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The Localization Standards Association (LISA) provides the following definition of internationalization:

Properly localized product offers content specific to a region, country or language and adapts to the linguistic and cultural characteristics of at least two locales. The localization project begins with the writing of the source text that will be submitted for translation.

InterSol offers clients a Source Document Review service option. It consists in checking the text of documents or software submitted for localization, and providing suggestions for improvements that facilitate the process of internationalization.

	Document Review
	Software Review

Document Review

Please refer to the Global Advisor Newsletter - Fifth Edition for suggestions on how to write and design for translatability. As you are preparing the source document, also keep in mind:

	Text expansion
	Consistent terminology
	Callouts
	References
	Paper sizes
	Punctuation in series and lists
	En Dash
	Abbreviated References
	Numbers
	Fonts

Text Expansion

As a rule of thumb text in translated documents expands by about 10 to 15 percent, but in some languages that have very long words, such as German and Danish, for example, the rate of text expansion can be even greater. (Mark Twain referred to long German words as alphabetical processions marching majestically across the page. A couple of examples from his own collection are: Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlugen - General state delegates assembly and Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen - Weapons cessation negotiation)

To provide for text expansion in translated documents:

	Test your document with pseudo translations, to ensure that you have allowed enough white space to preserve figure to text matching; maintain the integrity of tabular data; enable the reuse of layout; preserve page references; and reduce formatting time and cost. Pseudo translations are made up of garbled text like editors use in newspapers to verify layout. Use it to expand the English text you will be sending for translation by 10 to 15 percent.
	Keep callouts short and concise, so translated versions do not look cluttered.
	Ragged justification is preferable because it avoids the excessive use of hyphenation.
	Provide translators with guidelines on how to handle text expansion in tables and page formats (e.g. adjust margins; increase the height of table cells, etc.)

Consistent Terminology

Use of consistent and standardized terminology in the source language text will improve the quality of the translation. It will also increase the number of matches identified by the Translation Memory tool for translation reuse, thus reducing translation cost. For example, select only one way of expressing storage temperatures and use it consistently throughout your documentation.

	Store between +2°C to +8°C
	Store at 2°C to 8°C
	Store at: 2°C - 8°C
	Store at 2° to 8°C

Callouts

	Use numbers instead of text to designate callouts.
	Place word callouts in the text instead of embedding them in the graphic, to enable the sharing of graphics among language versions. Example:

1. Pièce de retenue

2. Membrane

3. Anneau de retenue

References

Reference sections of a manual by their section number, or by the section number plus  section title. If titles are necessary, include also the section numbers to simplify cross-checking.

Example: Refer to section 5.4.2 Loading Phosphoramidite Reagents.

Publication acronyms italicized (e.g., AMA, JMA)
Book/magazine titles in italics
"Film titles" in quotes
"TV program titles" in quotes
Page numbers: p and pp
Use the least number of digits to list suite of pages. Example: 108-11

Paper Sizes

When designing documentation or developing an application, keep in mind that paper sizes vary according to locales. Most countries follow ISO Standard 216: "Writing paper and certain classes of printed matter--Trimmed sizes--A and B series." The following are some examples of various paper sizes used internationally:

Punctuation in series and lists

Separate elements in series of three or more with commas. Example:

Our selection includes household items, office supplies, and special offers.

When the elements in a series are very simple and all joined by conjunctions, commas are not necessary. Example:

You can have strawberry or chocolate or vanilla.

When elements in a series are long and complex or involve external punctuation, use semicolons as separators. Examples:

The final score was: Hawks, 0; Ducks, 4; Titans, 2; Arrows, 1.

InterSol provides customers with the quality, delivery and service they expect and deserve from a team of international communication professionals; uses cutting-edge technology and finely tuned processes to ensure accuracy, meet challenging schedules and contain cost; and applies creativity, innovation and flexibility to develop a customized approach to every customer and project.

En Dash

The en dash is half the size of an em dash, but longer than a hyphen. The primary use of the en dash is to connect continuing, or inclusive, numbers-dates, time of reference numbers. The hyphen is used between numbers that are not inclusive. En dashes should be used carefully, as they may not display correctly in web pages or other languages, such double-byte and others that use different alphabets.

Abbreviated References

Book Title (publication year, pp )
“Article Title,” Book or magazine (month, year OR volume, number, pp )
References to JMA articles: (Month Year JMA, p )—(Apr 1999 JMA, p 10)
 

Numbers

Use text for numbers from one to nine; use numbers for 10 and above.

