Cairo 2005

Localization: Perspectives From the Middle East and Africa

InterContinental Citystars, Cairo, Egypt
5-8 December 2005

“What was unknown yesterday is old hat today.”

The global e-market is constantly expanding, as is computer usage. Author Alvin Toffler once said, “What was unknown yesterday is old hat today.” Technology improvement and the move to support all aspects of global business expansion are the main issues in the localization industry today. As new technologies are implemented, new vocabulary must be invented to describe it. Thus, localization requires an awareness of technologies and the ability to adapt them to local markets.

Localization is not just translation. It goes beyond translation, to the meaning behind the words that are used. Different cultures use different grammar and sentence structure, so straight word-to-word translations are never enough to convey meaning. Instead, the form of the source language must be replaced with the form of the target language, while maintaining the original meaning and style of the source material.

Localization also involves more than just making the product readily available in the form and language of the target market. It must speak to the target audience, based on its cultural norms and their worldview. Thus, localization is the process of customizing technology for customers in the target market, so that they feel that this technology is homemade and designed by their colleagues, especially for them.

“Gaining accumulated experience in RTL is our main aim.”

Holding the Localization: Perspectives from the Middle East and Africa LISA Forum in Egypt will allow us to share our accumulated localization experience in the Right to Left Languages (RTL): Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Kurdish, Pashto and African Languages. It will be held December 6-7, 2005 in the City Stars Intercontinental Hotel in Cairo.

The Forum will be preceded by a full day of LISA professional skills workshops on December 5, followed by a press conference to introduce LISA (Localization Industry Standards Association). There will be a LISA Forum Welcome Reception In the afternoon and a Speakers Dinner in the evening.

On December 6, the first day of the Forum; Michael Anobile, LISA Managing Director, will introduce the Forum objectives during a plenary is to be held in the Al-Motaza Room. The Minster of Communication and Information Technology will then deliver a speech on Egypt’s strategic market position. This session will cover the country’s infrastructure, outsourcing in Egypt and throughout the Middle East, the localization Industry and RTL languages and markets.

The plenary will be followed by four concurrent sessions. A Gala Dinner will be served in the Pyramids area in the evening as part of the opening ceremony.

Starting December 6, participants will also have the opportunity to attend an Exhibition where each participant localization company can present its localization tools and services in a room adjacent to the Forum room.

On December 7, the Forum will reconvene in the Al-Montaza Room for a plenary session to address Internationalization and Globalization Vs. Localization Concepts. This will be followed by four concurrent sessions.

The Forum will be followed by a full day of post-forum LISA professional skills workshops on December 8.