With voters in Spain’s Catalonia region showing support to pro-secessionist parties, in recent elections, the Catalan people have taken one more giant stride towards independence from Spain.

A referendum is being planned, and soon we could see the full independence for the autonomous territory, which has a total population of over seven and a half million and boasts Spain’s second largest city, Barcelona, as its capital.

Although, in a 2009 study, by the government of Catalonia, it was recorded that the majority of Catalonians claim to primarily speak Spanish, there is a large slice, 35%, who speak Catalan. If full autonomy was to be granted to Catalonia, then you would imagine that this percentage would rise further, with nearly 12% already claiming to speak both.

Indeed Catalan, along with Aranese, which is spoke in the Val d’Aran region, is an official language of Spain, alongside, of course, Spanish itself.

Catalan and Translation

The Catalan people, like many others in territories seeking autonomy, are very proud of their culture and thus their language.  Indeed, this spirit has brought a great deal of support to the Catalan football Club, Barcelona, from a number of secessionist countries, such as Kosovo.

With over seven and a half million people, of which just short of 50% speak Catalan, either alone, or in combination with Spanish, this is a prime example of why localization is key within professional translation.

As far back as 1297, the first Catalan Bible was produced, and indeed, in the modern day it is one of Google Translate’s 66 functioning languages.  With such pride, comes the power of communication and connection, which can be harnessed through language.  It is scary to think how many companies are translating their content into Spanish, but not Catalan, and in doing so, missing out on fully connecting to nearly 15% of the total population of Spain.

Why is this important?

Localization services are a crucially important aspect of translation.  One recent study even suggested that approximately 56% of individuals place native tongue ahead of price, when looking for a suitable website, through which to purchase services or goods.  Indeed the percentage of Chinese who claim to feel ‘more comfortable’ with a Chinese language website is an astounding 95%.

Of course, the Catalan example is different to a lot of localization, which revolves, not around independence or secessionism, but rather dialect and culture.

If you look at the ‘global languages’; French, English, and Spanish, in particular, it is immediately apparent that these languages change as the location does.  French, for example, is spoken, as an official language, in 29 countries, as diverse as; Luxembourg, Canada (Quebec), Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.  To take the example of English; it is an official language in an incredible 54 countries, namely; Australia, India, Kenya, Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, to name a few.  You could hardly get more diverse. Spanish, too, presents a similar tale.

All of this contributes to the necessity of localization within translation.  It is not as simple as having French translators and English translators and Spanish translators.  Rather, there needs to be location-specific translation experts within an agency.  The example of Catalan is just the tip of the iceberg and rather highlights the importance of research, as opposed to localization, but all of it comes back to the same thing; the ability to connect.

In Conclusion

The Catalan referendum on independence, if successful, may well lead to an increase in the use of the Catalan language, but it is now that companies need to connect.  Although, of course, Catalan is an autonomous territory, it can be overlooked during the translation process and this results in a failure to connect, or indeed, communicate properly with the population.

Further to this, different dialects of languages, and indeed, different cultures, require a unique approach and specific linguistic and cultural knowledge and expertise.  With an increasingly competitive market, within a wide range of sectors, this is crucial, in order to put you ahead of your competitors.

Every company is aware of the importance of communications, and in the modern, globalized world, multi-lingual connectivity is just as important.  It builds trust, and illustrates respect and positive ethos.  Localization can truly help you to build new networks of clients, customers, friends and partners across the globe.

Accessibility is a fundamental part of any website, and maximising it is key if you wish to maximise your traffic.  Regardless of whether you are offering a service, product, or merely discussing your endless fascination with the life cycle of crane flies, opening your website up to as wide a market as possible is always beneficial.

The internet is a global marketplace; a universal exchange of commodities, thoughts, and ideas.  It is a worldwide revelation, and it is spreading like wildfire to each and every nook and cranny on our planet.  New emerging businesses and established companies are increasingly seeing the internet as their main resource in marketing and communications, and as globalisation connects us humans together like never before, the world is our workplace.

What is Website Localisation?

Simply, website localisation is the linguistic and cultural adaptation of your website from its source country.  It localises your site in multiple locations, and thus enhances its popularity and impact on a global scale. It is far more than professional website translation services as it actually adapts the style and content of the text for specific cultures and locations.

Why Localise my Website?

