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Localization, sometimes written as L10n, is the process of adapting the language, appearance and functionality of a website or document for foreign language markets. The end goal of localization is to take linguistic, cultural, and technical differences of the targeted market or audience into consideration. It does not change the original intent of the source text to ensure that the final work reads and feels like it was originally written in the target language.
Localization means you will need to provide different content for Ghana, Togo even though these countries have Ewe as their language. Just as English varies from Ghana, to Nigeria and the UK, most languages have local versions and dialects that you need to consider when building your marketing strategy.
Regular translation probably isn’t enough for your business to be successful in local markets. You need to localize your content to gain the trust of the local public. Because selling in a foreign country means more than overcoming language barriers. It means coming up with a customized message, specially made for each local audience.
Coca-Cola maintains a singular message worldwide, while adapting their campaigns to local markets. Everybody knows the company’s colors, whether they live in Barcelona or Beijing. But their marketing strategy varies from country to country, to meet the public’s expectations.
In China, for example, the company had to change the product’s name to be able to maintain the brand’s voice. Coca-Cola became ‘kekou kele’, which translates to delicious happiness. This way, the drink everybody loves managed to conquer the market.
It wasn’t just about translating the content and changing labels. The brand approached local experts and, together with a team of specialists, they came up with a new name and a local marketing strategy. They sold the brand’s image, while respecting the local culture, which is vastly different from the Western world.
Localization involves a cultural approach. You don’t simply translate your website or app, but reshape it so that the local public feels as if you’ve built the content especially for them.
Besides translation, you’ll have to perform many additional changes to provide a better user experience:
- Colors – They have various meanings, depending on the target audience. In some countries, red represents danger, white means death and orange expresses mourning and loss. Do your homework before launching your website, especially when you’re targeting new audiences.
- Layout – Some languages need more space than others to express the same concepts. You need to come up with a flexible layout, where text in varying lengths fits in.
- Visuals – You must adapt photos to local cultures. Blond moms hugging their kids don’t impress a Chinese audience and may even offend customers in the Middle East.
- Units of Measurement – Most countries use the metric system. You need to convert units of measurements to make content easy to follow and understand.
- Currencies – Price is important when making buying decisions. If your clients have to deal with numbers to be able to find the real price, they’ll leave your website and look for a local provider.
- Contracts and Agreements – When doing business in foreign countries, you need to comply with local regulations. Make sure you respect the rules, to avoid getting your business into difficult legal situations that can lead to penalties or even have your website banned.
Here are some industry examples of localization:
E-commerce
If you are using your Ecommerce website to increase user engagement, it has to align with the user’s cultural context. For example, business language styles in Japan, the US, and Italy require adaptation (more formal vs. more relaxed).
Gaming
Games, along with any interactive entertainment software, can contain complex narratives loaded with cultural references. Therefore, game localization would typically address linguistic (i.e. language or translation), technical, and cultural aspects.
Finance and banking
With the most modern localization technology that you can keep up with this agile pace. Preventing data breaches is also something that good localization technology should provide. It is certainly necessary to avoid risk and address data security concerns.
Healthcare.
The cost of an error in localizing medical content can be as high as a human life. Therefore, it is key to assign industry-specialized and certified linguists assigned to localize patient-facing and healthcare practitioner-targeted content. Typically, several quality assurance and compliance checks would be performed before the content reaches its target audience.
Software
Most software companies operate in more than one country. As such they need their software translated and localized to suit the needs of their customers in every country and for the software to be understood by their customers. When translation and localization is done correctly gaining international trust and recognition becomes inevitable.
This is where Polyglot Translations Services comes in. We can help software companies and individuals to streamline their digital content localization workflow and make it as seamless as possible.