August 2019 | translate4africa

Localization

Localization is the process in which a product or a service is so changed that it adapts to the specific international market or an international language or international culture. It is the ability to change itself according to the look and feel which matches the local market.

A successful localized product is one which you cannot tell apart from the local product. It can also be a service. There are many successful localized products and services yet there are some products and services whose essence is completely lost in the process of localization. These products and services have failed at localization and they often end up in the market as jokes. People take these products and services lightly and they are made fun of in the global market.

Language Translation as a Part of Localization

Language translation is a huge part of localization. The two terms—translation and localization are used in multiple contexts and hence, they often get mixed up. People use one term for another, but it is quite important to understand the correct meanings of these two terms.

If a website is undergoing translation, it means that the website’s words, phrases and all the other media are simply getting changed from one language to another. It is a simple process and it does not require much effort.

In localization, however, along with the words and phrases and other text being translated into another language, we try to change the essence of the website so that it looks and feels like a website developed and maintained by the locals and for the locals. Here, the time format, the date format, the measurements etc. are changed so that it matches with the local formats which are regularly used.

Pepsi’s Distress in China

Sometimes, when things get lost in translation, hilarious yet woeful things happen. Pepsi has always been having troubles with the Chinese market because of some translation problems. Their advertisements in the Chinese market have always ended up being funny because of the translation. In the 1950’s, Pepsi’s slogan was “Be Sociable”. In the Chinese market, interestingly, it got translated to “Be Intimate”.

After Pepsi realized this blunder, they changed their campaign to “Now it’s Pepsi for those who think young” but even this got translated as “New Pepsi is for those with the minds of children”. These two slogans have resulted in a rapid fall in the sales. Therefore, Pepsi came up with a new slogan. The slogan was “Come Alive With Pepsi”. This got translated as “Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the dead”

The Pepsi Company had to change their slogan again because their sales were continuously falling down. The next advertising slogan they put up was “Come Alive! You’re In The Pepsi Generation”. This got translated as “Resurrect! Your Body Will Be Made Of Pepsi”

The Pepsi Company didn’t overcome the translation problem till date and even today, a local brand dominates the sales of the cola drinks in China.

Few Other Blunders Caused During Translation

MTN Uganda: MTN Uganda, which is the largest telecom company in Uganda, has also had problems with translation. They put up a huge billboard in Soroti town which said “Send Money And Win” with wrong spellings in Ateso. However, they apologized for the mistake and promptly got the billboard down.
Mc Donalds: When Big Mac was introduced in France as “Gros Mec”, it got translated as “Big Pimp”.
Frank Perdue’s: In the Spanish market, Frank Perdue’s “It takes a strong man to make a tender chicken” got translated to “It takes an aroused man to make a chicken affectionate”.
Schweppes: Another company called Schweppes had to incur a huge drop in their sales because their “tonic water” got translated as “toilet water”.
KFC: Even KFC had a blunder in translation. The “finger-lickin’ good” chicken got translated in Chinese as “Eat your fingers off”.
Parker Pens: To the Spanish people, instead of letting them know that parker pens wouldn’t cause pocket ink stains, they let them know that the pens wouldn’t impregnate them.
Coca Cola: In the 1920’s, when Coca Cola was introduced in China, their slogan was literally translated to “bite the wax tadpole!”

Hopefully, the companies of today will consider localization done by professional translation companies as well when getting their services or products translated so that they could avoid some silly blunders and have an increment in their sales!

How professional can marketing translation and localization be done?

Majority of companies exploit the chance to take their business across borders with excitement! Unaware of the fact that they’re about to join the infamous rank of international marketing fails. They think they’re taking along plenty of hard-earned know-how from home. But sometimes this all pales in comparison to a few little mix-ups when it comes to language. Borders might be disappearing, but cultural and language barriers still stand strong. Hence the need to learn how professional we can deal with our Marketing translation and localization process.

