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Translation - art & business » Translation Theory and Practice »
First localisation job
Thread poster: Armorel Young
Armorel Young
Armorel Young  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:42
German to English
Mar 11, 2006

I've been asked to take on a small localisation job, adapting a US marketing questionnaire (of the "Does you or any member of your family own an XX printer?" type) for the UK market. I haven't seen the actual document yet, but I've been sent one which I am told is similar. Looking at the sample, I can see almost nothing that would need to be changed for UK readers, apart from changing "color" to"colour" and possibly making one or two other spelling changes. So really I'm surprised at how littl... See more
I've been asked to take on a small localisation job, adapting a US marketing questionnaire (of the "Does you or any member of your family own an XX printer?" type) for the UK market. I haven't seen the actual document yet, but I've been sent one which I am told is similar. Looking at the sample, I can see almost nothing that would need to be changed for UK readers, apart from changing "color" to"colour" and possibly making one or two other spelling changes. So really I'm surprised at how little the job seems to involve.

As this is my first localisation job, I'd be grateful for hints on any things other the obvious spelling/dates/currency type things which might need to be looked at and any hints on aspects of localisation I may have overlooked. ▲ Collapse
 
craigs
craigs
Local time: 21:42
English to Portuguese
+ ...
The date Mar 12, 2006

You touched on one: Americans are often less than consistent deciding on whether the day or month comes first. Having experienced several cultures, I myself get confused and have had personal documents show an incorrect birthdate. A good help is to spell out the months.
 
Doru Voin
Doru Voin  Identity Verified
Romania
Local time: 04:42
English to Romanian
+ ...
this is not actually localization Mar 12, 2006

Armorel Young wrote:

I've been asked to take on a small localisation job, adapting a US marketing questionnaire (of the "Does you or any member of your family own an XX printer?" type) for the UK market.


Maybe this is the reason you find the job so easy - looks more like translation/proofreading job. Anyway, localization or not, UK EN US EN jobs should not pose many problems...
 
Luisa Ramos, CT
Luisa Ramos, CT  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 21:42
English to Spanish
Localization - Localisation / The very title says it all. Mar 12, 2006

This is like saying that doing localization from Argentina ES to Puerto Rico ES or to Mexico ES, or vice versa, should not pose many problems. Let us look at the very title of this thread: localization in the US, localisation in the UK. But besides spelling, localization is about adapting the text to the vocabulary, idioms, and expressions characteristic of the norm of the country so it reads naturally, as if written especially for the readers of that country. Maybe this particular job is pretty... See more
This is like saying that doing localization from Argentina ES to Puerto Rico ES or to Mexico ES, or vice versa, should not pose many problems. Let us look at the very title of this thread: localization in the US, localisation in the UK. But besides spelling, localization is about adapting the text to the vocabulary, idioms, and expressions characteristic of the norm of the country so it reads naturally, as if written especially for the readers of that country. Maybe this particular job is pretty straightforward but that will not always be the case. In the past, when dealing with a text that needs only 4 or 5 changes, I have done it as a courtesy and that has earned me repeat jobs galore. ▲ Collapse
 
Armorel Young
Armorel Young  Identity Verified
Local time: 02:42
German to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Mar 12, 2006

Thanks, folks, you've been helpful in reassuring me that I'm not missing anything glaringly obvious and this job probably is as simple as it looks.
 
Balasubramaniam L.
Balasubramaniam L.  Identity Verified
India
Local time: 07:12
Member (2006)
English to Hindi
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
Have you read this article, Armorel? Mar 13, 2006

Hi Armorel,

I just saw this article in the proz.com database about American vs British English. You might get some useful hints for this or future localization jobs.


http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/570/1/AMERICAN-VERSUS-BRITISH-ENGLISH


Balasubramaniam

[Edited at 2006-03-13 ... See more
Hi Armorel,

I just saw this article in the proz.com database about American vs British English. You might get some useful hints for this or future localization jobs.


http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/570/1/AMERICAN-VERSUS-BRITISH-ENGLISH


Balasubramaniam

[Edited at 2006-03-13 11:09] ▲ Collapse
 


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First localisation job


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