to where you started.

The problem is simple to define:

Most language service buyers are reluctant to purchase expensive short-lived-solutions that will require a significant commitment of their resources but that may not pay off long term.
At the same time, they are reluctant to hand over full control to a third party, of their intellectual property and translation assets, such as terminology databases, translation memories, query knowledge bases, style guides and custom processes.

So what is the solution? Mitigate risk! How do you do that? Work with the LSP vendor that allows you to use their TMS at no additional cost to you, and make sure that they:

Are transparent with their tool plans,
Have an open format to their database structure, and
Give you full access to your intellectual property using established industry standards like SQL, XML, TMX, XLIFF, CSV...

Competent LSPs do not have to force their clients into the use of proprietary TM, TMS, or CMS (Content Management System) tools. They architect their solutions and processes to interface to other solutions used by their clients. With a slew of tools and solutions out there, this is the only way to maintain customer-centricity!

It simply pays to have the luxury to wait till lower risk solutions emerge, and when they do, it pays to know that you are empowered to easily transition to them, along with all your hard-earned global content!

In these difficult economic times, where every penny in every budget counts, instead of rushing into buying a TMS solution, not knowing how long your investment will last, take your time and do your due diligence. If you do, you will learn that at GlobalVision, we offer to all our clients, our Translation Management System gvAccess.com, at no charge.

Preemptively striking global markets- The DVD approach to keywords

2009-02-22T10:04:00.007-05:00

More and more companies are now using the web as a primary inbound lead generation medium. This trend will accelerate in these difficult economic times as companies look to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their marketing campaigns.

In a previous blog, we talked about the importance of keywords and how they are the DNA of your website. To ensure a strong website structure, most companies today follow the “Discover” and “Deploy” approach.

In the discovery stage, companies identify and analyze the impact that keywords will have on increasing traffic to their website. They do so by using Google Analytics, Yahoo Search Marketing or other keyword discovery tools. They often limit the search to the source language of their website.

Deploying keywords involves integrating them into their web content, blogs and press releases. Again, since most focus on a single-language at the point of authoring, the deployment is typically focused on the keywords in the source language text (English in the USA).

Companies with global vision then translate or localize their content without paying much attention to the impact that the translated keywords or text will have on local search engines and their ability to generate the needed leads. Translators, oblivious to the lead-generation intent and value of keywords, often blend them with the rest of the translated text giving no regard to their intended commercial role.

By using a DVD approach that includes “Validate” after “Discover” and before “Deploy”, companies will allow a chance to further optimize their keywords for global deployment and more than double leads. How is this done?

The validation stage will involve the localization of the keywords and then their substantiation in all the strategic geographical markets for your company. This effort requires further refinement of the source keywords to obtain a set of geo-optimized keywords, with their translated equivalents, that give you the maximum exposure and leads worldwide, not just locally!

Getting your keywords localized, geo-optimized then deployed will reduce the difficulties during the localization of your website and expand your search-engine optimization reach into other world markets and search engines. You can ensure that your translators will correctly embed the geo-optimized keywords by using a terminology management tool like gvTerm.

With a set of geo-optimized keywords, you can also efficiently and effectively expand your pay-per-click campaigns geographically. The price of keywords in most language is much lower than in English.

This is not the time for retreat! Global markets are now in disarray. A preemptive global strike can contribute significantly to your bottom line and long term global prosperity. If you need a dependable partner to help your SEO team avoid turning your keywords into global duds, contact us!

Time to retire the 2 by 4 - The case for International English

2009-02-07T08:56:00.010-05:00

In a recent blog, John Yunker discussed the rise of American English as the “International English”. But for that to truly happen, a key inhibitor should first be overcome.

In our many years in business, we were asked by US based companies to offer an International English version of their products.

First, it is important to note the difference between localizing into “International English” and modifying the US-based English to meet other specific English-speaking countries’ needs.

