Poll: Do you have any experience in localization? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you have any experience in localization?".
View the poll results »
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That's one of the services I offer...
| | | | M. Anna Kańduła 
United Kingdom
Local time: 13:08
Member (2006)
English to Polish
| Yes, professionally AND freelance | May 11 |
Does the question suggest that freelance is personal hobby, and not a professional job?
[Edited at 2025-05-11 10:22 GMT]
| | | | Carla Selyer
Local time: 14:08
Member (2006)
Portuguese to English
+ ...
| Experience in localization/localisation | May 11 |
Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such ... See more Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such as the one in this article: https://gengo.com/language-and-culture/eight-hilarious-localization-fails-advertising/. I do not cross the boundary into the domain of copywriters, because that is a different task altogether, such as the fails described in this article, all related to advertising. Even though I completed a copywriting course, I have not done copywriting professionally, so I will always tell my clients to please approach a copywriter in the country if I see that this is what the localization task entails. But some clients just want their article or their questionnaire to resonate with a local audience, and that is the essence of the localization work I have done. ▲ Collapse
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I used to work translating and editing English flashcard products to Spanish or vice versa for the American market. It was interesting to see that many Spanish words were not really similar in many different Latin American countries, so I needed to use neutral Spanish words to cover the majority of countries possible. On the other hand, my translation to English was sometimes checked for an American because there were words that did not fit well. A few times it was impossible to convey the same ... See more I used to work translating and editing English flashcard products to Spanish or vice versa for the American market. It was interesting to see that many Spanish words were not really similar in many different Latin American countries, so I needed to use neutral Spanish words to cover the majority of countries possible. On the other hand, my translation to English was sometimes checked for an American because there were words that did not fit well. A few times it was impossible to convey the same message from one language to another because we use a softer or harder tone for some terms. Localization could be challenging, but it is wonderful to understand how people from a specific country or region think. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Ana Naglić
Croatia
Local time: 14:08
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Totally wrong set of questions. | May 11 |
Freelance IS professionally.
Personal projects can be professional too and might even turn into Fortune 500 companies.
This poll in unprofessional...
| | | | Ana Naglić
Croatia
Local time: 14:08
English to Croatian
+ ...
| More fails to come | May 11 |
Carla Selyer wrote:
Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such as the one in this article: https://gengo.com/language-and-culture/eight-hilarious-localization-fails-advertising/. I do not cross the boundary into the domain of copywriters, because that is a different task altogether, such as the fails described in this article, all related to advertising. Even though I completed a copywriting course, I have not done copywriting professionally, so I will always tell my clients to please approach a copywriter in the country if I see that this is what the localization task entails. But some clients just want their article or their questionnaire to resonate with a local audience, and that is the essence of the localization work I have done.
I warned Ford that Kuga means "plague" in some Slavic languages, they didn't care...
| | | | Mario Chávez
United States
Local time: 08:08
Member (2024)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Finally, copywriting | May 12 |
It is refreshing to see a colleague use the right term, copywriting, instead of that unfortunate neologism, “transcreation.”
Thank you, Carla.
Carla Selyer wrote:
Yes, I have a lot of experience in localization, not sure what the question is talking about when it says 'freelance/personal', but freelance has definitely been the scope of all these localization tasks. It's a tricky job and not as easy as it seems at face value, and interesting to read some of the stories about failed localization efforts, such as the one in this article: https://gengo.com/language-and-culture/eight-hilarious-localization-fails-advertising/. I do not cross the boundary into the domain of copywriters, because that is a different task altogether, such as the fails described in this article, all related to advertising. Even though I completed a copywriting course, I have not done copywriting professionally, so I will always tell my clients to please approach a copywriter in the country if I see that this is what the localization task entails. But some clients just want their article or their questionnaire to resonate with a local audience, and that is the essence of the localization work I have done.
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Mario Chávez
United States
Local time: 08:08
Member (2024)
English to Spanish
+ ...
| Let's start with specifics | May 12 |
My colleagues who have so far responded to this poll have demonstrated enviable professional acumen.
But what troubles me is the narrowness of localization's inherent definition these days. To many younger colleagues, it automatically means either videogame localization or movie dubbing/subtitling. Or that marketing freak of nature, “branding.”
The English term is not exactly elegant or self-explanatory. As a matter of fact, localizing technical content for software... See more My colleagues who have so far responded to this poll have demonstrated enviable professional acumen.
But what troubles me is the narrowness of localization's inherent definition these days. To many younger colleagues, it automatically means either videogame localization or movie dubbing/subtitling. Or that marketing freak of nature, “branding.”
The English term is not exactly elegant or self-explanatory. As a matter of fact, localizing technical content for software, for instance, implies one inescapable hurdle: the typically clunky, infantile, redundant or unimaginative English expressions (especially American English).
To me, so-called localization has always been translation, but translation via different media: screens, software, movies, or other dynamic elements like webpages. Although American English is one of the most dominant (or domineering) languages in software/web localization, engineers and other creators in that language have learned very little about localization. When I arrived at the software developing company I ended up working for almost six years, I was surprised to verify that almost no engineers knew what software localization was. Then again, most of these software engineers were monolingual (American English).
Copywriting and localization may go hand in hand but many translators who do localization are pigeonholed into doing copywriting for budgetary reasons. ▲ Collapse
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