Author - Karen Sudre - Audio Engineer
"TeleNav Maps" (French)
You might have seen the announcement this week from AT&T that AT&T Navigator, powered by TeleNav, is now available internationally - in 20 countries. You also may know that TeleNav GPS Navigator is also available in all these countries, and more.
It’s probably obvious that expanding a service into other countries is a major task. The technological challenges with mapping, networks, etc. are just the beginning. One thing you may not think about, however, is how to manage the language and cultural differences.
"Airport" (Chinese)
Those of you who have traveled to another country where you don’t speak the language know what a relief it can be to hear or see your native language after awhile. Recently, for example, someone in the Netherlands was thrilled to hear TeleNav in Dutch. We strive to bring that familiarity in our navigation software to all our customers in Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, China … and the list is growing.
As TeleNav expands into the global market, localization has become a large component of the product. Localization (sometimes abbreviated as L10n, the "10" signifying the 10 letters in the middle of "l" and "n") is closely linked to - and sometimes used interchangeably with - Globalization (g11n) and Internationalization (i18n). Localization involves not only translation of text and audio, but also requires that such things as images, colors, symbols, and writing conventions be culturally appropriate.
Roundabout Icon (UK)
Think for a moment about TeleNav’s POI search … What is the equivalent of the DMV in England, or France, or the Netherlands? Even the same language can differ greatly - in Spain, they say "turn" differently than in Mexico. And how do we fit the German street name "Anschlusstelle Ludwigshafen-Rheingonheim" on a small cell phone screen?
And don’t even mention miles vs. kilometers - I can’t count the number of times our voice talent or translator scoffed at me for having "miles" in the text to record or translate: "Miles? Only Americans use miles!" Yes, true, but what if a Spaniard wants to hear TeleNav in Spanish but is in the U.S. and wants to see distance in miles? Or if an American wants to practice their Spanish while in Spain but still wants to use their native miles as the unit? It’s all about adapting the device to meet everyone’s needs - no matter your native language, location, or preferences for or against the metric system.
All this may sound straightforward on the surface, but sometimes issues arise that are rather complicated. As a linguist, I have at least some of the basic knowledge of how languages work. But localization goes beyond translating strings of text. And sometimes just what is required is not known until a mistake is made. It helps to have someone on the team who is a native of the specific culture and language required - and fortunately TeleNav is a very diverse company. Some companies, however, have had to learn from costly mistakes.
And check here and here for more blunders.
And of course we’ve seen all the jokes about funny signs.
While these are great for a chuckle, if you are the company responsible for these errors, it may cost you millions of dollars (or Euros or Pounds …)
So, how can we avoid such blunders and produce high-quality localized software? Educate ourselves about localization, and learn quickly from other’s mistakes as well as our own. Don’t treat another person’s language as just a "version" of the original English. Become fluent in every language … OK, that may be a little difficult … but we’re working on it.
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