Thread: What's the difference between "translation" and "localization"?

Hi guys,
Could anybody let me know what is the difference between "translation" and "localization"? Thanks in advance!

Hi santiagop,

A translation is from one language to another (source and target languages being different).
A localization is from one flavour to another (for the same target language as source and target).

It's pretty tricky...

Here is a great article that will help to understand Pick Writers - blog

Nice one barbyeary. Well condensed, and it covers pretty all of it.
I also recommend the google online course:
https://www.udacity.com/course/local...entials--ud610

Thank you, barbyeary, for the article!

I particulrly loved it's conclusion:

"Translating services don’t exist simply to help you port content from one language to another. They also provide localization services that help you to ensure that your messaging works as well."

Originally Posted by barbyeary

Here is a great article that will help to understand Pick Writers - blog

Nice article.
I guess this pharase just answered people´s common doubt: "Just because people in two regions speak the same language, that doesn’t mean there are no language differences."

hi,

A translation is from of translating from one language(source language) to another language (target language).
A localization is a form of transferring one culture to another.

Thanks

Will you please elaborate more about this topic.
thanks

Hi Helalch05,

I think with this example, it will help us to understand the difference between them.

Difference between Translation and Localization as regards to Multilingual Website Projects

When we think about translation and localization, sometime it may get confusing to understand the difference. Through this example, it highlights the main difference between them both.
As you can see, when talking about translation, it is the mere rendering of the meaning from the source language to the target language. Notice that here we focus on the meaning of the msg, so it is faithful to its source.
However, when we talk about localization, apart from taking into consideration the meaning or the message the author is trying to transmit, we have to consider the target audience´s culture, customs, among other factors, as you mentioned in your previous post.
Taking, for example, the website translation, when we just focus on the translation request, we probably will have the content translated and all other designs such as the colors and fonts or pictures it has, all remain as same. But, if we are localizing it, then we will have to take a step further and think about whether the design used, such as colors, layouts or schemes is accepted for the target audience. For example, if it's about a wedding planning service website, which has an overall white color design in the western society, it is now being localized into Chinese, then perhaps apart from the content translation, we will probably have the color be changed to red too as red is the dominant color for weddings in Chinese´s society.

The course Nabyl suggested about localization at google, it is a free only course and it is really interesting. You can take a look and I think that will help to clear doubts.

Localization is the process of adapting software (product, service…) for a specific region, sometimes abbreviated l10n.
Translation - This applies to fairly literal, "word for word."