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Software Localization -
Internaitonal Software for the Local Market
R&D magazine Quark ISSN 1318 2641, year 1998 Foreword
General Manager Borut Rismal:The Atlantis company was founded in 1990 and has undergone a very interesting history. It was present in several areas of activities and one of its first
more important assignments was to act as Microsoft's only authorised distributor for Slovenia and for other countries of former Yugoslavia. At the same time, as the company organised the
distribution of Microsoft products, it also gathered and developed knowledge in other areas. In 1991, it began publishing computer manuals and organising training for popular software. That was
the time of DOS, LanManager and OS/2. Over the years, the company has grown, gained importance in the industry, and developed partnerships with Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Corel and Symantec. From
the initial 3 employees, there are now 30 working in several business units.The system integration experts provide help and advise people responsible for IT in various large Slovenian companies
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(i.e. Krka Pharmaceuticals, Banka Slovenije (the National Bank), Ljubljanska Banka,
Slovenian Electrical Distribution, ...)
The company takes pride in its tradition in IT and the knowledge that it has gathered over the years. It focuses on the NT environment, primarily on
electronic messaging systems, security solutions and systems management. |
Software Localization -
Internaitonal Software for the Local Market  by Simon Bratina
The localization process can be compared to two river currents flowing into a single river. From the first perceptions of computer localization being
a process which deals only with linguistic and cultural issues, computer localization today is far more than that. In addition to the linguistic and
the cultural component, computer localization today consists also of technological issues. As a result of products becoming more and more complex, the new business and technological issues represent the main
challenge to computer localization.
Contemporary computer localization has to confront far more than just text translation. It has to deal with new technologies emerging every day,
popular multimedia and with the influences of Web, its popularity and world wide presence. And it has to upgrade internal processes with new tools
such as translation memory. Only a technologically strong company, backed by well informed and experienced personnel can get the localised product to the customer.
Everybody in Atlantis Publishing is committed to the work they do. They believe that their work is important for the clients and valuable for the
local market. Their role in this process starts with the evaluation of the project. The team of project managers evaluates the project at the
beginning. It is important to try to evaluate all issues that could arise during the localization process, so they work on preparing schedules,
resources and try to identify the constraints. All this careful work at the beginning makes it possible to fix deadlines, and to recognise how much
time will be needed for the project, and the estimated costs. As new projects may require new tools and processes, the team of project managers works closely with the internal development team.
The core team has a computer science background and can therefore easily cope with technological challenges and integrate linguistic expertise
into the process. The asset we are trying to build is adaptability and for this reason, different localization tasks in the past were carried out by
different team members. Today, a flexible structure is in place that can absorb "shocks" and changes, which happen quite often.
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ATLANTIS software team. |
After a new project has been evaluated and resources allocated to the
tasks, the team of localisers starts the localization process. The process begins with gathering and determining new or changed terminology,
searching for explanations in the source language, and having meetings and discussions where new terminology is concerned. All decisions are
discussed and agreed in co-operation with local specialists and experts. It is most unfortunate that finding a good translation for new terminology is
sometimes a very difficult and time consuming task, which remains invisible in the final product. After the initial terminology has been defined, the
localisers get started with the real translation work. In order to obtain top quality translations and to assure consistency, their work is supported by
different Computer Aided Translation and Memory Translation tools.
The completed translation does not mean that the job is done. At this
point, the team of experienced engineers and testers enter the stage. Their experience comes from more than 14 projects they have been through over the past 4 years. Their task is to find functional problems
which may have been caused by translation or by the localised environment. Because of their full and thorough commitment, the localised products are sometimes even better than the original.
Last but not least, there is the Quality Assurance team, who monitor the translation process, suggest improvements and ensure that the final work
is of the highest quality. It is involved in the localization process through the whole lifecycle of the project. Members of the team also take part in
the evaluation of the performance at the end of the project. Together with project managers, they evaluate the work of each individual and suggest helpful improvements of their performance.
Whatever the localization processes or tasks are, they are certainly not just strings, words, testing, quality assurance; they mean also people.
Firstly, the ones who are immediately involved in this process and secondly, the people who use localised products in their everyday life. Atlantis is very proud that their employees and the independent
contractors are members of both groups, and that they are making every effort to remain present in both groups also in the years to come.
The company is currently (continuously would be a better word) in the process of development. It is constantly improving its hardware so that it
will be able to address the requirements of the demanding market in the most desirable way. It is also investing in new software tools and
improving work practices. The multinational structure of our team enables us to set goals beyond the boundaries of Slovenia, with successful
projects in the past to prove this ability. However, most important of all is the commitment to quality. |
