Localization Folk: Chameleons or Parrots?
Posted on Mon, Oct 12, 2009
Today Christiane Bernier talks about Localization Engineers and DTP Specialists...
Shortly after my last blog, I was able to have a brief visit, via Internet Air, with a friend belonging to a branch of Homo localisationus, and he asked me if I would consider talking about this branch in my blog. I will gladly oblige, CJ!
Homo ingenierus & data textum publicata (loosely translated in English as Localization Engineers and DTP Specialists) is a very small branch of the genus, and the brain of these rarest of birds has adapted in unique ways that merit some attention. The ocular nerves have developed an astonishing ability to instantly split visual information into form code and content code, and to parse the content code. Through a complex series of manipulations, they are able to represent this binary view to others. Frequently, Homo ingenierus is heard muttering a tribal language whose syntactical and lexical structures have proven impenetrable. Scholars that have been able to crack the code of hieroglyphic languages have begun to research this tribal language that is thought to contain important discoveries that could further human civilization.
Last time, however, I had also promised to talk about the migratory patterns of our Localization subjects and so we must move on in our study. In fact, in the case of our subjects, on the surface it is a misnomer to refer to their migrations as behaving in patterns. It seems at first glance, that for this species, the migration trajectories are random or even accidental. There are endless permutations of the German-speaking Barcelonan, or of the Argentine translator, whose Mother tongue is French, or of the Russian speaking American engineer, or of the French-speaking Dutch executive, or of the Japanese-speaking Brit. But then there are less frequent permutations of the Taiwanese, having grown up in Brazil, then having migrated to North America, and speaking 5 languages. These are multi-feathered, multi-skinned, and multi-colored creatures, one must understand. At once, chameleons and parrots. Why then do they end up in our industry feeling so comfortable? In fact, they are global misfits, true bohemians, making their home temporarily in places where they both stand out and blend in, never fully able to "settle down" in one place, able to imitate any language and any accent and sticking out with their beautiful and unusual hues. They both fit nowhere and fit everywhere due to their distinctiveness.
Let me tell you next time, about my summer, as it provided me with some new sightings of the genus Homo localisationus.