from Gaming & Leisure Magazine
Winter 2017-2018
Though I’ve spent many of my summer months on a golf course less than a mile from my boyhood home in Michigan (USA), I still find a round of golf to be one of life’s biggest challenges. I have felt a bit “disabled” by the game of golf, often unable to control my shots.
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| Gaming & Leisure Magazine Winter 2017-2018 |
Based in Asia since 1998, I have assisted multiple companies in developing a multi-lingual, multi-national leisure management systems for golf and spa management. The mission for each is that the systems must be be sensitive to language and cultural needs worldwide.
The firms have typically looked to translate their systems into a half-dozen languages in their initial phases, including Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean Thai and Bahasa Indonesian/Malaysian.
My request for each is that their systemS 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 real-time online translations, I ran “Golf Handicap” through Google Translate simply as a demonstration. When “Cacat Golf” in Indonesian, “高尔夫球障碍” in Simplified Chinese or “khuyết tật golf” in Vietnamese appeared for golf handicap (“Golf Handicap”/ “Golf Disability”), 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 and elsewhere. Google Translate and other programs have allowed me to understand the general meaning of a message. With all the terminology unique to the spa & golf industry, translations into multiple Asian languages is not something I’d leave to a general unassisted online translator. We didn’t want the system “disabled” by improper translations.
Developing international leisure 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 Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand or Argentina.
Software internationalization provides a framework for localisation. It streamlines 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 online 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 software we needed to be able to indicate the required text in a neutral way and then extracting the translation at the time the system is accessed, which in turn 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 are frequently 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 that 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 & read English than to create a version of their product in Thai, 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 also in the native languages in 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 hospitality industry, a majority of the staff in the office, restaurant, spa and golf shop are local hires while management may be from overseas. A localized version of the software significantly benefits both the local staff and overseas manager.
Smartphones have also helped advance the need for local language support throughout a management system. Many of the spa therapists and club’s caddies use the mobile phone as their primary means of communication with friends and their employer. Wherever the club may be located, it is a significant benefit to send schedules, updates and general news to the therapists, caddies and other staff in their native language.
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