For instance, we’ve been asked to convert US based products and websites for the UK. In this case, references to specific US based websites, products, and services, will be converted to equivalent UK-specific websites, products and services. 401Ks and 529s for example are understood in the US but are not understood in the UK. They may or may not have equivalents in each of the different English-speaking countries.

Also, spelling and terminology changes to UK English includes changes for words ending with –or to –our (ex. color to colour), –ize to –ise (ex. localize to localise), or more importantly terminology related to industries, like in automotives, hood becomes a bonnet and a muffler, a silencer. These changes vary for each English-speaking country.

The term “International English” is typically used by US based companies to have their products converted to target all other English-speaking countries around the world to include Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand...

Since all these countries understand the American English language well, the main reason for the conversion is to change from the old-fashioned, and mainly used in the US, Imperial system to the widely internationally adopted Metric system.

Companies that offer scientific products like computer aided design software, computer aided manufacturing or computer aided engineering, medical and scientific equipment and test and measurement instrumentation … need to allow other English-speaking consumers, properly use their products. This International English conversion effort typically involves the conversion of units from Imperial to Metric: like gallons to liters, yards to meters, pounds to kilograms, Fahrenheit to Celsius…

What is important to note is that often it is not enough to convert the units. Examples, tutorials and demos will have to be adapted to the correct standards. For instance, if a design calls for the use of 2x4s to build a door frame, the international equivalent of a 2x4 will have to be used as opposed to simply converting the 2”x4” (actually 1 1/2 × 3 1/2 inches) dimensions to their corresponding metric values!

Once an international English version using the Metric system is available, it can then be used when localizing into other languages like FIGS or Asian languages.

To allow American English to become the true International English, the USA will have to drop the Imperial system and adopt, like the rest of the industrialized world, the Metric one.

Yes it is a major undertaking, for the US is entrenched into the Imperial system. It will require much retooling and new measurements to get used to. But it can be done gradually and systematically. For instance, a first step can be to drop Fahrenheit and adopt Celsius. The rest can be financed with the hundreds of billions that the government is pumping to revive our ailing economy.

It is hard to imagine the US construction industry without the common 2x4 or New England winters without the foot-deep snow storms, but in this forever increasing global world and economy, clinging to the past will only slow us down!

Quality translation dictates a collaborative effort

2009-01-29T14:51:00.010-05:00

Some in our industry argue that an in-country proof is not needed after the translation of a product is completed. I can’t disagree more.

Control Theory teaches us that a dynamic system remains unstable until it has a negative feedback loop built into it.

Look at the graph on the left and think of r as the source text. The target, or translated text, is y. G is the translator and K is the in-country proofreader.

K will have to proofread the translations of G and offer constructive (negative) feedback to the translator to help meet the required quality.

The translation management system is H. It is a dynamic system. For it to be stable, it will require to properly handle input from G and K− the translator and in-country proofreader.

Also, to ensure a stable system, collaboration among the different influencers in the system will be needed. The more efficient and optimal the collaboration efforts are, the more stable the system will be.

Translation Management Systems (or TMS) today leverage Web 2.0-like collaborative tools. Translators submit their queries to the in-country proofreaders using a wiki tool integrated into their translation environment and get timely answers back. Terminology is shared with the crowd and is put to its scrutiny, improving its quality and usability. And already translated segments are efficiently leveraged from previously built translation databases for the same company or industry.

What is the moral of this blog? Despite of what others may tell you, don’t let your translators translate in vacuum. Translation is not a task that you can throw over the wall to others in a process that excludes your input and guidance. If you do that, the translation quality will sooner or later diverge from your requirements and your end-users will someday give up on using your localized product.

Therefore, quality translation requires a collaborative translation management system. One that permits information sharing, that improves terminology understanding, that tracks schedules and tasks, that facilitates the feedback process, that ensures data sharing and conforming and that truly allows a two-way dialog to improve product quality and usability.

