One has to have a job to make a lot of other things possible (alas!). Mine, for now, is in the realm of localization and internationalization: I'm an employee of the ENLASO Corporation, a localization company. My work consists essentially in developing small applications to help localization engineers and translators to complete their tasks more easily.

Internationalization — In this context, internationalization is the set of various tasks you do to a software-related product before it can be localized. For example, you may have to make changes in the source code to allow Japanese ideographs to be input, displayed and processed.

Localization — In this context, localization is the process of adapting a software-related product for a given market. For example, if you develop a software with a German interface, made for the market of Germany, you can localize it for other markets, for instance: Japan. The process entails not only the translation of the user-interface into Japanese but possibly also some modification of the functionalities of the product itself to make it more relevant to the Japanese market.

If you want to learn a little bit more about these topics see the opentag.com Web site.

I was lucky to get the opportunity to write a book about XML internationalization and localization. The content is rather dry and technical so don't get close to it if you don't have to. But if you want them, some additional information about the book, including excerpts, are available here.

	- English edition: XML Internationalization and Localization Sams, Indianapolis, June 2001 ISBN: 0672320967 Paperback, 544 pages, 132 figures, 155 listings, 29 tables.
	- Chinese translation: XML 国际化和本地化开发 China Machine Press, January 2002 ISBN: 7111095014 Paperback, 365 pages, 132 figures, 155 listings, 29 tables.

I also had the opportunity to write a few technical articles. Here are some of them (most recent at the top):

• Localizing XML Documents with ITS
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #85, Volume 18 Issue 1, January/February 2007, page 54-57.
   
• Encoding Conversion in the .NET Platform
  How to detect and convert characters not supported in a specific encoding
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #68, Volume 15 Issue 8, December 2004, pages 45-50.
   
• An Introduction to Using XLIFF
  Technical aspects and implementations of the XML Localisation Interchange File Format
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #54, Volume 14 Issue 2, Mars 2003, pages 28-34
   
• Using XML for Localization
  How to take advantage of XML in the localization process
  White Paper - RWS Group LLC, October 2002
   
• Localization in XML
  Markup Languages - Theory & Practice, MIT Press, Volume 3 Issue 4, Fall 2001, pages 387-393
   
• XLIFF – An Example of Cooperation in Localization
  Software Business, October 2001, pages 13-14
   
• XML Technologies and the Localization Process
  Why a standard markup method is needed for working with multilingual documents
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #35, Volume 11 Issue 7, October 2000, pages 62-67
   
• Ensuring Translation Tools are TMX Compliant
  Some methods of checking for consistency in implementing the TMX format
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #31, Volume 11 Issue 3, April 2000, pages 47-49
   
• Programming a Basic Translation Database
  This "lite" tool provides a solution for single search-and-match operations
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #29, Volume 11 Issue 1, February 2000, pages 44-47
   
• Multilingual Support Using Windows Clipboard
  Creating a utility that enables correct copy and paste of characters from multiple code pages in Windows 95/98
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #28, Volume 10 Issue 6, December 1999, pages 44-47
   
• Electronic Lingua Franca
  OpenTag provides a common format for localization and translation tools
  Multilingual Computing and Technologies, #26, Volume 10 Issue 4, August 1999, pages 45-47