ProZ.com Translation Forums

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Let's start with specifics

Mario Chávez — Mon, 12 May 2025 14:24:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Mario Chávez
Post title: Let's start with specifics

My colleagues who have so far responded to this poll have demonstrated enviable professional acumen.

But what troubles me is the narrowness of localization's inherent definition these days. To many younger colleagues, it automatically means either videogame localization or movie dubbing/subtitling. Or that marketing freak of nature, “branding.”

The English term is not exactly elegant or self-explanatory. As a matter of fact, localizing technical content for software, for instance, implies one inescapable hurdle: the typically clunky, infantile, redundant or unimaginative English expressions (especially American English).

To me, so-called localization has always been translation, but translation via different media: screens, software, movies, or other dynamic elements like webpages. Although American English is one of the most dominant (or domineering) languages in software/web localization, engineers and other creators in that language have learned very little about localization. When I arrived at the software developing company I ended up working for almost six years, I was surprised to verify that almost no engineers knew what software localization was. Then again, most of these software engineers were monolingual (American English).

Copywriting and localization may go hand in hand but many translators who do localization are pigeonholed into doing copywriting for budgetary reasons.

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Finally, copywriting

Mario Chávez — Mon, 12 May 2025 14:07:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Mario Chávez
Post title: Finally, copywriting

It is refreshing to see a colleague use the right term, copywriting, instead of that unfortunate neologism, “transcreation.”

Thank you, Carla.

:)

[quote]Carla Selyer wrote:

Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such as the one in this article: [url removed] I do not cross the boundary into the domain of copywriters, because that is a different task altogether, such as the fails described in this article, all related to advertising. Even though I completed a copywriting course, I have not done copywriting professionally, so I will always tell my clients to please approach a copywriter in the country if I see that this is what the localization task entails. But some clients just want their article or their questionnaire to resonate with a local audience, and that is the essence of the localization work I have done. [/quote]

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | More fails to come

Ana Naglić — Sun, 11 May 2025 19:17:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Ana Naglić
Post title: More fails to come

[quote]Carla Selyer wrote:

Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such as the one in this article: [url removed] I do not cross the boundary into the domain of copywriters, because that is a different task altogether, such as the fails described in this article, all related to advertising. Even though I completed a copywriting course, I have not done copywriting professionally, so I will always tell my clients to please approach a copywriter in the country if I see that this is what the localization task entails. But some clients just want their article or their questionnaire to resonate with a local audience, and that is the essence of the localization work I have done. [/quote]
I warned Ford that Kuga means "plague" in some Slavic languages, they didn't care...

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Totally wrong set of questions.

Ana Naglić — Sun, 11 May 2025 19:12:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Ana Naglić
Post title: Totally wrong set of questions.

Freelance IS professionally.
Personal projects can be professional too and might even turn into Fortune 500 companies.
This poll in unprofessional...

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Yes, I have!

Oscar Núñez Alfaro — Sun, 11 May 2025 18:34:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Oscar Núñez Alfaro
Post title: Yes, I have!

I used to work translating and editing English flashcard products to Spanish or vice versa for the American market. It was interesting to see that many Spanish words were not really similar in many different Latin American countries, so I needed to use neutral Spanish words to cover the majority of countries possible. On the other hand, my translation to English was sometimes checked for an American because there were words that did not fit well. A few times it was impossible to convey the same message from one language to another because we use a softer or harder tone for some terms. Localization could be challenging, but it is wonderful to understand how people from a specific country or region think.

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Experience in localization/localisation

Carla Selyer — Sun, 11 May 2025 15:23:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Carla Selyer
Post title: Experience in localization/localisation

Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such as the one in this article: [url removed] I do not cross the boundary into the domain of copywriters, because that is a different task altogether, such as the fails described in this article, all related to advertising. Even though I completed a copywriting course, I have not done copywriting professionally, so I will always tell my clients to please approach a copywriter in the country if I see that this is what the localization task entails. But some clients just want their article or their questionnaire to resonate with a local audience, and that is the essence of the localization work I have done.

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Yes, professionally AND freelance

M. Anna Kańduła — Sun, 11 May 2025 10:21:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: M. Anna Kańduła
Post title: Yes, professionally AND freelance

Does the question suggest that freelance is personal hobby, and not a professional job?

[Edited at 2025-05-11 10:22 GMT]

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? | Yes

Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida — Sun, 11 May 2025 10:10:00 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Post title: Yes

That's one of the services I offer...

Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?

ProZ.com Staff — Sun, 11 May 2025 08:10:05 +0000

Forum: Poll Discussion
Topic: Poll: Do you have any experience in localization?
Poster: ProZ.com Staff

This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you have any experience in localization?".

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