Software, content and localization: thinking out loud
A little offtopic topic, inspired by the situation with the localization of software and Russian-language / Ukrainian-language content (from the point of view of the developer of this software and the author of the content).
So, you have a global application, for example, for a mobile platform: localize it or not?
On the one hand, why, if you don’t make money on it (% will be small in Russia compared to developed markets, I’m keeping silent for Ukraine), it’s better to spend time on, for example, ... Chinese localization. On the other hand, the user of iTunes U, who did not find the Stanford course in Russian, boldly put the unit to the application and wrote an angry comment about it.
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Other users, and in large numbers, directly write that using the Russian interface on a smartphone is a misery. Others basically do not buy phones because of his absence.
Take, for example, Microsoft. They released a localized version of Visual Studio, which divided the camp of users into two parts: some consider it shameful to use the localized version of VS, others say that this is correct and the user should have a choice. On the other hand, why choose if no one chooses it? The same with MSDN - no one uses Russian, because bad translation, and no one is wasting translation into Russian, because they are little used.
Many criticize poor-quality translations (for example, in Habré) of foreign articles, forgetting how much the services of a professional translator cost. On the other hand, in the presence of a normal translation, they persistently give references to the source. Well, yes, people read the translation, but give a link to the original, because no one wants to admit that he does not know English. Total, 25k source tweets, max 50 tweets per translation. Hmm ...
Many people do not like the current situation, when good author's content is rarely found, on the other hand, the content of trolls, analytics, and also content of a scanty type is mega-popular.
Why am I all this? It turns out that Russian-language content is mainly transferable (and medium quality), there is no culture of creating and consuming high-quality localized content.
What do you think about this?
So, you have a global application, for example, for a mobile platform: localize it or not?
On the one hand, why, if you don’t make money on it (% will be small in Russia compared to developed markets, I’m keeping silent for Ukraine), it’s better to spend time on, for example, ... Chinese localization. On the other hand, the user of iTunes U, who did not find the Stanford course in Russian, boldly put the unit to the application and wrote an angry comment about it.
')
Other users, and in large numbers, directly write that using the Russian interface on a smartphone is a misery. Others basically do not buy phones because of his absence.
Take, for example, Microsoft. They released a localized version of Visual Studio, which divided the camp of users into two parts: some consider it shameful to use the localized version of VS, others say that this is correct and the user should have a choice. On the other hand, why choose if no one chooses it? The same with MSDN - no one uses Russian, because bad translation, and no one is wasting translation into Russian, because they are little used.
Many criticize poor-quality translations (for example, in Habré) of foreign articles, forgetting how much the services of a professional translator cost. On the other hand, in the presence of a normal translation, they persistently give references to the source. Well, yes, people read the translation, but give a link to the original, because no one wants to admit that he does not know English. Total, 25k source tweets, max 50 tweets per translation. Hmm ...
Many people do not like the current situation, when good author's content is rarely found, on the other hand, the content of trolls, analytics, and also content of a scanty type is mega-popular.
Why am I all this? It turns out that Russian-language content is mainly transferable (and medium quality), there is no culture of creating and consuming high-quality localized content.
What do you think about this?
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/136990/
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