FAQ: What is the Scope of Centralized Localization?

Answer

** Internal Publish Only! This article may contain information that is not intended for external circulation. **

What is Localization?

Localization is the process by which a product is converted from its native language (English in the case of ArcGIS Products) to another language. With the 10.0 release, Esri moved from a de-centralized localization model to a centralized model for the following five (5) languages:

German
French
Spanish
Simplified Chinese
Japanese
For the above five (5) languages, a language pack can be downloaded from the Esri Customer Care Portal (http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php?title=Esri_Customer_Care_Portal&action=edit&redlink=1) and can be installed on top of an existing installation of the specific ArcGIS Product. Internally these can also be downloaded from \\metro\released\10_Final

Adding Additional Languages to Existing Installations

Install the "Supplement" to an existing installation. French example below:

\\metro\released\10_Final\ArcGIS_Desktop\French\Supplement

Beta Language Packs

\\esri.com\dev\data\i18n\i18nPublic\ArcGIS10.1\Beta1_LP\DesktopSupplement

Localization Scope of Support

Localization scope of support is limited to:

Bug Logging
Localization Toolkit Issues (LTK)
.NET Signage

Distributor's Responsibility (Bug Logging & LTK Issues Only)

To expedite incident resolution, distributors are encouraged to complete the following tasks before contacting Esri Support:

Bug/Issue Verfication: If a distributor encounters an issue with the localization process with their regional language, they should first verify if the issue can be reproduced using an Esri authored language pack. (Note: Esri Language Packs for each product are downloadable through the Esri Customer Care Portal (http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php?title=Esri_Customer_Care_Portal&action=edit&redlink=1).) If the issue is reproducible with an Esri Language Pack, the issue will be logged as a software defect by Esri Support.

Non-Reproducible Issues: If an issue cannot be reproduced using an Esri Language Pack, Esri Support will provide a cloud-based virtual machine upon request on which the distributor will be asked to produce the issue using their language pack/libraries. Once the issue is produced on the virtual machine using the distributor's regional language, the issue will be reviewed further by Esri.

Step-by-Step Instructions: Localization Support presents unique challenges (pseudo-development process, language barriers) for support. As such, to expedite resolution, it is particularly important that all reported localization issues include verbose/pictorial step-by-step instructions outlining the problem, and how to produce it.

Support Responsibility
Esri Support is responsible for:

Logging Localization Bugs
Resolving Localization Toolkit (LTK) Issues
Facilitating .NET Signage
Localization Bugs & LTK Issues
Bug/Issue Verfication:

The first step in localization bug logging is to determine if there is in fact a bug at work. The best way to do this is to install the Esri authored, German language pack(for example) for the product in question and pursue the same workflow using the Esri authored language pack. If the issue is reproducible with an Esri language pack, a bug should be logged.

Non-Reproducible Issues:

If a bug is not found within an Esri authored language pack pursuing the same workflow, the next course of action is to stand up an Amazon_EC2_Cloud (http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php/Amazon_EC2_Cloud) ArcGIS Server AMI (which will include a copy of Desktop 10), provide the distributor with the connection information, and have the distributor reproduce the case on the AMI. Then log a Tech Assist (http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php?title=Tech_Assist&action=edit&redlink=1)to involve the Esri Localization Team (locale@esri.com) for further assistance.

Examples of issues you may see

Unlocalizable Strings - These are hard-coded strings in various products that can't be localized through the Localization Toolkit (http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php?title=Localization_Toolkit&action=edit&redlink=1). These are very rare now that Esri has developed internal language packs (but they still occur.)
Post-Localization Runtime Issues - Equally rare (but do occur) are software failures, malfunctions, and other runtime issues that occur after applying the distributor's localized libraries.
[edit] When do I get to close the incident?!?!?!?
Once a distributor has created the scenario they're reporting within the Amazon_EC2_Cloud (http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php/Amazon_EC2_Cloud) ArcGIS Server AMI (which will include a copy of Desktop 10) that the analyst provided, the analyst will act as an information liaison between the Localization Team and the distributor for course of the incident via a Tech Assist.(http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php?title=Tech_Assist&action=edit&redlink=1) (See (2) above).

.NET Signage
[edit] .NET Signage Workflow
File: Signing L10N Requests.pptx
.NET Signage Website
URL: https://redlandslocale.esri.com/
User/Pass: File:DotNet Signage FTP Access.xlsx
Retrieved from "http://fairfield/arcgis/index.php/Localization"

Article ID:000011413

Software:

ArcMap

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What is the scope of centralized localization?

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