A founding member of LISA, Anobile has been its director from the very beginning. Computing Japan spoke with him during a March visit to Tokyo about the aims of the Forum and the status of the localization industry as a whole.

by Wm. Auckerman

The global Localisation Industry Standards Association (LISA) will hold its first-ever Forum in Japan this spring. Sponsored by Computing Japan, Hewlett Packard, IBM Japan, International Translation & Publishing (ITP) Japan, and Japanese Language Services/Lionbridge, with additional support from Bowne Global Solutions, the Forum will focus on successful localization for the Japanese market.

Why is LISA coming to Japan?
Michael Anobile: LISA has a history of addressing Asia-Pacific markets, in line with our mandate as the premier global organization for localization, internationalization, and multilingual publishing. We held two forums in Singapore, in 1995 and 1996, and one in August 1997 in Beijing. So it is only natural to be coming now to the world's second-largest market. All the major publishers and hardware manufacturers, as well as a lot of the minor ones, are here. Most of them spend more on localizing into Japanese than on any other market. It's expensive for them, and these high costs will continue in the immediate future, irrespective of where the translation and localization work is done. This means that it is very important they get it right the first time -- which is where LISA comes in.

So, what will LISA offer attendees?
Anobile: Our Forum is open to a wide audience, and is designed to facilitate information transfer and networking in all directions and at all levels. By running both Japanese- and English-language tracks, we shall enable attendees to express themselves freely. The plenary sessions will feature several bilingual speakers. For Japanese companies looking for vendors, LISA offers an ongoing means of reaching a global audience. Equally, more and more American and European companies are trying to integrate their Japanese localization processes into an overall global strategy. They're finding that the key players in the new multilingual vendor community in Tokyo -- companies such as Lionbridge, ITP, Benesse/Berlitz, and Bowne -- can be important allies in meeting big customer capacity and leveraging the pricing elements. As Carl Kay, vice president of Lionbridge Technologies (and formerly CEO of Japanese Language Services), says, "the opportunities are huge. LISA offers a rare chance to meet experts and focus on getting the job done right."

What are you offering in terms of content?
Anobile: LISA has learned from its exposure to Asia-Pacific markets to address not just the technical and logistic aspects of localization but, even more importantly, the cultural and management issues. There are distinct differences between the American way of doing business, for example, and the rules applying in other Pacific Rim countries. This clash of cultures manifests itself everywhere, from the way that products are positioned to the way work teams are managed. What we have now done is build on our three years of experience in Asia to start looking at the possibilities and features governing specific markets, starting with Japan.

What is the key thing that is special about Japan?
Anobile: When addressing the localization business model in Japan, one is confronted with the Japanese penchant for subtlety and humility versus developing and maintaining Western-style interpersonal relationships. This is a very critical element when forming strategic alliances in order to get localization done in the most timely and cost-effective manner. The greatest challenge in getting it right often stems from the client-service partner relationship.

What makes this so difficult?
Anobile: Vendors just cannot treat Japanese clients in the same way they would Western clients. For instance, Japanese clients do not readily reveal all the information that is necessary. Culturally, there's a big gap here. Companies need very skilled partners with a Japanese mindset to overcome the fundamental differences. You can see this reflected in the way that some of the key foreign vendors have integrated themselves into the Japanese translation and business community. They know how to manage taking into account the cultural differences, and they appreciate and are willing to accept the consequences of "the customer is always right" -- which in Japan means "the customer is never wrong."

What can Japanese participants gain from LISA?
Anobile: Contacts, networking, and exposure to a bigger audience. And not just for translators. There is a small but growing segment of the Japanese software development community that wants to enter the global market. They're going from Japanese to Western languages and/or to other Asian languages.

The longer term benefit that LISA can provide is a clear and ongoing dialog. Our forums enable companies to see how other enterprises are resolving the same issues that they face. There's a broader base of experience, and the added value is that they can compare themselves with colleagues, and in some cases even with their competitors. Since this happens at a strategic rather than a proprietary level, everybody can gain from it.

The Japanese do have a precedent for this kind of meeting, where people get together to discuss their industry and try to influence the way it is going. LISA acts as a change agent here, ensuring that new processes, operational plans, and technologies are introduced at the right level, and that people understand not only the upside, but also the downside risks.

One of our key organizers, Sunil Sadhwani, president of ITP Japan, underlines what he feels is a critical issue in today's Japanese localization business. "One of the greatest challenges is to help local clients and service providers understand that localization projects must be centralized so that all of the functional processes can be seamlessly integrated." For example, participants at the forum will learn that translation and localization are completely different fields. Preparation, evaluation, and project management are crucial elements for successfully producing a Japanese localized product.

And what is the value for Western companies?
Anobile: It's very important that the European vendor community and the Japanese translator community get together. Demand for localization into Japanese is rising, and as Japan is by far the fastest growing localization market today, vendors and translators can offer mutual benefit to each other.

Right now, there is a great need for skilled translators and people who understand the issues involved in building Japanese products. One of our goals with the Forum is to discover more of the newer, small and midsize companies who have specialist services and expertise to offer the multinational developers.

The Japanese have demonstrated their excellence in manufacturing and process control, and in producing quality products in the electronics, automotive, and communications markets in particular. When one looks at the process inherent in manufacturing products that are global ready -- i.e., that can be easily localized for specific markets -- one begins to see a great deal of similarities. As software development in the West gradually moves to a manufacturing paradigm, there is much that it can learn from the Japanese experience in these areas.

Continue article

Back to the table of contents