Localization a bane for a Language

This is an image of one of the many Google pages in Hindi. You can see english text left untranslated (see the rectangular red mark.) If you read the hindi content, you are going to forget that language. Is it a carelessness or an unawareness attitude from the company?

We have entered into a stage where efforts are going on to put information in local languages. Big Mulitnational companies who have offices worldwide or who need their information to go worldwide, are into the process of localization.

What is this localization? Converting a content from a source language to a target language in a suitable format is called Localization. lets not, for righnow, delve into the theory of localization.

In India lot of companies are putting their information, or providing their services in various Indian languages. These companies include big players like Microsoft, Google, Yahoo, and IOL as well as innumerous smaller companies. People, in general, trust the brand name of Big companies. They faithfully follow the product coming from those companies. It applies to their localization product too. But, do these companies are reciprocating the trust shown by the people for them?

The MNCs are very much reckless in their approach towards localization. They seem to do it for the namesake or for record purpose. The above picture of a Google page is just one of the countless examples that can be shown at anytime.

Localization industry is suffering from basic problems. It is bereft of appropriate translators for various subjects. If you want to be a suitable translator, you need to be good in three things. One, you should have good working knowledge of Source Language; Two, you should be expert in Target Language; and Three, you should have good knowledge of the product that you are localizing. All these three things are a must to be a quality translator.

Companies that need localization, should know what quality they want. The persons or Companies that do localization service should know what quality the best they can give. The users who use these products should be specific on what quality they expect of those products. And finally, the translators should remember that they are working for their language. A language can be rejuvenated or can be killed depending on the persons who work on it. As the product of Google, Microsoft, Wikipedia etc have mass appeal, the translators for these companies have great responsibility as a representative of their languages.

Localization Industry ought to be more matured. People should have more awareness about the job opportunities in this field. This is a very resposible job, as a lapse in the quality may cost the pride of the language itself.