Translation traps

Translation traps are everywhere, be it a badly translated slogan, a company name or a cultural blunder. For instance, the most recent translation blunder was with MTN-Uganda where they displayed a promotion banner (MoMo Nyabo promotion) in Soroti town with miss-spelled content. When locals had a glance at it they couldn’t hold it back, so they had to inform MTN instantly. In no time the Company had to pull down their banner. And to make matters worse even the apology had errors still! Oh my! This was really bad to both the Company brand and to the locals themselves. Checkout the image below;

Conquering a new market

Conquering new markets is all about the right marketing, and marketing means translating ideas, not words. So, let’s find out what translation and localization mean;

Translation

Translation means conveying your content from the source language into the target language, respecting grammar rules and syntax. It’s not a word to word translation, but a complex process that takes into account each language’s standards and guidelines. Translators are required to produce accurate work to make sure the message in the target language keeps the original meaning of the source text.

Localization

Localization means more than rewriting the text into a different language. It adapts your message to local audiences. Localization is widely used for websites, mobile apps, software, video games, multimedia content and voice-overs. Localization means you’ll need to provide content for that particular setting such as Ateso, Acoli, Ganda, among others even though these groups have English as their official language. Just as English varies from the US, to Australia, UK and Canada, most languages have local versions and dialects that you need to consider when building your marketing strategy.

In this context, translation is just a small step in the localization process. It’s essential to have a good team of translators to localize efficiently, but you’ll also have to work with local marketers and consultants, to make sure you respect cultural aspects and local laws for each market you’re localizing in. Regular translation probably isn’t enough for your business to be successful in local markets. You need to localize your content to gain the trust of local public. Because selling in a foreign country or locale means more than overcoming language barriers. It means coming up with a customized message, specially made for each local audience. You need to go beyond translation, as cultural barriers can make understanding the original message difficult. KitKat, for example, didn’t just translate their famous slogan into Japanese when they launched their product in Japan. The Company changed ‘Have a beak, have a KitKat’ with ‘Kitto Katsu’, which means ‘surely win’. They also launched a series of exotic chocolate bars to meet the local taste. This strategy made the KitKat Japanese campaign a localization success, clearly demonstrating how to use the same words that clients do to express themselves.

Simple steps to follow for a successful marketing translation and localization strategy

Define your audience:- Determine your language combination. When appropriate, be sure to target a particular region or country to ensure appropriate use of language based on the target region and culture. For example, choose English(UK) to Spanish (SP), rather than simply English to Spanish. Are your readers young or old? Industry experts or the general public? Local or International? With a clear target audience in mind, the translation team will be equipped with that knowledge when localizing the content for that target audience. Consider the subject matter and target audience. Legal, medical and technical translations usually require a serious, formal tone and in some cases, use of the passive voice. In contrast, marketing content allows more freedom in language and tone, including the use of an active voice to feel natural.

Set publishing requirements:- How will your translated project be distributed? For example, a website translation project will require clear communication with the ‘language service provider’ on project scope; that is to say; Meta data, SEO, graphics localization and content distribution. Some companies may have duplicated versions of their website that are hosted in their new target countries. Others may opt for a language navigation menu within one content management system. Dynamic language can work directly within your content management system and upload translated content or be provided source code that is translated and returned in the same format. It is important to set these publishing requirements before beginning the project to avoid overruns on project deadlines, budge and scope.

Quality translation:- Consider using both native and professional translators for your project. This can help you capture both translation and localization at the same time.

Proofread:- Check for linguistic and cultural errors, as well as punctuation, and capitalization. Then, check for layout consistency of bold or italicized words, date/time and number formatting.

Create a terminology glossary and style guide:- A terminology glossary and style guide will boost translation speed and ensure preferred terminology, and consistent tone/voice throughout this and all future translation projects.

Communicate any hard deadlines:- The turn-around for your translation project will depend on factors such as translator and editor availability, language combination, and word count. Other possible factors to consider are difficult terminology and the requirements of a niche industry or highly-targeted audience. However, if you have a particular deadline, that information should be relayed to ensure adequate resources are available. Review content for any idioms, expressions and cultural references that may require localization or even trans-creation. Taking the time to prepare a quality translation project will improve the quality of translation and speed of delivery.

Advantages of proper Marketing translation and localization

Marketers are often plagued with a dilemma when reaching out to a new market: to standardize or localize? To standardize is obviously the easiest from an operation standpoint, meaning that you use the same marketing style and theme for all your products and services regardless of where you’re marketing them. However, there are disadvantages and advantages on both sides, but when reaching out to a new market, it’s actually more advantageous for marketers to choose localization.

