Much of the discussion about AI in the language industry still focuses on one question: Can AI replace translators?

It is understandable why this question receives so much attention. Generative AI and machine translation systems can already produce useful translations for many types of content.

But for organizations operating across multiple markets, this is not the most important question.

A more useful question would be:

How should we manage multilingual communication when AI can generate and translate content at unprecedented scale?

Consider a global technology company with a website, software interface, knowledge base, customer support operation and regular product releases.

Previously, the company might have sent defined batches of content for localization. Today, AI can translate new support articles immediately, generate localized marketing variations and help teams adapt product information continuously.

The challenge shifts from producing translations to deciding how those translations should be reviewed, approved and maintained. Hence, the role of LSPs in an AI-driven world is shifting from translation to risk management and trust.

AI Solved the Production Problem

Traditional localization workflows were relatively predictable.

Content was created, prepared for translation, translated by language specialists, reviewed and published. The process was usually organized around individual projects, releases or campaigns.

AI changes that model because content itself is becoming continuous.

A software company may update its interface several times each month. An eCommerce organization may add hundreds of product descriptions. A customer support team may revise knowledge articles every day. Marketing teams may use generative AI to create multiple versions of the same campaign for different audiences.

Producing multilingual content is therefore no longer necessarily the bottleneck.

The new bottleneck is decision-making:

• Which content should use AI?
• Which content requires human expertise?
• Which content must remain under strict governance?
• Who remains accountable for quality?
• How do we ensure consistency across hundreds of AI-assisted workflows?

Without clear answers, automation can simply accelerate inconsistency.

For example, if five regional marketing teams use different AI tools with different prompts and terminology, they may all produce acceptable translations individually. Across the organization, however, product names, technical terminology and brand language can begin to diverge.

Ironically, the easier content becomes to produce, the harder it becomes to manage responsibly.

Translation Is No Longer the Challenge

Many organizations still manage multilingual communication as a collection of translation projects.

That approach worked reasonably well when volumes were limited and localization happened at defined points in the content lifecycle.

It becomes increasingly difficult when multilingual content exists across websites, applications, product documentation, support portals, regulatory materials, internal knowledge bases and AI-generated content.

The questions organizations need to answer are therefore changing.

How should workflows be designed?

How should content be classified?

How should AI be governed?

How should quality be measured?

Which content requires traceability?

How should risk be managed?

These are not purely linguistic questions.

They involve process design, technology, quality management, risk management and organizational responsibility.

This is why multilingual communication increasingly needs to be managed as an operational capability rather than a sequence of individual translation requests.

Not Every Piece of Content Requires the Same Workflow

One of the most important principles of effective multilingual operations is simple:

Operational orchestration in the AI era means that different content carries different levels of risk.

An Instructions for Use document for a medical device can affect patient safety and regulatory compliance. A financial disclosure may create legal or reputational consequences if terminology is inaccurate.

A product description for an online store has different requirements. A short-lived social media post has different requirements again.

Using the same localization workflow for all four makes little operational sense.

AI makes this distinction even more important.

Imagine a manufacturer translating 5,000 eCommerce product descriptions. An AI-assisted workflow combined with terminology controls and targeted human review may provide an appropriate balance between speed, cost and quality.

Now consider the same manufacturer translating safety instructions for industrial equipment.

The potential consequences of an ambiguous warning or incorrect technical term justify stronger controls, specialist review and documented validation.

Once AI is introduced, applying the wrong workflow no longer creates isolated mistakes. It creates systemic risk at scale.

The Organizations That Will Succeed Won’t Use More AI

Another common assumption is that organizations with the highest level of automation will gain the greatest advantage from AI.

Experience suggests a more balanced approach.

The most effective multilingual operating models use automation where it creates measurable business value and human expertise where judgment, context or accountability matters.

Low-risk, repetitive content may be suitable for machine translation or AI-assisted workflows with automated quality checks.

High-visibility marketing content may require native linguists who understand tone, market expectations and brand positioning.

Regulatory, legal, medical or safety-critical content may require subject-matter expertise, structured review and full traceability.

The objective is therefore not to automate everything.

It is to establish a structured decision-making framework that connects:

• Business value
• Human expertise
• Governance

Finding the right balance requires a different way of thinking about multilingual communication – not as a language service, but as an operational capability.

Better Decisions Will Matter More Than Faster Translation

Organizations already measure capabilities such as cybersecurity maturity, digital maturity and AI readiness.

Multilingual operational maturity deserves similar attention.

International organizations increasingly depend on multilingual content to support customer experience, regulatory compliance, product adoption and international growth. As AI increases the volume and speed of content production, weaknesses in terminology management, workflow design and governance become more visible.

A company may be able to translate a product update into 20 languages within minutes.

But speed provides limited value if terminology differs from the software interface, legal requirements are overlooked or local teams spend days correcting the output.

The competitive advantage is therefore not simply faster translation.

It is the ability to decide what should be automated, what requires expert review, how quality should be measured and how multilingual content should be governed across the organization.

This Is Only the Beginning

Artificial intelligence has not removed the need for language expertise.

It has changed where that expertise creates the greatest value.

Language specialists increasingly work alongside technology, terminology resources, automated quality controls and integrated content systems. Their role becomes particularly important where context, subject-matter knowledge and professional judgment determine whether content is appropriate for its intended audience.

At the same time, organizations need stronger operational structures around multilingual communication.

The result is not AI instead of human expertise.

It is technology-enabled multilingual operations built around appropriate governance and specialist knowledge, which is exactly why machine translation paired with human post-editing still outperforms fully AI-driven translation.

Over the coming weeks, the Multilingual Intelligence Initiative will examine what this shift means in practice.

The next article will explore why treating every content type in the same way can become an expensive operational mistake, and why content risk should be one of the foundations of responsible AI adoption.

About the Multilingual Intelligence Initiative

This article is part of the Multilingual Intelligence Initiative, a Ciklopea thought leadership series examining how organizations can build responsible, AI-enabled multilingual communication capabilities.

Future articles will explore content risk, multilingual governance, AI operating models and the evolving role of multilingual communication as a strategic business function.

The post Why AI Does Not Make Translation Easier appeared first on Ciklopea.

What Is Localization 

Localization means translation plus adaptation to the specifics of a local market. Localized content must be clear, usable, and adequately aligned with the target language market. Units, currency, formats, and tone all must match local expectations while conveying the core message. 

Strictly speaking, localization comes first because every business first needs to explain the basic concepts to their audience. Of course, that’s not set in stone. 

What Is Transcreation

Transcreation recreates (or transcreates) a content message in the target language to elicit the same emotional response as the original. What counts here is the impact the message has on the audience, not only its accuracy. Oftentimes, transcreation happens simultaneously while the message in question is being written. 

This is something that experienced language service providers bear in mind when approaching a translation project. 

5 Use Cases Where You Need Localization

Localization is necessary when the goal of content adaptation is usability, rather than persuasion. The target audience needs to be able to understand the content in question and act accordingly. The emotional aspect isn’t the most important element here. What matters more is to inform target audiences in one or more languages. Let’s analyze some contexts where localization is necessary. 

Product Setup and Instructional Content

Assembly steps and how-to guides exist to get users from box to finished product with as little friction as possible. Localization keeps the language plain and consistent, so the instructions read the same regardless of market. 

So, when a furniture company puts together its assembly instructions, it has to translate and localize its content. However, it doesn’t have to be transcreated; at least not when it comes to sheer product use instructions. 

IKEA is one of the most renowned global furniture brands. They need to localize such instructions for different markets. In addition to localization, IKEA and similar brands make proper use of diagrams and drawings because that’s a universal language.

Image credit @ Ikea

Compliance and Legal Documentation 

Legal text carries specific obligations that don’t leave room for creative interpretation. Localization keeps the meaning and structure intact, so the document holds up the same way in every language it’s translated into. 

What’s more, every website needs to include a privacy policy that explains how it protects user data from cybercriminals. 

Apple’s privacy policy, for instance, is detailed and strict in English and in other languages in which it is localized. The structure, clauses, and legal meaning are kept identical in various iterations; check out the German localization below. 

Image credit @ Apple

App and Interface Copy 

Users interacting with a product’s interface are focused on completing a task, rather than being persuaded. Localization keeps buttons, menus, and settings labels clear and functional, so the experience feels familiar no matter the language. 

Still, the brand voice needs to stay the same across different languages. 

For instance, Spotify retains its recognizable visual identity in the same way on its homepage in English and in its Italian version.

Image credit @ Spotify

Configuration and Settings Content 

Adjusting device settings needs to be equally convenient for a user in the US, South Africa, or South Korea. Creativity isn’t the main translation vehicle in this case, but concise and accurate localization. Localization prioritizes accuracy and consistency here, since creative turns would only get in the way of a simple task. 

Speaking of South Korea, Samsung is present in the entire world, meaning the people behind this brand must treat all their markets with equal care. Two versions of the Quick Start Guide for North America come in English and Spanish. The content is translated and localized in a straightforward, user-friendly manner. 

Image credits @ Samsung

Subtitles and Platform Interfaces 

Streaming platforms mix functional content, like menus and settings, with narrative content, like scripts and dialogue. Localization handles the functional layer first, making the platform usable before any deeper cultural adaptation comes into play. 

Netflix adapts subtitles, scripts, and dubbing features to different languages. They can’t just literally translate the content they stream. What’s more, they make a serious effort to localize their on-site content, so various audiences can access and consume this streaming platform more conveniently. 

Image credit @ Netflix

In all five cases above, success means the message needs to be legible, accurate, and consistent. What’s more, aiming for creativity in these cases might even confuse the end user. 

5 Use Cases Where You Need Transcreation

A business that wants to convey a deeper emotional message, raising awareness of their product or brand policy, typically needs transcreation. In this case, transferring only a message could lead to an undertranslation – including fewer details than necessary in the final product. 

Taglines and Slogans 

A slogan lives or dies by its rhythm and wordplay, which rarely survives a literal translation. It also needs to resonate with the particular local audience to have a proper effect. Transcreation rebuilds the phrase from scratch so it keeps its punch in the new language. Hence, globally present businesses usually have to adapt their slogans to different audiences, in line with the cultural and economic conditions in the field. 

For instance, Haribo’s long-term tagline in German is “Haribo macht Kinder froh und Erwachsene ebenso.” Literally, this means “Haribo makes children happy, as well as adults”. 

In English, the transcreated version is “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo”. The original tagline had to be adapted so that it preserves the rhyme and the rhythm, and still conveys the marketing message of the original.

Image credit @ Haribo

Culturally-Rooted Campaign Transcreation

Finding a marketing anchor or association in the local language is a perfect nest for transcreation. Transcreation is looking for that local hook rather than forcing the original concept to translate directly. 

Speaking of nest, Nestlé Japan carried out perfect transcreation for their KitKat campaign. Since there’s an expression kitto katsu in Japanese (きっと勝つ), meaning “You surely win”, applying transcreation was an obvious choice. 

The original slogan “Have a break, have a KitKat” wouldn’t sound powerful enough in Japanese, while the transcreated version has made this campaign one of the most successful adapted campaigns in general, not only for Nestlé. 

Image credit @ KitKat

Personalized Marketing Content

Personalization campaigns often hinge on details, like names, that don’t carry the same meaning across cultures. Transcreation adapts the mechanic itself so the campaign still feels personal in each market. 

A person’s name is definitely one of their strongest mental associations. The marketing gurus from Coca-Cola realized in 2011 that printing people’s first names on bottle labels could be a smart idea. They did it first in Australia that same year, with the 150 most popular first names down under. Originally promoted under the “Share a Coke” umbrella slogan, this campaign has been adapted to 120+ markets so far. 

What’s more, there’s even an option to request a customized bottle of Coke with a person’s name in case it’s not among the ones printed by the company. It hardly gets more personalized than this, at least on a global level. 

Image credit @ Coca Cola

Adaptable Global Campaigns 

A strong campaign concept can travel across markets, but its execution rarely can. Transcreation keeps the core idea intact while rebuilding the details around local humor and relevant faces. 

Therefore, many brands develop a universal message or tagline only to adapt it to local humour, famous people, or social settings. 

Snickers’ campaign under the slogan “You’re not you when you’re hungry” has become one of the most famous campaigns in the world in the last decade. The original slogan was adapted to various markets, with different celebrities taking part in the commercial variations. In line with that, Rowan Atkinson’s Mr Bean has become a memorable association of the Snickers chocolate bar. 

Image credit @ Sneakers

Brand Voice and Personality 

Some brands build their entire identity around a distinct personality rather than a product feature. When that’s the case, transcreation protects the character that makes the brand recognizable in the first place. 

Duolingo is one of the most effective examples of appealingly executed transcreation across several markets. The company works with different social media accounts for different markets (German, Japanese, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, etc.). Their visually appealing owl logo is an outgoing socialite in Germany, while it’s a sweet and playful birdie in the content for the Brazilian market. Even the sentences inside the app aren’t just translated from one language to another – they’re genuinely written to grasp the feel of different languages.

Image credit @ Duolingo

Localization vs Transcreation: How to Choose?

Since translation is rarely a mathematically strict process, it’s hard to tell at the beginning of a new project whether it will include only localization services or there will be a need for transcreation services, as well. But the following questions might help. 

What’s the Purpose of the Content?

The first question LSPs need to ask themselves is what this asset is for. Tutorials, instructions, and documentation need to inform, rather than persuade. The localization meaning of clarity and function resonates better with such purposes. If sales and particular landing pages are part of the project, it will have to include transcreation storytelling, delving into the transcreation meaning of emotional resonance and persuasion. 

What’s the Cultural Context? 

The next criterion in deciding between transcreation and localization is the content’s cultural context. Using humour, idioms, and pop cultural references requires transcreation. Still, content aimed at close markets in the same language (think DACH) can often stay within the localization segment. 

How Much Does the Brand Voice Matter?

The weight of the brand in question’s voice is another important checkpoint. If a brand’s recognizability is based on minute details (such as Duolingo), transcreation is a brand’s voice protector. Brands that build their voice on precision will often find localization good enough. 

What’s the Budget and the Timeframe?

Choosing between localization and transcreation also depends on the budget and time interval. Localization is usually faster, ideal for high-volume projects (especially with the help of machine translation). Transcreation is usually slower and costs more, as it includes copywriters, brand managers, etc. 

What’s the Brand’s Local Market Presence? 

Finally, a new brand in a certain market will most probably need more transcreation to ensure winning over the new audience. Once established, localization can handle the content, with transcreation jumping in for new campaigns. 

In the end, localization and transcreation are rarely two completely separate processes. It’s just a matter of the level of brand awareness and presence in a certain market. 

Transcreation vs Localization: The Practical Distinction

When Combining Localization and Transcreation Works

Localization and transcreation are two sides of the same translation coin. The only thing is that LSPs and businesses shouldn’t leave this choice to luck. On the contrary, seasoned translation professionals need to work together with their clients on setting the goals of every such translation project. When the client provides enough information, the LSP can suggest the right workflow. In a nutshell, localization should be used for heavy lifting and basic explanations, while transcreation comes for fine strokes and deeper connotations. 

Using these two translation methodologies together, but not always at the same time, is typically the best possible practical utilization. 

With many localization and transcreation projects under its belt in 20+ years in the translation industry, Ciklopea knows how to make your brand start speaking in different languages. Get in touch to find out more and ask for your personalized quote today. 

The post Transcreation vs Localization: Which Strategy Is Best for Your Business? appeared first on Ciklopea.

For many studios, English-speaking markets represent only a fraction of their potential audience. Reaching players across Europe, Asia and Latin America requires more than translating in-game text. It requires games that feel natural, culturally relevant and engaging in every market.

Game localization has therefore evolved from a production task into a strategic business function. By combining linguistic expertise, cultural adaptation and structured localization processes, developers can expand into new markets, improve player engagement and create stronger long-term revenue opportunities.

For many successful titles, international markets generate most of the lifetime revenue. Localization is no longer simply about language. It is part of building sustainable global growth.

How Game Localization Increases Revenue and Player Engagement

Players consistently prefer games they can experience in their native language. Research and industry experience show that players are more likely to purchase, recommend and continue playing games that feel designed for their local market.

This becomes particularly important in large gaming markets such as Germany, France, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Brazil and China, where expectations for fully localised experiences continue to grow.

Effective game localization extends well beyond dialogue and interface translation. It includes adapting:

• gameplay instructions
• cultural references
• user interface elements
• store listings
• marketing content
• community communications

Each element contributes to a smoother player journey.

When players immediately understand gameplay mechanics, humour and narrative, they are more likely to remain engaged, leave positive reviews and recommend the game to others.

Localization also improves discoverability on digital storefronts by making product pages more relevant to local audiences. Rather than increasing advertising spend to reach new players, developers can often expand their addressable market simply by making their games accessible to more regions.

Studios that integrate localization early in development typically benefit from more efficient production workflows, smoother multilingual releases and fewer costly revisions close to launch.

Why Context Matters More Than Word-for-Word Translation

One of the best-known examples in game localization comes from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and the now-famous line:

“I AM ERROR.”

For many years, players assumed this was simply a translation mistake.

In reality, the original Japanese version also introduces a character named Error. A more natural English adaptation, such as “My name is Error,” would have immediately clarified the intended meaning.

The bigger localization challenge appeared elsewhere.

Another character, originally named Bug, remained as Bagu in the English version because the Japanese phonetic spelling was preserved instead of adapting the intended meaning. As a result, international players missed the relationship between the two characters and the original joke created by the developers.

The example demonstrates an important principle of professional game localization services.

Accurate translation alone is rarely enough.

Language specialists must also preserve narrative intent, humour, character relationships and cultural context so players experience the game as it was originally designed.

How Poor Localization Affects Player Experience

The impact of localization extends far beyond isolated translation choices.

A misunderstood joke, inconsistent terminology or poorly adapted cultural reference can interrupt immersion, create confusion within player communities and influence reviews. Small issues accumulate, affecting how players perceive the overall quality of a game.

Modern titles make this challenge considerably more complex than it was during the early console era.

Today’s games often include branching narratives, live-service updates, downloadable content, multiplayer communities and continuous content releases. Maintaining consistency across every release requires structured terminology management, contextual review and well-defined localization workflows.

Successful studios increasingly rely on specialised language partners that combine experienced linguists with technology-enabled processes to maintain consistency throughout development.

The objective is not to reproduce every word exactly.

It is to ensure players experience the same story, humour, emotional impact and gameplay intent, regardless of language.

Why Early Game Localization Delivers Better ROI

International launches reward preparation.

Studios that plan localization from the beginning of development can integrate multilingual content into production more efficiently, reduce technical debt and avoid costly last-minute revisions.

Early localization also supports:

• faster multilingual releases
• consistent terminology across updates
• improved collaboration between development and localization teams
• scalable workflows for downloadable content and live-service games
• lower operational risk throughout the product lifecycle

Rather than treating localization as a final production step, experienced developers increasingly build it into their development strategy from the outset.

The result is greater operational efficiency, better localization ROI, and a stronger foundation for international growth.

Professional Game Localization Creates Long-Term Business Value

Industry events such as Gamescom continue to reinforce the same message: global success requires games that resonate with players across multiple markets.

Professional game localization should therefore be viewed as an investment in sustainable growth rather than an operational cost.

By combining subject-matter linguists, structured quality processes and technology-enabled workflows, organisations can launch multilingual games with greater consistency, lower risk and improved player experiences.

Building scalable localization workflows early also supports faster releases, consistent terminology and more efficient collaboration across global development teams.

The outcome is more than a translated game. It is a game that feels natural to players, regardless of where they are playing or which language they speak.

For studios preparing their first international launch or managing multilingual live-service content, structured localization provides the foundation for sustainable global growth. By combining linguistic expertise, cultural adaptation, localization technology and ISO-certified quality processes, specialised language partners help developers create experiences that resonate across markets while supporting long-term commercial success.

The post Why Game Localization Drives Global Revenue Growth for Game Developers appeared first on Ciklopea.

Translation refers to conveying messages from one language into another in a linguistically and grammatically correct manner. 

Localization includes the relevant additional features, adapting the translated piece of text to a narrower group of people. As the name itself tells us, the text is localized when it addresses a certain local audience. 

In the context of life sciences content localization, different markets may require different localizations, for pure linguistic or legal purposes.

