Why you need to tweak your content to suit different cultures

You might hear the term ‘localization’ being used by a translation company, but what does it actually mean, and why do you need it?

What is localization?

At its simplest, localization (often confusingly abbreviated to ‘l10n’ – the ‘10’ simply stands for the number of letters that have been removed from the middle of the word!) is the process of editing translated content to suit a local audience, according to its linguistic or cultural needs. While translation deals with the words, the grammar and the structure of a sentence, localization goes one step further and ensures the content is suited to its viewers in a specific country or culture.

Dates, weights and measures

When great localization happens, you simply don’t notice it. Take for example something as simple as the date. Here in the UK, we’re used to reading it as DD/MM/YYYY. For decades, and especially, since the rise of the internet and globalization, our friends across the pond in the USA are used to writing it as MM/DD/YYYY. It’s a fairly simple change, but an important one. It could mean the difference between your clients turning up on the right day for your product launch or not! Some of the more obvious differences involve currency, time/date formats and weights and measures, but localization is often much more subtle and nuanced.

Layout and colour matter too!

In different cultures, your layout and even your colour scheme matter. A one-size-fits-all approach is just not going to work. What looks great in English could look quite literally backwards to a country whose language reads from right-to-left like Hebrew or Urdu. Even different colours can have extremely different meanings. Here in the West, white can signify peace and pureness, whereas in China, white is associated with death and mourning. You can find a great colour chart with their meanings across the world here Getting them wrong can really alienate your customers, so it’s more important than ever to get it right.

Why is it so important?

Localization is so important because it’s just so easy to get it wrong. And when companies get it wrong, they get it really wrong. One of the major localization fails involved global mega-giant Coca-Cola. When they were breaking into China, they didn’t realise the phonetic pronunciation sounded a lot like ‘bite the wax tadpole’. Eventually it was changed, but at what cost? If a huge multi-national corporation like Coca-Cola can get it wrong, the pitfalls for the small and medium businesses can be huge. Not only could it cost you potential new customers, but having to shell out more hard-earned cash to fix a mistake that should never have been made in the first place is not something any business owner wants.

How can a translation company ensure my project is localised properly?

Any decent translation company will use only native-speaking translators who translate into their mother tongue. Here at Reflective Source, our qualified native-speaking translators are best placed to recognise the subtle changes your project will need to appeal to their particular local market. They know how to speak to your customers, and will ensure you don’t make any embarrassing cultural faux pas, whatever the language. If you want to discuss your localization project with us, drop us a line today.