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外文原文

外文原文

The9thEuropeanConferenceonInformationSystems

Bled,Slovenia,June27-29,2001

SOFTWARELOCALIZATION:

ISSUESANDMETHODS

RosannWebbCollins

2.KEYISSUESINSOFTWAREPRODUCTANDINTERFACELOCALIZATION

2.1CostsofLocalizationandImpactonPricing

Theinitialandongoingcostsoflocalizationaresignificant.eTranslate,aweb-basedservicebureau,chargesUS$50perpageforEuropeanlanguagesandUS$60perpageforAsianlanguagesfortranslationofcontentonly.Microsoftcurrentlyspendsmorethan$300millionperyearonlocalizationoftheirproductsinto46languages.BerlitzTranslationServicesestimatesacostofbetween$50,000and$100,000ormoretofullylocalizeasoftwareproductforoneadditionallanguage,whileMicrosoftestimatesitscostsatleast$300,000ormoreperproduct（PrestonandFlohr,1997）.ForresterResearchestimatesthatlocalizationofanewwebsiteaddsbetween10-60%oftheoriginaldevelopmentcostsofthesite.InthecaseoftheInternet,siteschange,onaverage,twiceayear（Yunker2000）,sotherewillalsobesignificant,ongoingmaintenancecostsforlocalizedwebsites.

Itiscriticalthatthecostsoflocalizationbeaccountedforonadetailedlevel,sincethiscostaccountingisneededforplanningfutureefforts,andisofparticularimportanceifthecompanysellslocalizedproductsorlocalizationservices.Ifthatisthecompany’sbusiness,thenthecostinformationisnecessaryforaccuratepricingofservicesfordevelopmentandmaintenanceoftheinformationproducts.Inaddition,themaintenancecostsoftheproductsandinterfacesshouldbesimilarlycollectedatadetailedlevelinordertounderstandthespecialmaintenancecostsofasingleapplicationthathasmultiple,localizedinterfaces.Highdevelopmentandmaintenancecosts,andtheirimportancetoinformingthepricingofinformationproducts,argueforasystematicapproachtolocalizationthatincludescostmeasurement.

AtGTC,initialdevelopmentoftheportalwasdonewithoutadequatecostaccounting,andwhilelocalizationneedswereconsideredfromthebeginning,atechnicalreviewfoundtheinitialportaltobenon-scalableandnoteasilyadaptable.Whenthedecisionwasmadetoredesigntheportalforthenewtechnologyenvironment（whichwasconcurrentwithachangeintechnologyleadershipinthecompany）,nodataexistedontheinitialportaldevelopmenttoestimatetimeandcostfortheredesign.Thislackofinformationhasreinforcedtheneedtocollectsuchinformation,andthenewtechnologymanagementhasinstituteddevelopmentprocedurestocollectmetricsonalldevelopmentactivities.Insomewaysthisinitialmistakewasserendipitous,sincetheimpactwasrelativelylow（littlebasisforplanningtheportalredesigneffort）,andnowmanagersanddevelopersarecommittedtomeasuringthecostsofthemainsoftwareproduct（nowindevelopmentforseveralmedicalpractices）.Thissoftwareproductwillhavetobelocalizedextensivelytotheneedsoftheindividualpracticesaswellaslocales,anditiscriticaltothecompanytohavesolidinformationoncostsinordertopricetheproductappropriately.

2.2LocalizationIndustry

Itispossibletooutsourcesomeorallofthelocalizationdevelopmentandmaintenance.Thedecisionaboutwhetherornottooutsource,orwhatpartstooutsourcearebasedonthetraditionaltradeoffissuesrelevanttoanymake-or-buydecision.Theadvantagesofin-houselocalizationarethattheorganizationbuildsexpertise,canexercisetightcontrolonprocessandquality,andthelocalizationresultsmaynotbeeasilyreproducedbycompetitors.However,asdiscussedearlier,in-houselocalizationhassignificantcosts,andtheexpertiserequiredmaynotbeavailableinallcases.（Theremaybemorehelpavailableinthefuture.ThereisagraduatedegreeinsoftwarelocalizationofferedattheUniversityofLimerickinIreland.Pym（1999）arguesthatlocalizationshouldberequiredinthecurriculumofalldegreesthatpreparetranslators.）Theadvantagesofoutsourcinglocalizationarespeedofdeliveryandcost,butoutsourcinglocalizationmeansthatnoin-houseexpertisewillbebuilt,theorganizationwillbedependenttoatleastsomeextentonthecompanyprovidingthedevelopment,andthereislittlecompetitiveadvantagetobemaintained.

Sourcesofinformationaboutlocalizationandoutsourcingvendorsinclude:

www.lisa.orgLocalisationIndustryStandardsAssociation

MultilingualComputing

www.localization-institute.orgLocalizationInstitute

In1999localizationaccountedfor32%ofthe$11billionworldmarketfortranslationservices（WashingtonTimes,2000）.Whiletranslationsoftwareandcarefulpreparationofsourcetextminimizestranslationcosts,thereisstillaneedforhumaninterventiontohandlewords,especiallytechnicalterms,forwhichthereisnowordinsomelanguages,aswellastodealwithdifferencesinmeaningfromdirecttranslationsandculturaldifferences.

Theservicesofferedbythelocalizationindustryarequitevaried.Someoffertraditionaltranslationservices,human,human-enhanced,andautomatic;somehavetranslationmanagementsystemstostoresandmaintaintranslations;someareaimedatspecificindustries（Simms,2000）.Automatictranslationisespeciallyeffectivewhenthesourcetexthasbeenwritteninaninternationalstyle,sometimescalled“controlledlanguage”.Forexample,Harkus（2000）listsspecificwritingpractices:

simpleandclearcopy（e.g.,limitthenumberofnounsthatqualifyanoun）thatavoidshumorandanalogiesthatdon’ttranslatetoothercultures,andformattingrules（e.g.,donotusesdashesorslashesaspunctuationmarks）thatfacilitatetranslation.

GTCreviewedtherangeofservicesfromthelocalizationindustry,anddecidedtopurchaseanautomatictranslation-enabledemailanddiscussionroomfunctionsfortheportal.Thelocalizationoftheportalandthemainsoftwareproductisbeingdonein-house,toleveragethemarketresearchthathasbeendonetoselectcountriesinwhichtooperateandtobuildin-houseexpertiseinthisarea.GTCmaintainsofficesineachcountryofoperation,andtheselocalofficeindividualssupportsystemdevelopmentandtesting.Partnerswithrealestateontheportalareresponsiblefortheirownlocalization,butGTCactsasanadvisortothepartnerswhentheyhavenoexperiencewithlocalization.

2.3LocalizationofSpecificAspectsofApplications

Softwarelocalizationisbasedonmarketresearchoneachcountryaswellasoninputfromusabilitytestinginthetargetcountry.Testingglobalsoftwarein-countryleveragesdevelopers’knowledgeofthelocale,andsuchwell-definedtaskswithlittleinterdependenceareeasilydistributed（Carmel,1999）.Manyoftheaspectsofthecountryknowledgeareobviousandimmutablecharacteristics,suchaslanguage;otheraspectsaresubtlerandsubjecttoculturalshifts,suchasthemeaningofcolors.Thetechnologyinfrastructureofacountrypresentsaparticulardesignchallenge,sincethatinfrastructurewillchangeandmaybecontrolledbyindividualgovernmentsorcompanies.Thereforethelocaltechnology-drivenpartsofadesignwillhaveberevisitedonaregularbasis.Thismeansthatthereusepossibilitiesandmaintenancedemandsofthelocalizedsoftwaresolutionswilldifferbytypeandcountry.Finally,structuraldifferenceswithinorganizationscreateaneedforeitherlocalizationorachangetocommonbusinessprocessesanddata.CollinsandKirsch（1999）foundthatstructuralboundariesarisefromdifferencesinbusinessprocesses,dataquality,andbusinesspriorities.Evenwhenadecisionismadetomakeachangetoatrulyglobalsolution,itiscommontohaveatechnologicalcoresystemwithlocalizedinterfaces.

Inthissectionofthepaper,thecountry-specificaspectsthatmightneedlocalizationarediscussedingreaterdetail.ThissectionisanexpandedversionoftheguidepreparedfordevelopersatGTC.

2.3.1LanguageandContent

Translationofcontentfromonelanguagetoanothercanbepartiallysupportedbytranslationsoftware,butinmostcaseshumaninterventionisneededbecausedirecttranslationmaychangethemeaningofthecontent.AclassicexampleofthisproblemisfromthepopularMilkProcessorBoardcommercialthatusesthetagline‘GotMilk?

’IftranslateddirectlyintoSpanish,thetaglinewouldcomeoutas‘AreYouLactating?

’InordertomarkettoLatinomothersthead’staglinewaschangedto‘AndYou,HaveYouGivenThemEnoughMilkToday?

’,andtheimagesshownareofmotherscookingflanandothermilk-richLatinfoodsinafamilykitchen（Wartzman,1999）.

Thetranslationratioofwordsandsentencesisnot1:

1.Sincethespacerequiredforabodyoftextcanbedramaticallydifferentbetweenlanguages（e.g.,whenEnglishtextistranslatedtoFrench,theincreaseisbetween15and20%,whenitistranslatedintoHindi,theincreasemaybe80%）,interfacedesignmustaccountforthesedifferingspacerequirements.Individualwordsusedinmenusandontabscanbeespeciallyproblematicfordesign:

forexample,the‘Preferences’selectioncommononWindowsinterfacestranslatesto‘Bildschirmeinstellungen’inGerman.Thereforemenus,boxes,logosorothergraphicswithwordsimbeddedmustbeself-sizing,ortherewillbeadditionalcostsinredesigningthoseelementsforeachlocalizedinterface.

Someterms,especiallytechnologyterms,maynotexistinsomelanguages.Oftentheoriginalwordisused,butsometimesanewwordiscoinedbasedonaphoneticaltranslation.Thecommercialtranslationservicescreateandmaintaindictionariesofthesespecializedtermstoreduceredundanttranslationeffortandtoincreasethecoverageofautomatictransl