The characteristics of different languages and writing systems, from Greek to Hebrew, Russian to Japanese, Swedish to Mongolian are presented visually. Differences in cultural conventions are also highlighted.

This chapter tells us WHAT issues programmers, webmasters and managers should be concerned with (and often are not aware of).

Internationalization and Localization. Translation and what translators need. Levels of internationalization complexity. Globalization over time: the maintenance requirement. ROI: the benefits of preparing for translation.

This chapter tells us WHY we should be concerned with the issues presented above, i.e. WHY we should prepare for translation.

An animated graphical model that illustrates the three basic tasks of internationalization: resource externalization, cultural generalization and preparation of the localization kit. Each of the three tasks is explored in more detail.

This chapter shows us HOW, in general terms applicable to both software and Web sites, to prepare for translation.

This chapter contains several illustrated examples that show what it all means, as well as more extensive checklists of the major do's and don'ts.

Finally, this chapter provides practical examples showing HOW to prepare for translation in specific cases.