Introduction

With more than one billion people speaking more than fourteen languages and following different customs and traditions, India is the perfect candidate for localization. The sheer number of languages alone should translate into many business opportunities for localization.

However, the reality is much different with many companies handling outsourced localization projects for foreign languages, rather than ones involving localization into Indian languages. At the same time, though the localization market in India is still in its infancy, many predict that it is starting to pick up.

Why So Late?

India has approximately 28 states and seven union territories, with almost every state having its own language and culture. Although Hindi is a national language, many Indians speak either their regional language or English on a daily basis. The latter is widely used in business and by the younger generation in many urban areas nowadays. This may be one reason why foreign companies have not found it necessary to localize their products or services in regional language(s) to reach Indian consumers. As a result, the localization industry in India is growing at a very slow rate, while it has reached a peak in many developed countries.

Lack of Awareness

There is a need for proper training to bring professionalism to localization-related services.

Very few people in India are aware of what is involved in localization and simply assume that it is nothing more than translation. Hence, an understanding of the localization process, along with its required tools and technology, is lacking. This absence of awareness leads to the improper handling of localization projects, and the ensuing frustration makes people think that localization is costly and time-consuming. As a result, many companies discontinue their localization efforts. There is a need for proper training to build up positive awareness and to bring professionalism to providing localization-related services.

Benefits to Be Gained From Infrastructure and Time Zone Differences

Specially developed IT and science parks have started mushrooming in many urban areas of India. These parks are equipped with excellent infrastructure, including uninterrupted power supplies, high-speed Internet connectivity, video-conferencing facilities, etc. Many multinational companies are now housing their Indian offices in these parks).

In addition, India’s geographical location offers the benefit of allowing any company having offices in both the U.S. and Japan to take advantage of the “equidistant” time zone between the two regions.

Use of Tools and Technology

Localization tools currently lack full-fledge support for India’s major languages.

Localization software and tools have now started appearing in the Indian market, but they are still few in number. These tools are usually priced by simply converting their prices from euros or U.S. dollars into Indian rupees. These converted prices obviously tend to be high, thus hindering the wide acceptance of these products among the localization community in India.

For example, translation memory software is still out of reach for many medium- and small-sized companies, let alone freelance translators. Once prices of such localization tools are adapted to the Indian market, then many will be happy to adopt the latest standards and technology.

Perhaps more important, these localization tools currently lack full-fledge support for India’s major languages and, therefore, cannot fully support any Indian localization project. Though many companies claim that their tools have Indian language support, the latter is usually limited to merely the ability to display Indian characters. This means that a customer cannot obtain a translation memory that has properly stored target language units in Indian languages at the end of a project. Obviously, complete support for major Indian languages is necessary in order to popularize the use of these tools.

Lack of Standards

The Internet has popularized the use of computers, even in Indian homes. Many people are now using computers not only at their offices, but also in their homes. In urban areas, almost every family has a multimedia computer with Internet connectivity. There are now a variety of proprietary Indian multilingual software programs, such as word-processors, editors, font packages, etc., that cater to both office and home users. For more details, readers can visit the Society for Computer Applications in Indian Languages (SCIL).

Almost all of these proprietary programs have their own standards for keyboard mappings, input methods and font conversions. Unicode is an appropriate standard to handle Indian language processing; however, it is not yet widely implemented in Indian or foreign language software. Obviously, this hinders the exchange of multilingual information among large groups of users. Probably because of this, online editions of regional newspapers that are published in regional languages use embedded font or dynamic font technology as an interim solution. This at least allows users to view Internet pages without installing additional fonts.

Figure 1: UNICODE allows you to create documents in Hindi.

The recent release of Microsoft’s XP operating system (OS) in major Indian languages, along with the many software programs now offering Indic font rendering engines, are all considered major steps forward for the Indian localization market.

Open-source Software

A team of experts is continuously working to maintain the localized versions Linux in many Indian languages.

Localization activities in the field of open-source software look promising with proactive efforts being taken to localize open-source software into Indian languages.

Figure 2: Program menus in Gnome localized into Hindi

Figure 3: Dialog box in the Linux OS, localized into Hindi

Figure 4: The Linux OS, localized into Bengali

A team of language and technical experts is continuously working to maintain the localized versions of the Linux operating system in many Indian languages, e.g., Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, etc. IndLinux.org is one such project under which Linux is currently being localized into ten Indian languages, including Hindi. Open-source software and other commercial programs that are already localized in Indian languages are playing a major role in computer literacy campaigns conducted nationwide in many rural areas.

This work involves the major task of building computer-related glossaries in several different languages. Crafting equivalents in Indian languages that are easily understandable for the latest IT terms is not an easy task, and one that demands a lot of creativity.

Piracy Issues

The Indian Government has recently started campaigns at various levels to alleviate piracy.

It is widely believed that software piracy is deeply rooted in many South Asian countries. Since this affects sales and revenues, very few companies show interest in localizing for these markets. Obviously, this affects the speed at which localization services can grow, especially in India. However, the Indian Government has recently started campaigns at various levels to alleviate piracy, not only in the software industry, but also in film and music.

Outsourcing

Localization testing, especially, is widely outsourced to India.

There is a growing trend among developed countries to outsource projects in developing countries, for obvious reasons such as cost and time savings, the skilled workforces available, the time zone benefits, etc. The localization industry is no exception to this trend, so a large number of Indian companies are now handling outsourced localization activities. Outsourced projects can be a competitive business model, but only if they are implemented with proper planning and maintained by timely communication.

Localization testing, especially, is widely outsourced to India. Companies are discovering that testing, which always constitutes a major share of the budget of any software localization project, is cheaper if done in developing countries such as India. Another major advantage that India enjoys is its readily available skilled workforce that is proficient in English, as well as in French, German, Japanese, etc. Companies can thus save time and money that would normally be spent on training. For additional information, readers may visit the National Association of Software & Service Companies (NASSCOM).

Efforts at the Institutional Level

There is currently no professional association or government institute at either the national or regional level for the localization community in India. Having such an organization would help the community gather under one umbrella, so that seminars, summer schools, panel discussions, workshops, etc. could be organized periodically. An alliance of an Indian institute or association with localization organizations in other countries would help ensure the success of Indian localization efforts.

Time to Get Ready!

Nationwide projects like E-Governance are fuelling the development of localization in India.

With military combat in Iraq coming to an end, and the U.S. economy showing signs of recovery, the Indian economy has already improved. The fact that many foreign companies are shifting their research and development, as well as support, activities to India would support this. Similarly, companies are also shifting their localization units to India for the reasons already mentioned above: to save costs and to leverage knowledgeable human resources. Furthermore, the Indian Government now has a mandate to provide official documents in regional and national languages. Nationwide projects like E-Governance are fuelling the development of localization in India (see also the Bangalore IT and CDAC pages on E-Governance). With the market now gearing up, it is important to develop creative work environments and to have the latest localization tools at affordable prices.

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Shailendra Musale has worked in software localization for ten years in Singapore and Finland. He periodically writes on various topics related to the localization industry and can be reached at smusale@yahoo.com.