With marketing localization, you are able to create linguistic and physical adjustments to your existing products or services so that it fits in with your new target market’s specific needs. It takes a lot of work to customize and make adaptations of existing products and services, especially if there are multiple products to launch, but it allows companies to resonate with their customers, and resolve the deepest needs and desires of their new market from the market’s own perspective. Checkout some of the advantages of Marketing translation and localization below:

Reduces the barrier to entry:- When introducing your company or idea to a new market, there are several barriers to entry that may be observed. It could be government monopoly; limited or scarce channels of delivery of goods; tight competition; or lack of product or brand awareness. Market adaptation is mandatory in many countries and so it makes perfect sense to localize marketing. This could be the translation of product packaging, removing/altering product ingredients or packaging, changing brand names and so on.

One classic example for this would be Coca Cola in China. Coca Cola is currently known as Kekoukele in China. This is because its original brand name, when translated into Chinese, means “bite the wax tadpole” or “female horse fastened with wax,” which are unusual and inappropriate. It would have been incredibly unappetizing to buy a drink thus named, so Coca Cola had to do a change to their brand name to adapt to the Chinese market. They chose the brand name Kekouleke because it means “tasty fun” and it is close to the original brand name. This dramatically changed Coca Cola’s image in China, and it helped them connect to locals in a more language-appropriate and personalized way.

Customizes customer experience:- In many first-world countries, products are often sold in larger-container quantities, which is done based on both consumption and convenience. On the other hand, the same products sold in third-world countries may not be affordable for the majority of consumers and that would greatly affect the sales. Due to these pricing constraints, companies may create products in different and smaller packaging, such as sachets or pouches, for the greater market to be able to afford it.

Breeds cultural respect and appropriation:- It’s no secret that cultural patterns, religions and norms affect people’s habits, outlook in life, the media they choose and even the products they buy. Advertising or identifying your brand with a Christmas or Christmas-related promotions, for example, in a largely non-catholic country may not be accepted by the target market. On the other hand, advertising your brand with a Christmas theme in Christian and catholic countries will be largely appreciated and remembered. Outsourcing experts from Translate4africa.com have seen how hiring local marketing executives in Africa, where every border is a new country and culture, played a big role in providing contextually correct translations and preventing conflicts with the target market’s culture.

It results to better brand identification:- Marketing translation and localization “personifies” a brand, which helps it connect to its target market on a deeper level. Some brands become an extension or expression of culture in some countries by integrating culture into their brand message and active storytelling.

Hastens local business development:- Marketing translation and localization accelerates business development. Creating a demand for your products or services is not your ticket to success. Knowing your target market deeply and seeing their needs from their perspective is the key to providing products or services that are in demand. You won’t be able to achieve this if you use the same standards for all your target markets all over the globe. This can only be done with marketing localization based on in-depth market research.

In conclusion

Marketing translation and localization is a complex, yet often an underestimated field. While it consists of translating from one language to another, it also involves writing appealing and persuasive content that has impact to the local audience. Unlike general translation, marketing translators need to be good writers first and foremost. Marketing translation can also involve trans-creation, where a translator and writer work together to create truly and powerful content. Choice wisely! Always be conscious of your marketing content, as it’s your key to either success or marketing failure.

Website localization most effective points not to miss

Do you have an urge to expand your brand’s global markets? Website translation is one step not to miss. However, having your website content translated may not achieve you much. That is why it’s vital for you to go past just translation to website localization.

Localization is vital to your business’ success. How! Localizing your website ensures that your content resonates with your entire potential target audience. Beyond simply translating the words on the page, localisation adapts your website to meet the needs of a particular language, culture or desired population’s “look and feel.” A correctly localized website attracts more traffic and increases click-through rates that improves conversation rates and inevitably sales.

Changing your site’s color scheme, adapting your SEO and social media strategy, and even remodeling the design of your site itself can all impact positively to your success out there. Checkout the crucial points to remember for your multilingual and multi-regional websites.

