A lot of things are happening in the world and a lot of people are interacting with each other today than a few decades ago. The exchange of goods, items, thoughts, etc. happening at the massive scale is unprecedented as never before in the history the world had come together. Today, the global has become local and local become global in numerous manners. In the whole phenomenon the localization services in India providers are playing important role as they translate the global content and make it local and at the same time translate the local content in globally dominant languages to make it global.
The entire localization has become a new phenomenon where the companies offering their services bring turn around changes in the content so that it suits the local without compromising on the message. The process itself refers to the process of taking a product which generally is a website or digital platform and then adapting it completely to a new region for the consumption of its local community. Needless to say the fundamental goal is to bring a localized end product appear as if it was originally created in the target culture and for the people of the target culture of that specific geography.
Why has Localization of website content become important?
There could be various reasons why localization works so well these days; however, one fundamental reason from the point of view of the corporate companies is that it helps them gel well with the local customers or client base. Personal touch with the culture and people is essential part of any marketing strategy and when it is done in the local language keeping the cultural nuances in mind, it works hundred percent. The recent trend towards the localization is motivated towards catching up with the local tendencies and cultural nuances in the manner that that it helps the locals associate with the product or the message.
Nonetheless, localization captures cultural nuances as it takes into consideration regional humor, ironies, and customs and that too in profound manner without causing aspersions. Similarly, along with legal and linguistic demands of the locals, the respect for the equal treatment with respect to the local culture and ethos is also part of localization process. Thus, whether it is the localization services for websites, apps, video games, etc. or for other digital platforms, it is delivered keeping a large number of factors in mind. For instance, the professional localization company accurately adapts to the legal, cultural, and formatting needs of a new region.
The process of Website Content Localization
The company that has wide network of localization specialists distributed around the world tends to be the one that should be tasked for the job as only the linguists with global vision can do justice to the job. The linguists when localizing the content pair the client with an expert native to the culture the client is targeting and then always deliver localized products that the client’s new audience not only understands, but appreciates to great extent. Thus, it is quite damning task and takes a lot of research and background work from the linguists and other associated professionals. They in close coordination with each other then deliver the profound results.
When it comes to making to the final stages of the customization of the translation so that it suits the specific requirement from the clients, the agency is needed to work in a specific manner:
- Planning of the translation:
Here the professionals define the scope, tasks & standards of the projects and at the same time create a project schedule which is quite important for the whole process. Once it is all done they determine the software or tool requirements for the job. At this stage a lot of work is done on the specific requirement from the clients as it must be clear from the start about the target, purpose, budget and expenses, reporting, etc. should be in a pre-defined manner.
- Preparation of the localization of content
Like the planning, even preparation of the process of localization is detail oriented as here the experts and linguists work on the outlining of the general and project specific instructions. Once the instructions are done and completed the preparation of the project glossary and style guide is done with the help of local linguists and translators. Preparation part also includes the portion where the translators collate and collect the project files for translation in the original format that is then delivered to clients.
- Assignment of the Localized Content
The companies that offer localization services in India have a complete and detailed process where there are some guidelines and checks to ensure quality control and at the same time timely delivery. Here in this step, the company assigning a project manager to oversee the entire project is a norm. Then the selection of translators or linguists for the project also comes in and this is where the role of project manager also becomes crucial. The project manager is also tasked with delivering files to the assigned resources in timely manner.
- Production and Delivery
A professional localization services in India provider not just focus on the deliverables but also on the delivery time. Hence, the last phases of the localization process is production and delivery of the content as after the completion of translation or localization, finalization and client delivery by project manager is done. This process is followed after verifying file naming conventions, delivery format and channel, etc. and done by the project manner.
Why should Website Localization be done?
Since websites are the first point of contact with potential customers, the organizations often look for the websites that are available in several languages so that visitors from all parts of the world can reach to them. Needless to say over the years website localization has become a vital part of your company’s plan to expand globally. It is a well established truth that nearly 72% of customers show a preference toward websites in their native language. Now this data can be used for the argument that the website must be made in the local languages. However, this is also true that getting website designed and developed in the local languages is quite difficult and a daunting task.
However, with website localization service from an Indian firm can add edge to the companies operating from Europe and American market as the cost is relatively less and the quality is close to what they get in their native countries. This helps in reducing the budget and cost of website construction, design and development as well as content in the local language. A multilingual website allows companies reach to new customers by marketing their services with content that resonates with them.
Added advantages with localized websites
Several of the studies and data show that nearly 52% of all websites are in English, but only 25% of the world understands English. This anomaly has been going on for decades and yet there are not many who would want to change the dynamics for the obvious reason that people are fixated with English language. There are dozens of languages which have a large number of users base and spoken by a large number of people. For instance, Hindi is one of the largest languages in terms of the numbers of speakers. Similarly, the languages like Chinese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Bengali, etc. are spoken quite a lot by people at various parts of the world.
An interesting bit of data is that 72% of customers give preference to websites in their native language and 54% of customers prefer local language over price to make buying decisions. Now with these two facts it can definitely be made that people are willing to trust the website if it is in their own language then why try only English? With localization services in India the companies have an added advantage of saving cost as the companies here offer the most attractive prices that are unparallel elsewhere. Hiring an Indian translation company for the localization process of the website content or app content could save the cost and help the companies expand to new regions.
Going Global with Local Content
The major asset that can come with a company is its identity for which it uses various tricks and technologies or tools like logos, usernames, etc. When the content is localized some of these may not be so much meaningful as some of it may be lost in the translation. However, for messaging and connectivity with the wide audience, it is essential to lose that identity and become local. A bit of data on the online shopping trend is that 90% of global online shopping takes place in only 12 languages and 80% of websites saw business growth of 2 times after launching multilingual site. Thus, the day belongs to multilingual websites that have a lot of connectivity with the local people than the ones that are in English.
Last but not the least, 71% of Fortune 500 companies has multilingual websites, what is stopping you from it?