Internationalisation


Internationalisation (I18n), Localisation (L10n) or Globalisation (G11n) is the process used to customise your website or software to service  multiple languages and locations.

Software Localisation

Software localisation is a process of translating software user interfaces from one language to another and adapting it to suit a foreign culture. This process is labor-intensive and often requires significant efforts from development teams. Bytespring has developed tools that can simplify the localisation process significantly.

Software localisation can also refer to adapting software from one culture to another. During localisation, some references to history or culture are replaced with an equivalent native reference which ideally does not change the meaning of the statement.

We can build your website or transform your existing systems to service multiple locations and languages.

Some key focal points of internationalisation and localisation efforts include:
  • Language
  • Computer-encoded text
  • Alphabets/scripts; different systems of numerals; left-to-right script vs. right-to-left scripts. Most recent systems use the Unicode to solve many of these character encoding problems.
  • Graphical representations of text (printed materials, online images containing text)
  • Spoken (Audio)
  • sub-titles to video
  • Date/time format, including use of different calendars
  • Time zones (UTC in internationalised environments)
  • Currency
  • Images and colors: issues of comprehensibility and cultural appropriateness
  • Names and titles
  • Government assigned numbers (such as the Social Security number in the US, National Insurance number in the UK) and passports
  • Telephone numbers, addresses and international postal codes
  • Weights and measures
  • Paper sizes
  • Language translation
  • Special support for certain languages such as East Asian languages
  • Local customs
  • Local content
  • Symbols
  • Order of sorting
  • Aesthetics
  • Cultural values and social context

The administration interfaces for your site can also be translated as well as the actual content, using RbMan, our own translation managment system. Using RbMan you could have translators from anywhere in the world translating your site. Use someone you know or use us to do the translations for you.