A recent survey of thousands of consumers in 29 countries reveals some interesting statistics. It shows that 65% of consumers prefer content in their language, 67% tolerate mixed languages on a website, 73% want product reviews, 66% use online machine translation, and 40% will not buy in other languages.

These findings highlight the importance of delivering localized experiences. Using content localization, language translation technology and website translation software significantly impacts return on investment (ROI) by engaging a worldwide audience and building trust in global businesses.

If you want to learn how to use content localization for your business, this article is for you!

 

What is Content Localization?

Content localization is adapting and transforming content to connect with another country or locale. While it often involves translating text from one language to another, its focus is much broader. It takes into account cultural and region-specific variations, often utilizing machine translation tools to carry out the process.

For example, different languages often have unique spellings for words. You’d need to change “color” to “colour” when localizing content for an audience in Canada.

Content localization also involves several other aspects:

  • Time and Date Formats: Various countries prefer displaying time and dates. Some regions use a 12-hour clock, while others use a 24-hour clock. Similarly, date formats can vary between MM/DD/YYYY and DD/MM/YYYY.
  • Visual Elements: It may be necessary to substitute images specific to one locale with those more appropriate for the new audience.
  • Layout Adjustments: When localizing content for languages read from right to left, such as Arabic or Hebrew, it is crucial to modify the layout to suit this reading direction.

 

How Content Localization Differs From Simple Translation

Translation is simply converting content from one language to another, such as German to English. Localization, however, goes beyond translation. It considers the cultural appropriateness and how the content resonates with the target audience, whether a locale, country, or region.

In simple terms, translation focuses on the accuracy of language, while localization focuses on the linguistic, social, and cultural nuances. Check out this article to better understand their differences.

Look at the table below:

Aspect Translation Localization
Definition Converts text from one language to another Adapts content to fit cultural nuances and regional preferences
Focus Language Culture and context
Scope Limited to text Includes text, images, format, currency, units, etc.
Objective Ensure linguistic accuracy Ensure cultural relevance and context
Date Format No change Adjusts date format (e.g., MM/DD/YYYY to DD/MM/YYYY)
Visual Elements No change Adapts images to be culturally relevant
Currency No change Converts currency (e.g., USD to EUR)
Audience General language speakers Specific regional or cultural groups
Units of Measure No change Converts units (e.g., pounds to kilograms)

So, at what point do you need translation and localization? The thing is, the two go hand in hand. You can’t localize your content without translating it first. So, translation is part of localization.

To give you a better understanding of how localization differs from translation, let’s look at an example.

Translation:

  • Original Sentence (American English):“The sweater costs $50 and will be shipped on 12/31/2022.”
  • Translation (Spanish without adaptation):“El suéter cuesta $50 y se enviará el 31/12/2022.”

Localization:

  • Localized for Spain:“El jersey cuesta 46 euros y se enviará el 31/12/2022.”
  • Localized for Argentina:“El pulóver cuesta 6,500 pesos argentinos y se enviará el 31/12/2022.”

This example shows how translation converts the text into Spanish while localization adapts it for specific Spanish-speaking regions. Localization addresses currency, date format, and regional vocabulary.

 

Why Maintaining Your Brand Message Across Languages and Cultures Is Important

It’s crucial to be aware of cultural differences in your brand’s markets. Understanding these differences allows you to tailor your brand message to local audiences, avoiding controversy or misinterpretation. Doing so can build stronger relationships and bonds with your customers.

You want to ensure that your brand message is consistent globally across all the different languages and cultures of your target regions.

Take, for instance, Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign. This campaign involved replacing the iconic logo with popular names on the bottles and was a massive success in many countries. However, the brand faced a unique challenge when the campaign was introduced in China.

In China, names are written in various characters, each with different meanings. To ensure the campaign resonated with Chinese consumers, Coca-Cola had to carefully select names and characters that would maintain the campaign’s cheerful and friendly message.

This example shows that while the core message of a campaign can remain the same, the execution needs to be adapted to fit the cultural context of each market.

