PTI Global

“Thank you, Mike, Christian, Daisy and Toby, and the rest of PTIGlobal for another great effort and successful project.”

—Senior Product Release Manager
Autodesk

PTIGlobal delivers engineering gold

Like other products aimed at foreign markets, software must be skillfully localized to attract and retain buyers. Successful localization yields an idiomatic, native-language translation that retains the product’s functionality at all levels. It means that there are no clues to the end user that this product was developed and written in another country.

It’s important to remember that cultural conventions vary among countries and may require changes to source code. Your product can be localized faster and more cost-effectively if the code has been properly internationalized.

At PTIGlobal, we are very proud of our engineering team, which is among the most skilled and detail-oriented in the industry. Our engineers are permanent staff members and can take as large or small a role in the localization process as you prefer. Our engineers localize for Windows, Mac, and Unix platforms in single-byte, double-byte, and bi-directional languages using the latest localization tools.

Some common approaches to software localization may be:

PTIGlobal receives string extractions in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, Microsoft Word document, or a plain text file. Files are localized and sent back to the client for integration.
PTIGlobal receives localizable resource files. We can work with common Windows RC files (RC, RC2, DLG), Portable Object Files, Java Properties files, ListResourceBundles and ArrayResourceBundles, XML or XLIFF files, Visual Basic FRM or VBP files. These files can be fully localized and returned for further integration. In some cases where dialog-specific information is represented in the resource files, PTIGlobal engineers can assist in User Interface layout and sizing corrections due to truncations.
PTIGlobal receives binary files. We can provide as much service as you like us to. Our Engineering department can work with Windows 16-bit executables (EXE, DLL, SYS, …), Windows 32-bit and 64-bit executables (EXE, DLL, SYS, OCX), Visual Basic binary files, and MSI installer files. Once localized these files can be ready for distribution.

Comparison of Software localization approaches:

	Localization of String extractions	Resource file localization	Binary file localization
L10N Preparation:
1. Translation prep	Easy	Easy	Easy
2. Ability to work with Translation Memory	√	√	√
3. Ability to give special in-context instructions (string by string)	√	√	√
4. Easy of maintaining in-context instructions (string by string)	Difficult	Easy	Easy
L10N Integration:
1. Ease of integration into the final product	Difficult	Easy–Medium	Easy
2. Final product can be generated by PTIGlobal	x	√ [In most cases]	√
L10N Engineering:
1. Ease of Translation Memory maintenance	Medium	Easy	Easy
2. Ease of Term List maintenance	Medium	Easy	Easy
3. Potential of introducing errors into Translation Memory	High	Low	Low
4. Visual context due to dialog mockups	x [unless screenshots provided]	√ [In most cases]	√
5. Provides a perfect bug fixing environment	x	√	√
6. Allows User Interface Engineering by PTIGlobal	x	√ [In most cases]	√
7. Ease to process product updates	Difficult	Easy	Easy

A simplified overview of software localization steps. For a graphical overview of the complete software localization process, click here [Link to Localization Workflow diagram]

Product engineering/QA analysis
Translation kits creation
Graphics localization
Building and engineering of localized material
Engineering validation
Taking screenshots of localized material
Localization testing cycles
Bug fixing cycles
In-country reviews

Software Internationalization

Internationalization is the key step to preparing your products for a smooth and inexpensive localization process as well as the international success of your products. While it is perfectly fine to postpone any thoughts on localizing your products, postponing the process of planning and implementation for internalization can become a costly decision in the end.

A properly internationalized product can go straight to localization and ensure timely delivery to offshore markets. On the contrary, a product that was solely designed for one market and language must either undergo a brute force localization and customization effort for each subsequent market or a retrofitted internationalization. Both of these formerly described methods are costly and problem ridden. What is internationalization about? Following is a brief list of common aspects for software internationalization:

Date and Time formats	Hard coding of strings
Extensive string concatenation	Tightly packed user interfaces
Address information	Social Security Numbers
Phone / Fax number formatting	On-Screen input devices
Special character support	Input handling, masked fields and regular expressions
Error / Warning messages	Weight, volume, distance, size, … measurements
Symbols for decimals	Calculating with numeric input in RTL languages
Proper display of RTL languages	Data types

PTIGlobal has many years of internationalization, internationalization testing and localization experience to help you through your internationalization process. PTIGlobal's Engineering department can help raise questions and identify potential pitfalls by looking at your specifications and requirements documentation. In addition, our testing department can assist with internationalization enabling testing to ensure that the internationalization process is successful. For more information please consult our Internationalization Consulting section.