La localizzazione di software e siti web: Un'esperienza nel settore dell'automazione alberghiera

This thesis is aimed at presenting and analysing a localization project from Italian into Russian involving translation and adaptation of two different digital products, namely a company website and a software User Interface (UI). Both were developed by GFP Lab, an Italian company which operates in the field of hotel automation. This task was assigned to the translator as a part of the Language Toolkit V initiative. In particular, this work focuses on the state-of-the-art translation technologies, considering the advantages and disadvantages of their deployment in the field of localization; particular attention is payed to Machine Translation (MT), the only technology which produces a text in a target language without the intervention of a language professional. As a result of a theoretical overview and a concrete case study, consisting of the analysis of the company’s previous attempt to machine translate the software UI, this study supports the thesis that a successful localization cannot be guaranteed without turning to a professional human translator. The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of previous literature on localization, as well as on translation and globalisation technologies that are currently used in this field. Chapter 2 defines the details of the translation task and the context in which it was carried out: the Language Toolkit V project is mentioned, as well as the GFP Lab company, including its previous localization experience. The description of the translator’s approach starts in Chapter 3, where the different translation resources and methods are explained, followed, in Chapter 4, by an analysis of the website. In the same chapter, a comment about the website translation is discussed. Finally, in Chapter 5 the translation of the software is examined, with a particular focus on the comparison between the human translation of UI strings and the same text translated by a MT system.