As you prepare to take your product into a global market, it is vitally important to understand the value of both accurate translation and localization for your target audience. Simple word-for-word translation won’t suffice, since it doesn’t reflect regional and cultural sensitivities.
Mistakes in translation are a potential source of lost business, whether due to inadvertent insult, cultural misunderstanding, or a message that misses the mark. Proper localization can give your company a competitive edge, enhance your brand image, and reduce potential liability.
Here are three reasons why localization is important for your international translations.
Localization Makes International Translations Clear to Your Target Audience
Translation localization goes beyond direct translation. It’s about carefully adapting content to resonate with a culture and include local language nuances.
Companies often spend millions of dollars creating global marketing campaigns, only to discover their message translates into something that wasn’t intended. This often results in comical, or even offensive, translations.
A common situation in international translations occurs when source materials are translated into Spanish. Spanish spoken in Spain and Spanish spoken in Latin America have extensive variations in vocabulary and even in grammar.
Something that is easily understood in Seville may present difficulty for audiences in Bogota or Panama City. While differences may be small, they must still be addressed—otherwise, you risk having your message misunderstood and lost trust in your brand.
Preparing a neutral version of translated material can make it easier and more economical to communicate in any Spanish-speaking country.
If your company does business in multiple Spanish-speaking countries, neutral localization can serve as a powerful marketing and business tool that ensures your message is correctly understood, regardless of geography.
At ILS, we are properly equipped to handle your business localization issues and help you simplify the process.
Localized International Translations Can Increase Your Customer Base
Adapting your existing products or services to new markets is vitally important for global expansion. Localization decreases the cultural barrier for new customers and allows them to more easily learn about your products, increasing your customer base.
KFC, for example, has noticed a rapid expansion of business in China, thanks to localizing their products to suit the extensive tastes of the Chinese market.
Examples like this demonstrate how effective localization can decrease the time it takes to enter coveted new markets.
Customers are more likely to spread the word about a new product, and companies see improvements in engagement and market share from a more diverse clientele. From a business point of view, it means getting a competitive advantage through rapid, flexible, and effective product launches.
Not Localizing Early Can Spell Disaster for Your International Translations
Many companies don’t concern themselves with translation localization, failing to recognize this important facet of marketing communication. Too often, they only realize their mistake when the damage is already done and find themselves scrambling to correct their message or retranslate documents. This costs companies time and money that could’ve been saved had they used a vendor providing proper localization the first time around.
Failing to include localization into your project from the start will likely impact your budget. Because budgets are normally set during the early stages of a project, having to retranslate to correct localization oversights can end up costing you a lot more than originally planned. To avoid spending months or even years fixing localization bugs, it’s vitally important to have your international communications localized as part of the translation process.
Regardless of where you do business, it’s crucial that your international translation conveys your message accurately and recognizes your target market’s cultural nuances.
At ILS, we can customize international translations to suit your specific target audience or create more neutral, internationalized versions that can easily be understood across all geographic locales.
