8 Strategies to Simplify Localization
The extensive scope of localization and the criticalities involved in it often prove overwhelming for companies, especially those first-timers. Of course, localization isn’t as straightforward. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be overwhelming. Instead of a technical task, businesses should look at it as a strategy that unlocks local business opportunities. Hence, you should attempt to simplify it, breaking it into different components and focusing on each exclusively. So, let’s look at eight expert strategies to simplify localization and derive more value from it.
What is Localization?
At the outset, let’s understand what localization is. It involves adapting your offerings or content to suit a specific market. Accordingly, the scope of localization goes beyond translation. Instead, it extends to ensuring appropriate cultural adaptation, crafting content suitable and relevant for the target audience and ensuring accuracy on all fronts.
When it comes to localizing content, you cannot stay confined to textual localization. Rather, you will have to localize other aspects like graphics, videos, colors, themes, etc., to align with the target audience’s preferences and persona.
As you would already know, with regional internet users on a continuous rise, localization isn’t good anymore but critical to the success of every business eyeing regional business. Hence, as we said earlier, every organization should look at it as a strategy and treat it accordingly to make their efforts more fruitful.
How to Simplify Localization – 8 Proven Strategies from Filose!
Making localization work to your advantage requires a streamlined localization process, including standardization of localization practices. Accordingly, here’s what you can do to make localization more effortless. Specifics may vary depending on the project.
1. Break Content into Manageable Modules
Dealing with a massive content volume requires breaking down content into tinier and more manageable modules that you can effortlessly translate. Adopting a modularized approach can help you maintain consistency and simplify updating or changing content while keeping the localization process unperturbed.
2. Localize Important Content First
Each piece of content matters in localization. However, content can also have levels of priority depending on its criticality. Hence, you should prioritize your content based on its significance and the impact it may have on user experience.
Begin with localizing high-impact content first like User Interface (UI) elements, product descriptions and customer support literature. Once you complete that, you can switch to localizing less critical content. It will help you do what is necessary and enhance the impact of localization.
3. Leverage Localization Tools
Manual translation can take time. The key to quicker and simpler localization (although not in every section of the localization project) is using localization management tools. It can help you benefit from a streamlined localization process. These tools offer features like glossaries and translation memory that can curb manual work and maintain accuracy and consistency across every translation and language. Of course, these tools come at a cost. However, when you assess the overall impact, it is worth using these tools.
4. Establish and Implement Clear Guidelines
Ambiguity concerning guidelines and style guides can confuse translators and affect the outcome. Accordingly, and to avoid letting confusion eat up valuable time, you should set, provide and implement clear guidelines to help translators and localization experts maintain a certain level of consistency across the tone, formatting, and terminology in various languages. The purpose of exercising standardized guidelines can help the team deliver localized content that’s much more aligned with your brand voice, messaging style, and objectives.
5. Create a Centralized Database of Translation Assets
Keeping resources on local servers or across various databases can slow down the pace of localization. Let alone the inconvenience such disparate repositories will result in. Hence, you should maintain a centralized repository of translation assets. Doing so before localization and while localization is in progress can help ensure consistency across translations. It can also ease the life of translators who need various resources like glossaries, style guides, etc., frequently.
6. Use Automation in Localization
Relying on manual techniques fully can result in errors and affect the pace of localization. In projects where time is of the essence, you should explore and utilize automation options for repetitive tasks like preparation, text extraction and quality assurance. The result is a much more consistent translation, reduced manual errors, enhanced efficiency, and requiring fewer resources.
One example can be that of using machine translation (MT) for initial translation drafts, particularly when you have gigantic content volumes or less critical content. Of course, MTs do not always deliver flawless translations. Hence, you will have to identify what you can automate and what you cannot. Translating critical and sensitive information will still need human translators.
7. Optimize UI for Localization
Another significant aspect of localization is UI. You should focus on designing UIs with the localization aspect in mind. For instance, you should have adequate space for text expansion and accommodating languages with different text directions. Addressing these aspects in the initial stages can help you minimize layout problems and curtail the need for extensive post-translation alignments.
8. Iterate and Continuously Improve
Work with an approach that allows you to enhance the quality of localization with time and feedback. Thus, insist on gathering continuous feedback from users and localization teams. It can help you identify areas of improvement and refine your content wherever you need. Additionally, you should iterate on your localization workflows, tools, and strategies per feedback. It will help you optimize localization efficiency and quality over a period. Such an iterative and improvement-driven approach can simplify localization and improve the overall process.
Simplifying and Amplifying Localization with Filose!
Localization is imperative and has to be done. So, why get overwhelmed or let its intricacies grapple you? While localizing, it is necessary to understand that localization is a specialized strategy. Hence, you should have experts to deal with it and benefit from its outcomes. Filose can serve as one with over a decade of experience strategizing and implementing localization for businesses from diverse domains. Our incomparable expertise in localization helps you tackle localization effectively and help you achieve visible results from it.
Email us at sales@filose.com to explore our localization support.
Ref. No – FLB04241053