from Vietnam Golf Magazine
October 2013
Though
I’ve spent many of my summer months on a golf course less than 1KM from my
boyhood home in Michigan (USA), I still find a round of golf one of life’s
biggest challenges. I have felt a bit
“disabled” by the game of golf, often unable to control my shots.
With
a lifetime in the industry, I found it a bit funny when I went to Google
Translate to see how the system would translate “Golf Handicap”. A couple of
options came up: “khuyết tật golf” and “tàn tật golf”. I found the
translation may have been more appropriate to my golf game than for use in golf
club software.
Based
in SE Asia since 1998, I am now leading a
software firm (Quasar Group International) in
developing a new multi-lingual,
multi-national golf club and leisure management system. Partnered with Craig Francis in Geneva
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| Vietnam Golf Magazine October 2013 |
As
the firm’s system will be provided in 40 languages, we were certain about one
aspect - that the system would not rely on automated translation tools. One of the early suggestions by an industry
contact was “why not use Google’s tools to automatically translate the system
into these languages.” Knowing issues
others have had with online translations, I ran “Golf Handicap” through Google
Translate simply as a demonstration.
When “khuyết tật golf” and “tàn tật golf” (“Golf Handicap”/
“Golf Disability”) appeared, it was clear we needed to rely on linguistics
professionals to assist in the translations.
Though
I am aware of issues with online translation programs, I do find that I use
them several times a day for communications coming in from Vietnam , China ,
Korea
Developing
international golf club software and localisation
In
developing software it is undoubtedly influenced by the culture and the
language of the designers and programmers.
Extracting the culturally and linguistically dependent part of
applications is part of the internationalization process. Script-specific aspects (character encoding,
character sizes, line size and spacing), cultural conventions, numbers and
dates, icons and symbols, and the use of colour by technical designers are some
of the issues in the localisation process.
New
products should be enabled for localisation - designed in a way that make the
systems culturally-independent. These
systems should be easily adaptable for customers within target markets whether
it be Vietnam , Cambodia , Thailand
or Argentina
Software
internationalization provides a framework for localisation. It steamlines the process of designing and
developing products with features and functionality that facilitate the
adaptation of the product to targeted global markets.
Localisation
is a different process however, as it takes a the internationalized software
and adds features and functionality that match a specific culture and
market. The transparency of the local
language, the translation of menus, messages, and on-line tutorials are issues
that are addressed in a localisation process.
Localisation
is a linguistic task because the translation requirement is not simply the
substitution of one line of text with another.
During the process several pieces of text may need to be brought
together, resulting in a more natural feel for the native speaker.
In
developing the global golf club software we needed to be able to indicate the
required text in a neutral way and then extracting the translation at run
time. This represents the intended
meaning. Producing the message at run
time is a problem of language generation, given the elements of meaning and the
rules of composition.
It
is also a linguistic problem because many software packages capture and
manipulate text that has been supplied by the users. Examples of this are word processors and
database management systems. In using
these packages we frequently are required to match text. What constitutes an acceptable match depends
upon the language. We frequently ask for
text to be sorted — sort orders are language and culture specific. Software embeds assumptions very deeply — for
example, hashing algorithms will be constructed with the statistical properties
of a particular corpus of words or names in mind.
Software
localisation is also a tech issue because the system must be able to organize
and isolate the linguistic components in a manner that allows them to be
replaced and displayed.
If
your first language is English, French, Russian, German, or Spanish, most of
the software you use is likely in your native language. For those whose native language is different
from those, software in your own language is likely an exception to the
rule. Too often software developers
assumed it was easier for Asian users to speak English than to create a version
of their product in Vietnamese, Japanese, or Chinese.
Localisation - Serious
Business
Software
localisation has become a serious business as users are demanding not only software
in the major language of their country but in the native language of their
region. Part of the drive to localize
software comes from the changing profile of computer users. No longer is it just highly educated people
using sophisticated software. Today's
computer users extend across all layers of society. In the golf club industry, many of the
office, restaurant and golf shop staff are local hires. A localized version of the software would be
a significant benefit to them.
The
smart phone has also helped advance the need for local language support
throughout a golf club system. Many of
the club’s caddies use the mobile phone as a means of communication with
friends and their employer. Wherever the
club may be located, it would be a significant benefit to send schedules,
updates and general news to the caddy staff in their native language.
As
the vast majority of the staff at a golf club in Vietnam
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