Localization Vs Translation in Life Sciences

Life sciences translation and localization services make a difference for the providers of medical services and patients. If translators haven’t translated the content in question properly, the localization part will lack the necessary quality. 

Also, the translation company might have to deal with the same language in different versions.

For instance, if we translate a guide on certain medicines from English into Spanish, the end product for Spain may differ from the one prepared for Mexico. Spain is an independent country and an EU member, so the life sciences translation services might require a two-fold adaptation for this country. 

Mexico, on the other hand, is an independent country, but it’s also a member of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on free trade. The latter brings some legal translation specifics that Spain doesn’t have. 

Life Science Localization in Practice

When we’re talking about translation vs localization in life sciences, we need to be precise about the terms. A medical translation and localization may include medical software, instructions for use (IFU) for medical devices, user manuals, doctor manuals, and other aspects of medical content. 

A pharmaceutical translation and/or localization may refer to patient information leaflets (PILs), summaries of product characteristics (SPC), medical labels, etc. 

Translating and localizing clinical research materials includes informed consent forms (ICF), patient-reported outcomes (PRO), questionnaires, study protocols, and communication with local regulations, among other things. 

When handling these niches of life sciences content localization, translators and localizers must take into account domestic units of measure and conventions, local compliance, and established medical practice. They also need to meet the established expectations, jargon, and warnings. 

Also, the providers of life sciences localization services have to bear in mind that in-field medical workers and hospital staff typically work under a lot of stress. Working in an emergency unit or being a nurse/surgeon in an operating room leaves no room for ambiguity. That’s why accuracy and compliance are the pillars of Ciklopea’s policy on life sciences localization services.

Who Are Life Sciences Language Services For?

The target audience of life sciences translation and localization services may differ. For instance, adapting instructions for patients in clinical treatments is different from translating or localizing text for healthcare professionals. If a patient receives complicated and unlocalized instructions, they might feel more uncomfortable, which can additionally affect their medical condition. 

A user manual for doctors has to meet the knowledge level they possess and the activities they carry out in their daily tasks at work. To use the example from above, translating a doctor’s manual on medicines from US English into Mexican Spanish would require localizing the measure units, i.e., adapting imperial measures to metric measures. 

An international guidebook for hospital management demands a completely different approach. As such content usually contains regulatory and compliance-related details, language service providers are obliged to meet the standards expected at that level. They often have to properly explain and cover international standards, such as the ISO 13485.

Life Sciences Localization Vs Transcreation

In the translation vs localization comparison, it’s important to explain whether transcreation is applicable to life sciences. In most cases, transcreation isn’t part of the translation process in life sciences. 

Localization and translation predominantly revolve around adapting semantic items from one language into another. Transcreation includes a higher level of creativity in the message-conveying process. It’s used to transfer the tone, style, and purpose of the original text to an international audience. As such, transcreation is more commonly used for marketing, advertising, and branding translation services, rather than technical and medical translation. 

Since life sciences localization services are more focused on accuracy and compliance, i.e., drier but more precise communication, transcreation is generally avoided. Still, it can be used when it’s necessary to create more detailed or more vivid instructions for patients. 

ISO Standards and Life Science Language Services

Every company operating in an international business environment needs to meet certain ISO standards. The providers of life science and language services are no exception. For starters, it’s important to answer one pillar question: what is ISO 13485, because this is one of the key standards in life sciences. 

The ISO 13485 is an international standard for manufacturers of medical devices. It’s a rulebook with various rules and requirements that such entities need to follow in order to produce internationally verifiable medical devices. It prescribes the production, installation, maintenance, and proper, safe design of medical devices. 

Compliance with ISO 13485 is formal proof that a localization and translation service provider has implemented strict legal regulations. In turn, it demonstrates that the service provider in question is capable of delivering accurate and consistent translation. Since errors in the life sciences industry can have fatal outcomes, every organization operating in this field must meet stricter requirements than what might be the case in some other industries. 

ISO 27001 is another important standard for every business. It defines how the Information Security Management System within an organization should function, in order to ensure it’s a secure and compliant entity. A localization and translation service provider is not a high-risk business. However, translating and localizing content for clients from healthcare and pharmaceutical industry includes exposure to content that requires special legal compliance. 

ISO 18587 is another crucial standard for translation and localization companies. It contains guidelines and features required for post-editing of machine-translated content. In the life sciences industries, post-editing plays a vital role because of the life-sensitive content that such niches include. 

The Future of Translation vs Localization in Life Sciences

The number of people in the world will keep growing steadily in the time ahead, meaning that more people will need medical services. Apart from urgent interventions, every person needs routine medical care. There will be more medical devices and more medical content to cover in the time ahead. Providers of translation and localization services have to be aware of these processes to keep pace with the market. This is what every client needs to know when comparing translation vs localization in life sciences. 

Ciklopea is fully invested in knowledge and professionals who ensure top-tier localization and translation services. Get in touch with us, and we’ll work together to create a tailor-made offer for life sciences translation and localization services. 

The post Localization Vs Translation in Life Sciences: Understanding the Difference appeared first on Ciklopea.

1. Enhancing TM Accuracy with AI

Over time, Translation Memories can become cluttered with outdated or incorrect translations. Traditional manual cleanup is time-consuming and prone to human error. By leveraging AI technologies like Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning, prompt engineering allows the system to automatically identify and correct inconsistencies, ensuring that your TM is always up-to-date and reliable.

2. Boosting Linguistic Quality

Prompt engineering takes AI TM Cleanup beyond just identifying duplicate or outdated entries. It helps improve linguistic quality by identifying contextually inaccurate translations, fixing language-specific issues, and fine-tuning the output to reflect the most current terminology and style. This significantly reduces the time and effort required by human linguists to perform manual reviews and corrections.

3. Reducing Operational Costs

Manual TM maintenance is not only labor-intensive but also costly. An AI-driven approach to TM cleanup automates these tasks, allowing your team to focus on more valuable, high-impact activities. By streamlining operations and minimizing human intervention, you can cut down on resource allocation and ultimately save costs.

4. Optimizing Translation Consistency

One of the biggest challenges in localization is maintaining consistency across translations. With AI prompt engineering, TM Cleanup ensures that repetitive, inconsistent, or irrelevant content is removed, while valid and contextually appropriate translations are maintained. This leads to higher consistency across projects, resulting in better brand coherence globally.

5. Accelerating Time-to-Market

Localization is often a race against time. With prompt-engineered AI TM Cleanup, the time-consuming task of manually reviewing and updating TMs is drastically reduced. By automating this process, teams can accelerate project timelines and bring products to global markets faster.

6. Data-Driven Insights for Continuous Improvement

AI prompt engineering offers a unique capability: the generation of data-driven insights. By analyzing large sets of translation data, the AI can provide actionable feedback on which translation units are performing well and which need improvement. This information can guide continuous improvement efforts, ultimately enhancing translation quality and efficiency.

7. Seamless Integration with Translation Management Systems

AI TM Cleanup can easily integrate with your existing Translation Management System (TMS), such as Orchestrum, making it a seamless addition to your localization workflow. By embedding AI within your TMS, you ensure that every aspect of your translation process, from project initiation to final delivery, is optimized for efficiency and accuracy.

8. Handling Large-Scale Projects with Ease

As localization projects grow in complexity and size, managing massive TMs manually becomes impractical. AI prompt engineering is designed to handle large-scale projects efficiently, processing vast amounts of data in a fraction of the time it would take a human. This scalability is crucial for global businesses aiming to manage content in multiple languages across numerous regions.

9. Preserving Brand Voice Across Languages

Maintaining a consistent brand voice is critical for global businesses, and AI-powered TM Cleanup ensures this by automatically detecting and correcting any deviations from established brand guidelines. With prompt engineering, the AI can be trained to prioritize specific terms, tones, and styles, preserving your brand’s identity across all markets.

10. Future-Proofing Your Localization Efforts

AI is continuously evolving, and so is prompt engineering. By investing in AI TM Cleanup now, you are future-proofing your localization efforts. The AI will become smarter over time, learning from new data to provide even better results. As the technology advances, so will your ability to manage TMs efficiently, ensuring long-term success in the ever-evolving world of global communication.

Conclusion

AI-powered TM Cleanup, enhanced by prompt engineering, represents a significant leap forward in the localization industry. By automating the tedious process of TM maintenance, businesses can ensure their translations are always accurate, consistent, and aligned with the latest linguistic standards. Investing in this technology not only saves time and money but also sets the stage for better localization outcomes in the future.

At Ciklopea, we are committed to leveraging the latest AI technologies to deliver superior language solutions to our clients. Contact us today to learn more about how AI-powered TM Cleanup can elevate your localization efforts and drive global success.

The post Maximizing Translation Efficiency with AI-Powered TM Cleanup: The Future of Localization appeared first on Ciklopea.

Our Proven Advantage

• Expertise-Driven Solutions: Think of us as an extension of your team. We understand the regulations and terminology unique to your industry. Whether it’s medical, legal, or financial content, accuracy and understanding of the regulations are non-negotiable.
• Measurable ROI: Global expansion is an investment. We help you go beyond simple cost calculations, offering data-driven strategies for maximizing the return on your localization efforts.
• Seamless 3-Step Process: We’ve outlined this process in a previous blog. Our goal is to make complex localization projects easy for you – with transparency and consistent communication from start to finish.

Why Partner With Us?

• Trusted by Leading Brands: Leading brands and corporations from industries like the life sciences and industrial manufacturing rely on us for their localization needs.
• Global Reach, Local Expertise: We have the network to connect you with in-country specialists who ensure cultural sensitivity and market-specific regulatory knowledge.

Life Sciences

• Life Sciences Expertise: Our team includes translators and reviewers with specialized qualifications and experience in the life sciences, ensuring accurate communication of complex medical information.
• Regulatory Compliance Navigation: We stay up to date with the latest regulations for clinical trial documentation, medical device labeling, and pharmaceutical packaging across your target markets.

Industrial Manufacturing

• Technical Accuracy & Consistency: We maintain a robust glossary of industry-specific terms for consistent and accurate translation of technical manuals, safety data sheets (SDS), and engineering specifications.
• Global Supply Chain Support: We have a network of linguists experienced in translating documents for global supply chains, ensuring clear communication across manufacturing and distribution partners.

Corporate & Marketing Translations

• Multilingual Marketing Campaigns: We craft culturally sensitive marketing materials that resonate with your target audience, helping you achieve brand consistency across languages.
• Regulatory Awareness for Marketing Materials: We understand the legal nuances of marketing claims in different regions, ensuring your campaigns comply with local regulations.

Conquering regulated markets doesn’t need to be a gamble. With a trusted localization expert by your side, you’ll gain the confidence to expand into new territories and tap into the growth that awaits. Think of this partnership as an accelerator for your global ambitions.

Ready to unleash your potential on regulated markets?

Schedule a discovery call with the Ciklopea team today!

The post Expand Your Global Reach: Partner with an Expert and Conquer New Markets appeared first on Ciklopea.

1. Prevention: Planning for Success

● Lack of Planning & Strategy: Don’t jump into translation blindly. Define your goals, target markets, and budget. A strategic plan will save you money, headaches, and embarrassing cultural missteps.
● Choosing the Wrong Vendor: Expertise matters! A vendor that doesn’t understand your industry will produce translations that miss the mark. Do your homework and find a partner specializing in your niche.
● Legal & Regulatory Compliance: Each country has its own laws governing things like data privacy and marketing content. Consult with experts to ensure your localized projects stay on the right side of the law.

2. Proximity: Communication is Key

● Communication & Collaboration: Translation projects often involve multiple teams across time zones. Establish clear communication channels and set expectations to avoid delays and rework.
● Wasting Time on Manual Processes: Technology is your friend! Use translation management systems and automation to streamline the process, reduce errors, and free up your team for higher-value tasks.
● Preserving Design & Layout: This is more than just aesthetics. Different languages take up different amounts of space. Design your content with localization in mind OR use tools that make formatting adjustments easy.

3. Popularity: Know Your Audience

● Not Knowing Your Target Market: A literal translation isn’t enough. Successful localization requires deep cultural understanding. Partner with in-country experts to tailor your message appropriately.
● Insufficient Control Over Source Material: Translators aren’t miracle workers. Provide clear, concise source texts with well-defined terminology to ensure the best possible output.
● Maintaining Brand Consistency: Your brand voice should be recognizable in any language. Establish clear style guides and glossaries, and enforce them across all translated content. Translation and localization are investments in your global success. By applying our 3P model, you can minimize potential pitfalls and ensure your message resonates with your audiences worldwide.

Do any of these challenges sound familiar? Our team at Ciklopea can help you develop a comprehensive localization strategy that puts you on the path to international growth.

Schedule A Discovery Call  if you want to learn more NOW.

The post 9 Critical Failures in Translation & Localization Projects and Programs: How to Avoid Them appeared first on Ciklopea.

Discover the pivotal role of project managers in creating exceptional customer experiences.

What Is an Editable File (And Why a PDF Isn’t Really One)

Understand the significance of editable files and why a PDF isn’t exactly one of them.

What is Translation Alignment and How it Works for You

Familiarize yourself with the concept of translation alignment and how it can benefit you.

Culturalization or What Happens When Content Meets Context

Explore how culturalization impacts the intersection of content and context.

A Translation Style Guide – What Is It and Why Do You Need One?

Learn what a translation style guide is and why you need one.

Different Procedures, Same Goal: Dealing with Clients from the Private and Public Sectors

Examine how different procedures converge towards the same goal when working with clients from the private and public sectors.

Localization Project Management: Best Practices

Gain insights into best practices in localization project management.

Translating Patient-Facing Content: Challenges and Solutions

Understand the challenges and solutions in translating content directed towards patients.

IFUs for Medical Devices | Technology and Manufacturing | Solutions

Delve deeper into the world of instructions for use in medical devices and their technological and manufacturing solutions.

Localization: The Key to the Future of International Business

Learn why localization is key to the future of international business.

Most Popular Case Studies:

Wallis Automotive Europe Achieves Continuous Localization with Ciklopea

Explore how Wallis Automotive Europe achieved continuous localization with the help of Ciklopea.

Dun & Bradstreet Translates

Discover how Dun & Bradstreet successfully translated its Financial Dictionary App with Ciklopea’s help.

Maistra

Get acquainted with Maistra’s success story and their experience with Ciklopea.

We appreciate your trust throughout the past year. We look forward to sharing more valuable information and experiences in the upcoming year.

The post Our Most Popular Blog Posts in 2023: A Year in Review appeared first on Ciklopea.

As Ciklopea grew, we recognized that it was time to invest in a Business Management System (BMS). In 2016, we built our BMS Orchestrum to ensure better efficiency, consistency, and smooth management of multilingual content.

Orchestrum is used by all Ciklopea’s employees. This includes the project management, sales, linguistic, and QA teams, as well as our various support teams, including accounting and IT. It’s used by all Ciklopea’s vendors as well. Our direct clients also have the option to open a profile and check their quotes, orders, and invoices.

Thanks to the fact that we use Orchestrum as a central system for recording and exchanging information, we’re able to identify trends and take a deep dive into the data to learn more about the nature of the projects we work on.

Our Top 5 Most Popular Language Pairs

1. English to Croatian

At Ciklopea, the most popular language pair is British English and Croatian. This doesn’t come to us a surprise given the fact that we’re the leading language services provider in Croatia and one of Southern Europe’s Top 20 largest language services providers.

2. English to Slovenian

The second most popular language pair is British English and Slovenian. The largest volumes for this language pair are from medical translations, ensuring effective communication and the delivery of high-quality healthcare services, as well as accurate translation of drug labels, package inserts, and regulatory documents.

3. English to Serbian (Latin)

The third most popular language pair is British English and Serbian (Latin).
Fun fact: If you didn’t know, the Serbian language is unique in that it has two official scripts: the Latin alphabet and the Cyrillic alphabet. This duality has historical, cultural, and linguistic roots.
The Serbian Cyrillic script has its origins in the medieval Serbian Empire and the activities of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It was adapted from the Glagolitic script under the influence of Byzantine Christianity.
The Latin script, meanwhile, was introduced to Serbia under Austro-Hungarian rule in the 18th century and gained prominence during the 19th and 20th centuries.

4. German to Croatian

The fourth most popular language pair is German and Croatian. The majority of German to Croatian projects are technical ones, translating documentation relating to tools and machines. We’ve translated almost 1 million words from German into Croatian in this field.

5. German to Slovenian

The fifth most popular language pair based on the volume of translations is German and Slovenian.
Did you know? German and Slovenian belong to different language families (Germanic and Slavic, respectively) and have distinct grammatical structures, vocabulary, and syntax. Translators need to be aware of these linguistic differences to ensure accurate and natural-sounding translations.

Most Popular Industries

1. Life Sciences: 6.3 Million Words Translated

Medical translations are vital for several reasons, considering the high-stakes nature of the healthcare industry and the potential impact on patient outcomes. From patient safety and informed consent to global research, regulatory compliance, interdisciplinary communication, and addressing health disparities, medical translations are crucial for effective healthcare communication and equal care.

2. EU Legal Documents: 4.5 Million Words Translated

Translation of legal documents supports the principle of equal access to information. Legal professionals, including judges and lawyers, may need to refer to EU legal texts in various languages, and translations ensure that everyone involved in the legal process can comprehend and apply the relevant laws.

3. Industrial Manufacturing: 4.4 Million Words Translated

Tools and machinery are often manufactured and used globally. Translating documentation ensures that people from different linguistic backgrounds can access and understand important information. Not only that, but they also ensure compliance with regulations, as well as accurate safety instructions and guidelines.

4. Marketing: 3.1 Million Words Translated

Marketing translations involve adapting promotional content, advertising materials, and branding messages from one language to another. Speaking your customers’ language (quite literally) can transform the success of your business across borders. Ciklopea has helped many different businesses across the globe in adapting promotional content to cultural and linguistic contexts, ensuring brand consistency and compliance with local regulations.

In Need of Translation Services?

As a language solutions provider, Ciklopea started its journey over two decades ago as a humble home-based startup. Over time, we have evolved into a recognized industry leader. We are known for our commitment to investing in our team, refining our processes, and staying at the forefront of technological advancements.

If you need translation services, we’re here for you: schedule an appointment so that we can discuss your needs.

The post We Translated Over 23 Million Words in 2022–Here’s What We Learned appeared first on Ciklopea.

Japanese culture places a strong emphasis on youth and contemporary aesthetics. Classical European architecture may evoke feelings of aging and nostalgia, which are not aligned with the Japanese consumer’s preference for modernity and youthfulness. What may be perceived as timeless elegance in one culture may translate as outdated to another.

Did you know you can hire Ciklopea for cultural consulting? Our experts know all about culturally sensitive communication, minimizing misunderstandings, and respecting local norms. Book a call with us today.

Why Culture Matters in Translation and Localization

Have you ever experienced cultural shock? It’s a feeling of disorientation, confusion, and discomfort that people may experience when they are exposed to a completely new and unfamiliar culture.

The world is incredibly diverse and rich in traditions, beliefs, and values. When where you come from clashes with a completely different culture, you might feel isolated, alone, frustrated, or homesick.

A similar thing happens in interactions with global brands. To succeed, it’s important that your company not only speaks your customers’ language, but also to make sure your message gets across by paying attention to the cultural context.

From linguistic nuances and cultural beliefs and values, to user experience and a deep understanding of consumer expectations around the world – there’s a lot you need to know.

Linguistic Nuances, Subtext, and Emotions

Linguistic nuances allow translators and localization experts to navigate the cultural sensitivities of the target audience. They help in avoiding content that may be considered offensive, inappropriate, or culturally insensitive.

Additionally, cultures use language in many different ways to convey emotions and subtext. Understanding these nuances helps you to accurately translate not just words but also the intended emotional and cultural context.

Marketing and localization departments sometimes need to make tough calls when it comes to adapting content. It’s a delicate act that requires balancing their company’s interest with what their customers want and expect. Here’s one example: Haribo candy.

Haribo is well-known for its jingle: “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo”. The upbeat melody is simple, it gets stuck in your head easily, and it’s just very positive.

But how does this one-liner translate to other cultures?

