Localization

Localization and Translation of Websites, Software and Games

Why translate sites?

Translation is one of the most important factors of sales. The more technically sophisticated the product, the better translation is needed to sell it. Machine translation is sometimes used for sales on large marketplaces. However, even in order to sell a washing machine, it is necessary to have a detailed and coherent description in your native language with precise technical characteristics. In other words, site localization means more sales!

The cost of site localization

Site localization is more than just translation. It’s also adaptation of marketing texts to the features and mentality of the target market, if necessary – replacing photos and images or rearranging the contents.

Translation of text in visual materials might also be needed.

Internationalization: changing meta tags, tags, date formats, converting to units traditional for the target market, etc.

Layout: left/right-justified website text alignment or enlargement of text fields (for example, when translating from Chinese, the text may increase in length by 2-3 times). Therefore, everything depends on the language.

Site localization

Localization is needed even before placing the text on the site. Of course, we can work with HTML texts with complete preservation of all tags, but it is better to place already translated materials on the web page. If you use a content management system (CMS, for example Drupal), the translation must be performed with it, and th crucial thing is that it’s done before the same text (for example, a menu bar or terms of use) starts to be cloned on dozens of pages. For small projects, this does not matter much, but on a site with several hundred pages, it will be immediately noticeable if the website header that is repeated on each page is replaced with a localized part in the finished site.

Language and functioning testing

The final check is an absolutely necessary part of the work, which, unfortunately, is often neglected. Its purpose is to find out whether all pages open correctly, all links lead to the correct pages, readable fonts, not a set of incomprehensible icons, are displayed, formatting is not lost, and the translation is context-adequate. Testing is the last but not the least important step in turning raw translated text into a quality localized product.

Software localization

Software localization is the adaptation of a program or software system to the language and culture of another country, that is, translation of the user interface, documentation, and related program files from one language to another.

When new software is released to the international market, localization becomes very important. The support of several languages in the product allows not only to expand the consumer market, but also to raise the status of the company/brand to a new level.

In the process of localization, it is important both to make a high-quality translation of all materials while putting them in the context of the interface, and to ensure the correct functioning of the system. Therefore, localizers must not only know the subject of the software product and the features of translation into the required language, but also understand the program.

Not only translators, but also developers, programmers, and testers can be involved in the localization process. This is a complex set of works that should be performed with the participation of the customer.

In order to carry out a turnkey project with quality, our specialists need to be in constant contact with the customer, thus avoiding possible mistakes and misunderstandings. Only in this case the final product will meet all your expectations.

Translation and localization of games in a foreign language

They are performed only by native speakers – highly qualified translators.

Beside knowing the terminology, video game localization requires a high level of stylization at the level of translating fiction. This kind of translation requires a combination of two completely independent skills: mastery of the language at the native speaker level and high translation skills. Therefore, for the localization of games in foreign languages, we select not just good translators and not just native speakers, but only those who combine these qualities.