When deciding to enter new markets, many businesses start with localization services. And forget about internationalization. However, success in new markets combines
well-prepared internationalization and localization strategies. Integrating localization and internationalization is essential to reach the right people.
Localization and internationalization can help increase search traffic by 47% and boost website visits by 70%. That’s why implementing website localization services into your business development strategy is a must step, not just a nice-to-have thing.
Let’s take a closer look at how localization and internationalization differ.
What Is Internationalization?
Internationalization, abbreviated as i18n, refers to the process of making products and services more adaptable to easy localization. Internationalization is more about a technical process so that you design and develop software in a way to quickly adapt and localize it, if needed, to different languages.
It’s the process of neutralizing your code, content, and design to adapt your product to other cultures without completely re-engineering it. During internationalization, the main task is to make elements from source code or content easily localizable. It often means removing hard-coded texts or visuals. Usually, developers create separate databases or language resource files for every locale.
Example of Internationalization:
One of the best examples of internationalization is incorporating Unicode into your product. Unicode stands for Universal Character Encoding. It’s a set of all characters in practically all languages in the world. It allows your software to work on many platforms and languages without crushes.
For instance, Unicode allows both right-to-left and left-to-right symbols, which makes it easier to enter Arabic markets.
Thus, teams that want to make their products better and more adaptable for future localization should consider incorporating Unicode.
What Is Localization?
Localization is the adaptation of a product for different markets, languages, and cultural contexts. It is important to remember that localization isn’t a word-for-word translation but the creation of authentic content for new markets.
Localization aims to create a version of your product that will sound and look local to foreign audiences. Your localized product should look like it was designed specifically for this market.
Is Internationalization Included In the Localization Process?
As we mentioned, localization is not a simple translation into a foreign language.
Internationalization is one of the parts of the localization process, together with quality assurance. Internationalization is the first step teams must take to make the localization process smooth and effective.
The product internationalization process is a localizable product, while the outcome of localization is a fully adapted website.
Things to Remember During Internationalization and Localization
Device types. Not everywhere, iPhones are the most popular mobile phone. For instance, iOS is a dominating system in the U.S.A. and Japan, while in India, only 5% of the population use iPhones. It would help to consider this factor when designing your app or website. Also, remember that people surf the Internet on their mobile phones rather than desktops. Thus it’s needed to create mobile-adapted websites.
Date formats. Adapting formats to new markets is crucial, as 07/06/2022 means different days in Europe and the U.S.A. Don’t forget to adjust the time and data format to make your product more convenient for your users.
Visuals. Images should also be localized if your website looks native in many regions. If you have any photos, try to use pictures with models that look local to the foreign market. Also, pay attention to color schemes: some colors might have different meanings in various countries.
User interface. Considering how your website will look in many languages during internationalization would be best. Some languages, like German or French, require more space, while Japanese or Chinese have shorter sentences than English. Thus, while designing your mobile version, leave enough space on the buttons not to see text running out from your button.
Customer support. Localized customer service can hugely impact your success in a new market. About 70% of customers say that support in their native language increases brand loyalty, and about 60% are likelier to stick around even if they have problems with the product. It would be best if you considered creating multilingual customer service regarding the audience’s time zones.
If you don’t have a lot of resources, you can start with creating a multilingual F.A.Q. pages with all possible questions and answers your users might have.
Choose professional TMS. One of the things that can ease your localization process is a professional Translation management System (T.M.S.). T.M.S. helps you to manage all content localization in one place. It automates and streamlines the localization workflow, and your localized content will be stored in one space. You won’t need to have many files for various locales or a lot of emails or chats in different messengers. Also, you can create glossaries and translation memory to make your translation even faster.
Bottom Line
Internationalization and localization go hand in hand with each other. Localizing your product effectively and smoothly is impossible without proper previous internationalization.
