Localize and Truly Go Global
Almost every business has heard the term “globalization” and the advantages of reaching out to world markets. Many are indeed doing so. However, effectively selling a product overseas requires more than just finding a local distributor or creating a Spanish-language “About Us” link on a Web site. What is less frequently understood is the importance of truly “localizing,” or adapting, content or a product to meet the linguistic, cultural, and other requirements of a target market. This is a process that differs from “internationalization,” which is generalizing a product so that it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions without the need for redesign. Localization involves tailoring a product to a specific market, in a process that goes beyond mere translation. Businesses that incorporate a localization component early on in their global strategy will be positioned far more competitively than businesses that do not.
Localization of a product involves translation, but it takes that a step further to address cultural or other issues specific to a locale. Measurement units, such as kilometres or miles, are an obvious area requiring adjustment. Other areas are often less apparent, such as the use of different notational conventions for writing time, date, numbers, currency, etc. The date is written in the sequence YY/MM/DD in Japan but is written MM/DD/YY in the United States; a failure to adapt to this convention (e.g., 02/03/04 in Japan and the U.S. mean two completely different things) could lead to confusion and perhaps even cause serious problems. Knowledge of a country’s social and cultural idiosyncrasies is also critical. Certain jokes, symbols, or colours that are completely acceptable in the United States may cause offence in a foreign market, or vice versa.
Localization may be particularly important for companies that have a significant on-line presence, engage in business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, or sell software and other information technology products overseas. By 2005, it is estimated that only a third of all Internet users worldwide will be English speakers. Despite this, over 96 percent of all e-commerce Web sites are currently available only in English. According to Forrester Research, businesses that present their Web sites solely in English are losing up to $10 million in potential sales per year. In addition, statistics indicate that a customer is twice as likely to stay at a Web site, and four times as likely to purchase goods or services if the site is in his or her native language.
On-line, there are cultural and social issues to consider. For instance, in many places around the world there is still a reluctance to use credit cards for on-line transactions. Alternative payment mechanisms, specific to that market, must be found and made available. People are also understandably more comfortable dealing with amounts in their local currencies as opposed to U.S. dollars. Even the colour scheme of a Web site or product must be examined, since colours have different cultural associations in different countries. Given the nature of the competitive global marketplace, a localized Web site that successfully addresses such language and cultural issues (as opposed to potentially causing offence) will clearly attract and retain more customers than one that does not.
Supporting local languages and content may also require redesign and reengineering of a Web site or product. For example, letters that can be represented by a single byte (the common unit of computer storage) in a modern Roman alphabet often require two bytes in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and other languages that use a non-Western writing system. These alphabets are known as double byte character sets, or DBCSs. Another technical issue is whether a Web site is able to support a bi-directional language, such as Arabic or Hebrew, where the words may be read from left to right, or even up to down. Adapting a Web site (or other product) to these writing systems will frequently require changes to the code or product design.
Globalization and the growing complexities of localization, in both technical and non-technical spheres, have driven the growth of the localization industry. Estimates of the size of the industry range from $11 to $30 billion, with strong returns on investment for localizing companies. The 20 largest IT companies annually leverage total localization expenditures of around $1.5 billion to generate sales in excess of $50 billion. There is a diverse array of service providers that can be classified as comprising the localization industry, including translation or language tool vendors, software engineers, and consultants.
Localization is still too often seen as an afterthought, so each time businesses move into a new market they have to frequently start the process over from scratch. This slows the entire process down, creates duplication of effort, and is a waste of resources. It is critical that companies include localization as part of their globalisation strategy from the beginning. Taking a long-term perspective on localization could save businesses money in repeated effort and duplicated workload.
Almost every business has heard the term “globalization” and the advantages of reaching out to world markets. Many are indeed doing so. However, effectively selling a product overseas requires more than just finding a local distributor or creating a Spanish-language “About Us” link on a Web site. What is less frequently understood is the importance of truly “localizing,” or adapting, content or a product to meet the linguistic, cultural, and other requirements of a target market. This is a process that differs from “internationalization,” which is generalizing a product so that it can handle multiple languages and cultural conventions without the need for redesign. Localization involves tailoring a product to a specific market, in a process that goes beyond mere translation. Businesses that incorporate a localization component early on in their global strategy will be positioned far more competitively than businesses that do not.
Localization of a product involves translation, but it takes that a step further to address cultural or other issues specific to a locale. Measurement units, such as kilometres or miles, are an obvious area requiring adjustment. Other areas are often less apparent, such as the use of different notational conventions for writing time, date, numbers, currency, etc. The date is written in the sequence YY/MM/DD in Japan but is written MM/DD/YY in the United States; a failure to adapt to this convention (e.g., 02/03/04 in Japan and the U.S. mean two completely different things) could lead to confusion and perhaps even cause serious problems. Knowledge of a country’s social and cultural idiosyncrasies is also critical. Certain jokes, symbols, or colours that are completely acceptable in the United States may cause offence in a foreign market, or vice versa.
Localization may be particularly important for companies that have a significant on-line presence, engage in business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) transactions, or sell software and other information technology products overseas. By 2005, it is estimated that only a third of all Internet users worldwide will be English speakers. Despite this, over 96 percent of all e-commerce Web sites are currently available only in English. According to Forrester Research, businesses that present their Web sites solely in English are losing up to $10 million in potential sales per year. In addition, statistics indicate that a customer is twice as likely to stay at a Web site, and four times as likely to purchase goods or services if the site is in his or her native language.
On-line, there are cultural and social issues to consider. For instance, in many places around the world there is still a reluctance to use credit cards for on-line transactions. Alternative payment mechanisms, specific to that market, must be found and made available. People are also understandably more comfortable dealing with amounts in their local currencies as opposed to U.S. dollars. Even the colour scheme of a Web site or product must be examined, since colours have different cultural associations in different countries. Given the nature of the competitive global marketplace, a localized Web site that successfully addresses such language and cultural issues (as opposed to potentially causing offence) will clearly attract and retain more customers than one that does not.
Supporting local languages and content may also require redesign and reengineering of a Web site or product. For example, letters that can be represented by a single byte (the common unit of computer storage) in a modern Roman alphabet often require two bytes in Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and other languages that use a non-Western writing system. These alphabets are known as double byte character sets, or DBCSs. Another technical issue is whether a Web site is able to support a bi-directional language, such as Arabic or Hebrew, where the words may be read from left to right, or even up to down. Adapting a Web site (or other product) to these writing systems will frequently require changes to the code or product design.
Globalization and the growing complexities of localization, in both technical and non-technical spheres, have driven the growth of the localization industry. Estimates of the size of the industry range from $11 to $30 billion, with strong returns on investment for localizing companies. The 20 largest IT companies annually leverage total localization expenditures of around $1.5 billion to generate sales in excess of $50 billion. There is a diverse array of service providers that can be classified as comprising the localization industry, including translation or language tool vendors, software engineers, and consultants.
Localization is still too often seen as an afterthought, so each time businesses move into a new market they have to frequently start the process over from scratch. This slows the entire process down, creates duplication of effort, and is a waste of resources. It is critical that companies include localization as part of their globalisation strategy from the beginning. Taking a long-term perspective on localization could save businesses money in repeated effort and duplicated workload.
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