Global communications tool

First and foremost you should localise your website because the Internet is a global communications tool, and is increasingly accessible to a higher percentage of the world’s population.  Latest statistics suggest that 32.7% of the world’s population are now internet users, which is an incredible 528% rise in 11 years, between 2000 and 2011.

Multi-lingual

Not every individual who visits your site will read it in English.  Many people around the world will use an automated translation service to convert your text into their local tongue.

According to internetworldstats.com (2010), English is still the language most often used when viewing major web pages.  This doesn’t, however, mean that you can consider English as the only necessary language for your website, as in doing so you are closing your site off to numerous other potential visitors.

Other prominent internet languages

The two most prominent languages in use on the internet after English are Chinese and Spanish.  Whereas Spanish and English are both spread throughout multiple locations, Chinese language users are predominantly in China itself.

Cultural sensitivities

As mentioned earlier, there are numerous internet users who will already be viewing your website in a number of languages via automated website translation services.  Although this means that your site is already, to a certain extent, available globally, you may not be putting out the message exactly how you want it.  Indeed you may even be promoting yourself in a way that completely contradicts your initial intentions.

Translating a website word for word, as an automated service will do, does not take into account cultural tastes and sensitivities, and thus doesn’t maximise the global impact your site could have.  By using a professional website localisation service, you ensure that the content of your site is designed specifically for individual cultures as well as languages.

Design

Another reason for localising your website is as a consequence of the negative impact automated translation services can have on the design of your website.  When text is translated into different languages, it may not fill the same space and thus the design can be negatively affected.

So, in conclusion

It is hugely beneficial for any website to be professionally localised, and the positive impact the process will have your flow of traffic more than pays for the service.  Although you can choose to simply localise the core text of your website, it is more beneficial to consider localising everything from titles, logos, and menu bars.  In this way you truly make your website local on a global level, and thus maximise the popularity and impact of your site worldwide.

Mobile phone technology  is taking the African continent by storm, with the number of mobile phone subscribers growing by around 20% each year for the past five years, and the total now at approximately 695 million users.

As well as providing a much better alternative to poor landline connections, many people are also benefitting from the online capabilities of smart phones and their relative low cost when compared to computers.  This is transforming the way that Africans communicate and conduct their business, opening up a whole new realm of possibility.

With this African mobile revolution come many other opportunities for mobile technology exerts, app developers, and professional translation services.  Despite the rapid growth of mobile phone usage, the app market is still very much open wide for entrepreneurs who can take advantage of the newly flourishing market.  There are already highly successful apps supporting businesses and mobile phone banking is a particular favourite.

There are reportedly a billion people in the world who have a mobile phone but no bank account.  Millions of Africans are now using their mobile phones for banking, paying for goods, and multiple business transactions.  It can be used for high flying business men in Africa’s capitals, or indeed farmers purchasing cattle.  It seems far-fetched, but that is the reality today in Africa.  With the incredible rise of ‘apps’, the mobile phone is now a multi-tool that can be adapted for the purposes of any given culture.

Linguistics is one hugely important aspect of Africa’s mobile revolution.  With close to 3000 languages spoken natively on the continent, it is imperative that new technologies are accessible to as many of Africa’s mobile phone users as possible.   This opens up two rather large doors.  One is the necessity for apps to be translated into a variety of tongues allowing it to spread throughout the continent, and the second is for a professional translation agency to develop apps specifically for translations within the African market, or indeed to add African languages to their current database.

Nigeria is a prime example of why this is so important.  There are an incredible 521 languages catalogued in Nigeria alone, putting it third in the list of most languages spoken in one country, after Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.  It also boasts the highest number of mobile phone subscribers in Africa, with 93 million users, or 16 % of the continents total users, and the second largest GDP in Africa, after South Africa.  In combination, all of these facts mean that there is a huge market open to mobile phone apps, and in particular those which can be accessed by as many of the 162 million Nigerians as possible.

The mobile phone industry in Africa continues to grow, and with it comes an incredible opportunity.  There are so many, as yet untapped business and social markets just waiting to be explored, and with it comes great growth and profit.  As with any industry growing on such a global scale, the importance of linguistics is key to the success of any new business, and with that the limitations are, well, limited.

The world is virtually shrinking.  The relentless rise of both the internet and mobile telecommunications has seen people connected in every corner of the globe.  It has created friendships and cross-cultural bonds, united people, and somehow brought the human race a little closer together.  Having myself travelled extensively last year, I now boast Facebook friends in Sudan and Syria, Malawi and Montenegro, from the banks of the Nile to the Red Sea.  It is incredible.  Each and every time I log on, I am connected to this awe-inspiring network of people I have met, and places I have been.