For the company, it was far more important to preserve the brevity and melody than it was to precisely translate the sentence. Here’s how they handled localizing it for different markets:

• Spanish: Vive un sabor mágico, ven al mundo Haribo (“Experience a magical taste, come to the world of Haribo”)
• Germany: Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso (“Haribo makes children happy, and grown-ups too”)
• Italian: Haribo è la bontà, che si gusta ad ogni età (“Haribo is the great thing that you can eat at any age”)

Understanding Cultural Values Helps You Stay Relevant

Let’s take a look at one example of a global brand that became a synonym for athletic leisure and excellence: Nike. Nike’s slogan “Just Do It” is famous because of its brevity and the motivational power it holds. It inspires people to build healthier habits and overcome the default behavior of making excuses.

The challenge for Nike was to adapt this slogan to different target markets around the world. To achieve this, Nike used the “Ideal Man” framework, which is built upon questions drawn from sociology and social anthropology. Some of the questions Nike’s experts asked were the following:

• How is the Ideal Man embedded in society?
• What are the deepest values that describe his orientation towards others around him, and theirs to him?
• How does his culture define the way he should operate in the world?
• Which of his skill types are particularly honored in his culture?
• How is he distinguished from women?

With the help of this framework, the team was able to precisely define each culture and inform the localization and marketing teams. For example, their research showed that in the US consumers are driven by the possibility of leaving their mark on the world, while in the UK people lean more towards living a good life. Nike has created campaigns that speak to these values, which is one of the many reasons this company is estimated at almost $150 billion.

Consumer Behavior Varies Depending on Culture

If you want to create meaningful experiences that resonate with your global audiences, you need to understand how consumers in a target market behave, make decisions, and interact with products or services.

However, ensuring your global customers have content available in their preferred language is just the start. You also need to think about the visual elements, because graphic design, color choices, and imagery can have cultural connotations. Additionally, you need to think about the cultural context and references; for example, historical events, famous figures, and popular trends that are familiar and relevant to the target audience.

Hiring a cultural consultant can help you understand the best way to adapt to different markets. For example, some cultures are individualistic while others are collectivist.

In individualistic cultures, the emphasis is placed on the individual’s autonomy, independence, and personal achievements. These cultures (e.g., the US, Canada, Western Europe) often prioritize personal goals, self-expression, and individual rights. When it comes to consumer behavior, they value individuality, unique items, and personalized products that they use to communicate their interests and values.

In collectivistic cultures, the emphasis is on the group, community, or family over the individual. These cultures (e.g., Japan, Korea, China) prioritize harmony, cooperation, and interdependence among members. They tend to purchase and use the same products and services as people around them.

Knowing the culture of the market you are expanding to will help you understand their shopping habits, decision-making processes, and the way they form brand loyalty. This data will inform your translation and localization strategy.

Need Help with Cultural Consulting and Localization?

As you can see, culture permeates every aspect of translation and localization, influencing language, design, messaging, and user experiences. This is why you need to be aware of the cultural context in which content will be received. Easier said than done, right?

Instead of trying to detangle the complexity of different cultures, you should partner with language service providers that also have cultural consulting within their services. Ciklopea has been in the business for more than 20 years, acting as a gatekeeper for quality and a partner for removing communication barriers.

If you’re interested in exploring whether or not we’d be a good fit, book a call with us today. We’re always happy to hear from you.

The post The Impact of Culture on Translation and Localization appeared first on Ciklopea.

Mobile app localization is not just about making your app accessible in different languages. It’s about understanding (and responding to) different user preferences, habits, and perceptions, and about taking the cultural context into account. Picture your users effortlessly navigating through your interface, captivated by content that resonates with their cultural norms, traditions, and values.

This is the power of mobile app localization – creating an immersive and personalized experience that has a lasting impact. But let’s take a closer look at the benefits of localizing your mobile app.

Reach a Wider Audience

Many companies believe that English is something like a universal language, but that is far from the truth. Translating your app’s content, interface, and user instructions into different languages allows you to engage global users who may not be proficient in the app’s original language. This opens up opportunities to engage users who prefer using apps in their native language.

Localizing your app involves considering cultural nuances and adapting the content, visuals, and design elements to align with the target audience’s preferences, as well as cultural and social values. This makes the app more relatable and appealing to users from diverse cultural backgrounds.

It’s worth noting that app stores often prioritize localized apps in search results and rankings for specific regions. By localizing your app, you increase its visibility in relevant app stores, making it easier for users in different countries to discover and download your app. Additionally, there’s a lower competition ranking on local keywords. If you’re localizing your app’s content, chances are you’re capitalizing on a great opportunity simply by speaking your customers’ language.

Build Positive Brand Perception

Investing in app localization shows a commitment to delivering a high-quality product. Users appreciate the effort put into ensuring accurate translations, culturally appropriate visuals, and a polished user interface. This attention to detail conveys professionalism, reliability, and a commitment to excellence, which positively influences brand perception.

Besides that, localization is the hidden hero that encourages your customers to trust and value your brand. When users see that you have taken the time and effort to adapt your app to their language and culture, they perceive your brand as more trustworthy and reliable. This trust translates into increased user confidence in your brand, leading to stronger brand loyalty and positive word-of-mouth.

User loyalty leads to higher app retention rates, meaning users continue to use and engage with the app over an extended period. According to a study by Localytics, loyal app users (those who return to an app within three months) generate 25% more in-app purchases, which means their lifetime value is higher. They are also more likely to recommend the app to their friends.

Both from a marketing and business perspective, loyal users are precious. Acquiring new users can be costly due to advertising and marketing expenses. Retaining and nurturing loyal users is often more cost-effective. As a matter of fact, just by increasing customer retention by 5%, you can expect a profit increase between 25% and 95%.

Looking at the potential return on investment, it’s clear that mobile app localization is a no-brainer.

Increase Your Revenue

Mobile app localization helps you improve conversion rates by ensuring a seamless user experience. Global users are more likely to make purchases, subscribe to services, or upgrade to premium features if they enjoy the way you adjusted the app to their preferences. This includes language, UX, design, and more.

The localized experience reduces friction and enhances user confidence. As an end result, you can expect higher conversion rates and generate more revenue from different international markets. Different regions may have unique payment preferences, for example local payment methods or subscription models. If you make an effort to accommodate these preferences, you can increase your revenue streams.

Essentially, what you’re doing here is making it easy for your customers to buy from you. Here’s one example from Amazon. They introduced a 1-click button for ordering which not only simplified the way people buy products online but also encouraged impulsive purchases. Even though this example is not directly related to localization, it’s a great example of how creating a seamless user experience impacts behavior and sales.

Make sure to tailor your products or services to specific regions, and create targeted upselling and cross-selling opportunities. In this way, users will be more likely to engage and make in-app purchases. Localize your special promotions or exclusive offers, and it’s likely you’ll see a significant difference when it comes to the amount of revenue you generate from foreign markets.

Gain a Competitive Advantage and Increase Your Market Share

Luckily for you, many brands still perceive localization as a “nice-to-have” as opposed to a “must-have” for business success. For a lot of companies, localization is still not a priority and they treat it as an afterthought. In reality, localization can be your most valuable asset and a tool for growth.

Even though it’s not immediately obvious, mobile app localization can help you forge strategic partnerships with local companies and organizations. Consequently, collaborating with local businesses, influencers, and organizations can expand your visibility and credibility on the target market.

Such partnerships can provide access to local marketing channels, cross-promotion opportunities, and insights into the local market landscape, giving you an edge over competitors who may not have established similar connections.

Here’s an example of one of the most popular messaging apps that increased their market share through localization: WhatsApp. By supporting multiple languages and adapting its app to different regions, WhatsApp has been able to penetrate various international markets. For example, it offers localized versions for languages such as Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese, which has contributed to its global dominance. At the moment, WhatsApp has over 2 billion users worldwide.

TikTok is another great example. The popular short-form video app has been localized in 75 languages. The app achieved global success and gained a significant market share in various countries through effective localization strategies. For example, in 2020, TikTok’s localization efforts in India, including localized content, challenges, and music, helped it become one of the most downloaded apps in the country. Impressive, don’t you think?

Still Not Convinced Mobile App Localization Is Worth It?

If WhatsApp and TikTok aren’t strong enough examples for you, here’s a piece of data to convince you mobile app localization is worth it: localized apps have up to 128% higher download rates per country compared to non-localized ones.

If you’re ready to reach a wider audience, build positive brand perception across different markets, increase your revenue, and gain a competitive advantage while increasing your market share, then start with localization.

Ciklopea can be your trustworthy language partner. We have the fastest response time in the industry, top-notch linguists and consultants, tech tools, and processes that make collaboration smooth and fruitful. Schedule your call today, we’re always happy to hear from you.

The post The Advantages of Localizing Your Mobile App appeared first on Ciklopea.

Ensuring your content is available in multiple languages is mainly about inclusivity, but there’s also a lot more to it.

Why Investing in Multilingual Content Pays Off

When you offer multilingual content, you’re breaking down language barriers and making your e-commerce platform accessible to people from different parts of the world. In other words, you are enabling your international customers to browse, shop, and understand product descriptions in their own language. This creates a sense of belonging and shows that you genuinely care about the way they interact with your brand, which in return can encourage them to buy more.

When you offer content in their native language, you open doors to previously untapped markets. It’s like unlocking a treasure trove of potential customers who are more likely to engage with your brand and make purchases when they can understand and connect with your content.

What’s a great example that illustrates just how important it is to translate content or invest in development in different target languages? Customer reviews.

According to Gartner, there are two key benefits to offering customer reviews in their native language: easier promotions and better customer understanding. You should develop a system that will allow you to gather genuine reviews from local customers. Reviews that are written in native languages are more relevant and more likely to resonate with target customers.

Your potential customers are likely to feel more at ease and confident in their decision-making process if they can identify with existing customers. Reading customer reviews from someone who has a similar cultural background will positively impact their user experience, which will in turn lead to higher satisfaction rates, repeated visits, and recommendations to others.

Improve Your Online Visibility Through Local SEO

Multilingual content plays a crucial role in boosting your SEO and improving discoverability for e-commerce businesses. It can significantly impact your online visibility on various local markets.

When you create multilingual content, you optimize your website for different languages and regions. This means that when users search for products or services in their native language, your website has a higher chance of appearing in search engine results. If you target specific keywords and phrases in different languages, you will generate organic traffic from diverse regions. This also means higher chances of attracting potential customers.

Google and other search engines have become our main means for seeking out answers. They act as filters of relevancy for us and we trust them to show us the results that will satisfy us. Think about it: when was the last time you clicked on the second page of the search engine results page? Because these algorithms are so advanced, you’ll likely find what you’re looking for on the first page.

It’s worth mentioning that the top Google local search result accounts for almost 25% of the total   clicks. This means that, when you invest in multilingual content, you gain a competitive advantage over businesses that only focus on a single language. If you make your e-commerce website available in multiple languages, search engines will improve its rankings in local search results. This will help you stand out from competitors who may not have localized their content, and it increases the likelihood of attracting local customers searching for products or services in their preferred language.

Expand Geographical Targeting with Multilingual Content

Multilingual content resonates best if it goes beyond linguistic translation. When you take into account the cultural nuances and preferences of specific regions, you’re setting the stage for the development of meaningful relationships with international customers. Many businesses might consider translating and localizing content as being “over the top”, but that’s where your opportunity lies.

Ensure that your content aligns with local cultural norms, customs, and sensitivities and you’ll demonstrate respect and understanding for that specific region. This level of cultural sensitivity helps you build trust with customers.

Besides the fact that multilingual content inevitably helps you connect with your customers, it’s also important for different marketing and ad campaigns. One of the most common ways to re-engage your customers is by targeting them based on their online behavior. The best-known example in e-commerce relates to friendly reminders about abandoned shopping carts. Typically, you send customers an email and encourage them to finalize their purchase or provide an additional incentive such as a special discount or a bundle offer.

In any case, ad copy, creativity, and tone of voice play a big role here, and addressing your customer in their native language can increase the chances of them making a purchase.

Get Closer to Your Global Customers by Speaking Their Language

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.” This is a quotation that has been wrongly attributed to Nelson Mandela. Even though the famous activist and politician never said these exact words, they are nonetheless true.

Let’s say that you’re expanding your e-commerce business to the DACH region. You would need to translate your website, potentially even create a different country-level domain name (.DE), and ensure all product descriptions are translated, as well as customer support materials.

You would also need to adjust your content to align with German cultural preferences and style. German consumers are known as savvy buyers. They have a distinctive purchasing pattern and are typically uncompromising in their expectations – both in terms of customer experience and product quality. They will carefully read through customer reviews, evaluate pricing, and they can easily return the product if they are not satisfied with it. In addition, they expect a seamless mobile experience when they shop online, because that’s the norm.

Bearing all that in mind, if you’re targeting the German market, you should not only ensure your e-commerce has content in the German language but also be extra careful about the shopping experience you’re providing them. This might require different product copy. For example, if you own a fashion brand, you want to provide information about the way you’re sourcing your materials and include high-quality photos that potential customers can zoom in on.

Ready to Grow Your E-Commerce Internationally?

If you’re planning to launch on new markets, you need to ensure your e-commerce is available in multiple languages. Instead of trying to handle this in-house or with the help of freelancers, why wouldn’t you outsource your work to a reliable, one-stop-shop type of language partner?

If this sounds tempting, reach out to Ciklopea today. We know you have smarter things to do with your time, such as marketing your products and services or strategizing your next big business milestone. We’d be happy to be a part of it.

The post The Power of Multilingual Content for E-Commerce Success appeared first on Ciklopea.

Not Everybody Knows English

Those of us living in the Western part of the world have subconsciously adopted an “Anglophone” worldview, the approach of people whose native language is English or who speak English because they live in a country where this is one of the official languages.

However, it’s estimated that there are only around 360 million people who speak English as their first language. Yet we often fall into the trap of considering it a global language or some form of modern Esperanto. English might be the most-spoken language of the world, but it’s not spoken everywhere, nor will it help you get closer to your customers (especially if you’re aiming to expand into the APAC region).

Additionally, when it comes to establishing your company in a new market and selling your product or services, it’s not just about being understood. It’s about speaking your customers’ language and adapting your brand because you want to build a rapport with them. It also goes well beyond just words and includes all sorts of communication – including audio and visual communication.

Here’s how localization can help, and why you should consider it.

Build Your International Presence the Right Way

By localizing your website and marketing materials into the language of your target audience, you can make it easier for them to understand your message and engage with your brand. The bare minimum is to have a multilingual website, but if you want to go the extra mile and fully localize your online presence, you should present your international audience with unique pages.

This can mean anything from optimizing the user experience to meet their expectations and online browsing habits, using photography or visuals that resonate with them, showcasing diversity, or introducing a color palette that will trigger positive emotions in your target audience.

The result? Better engagement, stronger brand trust, and more conversions.

Taking Cultural Sensitivity Into Account

Cultural sensitivity must be taken into account when localizing content in order to make sure that it is respectful of the target audience and appropriate for their culture. The process of adjusting materials or products to satisfy the linguistic, cultural, and other unique requirements of a given region or country is known as localization.

Cultural sensitivity in localization refers to a process of translation and modification that takes into account the target audience’s cultural quirks, values, beliefs, and customs. This entails observing and respecting regional norms, traditions, and customs as well as staying away from objectionable or inappropriate material.

Ignoring cultural sensitivity when localizing a product can result in major cultural misconceptions that could have negative effects on the target population, cost a company money, or even result in legal problems.

For instance, a business can unintentionally use a symbol or image in an advertising campaign that is objectionable to the target culture, which would ruin the campaign and possibly harm the company’s reputation.

Working with localization specialists and cultural consultants who are familiar with the target culture and can offer advice on how to adapt content and goods successfully while maintaining cultural sensitivity is therefore essential. As a result, localization initiatives may be more successful and effective, enabling you to reach new customers and foster enduring relationships with existing ones.

Let’s Not Forget Local SEO

Let’s face it: if we’re looking for a product or a service, we’ll all turn to Google. And if we need the solution now (e.g., “the best restaurants near me”), we’re likely to formulate queries in our native language.

Because it enables companies to tailor their online presence for particular geographic regions, local SEO is essential for localization. To rank higher in local search results, a website or piece of online content must be optimized.

Search engines like Google prioritize results for users searching for goods or services in a certain area based on their location. So, if a company wants to draw in local clients, it must tailor its web material to the particular geographic area where it conducts business. Local SEO is useful in this situation.

Building local backlinks, optimizing local business listings in directories like Google My Business, and optimizing the website’s content and structure are all examples of local SEO tactics. Businesses can use this to improve their exposure in local search results, which will eventually result in more local customers by bringing more targeted traffic to their website.

Localization Can Offer Your Company a Competitive Advantage

You can outperform rival companies that are not investing in localization by localizing your operations and marketing initiatives, especially in regions where localization is not yet widespread. Here are some of the ways you can beat your competition:

• Provide a better customer experience. Businesses can offer a better customer experience by providing goods and services that are tailored to the regional market. Increased client retention and loyalty may result from this, which may raise sales and profitability.
• Increase your market share. You can increase your market share by catering to the unique demands and preferences of a certain market. This may result in more sales and income as well as a more solid position on that market.
• Reduce your competition. You can limit competition and obtain a distinct advantage by providing goods and services that are not easily accessible to rivals. Profitability and market share may rise as a result.
• Enhance your brand reputation. You can enhance your brand reputation and boost brand loyalty when you show a dedication to understanding and satisfying local customers’ demands. Over time, this may result in increased revenue and sales.

Ultimately, localization can give your company a competitive edge by assisting you in better comprehending and satisfying the specific needs of your target markets, which in turn increases customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability.

Need Help with Localization?

Ciklopea is an award-winning LSP that provides language solutions by combining three key elements: technology, processes, and people. We are fast and professional, customer-centric, and most importantly, we continuously raise the quality bar for our clients.

If you’re at a crossroads and not sure how to handle your international expansion, fret not: we have cultural consultants and excellent localization experts that will ensure you enter new markets with great success.

Schedule a Discovery Call

We’re always happy to hear from you!

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It’s not yet possible “to insert a Russian book at one end and come out with an English book at the other,” says language scholar Prof. Leon Doster. But he’s predicted that translation fully done by a machine could very much be a reality in five, perhaps even three years. This has caused a series of headlines announcing a new world without language barriers and without… translators!

Don’t worry, robots won’t replace humans (yet)

Luckily for translators, the pioneers of machine translation trained their computers using a ‘rule based’ model. In order for a machine to understand a certain word or phrase and use it in translation, a set of rules had to be attached to each word. Such models were slow and complicated to create and computers were not learning fast. But the beginning of the 21st century, an increase in processing power, and a vast amount of new data brought with them a completely new technical approach: training machine models through statistical processes.

Fast forward to today, and computers use Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning. We have machines instantly translating documents and webpages. Travelers use apps to exchange information with locals wherever they go. An entire novel can be translated by a machine in about two minutes.

And yet, translators are still not extinct. On the contrary, they are in demand and needed more than ever.

Discussions of machines taking our jobs aside, technology and translators have been working side by side for decades now. Let’s explore a couple of cases when it’s better, as Agent Smith from the movie The Matrix would say, “not to send a human to do a machine’s job,” and where a machine is completely powerless.

AI and automation take care of repetitive taskTranslating large numbers of documents usually involves a lot of repetitive tasks. Let’s take the automotive industry as an example. Car manufacturers are often required by law to produce large amounts of straightforward, technical documents. Car manuals use simpler language and are highly similar to previous versions. As such, they are the perfect material for machine translation.

Paired with a skilled linguist to post-edit the translation, the machine doing the repetitive work and the linguist doing the fine-tuning, it’s a match made in heaven that ensures high-quality, speedy, and cost-effective translations.

Read about Ciklopea’s “continuous localization” process for Wallis Automotive

AI is great for terminology management

Spreadsheet glossaries are better than nothing, but terminology management is an area that can make especially good use of technology. Translation memories (TM) not only make translators’ lives easier by helping them work faster and more efficiently, but are also key in ensuring the material produced is highly accurate and consistent.

With AI in the form of a translation memory, any risk of inconsistency is reduced by automatically filling in the translated content where a repetition occurs. This allows translators to focus on maximizing translation quality.

The EU: a case study for machine translation

Imagine having a political union, with governing legal and executive bodies, a court of justice, a central bank and numerous other institutions, and 24 official languages! Well, that’s the European Union.

The EU Presidency Translator Project was born in 2015 when Latvia presided over the Council of the European Union. Machine translation was suggested as a solution for the masses of documents that all needed to be translated into 23 other languages, and the project was so successful that MT has been used since. Fully customized neural machine translation solutions were also developed to support the countries that presided over the EU Council in the years that followed.

The tool enables users to automatically translate texts, full documents, and local websites with the European Commission’s CEF eTranslation platform, which includes secure machine translation (MT) systems for all official EU languages. It is estimated that it saves EU institutions approximately 1 billion euros a year (not to mention making information more accessible in a shorter amount of time).

People are still needed for creative and literary translation

We’ve all seen hilariously out-of-context menu translations, or literal Google Translates of proverbs and word plays. Machines are becoming smarter but they just can’t learn how to be creative. When there’s ambiguity, word play, complex meaning, or creative copy, MT falls short. That’s why creative translators (transcreators) are still very valuable and in demand. The days when machines will be able to translate Shakespeare are still the stuff of science fiction.

What’s next? Real-time machine translation in the metaverse

At the beginning of 2022, Meta revealed they are building “the fastest AI supercomputer in the world”. It’s called RSC (Research SuperCluster) and researchers have already started using it to train large models for natural language processing and computer vision.

Its potential uses? According to Meta, it can be put to use in the metaverse, providing real-time voice translations for large groups of people, each speaking a different language, so they can seamlessly collaborate or play an AR game together.

Pretty interesting, wouldn’t you say? If you want to learn more about how you can use machine translation in your own projects, Ciklopea offers AI training as part of its consultancy services. Contact us today for more information on how to leverage machine translation to optimize costs and make the most of your human translators’ skills at the same time.

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One of the things that never changes in business is that people will always opt for a product/service that they can understand and relate to, with this consideration taking precedence over all others, including price.

Localization is a tool that enables cross-cultural understanding and the development of a relationship with global audiences. Its ultimate goal is always to integrate a product/service into the target culture by means of linguistic, technical, legal and, more often than not, creative adaptation of the source materials.

Language service providers have the know-how, the teams and the means to perform this operation seamlessly, and this is one of the reasons why localization is never an expense, but a smart investment.

2. Localization builds customer trust

In the age of content explosion, we are more likely than ever to stumble upon poorly translated/localized content. We’ve all experienced this – we search for certain information on the internet, and the search engine takes us to a website with awkward, machine-translated content.

Should we really trust this source and the information it provides?

Of course not. The party that produced such content made little or no effort to make it understandable to the target audience, which is always a telltale sign of an untrustworthy business.

Things like this also happen in the real, offline world, with the same effect. Consciously or subconsciously, people react to language, and language is an important part of how your products/services are presented. This is why all translation-related tasks should be handled by professionals – at least for business purposes.

3. Localization is a safety device

The localization process is designed to prevent certain issues, and the fact that these issues are rarely talked about only testifies to its efficiency.

Localization prevents problems in the legal and technical adaptation of products and services, enables smooth communication with any local regulators and authorities and, of course, helps build and preserve a positive brand image on the target market.

Poorly translated product/service documentation and marketing materials may mislead, offend and even harm customers on the target market. Localization is a safety device designed to prevent precisely this kind of thing from happening.

4. Localization builds authenticity

When done right, localization enables seamless integration of a product/service into the target culture. When done really well, localization enables the product/service to stand out on the target market with carefully localized and transcreated content that showcases a brand’s image in an authentic and appealing way.

Achieving this effect takes a lot of effort and combined and coordinated work from individuals with a wide variety of skills and talents. Luckily, this is exactly the kind of thing that language service providers do.

5. Localization means business

It’s always easy to forget that the origins of writing, translation and localization are related to business and economics. The earliest writing systems were developed in ancient civilizations for taxation purposes, while the first translators were ancient merchants.

What this means is that localization is an organic and universal business requirement: the key to business success is in exports, and exports are unimaginable without the adaptation of a product/service in accordance with the target market environment.

Times are always changing, but certain aspects of human activity don’t change; they’re simply adapted to the technological standards and requirements of their day and age. Localization is one of these aspects: ancient Phoenician businessmen had to learn foreign languages and do their translations themselves, while modern businesspeople leave this task to professional language services providers.

We help life sciences, IT & software and technology and manufacturing industries communicate their messages to international markets and secure a positive presence at the global level.

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Most of the time, once they reach the stage when the business operations require expansion into international markets, organizations simply decide to localize their existing content that was not originally written for localization. While there is essentially nothing wrong with this approach, the problem is that such content was primarily developed for the home market and that it includes various materials and references that may be irrelevant on the new target markets.

In cases of localization of the existing content, it is therefore essential to determine the real scope of localization by deciding what should be localized and what should be left out.

Writing for localization

Legal concerns

Internalization can also be described as stripping the content from the local flavor.

In addition to avoiding any slang terms or terms specific for the home market and culture, it is also advisable to avoid references to any national laws, institutions or positions that would be irrelevant to the international audiences.

There are two main reasons for this: one is that the official translations for these elements usually do not exist and the other is that inclusion of such elements may confuse the target audiences and/or it may not be in accordance with the legal requirements of the target market.

In short, there is nothing to achieve here but an increased wordcount and another headache for the translators.

Note: This does not include references to EU, UN or any other international organizations or documents.

Marketing concerns

Taglines. Catchy phrases. Portmanteaus. Alliterations. Rhymes. Puns. It is almost impossible to imagine marketing content without these elements. The problem is that they usually work in one language and within one culture. They may lose their desired effect and color in translation or, even worse, they may send an ambiguous, offensive or simply wrong message to the target audiences.

While it would be easy to advise avoiding these elements when writing for localization, we also know that it would be impossible in most cases.

The solution for this is called transcreation, or creative translation of marketing phrases, a process designed to adapt the style, tone and purpose of the marketing message to the target market environment.

Of course, it is advisable to transcreate the essential marketing phrases at the early stages of content production as the transcreated versions may have an impact on how the rest of the content would be composed or formatted, not to mention that this will also speed up the localization process.

Technical concerns

Remember that visuals and multimedia files require localization too.

Different languages and different scripts may also have different lengths, so designing the visual elements with the possibility of space extension is highly recommended.

Save your graphics, infographics and other files for localization in their native editable formats. CAT software can easily process this type of content, enabling the linguist and technical localization teams to do their job smoothly and efficiently.

Universal tips for writing for localization

1. Be precise

Avoid ambiguities. Be careful with synonyms and avoid homonyms.

2. Be clear

Avoid long sentences and stick to the purpose of the material.

3. Be consistent

Use the terms consistently.

4. Never forget that the quality of translation will always depend on the quality of source materials.

The post Preparing for Localization: How to Produce the Source Content the Right Way appeared first on Ciklopea.

We have touched upon the direct link between the quality of source materials and the quality of translation in our previous article. This theme also extends to the technical realm – poorly formatted, uneditable or poorly scanned source documents will definitely not improve the quality of the localized materials.

The main reason for this is that, regardless of whether we use an AI-powered machine translation engine and post-editing or traditional professional human translation, all the major phases of localization process are performed in a CAT (Computer-Assisted Translation) software that can only be used with editable files.

CAT infrastructure is what enables boosted productivity, cuts costs and shortens the turnaround time, so it is easy to see why the properties of the source files are one of the essential elements of the localization process.

In cases when source files cannot be easily imported into a CAT software, there are ways to process these files to enable smooth execution of the localization project, such as:

• OCR or Optical Character Recognition

In certain cases, the materials for localization exist only in the form of scanned documents, or they include images or scanned elements such as seals, tables, or even written text. To make these files editable, technical localization teams perform OCR processing to generate a searchable and editable textual file that will be used in the further phases of the process.

• Alignment

In cases when there are (editable or uneditable) translated versions of documents that were not generated in a CAT tool, it is possible to perform the OCR and subsequently the alignment process to develop translation memories that will enable faster, cheaper and leaner localization with improved lexical consistency.

• Development of Terminology Bases

It is always recommended to extract specific terms and phrases – from taglines to any project-related terms that require special attention – before the localization process begins, and to develop terminology bases that will contain client-approved translations of these terms and phrases. This approach will save time and resources and ensure consistency and quality of the localized materials.

Fixing the Quality Issues in the Target

Quality Assurance (QA) process is performed on translated and reviewed files to check and resolve any errors that may have slipped through. The QA process is also computer-assisted and can be performed within the CAT tool or with independent QA applications.

What is usually checked are issues that involve spelling, formatting, tags, numbers and consistency. Depending on the project requirements, there are various types and levels of quality assurance, and dedicated QA programs are developed for each project.

It should be noted that the QA process is performed on purely textual files before they are sent to further processing, depending on the file format. After this stage, further quality control steps may include:

• DTP or Desktop Publishing + Proofreading

Even the best laid translations may go awry once the translated text is imported into a page layout software. Different languages (and different scripts) have different lengths, there may be issues with text breaks, fonts, layouts and everything in between.

This is why DTP should be performed with proofreading that will enable the linguist team to check their translation in context and address any issues before the localized materials are published.

• Software testing

In cases when the subject of localization is software, testing of localized apps (or, alternatively, screenshots) is performed for the same reasons as proofreading – to enable the linguists and QA teams to check their work in context and address any issues.

Under One Roof

While each of these processes can be performed by different teams and by various organizations, the record shows that centralizing the entire localization process and the supporting processes provides higher quality and faster turnaround times – simply because the linguist and technical teams within the same organization who work in accordance with harmonized rules and procedures are essentially all working on the same task with the same goal.

There is little room for “not my job” mentality, misunderstandings of technical and language aspects of the source material and similar weak spots that may lead to errors, delayed product launches or suboptimal localization.

Lest we forget, we localize content to localize the experience, and one of the fastest and safest ways to do it is by bringing various talents whose services are required for localization under the same roof. This enables linguists to know how their translations will be used and they will have an opportunity to adapt their work accordingly and to check it in context, while the tech people will be aware of the importance of linguistic subtleties in their line of work, and the result can only be a high quality localization.

The post Walking the Technical Side of Localization: Orchestrating QA, OCR and DTP to Really Work for You appeared first on Ciklopea.

However, the term pivot language (or bridge language) refers to the intermediary language that enables integrated translation/localization process from only one source language to any required number of target languages in cases of multilingual localization when the source materials are not available in a single language for any reason.

Choosing the Pivot Language

In most cases, the main factor for the pivot language choice is essentially the availability of human and other resources (such as data or translation assets) for a particular language or language pairs, and this generally depends on the language size. Language services get more expensive and the availability of digital and human resources gets more limited as the sheer number of native speakers descends. For example, there will always be fewer resources available for localization from Dutch to Japanese than from Dutch to English or from Japanese to English.

This is the reason why, in most cases, English will be the preferred pivot language, followed by other relatively large languages such as Spanish, German or French.

In certain cases, depending on the project requirements and the specific language pairs required, the purely linguistic features of languages such as their structure, shared vocabulary and genetic relationships can be leveraged to shorten the turnaround time and improve the cost-effectiveness of localization process by choosing one among the mutually intelligible languages  or dialects as the pivot language for localization within certain clusters of languages and locales (such as South Slavic).

Concerns and Solutions

The main and only concern of pivoting is quality.

There is no doubt that this approach provides an opportunity to exchange not only the translated information, but also any errors, false friends and awkward or vague lexical and structural solutions among the language pairs.

Luckily, quality is also one of the main reasons why the pivot language approach is deployed in the first place.

The importance of the source material quality can never be emphasized enough, and it is essential to remember that any vagueness in terms of clarity, context or the intended purpose of the source materials is likely to reflect on the localized versions. With the pivoting approach, these issues are resolved during the preparatory stages because the materials are developed/translated to the pivot language with the clearly set purpose of localization to other languages, which is usually not the case when corporate materials are composed.

At the same time, pivoting enables development of centralized quality assurance programs, centralized development of translation assets such as multilingual terminology bases , and reduced administration as any communication between the linguist and technical teams and the client can be smoothly performed through a single point of contact, i.e. the project manager.

When it Works

The pivoting approach can be used in virtually all areas of language services – in machine translation with AI, professional human translation, even in interpreting – but its main strength is always in numbers – either in the number of target languages, or in the volume of the materials for localization.

While it may make little sense to apply it on localization projects involving an odd number of language pairs, it will make perfect sense to use it when the language pairs are numbered in dozens .

When done right (i.e, when the source materials are given all due attention), it is an excellent tool that enables centralized management of multilingual projects and, consequently, optimization of costs and time required for localization.

The post The Pivot Language Approach and Multilingual Localization Projects: How and When it Works appeared first on Ciklopea.

Localizing products and services is a strategic concern if global growth is the primary goal of a certain company. It’s critical not just to get it right, but also to accomplish it at the appropriate time.
When large chunks of material throughout the entire customer experience are not translated and localized, user experience becomes disjointed and inconvenient for international customers. To avoid this, it is important to ensure that localization is not an afterthought, but rather an essential business process for going global and committing to continuous localization. This is the main reason why continuous localization plays a fundamental role in a continuous delivery cycle. Especially if you’re in the software or SaaS industry, where quick and frequent upgrades are expected.

Continuous Localization vs. Traditional Method

Continuous localization is a process of continuous software localization using agile development technique.

Without continuous localization, you risk experiencing drawbacks of the waterfall product development model, which requires each phase to be completed in order. Developers complete a development sprint, and project managers package string resources into localization kits and deliver them to translators in a normal waterfall situation. Developers are already involved in a new development sprint when translations begin to arrive. They must then return to the prior sprint and resolve any questions, coding modifications, feature retesting, or other issues that arise from the localization work.

Continuous localization overcomes this by keeping up with development rather than slowing it down or disrupting it. Translators and translation or localization managers are always aware of what developers are working on and can communicate with them about translation concerns as soon as possible.

It is considered to be the best practice in the industry for developing global software and may be used by a variety of businesses.

Benefits of Continuous Localization

Continuous localization serves as a link between development and localization. It incorporates the translation process into agile development, enabling the delivery of localized products alongside each new feature release. Continuous localization, when done right, nearly always leads to improved team productivity, more collaboration, faster time to market and reduced risk than traditional techniques, and includes benefits such as:

• Simultaneous release – Rather than introducing a product in one market and then translating it for new markets, continuous localization allows localization to work in lockstep with development, allowing products to be localized in parallel with each sprint.
• Multilingual development – Localized products can be produced in various languages and launched in multiple markets at the same time by including localization into development. In other words, your localized content is always ready to go.
• Faster communication between developers and translators and vice versa – Translators can ask their questions while the information is still fresh in the developers’ minds. Developers don’t have to change their focus or look through previous code submissions to figure out what the translators are asking about. As a result, translators are more likely to receive prompt responses to their questions. A translator will certainly discover any flaws in the text. If a passage is ambiguous enough for a translator to inquire about it, the developer can rework it to make it clearer.
• Less work for product managers – The purpose of continuous localization is to synchronize translation with development. When this is achieved, the complexity of the project is significantly reduced. Workflows become seamless and tightly connected because of automation. It also relieves product managers of a lot of boring work that they would otherwise have to do.

Continuous localization may be successfully implemented at scale, resulting in enhanced focus, higher-quality products, faster launches, significant cost savings, and complete flexibility to work with your requirements.

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While the basic phases and the desired outcome of each project are generally the same, the variables such as language combinations, number of language pairs, type, format and purpose of the materials and any additional services required will influence the scope and consequently the price of each project.

Take a look at the key points you need to define at the beginning of your journey towards the perfect service:

Translation vs Localization

While translation refers to communicating the meaning between the languages (mostly in textual format), localization, as its name implies, refers to a particular place, or even more specifically, to a particular market.

Its purpose is to adapt the product/service to the linguistic, cultural and legal environment of the target market, while maintaining the corporate identity and the essence of the corporate message and values across different languages and locales.

Translation is an extremely important part of the localization process, but localization goes deeper, as it also often includes adaptation of non-textual elements such as images, layouts, multimedia elements etc, as well as alignment of the product/service with any market-specific legal or technical requirements.

In short, you may need translation only for textual content, while for websites, software, IFUs, multimedia materials and everything else you should be looking for localization.

When done the right way, localization is invisible – if the end user can notice the seams, something is not quite right. To achieve this invisibility, we need the localization process.

The process

The localization process can include more or less stages, depending on the requirements and objectives of each particular project. The standard process version includes the essential roles of a PM, translators, reviewers and a QA
team.

The technology

It is impossible to imagine the localization process without the dedicated translation technologies and productivity suites designed to generate more high-quality content in less time and at optimal costs. CAT (Computer-assisted translation) tools are software products designed to help professional human translators generate more work in less time and they have been the industry standard for decades.

Machine translation (MT) is the translation output generated by machines, i.e. machine translation engines that should be custom developed for best results. MT can be performed with the application of Artificial intelligence (AI), with the post-editing and quality control steps by professional human translators.

The context

The context refers to what do you need to localize and who is your target audience. The type and format of your content will have a significant impact on the turnaround time and costs of the localization process. It is important to bear in mind that the purpose of the localization process is the same in all cases and what differs mainly depends on the context i.e. target audience: It is not the same to localize corporate materials in editable vs. non-editable files, website localization vs. localization of highly specialised materials, transcreation vs. localization of multimedia files etc. In other words, the specific stages and workflows of the process will largely depend on the type and format of your materials.

The volume

The volume refers to how much content do you want to translate and how are the costs calculated – and, lest we forget, the number of language combinations. Translation and reviewing volumes are usually calculated per source word, with applied calculations that generate weighted word counts, with matches and repetitions at reduced price per word. This method of calculation is one of the many benefits of CAT (as well as MT + AI) platforms. In cases when localization is performed in several language combinations, it is always advisable to prepare the source material in one major language and then to localize from it to other languages, and thus avoid language pairs with reduced availability.

The Quality

Quality in this context is not an elusive or preferential aspect of the localized materials, but actually a predictable and measurable result of the localization process. The aspects of quality of translated materials such as accuracy, appropriateness and fluency can be assessed, and these are the aspects of your corporate message that can have an impact on your business performance and that can make your marketing campaigns sink or swim in international markets. The thing is that people tend to notice the quality of the language only when it’s bad – and when it’s bad, it always brings a whiff of sloppiness and untrustworthiness that may have serious consequences on your business.

The reason why language industry even exists, together with its processes and dedicated technologies, is to prevent this kind of thing from happening.

Sounds interesting? See more details on:

Buyer Guide

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More Product-Related Documentation

The MDR classification of medical devices has been extended to include more medicinal products, meaning that more products might be classified as medical devices than before. In addition, medical devices manufacturers are also responsible for devices once they are marketed and for the technical documentation, and there are new and more precise requirements for clinical trials to be conducted by the medical devices manufacturers.

The new guidelines also require more detailed labeling, description of the product, clinical data, documentation, software and information about application of the device, “clearly comprehensible to the intended user”.

In other words, more IFUs will need to be translated and submitted for approval to healthcare authorities for every market.

Mixed Complexity Levels

One of the particularly interesting changes related to translation refers to the manufacturer‘s responsibility to draw up the Summary of Safety and Clinical Performance in a form that intended users and patients can understand.

This means that it might be necessary to develop and translate information intended for the healthcare professionals and patients in the same document.

Focus on the User

Many of the changes required by the MDR compliance relate to the availability and clarity of the product-related documentation to the users of medical devices.

For example, the IFUs must be available on the manufacturer‘s website, linked to the Summary of Safety and Clinical Performance (SSCP) (written in or translated to the language understandable by the user) and uploaded to the EUDAMED database, and to quote from the MDR itself:

• IFUs “shall be written in terms readily understood by the intended user, and, where appropriate, supplemented with drawings and diagrams”
• SSCP must be submitted for class III and implantable devices in a language “easily understandable to the intended user”
• Labeling must be “clearly comprehensible to the intended user”
• Information supplied with the medical devices must be “easily understandable to the user”

This all means that there will be more demand for translation of patient-facing content and that having a reliable provider of language services with the appropriate experience and expertise in content production and  development of translation solutions for the medical devices sector will remain to be crucial for smooth operation and closing of regulatory cycles on the European market, and one of the reasons for this is that manufacturers now also need to provide documentation in English and in their language.

Last, but not the least, centralized management of translation services for the official languages of the EU is probably the best model for  the manufacturers of MDR-compliant medical devices because this model enables uniform execution of the translation process and the quality control across the language pairs.

The post Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on Medical Devices (MDR) and Translation appeared first on Ciklopea.

Localization is essentially a background process that enables smooth and organic integration of products and services into the environment of the international markets. One may think of it as of glue that ties together all business development activities targeted at a particular market, facilitating reach, engagement and support of the target audiences.