Next time you are told to forego your in-country proof, ask your localization or translation vendor to consider using a robust translation management system, or better yet, hire someone that does! −QED.

Would you build a tower on a crooked foundation?

2009-01-24T17:59:00.005-05:00

While in process of validating new international markets, and in an effort to reduce new market entry costs, many software publishers delegate the localization of their product to a distributor or a value added reseller (VAR).

The VAR, to minimize overhead, attempts to sell the software in English, but soon finds out that the market potential is very limited when the product does not speak the client’s language. Hastily, they use machine translation or assign the localization task to a field engineer to complete over a weekend or two.

With the Graphical User Interface (GUI) “localized”, the VAR can now tick the language support checkbox during product evaluations helping sell the product in this newly created market.

Encouraged by the rising sales, corporate decides to invest further into that newly developed market and takes over the localization effort in that language. With the GUI already “localized”, they decide to augment the offering by localizing the help and manuals.

Ignorant about the horrific quality the localized GUI is in, orders come from upper management to the localization group to adopt the localized GUI and proceed with the localization of the help and manuals. When the localization group objects to the quality of the localized GUI, they are sneered at stating that the GUI is fine and that the product is already selling as is. “Just do what you’re told!”

The localization team takes the marching orders in stride and proceeds to localize the help and manuals making it consistent to the appalling terminology used in the GUI, trying hard to work it out. But the further they proceed into their work, the more obvious it becomes that none of it will make any sense once complete. The only recourse is to completely redo the GUI and then thoroughly edit the translations that have taken place.

Aghast at the costs and delays involved in correcting, not just the GUI, but also the voluminous help and manuals, management points the finger and its localization team.

You see, you cannot build a product on inaccurate GUI localization. GUI elements, such as menu items, tool tips, dialog boxes and error messages are referenced throughout the entire help and manuals. They have to be accurate and consistent for the product to be useful to its users and for the help to have a chance to help. The GUI is the foundation of the product. Building a localized product on a crooked foundation will lead to the collapse of the entire product. If it does not collapse, it will remain forever as vacant as the leaning Pizza Tower!

It pays to have your GUI carefully localized. GUI typically is not very verbose which makes it harder, but not as costly as help and manuals to localize. Take care of your product’s foundation and the localized help and manuals, the training and tutorials, the website and the sales collateral, will all fall nicely in place!

2008 and Beyond

2008-12-20T08:14:00.018-05:00

While the focus in '08 was on major events like the U.S. presidential elections, energy prices, the economic turmoil and the crash of worldwide stock markets, in the localization industry the usual clamoring was going on.

For the second year in a row, Localization World kicked off with a keynote address on crowdsourcing. While the phenomenon of crowdsourcing has gained recognition in some industries, its application in the localization industry has been very limited. The cost to setup a crowdsourcing process, from a tool and human resources infrastructure perspective, far exceeded the budgets and time tables of most companies, rendering crowdsourcing less useful to the crowds.

Also, industry pundits continued to be unchallenged when prophesying the end of the current localization paradigm. They foresaw changing tides that are overtaking the translation and localization industry, washing away existing proven processes and replacing them with free translation communities, free machine translation technologies and free shared translation databases. While industry initiatives toward this new paradigm have started, so far, we have not seen any real impact on current tested methodologies that rely on professional translators, competent localization experts, robust translation management systems and strong project management practices.

Open-source technologies were also touted as the possible end to proprietary tools and solutions in localization. When we looked in '08 at what is out there, we could not find anything impressive enough to adopt. Unlike successful open standards like TMX, XLIFF and DITA, localization-specific open-source technologies are still severely wanting.

Meanwhile, diverse standards and technologies have been making inroads into the translation and localization industry for decades; they will continue to do so in '09. Long established standards and technologies like XML, SQL, Java, .net, Ajax, and new emerging standards like Silverlight, complemented by recent trends in Web 2.0, vetted by much larger industries than ours, are the foundation that will continue to make the slow, laborious and evolutionary progress in our localization methodologies, year after year.

