Localization Services
You may have heard the term localization when talking to a translation company. So what does this term actually mean within translation services?
Well, put simply, translation focuses on the words, the grammar and the tone of voice within a piece of content, whether it is a document translation or translating a phrase from English into Hebrew.
Localization, on the other hand, is where the linguist goes one-step further than a direct language translation and starts to take into account other factors that will influence the target audience, such as style, colour and imagery.
This might seem like an unnecessary step, but imagine you made a similar mistake to baby food manufacturer Gerber, where a baby is featured on the label. This was fine in countries with high literacy rates but in some small African countries, where labels on food packaging depicts exactly what is inside the tin, this caused a lot of confusion as you can imagine!
Other things that need to be considered are slogan translations where suggestive wording might be too subtle or in fact cause major offence. Using in-country, native speaking linguists means that words, phrases, images and slogans that will not work in the target language and may even cause offence will be picked out and a sensible alternative will be recommended. This would have been useful when Pepsi’s “Come alive with the Pepsi generation” was translated as, “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead”.
Website localization
When our customers approach us about website translation then we often recommend localization as this will ensure images and themes will be engaging for the end users. For example, if a website is targeting both Russian and Jamaican customers then it is probably best to avoid a snowy theme on your January sale items page. Similarly, you would not target countries within the United Arab Emirates with a brochure featuring women in revealing clothing.
Colours can also cause all sorts of problems so using a particular colour in your logo or throughout the pages of your website translation or in a marketing brochure can be a major competitive disadvantage. White in Japan suggests mourning while Red in China is assumed an indication of success.
There is therefore a huge amount to consider when you first speak to your friendly translation company about translating into another language and this is where you need to be engaging with an experienced team of language experts. They can help work out the service that you actually require. Find out more about website translation and localization here.
In addition to website localization, we offer a number of dedicated localization services to meet your language needs. Simply click on the tabs at the tabs at the top of the page to find out more about:
- Software localization
- Localization for online gaming
- iPhone app localization
If you are interested in one of our localization services, please contact enquiries@appliedlanguage.com
The iPhone is localized to 31 different languages and available in 94 different countries, so why restrict your Apps to the English speaking market?
Getting your application translated will give you global exposure and access to millions more potential users.
Take Your iPhone App to the World
Whether you already have a successful iPhone App and want to open it up to a whole new audience or you’re developing a completely new application, we can help with all your language requirements.
We can work with any size of App translation, from the translation of a few text strings into one language, to a full localization and testing project into multiple languages.
Our experienced linguists and project managers have worked on software localization projects for some of the world’s biggest technology companies for many years. They can translate from any source language into any of the following languages currently supported by the iPhone, which are:
| English (U.S) | English (UK) | Spanish | Brazilian Portuguese (UK) |
| Japanese | Russian | Polish | Turkish |
| French | German | Portuguese | Danish |
| Ukrainian | Arabic | Thai | Czech |
| Traditional Chinese | Simplified Chinese | Swedish | Finnish |
| Greek | Hebrew | Indonesian | Malay |
| Dutch | Italian | Norwegian | Korean |
| Romanian | Slovak | Croatian |