As its name suggests, localization refers to a place.

While translation refers exclusively to adaptation of textual content from one language to another, the purpose of localization is adapting a product/service to the environment of the target market using, in addition to translation, transcreation, legal and technical adaptation, localization of visual and multimedia elements and other tools that will make a certain content fully integrated into the target market.

And the reason this is done is because, as the market researches show, about 70% of customers are more likely to make a purchase if a product/service is offered in their first language, while about 40% of customers decline to make a purchase because of missing information on the product, service or delivery, or, as Willy Brandt famously stated: “If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying, dann müssen Sie Deutsch sprechen.”

In the digitally transformed world, these “eternal” truths are as relevant as ever and the ongoing processes of content explosion and increasing demands to provide more content to the growing digital audiences bring localization and its benefits back to the spotlight – it is now crystal clear that localization is a major profit enabler.

But how does it actually enable profit growth?

The 3 Main Benefits of Localization

To provide an answer to this question, several years ago we conducted a research on our own with the aim of distilling our experience to define the main benefits of localization that, when put together, tell an epic story about successful market penetrations, brand awareness, positive figures and similar things that generate profit. What we discovered were the 3 Ps of localization, Prevention, Proximity and Popularity.

Prevention

It is easy to overlook the fact that localization is often a necessary preventive measure to avoid or minimize legal and financial risks on the international markets. This is obvious when certain materials are localized to meet the regulatory or legal demands, but localization also performs a preventive function when it helps you present your product or service, company and values in the way that target audiences will fully understand, eliminating the risk of bad publicity and enabling you to build and maintain a strong and positive global presence. Good things do not happen when the clients and customers receive mixed, unclear or offending signals, or when product launches are delayed due to language-related issues and localization is here to make sure that you avoid this.

Proximity

Why do we  decide to use particular products from the hundreds of similar ones on the market? Most of us will probably state the obvious factors such as price, availability and quality, and it is true, but it is not the entire story. When all these factors are put together, they build our emotional attachment to a particular brand, we adopt it as part of our lifestyle and remain faithful to it and reluctant to try alternatives even when the prices go up or when the availability requires additional effort on our end. In other words, certain brands and certain products become parts of our culture, they are something that we know, like and trust.

Localization is a tool that enables companies to achieve this effect on the international markets, to become integrated into the target culture by bringing their brands, values, products and services closer to the target audiences and in accordance with their requirements and expectations.

Popularity

Among other things, every localized product/service inevitably communicates respect for the target language and culture, and respect is one of those precious things that are hard to earn and easy to lose – but it is always returned.

We all like it when our foreign friends make that effort to learn a bit of our language and it is not different when companies do the same thing. This kind of respect is what makes certain companies and brands more popular than the others and it is the foundation stone of building a solid base and a positive presence on the international markets.

The 3P Model by Ciklopea [Infographic]

The post Why Localize at All? Because You Want Your Business to Grow appeared first on Ciklopea.

While each localization program may have its particular goals and KPIs, they always, one way or another, point to a seamless adaptation of a product / service / delivery / brand into the cultural, linguistic, legal and technical environment of the target market.

The ultimate goal is always to achieve the impact of the localized content that is comparable to the content originally developed in the target locale. In other words, when done the right way, localization is invisible – if the end user can notice that it has been performed, something is not quite right.

And when we take that goal of localization invisibility as our starting point and take a step or two backwards, it is becoming easier to crunch all our experience and get to the essence of what makes the localization process an error-proof experience that generates the desired results.

Localization after the Pandemic

At the same time, in the post-covid world of 2021 characterized by the ongoing content explosion, increasing digitalization and globalization of business operations, localization processes need to be far more agile, faster and integrated than ever before. They need to be remodeled, reimagined and recontextualized to answer the increasing globalization demands.

To achieve this, we need to have a clear understanding of what a localization actually is at its core and why do we do it in the first place.

While localization has always been critical in the sense that it enabled the smooth performance of marketing and sales activities on the international markets, it has always been a background process that, while achieving its main goal of invisibility, more often than not also managed to hide its true colours, which led to localization often being misidentified as a nuisance and a little more than a cost factor.

It took the content explosion and the digital transformation accelerated by the global pandemic to restore localization to its rightful position of a major business driver in the digitally transformed word.

The 3 Pillars of Localization Process

There are many pains related to translation and localization – from purely linguistic issues such as inaccurate and awkward translation or wrong terminology, to purely commercial and technical issues such as high costs, long turnaround times and incompatibility of the localized content with the existing infrastructure, and the remedies to all of these pains are to be found in the process itself.

As I have mentioned above, every project is a separate universe, but it all actually boils to 3 pillars of successful localization process: People, Context and Technology.

Click to view the 3 Pillars of Successful Localization Process Infographic

People – Because localization is an activity that requires bursts of work by a relatively high number of people from very different locations, and the ultimate success of a localization program depends upon the knowledge, agility and dedication of the people driving the process.

While we use all kinds of digital wizardry to make our work easier, leaner and faster, it is ultimately the human knowledge that powers the localization machine, all the way from content production to its release to the end-users.

Context – Because knowing the type, the medium and the target audiences of the content to be localized is essential for the localization program success as it dictates how the process will be performed.

Focusing on the buyer-side enterprise programs can often result in a black box or dump over the fence reality that is of disservice to both sides, where buyer lacks the understanding, oversight and quality control while the supplier struggles to meet the quality expectations.

Successful companies don’t mind getting their hands dirty because they know they need to apply the global first approach, which means that the traditional waterfall model where localization is the last to happen simply does not work anymore.

Localization is back where it should have been all along – in the product/content development phase.

Successful companies are also aware of the existence of content silos and that localization may sit in many business functions such as marketing, regulatory, UX, CX, customer support, product management etc., and that requires a shift to more automated, cross-functional, agile localization programs.

They are also aware that they will achieve best results, better scalability and higher output quality only if they provide suppliers with the proper information and guidelines and view them as their strategic partners.

Technology – Because localization for the international markets requires technical skills, robust workflows and technological infrastructure that can meet the business requirements.

The real magic comes from the interaction between the human mind and the machines.

Technology enables leveraging access to in-country localization specialists and digital translation assets that enable productivity boost and process automation.

In addition, smart application of technology enables all stakeholders to make better and more informed decisions and improve tracking and management of localization KPIs such as quality, time to market etc.

Stay tuned for The 3 Main Benefits of Localization article coming next week.

The post How to Localize: The 3 Pillars of Localization Process appeared first on Ciklopea.

Induction hobs are a great invention. They are sleek, energy-efficient, fast, easy to use, safe, smart and everything in between. However, they cannot make you a star chef if hard boiled eggs mark the upper limit of your culinary skills. But if you happen to be something of an expert cook, there is no doubt that they will make your cooking faster, easier and more convenient.

This is basically the story of every technology.

Technology is a tool that helps us do more actual work with less effort, but its function is not to replace our knowledge, skills and dedication. The concept of doing more actual work with less effort naturally includes delegating repetitive and time-consuming tasks to the machines and this is very useful with, for example, various calculations and automated operations.

Most of the time, though, the high-level intellectual tasks such as content development and translation are time-consuming, but they are not repetitive and cannot be fully delegated to machines any more than, for example, flying an airplane.

One of the oldest examples of task delegating in translation is spellchecking. Of course, it is far more elegant, easier and faster to hit that F7 key and let your word processor automatically check the spelling errors than to sift through the document searching for errors for hours using your eyes only.

However, the spellchecker will actually compare the text against its database and report the strings that it cannot recognize as errors. Will all of them be actual errors? No. You will still need to check the spellchecker’s results.

In other words, technology requires human supervision regardless of its level of sophistication.

Learn More about the translation technologies here.

Artificial intelligence in translation/localization

With the neural models (mathematical frameworks for machine learning designed to simulate the mechanics of the human mind) coming to the fore, artificial intelligence has become dramatically more sophisticated than ever before. We cannot possibly imagine to what extent and how these advancements will impact our lives in the years to come (You have probably seen all those deepfake videos on the internet, right?), but we may say a few words about the application of AI in translation and localization:

AI needs to be fed with high-quality data

Machine translation constitutes only a tiny fraction of the AI application, but the basic principles apply: if the MT engine is built upon poor quality data (in this case, translation memories of questionable quality featuring mistranslations, spelling errors, segments in wrong languages etc.), there is no way the output results will be satisfactory.

In other words, if you have the professionally developed and reviewed translation assets, you can use these to build a machine translation engine that may generate usable translations and the AI can be “taught” to make predictions that will make sense most of the time.

Imagine that AI engine is the engine of your car. In that case, data is the fuel that powers that engine, so, just like in life, the quality of the output will largely depend upon the quality of the input.

The application of AI in machine translation is used for very specific purposes

AI heavily depends upon the context. This often means that its application in machine translation is used for very specific purposes, i.e. that MT engine must be developed on the basis of your existing translated content and the AI must be fed with the data with all the context issues resolved.

Or, in short, don’t expect generic input and output windows that will provide real-time perfect translation.

AI-powered machine translation is about scale and it is not free of charge

This new technology comes simultaneously with digital content explosion and digital transformation and its true power lies in scale.

It is a perfect solution for the companies and organizations with massive amounts of content for localization and translation (such as governments and corporations) who can afford to invest time and money in data training and development of custom MT engines.

It can help you generate more localized content for less, but it is definitely not free of charge and, while certain organizations can afford to localize internally, the massive amounts of content and language combinations make outsourcing a more reasonable model. Outsourcing partners can provide benefits in terms of scalability, automation, risk management and quality control.

Magic wand has not been invented (yet)

We live in a world of speed, digitalization and technology. It is all great, but one of the downsides of our age is the tendency to oversimplify things and give out false impressions that complex processes can be executed with a double click.

Sadly, this is not true. There is no magic wand that can make any actual work go away.

Technology is here to help us do certain things faster and better, but it is not a substitute for knowledge, creativity and integrity.

And while there is a persistent misconception that machine translation will replace professional human translators any second now, it is only partially true: it will only be able to replace the translators who translate like machines, but that particular type of translator is highly unlikely to find work in the language industry anyway.

The post When Translation Technology Really Helps and When it Doesn’t appeared first on Ciklopea.

Marketing materials

The most obvious is the localization of marketing materials. All those elegant ads on TV and in magazines, billboards, websites, sales brochures and more are localized to help the brands’ global success and penetration.

In-car software

Vehicles are becoming increasingly digitized, the promise of fully autonomous cars is lurking over the horizon, and an entire ecosystem of software solutions for cars and driving has been developed that, just like any other software, requires localization.

Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), GPS navigation, onboard digital systems, Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI), smartphone apps and various connectivity solutions – everything needs to be localized for the safest and best user experience on the global markets.

Owner’s manuals

Owner’s manuals, service wallets, brochures and other printed materials are translated and localized to provide global users and technicians with the necessary information about the car features.

Click to view Why Localize? – The 3P Model by Ciklopea [Infographic]

The gift of consistency

We have already mentioned the extremely close connection between the brand image and the products in the automotive industry. One of the features of every good brand is the consistency of its message on all levels and the available language technologies can be used to help the car manufacturers create and maintain a unified user experience across their products and platforms.

Of course, we are talking about the lexical and stylistic consistency of all materials – from ads to in-car software and printed technical documents.

The highly developed translation technology enables us to achieve full consistency through development and utilization of termbases, databases that contain client-approved translations of specific terms and other translation assets such as translation memories and glossaries that help maintain full structural, technical, stylistic and lexical consistency across different materials.

Click here to learn more about translation technology

Further benefits of translation technologies

Translation technologies enable full utilization of professional human knowledge and, in addition to achieving and maintaining consistency, they help us develop and use digital translation assets that optimize costs and shorten the turnaround time of localization.

Download eBook “Translation Asset Management Explained“

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In other words, there is no room for footnotes and appendices in localization. Nor for awkward, vague and misleading phrases. Occurrence of any of this in localized materials is simply a localization failure.

Yet, these things do happen and localization teams often struggle to adapt even the simplest phrases in a specific context. Why?

Struggle for digital attention

Our lives are largely (and increasingly) digital. We are surrounded with textual and visual information. Our days are saturated with texts and images flashing before our eyes at home, at work and at play. The people who produce the content struggle for our attention by investing time and energy into developing catchy phrases, stylized visuals and intuitive user interfaces that communicate as much information as possible in as little content as possible.

Localization needs to adapt all of these aspects into the target culture – but the truth is that not every language/culture is equally suited for this.

Constraints of source language

With almost all source materials composed in English and then translated/localized to other languages, one major constraining factor in achieving the full localization potential often remains overlooked – and it is the very nature of the English language.

Every linguist can confirm that the simplified inflection (i.e. lack of case and gender endings) or possessive noun phrases in English, while great features in themselves particularly if you are a foreign language student, is often the reason for nightmares in the localization department.

It is easy to say a lot with little words in English, while other languages with stricter morphologies and syntaxes may usually need more words to convey the same amount of information and even more to convey a specific tone and produce desired effect. What can be done?

Enter Transcreation

Creative translation or transcreation is the process of adapting the particular tone, style and rhythm of the source materials to the target culture. Its main focus is to reproduce the effect of the message rather than its original meaning.

Transcreation has been used extensively for marketing materials, most often in ads and taglines, but perhaps it can be used for a little bit more. Let us just imagine for a moment that the heart of localization process is not translation, but transcreation.

This would mean that, instead of source text, the localization teams receive instructions, images, application, delivery or product to be localized, information on the target audiences and the desired effect of the localized materials.

Effectively, the primary task of localization team would be to recreate rather than adapt the source materials.

Of course, this approach would never work for materials where the source meaning is crucial (you can forget about it when it comes to any medical, pharmaceutical or technical materials), but it might probably be just the perfect localization strategy for software, games and marketing materials, i.e. all localization projects whose ultimate goal is an immersive experience that would be local instead of localized.

It will take a bit of courage, but, on the basis of everything we have learned thus far, is our belief that this approach is the way to the future with less headaches and more success.

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What is disrupted?

Digital disruption is another name for transformation of the existing products, services, business models, and corporate cultures triggered by development of digital technologies.

It is in many ways comparable with the revolutionary inventions from the past such as wheel, writing, compass, calendar, clock, printing press, steam engine, power transmission, radio, television, computer, all the way to internet and smartphone – all of them were technological disruptions of their times that gradually changed the world to such an extent that we take them for granted, clearly showing that the force of technological disruption is never something that can – or should – be fought against, but rather embraced and adapted to.

Disruption is never really about destroying business; it is about doing things differently and using technology to achieve better results with less effort.

Speed of life

What is different this time is that the exponential increase of pace of digital disruption is literally happening before our eyes. The ways we interact, buy, sell and exchange every kind of information is continuously getting faster, more intuitive and interconnected, consequently impacting our goals and expectations in terms of business as well as any other activity.

But what remains unchanged, though, is the need for a clear, precise, appropriate and error-free cross-cultural or multilingual communication – and this is the part where providers of professional language solutions enter the stage.

Being essentially an auxiliary industry, the language industry has to keep up with the technological developments and, more often than not, predict the direction of changes to stay relevant and deliver the right solutions.

What is not disrupted?

To do this, we need to be fully aware of our history and the very essence of our business, i.e. to understand what are the things that never really change and to apply the latest technologies to them.

The essence of language business is global communication, and it is one of the things that may only become more required as the world is getting increasingly digitized and connected, but professional translation/localization services must also be digital, as they have been at least since word processor was invented.

Technology Eclectic Approach

The service of communicating verbal content from one language to another must closely follow its technical and cultural context, as well as its format and purpose and any other specific dimension.

As the online world is changing with the increasing popularity of multimedia content versus the textual one, we may see the rise of audio and video localization (and lest we forget the infographics as one of the dominant formats of today) in the near future.

While it is highly unlikely that machine translation will replace your good old human translator in our lifetime, application of artificial intelligence is likely to make the MT output more sophisticated and therefore more widely used, consequently increasing demand for the MT post-editing services.

At the same time, as the world is getting more connected, more companies will need to globalize their business operations, increasing demand for localization.

All of this taken together calls for a technology eclectic approach to development and execution of language solutions that uses all technologies required for a specific project in terms of format, purpose and quality standards and combines them with professional human knowledge for best results.

The post Digital Disruption and Language Solutions: It’s All Connected appeared first on Ciklopea.

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Mature organizations understand the place of localization in their global strategies and act accordingly. In other words, they simply view localization for what it really is – a smart investment with long-term, multilevel benefits that will help put their business on the international map.

This approach to localization actually stems from the organization’s maturity as it reflects the company’s strong sense of corporate identity, confidence in their products/services and dedication to globalization strategies.

Needless to say, they already have their localization programs and custom KPIs set before the project begins. They know what they can and what they want to achieve with localization and all they need is help with the execution.

They Understand the Importance of Language and Communication

There are many myths about translation, ranging from the one that any speaker of a foreign language can do it to the one that machines can do it. An organization’s maturity is also reflected in the awareness of the dangers and hidden traps of these myths.

They simply know that language is something people take for granted and notice it only when it’s bad – and when it’s bad, things can go really wrong and damage the corporate image and make even the best marketing campaigns flop on a foreign market.

These are the chances no serious company is willing to take and that is why mature organizations take localization seriously and rely on professional providers of language services who provide appropriate quality control and take responsibility for the quality of their work.

They Have a Dedicated Localization Officer

It’s old news that every process should have an owner.

Complex multilingual localization projects, though, are virtually impossible to yield satisfactory results without a dedicated point of contact on the client’s end who will be responsible for the localization projects and share the necessary information with the localization teams.

No team on Earth can be that good to know how to render specific organizational aspects and/or product/service features to different languages, or to know what kind of impression the company wants to make on a new market without any input from the client. Execution-wise, this is where the role of localization officer becomes crucial – he/she is the link between the company and the localization project manager who, on the other end, organizes the localization teams and coordinates their work.

The more information is fed from the localization officer to the localization team, the less issues there will be during the project and the final output will be completely in line with the client’s vision.

They Have Allocated Localization Budgets

Localization is not cheap – superficially. Its benefits and damage prevention justify every cent. However, a mature company will allocate the resources for localization the moment they decide to go global because they understand it is not a running expense.

In most cases, the localization budget is only a fraction of the marketing budget – but it’s there and it always makes localization project negotiations run smoothly.

They Are Aware of Language Technologies

Clients do not need to be experts neither in linguistics nor in localization technologies, but mature companies (i.e. their localization managers) are usually aware of the existence of language technologies that can make the execution of their projects faster and cheaper, and, more importantly, that can be integrated into their existing technological infrastructure.

Clients who are aware of the technology can provide more valuable information to the language services provider who will then be able to choose the appropriate tools and tailor the perfect solution to suit their needs.

Read more about language technologies here.

The post The Value of Localization for Beginners: Part Three – How Mature Organizations Do It appeared first on Ciklopea.

In most cases, the person in charge of localization will be digital marketing managers with strong sales skills, specific marketing channel expertise and strong creative and analytical abilities.  They are responsible for the digital content with the purpose of attracting the new customers and maintaining the relationships with the existing ones. Translation services that they might need will almost certainly include SEO keywords research, content production, development of meta descriptions and title tags, backlink building or the use of technology i.e. the adequate software. The final goal would be to perform the onsite content optimization. Services of a team with highly specialized positions such as a transcreator, an SEO specialist, an IT specialist, a Digital Marketing Specialist, a Content Producer and a WordPress Specialist might be required.

In addition, a step which is not to be forgotten is engaging an in-country reviewer of the localized and transcreated materials, i.e. the one who will check the content against the target market’s cultural, linguistic and legal environment. You do not want to accidently confuse or offend your foreign clients and in-country review by a third party native reviewer is the quality control step to prevent this.

With the increased content production, automation through a translation management system is a must.  It optimizes the process and ensures that the newly produced content will be localized and published on time. When it comes to website localization, a CMS plugin is a next logical step forward which saves time and preserves the code and the design integrity.

Speed of delivery, adequate style and the regular use of SEO and digital marketing services might help you take your company straight to the digital throne.

Trends and challenges

Influx of international travellers will definitely make hoteliers provide services in a variety of languages with the emphasis on the unique needs of the international visitors. Real time damage control i.e. the constant feedback or translation evaluation might help maintain positive guest relations and drive the future bookings.Having a differentiation point will be more than necessary as the hotels are trying to offer unique services and to be tech savvy as we speak, i.e. offering of additional customized services and technologies is a must.

