All About Localization Engineering

“The importance of localization engineering is underscored by the plethora of universities teaching the subject as an autonomous unit of its own”.

Localization engineering is often an obscure discipline to many a people. Truth be told, many people do not exactly know what localization engineers actually do. Localization basically refers to the intricate processes designed to adapt computer programs into different languages, regions and the specific requirements of a specific group. Localization engineering on the other hand encompasses all the technical intricacies that ensue when a software user interface is translated.

Localization Engineering Unmasked

The importance of localization engineering is underscored by the plethora of universities teaching the subject as an autonomous unit of its own. Localization engineering units are becoming more and more attractive to the general population as people get interested in courses such as resume building, globalization and localizability. Localization engineering has two approaches help to understand it.

Source-Based Localization

Source-based organization can be considered to be a misnomer. This is because instead of dealing with the source directly, source-based organization is dealt with that way. Instead, text files that contain textual representation of the users are used.

Binary Localization

Under binary localization services, focus is on the original product. As such, tools can easily be employed to make adjustments on all the subject matter available for localization. Such subject matter available for localization includes dialog boxes and application menus.

The Different Localization Engineering Services

When it comes to software development, there are different localization engineering services. These localization engineering services come in handy in software development. Localization engineering services include software analysis, localization process development, mastering, bug fixing and process automation.

Software Analysis

Under software analysis, the different products to be analyzed are enclosed. A realistic number of the files to be localized in the master file are then established. All the initial project estimates are use in analysis.

Localization Process Development

Depending on the results of the software analysis and client input, the localization process is underway. In other words it is very likely that these people are already given the green light in terms of coming up with a detailed localization process. A localization project schedule is also prepared including a localization kit and an instructional tool for translators.

Building or Mastering

Localized versions of the products of the company are then created. This is usually an automated process and in some cases a semi automated process. In most cases, there is little processing that is done before the whole building step.

Bug fixing

As the name suggests, bug fixing is all about making corrections to all the defects identified during the localization process. These defects include duplicates hotkeys, non working hotkeys, mistranslated hotkeys, un translated hotkeys and overlapped strings. The corrections are made to ensure optimal functionality.

Process Automation

Once localization engineering is deployed, there is no need for reinventing the wheel every time in the completion of tasks. Instead, all the localization processes such as mastering, downloading and leveraging can be automated.

Become A Localization Engineer

Localization engineering is one of the emerging branches of branches of engineering. Unfortunately, there are not so many training institutions for localization engineering. In those cases, prospective students of localization engineering can take online courses exclusively focused on localization engineering. One can also work as an intern in a localization engineering capacity. Such an internship experience can help one garner sufficient experience for the real challenges of localization engineering.