Employment opportunities for localisation professionals

Ruth Alvey and Nicola Gosling, CPL

Ruth and Nicola will offer an expert view of the employment opportunities for localisation professionals. The discussion will also include the question of raising the professionalism in the industry.

How to adapt a localisation tool to your workflow

XML and localisation

Yves Savourel, Localisation Solutions Architect (RWS Group LLC, Boulder, Colorado, USA)

The session offers an overview of the role of XML in the localisation process: what are the advantages XML brings from an internationalisation viewpoint, how XML can be used with different purposes: as main storage format, as an intermediate container, and as the base for various interchange standards. The talk will touch on topics such as: the newly developed format for exchanging localisation data between the translation consumers and providers: XLIFF, as well as OpenTag, TMX, and other XML-related efforts.

Expert panel discussion: Major issues for internationalisation and localisation technology

Participants: Bert Esselink, Yves Savourel, Hussam Eid and Paul McBride

Computing across scripts (Latin, Asian, Bidirectional, Hindi, etc)

Hussam Eid, Senior Software Architect, NLS (Lotus/IBM)

One of the hardest parts of handling many languages in the same code stream is the different ways these languages are represented when processed for display. To work around this, all language visual features must be understood and incorporated in the design of any multilingual application. A single set of APIs must be used where the caller calls without caring what kind of text he/she is passing on for processing. These functions can then be used by anybody in the product team to process scripts.

Some examples of the trivial operations that any applications needs to do:

1.        Display text

2.        Get text width

3.        Move cursor over text

4.        Highlight text

5.        Word Breaking

6.        Justification

Hussam Eid is going to present the differences between languages and how one text engine can be developed to take as an input a string of text and process it regardless of the language or languages included in this string.

Programming applications for the global market

Annette McElligott, Lecturer (LRC, Uni of Limerick)

Whether localisation is a simple or an impossible task depends largely on the state of the application to be localised. This session will introduce participants to the principles of programming applications for the global market using Visual Basic. Participants will learn how to internationalise applications so that localisation costs can be kept to a minimum.

Using XML to localise

Yves Savourel, Localisation Solutions Architect (RWS Group LLC, Boulder, Colorado, USA)

The session will focus on two main aspects: how to create XML DTD and develop XML content that are easier to localize, and how to use these formats during the different stage of the localisation process. For example, it will show how to use XML to facilitate the translation of formats usually difficult to translate (i.e. Flash movies), how to translate database content through XML, and how to use XML and IDs to re-use translation prior to sending the files to localisation.

The Catalyst Software Developer’s Kit

Enda McDonnell, Alchemy Software Development

The SDK Training takes attendants through the customisable nature of Catalyst. It mentions briefly the text parser, tabulated resource format and command line before concentrating on the programmable interface into Alchemy Catalyst.

Attendants will write a custom parser during the training. This involves knowing the calls Catalyst makes to a custom parser and learning the format in which Catalyst must receive information back from the DLL. The API is in C++ and the training course assumes prior knowledge of same. While not a pre-requisite, object oriented concepts are also used during the course.

Web-based and DataCentre/ASP & Enterprise Level Applications

Paul McBride, Director European Ops, VeriTest

This session will focus on a number of issues relevant in the context of web-based and data centre/ASP & enterprise level applications:

Localisation Test Automation

John O’Neill, Director Techno (Quality Automation)

This is a one-day hands-on course that focuses on the automated testing of localised applications. Drawn on Quality Automation’s experience with localisation testing, the course content includes,

The products utilised include Segue’s SilkTest and QA Organiser.

Following successful completion of the course, attendees will,

This course is intended for intermediate to advanced users of Silk Test.  It is primarily aimed at Localisation Managers and Test Engineers who wish to further their existing test automation skills. Automation Engineers who wish to deepen their knowledge of testing within the localisation industry.