There is, however, a flip side; a slightly more serious element to this new modern-age ease of communication.  International relations has both benefitted and suffered in equal measure.  Human rights can no longer be anything but universal.  We, in the ‘developed world’ are now virtual flies on the walls of culturally alien states and vice versa.  There is no longer a real sense of cultural divide, but rather a western created myth of the ideal.  We of course represent that, and the rest are simply playing catch up.  This imposing of our views and culture, this ego-centred and control driven masquerade of diplomacy usually ends in only one way; confusion.

To add to this melting pot of cultural uncertainty and over saturation, we have an obscene number of global languages.  The bible has been at least part translated into 2508 different languages, and ‘Ethnologue’, an SIL International publication in 2009, listed a mind-boggling 6909 distinct global languages.  Although translation services probably only deal with around 100-200 of these languages on a regular basis, the potential for misinterpretation is massive.  Sometimes resulting in humorous travel anecdotes, on occasions, however, the consequences can be much more severe.

Coca-Cola famously had an awkward entrance into the Chinese market, when they printed thousands of advertisement placards saying ‘Ke-kou-ke-la’ or ‘Bite the wax tadpole’.  After researching the extensive list of Chinese characters, they eventually converted to a similarly phonetic phrase of ‘ko-kou-ko-le’, which loosely translated as ‘happiness in the mouth’.  One of my personal favourites is the repetitive occurrence of the chicken dish ‘Gordon Blue’ on restaurant menus around the world.  It is a simple mistake, but one that always manages to raise a slightly guilty smile, as I indirectly mock someone for putting just one letter out of place.

Occasionally it is colloquialisms that cause the most humour and confusion.   Phrases that often make no rational sense even in their original language can mean something entirely different when translated.  It is often advertising slogans that suffer at the hands of such cross-language confusions, and listed below are a few famous examples.

Advertising slogans gone wrong

KFC:

Original slogan – ‘Finger lickin’ good’.

Chinese translation – ‘We’ll eat your fingers off’.

Coors:

Original slogan – ‘Turn it loose’.

Spanish translation – ‘Suffer from Diarrhoea’.

Pepsi

Original slogan – ‘We bring you back to life’.

Chinese translation – ‘We bring your ancestors back from the grave’.

The list goes on, leaving a trail of language related confusion in its wake.  Sometimes even entire cities are lost in translation.  An English language book translation of an Israeli tour guide recently stated ‘Jerusalem: There is no such city’.  Rather than the original Hebrew version of ‘Jerusalem: There is no city like it’.  Not exactly the best way to attract more tourists.

The even more sinister side of mistranslations, however, often come in the realm of politics, and has at times been incredibly destructive.  It is believed that a misinterpretation of the then Japanese Premier’s response to the US threat towards the end of World War II, resulted in the catastrophic Atom bomb attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  When faced with questions from news reporters regarding the warning of imminent destruction from the US, Suzuki simply replied ‘no comment’, as he hadn’t yet had time to plan a considered response.  It was, however, mistranslated in the press as ‘not worthy of comment’, and interpreted as a further sign of Japan’s desire to fight on.  Language itself can often be the cause of war and destruction.

Today the internet has brought with it a large number of online translation services, necessary to enhance the potential of global communications.  As we can see from the examples above, the quality and nous of such services needs to be of a high standard, if it is to avoid insult, confusion, embarrassment, and even destruction.

Small and medium business enterprises are always looking for fresh avenues they can go down to find new audiences and it’s no secret that using the internet is one of the best ways to do this. Internet marketing is highly targeted, which means that it often has a much greater reach than traditional advertising methods such as newspapers and radio ads, and of course, it’s almost always cheaper.

Even so, a website can only take a business so far – there are only so many potential customers out there searching for your products and services online, and once you’ve reached the number one spot on search engines, where do you go from there?

The logical answer, of course, is to target foreign markets, and to do so, you’re going to need to chat them up, and do it well.

Hittin’ on Them

Chatting people up sounds easy right?

Well, only if you’re fluent in multiple languages or your translator knows what he or she’s doing. The thing to remember is that there’s more to translating a website than simply changing the text from English to Chinese, or whatever language it is that you’re targeting. Just as with romantic relationships, things are not always that simple!

