Software localisation tools are relatively new. Before 1990 there were no such tools as we know them today. Normally, hard-code user interface texts were translated directly in the source code and adapted later. Depending on the complexity of the program texts, the adaptation of translated text had to be done by the programmers themselves, by translators with programming knowledge or by programmers and translators in close contact.
In the 90’s this situation changed. Software development companies began to outsource the localisation of their software and this showed an urgent need for special tools and processes that allow translators to edit user interface texts without special programming knowledge or constant support from programmers (Reineke, 2005:73-74). As a result, a new approach to localisation was adopted: the translation of several (often hundreds) resource (RC) files and resizing dialogues using tools such as Microsoft Developer Studio or text editors.
New, updated editions of the same software were being released more frequently, which in part made translators’ work very repetitive. To save time and effort, translators began to use translation database tools (or translation memory tools). However, the process of resizing graphical user interface elements was time-consuming and error-prone. It was once again obvious that special tools for localisation, combining aspects of translation database technology with visual editing, were needed. It was time for the development of software localisation tools.
The next step in the localisation industry was leaving the time-consuming RC-based processes and moving towards the process of directly localising precompiled binary files by using specialised software applications, namely software localisation tools (Lingobit Technologies, 2003-2007).
Historically, the largest markets for localised products have been France, Germany and Japan. Software developers usually want their products – as a rule, in English – to be localised into FIGS (French, Italian, German and Spanish) and Japanese first. Other languages that might be also requested for localisation are Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch or Brazilian Portuguese (Esselink, 2000:6).
Today, software localisation tools have widened the scope of supported file formats. They can support formats such as:
- Windows Standard Resources (16 and 32 bit) binary files (EXE, DLL, SYS) and RC files
- Microsoft Visual Basic 6 binary files
- XML files, incl. XLIFF
- HTML
- Microsoft Installer files (MSI)
- Monolingual text files
Some tools support other file formats through add-ins. These are small programs written to extend specific features of software localisation tools.
Some optional add-ins for other file formats are:
- Microsoft .NET resources binary files (EXE, satellite DLLs and assemblies), resource files (RESX and RESOURCE), support of inherited dialogues (WYSIWYG), support of Custom Controls and Properties, support of all .NET Frameworks
- Borland Delphi / C++ Builder resources binary files (EXE, DLL, BPL)
- Java (all platforms: J2EE, J2SE and J2ME) property files (PROPERTIES), source text files (JAVA), binary files (CLASS), Java project files (JAR)
Additional supported file formats:
- ODBC database parser
- MS Access, MS Excel
- MS SQL Server
- Oracle
- IBM DB2
- Palm OS Parser
- .po parser