Everything you wanted to know about language localization

(but you never dared to ask)

MARKETING & COMMUNICATION February 4, 2023

Localizing a product means adapting it to the commercial expectations of the foreign markets for which it is intended. In other words, language, sales arguments, legal requirements, and technical standards must be adapted to the country where it is sold.

An organized marketing strategy and a lot of cultural sensitivity are the indispensable ingredients of successful localization, but there is also a third one: the professional competence of the translator. People often feel they can do without it, only to realize that in fact, it is a bit like making tea... well, without putting water in it!

So let's find out what language localization is: who does it, why it is done, and most importantly: why it is not just a translation..

Language localization: this unknown stranger

A business, a cell phone, an inflammation, a dot on a map- we know how to localize a little bit of everything. But a language, how do we localize that?

Few people know that when Coca-Cola was first marketed in China, back in 1927, it had the unlikely name of "bite the wax tadpole," keke-kenla (蝌蝌啃蠟), or "wax-stuffed mare," depending on the dialect.
Once the initial enthusiasm passed, the company held a contest to find a more fitting description for America's most popular drink, and so it landed on kekou-kele (可口可乐), literally, "delicious happiness," a name that is now just as iconic to the Chinese as "Coca-Cola" is to the rest of the world.

Yet markets would have to wait more than half a century (in the late 1980s) to recognize the need for a professional figure dedicated exclusively to transforming and readjusting the linguistic component of a product from one country to another: language localization services arrived along with personal computers!

With the ambitious goal of putting the technological revolution in the hands of users around the world, the nascent American computer giants understood how essential it was to translate operating screens (interfaces) so that even non-English speakers could interact with them.
Soon, PC processors were upgraded to support the use of multiple languages, special letters such as Spanish ñ and Italian accented vowels popped up on keyboards, and the compilation of program development codes was made "neutral," that is, internationalized, as much as possible to prepare them for translation into languages with registers and writing systems other than English.

The effort to systematize the process of preparing and translating the new computer systems culminated in The International Handbook for Software Design, a document by which Microsoft explained in detail the process of developing international versions of its software, of which linguistic adaptation was the cornerstone.

Think global, act local: why localizing makes a difference

Referred to in jargon as target-oriented, product localization aims to bring a brand closer to its audience, regardless of the nationality or linguistic community to which they belong.
This only happens by providing a user experience that recognizes the linguistic identity of the interlocutors and meets their expectations on all levels.

A foreign company that decides to sell its medical device in Italy, for example, but neglects to localize its technical reference documentation (the texts are only in the original language or in English, the legislation enunciated is not the European one, the units of measurement are imperial and not metric, etc.), will most likely leave Italian buyers dissatisfied with the little consideration they receive, as well as demonstrating little responsibility with respect to incorrect use of the product as a result of improvised translations.

And so it follows that if the localization process constitutes the path of structural, visual, and cultural adaptation of a product to its target audience, the localized translation is clearly a crucial part of it.

The data bear this out:

Sales increase

People interact with who they can communicate with.
When deciding where to buy, for example, 56% of e-commerce customers (online stores) say that having a website in their own language is more important than price: in fact, in the travel sector, 80% of EU citizens will not buy if the information is not in their native language.

Customers return

Customer experience is critical.
If customers feel comfortable interacting with a product, they tend to trust, return, and stay. 74% of customers may switch brands if the buying process is too difficult for them, or even, 86% of users are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.

Brand reputation benefits

Localization helps define the integrity of a brand.
Making sure that names and slogans do not have double meanings in the languages in which they are declined is critical to ensuring not only customer respect, but also the reputation of one's brand.
In the 1980s, for example, KFC landed in China with a slogan that proclaimed "Finger lickin' good" in English, but whose Chinese translation likely invited the new audience to "eat your fingers off!"

Everything you wanted to know about language localization

...Fortunately, the glaring mistake was soon corrected, and KFC is still one of the most popular American fast-food chains in China today.

Software, web, and beyond, to each its own!

According to a 2017 survey, 94% of marketers in the United States and Europe planned to increase their budgets for content localization in the following year, making it their top priority.
Today, six years later, we have confirmed that the impact of localized translation has gone far beyond simply transposing a text from one language to another.

Here are the main areas where more and more companies are deciding to invest their efforts in professional localized translation services:

1. Information technology (software, apps, and video games)

Today, when we talk about software program translation, we mean the language localization of everything that makes us actively interact with a machine: interfaces (UI), mobile applications (app), and video games, just to name a few instances.
If you have ever tried to set options on an electronic device configured in another language, you will understand why this can make a difference: without accurate localization, using a program can be frustrating or even unusable.