Content localization

The first step in localization of any content is to know who you are selling to. For that need to analyze which markets will bring in the greatest revenues but going global without proper research would lead to losing customers instead of bringing more. Conduct specific research before deciding to take a step ahead. Know your international buyer personas by carefully researching on the language they speak, their cultural background, traditions, and buying habits. Try asking these simple, yet useful questions when identifying your target market:

What is the target market’s growth rate?
Can local buyers afford to buy your products?
What are the buying habits and preferences of the target customers?
How much is the competition in the market?
What are the cultural and linguistic nuances to be kept in mind before localizing?

Contact information

Be sure that each of your localized sites has the correct contact information localized to that particular locale.

Legal considerations

Make sure that your legal considerations such as terms and conditions page and cookies agreement adhere to the requirements of that particular territory.

Product details

Ensure that details on your site’s products or event listings, such as sizes, measurements, dates or currency, all conform to the standard units or formats in your target country.

Images and videos

Images and videos also need to be altered and optimized, including subtitles on video content, or reworking text-based images into your target language. All in all, you should ensure that your images and videos themselves are culturally sensitive to your target audience.

Make your instructional imagery as easily-comprehensible as possible, and be sure to adapt any step-by-step graphics for any territories reading from right to left. You should also make sure that any gestures and scenarios in the photos on your site which may register as inoffensive to western audiences (such as drinking alcohol) are altered or replaced in order to avoid upsetting users in other cultures.

Keep local SEO(Search Engine Optimization) in mind

As with the text and layout of your pages, the overall structure of your site will need to be revised in order to adhere to localized customs in your target markets. Researching how your local competitors organize the navigation of their sites will give you a better idea of how companies in your sector structure their websites, particularly when it comes to organizing products and services.

Beyond this, developing a local SEO strategy to these new markets is also essential, making sure that any link building campaigns target locally-relevant websites. As well as translating your onsite content, revising elements in the back end of your website, such as your title tags and Meta descriptions, allows you to accommodate localized keywords, and set canonical tags on any pages which could be flagged up as duplicate content. Hosting these versions of sites at different local domains has also been recognized as a positive ranking factor, so investing in a “.co.ug, .bf or .za website alongside your primary global domain will help your site’s visibility. You should also keep your Google My Business profiles updated with all information for any local offices you might have in these other territories.

In conclusion

Website localization may seem terrifying, but it can easily be primed by your market research and the collective knowledge of the staff in the territories to which you are expanding. Depending on the number of countries for which you will need to localize, the process will likely become easier the more.

How to Promote Agriculture through Translations

Agriculture by definition is an industry, science or practice in which animals and crops are raised for the purpose of providing food. The industry comprises of farmers who work in the field of agriculture and other stakeholders like the government, firms, NGOs and consumers. Over the years, the agriculture industry has changed greatly with growth of technology and support from the various stakeholders like NGOs who try to avail funds for promoting agriculture. This growth can be easily indicated in various countries with the growth of GDP (gross domestic product) as a result of technology. For example in South Africa agriculture was contributing 2.4% of the country’s GDP and while in Sub Sahara region it was contributing 17.1% by 2016. This seems minimal but of great value to the various countries.

Stakeholders Take On Agriculture

Agriculture over the years has been greatly improving worldwide thus one can say that the future lies in agriculture. Agriculture is one of the biggest employer worldwide. In continents like African agriculture employees 70% of East African and 60% of the population in Sub – Saharan Africa.

Such remarks may convince one that those in agriculture business find less hardship while doing their business. However, farmers have many lamentations to make on inter reacting with them say less earnings and yet a lot of energy and time are used, timely changes in seasons and inadequate information about agriculture.

However also other stakeholders like governments also complain about the unbecoming farmers who are so resistant to any change. Thus calling for a united unit of the stakeholders in order to achieve from the agriculture industry at large.

Translation a New Modern Hope for Agricultural Growth

Professional translation service are a necessity in doing justice to this duty. Stakeholders in agriculture have got a duty of working together in order to improve the industry. Challenges like resistance to change have got to be worked upon. This is through educating farmers in a number of languages that they understand best that is to say Lango, Arabic, Somali, Kirundi and many others. Perhaps the resistance is not as a result of wanting to resist but only resulting from lack of understanding best of the implications of the new changes that need to be well taught to these farmers for better results.