Even if you have a digital product, you have to decide if you’re going to localize for different markets. If you are going to make it more ‘local’ and relevant for each country, here are some tips to help you do that.
1. Language localization
It’s often not enough to use the free translation tools to translate your site or app because context and meaning don’t directly translate very well. If you are going to use a free translation tool such as Google Translate because you’re on a tight budget, you can improve the accuracy and likelihood that your app isn’t complete gibberish by identifying and removing all slang before translating.
Grab all of the copy on your website and app and review it to see if you’re using terms and sentences that are not direct descriptions and only have meaning in your own country and region. Some examples of things we say in the US that probably mean absolutely nothing elsewhere include:
- Back to the drawing board
- Pick, pack, ship
- MVP
- Hit the ground running
- Hit it out of the park
- Deepen the relationship with
- Low-hanging fruit
- Thinking outside the box
- Let’s touch base
- On your radar
- Having the bandwidth
- Par for the course
- Bang for your buck
If you have just a little budget, by paying a couple of hundred dollars you will have a much more accurate translation using one of the new translation services that are either all human translation by locals such as VerbalizeIt http://www.verbalizeit.com, or combined machine and human translation such as Localize JS, http://www.localizejs.com, a 2015 Techstars company, and http://www.Gengo.com, a 500 Startups company. All of these offer much higher quality translations at a reasonable price.
Even if the language is the same, there can be significant differences in spelling, usage and word meaning between countries and even regions. Examples of this include the differences between American, British and Australian English as well as the German between Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Those subtle things are noticed by residents and can influence their decision to work with your company.
Google recommends not using automatic translation tools as your localization strategy because it won’t help you with your international SEO. We’ll write an article to go into detail on how best to approach SEO for different countries soon.
2. Cultural influences
Beyond language localization, some of the most important localization, taking into account awareness and sensitivity to cultural norms, will typically require assistance from local experts to get right.
Cultural localization includes any sort of racial appropriateness as well as biases, especially in photography, such as using people that look like they are from the country. Be very careful with this, just because you can’t tell if someone is from a country doesn’t mean that the locals can’t tell.
A common mistake is using metaphors that don’t translate well and fairy tales, even business lore that have no meaning in different cultures such as the stork delivering babies, sports references, war metaphors for business, and mythical business metaphors such as referring to companies valued over one billion dollars as unicorns.
Even color can have completely different meanings in different cultures and true localization of your digital product will need to take that into consideration for success in each market. Gestures are also local, thumbs-up means different things in different countries, waving and interactions between women and men as well as different age groups.
I highly recommend having a local review your digital product before launching it to make sure you’re able to have the impact you’re looking for. If you’d prefer not to use one of these services to help with product localization, you can often find people in your community, especially in university towns, that are from the country you’re localizing for or web peer review sites and affordable international survey panels such as AYTM.com.
3. Mixing Up Languages
Having some sort of international appeal can be attractive and using a mix of languages on your app and website might be the best approach for you. Even with B2B companies where English is the default business language, it’s probably helpful to have detailed information in the local language but headlines and promotional copy in English.
4. The Must Have Basics
If you decide not to localize the overall language of your mobile app and website, some information is really important to localize for users from different countries.
Currency
If you’re transacting in any way, your mobile app and website must consider local currency symbols and currency conversion so that your prospective customers know exactly how much they are going to pay for your product, taxes and shipping, if applicable, in their own currency.
Privacy regulation compliance
If you’re transacting and capturing personal data such as name, email, phone and gathering mobile or web data about people in other countries, you should understand and comply with privacy laws in that country, data collection laws and also have a relevant privacy policy that addresses how you’re approaching privacy so you’re not exposing yourself to unnecessary legal trouble.
Dates
In the US, when writing dates, we start with the month followed by the day and then year. In many countries, they start with the day and then the month and year.
Time
The US uses a 12-hour clock, splitting the day between a.m. and p.m., plus different time zones EDT/EST throughout the year. Many countries use what the US calls military time or the 24-hour clock, in that after 12:00 noon, the times continue to go up to 24 hours. 3:00 p.m. for example would be 15:00.
Maps and Directions
Having local maps and directions are important for physical locations, make sure the information is correct and in a language that your customers understand.
Phone numbers
Countries have very different phone number groupings than the US, consider whether you will be providing a localized country number or perhaps Skype and email are better option to communicate with your customers.
Time Zone
If you’re providing customer support, know or learn key holidays and time zones for each country you’re doing business in so you can provide relevant customer support hours.
Localization for your mobile and web applications is more than a simple verbatim translation. If you’re serious about doing business in another country, take our advice and spend the time and resources needed to make sure your brand is represented the way you want it to be experienced in each country, ultimately it will be worth it.
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