Newsletter

Internationalization

IS IT FOR YOU ?

Successful exporters know that trying to sell their product or service into foreign markets requires careful planning. Ideally planning should start well before the localization stage.

You probably want to export into a number of different markets each populated by people of different cultures, with their own likes and dislikes as well as their own languages. You will need to localize for each different situation. This can be an expensive and lengthy process – though this can be made easier if you “Internationalize” beforehand.

The definition of Internationalization is “the process of engineering a product or developing a service so that it can be easily and efficiently localized without having to be rewritten, redesigned or re-engineered to cope with different languages and regions”. It involves generalizing a product (ideally during development) so that it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions (currency, number separators, dates) without the need for a lot of re-working.

To illustrate what we are talking about, here are some Internationalization steps you can take when first preparing the content of marketing materials for translation and localization.

• Keep copy short and succinct
• Avoid using clichés, cultural references and jargon, which could be inappropriate in other cultures, or which could be difficult to translate effectively
• Avoid using abbreviations, acronyms or metaphors, or names based on images – for example talking about a “bull market” would be meaningless to many cultures
• Be careful about using humour: What some find funny others may not
• Prepare artwork/layout in ways which allow for easy conversion to right to left reading text used in for example Arabic and Hebrew

To find out more about “Internationalization”
contact: info@wwbcn-translation.ch

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Here are some more classic translation blunders – they have been around for a while but still make us laugh !

In a Tokyo hotel

Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person to do such a thing is pleased not to read notis.

In a Bankgkok temple

It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed as a man.

In a Czech tourist agency
Take one of our horse driven city tours – we guarantee no miscarriages.

In a Moscow hotel lobby

You are welcome to visit the Cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet composers, artist, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.