The ＇2017 Sookmyung Women＇s Localization Summer School＇ hosted by the Department of English PRIME held from July 17 to 21.

‘Localization’ refers to the process of coordinating text translation in the fields of local culture, law, language, and technology requirements in the process of introducing and selling computer software such as MS Word, smartphone user manuals, and various homepages abroad.

There are specialized companies that are responsible for localization unlike the conventional translation since there are large amounts of content to be translated by default. Also, related demands are explosively increasing due to the globalization of the web.

As AI Translation is becoming the trend and interests in translation is rapidly increasing, undergraduates and graduate students, who are interested in translation, had the opportunities to experience current situation and practical business of localization fields at The Localization Summer School held by Sookymyung University (as known as “summer school”)

The summer school curriculum is composed of the latest industry practiced subjects such as, introductions on localization and relevant careers or style guidance for technical translations, usages of Trados/MemoQ translation software tools, game translation and technical writing. The gurus from leading localization translation corporates in Korea such as SDL, E4NET, TransPerfect, Latitude Global, Hanssem EUG and LionKorea have also participated.

Showing high interests in the curriculum, Sookmyung Women’s University undergraduates, graduate students and others such as, the Korean Foreign Ministry and Ewha Women’s University, entrepreneurs who are interested in translation, and 40 current fielders have registered. They expressed their big satisfaction towards the five-day program.

Since the first semester of 2005, the Department of English Studies has opened the ＇Introduction to Localization＇ and ＇Localization Translation Practice＇ in the regular curriculum and invited practitioners in the localization industry as lecturers in an effort to cultivate professional manpower.

Starting from the second semester in 2005, ‘Localization specialized curricular’ has been set up in masters’ courses. It helped them acquire practical business skills with visiting instructors from the related industries.

Professor Kwak Sung-hee from the Department of English Studies stated that, “the school has enlarged the opportunities of internships and employments by promoting special education and the IPP programs.” She added, “Due to the exclusive role we carried out, other universities including the leading graduate schools of interpretation and translation are benchmarking our localization programs”.

Translation by Sookmyung Interpretation Volunteers