Introduction

CHAPTER 1 Distribution

Localization in the computer

Software localization is seen as a case of general localization, visible in its mistakes. Translation is a part of localization, but both are general processes that work on language.

The movements behind localization

A wider sense of localization is found in a French newspaper advertisement, structured by the logics of material distribution.

Types of locales and localization

The logics of distribution set up positions for participative, observational, and excluded locales, which may in turn correspond to different degrees of localization.

Determination by distribution

The degrees of localization respond to variable resistance to distribution, in both the computer and the newspaper advertisement.

What our notion of distribution is not

This kind of distribution is material movement in time and space; it does not necessarily involve cultural integration; it is not a mental process.

Distribution Is a precondition for localization

Localization and translation are responses to distribution, but only as general phenomena; there is no one-to-one causation.

Exactly what is distributed?

Texts are distributed, as objects marked with meaningful materiality, found in the example of an indigenous cave painting. Texts cannot be separated from this materiality, so localization cannot be separated from distribution.

Where do locales end?

The limits of a locale can be defined as the points where texts have been localized. Localization thus forms locales.

Localization can be approached from distribution

The material determinants on distribution can account for the adaptation of texts, as seen in an English translation of De Gaulle.

Distribution can be approached through localization

The logical analysis of distribution and its negation can produce the concepts of "source text" and "distributed text", both non-material positions, and thus account for pseudotranslations.

Internal and external knowledge

Internal knowledge of localization works on the alternatives not selected, and thus on logics of negation. External knowledge works from material distribution. Our theory needs both approaches.

CHAPTER 2 Asymmetries of distribution

Defining localization

Standard definitions create confusion between localization, internationalization, and globalization.

Internationalization

Internationalization is the preparation of a generic text for multiple localizations. The concept can be extended to include terminology databases and controlled languages, occupying the guiding position once accorded to the source text.

Internationalization and differences between locales

Internationalization can enhance rather than restrict the differences between locales, as is suggested by the language varieties that computer programs are marketed for.

Asymmetries based on the size of locales

The principle factor determining how many texts move may be the relative size of locales. It is possible that the larger the locale, the greater the percentage of texts moved from that locale and the smaller the percentage of movements into that locale. It Is also possible that the distribution a locale receives without localization tends to be directly proportional to the distribution it receives with localization.

Against complete localization

Localization is rarely complete, since asymmetries remain in the technical terminology. This incompletion potentially allows end-users to move to the locales of production.

The lure of the global

Complete internationalization may be an ideal, but it could involve saying as little as a message sent into space.

CHAPTER 3 Equivalence, malgré tout

Defining translation

Industry discourse on localization defines translation in a very restrictive way, in terms of discontinuities that can be identified in practice.

A brief history of translational equivalence

The restrictive notion of equivalence comes at a time when translation theory is moving toward a broader view, like that of localization.

An equivalence-based theory of translation

Traditional translation theories associate equivalence with the end result of a one-way process occurring in an apparently subjectless place.

Signification and value

Saussure's distinction between signification and value would make translational equivalence difficult to ground, although the distinction becomes relatively inoperative in fields structured by internationalization.

Equivalence in translation and internationalization

The kind of equivalence based on internationalization is not like the operative fictions used by translation, where equivalence retains its associations with directionality and constrained quantities.

CHAPTER 4 How translations speak

Seeing anonymity

The operative anonymity of translators is a consequence of translational equivalence. It may be thought of in terms of discontinuities rather than clines.

Two maxims defining translation

Translation can be defined in terms of a maxim of first-person displacement and a maxim of quantitative equivalence.

The utterance "I am translating" is necessarily false

Since the first person of a translation cannot refer to the translator, the discursive operator is best described as "translates as", relating texts rather than people.

Second persons

Translational discourse also tends to shift second persons to neutral worlds, characterized by third-person relationships.

Participative and observational second persons

In these terms, translation or non-translation can be used to change the status of second persons, as seen in the French newspaper advertisement.

Third persons in paratexts

The textual frontiers that present translations are in the third person; they can use defining or relative clauses.

The discursive creation of neutral worlds

In some circumstances, translators can speak through their translations, challenging the representational maxims. In other circumstances, retreat to the third person conceals the positions not just of the translator, but of the source and target locales as well.

Third persons can conflict

In some cases, the need to select between third-person terms must itself position the translator. This is yet another instance where translation can be used to modify and direct discourse.

CHAPTER 5 Quantity speaks

Why quantity is important

The maxim of representational quantity contradicts Zipf's rank-frequency law, making the maxim difficult to maintain in practice.

Types of quantitatively based equivalence

The maxim is challenged differently according to whether the presentation is with or without a source text, or with more than one target text.

Transliteration

The straight use of source-text material attains a degree of equivalence so absolute as to be often unacceptable.

Double presentation

If a translation is presented alongside its presumed source, the presumed source will tend to be accorded more value than the translation, although this relation may undergo ironic inversion in cases of extreme quantitative discrepancy.

Quantities of translation within localization

Non-ironic journalistic localizations of the Spanish term "La Movida" suggest that the longer the translation, the more value is accorded to the source.

Predication is a quantitative threshold

Translational expansion is difficult to extend beyond the level of the sentence.

Single presentation

When only the translation is presented, there is limited codification of expansion, abbreviation, addition, and deletion.

Notes are expansion by a different name

Translators' notes give the translator a first person not possible in in-text expansion.

Deletion and abbreviation

Reductive strategies are difficult to justify, since most distributions are away from the centers of highest frequency and thus require longer, more explicit terms.

Deletion and addition

Explicit deletion and addition mostly require an authority external to the translating translator, although translation has frequently been linked with editorial responsibilities.

