Ccaps Blog

I have been invited by Cecilia Iros and Cecilia Maldonado, “las 2 Cecis” from IMTT, to participate in the event above, which will happen in Córdoba, Argentina, on April 16-18, 2009. It will be such an honor to share the stage with industry peers such as Bob Donaldson, Renato Beninatto, Richard Sikes and Daniel Goldschmidt in an event that has been praised for all those who attended its previous conferences. I will be talking about the Rising Opportunities in Latin America yet if this is not reason enough for you to be convinced and join me in “los pampas argentinos”, here are some more 10 Reasons to attend the 6th L&TC I recently received from the organizers:

1. Because, regardless of where you stand right now, the 6th Language & Technology Conference is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to look at all the different tasks in this process from different perspectives and to network with your peers.

2. Because, whether you are a vendor or you recruit vendors, you’ll learn from eye opening experiences, best practices and methods during pre-conference seminars and conference presentations.

3. Because you offer localization services and you want to build the skills that will make you a preferred vendor.

4. Because you’re a project manager and you need to be familiar with tools and technologies to manage both translation and localization projects.

5. Because you know machine translation is here to stay and you want to be prepared to become part of the new model. We’ll get together to discuss the benefits, the impact and the changes MT will bring to our working lives.

6. Because it is said that crisis means opportunity in times of danger and we’ll find out what opportunities the global economic crisis creates for Argentina, Latin America, and the industry in general.

7. Because you translate health care documentation for the USA and you need to understand the changes in health care with the new administration and the recently-enforced state and federal regulations your clients have to comply with.

8. Because it’s impossible to learn, buy and use all of the technology available and Bob Donaldson will help you draw a customized roadmap for you.

9. Because IMTT has been organizing top notch events for the language industry for years and you just can’t miss this great program.

10. Because this is the perfect site for powerful networking since you wake up until you go to bed. As if you needed more reasons to spend three stimulating days with colleagues in a great venue!

See you there!

Hi there! In this second post on internationalization, we will be talking about a seemingly simple and irrelevant aspect, but which can create quite a few problems.

As you probably know, the Gregorian calendar is used in most English-speaking countries; however, when developing an internationalized application, one should take into consideration other calendars in use today, such as the Japanese, Buddhist, Islamic, Hebrew and Chinese calendars.

Here are some examples of differences among the different calendars:

• The year of each calendar can be different. The Gregorian year of 2000 is equivalent to the 12th year of the Japanese Heisei era and 1421 in the Islamic calendar.
• The first day of the year may not be January 1. The Chinese New Year, for example, was celebrated on February 5, 2000 of the Gregorian calendar.
• The length of months and years may vary, as well as leap years.
• The first day of the week may not be Sunday… In most European calendars, the week begins on Monday.

The Japanese calendar in Windows Vista

Also, there are cultures that may use more than one type of calendar. In Arabic regions of Nigeria, for example, all the following calendars are available:

• Hijri or Islamic calendar
• English Gregorian calendar in the local language
• French Gregorian calendar in the local language
• Arabic Gregorian calendar in the local language
• Gregorian calendar in English
• Gregorian calendar in French

Therefore, when creating a calendar in your application, think and research for which countries your product will be internationalized as you will have to adapt it according to the locale.

In the next post we will be talking about capitalization. See you there!

Hello there! Shall we talk about internationalization?

As you may know, the term “internationalization” is usually reduced to its acronym “i18n”. The letters between the word’s initial “i” and the final “n” add up to 18 letters, right? And so does “18” add up to i18n!

Internationalization relates to the field devoted to product development and analysis, including all the relevant concepts for the product’s launch onto a new market. But why is it necessary to worry about this? Here are some reasons:

• Each year companies invest millions of dollars in computer software production and trading worldwide.
• In today’s world, there is a need to sell products in markets other than the one where they were manufactured.
• Due to market imposition, an even greater investment is necessary for product adaptation and translation to reach its target consumers.

The subject has already been explored in the Ccaps Newsletter, but the concept of i18n can also be applied to several means and products for export (e.g. food packaging, machinery manuals, etc). However, since we are a technology company, we will focus on the application of i18n in software development.

In this context, the ultimate goal of internationalization is to introduce the user to an application that is visually and functionally identical to the one that originated it in the several languages to which it has been localized. Users (and developers, especially) who are not familiar with the requirements for the development of internationalized products will certainly be surprised with the number of unknown aspects involved in such a process and with the details of the project that need solving.

This initial series of articles on internationalization will cover the basic aspects of the process and provide examples of how cultural diversity can affect software functioning.

To begin with, we will analyze a very simple aspect: the legal issues related to each target market. Since this is a key concept, you should seek advice from a consultant regarding the lawfulness of each “sensitive” feature of the application. As an example, we can refer to specific legislation of some countries regarding the use and exportation of encryption algorithms, used in simple procedures involving file compression and copy protection.

Another example relates to the documentation that accompanies the product. In some countries, it can remain in English while in others it has to be translated to the local language. In addition, the laws regulating corporate life in certain countries restrict the possibility of a given company declaring that its products are superior to those of the competition. This directly impacts the company’s marketing strategy, and possibly the documentation, help systems, and other materials packaged with the product.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. In future posts, we will be talking about other very important aspects. Be prepared for a few other surprises!