Localization (or Localisation)
L ocalizatio N (The middle part has 10 letters)
The adaptation of software for specific localities by translation etc.
The three sisters of the brave new Global Information Management (GIM):
L10N – Localization
I18N – Internationalization
G11N – Globalization
A good place to start is the “Localization, Localization” blog (Loc Loc for short), which already boasts 10,000 clicks.
For the difference between Language Localization and translation, and also the relationship of the three acronymic processes in bringing texts to a global online market place see Wikipedia.
Also, according to Wikipedia these three are all examples of Numeronyms (number-based words).
LISA – the Localization Industry Standards Association
I have had a small bit-part in this mammoth industry recently. I have been translating from Spanish to English using a piece of software called Trados (to be precise SDL/Trados Synergy Freelance 2007).
Using this Software I can either link it up to Word or work directly in Tag Editor and produce Trados bilingual files, which contain both the source and target text in the same file. I can also either be sent or produce my own TM (Translation Memory) files, which contain source and target language data. As such my translation is more easily slotted into the localization process of getting my text to where it needs to go next, whether that be a proofreader or directly up onto a multilingual website. Using Tag Editor I can deal with e.g. HTML files, along with all their tags, much more easily than if I had to translate the text within a normal text editor. It can be quite exciting to see a translation you have done first thing in the morning up on a website, along with many other language versions, later in the day.
ETYM
I believe that there is a current fashion for Numbers Within Words, and I think it is due to the prevalence of texting which, at least with the early mobile phones, made it difficult to write many letters.
But this fashion is also prevalent on the web and with web-related technology.
Eg W3C – World Wide Web Consortium
I, along with many other parents, learnt the texting “language” in order to communicate with teenagers.
Eg 2moz- tomorrow
gr8 – great
The great linguist David Crystal has written very interestingly on mobile phone text messages, or Texting, in his book called “txtng:the gr8 db8″.
Obviously L10N, I18N and G11N are much easier to type than their longhand equivalents.
However, I doubt that that is the whole story. I think there is something playful, and something of the in-group aspect often found in private language or the slang of a small group. To be in the know you have to know!
Anyone ever heard of C11G? I just made it up and it starts with Crowd. I think it’ll be a bit like GIGO – Garbage In Garbage Out. Hopefully so!