Use numbers for proper names: 20th century, 19th century; but use text for adjectives, such as thirteenth edition. 

Dates: 1930s (without apostrophe)

Ages: She is in her twenties; but She is a 40-year-old university professor.

Fonts

The style guide that you provide the translator should include font specifications for text, headings, subheadings, etc. If your documentation is to be translated into Asian languages, the style guide should also include Asian font specifications. The following are examples of Asian True Type Fonts:

Japanese True Type Fonts

The difference between these font instances is that the ones that include a P (MSP minchō and MSP goshikku) use proportional characters (proportional width Latin characters, kana, punctuation and some symbols).

MS 明朝 (MS minchō) is often used for text and MS ゴシック (MS goshikku) for headings.

Example:

MS goshikku
MS minchō

Chinese Simplified True Type Fonts for the zh locale

Chinese Traditional True Type Fonts for the BIG5 locale

Korean TrueType Fonts for the ko/ko.UTF-8 Locales

Software Review

The following are some of the regional standards that need to be supported by applications:

	Number formats
	Time formats
	Currency formats
	Date formats
	Symbols
	Fonts
	Diacritical marks (accents)
	Telephone numbers

Number Formats

The United States, England, Japan, Thailand are some of the few countries in the world that use a comma as a thousands separator (between groups of three digits counting from the right) and a period as a decimal separator (radix). Other countries use periods or spaces for thousands and commas for decimals. Data files containing locale-specific formats need to be translated into the appropriate notation for the numerical system used in a specific locale. The following are some examples of number formats in various locales:

Time Formats

Time is expressed in 12-hour or 24-hour clock formats, depending on the locale. The hour and minute separator can be either a colon ( : ) or a period ( . ). These are some examples of international time formats:

Currency Formats

Currency designations vary in different locales. The ISO 4217 standard establishes a 3-letter code for each currency, where the first two letters represent the country and the last letter represents the currency.

Examples:

	USD = US dollar
	GBP = British pound
	JPY = Japanese yen
	EUR = Euro (This is the only exception that does not follow the established  pattern.)

For more information, refer to the website of the International Standardization Organization.

Date Formats
Date formats vary widely according to locale. The following are examples of how October 18, 2003 is expressed numerically in various locales. Please note that even within the same local there can be different ways of expressing dates.

If you can only use one date format, to resolve ambiguity you could:

	spell out the date (e.g. October 18, 2003*)
	use the military system, where three alpha characters are used for the month (e.g. 18 Oct 2003)
	use the ISO system of all numerical dating used in work with computers (2003-10-18)
	use a lower case Roman numeral to indicate the month, as many Continentals do (e.g.. 18.x.2003)

*Note: Per the Chicago Manual of Style, University of Chicago Press, it is preferable to write exact dates in the sequence day-month-year without internal punctuation within all text, including notes and bibliographies.

Symbols

In software localization, it is important to standardize the designations of keys, buttons and functions. The following are some examples of standard designations:

[ ] to indicate keyboard keys, such as [ENTER], [F3].

< > to indicate menu items, such as <print>.

<< >> to indicate mouse click items, like <<print>>.

Bold or Underlined initial caps to indicate letters used for screen commands, such as:

Next menu or Next, when N is the required entry for this command.

Note: Some symbols do not print out as they look on the computer display. Therefore it is important to provide the translator with a printout of the electronic file so it may be used for reference.
 

Diacritical Marks (Accents)

The style guide should include guidelines on how to handle accented characters. For example:

Capital letters are generally not accented, but there are exceptions, such as the Ñ, in Spanish, the Ü in German, etc.

Telephone Numbers

	Use a hyphen to separate numbers that are not inclusive, such as 1-800-555-0123.
	Indicate whether a toll-free number is accessible in the U.S. only, or also internationally.
	Use parentheses to separate the country and city codes (one-to-three-digit numbers that are equivalent to the U.S. area code) from the local phone number in international phone numbers. Use spaces to separate the parts of the local phone number. Example: (44) (71) 270 00 12, where (44) is the country code of the United Kingdom, (71) is the city code for London, and 270 00 12 is the local phone number.

References: The Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition; The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Documentation; A Practical Guide to Localization, by Bert Esselink.

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