What about apps? The same argument applies, with a few more technical caveats to consider.
Taking into account the fact that it is the positive user ratings in user experience comments and the high number of downloads that create a virtuous circle in terms of profitability, accurate localization of interfaces and online presentations are often a crucial factor in increasing the volume of business, as well as improving brand visibility and reputation.
It is no coincidence, for example, that in China, 92% of the most popular and highest-grossing iPhone applications are written in Chinese and have Chinese names.

In the field of video game localization, certain errors in translation, adaptation, or dubbing could have very serious consequences, risking not allowing the audience to appreciate the game 100%, compromising the gaming experience, or even making it impossible.
Although this does not necessarily result in a decision to stop using the product, the consumer is certainly aware that the producers did not design the interface with them, their culture, and their language in mind. In this case, it becomes much more unlikely that they will be passionate enough about the product to recommend it to others.

2. The web (showcase sites, e-commerce, and content)

Website localization is indispensable today for all companies that want to acquire new customers and make a marketing campaign effective internationally. With content localization for the web, two worlds meet: on the one hand, software localization, which is strongly focused on IT skills and technical complexity, and on the other hand, content localization, which is based on the linguistic skills and writing simplicity of translators.

Web localization goes beyond simple translation—or rather, transcreation of a website, as it also requires that the translator be familiar with certain technical and website management areas. SEO optimization, the strategic use of tags, and the integration of keywords into the text are just some of the tools in the hands of translators to make it easier for search engines to find, precisely localize, a showcase site or e-commerce store.
To learn more, here is an interesting insight on how to improve a website's ranking among search results starting with the creation of effective titles.

3. Entertainment (TV series, movies, and comic books)

According to Statista, Netflix has about 220.67 million subscribers in 190 countries in the second quarter of 2022. This is an incredible achievement considering that in 2015 the streaming service was present in only 50 countries. In its ambition to go global, Netflix has embarked on a localization project to curate programming and content in local languages for customers in each country. This has included the introduction of programs with localized subtitles, local languages for the user interface, and dubbing of existing programs.

It’s a similar story in the audiovisual industry. One of the best examples of a well-curated localization strategy is offered to us by Pixar's animated films, which have become famous for their strong focus on the cultures and languages of the countries in which they are distributed.
In making the film Inside Out, for example, Pixar modified the animations by creating multiple versions of a scene in which a character points to a sign and reads it. In the Hebrew version of the film, the character moves from right to left instead of left to right in the English version, just as he does in reading Hebrew.
For those who are curious, here are other examples of localization repurposed not only by Pixar but also by Disney.

A separate discussion should be made for comic books.
Reading a comic book is a bit like watching a cartoon, which is why it is treated almost as if it were an audiovisual product. However, in comic books, the relationship of the text to the reader is much more direct, so it is crucial that the translator makes effective language choices to generate empathy and stimulate the closeness of the reader, who must feel understood and transported into the reality of the strip he or she is reading to the point of never having to question what they were trying to say.

Tools and techniques for effective localization

As with any translator, the ultimate goal of the localizer's work is communication.
However, to ensure the same communicative effectiveness of a localized product to audiences other than the one for which it was initially created, the localizer must be familiar with the elements and principles behind its implementation.
Here, then, is a small glossary of the techniques and tools used by language localization experts, with related links for those who wish to explore the different topics in more detail:

1Internationalization

"Cleaning up" a product of all the idiomatic and cultural connotations of the country in which it was created in order to prepare it for translation into other languages. Learn More

2Computer-Aided Translation Software (CAT tool)

An indispensable tool, especially for translating web content, which allows you to keep track of paragraph length, presence of HTML, links, etc. Learn More

3Translation Memories (TM)

Translation memories are databases that save previously translated parts or words of text, ensuring consistency of terminology and speed of work. Essential for the translation of manuals and technical documentation in general. Learn More

4Content Management System (CMS)

Useful for apps. App translators work on localization platforms that allow them to work within the same source files, preserving the structure of the original application and returning to the developer files that conform to the originals, ready to be inserted into the application without further restructuring. Learn More

5Machine Translation (MT)

It is the process of using artificial intelligence to automatically translate text from one language to another without human involvement. Human translators use machine translation services to translate faster and more efficiently. Learn More

6Translation Management System (TMS)

A centralized platform that simplifies the management of translation and localization projects (especially multilingual) by automating tasks and workflows. Learn More

7SEO Optimization

It’s an indispensable component of effective web content localization. From text to images, it is localization work by which keywords are searched for and used in the translated text to enable the search engine to find (index) a website. Learn More

Conclusions

Although it was born for clearly commercial purposes, language localization has developed on the much broader scenario of social and intercultural communication, and is credited with showing us the other side of globalization.
Some call it "glocalization," this new multifaceted identity that offers us the opportunity to recognize the presence of others no longer as a threat to be homologated at any cost, but as an engine for growth based on the desire to know, understand and interact.
Language localization shows us that the world no longer needs to adapt to a single model in order to function, but it is the model that has finally adapted to the whole world.