 

What Types of Content Can Be Localized?

There are several ways you can connect with your target market. The mediums you choose will depend on the unique needs, language, and location of your audience. If you use the right medium and localization strategy, you can increase user satisfaction and create a stronger connection between your users and your brand. This is crucial for the global success of your business. Understanding the different types of content that can be localized will help you take full advantage of localization. Let’s look at some common types, categorized by their medium or channel and by their life span.

Content Localization by Medium or Channel

Website Localization

Website content includes all the public content published on your website, such as blogs, service pages, product descriptions, and landing pages. Localizing website content ensures that your online presence is accessible and engaging to users from different regions, helping you build trust and credibility. This process can involve translating text, localizing images (by including alt text), adapting content to cultural references, and enhancing the overall user experience.

Example: Translate blog posts into multiple languages to reach a broader audience.

 

Product Localization

Product localization covers formal documentation related to your products, such as product specifications, technical documents, reports, and user manuals. Providing accurate and comprehensible information to international employees, clients, and partners is crucial. This involves translating text, adapting technical terminology, converting units of measurement, and ensuring compliance with legal and regulatory requirements in different regions.

Example: Translate user manuals for electronic devices to ensure customers in different regions can understand and use your products easily.

 

Multimedia Localization

Multimedia content includes visual or audio content such as podcasts, videos, social media posts, infographics, and tweets. Localizing multimedia content helps you connect with a global audience by tailoring your message to suit the linguistic and cultural preferences of different regions. This involves translating subtitles, adapting visual elements to reflect local cultural norms, and ensuring the content is accessible to people with different language backgrounds.

Example: Translate subtitles for promotional videos to reach non-English speaking audiences.

 

Web Applications Localization

Localizing content for internal and external web applications, such as HR platforms, intranet systems, Q&A systems for employees, and internal guidelines, ensures that all users, regardless of their location, can use your tools effectively. This involves translating user interfaces, making help and support content available in different languages, and ensuring a consistent user experience across different regions.

Example: Translate the user interface of your HR platform to support employees in different countries.

 

Content Localization by Life-Span

Long-Lived Content

Long-lived content remains relevant and useful for an extended period. Examples include product documentation, evergreen blog posts, and other resources that provide lasting value. Localizing long-lived content ensures it continues to serve its purpose across different regions and languages over time. This type of content often requires thorough translation and adaptation to remain accurate and relevant for years, considering any long-term cultural or regulatory changes.

Example: Translate product documentation that will be used for several years.

 

Short-Lived Content

Short-lived content is consumed quickly and often becomes outdated soon after publication. Examples include social media posts, promotional materials, and news updates. Localizing short-lived content helps maintain its relevance and impact, even if only for a short duration, by making it accessible and engaging to a wider audience. This type of content usually requires rapid translation and adaptation to reach its target audience in a timely manner, considering cultural nuances and current events.

Example: Translate social media posts to engage with followers in different regions.

 

What Are the Benefits of Content Localization?

So far, we have talked about content localization at length, and you probably have more reasons why considering content localization for your business is a great choice. Let’s look at the potential benefits you will enjoy once you localize your content.

Increased Sales and Conversion Rates

Research has proven that if the content or products are in their native language, customers are more likely to purchase. So, translating your content and localizing it to match the cultural background of your target audiences from different regions is one massive step toward attracting more potential customers and making more sales. When the content you deliver is tailored to your local audiences, it dramatically impacts your user engagement. Using this personalized approach will cause your potential customers to take action and cause a significant increase in the conversion metrics.

 

Cultural Relevance

Content localization will help ensure your global audience can fully understand and relate to your message. You can have a well-designed website with high-quality content, but you still have to provide a localized experience that resonates with your customers in different regions. You’ll be able to protect your brand’s image and build trust and loyalty among your international customers.

 

Market Expansion

By localizing your content, you can tailor your content to the linguistic and cultural preferences of different regions, increasing your market reach as you’ll be able to connect with new demographics and open up new opportunities in previously untapped markets. You’ll be able to improve your market presence and growth across diverse geographical areas, increasing the overall market reach.