The tech explosion brings the modern travelers that are self-aware, tech-savvy and comfortable with using apps or mobile websites. Hotels need to make sure their services are up-to-date and user-friendly. At business meetings and conferences, travelers expect hotels and conference centers to have high quality tech equipment and a knowledgeable support staff.

Where do the language services fit in here?

The main goal of every localization effort is customization of the product/services, while keeping up with the trends and industrial developments is the main obligation of the language industry.

Therefore, in addition to providing fully customized experience to the foreign clients, the language services need to be adaptable and compliant with the latest technologies. For example, it might be necessary to localize chatbots, which might provide faster basic online booking services than an agent in certain cases, or provide a quick info on the sleeping arrangement or vacancies. In other words, digital transformation in visible everywhere and the language services providers need to stay on this road as well, from the way the projects are negotiated and executed, to the way the service and support are delivered to the client.

Translation industry has not been limited to the paperwork and mere communication from one language to another for decades – it is a heavily digitized industry with an important role in the contemporary globalized world and it is here to help the other industries grow on the multilingual markets through combination of professional human knowledge, technology and processes.

All of this makes an LSP an ideal partner in the global business operations who can help you adapt your message in accordance with the target market’s language, culture, and the target audience’s preferences – in any form and for all media.

Contact Us for customized language solutions for the travel & hospitality industry.

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Calculation of return on investment in language solutions is often complex because localization in most cases forms a part of a much bigger picture (various commercial / marketing campaigns or regulatory efforts) and therefore its return on investment is closely tied to the success of failure of these actions – there is no good localization solution for a bad product or service. This is also one of the reasons why many companies do not calculate localization ROI individually and focus on analytics to justify expansion to a particular locale before localization process instead.

However, the companies who do usually rely on custom KPIs that depend on the type and form of localized product/service and may include reduction of regulatory compliance issues on a specific market, optimization of communication with the local regulatory bodies, reduction of customer support requests, set sales goals, brand awareness, number of website visits and conversion on a foreign market, etc.

In other words, success of localization is measured against what you are set to achieve with it. The clearer your goals are, the exact results will be easier to generate.

25 $ per every dollar invested?

Some studies suggest that ROI is as high as 25 dollars per every dollar invested, particularly in the IT industry.  While this figure may seem exaggerated at first, if we take a look at the two major benefits that you actually get when you pay for professional language services, we may arrive at the conclusion that localization ROI may be even higher:

Safety

Translation fails can be funny, particularly when they happen to somebody else. But their consequences to the business operations and brand image can be serious. Professional localization is more often than not a precautionary measure for a successful market entry and maintenance of a particular brand image.

Remember that most of the time people notice translation only if it is bad. In addition to avoiding your well-developed marketing campaigns ending up in mockery on a target market, you also avoid possible regulatory issues and keep your customers informed on how to use your product properly and safely.

Market Penetration

Your product/service may be impeccable and a real dream-come-true to your global customers and clients. But this means next to nothing if your audiences are unaware of it. Localization is the secret ingredient that makes your presence on the global markets soar because it helps make your brand a part of the target culture.

Who are the customers you will reach?

Once again, the answer to this question lies in that old business adage “Can’t read it – won’t buy it” : the customers you will reach are the customers who were provided with a localized version of your product/service in accordance with their language and culture.

Virtually every survey ever conducted shows that at the very least more than 60% of the customers would always opt for a more expensive product presented in accordance with their own language and culture than a more affordable product or service in a foreign language – and this percentage grows with the complexity and sophistication of product / service.

Stay tuned for more info on L10n benefits in Part Three.

Check out Ciklopea’s infographic 3P Model of localization benefits.

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Different Markets – Different Approaches

Most marketing materials are originally produced in English and designed to appeal to the specific cultures of the Anglophone countries, and, sadly, most of the time without localization being taken into account. This usually means that even the most carefully produced copies, ads, campaigns and other types of marketing materials may lose a good deal of their original flair and punch in localization because their structure and the original cultural context simply prevent the message from resonating with the target audiences on the foreign markets the way it should.

While creating a new content for each market may take too many resources, it should never be forgotten that different markets demand different approaches. The content designed to reach and engage foreign clients and customers cannot simply be localized, and for this reason it is important to answer the following questions during the content production process:

• Will the message designed for one market work on another?
• Can the message be changed on the foreign markets?
• What is the universal appeal of the message?

The solutions that can be helpful in adapting the desired tone, style and meaning of the original message to the foreign market include:

• Target culture research
• Transcreation
• In-country review

Our experience has shown time and again that the most successful marketing localization projects were executed in close cooperation with all stakeholders at all stages, from content producers to in-country linguists. In fact, the Pareto principle for a successful localization of marketing materials could easily read 80% of research and consulting, 20% of language tasks.

Localizing Post-Sale Activities

While the traditional marketing materials are regularly localized, post-sale customer support rarely gets this kind of attention.

Companies are predominantly focused on providing customer support on their home markets. One of the main reasons for this is that the real value of localizing the entire cycle of customer experience is not always evident, but the recent research by CSA The ROI of Customer Engagement clearly demonstrates that both B2B and B2C customers from the non-English speaking countries largely prefer post-sale customer care in their own language – a survey of 3000 respondents showed that 85% of them would rather buy software or a high-tech product if the post-sale technical support is available in their language, while 74% of them are more likely to purchase the same brand again if the after-sales care is in their language. (Read more: ROI on Global Customer Experience? Show Them the Money)

This all brings us back to the first sentence – people won’t buy a product/service they don’t understand – but lest we forget that the term understand here includes all stages of the customer’s interaction with a product/service, all the way through post-sale customer support.

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What is localization all about and what makes it different from translation?

Time and again, it is emphasized that localization is more than translation, but what is really meant by this is that it is a process of transferring, recreating and transcreating the user experience, style and values related to a particular product / service from one locale to another.

While translation refers solely to the textual content, localization is a comprehensive process of adaptation of the entire product/service identity to the environment of a specific foreign market and this may include adaptation of colors, multimedia, specific textual operations, technical and legal harmonization, etc.

In other words, if you have found your voice, developed a particular style and expression, built a recognizable profile and a solid user base on your home market, you cannot simply translate the content of your corporate message to another language and achieve the same results, but you need to localize your entire profile and find another voice that will produce the similar or equal effects on the target market.

Translation is an essential part of localization, but while it is focused on communicating the meaning of the verbal content of product/service between the languages, the ultimate goal of localization is a seamless adaptation of the entire user experience and its stylistic, visual, technical and legal aspects from one market to another.

Who are the customers you won’t reach?

The answer to this question lies in the old business adage “Can’t read it – won’t buy it” : the customers you won’t reach are the customers who were not provided with a localized version of your product/service in accordance with their language and culture.

Virtually every research and every survey ever conducted shows that more than 60% of the customers would always choose a more expensive product in their own language (i.e. the one they can understand) than a more affordable product or service in a foreign language – and this percentage grows with the complexity and sophistication of product / service.  (You may want to check out the research Survey of 3,000 Online Shoppers Across 10 Countries Finds that 60% Rarely or Never Buy from English-only Websites by Common Sense Advisory for details.)

Localization is a process specifically designed to help you reach those masses of potential customers who may be waiting for exactly what you have to offer them.

What about the quality and the costs?

Having an old tree is better than having no tree at all. But localization is nothing like the trees.

Substandard localization is more likely to discourage a potential customer than absence of localization because a bad localization always leaves an impression of a fishy business and may even confuse or offend the customers, so instead of the customers you won’t reach you get the customers that you will never reach and possibly PR and crisis management costs thrown in.

This is why the low price of a bad language solution ends up way higher than a realistic price of a quality service – when you are paying for localization, you are also paying for safety and security of the brand and the company image on the target market.

Read more about the L10n benefits in Part Two.

The post The Value of Localization for Beginners: Part One – The Customers You Won’t Reach appeared first on Ciklopea.

This localization method emphasizes continuous communication among the team members and generating new ideas that could improve the entire workflow. It is also very important to warn each other about the possible problems or pitfalls of the process.

Time management

Since this is an ongoing method that requires regular changes and updates, there is no much room for work-around solutions, which are not sustainable to begin with. They only serve as a quick runaway from the situation.

The best way to avoid problems is a better time management. Be sure to always measure how much time you spend on certain phases of the project and try to adjust the workflow accordingly.

Toss the unnecessary

During the localization process, we often don’t think about the necessity of every piece of content so we localize everything, even though a lot of it could be unimportant. That’s why we need to define what we don’t need and then toss it away so we don’t lose time and resources on something no one will ever use.

In order to do that, we need to analyze the market as well as the needs and desires of our customers – what do they use, how they use it and in what languages. It’s crucial to get rid of the localization waste.

Recycle

Recycling is extremely important in the localization world as much as it is in nature and environment. Translation assets are the storage lockers of the language industry where we can find translation memories and termbases. They can be created for specific projects and language pairs. Reusing the already translated material reduces the time needed for translation of the new material, which is, for sure, the most important feature of agile localization.

Automatize

Even though the copy-paste method sometimes may seem like the most efficient one, in most situation, it is not the case. There are number of ways to automatize the localization process, and one of the best examples is website localization. That process can be sped up and automatized using some of the many CMS plug-ins for which can be integrated with CAT tools.

Ciklopea has localized its website to three languages using WMPL plug-in for WordPress, which was then connected to Memsource. The biggest benefit here is that it is possible to set up only one project, define as many target languages as you want and send it for translation in just a few clicks.

This is just one of the many examples of process automation, even though there are many more. We just need to think outside of the box.

Conclusion

Agile localization may sound like a mission impossible, but it is actually all about good communication and work organization. It’s important to set up and define clear goals and tasks for each team member who will then send periodical reports to others about the phase they’re currently working on.

After each phase, the product has to be tested and these tests should be carried out regularly so we could be sure that we have the best possible solution in every moment.

The post Agile Localization – What Is It and How to Achieve It appeared first on Ciklopea.

Example No. 1: A simple case

Project outline:

Three Word documents previously translated to one language, totaling 6000 unweighted words. Two new documents totaling around 2500 words that feature certain elements of the existing files and need to follow the existing style and terminology.

Project execution:

Since the translated documents were properly formatted and there were no layout issues, the alignment process was completed almost instantly. The software was able to segmentize the source files and we matched the translated segments, with some minor tweaking of segmentation. We then built a translation memory from those matched segments and added the new files to the project.

The result:

Thanks to the created translation assets, the final wordcount of the new content was around 1500 and our linguists were able to produce translation in accordance with the previously established style and terminology. The assets were preserved for use on future projects.

Translation alignment in action.

Example No.2: An extreme case of multilingual alignment

Project outline:

In one of our projects we had to develop translation assets in four language pairs, totaling roughly 30k words per language. The source materials were expanded with new content totaling about 20k words unweighted and the language assets had to be developed both to retain the existing style and terminology solution and to help the client switch to a new CAT platform.

Project execution:

Unfortunately, there was no workaround for ploughing through dozens of files, but once we organized the materials we could proceed to the alignment phase. Since these files were localized and some parts were even transcreated to match the target cultures, which also included changes in layout and differences in content, we knew that alignment was not going to be fully automated.

This is why native linguists in these languages performed the translation alignment and communicated with the client and the content producer during this phase. While this slowed the process a bit, it ultimately yielded the best results possible.

We then exported the created translation memory in the cross-platform TMX format that allowed use in different CAT tools and the alignment phase was finished.

The result:

With the TM applied, the weighted volume of new content was around 7k words. Our linguists localized the new materials in accordance with the existing conventions in the new CAT platform and the translation assets were saved for future use.

Wrap up

In both cases, translation alignment enabled us to reduce the volume of the new content for translation and localization and ensure stylistic and lexical consistency with the previously translated materials. It also provided an additional, real-time quality control and helped our linguists produce a better translation in less time.

Translation alignment is not an everyday operation, but it is good to know that when it is called to deliver the goods, this is exactly what it does.

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My name is Emanuel Blagonić. I like to say that I am, first and foremost, a father. I am a designer, I design user interfaces and work with small and big companies from Croatia and worldwide. I first encountered WordPress more than 12 years ago when the CMS was very different from what it is now. I have been introducing the benefits of WordPress to the people ever since, which has taken a form of active participation in the Croatian and global WordPress communities over the past few years.

What is the importance of localization in your opinion?

The story of WordPress is the story of localization. The first major success occurred in Japan which was home to the strongest localization community of the world in those days (15 years ago). Localization is the key to success if we want to make something more available to worldwide audiences. The WordPress mission is to democratise publishing, and to do that we need to make the software available to everyone – regardless of their proficiency in foreign languages – and this is where localization is coming to the fore.

What are your experiences with WordPress localization (challenges, solutions, etc.)?

There are two types of localization. One type includes WordPress software localization. WordPress relies on its – at times almost fanatical – worldwide community in that respect. WordPress is actively translated at home, at work, and at the events known as Contributor Days, where many people working in different teams meet to contribute to the WordPress project. More than 500 people attended the Contributor Day recently held in Belgrade as part of the WordCamp Europe conference (currently the largest WordPress conference in the world), who actively contributed to the community throughout the day. One type of contribution is the localization of main software, plugins, themes and more.

Content localization is the second part of the localization story. Content localization is important in terms of target audiences of a specific website. It is important to localize your website for your target audiences to make your content, message or your products and services available to as many people as possible.

What are your experiences with the localization on other CMS platforms?

I don’t really have experience with other CMS platforms so I can’t claim whether localization is implemented better or worse. The basic problem of WordPress – if that can be seen as a problem at all – is that, unlike some other CMS platforms, localization is not an integral part of its installation, but it needs to be “upgraded” through plugins (such as WPML). Although that’s not really an issue, I believe localization could be solved better under WordPress. However, the facts that 30 % of all the world’s websites are powered by WordPress (its share among the CMS platforms has long been larger than 50 %) and that it is the most popular CMS of them all makes the case for WordPress content localization being an important part of your online strategy.

Is localization process affected by website complexity?

It surely is. You can opt for different approaches to localization based on the website “size”, i.e. its complexity. The users most frequently choose WPML as the most professional WordPress localization plugin, and those who do not want to pay for it (WPML is a premium plugin) opt for other solutions.

As always, every solution has its pros and cons, and with very complex websites it is perhaps best to consider a customized solution with each language being a separate WordPress (multisite) installation where content connection will be solved with custom software code.

WPML is the genuine commercial solution that provides a wide range of possibilities to translation agencies who use specific tools, making the localization process faster and smoother.

Is localization something to be considered before or after the development?

Definitely before. Although it is possible to localize a website after it has been published, I believe that having an initial plan of what needs to be done today, tomorrow and the day after tomorrow always pays off. If we have a vision for the next two or three years, in addition to being able to make an easier prediction on the type of content that we need, we will also have a better insight into the localization requirements. Based on that, you will be able to choose a better solution, of course, in collaboration with your web developers.

Why is it important to choose a professional LSP for website localization?

As always, having professional and reliable partners is important. Although we tend to believe that if we can understand and speak, say, English, we can also translate content, we should be aware that a self-service translation (mostly) does not meet the expectations of our audiences on the target markets. If you are targeting British, German, Italian, French, Russian or any other market for that matter, it is important to have a professional translation because your website in most cases serves as your reflection and the place of first contact with your potential clients. Of course, this is something that leaves an impression, so it is important to make the impression you want.

The post The Story of WordPress is the Story of Localization: Interview with Emanuel Blagonić appeared first on Ciklopea.

Since a big part of the learning process happens on the Internet nowadays, more and more people are leaning towards remote learning. They can choose from number of online courses, and there’s even the possibility of enrolling and attending online universities. Having that in mind, it’s important to think about the global outreach it may achieve. Which is why it’s necessary to localize the learning material, so it could be understandable for the worldwide audience thirsty for knowledge. However, as for any other localization process, there are few essential guidelines which can make the job a lot easier.

Defining the languages and the target markets

It’s impossible to dive into the localization process before we’ve identified our target markets and the appropriate languages. Right after that, we need to define the scope of localization. This would, first and foremost, include:

• Content – because you need something to learn from;
• User interface – because there is no point in beginning your journey if you can’t understand the first half of it;
• Audio content – if there’s any audio content incorporated in the learning material, it should be localized as well;
• Images, graphics, screenshots – images are as important as the text, which obviously means they should be adadpted for every language in the predefined scope;
• Help guides, glossaries and resources – don’t forget any other external content that could be helpful for the learners.

UI in the name of improving the UX

Since one of the goals should be providing the users with excellent experience, a good way to do it would be to make the simple and smooth user interface. In addition to the UI being localized, it would be nice if it had logical flow that doesn’t confuse the users. All images should be replaced with the culturally appropriate ones. Of course, we shall not forget to leave some space for text expansion. Also, don’t forget to think about different devices and to optimize the interface accordingly.

Pay attention to details

When localizing learning material, we must not forget the different cultural features. Since it’s a really sensitive subject, we must approach it with special care. The same thing can have vastly different meanings across the globe. Which is why it’s also crucial to adapt all other features like colours, symbols, images, etc.

Every localization professional can assure you that the process is not easy at all. Some things are just hard to transcreate and adapt for different markets, particularly if there are any colloquialisms, regional or other linguistic variations that are hard to translate or that are untranslatable at all. In order to avoid that, we should always use simple, concise language and pronunciation.

The flow of the localization process

For this matter, it would be best to build the localization team out of language professionals and native speakers, who know the source and target language in depth. So, if there are any changes/updates in the learning material or the localization workflow, they will be familiar with every detail.

In addition to translators, there should always be a team of reviewers, who will check and proofread all the materials. There is always something that translators could oversee or something that could be translated in a more fluid and natural way. After all, two heads are always smarter than one.

Testing the final product

After wrapping up the material, it’s obligatory to do the extensive testing to see how the different users will be taking the courses. The testing should be carried out several times and on several different sample groups in order to get the better insight. Also, it is suggested to do the testing for different devices and browsers. It should also be tested for different bandwidths, too, since some countries may have limited access to the Internet.

Please have in mind that this is a time-consuming process that simply cannot be done overnight, as it requires a group of professionals to work on it continuously. If you would like to dive into eLearning localization, but don’t know where to start, you can always seek help from our language experts who are more than willing to guide you through the whole process.

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We all know that we can deliver the best product in the world to our client, but if the client did not feel good working with us, if we failed to establish a relationship with them, they will likely not contact us again.

Being professional and punctual, always delivering what is promised, particularly in terms of quality and deadlines, nurturing partnership relations and open communication with the customer – these are all well-known and frequently described characteristics of a good project manager. They go without saying, and together they create a positive image of a project manager and the company s/he works for in the eyes of the customer on each individual project. But the role of the project manager in customer experience does not start with the project handoff and end with the delivery.

When starting to work with us, a customer embarks on a journey where they go through a series of our processes, which shapes their experience of how it is to work with us. Due to the nature of their position, the project manager is often the customer’s guide in this process with the role and responsibility to make the journey as smooth as possible. We often try to improve the customer experience with technology, by automating some of the tasks, such as quoting or feedback collection, by providing the customer with an insight into our processes or by making the processes more transparent. However, since the project manager is usually the one who remains in continuous contact with the client, the bulk of responsibility still lies with them.

Walking in the client’s shoes

Project manager’s linguistic, technical and organizational skills are a prerequisite for good project management, but when it comes to building an excellent customer experience, another set of skills needs to come to the fore. Just like their projects, clients come in all shapes and sizes and the PM needs to be able to recognize a client and identify and apply the right approach.

The project manager’s direct contact with the client allows insight into the client’s knowledge of our industry, their expectations and the purpose of the project and the PM’s role is to identify that information and adapt the communication and the organization of the project to make sure the project runs as smoothly for the client as possible. A mature customer might be interested in knowing all the tools that will be used during the project and all the details of the process, but a less engaged one might be interested only in the time of the project finalization and the quality of deliverables.

Our clients are manufacturers of medical devices, providers of tourist services or software developers. They all want to focus on what they do, and that is why they rely on you to be their guiding hand, their executor and advisor.

And this is where all the variety of knowledge and skills of a good PM comes into play, especially the diplomatic and organizational abilities. A good PM will use their knowledge and experience to assess what lies ahead at the initial stages of the project – identify the information that they have and that they don’t have, the risks and issues that may emerge during the project and to decide on the best way to proceed. They will ask the client for additional information, documents or anything else if they need to, but make sure to keep their communication balanced and organized, not spamming the client with too much unsolicited emails, questions scattered in dozens of emails or an avalanche of unnecessary information. The precision, timeliness and appropriateness of a project manager’s communication shows respect for the customer and makes them feel good about working with us. It shows that we are their partner who keeps their interest in mind and makes sure that they do not waste their time.

The Elia Handbook for Smart PMs

Building the Connection with smooth communication

We set up our processes and procedures according to the industries’ best practices. The processes are meaningful and logical to us, they follow our workflows, and they have often been set up from our own perspective.

But if they do not have the client in mind, they can frustrate the customer and make us difficult to work with. In such situations, the project manager can intervene and act as the customer’s advocate, facilitating the journey through different stops in our company, from onboarding to invoicing, sometimes even breaking down the invisible walls between departments to minimize the customer’s efforts. When a customer has a problem with invoicing, for example, the project manager can be the one to facilitate the communication between the customer and the accounting department and help bridge the gap between the two different sets of processes and procedures, the customer’s and our own.

Customer feedback is one of the most powerful tools in an effort to improve customer experience. It is often quite difficult to elicit feedback and businesses spend resources devising surveys and questionnaires to collect the client’s opinions and feelings about their cooperation.

A project manager is in a privileged position by communicating with the client almost on a daily basis, and through establishing a relationship with the client, s/he can get a first-hand insight into the client’s thoughts and opinions. Not only does such a direct and live feedback make it possible for the project manager to adapt to the client’s expectations from the project in real time, but it can also be a valuable source of information for general process improvement and it can help the company bring customer experience to a whole new level.

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Before producing content, we definitely should analyse our visitors and their behaviour on the Internet.

In other words, we need to have a clear vision of how our target audiences look and act like while browsing the Web and what kind of content drives them to engage more. Another thing we should take into consideration is whether they’re engaging with the content via their desktop computer, laptop or a smartphone. Only when we get the answers to these questions, we can start thinking about how to fulfill their desires with interesting content.

On the other hand, there’s the complex problem of making the same content relevant for different users. Let’s say you want to talk about some new tech gadget on the market. The first users that come to your mind would probably be tech lovers, geeks and experts, but how can you readapt that same content to be interesting to non-experts and newbies?

Will the professional/expert terminology and approach mean anything to lay users? And who is your target audience?

Your content means nothing without the context in which it is consumed. Of course, there is an unimaginable number of contexts in the universe and it is impossible to think of every single one, but you should cover the most probable ones.

Except for the audience, it’s important to adapt the content for different platforms and social networks. Something may work for Facebook, but that same thing will not work for Twitter or Instagram. Because we can’t transfer one message through different channels in the same format and expect it to have the same impact and results.

And on top of all this comes localization as a device of adapting the content and its context to the environment of the foreign markets, which is another contextual arena with divisions and subdivisions of its own.

It seems like the conclusion here is obvious – content cannot exist without context, or it can, but it will inevitably lose a lot of its juice (or worse) if taken out of context. And while it may be seemingly easy to create content, it definitely takes deeper thinking and more resources to make it relevant for different customers and platforms. Which means it also takes continuous readaption and improvement.

So don’t be stingy with creativity and more importantly – don’t be afraid of the change.

The post It’s All Connected: Harmonizing Content and Context appeared first on Ciklopea.

In her speech, Ms. Axam reflected on the changing role of the CMO and the need for organizations to adapt in order to fit into today’s modern marketing world by truly understanding their customers.

Our main interest was a part of the talk about the possibilities to transform the marketing team into a client centric and data driven one, i.e. to understand your clients better in the digital world.

Our takeaways

75% Executives Make Emotional Decisions

The most important thing in selling language services is to reach decision makers and focus on their needs. They have to imagine themselves in a particular business situation in order to make the right decision.

Product Focused vs. Experience Focused Marketing

The old marketing process would be to focus on the final product and the ways on how to sell it. But that is not sufficient anymore, since digital trends require constant adaptations. This is why it is important to focus on customer experience instead and put customers’ needs first. By doing so, we can finally put the pieces of the puzzle together and create a cohesive picture.

Empathy Maps

Tracking clients’ satisfaction even after closing a deal is also very important. That way, we can see how the client feels when using our services and use that knowledge to increase their satisfaction.

Social Media and Content Distribution

And of course, social media have a huge impact in the whole process, so it is necessary to create content for a specific area, stay in touch with customers at all times and listen carefully to their desires and needs.

The post The Need For Digital Marketing Transformation appeared first on Ciklopea.

Connecting with people has never been easier, considering that significant parts of our lives are now happening online. For business owners, it can mean setting up and regularly maintaining a website, which will represent them in the best possible way. However, sometimes having a website alone does not guarantee success, especially if going global is one of business’s main goals. The global markets require content that (almost) anyone can understand, which is why website localization is necessary.

It is a complex and serious task that takes time, resources, practical knowledge and a lot of patience to be performed the right way. Luckily, there are technologies designed to optimize the localization process and integrate it into website development. What makes the whole process less painful are definitely content management systems (CMS). In addition to being user-friendly, they also feature a bunch of plugins and modules enabling the users to set up multilingual website. The plugins can be easily integrated with the computer-assisted translation (CAT) tools, which can help speed up the process later on.

CAT integration

Surely, you have heard of WordPress, the most popular and the most powerful CMS of them all, but maybe you still haven’t figured out all of its possibilities. Because it is an open source software, it offers developers endless possibilities for tweaks and expansions. There is one plugin in particular that has been designed for optimization of localization projects and it is called WPML (WordPress Multilingual) Plugin. It enables full integration of cloud-based translation productivity software into the CMS, making the localization process smoother, faster and leaner.

On the other hand, there is Drupal, another widely used content management platform. Just like WordPress, it has numerous modules used for website translation and localization, whether it be content or interface itself. Some of the useful modules would be Localization client module, Localization update and Internationalization (i18n) module. To be completely honest, none of them can stand alone, or at least cannot provide you with satisfying results. The idea is to use them symbiotically in order to launch proud-worthy multilingual website.

The good thing about Drupal is that it gets along with CAT tools, primarily with Memsource. This means there’s a special module that synergizes the two. Thanks to the Memsource Translation Plugin, every piece of content can be sent to Memsource Cloud platform for translation and pulled back into Drupal for review and publishing, preserving the code integrity and optimizing the localization process. It can be imported manually or automatically using the Automated Project Creation feature. It’s important to emphasize that Memsource plugin only supports Drupal 8, which is the current version of the software.

Major benefits of CAT-CMS integration

Website localization is not only cost-effective, but it can also be a time-saver, since processes are optimized and automatized. In addition, it preserves code and layout integrity, which means HTML, CSS and other codes will not get lost in translation. The layouts, fonts, image and video settings will remain intact across the localized versions.

Wasting time and resources on preparation, export and import of textual content for localization becomes a thing of the past. Also, a website can be localized to more languages simultaneously as the completed content is automatically assigned to the linguists working on all required languages.

CRM, CAT and CMS – what’s the catch?

Okay, you know what CMS and CAT are, but what on Earth is CRM now and how are these three things connected?

Well, every business should show consideration for their customers, which is why they’re trying to excel at Customer Relationship Management. However, to build and maintain a good relationship with customers, it’s necessary to get to know them.

Tracking your online traffic and collecting data on your visitors can help you get closer to your audiences, as well as to understand how they use your website. Once you gather all that important information, you can adapt your website accordingly. You can achieve it through localization of the relevant and engaging content or any other way that will show them they’re not just a sales target to you, but rather a valuable partner.

It’s Worth It

It seems that the producers of content management software have recognized the need for creating and maintaining multilingual websites intended for wide use. The main purpose of such websites is to reach the minds and hearts of audiences across the globe. And of course, the biggest benefit here is yours, since expanding your ideas outside the state borders means faster growth of your business.

No one said getting into website localization would be easy, especially not with all these modules and plugins that can leave you utterly confused, but it’s the inevitable step on the business success ladder.

But it will pay off in the end. Literally.

The post Website Localization: Why Is It Important and How to Do It Painlessly appeared first on Ciklopea.

According to an older research, more than a billion of people use the Internet for banking, streaming music or looking a job. More than two times more use it for e-mail communication and reading the news. The data also show that e-commerce and online shopping services are on a high rise, since online payment platforms are much more accessible and safer.

Of course, advertisers now have an eye on these trends and behaviour patterns and are adjusting their budgets towards advertising via Internet and mobile applications. Which brings us back to knowing your audiences and customers and showing them ads in their mother tongue. Showing them ads in Klingon has a little to none relevance for them, just like showing Europeans prices in yens is a waste of time and money.

With exception of e-commerce, a huge amount of money, even up to $120 billion per year, goes on mobile app downloads. Having in mind the high number of available apps, a very smart move would be to adapt and localize them for each particular market.

Software and app localization services are more and more requested, since software developers and company owners have figured out that they could approach their customers easier that way.

Incomparably higher consumption in regards to other activities on the Internet are the activities related to travelling, whether it be purchasing plane or bus tickets online or booking an accommodation.

Data from 2015 show that people spent over $810 billion on those kinds of activities. Looking at these high numbers, we’re coming to the conclusion that it definitely has sense to localize booking websites and other tourism materials. This increases the chances of buying decision and it’s easier to perform transactions.

In addition to the mentioned examples, active Internet users are spending money on books, CDs, DVDs and online courses as well.

This indicates that there’s the need for diverse and accessible content. However, in order to use it, we have to understand it first. Which is why now is the time to ask yourself why you haven’t thought of localizing your content before.

The post How the World Uses the Internet and What Localization Has to Do with It? appeared first on Ciklopea.

We all have our preferences, but the truth is that half of the global online population use smartphones and tablets for their daily browsing, and this number increases every year. Taking the mobile-first approach is therefore the most reasonable choice that will make your shiny new e-shopping website accessible and fully functional on every device.

For best results, localization needs to be integrated into the web development from day one, which means that you should develop your web architecture and produce your content with localization in mind, meaning, inter alia, that you should plan the support for variable string lengths and different writing systems in advance.

To retain the advanced features of your website across the different locales, you must remember that localization is many things, but simple it is not. Never.

However, there are advanced solutions that will help you optimize the process, cut costs and save great amounts of precious time and energy, and, most importantly, preserve the layout and code integrity across the localized versions through the integration of cloud-based CAT (computer-assisted translation) software and your online content management system.

These solutions are available for WordPress, Drupal and can also be custom-tailored for other CMS platforms.

Read a detailed overview of localization technologies and their benefits for your business in our feature article “How to Cut Localization Costs with Translation Technology”.

Content Adaptation and Culturalization

The purpose of any store, from a mega market to any tiny, friendly neighborhood grocery or thrift store is selling. But the thing is there are no sales if your customers can’t understand what is it that you are selling, and, even more importantly, if they can’t relate to the products and see them as something that adds value to their life and is in line with their lifestyles.

In other words, plain translation of the copies, product titles, categories, catchy phrases and product descriptions that you have so carefully developed for your home market will probably cause underperformance or failure on any foreign market precisely because they have been developed for a specific cultural and linguistic environment.

Every market has its specificities and requires specific approach, so you need to adapt your content not only appropriate, but also native to the target culture. To achieve this, you might want to consider sophisticated language solutions such as transcreation.

Wrap-up

Localization of any website, including the online stores, is a team effort that requires expertise and good coordination of all stakeholders, from website developers and content producers to linguists and editors. There is no such thing as translation of digital marketing content – it has to be localized, adapted, reedited and sometimes even recreated to blend into the environment of the global markets seamlessly.

Therefore, the one thing that you most certainly don’t want to do is approach the localization process as an easy and quick addition to web development because this is precisely the approach that will cost you dearly. L10n is a multi-phase process that is vital to the global success of your business and all its aspects – the technical, the cultural and the linguistic ones – must be taken into account from day one of any global business venture.

The post Localization Guidelines for e-Commerce Websites: Part Two – Content Adaptation and Culturalization appeared first on Ciklopea.

As a localization manager, I mainly encounter two types of challenges. First, on a people management level, I am responsible for the growth of my team and I need to make sure they evolve in the best work environment and conditions possible. My second challenge is maintaining clear and effective workflows and processes between our team and the other departments of the company.

Prezi is our only client, and every department (Product, Marketing, Content, Support, Sales) relies on us to get their content localized.

This means that there are as many processes as there are departments – and sub-departments. On a daily basis, I have to make sure that everyone is on the same page, we need to meet the speed and quality standards expected from us and we must stay within budget. I manage a team who is responsible for the worldwide localization of German, Portuguese, Spanish, Korean, Japanese, Italian and Hungarian. Plus, I am personally in charge of localization for the French speaking countries.

Could you describe the localization workflow in your company?

I would prefer to talk about workflows across the different departments in the company as we don’t always follow the same processes.

When working with the Product department, our team is involved at two different stages. First, we start collaborating at the design phase. For every feature, the user experience researchers send the final design to our team on the first day of the development cycle. This is where we get context. Then comes the development phase, where the QA Specialist will run the translation job so our team can provide the localized content. It takes approximately 48 hours or sometimes a bit less to be completed.

The feature then reaches the second development phase, the release candidate stage, where the localized content is implemented and our team performs a QA session and reports any bugs. Once we give the green light, the feature is released.

We also practice overall QA of the product on a regular basis to tackle anything that may have slipped through the cracks.

With the Marketing department, we are asked to localize a wide range of content, such as website landing pages, ebooks, email campaigns, and press releases. We localize pertinent content that is meant to reach all relevant geographies and customers.

We receive the final design and copy via our translation management system (TMS), or we create localization support based on this content. Then, we provide quality assurance for the localized content after implementation and report any bugs before the release. The deadlines to get the localized content ready are mainly dictated by the release date set by the Marketing department.

We are also involved in geomarketing campaigns, where we help create specific content for a targeted region.

With the Customer departments (Support, Sales and Customer Success), we localize all the written support content, video tutorials, sales demos, and training material. For the support material, we work hand in hand with the copywriter and content creators on a daily basis to make sure the updated content is available to our customers as quickly as possible.

Pierre-Marie Gestas

You also cooperate with external contractors – how do you define your cooperation, are there any particular challenges and what are your solutions?

We have a very direct relationship between our in-house language coordinators and the external contractors we work with. For each region, the language coordinator is responsible for the communication with his/her contractor and the management of their workload. For large, time sensitive projects, the external contractors usually run the first batch of translations and the language coordinators review, and then QA the materials before implementation.

This two-level collaboration allows us to ensure good localization quality, especially since we have worked with the same external contractors for a long time and they are very familiar with our needs. This allows us to be consistent across the whole spectrum of projects.

How do you deal with tight deadlines and the pressure to deliver the final product on time?

It starts by having clear processes and regular feedback sessions with the stakeholders of every department. With regular communication, we ensure that urgent localization requests are the exception, and not the norm.

Of course, we are a SaaS company and we iterate very quickly, and therefore we do have some last-minute requests. In these situations,it all comes down to a few things: the professionalism of the team, the passion for the product, and the trust in the company values and mission. Each localization coordinator feels responsible for Prezi’s success in their region and will work diligently to never miss a deadline.

Given the fact that Prezi is present globally, do you consider the localization process to be an essential part of your success?

Prezi is a global company and our mission as a company is to help people become better presenters and to change the way people communicate and share ideas. This mission cannot be limited to one region or country.

We are making a difference because Prezi is unique. If we want Prezi’s spatial, interactive presentation approach to be understood and assimilated by all, localization is essential.

That said, we chose to start the localization of our product in 8 main languages (German, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese,and Hungarian), then divided those into two tiers based on the business potential and needs.

Localizing for the sake of localizing would be a mistake if you are not able to ensure the proper customer care and product development in those regions.

Localizing to a language means that your product should be ready to be used in that language, and that your company should be able to provide support agents, customer success managers, and sales representatives who speak that language.

This is what it takes to leverage the full benefits of localizing your product in one language. If you fail in uniting those conditions, then your localization efforts will fail.

What is the composition of your in-house localization team?

Our in-house localization team is composed of native people from each region who have diverse backgrounds (from Marketing to Legal) and a passion for localization. Each team member shares common localization projects, as well as those specific to their respective regions. Stefan Blaschke is responsible for the DACH region, Nicole Chufi is responsible for Portuguese speaking regions as well as coordinating our Tier2 languages (KO JP HU IT), and Raúl Durán Giro is in charge of the Spanish speaking countries.

Localization and technology: would you be able to “live without it”?

No. Technology is essential when you evolve in a fast-paced environment and when you have to ensure speed, quality, and consistency across the board. A good TMS in the cloud that’s linked with our engineering development platforms is the very base of success. We should not fear technology in localization – it removes unnecessary friction and allows localization professionals to focus on what really matters.

Was localization a helpful factor that made your product successful across global markets, or do you think it would not be possible at all without localization?

Localization is an essential piece of any globalization effort. Prezi is not an exception. Whenever we launch our platform in a particular language, the growth and interest in that region is massive and instantaneous.

As I said earlier, the success of Prezi also depends on how well its concepts are understood by the customers from the very beginning. To ensure clarity, to onboard people with the product, to convince people on the benefits and impact of our technology and way of doing things, you have to speak their language on all levels; technical, cultural, and emotional.

We want the world to better communicate, present, and share their ideas in an engaging and memorable way. To reach this, people should be able to use our product with their best communication tools, which are their language and culture. This is localization.

Please share the situations at your job for which you would use the hashtag #Ilovemyjob

There are plenty. The success of a marketing campaign; the successful release of a new feature; the positive feedback from customers; increased international traffic on our website, and the successful performance of our product in of our localized regions. But most of all, working within a team of extremely competent people that share the same goals and passion. We work for a company that carries great values and does everything for their employees to perform at their best and have a good work/life balance. It’s easy to come to work every day in these conditions.

Budapest – we are impressed by the city. You moved here from your native France, what are your impressions?

Budapest is a village hidden behind a capital. It is very easy to live here, and it has plenty to offer while also keeping this slow-paced lifestyle, family-centered kind of feeling. It does not take long to spread your roots and make it your own. It’s a great environment for those who love this blend of traditional and contemporary. Of course, France is and will always be my home country, and it’s always great to go back home.

About Prezi

Prezi is the presentation platform that helps you connect more powerfully with your audience and customers. Unlike slides, Prezi’s single, interactive canvas encourages conversation and collaboration, making your overall presentation more engaging, persuasive, and memorable. Prezi’s latest offering, Prezi Next, is a full-lifecycle presentation platform so everyone can easily create visually stunning presentations, deliver them in a more natural and conversational way, and analyze their effectiveness. Founded in 2009, and with offices in San Francisco, Budapest, and Riga. Prezi now fosters a community of over 85 million users and over 325 million Prezi presentations around the world. Its investors include Accel Partners, Spectrum Equity, and TED conferences.

The post Running the Process of Multilingual L10n In a Global SaaS Company: Interview with Pierre-Marie Gestas, Localization Manager at Prezi appeared first on Ciklopea.

Analyze Online Traffic and Research the Market

If you own an e-Business, you’ve already done the research on your target markets, but it’s always useful to remind you how important this first step is. Your website analytics can provide invaluable information – from where the interest for your content comes from to demographics and desires of your (potential) clients.

Besides that, researching the foreign market can help you define the niche for your products and business. This should include an investigation of their GDP per capita, number of speakers of certain language, number of internet users and other information that could be relevant to your business.

Price Tags

Now that you’ve done research on your desired markets, it’s time to dive into the practicalities.

Of course, the first logical step would be to localize price tags. That means displaying prices in the local currency, at competitive rates, with the proper symbols and decimal marks as they are used in the target market.

There is also the possibility of displaying them in two or more currencies, which can be very useful and successful, particularly on territories where both local and foreign currency are used.

Address Formats and Addressing Customers

Although every address in the world usually contains the same information, different countries use different formats of addresses and postal codes. Make sure to check the right format for addresses in the target territory.

The same goes with addressing your customers. Maybe it sounds right to you, but the same form of personal addressing may be acceptable in one culture and offensive in another. If you want satisfied customers, it’s important to pay special attention to those kinds of details.

Laws, Regulations and Logistics

Trade regulation laws and legal requirements differ from one country to another, which is why every legal requirement, from the calculation of taxes to information that needs be provided to the customer has to be studied carefully.