Even if your company website is successful at home, there’s a very good chance that translating your site’s content word-for-word into the target language won’t be able to replicate that success. You see, you’re forgetting one essential element – website localization.

When translating your website – or when hitting on a girl for that matter – you need to think carefully about the ‘target audience’ and what kind of ‘content’ is appropriate for them. Sure, the overall message needs to remain the same, but the method of delivery will almost certainly be different each time.

The way in which a website speaks to its audience isn’t that different from how you would approach a girl in the bar – in both cases, you have one chance to impress, so you’d better make sure your chat-up line is not just a good one, but also an appropriate one.

Translated websites need to be made linguistically and culturally appropriate for the target audience, just as your chat-up line would need to be ‘toned down’ somewhat if you’re trying to hit on a girl in a more conservative country. As far as your website goes, the only way to ensure this happens is by having the translation done by an experienced, native language speaking copywriter who is familiar with the marketing techniques used in that country.

So don’t go presuming that just any old translation agency can do the job for your website. You need to be sure they have what it takes to ‘impress’ your target audience in a way that leaves them totally dazzled – just like you do when you’re hitting on girls at the bar!

Thanks to its global popularity, there are few easier ways to reach out to consumers than through the internet. The World Wide Web has caused a revolution in international business, allowing entrepreneurs from every walk of life, big and small, to successfully engage with overseas audiences. Simply put, the opportunities to reach out on the internet know no bounds, but there are many challenges to be faced if one is to successfully penetrate a foreign market.

Website localization is key to everything – or translating your website and making its content culturally and linguistically appropriate for the target audience.

Who to Target?

First things first, we need to know which markets to focus on. It may be that you already have a specific target language in mind, if for example, you’re in the business of selling Chinese joss sticks, then it would make sense to target Chinese-speaking nations.

For those without a specific target market in mind however, it’s often better to play the numbers game. Taking a look at the latest figures from Internet World Stats, we can clearly see that there are ten languages which dominate the internet by a clear margin:

Looking at the table above it’s apparent that anyone looking to establish a global presence simply has to take a proactive approach in localizing their website for multiple markets.

The above markets are important, for the simple reason that together they encompass almost 82% of all internet users online today. Translate your English language site into the next nine most common languages and suddenly you’ll be visible to three times as many users.

Even more compelling – several surveys have shown that as many as 90% of users, when they search for something online, do so using their native language. A growing number of businesses are already catching on to this, so much so that website localization has become one of the trends to watch this year.

The Art of Website Localization

Never make the mistake of thinking that localization is easy. There’s more to it than simply translating the text into the target language and hoping for the best. Content doesn’t just have to be translated, but it also needs to be made relevant to the target market, which means using colloquial terms and, where possible, a context that local readers will be able to relate to, to achieve maximum impact.

The website has to be localized from a visual aspect too. This is where many businesses make fatal errors, failing to realize that an image or ‘look and feel’ that is fine in their own country, is inappropriate or possibly even offensive in another culture. For example, an image of a scantily clad woman might go down pretty well in the UK or the US, but the majority of Saudi Arabian viewers probably wouldn’t appreciate this approach.

More than just images, the style of a website must also fit. We need to consider local tastes. An obvious example is the Japanese, who tend to prefer cluttered websites with multiple colors, while UK and US audiences prefer a cleaner, simpler look.

Finally there are technical aspects, such as using a country-specific domain name. Users in Japan are much more likely to visit (and trust) a website that has a .jp domain.

The Importance of SEO Translation

One of the most overlooked aspects of website translation is search engine optimization. Many webmasters seem to think that localization and SEO translation are one and the same thing, but in fact, they couldn’t be more different.

Whilst localization is done to make a website appeal to humans, SEO translation is done to make the site visible to search engines. Let’s not forget, over 90% of internet users will be searching in their own language, and to be found, the fundamentals of your website’s SEO structure needs to be accurately translated – something that goes beyond just translating keyword, but also key attributes such as meta tags, script messages, anchor texts, image captions, file names and so on.

The benefits of SEO translation are the same as the benefits of localization. Quite simply, one cannot live without the other. Your website needs to be visible, and it must appeal the target audience.

As Willy Brandt put it:

“If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann müssen sie Deutsch sprechen”

Localization of software is necessary for greater acceptance of the product by users in different geographic territories. Only when prospective users get the impression that the software product has been developed to cater to their local requirements, they take the initiative to learn and use it. Although a major activity, the localization process can be made easy by using the right resources and the methodology. A look at some useful tips on software localization may be beneficial.

