The localization talk had three speakers for a one hour session that ran a bit over. Rough notes below
Speaker #1 Claude Ostfeld
Me and an audience member disagree with the speaker on this one, but when he was asked, he said he meant for bulk purchases (200+ licenses)- Remote partners need to know they can sell - Treat resellers like key clients, be selective in choosingTreat a localized version as a brand new product
Don’t hardcode english language captions into your software
5 W’s of s/w loc Where should it be sold
- Direct/Inderict
- Potential for profit?
- Decide where you have the most resources
- Local contacts (packaging/marketing)
- Using Google or Altavista Don’t use automated translations [French language]
- doesn’t sound foreign, sounds weird
Focus more on shrink-wrapped software then localization
Jean-Guy Ducreux - Localizing software www.junkwarden.com
Babel Toolbar
Never embed string in your code Resource or ini files Delphi 2005 www.balmsoft.com for Delphi
Unicode - Double-byte
- Asian fonts need larger size (need to make out the strokes)
- 9pt as the minimum
BCDS, his company, does localization for French market Top Systems for Germany Use System font (shelldlg for Delphi)
Phil Schnyder
Localization means more then just translation menus, text, dialog docus, help installation icons/graphics (stop sign) character set Dates and Times Currencies ( new Euro symbol) Numbers right-to-left and left-to-right
Translation Kit - the process of translation Don’t need to give source code, just resource files
Give Resource files, not source code Word documents not PDF files Help files in a format that can be edited Separate code from language
Does your product make sense in other territories? (Tax software, baseball stats are two examples that won’t matter in foreign markets) If you build it, will they come? What about sales, marketing, and support? Is it legal? Exporting encryption, copying DVDs - Turkish prisons are no fun
Prioritize for where you think you’ll do the best