Software localization is all about creating a better product-market fit. At the end of the day, you could have the best software in the world but if 40% of internet users would never buy from a website that doesn’t have content in their native language, what are the chances that they would use your software?
With all the software options on the market today, it’s imperative to create a seamless experience for your users. Otherwise, you risk losing customers, increasing your churn rate, and slowing growth.
The good news is, software localization can help you decrease churn through better customer engagement, increase your user base, and improve credibility.
For now, though, let’s dive into the nuts and bolts of software localization.
What is software localization?
Software localization involves modifying certain aspects of a piece of software, such as language, formatting and conventions (e.g. addresses, dates, time), and imagery. The purpose of modifying the backtesting software is to better adapt to cultural nuances, consumer beliefs and values, and regional slang and customs.
As you can see, software localization goes much further than simple translation. Localization molds and modifies an international product into one that could’ve been created locally, resulting in better reception from the audience.
What does software localization involve?
Software localization requires multiple steps that ensure the quality of the end result. These steps include software content analysis, UI testing, and, of course, any language translations that need to be completed.
Let’s break down these steps further.
Software content analysis
Planning is a crucial part of software localization. By examining the different aspects of the software, localizers can determine which elements need localizing. Some common aspects that localizers need to change include help documents, graphics and imagery, and even the UI.
By cataloging all these aspects in advance, the software localizers can create an efficient workflow and not miss any important details.
Internationalization (i18n)
Internationalization is crucial if this is the first time localizing your software. By internationalizing your software you can more easily localize your software for each new market that you target.
The process of internationalization involves separating your source code from any elements that may need modification in the future. i18n creates a foundation that you can re-use to save time with localization.
Hard-coded text makes software localization more time-consuming as each change will have to be made manually. That’s why a major focus of internationalization is swapping out any hard-coded text and replacing them with variables. As an added bonus, utilizing more variables reduces the chance for human error.
Finally, you’ll want to make any necessary changes to your software’s UI. These changes should focus on automatically accommodating text that’s in other languages. For example, languages like Arabic and Hebrew are read from right-to-left as opposed to left-to-right like the one you’re reading right now.
Client’s Brief
Giving your software localizers a solid brief is the key to getting the outcome you want. After all, software localizers aren’t mind readers!
Your brief should make the localizers aware of the tone and intent behind the content in your software. On top of this, it’s a good idea to provide any industry or software-specific keywords that may not be common knowledge for the localizers.
In a nutshell, your brief should cover as much detail as possible about how you’d like the end result to be. Make sure to consider all aspects of your software when you’re creating your brief so that nothing is left out.
Quality control (QC)
Implementing strict quality control measures is important for efficient software localization. There should be multiple QC checks throughout the process that focus on different aspects of the project. For example, there should be a QC check to ensure translation accuracy, another for ensuring consistency with the software, and yet another to make sure every aspect of the localized software runs as it should.
All these checks ensure that the software localizers catch any errors or oversights before they lead to large delays.
Cohesion analysis
Finally, it’s important to conduct a cohesion analysis of the localized software. While everything may run smoothly on a technical level, it’s important to analyze the user experience. In the cohesion analysis, localizers ensure that every aspect of your software communicates the same message. They’ll also do a final check to make sure that all content fits with your target users’ beliefs and values.
Software localization is a must for global audiences
There’s no getting past it, consumers around the globe value authentic, tailored experiences. And since 40% of consumers wouldn’t even consider buying your software unless it was in their language, you’d be leaving money on the table. Or even flushing it down the drain through wasted marketing efforts.
That doesn’t need to be the case, though. Here at Day Translations, we provide end-to-end localization services so that every aspect of your business, from your software to your marketing efforts, can match your target audience.
Give us a call on 1-800-969-6853 to learn how our full-stack localization services can help your business.