Localisation Training in Spain and Beyond: Towards a Consensus on Content and Approach

Abstract

Since localisation emerged in the 1980s as an activity linked to the software industry, its evolution has gone hand in hand with technological advances. In the globalised market of the 21st century, an ever-increasing range of digital products must be localised. While academic institutions are aware of how the insatiable demand for localisation is affecting the translation industry, there is no consensus regarding what courses on localisation should teach and how they should teach it. This article reports the findings of a survey-based study that adopted a descriptive-interpretive methodology to collect both quantitative and qualitative data from a group of 16 localisation trainers teaching on undergraduate translation courses in Spanish universities. The results reinforce the finding of an earlier unpublished study by the same authors (AUTHOR 2018) that localisation training is keeping pace with technological evolution. In addition, respondents noted that one of their main challenges is finding authentic teaching materials and recommended closer collaboration between academia and the localisation industry.