Multiple presentation

The presentation of more than one translation leads to contradictory modes of equivalence. The most recent translation might be accorded more value, but there is also a right of first possession, allowing some translations to be come pseudo-originals.

Archaizing translations

A translation may adopt a language variety older than that of the target locale, enabling it to work as a special kind of pseudo-original.

CHAPTER 6 Belonging as resistance

The opposite of localization

Localization opposes non-distribution, which itself depends on the various ways in which texts belong in some locales and not in others.

There are no solo performances

Performative utterances link texts not just to a first-person action, but also to a second person who recognizes the power to perform.

Extending performance

Performatives can be seen at the base of instrumental translations, as opposed to documentary translations. Translation may thus extend performance away from the locales of primary belonging.

How discourse resists distribution

The distribution of discourses is largely restricted by the structuring of the I-here-now. The resulting elasticity may be tested on the thresholds of shared, referential, or unlimited distribution.

Textual worlds overcome resistance to distribution

The more a text is explicit and codified within its own world, the easier it is to distribute and the weaker is its belonging to an original I-here-now.

Variation and implicit knowledge

The use of local variants can have a performative effect, resisting distribution by creating implicit knowledge. The movement of such texts may require extreme explicitation, creating textual worlds through the use of narrative.

Belonging and vagueness

Belonging means that the specific referents of many terms remain vague even in their source locales, creating significant indeterminism even before the moment of distribution to another locale.

The tongue carries forgotten belonging

Natural languages strongly reinforce relations of belonging because they bind together experience in many different fields, and do so by discursively structuring the subject. This power is overlooked in many models of localization processes.

Embeddedness is complex belonging

Natural languages use terms in many different locales, and thus embed language within cultural complexes. This embedding resists distribution.

Cultural embeddedness conditions difficulty

Relative embeddedness explains why specialized texts are easier to localize than general texts, terminology is easier than everyday language, and distribution over long distance may similarly reduce resistance.

CHAPTER 7 Transaction costs

Assuming effability

Everything can be localized into every locale if and when unlimited effort can be invested in the localization processes. Real-world projects then require calculations of how much effort is justified in each case.

The size of communication acts

In this analysis, the size of the communication act is defined by the mutual benefits to be attained.

Negotiation and mutual benefits

Cooperation is defined as the attainment of benefits for all participants in a communication act.

How this concerns communication between cultures

Cooperation is harder to attain in cross-cultural communication because there are more occasions for potential mistrust. More effort is thus put into communication, or the information loads are reduced.

Transaction costs

Transaction costs quantify the effort put into communication. The lower they are, the more leeway there is for cooperation to be attained.

Localization as a set of transaction costs

Localization and translation involve relatively high transaction costs, although they can be used to structure such costs.

The parameters of localization costs

Localization costs can be adjusted in accordance with the diversity of locales and the size of the communication act. These adjustments are different for internationalization, translation, and language learning.

Reducing transaction costs

Transaction costs can be reduced by limiting directionality, promoting passive language competence, using internationalization, or reducing the quantities or qualities of texts.

The interests of intermediaries

The reduction of transaction costs may be in the long-term interest of intermediaries because they will gain more work from the enhanced possibilities of cooperation.

Defending the transaction-cost model

The neo-classical model can be extended beyond its simplistic psychology, becoming compatible with several realist strands of translation theory.

CHAPTER 8 Professionalization

Segmentation

One of the effects of globalization is the breaking up of the market for linguistic mediation into separate segments, with technology as a major hurdle between the segments.

The effects of market segmentation

Segmentation leads to a narrowing of the role of translation within localization, and the development of separate professional institutions.

Professionalization and professional identity

Segmentation may be challenged by controlling the mediating professions bureaucratically, or by trying to develop a shared professional identity.

Suspicion of the intermediary

All intermediaries are subject to mistrust, which has historically been controlled by restricted access to the profession or by hierarchical state regulations.

Inspiration

A later solution to the problem of mistrust was to claim collective inspiration, making the profession its own control mechanism.

Teamwork

The authority of mediating teams was then historically enhanced through the principle of diverse provenance, where professionals are selected because of their differences and can thus check on each other.

The hierarchy of languages

The medieval professions also drew authority from the ideological hierarchy of languages, a structure that returns in the age of electronic communication.

An unstable source

Medieval mediation was also characterized by unstable source texts, which allowed the mediator greater professional responsibilities. This too returns in the age of constantly rewritten electronic texts.

Ethical principles

Ethical principles help build professional identity, but should not do so on the basis of idealist understanding or assumed neutrality. An ethics of cooperation can avoid those essentialisms.

CHAPTER 9 Humanizing discourse

Seeking the lung view

Mediation should seek to humanize cross-cultural relations, working with technology rather than against it.

Adaptation as humanization

If humanization involves working at local levels of discourse, it should be the ideological aim of localization. Localization technology, however, brings about significant transformations in the way language is used.

The loss of discursive linearity

One of the main effects that internationalization and localization have on discourse is the relative loss of linearity. This may not be dehumanizing in itself.

Persons

Technical discourse, like translation, tends to avoid first and second persons. This can be reinforced by the loss of linearity and is felt to be dehumanizing.

Accessibility

Professional technical texts are less accessible than technical texts for general users. This might be dehumanizing if localization locks the user into one kind of locale or another.

Rhetoric and social segmentation

Renaissance humanism sought exchanges between many types and levels of discourse, working against segmentation. Humanizing discourse might be that which pedagogically enables users to move between locales, and uses linearity to this end.

Explicitness

Professional technical discourse is more explicit than non-professional discourse. Explicitness, however, may be pedagogically empowering and should be regarded as a positive value.

Mediation and its vices

Localization and translation can be used to humanize discourse in all these aspects. Complete localization, however, which would position users in just one locale, does not promise the necessary mobility.

Notes

References

Subject index