Comments on: The Downside of Localization http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/ Longer than a blog; shorter than a book Sun, 07 Sep 2008 18:11:10 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Alexandre Rafalovitch http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-33891 Alexandre Rafalovitch Thu, 30 Nov 2006 15:04:39 +0000 http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-33891 Message catalog with visible message IDs is the answer to many questions. I worked for BEA support and Weblogic had the IDs in most of the messages. Users liked it. It made my job easier as well, since I could easily grep for the error codes and not have to figure out the regular expression that ignored the variable part. That includes sometimes having to deal with log messages that were localised (s/z-pun intended). Message catalog with visible message IDs is the answer to many questions. I worked for BEA support and Weblogic had the IDs in most of the messages. Users liked it.

It made my job easier as well, since I could easily grep for the error codes and not have to figure out the regular expression that ignored the variable part. That includes sometimes having to deal with log messages that were localised (s/z-pun intended).

]]> By: Nicholas Sushkin http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-33592 Nicholas Sushkin Tue, 28 Nov 2006 22:21:35 +0000 http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-33592 Java now has an Exception.getLocalizedMessage() method in addition to the usual Exception.getMessage(). Perhaps application reporting the exception can be configurable to use either or both localized and unlocalized message. Java now has an Exception.getLocalizedMessage() method in addition to the usual Exception.getMessage(). Perhaps application reporting the exception can be configurable to use either or both localized and unlocalized message.

]]> By: Eirik http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-32613 Eirik Fri, 24 Nov 2006 08:48:59 +0000 http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-32613 As some large companies, like Oracle, have found out: Errors should have an universal error code (like ORA-04029) that is included at the start of the error message. If you paste that into Google you will get answers in both Japanese and Russian... As some large companies, like Oracle, have found out: Errors should have an universal error code (like ORA-04029) that is included at the start of the error message. If you paste that into Google you will get answers in both Japanese and Russian…

]]> By: Brian http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-30648 Brian Fri, 17 Nov 2006 00:32:49 +0000 http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-30648 "It would be a big help if non-English speakers could step up and help us out there..." They probably are, but not in English. “It would be a big help if non-English speakers could step up and help us out there…”

They probably are, but not in English.

]]> By: roberthahn http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-30613 roberthahn Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:53:57 +0000 http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-30613 sp says: "I think this is one of those issues that people working only with English software just don’t think about." It would be a big help if non-English speakers could step up and help us out there, and frankly I haven't seen that many good ideas like yours published and talked about. sp says: “I think this is one of those issues that people working only with English software just don’t think about.”

It would be a big help if non-English speakers could step up and help us out there, and frankly I haven’t seen that many good ideas like yours published and talked about.

]]> By: sp http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-30609 sp Thu, 16 Nov 2006 20:32:42 +0000 http://cafe.elharo.com/ui/the-downside-of-localization/#comment-30609 I've come across exactly that problem before. My native language is not English and consequently most of my software is not English. It's always a nice exercise to try to guess the original English error message from the localized error message. Nevertheless the problem can easily be solved. Add a unique error code to your error messages. Visual Studio - for example - does that and I can just google for "c++ E5483" or whatever the error code of the error is. I think this is one of those issues that people working only with English software just don't think about. I’ve come across exactly that problem before. My native language is not English and consequently most of my software is not English. It’s always a nice exercise to try to guess the original English error message from the localized error message.

Nevertheless the problem can easily be solved. Add a unique error code to your error messages. Visual Studio - for example - does that and I can just google for “c++ E5483″ or whatever the error code of the error is.

I think this is one of those issues that people working only with English software just don’t think about.

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