 

Better Customer Experience

Content localization will help you provide content that aligns with your customers’ cultural preferences. This personalized approach will make your customers feel valued and understood and strengthen your brand’s connection. As a result, your customers will be more likely to be satisfied and loyal.

 

What Are Some Challenges of Content Localization?

Adapting your content, services or product for a specific culture or target language is not a walk in the park. It can be challenging for several reasons. Let’s look at some of these challenges:

Lack of Proper Localization Strategy

Without having a clear plan, it becomes challenging to manage localization projects. Such a situation would often result in missed opportunities in new markets or delays. One way to avoid this is by developing a comprehensive localization strategy that outlines the goals, target markets, timelines and resources for adapting your content to different regions.

 

Regional Variations

Since each region may have unique ways of expression and cultural nuances that impact how they perceive your product or content, overlooking these regional differences in language, culture, and preferences can isolate parts of your target audience. To successfully reach your diverse audiences, you must customize your offerings, including language, product and imagery features, to align with the regional variations and ensure your message resonates across different markets.

 

Inadequate Project Management

If your project management in content localization is inadequate, it can lead to missed deadlines, confusion about roles and responsibilities, and budget overruns. When you have issues present, like communication breakdowns and disorganized workflows, they often indicate ineffective management. So, to avoid such pitfalls, you have to set clear project milestones, follow a defined timeline and regularly update all the stakeholders involved in the localization process.

 

Poor Maintenance

Poor maintenance of content localization can lead to outdated and ineffective localized content. Since localization is an ongoing process, it has to adapt to products and market conditions as they change. One way you can be sure of continuous maintenance is by reviewing and updating your localized content regularly, staying informed of the cultural and language changes, and investing in the right tools for quality localization.

 

Things to Look Out For When Choosing a Content Localization Platform

Now is the time to decide on implementing content localization for your business. Still, you’re confused about which content localization platform to use because you’re unsure what you need. But don’t fret; we are here for you! Let’s quickly review some things you should look for when choosing your content localization platform.

Automatic Translations Customized with Your Terminology

Check out if the content localization platform offers automatic translations that can be customized with your specific terminology. Such capability will ensure your translations align with your brand’s voice and industry-specific language, which will help maintain consistency and accuracy across all your localized content.

Automated Improvements in Linguistic Quality

Look for a platform that automates linguistic quality improvements by reusing previous human translations stored in the translation memory. This feature will help keep the translations accurate and fluent by leveraging the expertise of professional translators to post-edit or polish machine-generated content, such as those produced by neural machine translation software.

Ease of Adding and Engaging Translators and Reviewers

The platform should make it easy to add and engage translators and reviewers to polish the final version of the translation. Such a process for collaborating with linguistic experts will help the content meet the highest quality standards before publication.

Linguistic Quality Assurance Features

Linguistic quality assurance features are equally important to look out for; they automate the recognition and correction of translation errors. They help maintain the integrity of the content by identifying and addressing issues like grammatical errors, cultural inaccuracies, and terminology inconsistencies.

Ease of Integrating Content Systems

The platform should easily integrate your existing content management system (CMS). Such an offering will simplify your content localization process, and updates will be adequately managed without disrupting your current workflows.

Business Features

Look for business features like task assignments, cost calculations, and workflow definitions. These features help proficiently manage the localization project by assigning tasks to specific team members, calculating costs to stay within budget, and defining workflows to simplify the process. So, your localization project will be able to run smoothly from start to finish.

 

What’s next?

For successful content localization, combine professional human translators with advanced automation tools like those offered by TextUnited. A case study shows how CATS, a global applicant tracking system provider, automated 2,274 translation projects and reduced time-to-deployment by 25% using TextUnited’s API. This allowed their developers to focus on their product while ensuring high-quality localized content. If you want to simplify your localization process and achieve similar results, see how TextUnited can help. Sign up and request a demo today to find out how our platform can enhance your localization workflow and connect you with a global audience.

 

Additional Resources

You may find the following resources helpful: