Localization is a new industry that started up in the United States during the 1980's. More recently, it has crossed over to Europe and established its capital in Ireland.

According to a definition by LISA (Localisation Industry Standards Organisation):

Localization is the process of adapting a product (often but not always a software application or hardware component) to meet the language, cultural and other requirements of a specific target environment or market (a "locale").

Localization is different from translation in two significant ways:

First, localization starts with a finished product in the source language and ends with a finished product in the target language. For example, localizing IT products involves translating the software, the on-line help, the user's guide, and packaging.

Second, localization is not only geared towards new technology, but it also uses new technology in its process. EG Localisation uses a variety of professional translator tools called CAT tools (computer-assisted translation tools), which include:

- a translation memory tool that automatically creates a translation memory, which is then given to the client at the end of the project,
- A terminology management system that includes a terminology database and terminology recognition (which automatically retrieves terms already entered in the database) for consistency and accuracy within a project and between projects,
- a tool for translating HTML and SGML documents, in order to avoid tag erros,
- a tool for translating FrameMaker®, Interleaf®, PageMaker® and PowerPoint® documents,
- an interactive alignment tool for recycling previous documents.