About

Localization Station explains translation and localization technology, products and services in terms that ordinary business people can understand. Whether you are a retailer looking to reach out to Spanish speaking customers in your local area, or a large company preparing to launch products and services in global markets, this site explains what tools and services are best suited for your goals.

While there are many publications that cover the translation and localization industry, they are trade publications written by and for industry insiders. This publication is written for the laypeople who need to find and source translation solutions for their businesses. It will help you find the best and most economical solution, whether you need something simple, like translated menus for your restaurant, or a complex, automated translation system for your online retail operation.

The translation industry, like the rest of the technology industry, is undergoing a dramatic transformation as computing and communication services have become cheap and ubiquitous. What once would have required a multi-million dollar investment can now be outsourced to virtual services that operate in the “cloud”. This transition is fostering the creation of new and disruptive startups that are turning what was once a fairly conservative business services industry into a fast moving high technology industry. It’s an exciting time to be working in the business, but for laypeople (and even experts who work within the business) also a chaotic time.

Localization Station was created by Brian McConnell, a serial entrepreneur and ten year veteran of the translation software industry (he was the creator of the Worldwide Lexicon, an early experiment in open source translation technology that pioneered the concept of crowdsourced translation). Fifteen years ago, Brian also created PhoneZone (click to see a snapshot of the site circa 1998). PhoneZone was a comprehensive and popular online buyers guide for business telecommunications products and services (an industry that, like the translation industry today, was confusing and difficult for non-industry people to navigate).

Our goal is to assist you in finding the best solution for going multilingual, whether you need advice on how to translate your restaurant’s website and menus, or how to build dynamically translated web services. We do not accept advertisements, nor do we have referral relationships with the vendors we review. We earn a living through consulting for small and large companies, while providing the website and reviews as a free resource.

Thanks for visiting. If you need help, contact us for more information or a consultation.

Brian McConnell <bsmcconnell at gmail.com>