It is becoming difficult to make inroads in people’s heart, especially when it comes to marketing and branding. However, with the help of content localization services connecting with the worldwide audience has become easy as touches the very center of the people. Although translation would always be a great option to make your content available in several languages, the demand for making the content available not just in several languages but in the localized style would be the thing that would matter for business and branding.
When it comes to finding out a solution that works, the studies that are done are kept in mind and one such study is on consumer behavior and according to studies on localization, nearly two thirds of people would prefer content in their local language. The reason behind such mindset is that when it comes to reading and browsing the content, people feel comfortable in their own language but at the same time they prefer content structure that defines their culture, practices and lingo, etc. amongst others.
Content Localization Process is Arduous
Translation is not as much difficult as difficult is content localization as the process of taking content that you have produced for your primary market and adapting it for your new target market could be a real task. It is not just literal translation but more than that and it requires more work from the translators or linguists as they have to work not just on the language but the local practices while translating the content and optimizing it for the local consumption. Nevertheless, it is not the same as translation, yet these are often mistakenly used interchangeably which should be avoided to rule out any ambiguities.
Now that we know content localization services are more than translation we must understand that in the process of making the content culturally relevant and easy to understand in context linguists need to work on understanding the local culture and people’s behavior. For example even when England and USA speak English language, there are a number of differences when they talk about distances. Britishers still use mile but Americans use kilometer. Similarly, Britishers use Ounce, Americans use kilograms. Thus, when it comes to localization services, it is not just about translation but optimizing the content for the local audience.
Localization that keeps local spirits up
Language has terms that have specific meaning at one space and time; however, they could have different meaning altogether in another space or time. Therefore, it is essential to not to stick with one definition, instead be fluid and keep adapting as and when the time requires. Content localization services also require such an approach as the content is though universal, the terms could have different meaning for different people. They could at times offend the locals of other regions which may be okay for the other people. The localization services providers need to pay attention to all these factors when delivering their services.
Nevertheless, as now we have come to the conclusion that the same words can mean different things in different countries and that too when they speak the same language, the entire effort of localization services providers should be to rule out ambiguities. The following should be kept in mind while delivering content localization services to clients for their websites:
- Localizing the Technical Content
When it comes to translating the content for manuals, product descriptions, product documentation, FAQs, etc. or even the translation of user guides, it should be kept in mind that there is not much tempering. In fact, these should be translated accurately to avoid any incorrect use.
- Legal translation or Localization
This is another tricky situation for translators when they come across with legal content as putting extra word or term could change the entire meaning of the whole clause. Therefore, when it comes to ‘Terms of Use’, disclaimers, and other legal content on the website, the standard practice is not to temper too much with the language to avoid any misinterpretation.
- Localizing the Back-end Content
Here you can explore a lot as the content that includes so-called locale such as locally-specific items like form entries, number formats, etc. should be according to the local practices. The entry should be in the manner that the local audience would like prefer.
- Localizing the Brand Content
When your website is a representation of your brand, it should be translated well according to the brand preferences. However, when it comes to localization of the content for your website, all content that talks about the brand such as Homepage, “About Us,” “Why Us,” “Mission,” and “Vision”, etc. should have local flavor. For instance if the company is based in the US, it could talk about the targeted audience of the US but if it is also serving people in Sri Lanka, it could make the content in Sinhalese or Tamil and talk about the Sri Lankan market.
- Marketing Content
Branding or marketing content could be localized in the manner that they target the local audience. At times it has been seen that an American company is using images, graphics, data, etc. from the US to target audience or consumers in India. This is a massive error as far as marketing strategies are concerned. Typically, the content that sells to or educates your customers should be in the local language, pics of the local audiences should be kept in the product pages, landing pages, category pages, blog posts, etc.
The bottomline is that gone are the days where one content would have served you well, now it’s time for specific content for specific set of targeted audience. Therefore, if you are reaching out to Arabs the content should not just be in Arabic but also in Arabic tone and tenor with imagery of Arab people and culture and practices. Needless to say translators here need to focus and concentrate on the specific of the cultures, ethos and practices in elaborate manner. Advantage with content localization services providers from India could handle all your tasks and responsibilities for the simple reason that the country is full with the language experts and offers cost-competitiveness.