The Booming Localization Industry in the People’s Republic of China

In recent years, Chinese localizers have been strengthening their exchanges with their foreign counterparts as well as the publicity of their services. The free and chaotic state of the sector has been replaced by the standardized and orderly development pattern. Although the worldwide financial crisis of two years ago crippled the flourishing tendency of localizing enterprises, it offered them precious opportunities in the accelerated globalization. China has gradually become one of the major centers for multilingual localization services.

1 Introduction

hina has witnessed rapid development of its localization industry for over ten years. In recent years, Chinese localizers have been strengthening their exchanges with their foreign counterparts, as well as the publicity of their services. The free and chaotic state of the sector has been replaced by the standardized and orderly development pattern. Although the worldwide financial crisis of two years ago crippled the flourishing tendency of localizing enterprises, it offered them precious opportunities in the accelerated globalization. China has gradually become one of the major centers for multilingual localization services.

2 Appearance of localization companies

In the mid-1990s the earliest localization companies were founded in Beijing, among which were Worksoft Creative Software Technology Ltd. (1995), Beyondsoft Group (1995), hiSoft Technology International Limited (1996) and Lionbridge Technology, Inc. (1996). At the beginning, they were small-sized, focusing on software localization. For example, Worksoft provided the localization translation services for the products of international IT giants, such as IBM and Microsoft. Most of these companies were established by domestic investors and a few of them by foreign investors.

A few important events, such as China’s entry into the WTO in 1998, Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 and Shanghai World Expo in 2010, fueled the country’s rapid development and international communication in almost all fields. The economic prosperity of China, the great demand of the product localization market, the rich human resources, the competitive cost of human capital and the government’s policy to promote the IT industry put the domestic localization sector on the freeway of development. China’s localization market attracted the attention of the world. International localizers wanted to know how to enter China’s market and how to adapt themselves to Chinese culture and traditions. They also wanted to know the ability of Chinese localizers. These purposes were achieved by holding forums and conferences in the country.

The Localization Industry Standards Association (LISA) organized three special forums in Beijing and Shanghai in 1998, 1999 and 2003, which were followed by “LISA Forum Asia 2006，China Focus” in Shanghai in 2006 and the 2007 LISA localization conference in Beijing, with the theme being “China 2.0 Globalization”. The Globalization and Localization Association (GALA) and Localization World also tried to exert their influence by holding seminars, forums and conferences. Localization services also became an important topic of the XVIII FIT World Congress held in Shanghai in 2008.

更多内容，请访问http://translationjournal.net/journal/62china.htm

作者：田传茂，长江大学外国语学院教授，电子邮箱tcm_316@163.com