Re: Localizers
Re: Localizers
- Subject: Re: Localizers
- From: Matt Gemmell <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 12 Sep 2002 19:56:56 +0100
On Wednesday, September 11, 2002, at 08:10 pm, David Sinclair wrote:
1. What rewards/incentives are normal with third-party localizers? Is
it common to pay them a percentage of sales of the localized versions,
or just give them a free license, or just credit in the About window,
or something else?
It depends entirely on the localizer. Some will be willing to do the
localization for free (or for something like a credit, or a copy of the
app - common with shareware). Professional localizers will naturally
charge a fee, perhaps per-hour or perhaps linked directly to the amount
of text.
2. If a percentage is paid, what percentage is normal?
I'd say it would be very unusual indeed to give a localizer a
percentage of your sales. I wouldn't recommend getting into that kind
of arrangement.
3. If a percentage is paid, how do you track which edition of an app a
user purchases? (A popup on the Kagi order form seems one option.)
For tracking additional data like that, if you use Kagi you can indeed
use named form elements to retrieve additional data from the order form.
4. A localizer could host the app on their site and accept local
payments for it, which would be forwarded to me, after subtracting a
percentage. Does this sound reasonable? Any potential issues?
Doesn't seem necessary to go to all that trouble, given that OS X apps
can readily have localizations added to them, and that all the online
payment companies can accept payment in god-knows how many currencies.
You're almost getting into international distributors.
5. Any pitfalls or things I should watch for to ensure quality
localization?
Make sure it's not some kid using Babelfish? ;-)
One thing I always do when sending a file of localizable strings to a
translator is to provide a brief description of the meaning of the term
or phrase; for example, instead of just having the word "Show", also
mention that the translation should mean "display" or "make visible".
Context and synonyms can be a huge help to translators in providing an
accurate translation.
Also, make sure you're choosing a technically-minded localizer, and
ideally a dedicated software localizer - just the same as
"NSMutableDictionary" would draw a blank stare from my neighbours, any
common-or-garden translator may have insufficient computer knowledge or
experience to provide an effective translation.
Additionally, probably the biggest problem in localization is making
sure that the original text is of good quality. There are a hell of a
lot of apps filled with grammatical errors, long-winded explanations,
and sometimes indecipherable gibberish. If the original text isn't up
to scratch, it's better to employ the services of a physic translator
rather than the conventional kind. ;-)
Best,
-Matt
--
Matt Gemmell
Scotland Software
http://www.scotlandsoftware.com/
_______________________________________________
cocoa-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/cocoa-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.
| References: | |
| | >Localizers (From: David Sinclair <email@hidden>) |