We will also continue to see a significant increase of XML content and its influence on our processes and technologies. We believe that the next paradigm shift will be in content formats and authoring tools, driving necessary process changes.

Given the current economic conditions, our industry in '09 will be called upon to help create new markets and opportunities for struggling companies and industries. Emphasis will be placed on solutions and methodologies that work and that can reliably be put to use by companies, large and small, not just in niche markets or by the unique or privileged few.

Most certainly, clients will continue to expect their products released on time, on budget and based on acceptable quality standards. Looking into the crystal ball, we will never lose sight of that.

One behalf of everyone at GlobalVision, we wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

Happy Holidays!

2008-12-18T10:32:00.011-05:00

Thank you readers for your frequent visits throughout the year to this translation and software localization blog. We know that there is a lot of noise on the web and appreciate your continued interest in connecting with us! It was a pleasure communicating with you and reading your comments. Please keep them coming...

As many of you may know, we've had an excellent year despite the shaky economic outlook and the turmoil in the worldwide markets. This can only be attributed to our clients’ strong standing in their industries and loyalty to us. Thank you for all your business!

On this occasion, I would like to express how grateful we are to our partners and friends that helped us accomplish another successful year. Thank you! We could not have done it without you!

Last but not least, we wish you:

Happy Holidays!

The year-end brings no greater pleasure than the opportunity to express to you season's greetings and good wishes. On behalf of all of us at GlobalVision may the peace and joy of the holiday season be with you throughout 2009!

Boas Festas - Boldog Karácsonyt - Bon Pasco - Buon Natale - Feliz Natal - Feliz Navidad - Frohliche Weihnachten - Glaedelig Jul - Gledelig Jul - God Jul - Hauskaa Joulua - Hristos Razdajetsja - Joyeux Noël - Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan - Merry Christmas - Merii Kurisumasu - Milad Majeed - Prettige Kerstdagen - Sheng Tan Kuai Loh - Sungtan Chukha - Vesele Vanoce - Vessela Koleda - Wesolych Swiat

Save your money!

2008-12-08T17:03:00.014-05:00

In a recent blog, John Yunker displayed the landing page of the United Airlines in-flight entertainment system global gateway used on one of its international flights.

It is commendable that United thought of its international passengers and localized the interface.

What is disappointing however is the obvious lack of quality assurance that was performed on the product before its release.

Arabic is always written in the cursive form and there are strict rules of when letters should be detached from each others. Detaching all letters in Arabic renders the text illegible. Note how Alarabia is written in non-cursive form on the United flight system compared to the correct form.

Usually, fingers are quick to point to the translator for any problems in the localized product. In many cases however, just like in this one, the translator is not at fault. The problem is in cost-cutting, incorrect internationalization of the software and lack of adequate localization quality assurance (QA).

In our many years in business, we’ve often seen companies cut corners. Some resort to distributors to perform the localization, others resort to Machine Translation and some ignore due-process.

When budgets don’t permit complete and accurate localization in all desired languages, don’t short-circuit the process, cut out the less important languages. This will save you money and embarrassment!

To the teams at United (or any third parties) that performed the in-flight entertainment system development and localization, don’t despair; we have three white papers that we strongly recommend you study:

Another option is to simply contact GlobalVision when you have a software localization requirement in a language where you lack expertise.

Innovation in Localization?

2008-11-13T14:13:00.017-05:00

A recent call went out in the translation and localization industry requesting from language service providers (LSPs) to participate in a report to profile some of the more creative and innovative suppliers. Only three suppliers responded with mediocre answers.

This is not surprising. Only three companies responded not due to lack of innovation, but because the focus on innovation alone will not yield significant results.

How do leading accounting firms use innovation to differentiate themselves? What do successful dentists offer that is unique in the area of innovation? What about lawyers? When an innovative product is used by one and proven to be a good return on investment, it is gradually adopted by all, annulling its competitive value.

