TransMission Translations

	Overview
	Real Academia
	The Standard
	A Soaring Market

Could our reliance on the RAE undermine our solid commitment to the needs of the industry? Do we risk drifting away from the market to embrace the academic world? We must not forget that the localization business is market-driven—and what is the company everyone follows with regard to localization? You guessed it. Let us see how Microsoft is doing in this respect.

On 15 October 1999, Bill Gates visited the RAE at its headquarters in Madrid to sign a major agreement with this renowned institution, whereby Microsoft undertook to follow the RAE's judgements when its products are localized into Spanish. The presence of the heads of other Spanish language academies (Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Argentina) bears witness to the RAE's intent to address the needs of all Spanish speakers, not merely those in Spain.

We consider this to be a giant step forward for the Spanish localization industry, in that it brings down enormous barriers and leads toward a common understanding of the Spanish used in computer products. TransMission is very much part of this movement and follows the RAE just like Microsoft does—only we started earlier!

The commitment was sponsored by academicians Ángel Martín Municio, Juan Luis Cebrián and Domingo Ynduráin, on the part of the RAE, and Francisco Román, on the part of Microsoft Spain. It comprises four points:


	Microsoft shall incorporate the new RAE Dictionary into their new products. (We hereby advise all other software companies to follow the same policy.)
	Microsoft shall have access to the RAE lexicon database—over 200 million indexed cards and growing—for research and study purposes in the field of natural language processing.
	Microsoft shall make use of other RAE publications in forthcoming products, mainly the new Orthography—an enormous benefit for their spell checker—and Grammar.
	The RAE will be involved as a beta tester in the development of Microsoft's Spanish grammar checker.

Another result of the agreement is the introduction of a new bi-directional flow of communication between both organizations, designed for the research and study of IT terminology. Gates expressed his great satisfaction regarding this ground-breaking achievement, in view of Microsoft's concern about quality and the frequent requests of its Spanish-speaking users demanding the best Spanish available in their computer software.

With experts from both organizations working side by side, it is only rational to follow their recommendations. The prospect of Microsoft following the RAE, together with the RAE following Microsoft, makes TransMission feel that its own concept of an International Spanish is more a reality than a dream.