Your success in selling your software product in North America, Europe or Asia does not guarantee your success in the Middle East for a number of technical and cultural reasons.

Technically, it is very important to understand what localization really entails for the Middle East. To localize an application in the general sense includes both enablement and translation.

Some Definitions Are in Order

First, a product must be internationalized or enabled before translation can begin. Enabling the application code to fulfill the basic requirements of a local market includes technical solutions to properly handle input and presentation of the language script, sorting and searching according to cultural and language requirements, etc. Once this is done, the translation of the application's end user interface to the target language can begin.

Pitfalls to Avoid

Companies often make the following common mistakes when it comes to localizing their products for the various country markets in the Middle East.

1. They do not understand or accept the need to localize for this region.

Believe it or not, there are still people who believe that software developed for English-speaking users will also meet user requirements in the Middle East. Obviously, this is a huge product limitation that always prevents sales.

2. They recognize the need to localize their product, but they do it inadequately.

* A limited knowledge of what is really required to properly support Middle Eastern languages is behind the fear that supporting these scripts is an impossible endeavor. This limited knowledge usually falls in the following areas:

* The mistaken perception that character encoding is multi-byte – it is not. Bi-directional (bidi) scripts fit nicely into a single-byte code page. In addition, the growing use of Unicode resolves this situation since the commonly used Middle Eastern scripts are represented in Unicode. (For more details and resources, read Which Direction Is This Language Written In? in this issue.)

* Layout and presentation: bidi scripts flow from right to left for text, while numerals and imbedded Latin text flow from left to right.

* Common terminology for translation – different words/phrases in the target language are often used for the same source term. Localization service providers still need to reach a common agreement for translated terms. (For more details, read A Terminology Standardization Initiative for Arabic in this issue.)

* Fonts to support native calligraphy drawings.

* Target language requirements for sorting and searching.

* Local calendar and other regional requirements.

3. They refuse to invest in localization unless they can ensure sizeable revenue for their product.

There continues to be a reluctance to invest in implementing native language support requirements for the Middle East. This is made worse by the tendency to divert resources to developing new features rather than investing in localization. This limits the ability for local users to actually use products in the region.

Additional Resources for Understanding How to Develop/Support Your Products in the Middle East IBM – Globalize Your OnDemand Business Guidelines and resources to design global solutions Unicode Commonly used characters in Middle Eastern languages are represented in the Unicode Bi-directional Layout Algorithm ICU – International Components for Unicode Bi-directional layout engine, including ordering and shaping Lunar-based Hijri or Islamic calendar support CLDR – Common Locale Data Repository

How to Avoid the Pitfalls

To avoid falling into the traps outlined above, you can start by “reaping the low-hanging fruit,” which will help generate revenue to fund research and development for advanced local requirements. This ‘fruit’ may present itself in the form of a joint project with a large global company that uses your software successfully in other regions of the world.

There is no need for you to operate under the mistaken assumption that you have to start from scratch and reinvent everything to support your product in the Middle East. Significant progress has been made over the last twenty years to support local Middle Eastern user preferences. These efforts have resulted in a knowledge base and best practices that help fulfill end user requirements. Leverage these! Rely on the localization support already available in the infrastructure (i.e., the operating system, middle ware and development tools) to build and test applications that will provide solutions that truly meet local user requirements.

Take every opportunity in your company to increase internal awareness by demonstrating the limitations in your non-localized products that are not designed to fulfill local end user requirements.

Assess and design for language support early in the development cycle. The assessment should be done by native users who understand local requirements and who are familiar with the implementation technology available to support you. That way, they can provide you quickly with sound advice to enable your application. Retrofitting is never a good approach – it is more costly and does not ensure good results.

Just as you would allocate funds to develop new features, it is the same concept when you allocate funds to ensure that your targeted end users will be able to use your product as designed (and thus become repeat buyers). All of these funds represent an investment (not a cost) that will pay off by the potential revenue to be realized in your under-served markets.

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Tarek Abou Ali is an Advisory Software Engineer Project Leader in the iSeriesTechnology Development Center at IBM Egypt. He can be reached at Tarek_Abou-Ali@eg.ibm.com