GUEST EXPERT BLOG ARTICLE:
A developer’s worst nightmare is having to completely overhaul an app’s code and design for any reason.
But when bringing an app to the global stage, it’s often necessary to make changes to appeal to different audiences. If your app wasn’t built with the possibility of these changes in mind, this nightmare is likely to become a reality.
So how do you avoid this? By making sure your development framework can accommodate localization. We’ll go into localization, why it’s important, how to prepare your app for localization, and some key concepts. We’ll then show you how to find the right localization services in order to adapt your product to the right audiences in different locations.
What is Localization and Why’s It Important?
We’ll go into detail on why it’s important to keep localization in mind when developing your app, but first—what is it?
Localization is the process of adapting a product, service, or brand to cater to different audiences. This means taking culture, behavior, and tastes into account when reaching out to a new market. Localization is also key in attracting foreign investments for your international expansion.
The main objective is to make adjustments and modifications to something in a way that is appealing to consumers of that specific market, making it look and feel like it was created for them. Ofer Tirosh, CEO of Tomedes, a translation company who has localized for thousands of business clients, puts it best: “Globalization is a business philosophy and guiding principle. Localization and internationalization are parallel processes that form the strategy to achieve it in practice.”
“When it comes to app development for global audiences, localization tends to be the highlight of the discussion,” Tirosh says. “But it’s only the means to reach the end goal. The others also play an essential, if implicit part.”
This is where localization comes in. But how do you go about it? Let’s have a deeper look—
Some Key Localization and Internationalization Concepts
When it comes to reaching out to a global audience, there is some specific terminology that is used. These concepts are essentially intertwined with each other, so it’s important to keep them all in mind:
● Translation (T9N) is pretty straightforward—it means converting text from one language to another. The text is given to the translator in discrete sections, known in coding terms as strings, which makes it easier for developers to organize and match every bit of text between the source and target languages.
● Localization (L10N), as we’ve discussed, goes beyond simply translating text into a target market’s language. It involves in-depth market research, creative thought, and an understanding of cultural nuances. Most language service providers offer localization services as a major component of their portfolio.
● Internationalization (I18N) refers to the process of ensuring that your app is capable of undergoing localization in the first place. This means making every aspect of your app, including code and design, can be adapted to different languages or regions.
● Globalization (G11N) is the overarching principle these previous concepts fall under. It’s a concept that has more to do with a business’s total strategy, and means taking an approach that values finding and making best use of opportunities from around the world.
Preparing Your App for Localization: I18N is the Key
You may want your app to provide consumers with a consistent, high-quality experience across different languages and regions, but you first need to make sure that your app can actually support the changes that need to be made across all areas of the development process.
In terms of app design, it means providing a template that is either neutral or flexible enough to accommodate the specific visual characteristics of different languages.
In terms of programming, it means holding your code to a standard that makes the process of creating different language or regional versions easier and more uniform.
In terms of legal compliance, it means ensuring that your app can follow data laws and regulations in different countries.
These are only some of the major aspects that are taken into consideration during the process, but they illustrate the basic goal of internationalization: to create a solid backbone that allows you to customize your app more easily when the time comes for you to localize.
Internationalization is future-proofing
Let’s look at some potential headaches that could come up when you don’t keep internationalization in mind:
● Text in different languages can have different lengths and ways of writing when translated. English is generally concise compared to, say, German. Some languages, like Arabic, are written from right to left instead of left to right. This means your designers may have to give your app a complete UI and design overhaul.
● Concatenated strings—these are text formulas in code that build sentences from multiple strings. Not only will this have your translators cursing as they try to figure out how to translate individual phrases without context, it also disregards other languages’ different sentence structures.
● Different regions often have their own formats for dates, measurements, currency, and the like. Hard coding these formats into your app means that you’ll end up having to edit the source code, which means more work for your programmers.
Without internationalization, localizing your app can rack up costs that could’ve been avoided easily. So consider it a form of insurance—you are saving yourself the time and money it takes to deal with problems that arise when you don’t put in the necessary work.
Internationalization allows quicker response
Internationalization isn’t just a preventive measure. It can also help you respond to opportunities in a timely manner.
Let’s say that you’ve done some research and found that there’s a large potential market for your app in a certain country, and your competitors are already on the move.
You’ll need to localize your app and services in order to reach this new audience, and you need to do it quickly—the longer you take in the development phase, the more likely that the opportunity will slip out of your grasp!
Localizing Your App: How to Get Started
At this point, it should be clear why internationalization is an important prerequisite for localizing your app. Its benefits won’t apply to just one project, but to every subsequent one as well. That makes internationalization a long-term investment that pays off as your app expands into new markets.
We’re now another step closer to localizing your app—but what else do you need to do to prepare your app for it?
Let’s assume you’ve already done some preliminary research. You’ve looked at the analytics and have an idea of which languages or regions to target. You’re about to build your business proposal or strategy and figure out how to allocate resources to the project. What are the major things you need to take into consideration? Let’s quickly go through some of the most important:
● In-depth market research. Once you’ve chosen your target for a localization project, you need to gain a deeper understanding of the culture, behaviors, and preferences of that market.
● Preparing a style guide/glossary. When localizing into a different language, you still need to ensure that your messaging remains consistent after being translated. A style guide or glossary in your target language will help you keep track of and standardize important terms.
● Investing in localization software. At the very least, you will need appropriate i18n libraries for your specific app development platform, as well as a globalization management system to manage your language assets. Think also about technology and software like Lingoport.com you could incorporate to make complex localization and internationalization easier.
● Building a L10N team. Localization is a holistic process that requires extensive coordination among different departments. Assigning a specific team for this project will help keep things more organized and make it progress more efficiently.
Now this might seem like a daunting set of requirements. Preparing for localization takes time, manpower, and budget, and not all businesses have the means to build and maintain a permanent team for it. But in most cases, it may not be necessary to have all this work in-house. The more reasonable mode of action would be to build a good relationship with a company that provides localization services.
When do you need localization services?
Research has shown that 76% of consumers around the world prefer products with information in their own language. These consumers would naturally gravitate to such products over others that might be of comparable quality but are only accessible in a different language. Your business site must facilitate your consumers’ concerns.
For apps in particular, being able to provide a seamless user experience is paramount. Attract your customers to your business website with localization. The language barrier is only one of the challenges in bringing this experience to global consumers; there are technical and design considerations that you need to take into account as well.
When picking a localization partner, you need to first consider what you are already capable of providing for yourself. Your team may already have the necessary expertise to provide in-house internationalization, in which case you can go through the process first.
But if that isn’t the case, there are many options that can be tailored to your needs. If you’re unsure about whether your app is ready, most of these companies will be able to provide accurate appraisals before starting a project.
The important thing is to have an honest and accurate understanding of where you and your app stand in terms of capacity and expertise. Localization is a multifaceted professional endeavor and making sure that you have the right people for the job is important for your project’s success.
Guest Blog
This guest expert blog article was provided by Tomedes Professional Translations Services.