Translation and Localization, is a professional service, heavily dependent on laborious work. This is why most companies outsource it!

The key to success is not in one distinctive innovation, but in hundreds of tiny innovations used during all day-to-day activities.

It comes down to this: Does the LSP have effective processes to identify profitable opportunities, to qualify and close them, to hire qualified staff, to execute projects, and to keep clients, partners and employees happy and productive?

We win our clients because we are in the right place, at the right time, and project confidence in our ability to do the work on budget, on schedule and based on the client’s requirements. Do we use technology in the process? You bet we do. Is technology why our clients come to us and keep coming to us year after year? A resounding no!

I know this is not as appealing as saying that we can shave 50% off the translation costs by using Machine Translation, but it is reality in an industry that depends heavily on tasks that, for now and for the foreseeable future, will be chiefly performed by talented and professional people and not innovative machines and software.

In the Translation and Localization industry, just like most service industries, innovation is 5%, unglamorous perspiration is the dominant rest!

Software Localization – Not a walk in the park!

2008-11-02T17:47:00.004-05:00

During a visit this week to a leading manufacturer of surgical robotic equipment, I was allowed to preview and experience their fascinating product. This company has effectively combined video, optics, robotics, software and computers to create a product beyond belief. You have to experience it to truly appreciate its abilities. It is mind-boggling! Within a few minutes of training, I was able to operate the robot arms and perform intricate functions with relative ease!

What made this million dollar equipment so intuitive to use is credited to the ingenuity of its designers and the continuing drive in technology convergence. Companies worldwide have been marrying software, electronics, mechanics, optics and other technologies to develop high-end solutions in an effort to create value and build barriers of entry. This company’s sophisticated product offered a perfect example of technology convergence.

So imagine you are tasked with the localization of this product into another language. You will need to be an expert in many fields including video, optics, robotics, software, and medical surgical terminology to be able to understand and accurately convey the intended product use in that language— a daunting task anyway you look at it!

Furthermore, advances in internet technologies, development tools, authoring tools, and platforms have expanded the use of different file formats and build environments. Software applications and manuals are no longer based on Microsoft resource files or Word documents. Java, XML, ASP, HTML, and a range of other formats are now standard and integrated into most applications and products. Today, you can find software anywhere from the modern toaster, to heavy machinery.

Translators are now therefore not only expected to understand all these different technologies and file formats but also to accurately translate only what is needed, without modifying tags, links or code. If errors are made, a significant amount of debugging time is needed to fix and build these products.

Compounding all this is the need to master the source and target languages. Translation, today and in the foreseeable future, continues to be an art.

All this makes software localization for such products a complex task. So don’t short-circuit the process or underestimate the effort needed. It takes experienced managers, engineers and translation professionals to properly implement an efficient translation-reuse process and localize your product while keeping the integrity of the advanced technical text intact.

It pays to involve professionals from the start!

Software localization costs should be lower than opportunity + Liability

2008-10-11T11:59:00.018-04:00

We recently received the following email from one of our European prospective clients: “Apart from the UK, we are currently active to varying degrees in a number of overseas markets including France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Russia, Scandinavia, the Middle East and Australasia. Where translations have been required, we have hitherto conducted this activity in partnership with our agent resident in the territory in question.

While this approach has yielded satisfactory results, however, it has to be said that the timescales have generally been unacceptably protracted. This has been due, in part, to the fact that the translator invariably has other day-to-day responsibilities and cannot devote his or her entire attention to the task and to the rather haphazard approach they have to proof reading, which then combine to totally disrupt workflow on other projects.

Of course, not only does accurate and timely translation make good business sense, within the ever enlarging EC it is a legal requirement – albeit a rather poorly policed one - and I constantly worry about the implications of being found wanting in whichever territory we are failing to provide the correct documentation.

