Although localization services and solutions extend across borders, languages, and industries, and it is possible to earn a localization certificate to show your credentials, one of the most surprising things about localization is that it still remains a rather mysterious industry. If you are ashamed to admit confusion about what exactly the localization industry entails, take comfort in the fact that you’re not alone (and that there are resources out there to find out more—for some localicious examples, see here, here, and here).
This is quite shocking considering that the market research firm Common Sense Advisory predicts that this $26 billion market will continue to rise, reaching $38 billion by 2015. With such growth amidst a turbulent global economic climate, even students are showing a growing interest in localization. Already in schools across the globe there is an increased focus on foreign language studies, translation, and language services. Students who are interested in learning how to competently help businesses achieve international success should consider a career in localization.
This summer, the University of Washington announced one of their newest certificate programs in localization, offered by the Professional & Continuing Education school. The three-course, nine-month program offers flexible options for students interested in enrolling—classes are available in the evening and online, in addition to a traditional classroom setting. The course covers:
- Linguistics and translation
- Business norms and cultural issues
- User-interface design
- Project workflow and roles
- Technology and tools overview
The UW program will instruct students on various topics including cultural customs and aptness, text processing, language translation, and regional variants between countries that speak the same language. For more information about the upcoming fall enrollment, please see here.
For some other localization certificate options, you can also check out:
- California State University and Chico Continuing Education’s partnership with The Localization Institute to present the Localization Certificate Program
- Imperial College’s localization e-course
- MA in Translation and Localization Management at the Monterey Institute of International Studies
If you’re interested in learning more about localization and translation, don’t forget to visit csoftintl.com!
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Thanks for the interesting post on certification, too bad I didn’t read it before!
In case it’s worth mentioning there is a long-standing organization called TILP (The Institute of Localisation Professionals) and which also delivers a Certified Localisation Professional programme. This training course is a combination of online and onsite sections and it can be completed in about a month. It’s also affordable and unbiased, as TILP is a non-for-profit organization.
However the best deal is that it’s offered all around the world, for it only requires four-day onsite training.
As TILP is always looking for new training venues (wherever demand exists) and CSOFT has global presence as well as useful tools (such as TermWiki), I would be glad to hear if you have any suggestion for venues and potential collaboration to organize such events.
Please do not hesitate to check out tilponline.net to find out more about TILP.
Thanks and best regards,
Jose Palomares