Software Localization – Software Internationalization
MTM LinguaSoft provides software localization and software internationalization services that will increase acceptance of your software products in foreign marketplaces.
Internationalizing your software product at the outset eliminates future difficulties when it comes time to offer your software in other markets. Localizing and translating makes your software appear as if it was developed specifically for the target locale, helping you attract international end-users, distributors and resellers.
If your developer is not familiar with internationalization practices or with the localization process, consult MTM LinguaSoft before development to ensure that you are prepared for all future opportunities.
See also our elearning localization service page and samples.
Sample Projects
Client:Independent School Management Inc. Services:Software Localization Languages:Spanish and Hebrew | ISM’s online application, FAST (Financial Aid for School Tuition), provides an online interface for parents and students to apply for financial aid. ISM wanted a Spanish version of the application to cater to the growing number of students coming from Spanish-speaking households. MTM LinguaSoft provided translations both for the parent handbook, which instructs parents in how to use the application, and for the user interface and navigation elements of the application. Later we translated the interface into Hebrew. |
Client:Frontline Placement Technologies Services:Software Localization & Voice-overs Languages:French and Spanish | Frontline Placement Technologies was preparing to expand into Canada and Central America with its AESOP (Teachers and Substitutes Placement and Absence Management) Interactive Voice Response system, a phone system used to track the availability of teachers and substitute teachers, and wanted to provide a version of the system localized into French Canadian and Spanish. MTM LinguaSoft handled the entire project, which involved not only localizing the AESOP online portal, but also translating online help, training video scripts, and phone systems voice prompts. MTM LinguaSoft also provided professional voice recording for the training video voice-overs and the telephone prompts. |
Software Internationalization, sometimes called globalization, is the process of designing a software application so that it can be adapted to various languages and regions without engineering changes.
Software Localization is the process of adapting internationalized software for a specific region or language by adding locale-specific components and translating text.
Internationalization of software should take place at the design and development phase of a project to prepare the project for later localization, for example, by ensuring that foreign character sets are supported and that local differences in terms of date, time and currency formats will be accommodated, or by adding support for left-to-right or vertical text. The practices involved can have value even if the software is never actually localized.
Localization of software takes place when the software is being prepared for a particular market. It may be necessary even where actual translation is not needed. For example, time, date, and currency formats and cultural preferences about content may vary even among countries that use the same language. Idioms and spelling rules may also vary among countries and localities.