Having been responsible for technical publications service for twelve years, during which time I have made myself something of a tiresome burden with regard to this particular issue, it would be true to say that there has been a distinct lack of enthusiasm to pursue things in a more professional manner.

Recently, however, I have received approval to investigate the costings for translating our documentation. This is still a long way from where we should be and no promises are being made but perhaps it represents some cause for hope.

With this in mind and as a means of keeping the concept as high on the agenda as possible, I should be grateful if you would cost the attached operator’s manual. With this project being at such an early and, dare I say, tender stage I hope you will appreciate that I can offer little confidence that a real task will be immediately forthcoming. But if we don’t push it, nothing will ever happen until some EC apparatchik lowers the legislative boom on us and that could make the cost of translation look like very small beer indeed.”

I decide to publish his email almost in its entirety because it is very well written and it accurately represents the mood towards localization for many companies. It also confirms our writings in earlier articles and white papers when we suggested applying the following decision-making algorithm:

IF Localization_Cost < Opportunity + Liability
THEN Localize
ELSE Invest_elsewhere
ENDIF

In short, always remember to factor in the liability component when making your case for product localization. It doubles your chances of doing what is right for your company and its clients!

Do’s And Don'ts When Localizing Art

2008-10-05T15:17:00.007-04:00

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Yet many companies balk at the cost of localizing art work, despite the fact that each one costs far less than translating a thousand words. Art file localization can add substantially to the localization cost of manuals, documents and help files. The following are principles you can follow to help minimize these costs.

Do use art only when necessary. Often (particularly with online help), the user is running software simultaneously to the help file. Having dialog box bitmaps displayed in the online help is redundant, since the software is already displaying that dialog box. By minimizing the use of dialog box art, recapture in all necessary languages is minimized, as is the associated cost.

Don't incorporate unnecessary information (into the art files), that could change with each release. More specifically:

Remove the product's version number or name from the dialog box header and body.
Avoid using special Windows themes. Stick to standard ones. Making dialog boxes independent of the version of your software or Windows will enable you to reuse them as-is in future updates of your software.
Only capture the part of the dialog that is pertinent to the context, as opposed to the entire dialog. This will minimize the chance of change and subsequent recapture.

Do save all necessary files and steps used to create artwork. If you are generating dialog boxes from your software, make sure you archive all the necessary project files that are used in the process. If there is a way to also record a macro, do so. You are more familiar with your requirements and software than the person who will be tasked with generating localized art. Making all the initial project files available will simplify the recapture process, reducing its time and cost.

Don't embed graphics in the documents. Art should always be linked to the main document. Although this creates more files to manage, it also gives each art file its own identity, enabling easy reuse in future updates. Furthermore, this will make the main document size much smaller and manageable by translation memory tools that process it during localization.

Do use callouts whenever possible outside the graphics. Art that does not contain text may require no localization efforts at all. Culture-sensitive art is the exception, but this is not often found in technical manuals or software help. Minimizing text in a graphic will reduce the localization cost. Callouts can be easily translated with the rest of the document.

Don't mix art you are localizing with art common to all languages. Separate art files into two folders, “localizable” and “common”. This will optimize disk space, since only localizable art will be duplicated for each language. Also, apply a time stamp to art files to indicate their release dates. Having files separated and stamped will facilitate reuse of localized art from previous releases. It will also reduce the time needed for sorting and generating work estimates.

Don't discard source files where sophisticated art has been created in vectorized formats (such as EPS, AI, WMF, etc.), and then saved in bitmap formats (GIF, BMP, JPG, etc.). When text is embedded in bitmap files with complex background colors or graphics, it is often impossible to replace source text with target text, without disturbing the background graphics. Having the vectorized format files available will preserve all background information, and enable simple replacement of the text with the necessary translations.

Do use art where necessary, to facilitate the user's understanding and use of your product. After all, it is the end-user you are ultimately tasked to communicate with, not your localization service provider.