• Analysis of the localization requirements before you begin is crucial. Make a list of all the problem areas that need localization support. This will enable you to allocate the right team and resources.
• Simulate a translation and testing project so that all issues related to localization are revealed at the initial stages of the project.
• Standard resources and file formats should be the norm for your software development. If you use a consistent structure for all your programs, then it would be easy to know which text is to be translated. You can also make use of translation tools in the first round of localization effort which can be then reviewed and corrected.
• Translation memory tools can contribute in expediting your localization process in a major way. These tools build a repository of phrases, sentences and paragraphs and help in providing a consistent translation approach while reducing the translation time.
• A style guide and terminology should be clearly defined in the beginning so that all the localized software versions have the same look and feel.
• Have a localization project plan where the duration of the text translation phase is less than the complete project time. Testing and incorporating feedback should be allocated enough time and resources. Also provide for time to incorporate last minute software updates.
• Ensure that the entire team is aware of the project methodology and central resources. Seamless coordination and information flow is necessary for the success of any localization project.

Creating, developing and launching a product to serve the needs of a customer are a long drawn process that requires several inputs in terms of effort, time, energy, finances and creativity. The whole cycle is the culmination of activities of a number of people working on this activity who have put in their best efforts to produce a great product with exceptional features. It is important that your product is understood by your potential customers and users so that they can appreciate its features. One of the common mistakes made by companies is to spend a lot of effort in developing the product and not giving adequate emphasis to ensure that the product is marketed to potential customers. This mistake turns to be very costly if you are planning to market your product in foreign territories where people are not familiar with the language in which your product has been originally developed.

Translating product user manuals is not sufficient to ensure that you have done your bit to reach customers speaking a foreign language. If you decide to translate a website and your website has a couple of different linguistic versions, then it conveys that you are a firm with a global outlook. When you translate webpage you are opening several channels of communication with millions of potential customers around the world. You are thus providing multiple pathways to receive important customer feedback and valuable business enquiries. You also come to know customer preferences based on linguistic categories. This information is useful in developing different versions of your product tailored to the needs of customers speaking different languages.

Make sure that your product speaks your clients’ language in a direct, simple and effective manner. The quality and expertise of skills needed to translate website goes a long way in determining the acceptance and credibility of your product eventually.

With the increasing trend towards global commerce, localization is gaining in importance for all product and service providers who desire to conquer foreign markets. Although they have established know how and skills regarding the business domain they operate in, it is necessary to package and present the final product or service with a local flavor. Localization is needed not only for better user acceptance of translation services, but also to reduce the time and effort needed to launch a new product or service in a foreign region. While effort is on to standardize a given product or service as a result of globalization and blurring boundaries between different geographic regions of the world, there is an equal measure of effort dedicated to present the standardized product in what appears to be a locally accepted form. This calls for translation services needed for the associated documentation, media campaigns, business promotion material, user manuals and training modules for employees, dealers and representatives.
Localization involves much more than translation services. It requires a different set of skills, experience and expertise comprising of a fair amount of understanding and knowledge of local traditions, customs and behavioral patterns too. All this tacit knowledge is captured in a localization project. While nobody can accurately predict the manner and direction in which localization services are likely to grow, some of the expected localization trends that are likely to emerge in 2012 are briefly discussed here.

• More dependence on software tools to help and improve the localization process is expected to happen. This is likely because there is a stiff competition for launching new products and the time available is really short. Translation services have to rely on tools based on fuzzy logic, such as translation memory based software to achieve quick localization of products.
• Higher networking, cooperation and coordination will be required for localization because there will be several parties who can add value to a localization project. The emphasis will shift towards better project management techniques and outsourcing based business models.
• A good number of people will be encouraged to take up linguistic skill based employment considering the vast opportunities available currently. Whether this rapidly growing trend will be sustainable in future too, is a big question.
• Businesses interested in entering foreign markets will have to make considerable investment in localization. The localization process will have to make use of the local talent and resources.
• There will be a good deal of emphasis on the quality of translation services. Merely cutting down costs at the cost of quality will prove to be detrimental to the long term interests of the business.
• Awareness regarding local culture, tradition, behavior and habits will rise and this will help in high quality of localization services.

ComTranslations offers comprehensive localization services designed to meet all your requirements. Contact us today for a personalized quotation.