ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that mainstream efforts are enough to deal with the exploding volume of digital content that requires localization into an ever-growing number of languages. Communication is the tie that binds our global community. It must be conducted in such a way that its content is accessible to all and respectful of local languages and cultures. The mission of the technical communicator is to help engineers make the results of their work more accessible to people, using state-of-the-art digital media. The single most important task for technical communicators today is probably to help nonnative English speakers communicate technical and scientific information effectively to other nonnative speakers using the English language as their medium of communication. The scale of the projects handled in this environment, the turnover achieved, and the level of automation go far beyond the reach of the average localization operation.
