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The Reception of Localized Content: A User-Centered Study of Localized Software in the Algerian Market

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When Translation Goes Digital

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting ((PTTI))

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Abstract

In Translation Studies end-user interaction with localized output remains relatively unexplored. This chapter analyzes the results of an online survey that investigated the reception of localized content in societies characterized by multilingualism. Algeria is the specific study locale, given its unique linguistic map and geopolitical position. This linguistic map includes official Modern Standard Arabic, official Amazigh with no standardized form, and French as the quasi-official language. The study adopts a user-centered approach (cf. Doherty and O’Brien, Assessing the usability of raw machine translated output: A user-centred study using eye tracking. International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction, 2013; Moorkens et al., Machine Translation, 29(3–4), 267–284, 2015) to examine the acceptability of localized software (Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office) in the Algerian market. The findings, based on a small sample (n = 33), suggest that there is a rejection of the localized content in Arabic due to different linguistic, cultural, technical and ideological motives.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    A derived dialect from Arabic used in Algeria (similarities also in Morocco and Tunisia), which contains words, expressions and even grammatical influences from languages such French, Turkish, Spanish and Berber languages (cf. Saadane and Habash 2015).

  2. 2.

    France colonized Algeria for a period of 132 years. Algeria became an independent country in 1962.

  3. 3.

    A social and linguistic phenomenon where two varieties of a language exist side by side throughout the community; however, we might also find extended-diglossia where varieties of different languages coexist in a specific society (cf. Djennane 2014).

  4. 4.

    I received Social Sciences and Humanities REB (research ethics board) certificate to conduct this study from the University of Ottawa in March 2018.

  5. 5.

    https://help.surveymonkey.com/articles/en_US/kb/How-do-I-create-a-Ranking-type-question.

  6. 6.

    In July 2019, the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education launched a survey about the use of English as a teaching language in Algerian universities. A total of 94,060 participants completed the survey, and 95%, answered “Yes.”

  7. 7.

    For example, an official language policy or law.

  8. 8.

    The study was part of a requirement for a Ph.D. Duration of my survey was determined by the course calendar.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Translation and Interpretation, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Merouan Bendi

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  1. Merouan Bendi
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  1. School of Translation, Université de Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg, MB, Canada

    Renée Desjardins

  2. TransCrit, Université Paris 8, Paris, France

    Claire Larsonneur

  3. Departamento de Filosofia, Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil

    Philippe Lacour

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Bendi, M. (2021). The Reception of Localized Content: A User-Centered Study of Localized Software in the Algerian Market. In: Desjardins, R., Larsonneur, C., Lacour, P. (eds) When Translation Goes Digital. Palgrave Studies in Translating and Interpreting. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51761-8_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51761-8_9

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