The terms Localisation/ and Globalisation/ are used so often together that they turn into a blurry phrase rather than being distinct subjects…let's try to sort that out first.

Although they are very tightly related, and partially overlap, the two concepts are distinct.

Globalisation about format and is described here: IT:AD:Globalisation

Localisation, on the other hand about translating resources.

It is the process of translating resources to work in different Region/s: * ensuring that no text (UI labels or Error messages) or resource (image) is hard coded into the code, but instead moved to Resource files that can be easily be translated. * the difference between the two is that Globalization is the process of identifying localized resources to adopt a multiple Culture/ support, while Localization is actual process of translating resource to a specific Culture/.

What Globalization and Localization is not:

• Q: What is Globalization/Localization in Microsoft Framework perspective for building multi-cultural applications?
• A: If you declare a variable locally, it's localization. If you declare it globally, its globalization.

Or (less funny but just as wrong):

• Q: What is Globalization/Localization in Microsoft Framework perspective for building multi-cultural applications?
• A: Localization is using a resource in a Local Resource File. Globalization is using a resource in a Global Resource File.

We've already investigated Culture/ and Region/ in depth here, but a quick summary of the subject would be that a Culture/ is something which transcends borders, countries, regions, and can span the globe, whereas a Region/ is a subset of Culture/, and generally means a specific country, or sometimes even smaller area.
A simple example of this concept of Culture/-Region/ is the French Culture/ (fr), which is spoken in many countries/regions: as it is spoken not only in France(fr-FR), but also in (fr-LU), Monaco (fr-MC), the Belgian Region/ of Wallonie (fr-BL), the Canadian province of Québec (fr-CA), the Swiss districts of Vaud (fr-CH)….and many more (src: http://french.about.com/library/bl-whatisfrench.htm) Note that we always denote it in a 'Culture/-Region/' format (eg: fr-FR, or fr-CH), and if no Region/ is specified, we just use the Culture/ code, or fall back to using a predetermined Region/ as a stand-in (en-US, or fr-FR).

In .NET the running thread is set to a specific Culture/-Region/.