Localization at eBay
L. Niederer
June 2011
eBay L10n
• The eBay Localization team based in San Jose and
Berlin (Dreilinden) Germany is responsible for providing
high quality translation services and localization support
for eBay Marketplaces, and adjacencies such as Kijiji
(eBay Classifieds), Shopping.com, StubHub and others.
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From humble beginnings
• Localization at eBay started in 1999
• First site to be localized was Japan, followed by
Germany, France and Italy.
• Today we have a dedicated staff of in-house linguists
that support the following 9 languages: Canadian French
Dutch, Flemish (BE) French, German, Italian, Polish
Spanish and Traditional Chinese (HK) and as well as
Language Specialist contractors for 9 additional
European languages. The LS are managed by one LS
manager in the US, and one in Europe. In the L10n team
we also have Localization Engineers and Project
Managers.
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From humble beginnings
• We also facilitate access to dynamic content (released
on so-called trains) for International Content Managers
of English speaking sites (CA, UK, AU, SG and IN) for
their language (spelling/terminology) corrections.
• We not only localize web content, but also content for
off-line tools and printed material.
• Our fastest growing segment is Mobile.
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eBay Mobile
• Currently we localize content for iPhone, Android,
BlackBerry, iPad, Windows 7 and Mobile Web.
• We not only localize the content but we also run LQA
(Language Quality Assurance) for all mobile products.
• In 2010 we had Global Mobile sales of $4 bill, $2bill
came from international markets.
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eBay Mobile: Example
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eBay Mobile: Example
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Expansion in Europe
•
In 2009 we operated websites in 11 European markets
(Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy,
Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, United
Kingdom)
• Some of these sites are so-called mini-sites (Austria,
Ireland and Switzerland and get the vast majority of
their content from their respective main sites (Germany
and UK).
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Expansion: Example Europe – 2009
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Expansion Example Europe – 2010/2011
• In the fall of 2009 we started adding more sites to our
European portfolio. Initially 6 new sites (Czech
Republic, Denmark, Greece, Norway, Russia and
Sweden) with Finland, Hungary and Portugal following
in 2010.
• Out of these 9 countries, Russia is the fastest growing
site (also offers a classifieds experience).
• We call this model eBay International Markets (EIM)
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Expansion Example Europe: 2011
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eBay around the globe
• Not all international eBay sites are localized by the L10n
team.
• Some are written in the respective target language (i.e.
South Korea, Turkey) and need no localization
• Some are localized by outside vendors (without review
by the L10n team (i.e. Thailand, Vietnam)
• Some are run in co-operation with partners and the
partners provide the content (i.e. China)
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eBay around the globe: Examples
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Future:
• Based on our current EIM model we might be expanding
into other markets in the next couple of years
• Currently Africa and the Middle East are non-sited areas
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New eBay sites in the future?
‫السوق الدولية‬
‫השוק הבינלאומי‬
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Tools
• Initially no translation tools!
• 2001 introduction of translation tools (Trados)
• 2003 introduction of Idiom WorldServer
• 2010/2011 First steps towards a new L10n Framework in
order to simplify, streamline and improve the efficiency of
our localization services.
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Our current translation throughput
• As a general rule, our translators translate between 1,500 to 2,000
words per day and review between 8,000 to 10,000 words per day.
For our Asian languages, the throughput is slightly lower.
• These numbers vary by language and complexity. Additionally, we
often recommend that a review step is completed in-house after our
third-party supplier provides translations. This adds time to the and
this must be added to the schedule.
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Our current translation throughput
Our average turnaround times for non-train projects are:
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Words
Time
0 - 100
24 hrs
100 – 500
3 working days
500 - 1000
5 working days
1000 - 5000
10 working days
2010 Numbers for some European sites:
2010 ANNUAL TOTALS:
FR
2010 Total Translate
544334
Total External
Total Internal
Total Review
Percent Reviewed
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IT
DE
ES
NL
FL
PL
FRCA
HK
482595
452203
682381
157271
169053
165712
317842
160280
503128
446851
410829
651646
138746
148665
146054
199092
144630
41206
35744
41374
30735
18525
20388
19658
118750
15650
263949
240144
339216
224875
138046
139480
126305
156786
143836
48%
50%
75%
33%
88%
83%
76%
49%
90%
Our release model:
• When we began with localization in 1999 there was a lag
of more than 8 sometimes 12 weeks between a core
release (US) and an international release.
• Over the past couple of years we continuously
decreased the lag and recently went to simship!
• We now use the simship model for all our “full”
international sites.
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Future: Our new Localization Framework approach:
• The Localization (L10n) Framework is a set of tools,
services, and processes that streamline the submission
of content for localization within eBay, ensuring the right
level of quality in a cost-effective manner with the best
TTM (time to market).
• At the core of the platform is the Translation (T9n)
service, which acts as a conduit between submission
channels and the L10n operations team. It allows for
seamless exchange and processing of translation
requests/responses.
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Future: Our new Localization Framework approach:
(continued)
• By creating custom drivers that integrate with the L10n
Framework, developers can directly invoke the T9n
service from within their applications to meet their
translation requirements.
• The Localization Framework aims to support this mission
with a set of interfaces, processes, SLAs (service level
agreements) and multiple levels of QoS (Quality of
Service), all of this backed up by the eBay L10N team
dedicated to provide the highest quality of translation for
their customers and the eBay community.
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Questions and Answers?
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lutz@ebay.com