ABSTRACT
This chapter explores localization as a paradigm of translation theory. Although some see localization as an unconstrained form of adaptation, the way it operates in the localization industry usually involves the use of quite extreme constraints, and it is the role of those constraints that we focus on here. This is partly due to the use of new translation technologies, to various types of “internationalization” as generalized one-to-many translation, and to nonlinear modes of text production and reception. Here we run through the main concepts of localization theory and a few of the technologies. At the close of the chapter we ask whether translation is part of localization, or vice versa, and what the cultural effects of localization might be. We will generally argue that the basic concepts of localization theory have a great deal to say about the way translation is working in a globalizing world.
