Technical Book Review – "Enabling Globalization" by Nabil Freij

© 2010 Ugur Akinci
“Enabling Globalization: A Guide to Using Localization to Penetrate International Markets” by Nabil Freij, the President of the localization company GlobalVision International Inc. is a must reference for everyone thinking to market products and services globally.
It’s kind of ironic but true – globalization requires localization, and this book has plenty good insights into a process which many times is mistakenly referred to as “translation.”
Localization obviously requires and entails translation but it’s actually a lot more than that.

Even if you read only chapter 2 of this book ( “Localization Myths and Missteps”) it’d be worth your modest investment in this unique book. I say “unique” because how many authoritative books you know written on localization? I’ve searched Amazon while writing this post for the keyword “localization” and only one other book came up – written way back in 2000. So this is a very timely contribution indeed.
In the chapter devoted to “Best Localization Practices”, Mr. Freij dives into such important topics as product localization processes, single-sourcing for technical translation, authoring for localization, selecting your in-country reviewers, budgeting the process, and more. That is, Freij approaches the issue not only from the point of view of technical communicators but corporate customers/buyers and project managers as well. That makes this 118-page volume a comprehensive resource indeed.
The cost of localization is also given its own chapter where the author explains best methods to contain budget overruns and ten tips for achieving quality in localization at every budget level.
If you’re not familiar with the technology involved, Freij also explains what a Translation Management System (TMS) is all about.
Overall, this is a great resource for all technical writers and project managers who have a localization project in front of them. Reading this book can get you up to speed in a hurry in a topic that will increasingly confront and challenge us in the hyper-globalized years ahead.
(Would you like your technical communication book reviewed too? Please let us know…)