Outsourcing L10N, G11N and i18n
Just read an interesting article somewhat related to offshore on China success stories; while widely promotional and hardly unbiased that site offers great insight which could prove invaluable to those planning to outsource to China. The article Mind The Gap – Localization in China is about localization (L10N using common development lingo) and in particular soft and political aspects of it. “Localization is the process of adapting software for a specific region or language by adding locate-specific components and translating text, and it is further revised and expressed as “A process of planning and implementing products and services so that they can be adapted to specific local languages and cultures”. Yes, L10N means both linguistic accuracy and cultural fitness, the latter is even more important.”
I believe that localization, in particular in web world, is one of the areas which could be easily outsourced. It is also one of the rare areas in s/w development which is almost always better off to be outsourced. However, far not anyone who claims to have experience in localization makes a good partner. There are multiple aspects of localization which require skills, knowledge and expertise besides just knowing language and culture.
Some things are fairly obvious – your localization partner need to understand technology and its impact on multiple dimensions of localization. Some are less obvious, for example, consider simple fact – Russian words take approximately twice as much characters than English, that will have it’s impact on the size of the labels and inevitably on screen layout, which ripples into serious impact on usability.
If you are new to L10N, G11N and i18n or even if you dealt with it to some degree you may find the presentation put by good friend and long time colleague Doug Kunz quite interesting…
eBook
The Pragmatic Outsourcer series consists of 5 volumes, each covering a different phase of the outsourcing process. Volume 1: Making the Decision is available today for your free download. Volumes 2 through 5 will be available during 2010.
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Tools & Links
Outsourcing in the Light of Bribe Payers Index
Have someone offered you some funny smelling incentive package to close an offshoring deal? You may not be alone… I just run across an interesting article, not specific to offshore outsourcing but very relevant though. Bribe Paying Export Countries by Daniel Workman talks about some unusual stats – “The 2008 Bribe Payers Index ranks the likelihood of importers receiving illegal monetary incentives from leading export countries.“ Here are the highlights
Countries Most Likely To Offer Payola
Final results from the 2008 Transparency International survey rank export companies from Russia, China, Mexico and India as most likely to bribe.
1. Russia … 5.9 (33% more likely to bribe than Canada or Belgium)
2. China …6.5 (26.1% more likely)
3. Mexico … 6.6 (25% more likely)
4. India … 6.8 (22.5% more likely)
5. Brazil … 7.4 (15.9% more likely)
Countries Least Likely To Grant Illegal Incentives
The BPI survey ranked Canada and Belgium as home to exporting firms perceived as more ethical and therefore apt to avoid illegal payoffs.
1. Canada … 8.8
2. Belgium … 8.8
3. Switzerland … 8.7 (1.1% more likely to bribe than Canada or Belgium)
4. Netherlands … 8.7 (1.1% more likely)
5. United Kingdom … 8.6 (2.3% more likely)
See more figures and supporting material in the original article TI Report: Emerging economic giants show high levels of corporate bribery overseas.
December 19, 2008 Posted by Nick Krym | News, Articles, Thoughts and Comments | Offshore Traps | 3 Comments