When people ask us to do a translation project, one of the first things to resolve is: Will localization be required? Localization depends on the target market. A translation for a Texas market will be different from one for New York or Florida.
Localization is especially important for high-stakes assessment, where accessibility is paramount. Whether we translate assessments, or create them in Spanish, we face a challenge—making sure the words we choose will convey the correct meaning to all students in the target market. Over the years, we have developed proprietary glossary tools to ensure that everyone working on a project is consistent in applying the same assumptions about localization.
How do glossaries help with localization?
There are so many rules and guidelines for assessment, that it’s like playing with a Rubik’s Cube™—you know where you have to get to, but how to get there is the problem. Localization is one more critical piece in the puzzle.
