Localization & translation in Japan: firms hoping to compete in Japan have come to realize that the path to globalization is not a simple one. Fortunately, there is a growing group of companies that has the road map and know exactly what needs to be done

Japan, Inc., June, 2003 by Stuart Braun

IN AN INCREASINGLY globalized corporate marketplace, commitment to localization and internationalization has become fundamental to maintaining an effective worldwide presence. This is particularly the case in Japan, where local companies hoping to compete internationally--and foreign companies looking to break into the world's second largest economy--have to be able to adapt their language platform significantly. But while internationalizing products by modifying the language is often the first step to giving a business a worldwide audience, the task of seamlessly adapting the actual management and production of such products across multiple languages and cultures demands ah in-depth globalization strategy that effectively localizes marketing, communication and management. Though the Internet and emerging e-business models have become an integral part of localization, such innovations also have to be managed and implemented effectively. Fortunately, Japan is home to a diverse range of dedicated localization firms that are increasingly facilitating a highly globalized corporate domain.

Globalization services including translation, interpretation, Web localization and multicultural brand management are what Bill Sullivan, IBM's program director for globalization, calls "global architectures." In a recent issue of The LISA Globalization Insider, the leading localization industry newsletter, Sullivan wrote that "global architectures ensure our products will perform planet-wide." IBM's software developers are therefore "trained to think globally," he says. "In our view, globalization is an imperative; a non negotiable customer expectation," he continues. "It cannot--and should not--be treated as an add-on feature. It is a condition of participating in the e-business marketplace. Instead of asking themselves how much they will earn by investing in globalization, companies should ask how much they will lose if they do not."

Speaking my language

For Sam Luu, director of the international division of Creer Corporation, a Tokyo-based translation and communications services firm that provides communications support (including advertising, direct mailing and telephone marketing) for companies throughout Asia, Europe and America, "speed, precision and cost performance" are crucial to the current localization environment. Creer translates a broad range of communication tools such as pamphlets (corporate brochures and homepages), catalogues (instruction books, introductions for new products, specification sheets and operating manuals) and sales and marketing tools (project books, presentations) from Japanese to English and Chinese and all related combinations of language, Providing the service is one thing; ensuring a fast turn-around is another. For this reason, Creer is investing heavily in the newest localization technology, utilizing many different kinds of software and DTP applications in addition to the latest XML file innovations.

All this is typical of the recent progress made by the localization industry in Japan. Hajime Matsumura, president of Navix, which for 10 years has offered localization services not only in Japan but also in the UK, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, describes a quantum leap in the translation bussiness. "In the past, localization/translation services in Japan were cheap and low-quality. But lately they seem much improved because of new technologies such as the broad introduction of Translation Memory."

Thomas Haeussler, president of SDL Japan KK, a specialist localization firm with 33 offices worldwide, agrees that Japanese companies have become prodigious users of localization technologies. "Japan is well advanced in the use of professional translation services to manage the delivery of corporate communications, software products, documentation and Internet content in the world's languages. Sony, for example, translates its materials into more than 40 languages worldwide." This advancement has accelerated with the expansion of the Internet--"Japan is now the second largest user of such communication networks, for applications such as extranets, intranets and Web sites," he notes--since information is instantly available to a global audience. As a result, and despite the current economic downturn, localization has helped maintain Japan's global competitiveness.

Yuko Hamaguchi, general manager for the localization company SunFlare, agrees that since the rapid expansion of the Web in the late 90s the localization business in Japan has seen rapid growth. SunFlare has recently expanded to 150 employees and new performs translations in some 30 languages. The work is becoming increasingly diversified, says Hamaguchi, with SunFlare performing translations in a number of fields including computers, electronics, machinery, medicine, pharmaceuticals, chemistry, economics, finance, patents, law and contracts. But to stay competitive, translation quality needs to be constantly improved, she says. To this end, SunFlare "uses a wide range of dictionaries and reference materials, skilled translators and prepares terminology lists for individual fields."