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The LRC carries out research and development in a number of areas of software localisation, including supporting technologies, such as language engineering. |
Individual LRC Research Projects |
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The
development of an Open Source Localisation Package for the Localisation of
Open Source Software The use of open-source software is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in developing countries. In fact, in many places including China, South Korea, India and Brazil, governments are actively encouraging its use since, unlike proprietary software, it permits users to examine, change and freely redistribute its fundamental programming instructions. In
this work the author compares and
contrasts Open Source software with Proprietary software and examines
trends in Open Source localisation. Research is being conducted into
current Localisation Processes used in the localisation of Open Source
Software. Based on findings, an Open Source application will be developed
to support these processes. The final application will enhance existing
processes with additional design features and incorporate
new standards and technologies. An
Investigation into Aspects of Cultural Theory and their Relevance in the
Development of Localised Web Applications Localisation
refers to “the process of adapting and translating a product or
service into another language in order to make it linguistically
and culturally appropriate for a particular local market”.
All too often however, culture is overlooked and products are
localised at a purely linguistic level. This is especially true in the
case of web-based applications, which generally have extremely tight
turn-around times. Given
the impact that culture has on people’s behaviour, an intuitive
web-based application should reflect the cultural orientation of its
users, both on an overt and covert level. A number of anthropologists,
such as Geert Hofstede, have developed cross-cultural theories over the
years and some researchers are now dedicated to finding a bridge between
these theories and the actual practise of web design. 
e-Learning:
An Alternative Approach for Universities Providing This
research was undertaken to examine how e-learning principles could be
applied by Universities offering online training in localisation tools,
and to investigate how e-learning compares to traditional on-campus
teaching in terms of effective training. The
need for localised digital content has been increasing in the last fifteen
years. Being aware of this fact, many universities offering translation
degrees have started to include several subjects on localisation in their
degrees. However, translation lecturers often lack relevant exposure to
localisation tools and workflows. As a consequence, effective training in
localisation tools often becomes problematic. In this context, e-learning
is gradually being seen as a potential solution to this problem. In March 2004, the Localisation Research Centre (LRC) ran a free introductory course to localisation tools. It was delivered using an e-learning portal produced by the LRC. This course was targeted at university-based translation lecturers, students, and freelance translators based in Europe. The purpose was to discover an appropriate pedagogical methodology and to provide relevant localisation resources to enable online students to learn how to use localisation tools by themselves. At the end of the course, a detailed survey was circulated to all participants. The survey asked them to indicate, and comment on, different aspects of their learning experience. Based on the course run by the LRC, this study investigates the most suitable learning methodological approach to enable effective e-learning of localisation tools, and the main requirements involved. It also describes the different types of localisation tools currently available and their importance in the localisation of digital content. The findings of this research show that Social Constructivism is a suitable learning methodological approach for e-learning. It also shows that effective hands-on online experience in localisation tools can be enhanced through the use of appropriate communication tools and localisation resources in an e-learning portal.
Traditional
Chinese Internationalisation Issues and Their Resolution Using ASP.NET While
there are many theoretical approaches and guidelines available on the
internationalisation process in general, there is a lack of uniform
information for a particular language, Chinese.
With this consideration in mind, the objective of this dissertation
is to gather the plethora of information on and compile it into one
tangible resource for Traditional Chinese related internationalisation
issues. This
dissertation first of all outlines the key issues in relation to the
internationalisation process.
Second, the issues that introduce additional complications when
dealing with this Traditional Chinese are discussed in detail and the
implications of these issues are examined.
These issues include character sets, input methods, fonts and sort
order. Third,
approaches suggested by industry in an attempt to overcome the
aforementioned issues are highlighted.
The concepts, development and achievement of these approaches are
addressed.
In addition, a web environment, ASP.NET, is examined to determine
its ability to cater for the aforementioned Traditional Chinese related
internationalisation issues.
The challenges that presented themselves during the development of
this web site are documented.
Finally, conclusions are drawn and recommendations for further work
are proposed. The
development of an XLIFF Source Converter This
project is based on a new localisation standard known as XML Localisation
Information File Format or XLIFF for short. Its basic functionality is to
take popular source file formats and convert them to the XLIFF file
format. Then a “translation memory” is used to show how some of the
features of XLIFF could benefit the localisation process. The overall aim
is to convert from RC File or Java Resource Bundle File to the XLIFF file
format, run an auto-translate and a fuzzy-matching algorithm in order to
introduce 100% matches and fuzzy matches to the XLIFF file to be
translated. Once the XLIFF file is completely translated, the original
file format is recreated for compilation replacing the source strings with
the translated ones. An
Approach to Localising an Existing Website Area The
principle objective of this research project was to develop and localise
the available online information concerning the Graduate Diploma/Master of
Science in Software Localisation, a programme currently on offer at the
University of Limerick. The
contents of the web pages were created dynamically, using a combination of
text files and a Microsoft Access database, with interactivity achieved
through the implementation of Active Server Pages. The web pages were localised into French and German. However,
since the source code is written independent of language and locale, the
creation of additional versions is greatly facilitated.
A
report was written to document the research, design, implementation and
testing phases of the project as a whole. |