Localization

L10n is the process of adapting the text and applications of a product or service to enable its acceptability for a particular cultural or linguistic market. Translation is the central activity of localization. Localization goes beyond literal translation, in addition to idiomatic language translation, numerous locale details such as currency, national regulations and holidays, cultural sensitivities, product or service names, gender roles, and geographic examples among many other details must all be considered. A successfully localized service or product is one that seems to have been developed within the local culture.

Localization primarily includes:

• Translating text content, software      source code, web sites, or database content; machine translation      may be used in early stages.
• Adjusting graphic and visual elements      and examples to make them culturally appropriate
• Post-production quality control of      content, systems and the integrated product

The localization market is focused on software, documentation (packaging information, technical booklets, user manuals, training equipment, etc.), web sites and applications.

Internationalization

I18n is planning and implementing products and services so that they can easily be localized for specific languages and cultures.

This process requires a combination of both international and technical expertise, and generally involves both deploying new systems and reengineering existing ones. Once the internationalized platform is in place, rollouts in new countries or cultures should be significantly more cost efficient, timely and market effective.

Internationalization may include:

• Creating illustrations for documents      in which the text can easily be changed to another language and allowing      expansion room for this purpose
• Allowing space in user interfaces (for      example, hardware labels, help pages, and online menus) for translation      into languages that require more space
• Creating print or web site graphic      images so that their text labels can be translated inexpensively
• Leaving enough space in a brochure to      drop in different length languages
• Separating the language elements from      the graphic elements, or abstracting content from markup in a web      application and software
• Using written examples that have global      meaning
• Insuring that the tools and product      can support international character sets
• For software, ensuring data space so      that messages can be translated from languages with single-byte character      codes (such as English) into languages requiring multiple-byte character      codes (such as Japanese Kanji)

Globalization

Globalization is an approach to business strategy that aims to address all of the logistical and organizational challenges an enterprise faces as it expands its supporting content, assets and message across cultures and markets to new clients. Globalization incorporates internationalization and localization to achieve this goal.

Globalization describes a comprehensive process that incorporates, augments, and extends:

• Research on and identification of      global markets
• Market validation and selection
• Identification and formalization of      global business requirements
• Language translation and cultural      integration (a.k.a. Internationalization and Localization)
• Identification of technology standards      and solutions (format and structure)
• Identification of cross-market      affinities (to enable marketing and technology asset reuse)
• Alignment with and support for      Internationalization (i18n) and Localization (l10n) processes.

當地化

當地化是指把一項產品或服務的文字和應用程式加以改編，使其可以在某個文化或語言的市場被接受。翻譯是當地化的核心工作。當地化的工作範圍比文字翻譯還廣，除了把文字轉化成為當地熟悉的語言之外，還必須考慮到許許多多和當地有關的細節，例如貨幣、國家法規、假日、文化上的敏感事物、產品或服務的名稱、性別以及地理差異等等。成功的當地化服務或當地化產品，看起來就好像是在當地文化環境中所自然形成的一樣。

當地化的工作主要包括：

• 翻譯文字內容、軟體原始碼、網站、或資料庫內容。視情況可以用「機器翻譯」來進行初步的翻譯。
• 把圖形或視覺上的東西改編使之合乎當地文化。
• 最後工作是對內容、系統和整合產品的品管。

當地化市場的重點在於軟體、文件製作（包裝資訊、技術手冊、使用者手冊、訓練材料等）、網站和應用程式。

國際化

國際化是指把產品和服務加以規劃和執行，使它們很容易轉化為某一種當地文字或文化面貌。

這項工作，需要結合國際知識和專門技術，而且需要同時部署新系統和重建現有系統。有了國際化平台，在新的國家或文化中所呈現的網站應更合乎成本效益、更具市場時效。

國際化的工作包括：

• 替文件製作圖示，讓各類文件的文字可以很容易轉換成為另外一種語言，並預留擴充的餘地。
• 使用者界面預留翻譯所需的空間（例如：硬體標籤，求助頁，線上目錄等）。
• 製作適當的平面或網站圖檔，讓翻譯文字標籤的過程既方便又節省成本。
• 在小冊子中預留空間，方便填入不同長度的各國語言文字。
• 把文字從圖像中分離出來，或把網頁內容從網站應用程式和軟體的標示語言中抽離出來。使用全球易於接受的範例。
• 確保工具和產品可以支援國際字元集。
• 在軟體方面，確保擁有足夠的資料空間，讓單byte的字元碼（例如英文）可以翻譯成為多byte的字元碼（例如日文漢字）

全球化

當一個企業想要在各種不同文化或市場之間擴充它的支援內容、資產、和訊息時，會面臨運籌及組織上的各種挑戰。全球化就是在商業策略上因應這些挑戰的一種方法。全球化是透過國際化和當地化來達成這一目標。

全球化是一種組建、強化、延伸的程序：

• 研究並找出全球性的市場
• 市場確認和選擇
• 找出全球性商業需求並將它定型
• 語言翻譯和文化整合（即國際化和當地化）
• 找出科技標準和解決方案（格式和結構）
• 找出跨市場的類同特性（便於重複使用行銷和科技資源）
• 符合並支援國際化和當地化的各種程序

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