The most important thing for your customers, aside from the price and the quality of your product is its shipping cost. Even though it can seriously affect the prices of your products or services, you have to think of the solution for delivering the final product in the cheapest, fastest and the safest possible way.

Successful e-commerce business cannot be built overnight but it starts with a thorough research and examination of the foreign markets and your targeted audiences.

Stay tuned for Part Two in which we will cover the technical, cultural and marketing aspects of e-commerce localization.

The post Localization Guidelines for e-Commerce Websites: Part One – Getting Started appeared first on Ciklopea.

Going multilingual on Drupal

Drupal is an open source software that enables you to create, edit and modify content and design of your web pages. By using a whole bunch of add-ons, modules, themes and packages, you can completely tailor the site according to your needs. Because of its endless possibilities, it is possible to set up a multilingual page, which should be the key factor for your global business.

To do that painlessly, this software offers you several additional modules which can serve as your life-saving boats through the whole process. Localization client module provides you with an easy way to translate your website’s interface, while its buddy Localization update keeps you up with the newer versions of translations. Since your visitors probably care more about the content than the interface, you should give them what they want and localize it, too, with the Internationalization (i18n) module. Even though Drupal already has some built-in multilingual features, i18n module provides you with the full support. Some of its key features include:

• A proper multilingual menu system
• Multilingual blocks
• Multilingual taxonomy

It is divided into few submodules, such as multilingual content, field translation, string translation, synchronized translations and many others. However, it is suggested not to install or use them all at once, but rather to enable them as you need them.

Drupal and CAT integration

What’s more interesting about Drupal is that it gets along with CAT (Computer-assisted translation) tools, mostly with Memsource. This means there’s a special module that synergizes the two. Thanks to the Memsource Translation Plugin, every piece of content can be sent to Memsource Cloud platform for translation and pulled back into Drupal for review and publishing, preserving the code integrity and optimizing the localization process.

It can be imported manually or automatically using the Automated Project Creation feature. It’s important to emphasize that Memsource plugin only supports Drupal 8, which is the current version of the software.

It’s Worth It

It seems that Drupal has recognized the need for creating and maintaining multilingual websites intended for wide use. The main purpose of such websites is to reach the minds and hearts of audiences across the globe. And of course, the biggest benefit here is yours, since expanding your ideas outside the state borders means faster growth of your business.

No one said getting into website localization would be easy, especially not with all these modules and plugins that can leave you utterly confused, but it’s the inevitable step on the business success ladder.

After all, it will pay off in the end. Literally.

The post Website Localization Examples: Drupal L10n appeared first on Ciklopea.

What you used to know about the traditional advertising should be buried ten feet underground, as the new millennium has brought us the new rules. If you’re keeping track with the trends, then I’m sure you spend at least half of your time online or even make a living out of it.

For marketers, this new platform meant changing the game completely and giving themselves into the hands of uncertainty and ever-changing global movements. Which got me thinking about the mainstream definition of insanity which says it’s doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well, then apparently everyone in the digital world is insane, because online advertising and digital marketing are exactly that. Sometimes doing the same thing can lead to different results, and there is no way of knowing what it’s going to be today.

One-way ticket to Localization

Advertising through Google, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms can do wonders if you know how to use them to your advantage. One thing I’m sure of is that businesses and individuals who offer accommodation can really benefit from online advertising, especially if they’re familiar with the words remarketing and localization.

The main advantage is that it gives them the opportunity to reach not wider, but the widest audience. Places that once seemed like never reachable dreams are now just a few clicks away. Of course, in order to get closer to your desired audience, it’s necessary to give them what they already know, so they don’t have to get out of their comfort zone (or the bathtub, for that matter). That means providing them with information in a way that won’t make their heads hurt. One way to do it is to be multilingual-friendly.

Of course, conducting research on the demographics of your audiences is the first step to growing your business. Once you establish where your most frequent guests are coming from, it’s time to adapt and localize your website. For example, if you’ve concluded that your visitors are coming from France or Germany, the logical step would be to localize your content to those languages. Another thing that’s important, and that most booking sites are doing now, is showing the prices in their currencies. As you already know, translation is more than a mere adaptation of textual content these days, so make sure to do your part of the job the right way. Personally, I’m a big fan of this trend, because it saves me the agony of constantly recalculating my money and the budget.

Catch me if you can

Now that you have set up the website, it’s time to take a step further and ping your future customers with appealing online ads. We’ve said this many times before, but it seems like it’s important to say it again – no one will buy and use a product or a service they can’t understand. This means that localization is a business necessity. However, if you think it would be too much for you or out of your depth, you can always seek help from language service providers, who are usually the experts in the field.

Once you’ve completely prepared your digital content, it’s time to enjoy the power of online advertising, which is not only easy to use, but they can be recycled as many times as possible. Now what’s up to you is to track the traffic and the growth of your income.

However, when you’re (re)targeting your audience, try not to be too spammy, since it may result in blocking, reporting or turning customers towards your competitors. You want customers to come back to you, not to throw you into their spam filter. Find the golden mean and be patient – the success can’t come over night.

Bon voyage, my friend!

The post Going Global Digitally: Localization of Tourist Ads in the Adriatic Region appeared first on Ciklopea.

The most rational choice, of course, would the territories nearest to your place of business, as well as the ones from which your new clients are most likely to arrive. The best approach, as usual, is actually a healthy mix of experience, professional intuition and market research. Taking into account all of this will help you pigeonhole your target markets and focus on your new audiences.

Decide what should be translated/localized

First and foremost, you should localize your website and make it an interactive representation of your enterprise at its best, localized in accordance with the target culture of your clients. The same goes for any digital marketing materials such as digital brochures, ads, videos or any other materials designed for your clients.

Printed materials such as hotel and restaurant brochures, menus and signage – when translated and localized properly – provide an additional value to your business and reflect your level of professionalism. More importantly, they communicate respect for the culture and language of your clients and customers, making them feel at home.

Social media is the dominant channel of communication of the modern age. Keeping in touch with your visitors after their holiday ends will surely enhance their chances of returning the next year – or even making your business their preferred holiday spot.

Don’t forget about the changes and updates

Frequent changes and updates of content are the norm in travel and hospitality industry.

The hottest themes and buzzwords of one season may be abandoned the next year for any reason. At the same time, your unique style of communication and your brand message need to remain consistent across the different languages at all times.

There is translation technology developed to help you do precisely that – and cut the localization costs at the same time. Previously translated and localized content can be reused, recycled and updated when needed.

However, to make the most out of language solutions and translation technology, make sure to produce your content with localization on your mind. Different markets require different approaches, different languages have different structures – what works great in, for example, English, may utterly flop in other languages.

Find the right LSP

You want to show what you are really good at and what makes your enterprise special to your foreign clients. To do this the right way, you need to work with the language professionals who will be able first to understand this themselves and then to communicate this message the best possible way.

Both digital and printed marketing materials require specific approach and the right provider of language solutions four your business should bring creative translation or transcreaction on the table.

Additional services such as multilingual DTP processing also won’t hurt.

The post Translation, Travel and Tourism: Localization for the Hospitality Industry appeared first on Ciklopea.

If you’re a business owner or work at the business company, chances are you have something you want to sell. I believe there’s no need of mentioning that selling methods change quickly and in case you are wondering why your infomercial approach isn’t bringing you any revenue, that may be because everyone got bored with it. It’s time you put your backpack on and hit the road of new perspectives.

Discover your story and tell it

Power Point presentations, brochures and similar material may be your standard selling tools when meeting with possibly new clients. You come in all set, ready to amaze them with what you’ve accomplished so far, swiping through all those slides, tossing statistics and numbers, but guess what? They’ve already seen it. They’ve seen it five minutes ago, last week and even ten years ago and they’re tired of it. Your numbers, graphs, skills and company goals mean little because what’s in there for your prospective clients?

Whether we want to admit it or not, we’re all a bit self-centred and enjoy the sound of our own voice. So why not give it a try and instead of focusing on yourself, provide your future clients with something they will remember you for. Tell them a story. Personal story, funny story, true story, whichever kind of it, but I guarantee you, they will remember it more than your run-of-the-mill Power Point slides. A spontaneous anecdote might stick with them for life. Even though they might not be interested in your product for now, you will surely be the first one to pop in their head when they decide they need it after all.

Opening your presentation with a story will give you a touch of uniqueness, it will make you stand out. In the end, we’re all humans who appreciate the little things and like to feel special and when you give me that treatment, I will definitely be more interested in what you have to say. That’s the thing.

If you can make me buy your product or a service without sounding like you’re trying to sell it, that’s when you know you’re doing great job. Boosting your sales using stories is an art as much as it is a skill. So even if you master the art of storytelling, please have in mind that not every story is suitable for every client in every market.

Adapt the story for your audiences

That’s why it’s important to re-shape them or even change them completely according to where and to whom you’re trying to sell it to. There are two main reasons for that.

First, it’s not a very good practice to use the same story over and over again – it becomes dull and it gives the impression that you didn’t even try. As I said before, your clients need to feel special, like they’re getting their own personalized story and experience. The other, more important reason is the one that we’re always trying to emphasize – different clients will react differently to your presentation.

To some it may be funny, but to others it may be offensive or completely irrelevant.

For example, John from the beginning of this text has a different name in my country and in some parts of the world, he doesn’t even exist, because he’s not part of their culture. Alternatively, you can use examples from books or the Internet, but remember they need to be properly prepared and localized for the target market.

That’s what localization is really all about – helping you say who you are to the foreign audiences in the way that they will completely understand and it essentially works the same in every industry, from tourism to pharmacy, and in every medium, from website to spoken word.

The post Storytelling and Localization Can Boost Your Sales appeared first on Ciklopea.

Website localization alone is a tricky business as it is, and when you add SEO to the equation, it can easily turn into a nightmare – particularly if you’re not familiar with the rules or if you decide to go against them. I’m not going to lie – it can be tough sometimes, but there are several tips and tricks that can help you increase your online traffic.

If you find yourself at a digital cul-de-sac, not knowing where to start or which parts of SEO texts you need to localize, it’s always a good idea to take a step back and think of a general text structure. Then think of how you want the people to find your content and interact with it.

Keyword list

Searching for what we want to see in most cases happens through keywords and simple phrases. Knowing that, you’ll have to do a research on what keywords people use to find your website and then you’ll have to make a list out of them. Once you’ve set the list of terms in your language, it’s time to localize them to other target languages, since search habits differs from culture to culture. Note that there’s no such thing as a simple keyword translation – they need to be researched for each market.

Audience oriented content

It sounds obvious, but I guess you’re not producing the content just for yourself. Naturally, you want it to reach a particular wider audience and to make it happen, you need to shape it in accordance with the intended target market environment. It’s not enough to simply translate the content as it may have a negative impact on your business, it needs to be localized and thoroughly prepared for different  cultures.

Keywords in text

Now it’s time to use those keywords that you previously researched. SEO texts should contain appropriate amount of keywords so that it could be easy to find, but it’s also important not to overuse them. Google will automatically penalize the materials with an unhealthy amount of keywords and mark them as spam. Besides that, you want your texts to have a natural, understandable flow that can be enjoyed and understood by the users, not just computer-generated gibberish word lists.

Meta descriptions

Well-written, catchy meta descriptions are what attracts readers and potential customers to click on your page. Obviously, it’s the essential part of SEO localization process, but be aware of character length restrictions. Even though Google announced expansion of snippets in search results (speculatively up to 320 characters), it is recommended to stick to the original 160 characters. After all, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Titles

Title is the first thing anyone sees when searching for something on the Web, so it needs to be accurate, interesting and mildly provocative – but also true in the context of material. Nobody likes clickbait, neither users nor Google. Its localized equivalent, as every other, should be clear and concise, telling the reader what the text is about.

URLs

When localizing SEO content, URLs should not be neglected either. Make sure they contain the keyword and be careful not to make them too long.

ALT tags

Since it’s impossible for search engines to crawl pictures, we use alt tags to tell Google what’s in the picture. For that reason it’s important to localize them as well so that they match the website language, which should also contain the keywords.

A regular localization of textual elements is simply enough anymore. If you want to improve your business strategy and online performance, you need to get deeper into adaptation of your content, products and services. That means getting to know your target audiences, how they browse, search and behave on the Internet and what kind of content they like to engage with. Most importantly, your primary goal should be giving them only the relevant, accessible and easy to find information.

When dealing with content production, it’s always good to have in mind that it needs to be unique and attention worthy. Sometimes it can be difficult to accomplish because new content is produced every minute and it’s becoming hard to distinguish good content from the bad one. But you may be sure that the audience will always be able to distinguish the good from the bad sooner or later, most of the time sooner.

If you think content production might cause you trouble, you can always chose a partner in crime who knows all the secrets of digital marketing. I hope that now you have a clearer picture of why is it important to localize all the content on your website and not just the visible text.

SEO next time! 😉

The post Localization and SEO: A Perfect Match appeared first on Ciklopea.

3P Model by Ciklopea

Why localize? What is localization really all about? How does it help my business?

Our infographic provides the direct answers to these questions.

2. Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Montenegrin: Challenges of Localization

Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian, Montenegrin: Challenges of Localization

How many languages are spoken in the Balkans? Is it Serbo-Croatian? Do I have to localize my product to Bosnian or to Croatian? – These are some of the questions every LSP is likely to hear from new clients entering into the markets of Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro or Serbia and this is our answer to these questions.

3. Interview with Renato Beninatto: “What we’re going to translate in five years has not been invented yet”

Tucker Johnson, Zana Čizmin and Renato Beninatto

We met up with Renato Beninatto, the renowned language industry veteran and thought leader and CEO of Nimdzi Insights, earlier this month at LocWorld35 – Silicon Valley conference in Santa Clara. His latest book The General Theory of the Translation Company written with Tucker Johnson has just hit the stores and this was a perfect occasion for our Chief Business Development Officer Zana Čizmin to discuss both the book and the present and the future of the translation industry with Renato.

4. The Curious Case of Translation, Localization and Globalization

Translation, Localization and Globalization

If you are still having trouble figuring out what is localization (L10n), or even worse globalization (g11n), you came to the right place. Many people seem to think these are just fancy words for translation, but it’s not really the case. Even though these terms are interconnected, they have their own specific definitions, applications and scopes of meaning.

5. Multilingual L10n of WordPress Websites: Automated, Unified and Lean

Multilingual L10n of WordPress Websites: Automated, Unified and Lean

Localization of a website to one or more markets is always a serious task that takes time, resources, smart project management and a good deal of patience to be performed the right way. Thankfully, there are technologies designed to optimize the L10n process and integrate it into website development, regardless of the scope of content or the number of locales.

The post Top 5 Posts of 2017 appeared first on Ciklopea.

The first thing that springs in my mind is how irrelevant the 911 emergency call can be in different parts of the world. For example, if you find yourself in Croatia, or, say, Sri Lanka, dialing 911 would probably kill you, as there would be no one to pick up the phone. That number is probably completely irrelevant for your locale.

This banal example represents the most obvious and the most extreme case, but under the surface there are many more of them that are barely noticeable to non-experts. Naturally, it gets me wondering who stands behind the whole process and how it is done.

The Stakeholders

There are several key participants who are responsible for producing and delivering accurate marketing materials for the life sciences products and services.

It all begins with medical and pharmaceutical companies, who develop the products and services and have the practical and technical knowledge about the product, and their marketing teams who have a deep understanding of the products, the target markets and audiences but need the external linguistic help to launch their products and campaigns on the foreign markets.

Their 911 emergency call is the Language Service Provider. The LSP will take care of the next stages of the process, which includes assembling linguist teams with the appropriate education and experience. They need to be tested, graded and have their output scored. However, LSPs shouldn’t bite off more than they can chew, meaning they should only accept projects they are equipped to handle.

Finally, there are subject matter experts (SMEs) with the expertise in the field, who are in charge of proofreading the translated material and provide professional feedback before the product launch.

The Process

Localization of marketing materials for pharmaceutical and medical products often involves more stages than, for example, those needed for clothes or food and beverages. Throughout the process, the LSP should be in contact with the manufacturer and other stakeholders in order to harmonize the different aspects and requirements of the project.

The process can include different stages depending on the specific requirements of a medium (for example, DTP processing and prepress proofing may be required), but it can always be described as close cooperation of all the other stakeholders in order to develop impeccably localized marketing material that will help the product manufacturers reach, engage and support their clients and customers on the target market.

It is also a good idea to find out a bit more about the SMEs, just to get the insight into their daily responsibilities and proofreading capacities. Delivery times and volumes can be determined only when the earlier steps have been established.

Readability

It is important to realize that most of the time, marketing materials are not developed for the experts and the healthcare workers, but for the patients and lay users. It is linguistics duty to deliver all the relevant information, but in a way that everyone can understand, which is called readability. There is no point in advertising a product using the language and the terminology that only select groups can relate to. Sometimes it means shifting away from the source and adapting the meaning, sometimes it may include transcreation and it is not only allowed, but also necessary to bring the product closer to the audiences.

Going Digital

In this day and age, it is no longer enough to communicate with the clients through the traditional channels such as printed leaflets and brochures.

In order to reach the wider audience, it is necessary to spread the corporate message and brand awareness online, which opens a set of whole new challenges. But it is certain that, in addition to product / service quality, the safest way to stand out from the competition on the target markets is through careful and high-quality localization, both online and offline.

The post Localizing Pharmaceutical and Medical Marketing Materials: How It Works appeared first on Ciklopea.

Well, everybody has a book inside them and I’ve had this book inside me for many, many years. I’ve been doing workshops, teaching and doing things for the last, at least, 15 years, but it has always been based on Power Point presentations.

Last year, The Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey invited me to prepare a course on the business of translation. It was a 15-hour course, so I prepared a bunch of slides and a lot of this knowledge is just in my head and I delivered those 70-80 slides, but I was smart this time and I recorded myself and that was the basis for the book. The genesis was this request from the university for a course for graduate students who were going into business.

Perfect. What do you think are the main highlights that might interest the audience and make them want to read the book?

This book is designed for three main audiences.

The most obvious audience are the owners of translation companies. The book is called The General Theory of the Translation Company, so it’s a good way for business owners, partners, executives in translation companies to understand the things they already do from a theoretical perspective and how they can improve their performance in that area.

The second audience are translators. LSPs are the biggest clients of translators and a smart translator would want to know how an LSP works and what are the elements that affect the performance of a good LSP.

And the third audience would be buyers, he buyers of translation services that want to understand where and how their suppliers create value for them. This book describes the framework of 3 core functions that every translation company has – project management, vendor management and sales, and how they affect the performance of the company.

When it comes to the first audience, because we’re also an LSP, we would like to hear more about your main advice for a growing LSP in this ever-changing environment?

The most important thing for an LSP that wants to create a value and growth is to understand the importance of margins. And the importance of understanding the core structure and how to manage that. In our industry today – and this is an advice that I give to every business owner – is that every day when you wake up, you have to think about 3 things: What can I do to grow my company? What can I do to buy another company? What can I do to sell my company?

And when you think about these three things, we’re talking about creating value and exploiting value and the book provides a structure to that thought. You have tools to analyze your own business and even to analyze other businesses. And it’s not a very long book, it’s a quick read.

The General Theory of the Translation Company by Renato Beninatto and‎ Tucker Johnson

Do you think that the clients generally understand what we do or do you think that nobody outside of our industry circles knows our business?

To be frank, I think that we shouldn’t care what the clients know or don’t know. A good LSP will provide such a good service that the client doesn’t have questions or needs to wonder about any of that. But it’s always good to have a third party source or something written in a published book that you can give to your clients, to say “Hey, look, this is how it works! Don’t trust me, look at this!” There’s a saying that what you say about yourself is an opinion and what somebody else says about you is a fact. So when you’re having a dispute whether or not your client needs to get more information about your business, you can always share the book with them.

Good advice! When it comes to that, what we actually feel as a company is that client’s aren’t giving us enough credit for what we do. They’re not taking us seriously.

Well, that’s not their job. I think that one of the problems that we have in the translation industry is that we think too much about how important we are and how much credit and respect we deserve. The key is to think of our activity the same way that you think about a taxi driver. The taxi driver is the most important person in the world for his wife and his mechanic, but for you and for others, he’s just a person that takes you from one place to another. We do the same thing with our clients – we take their product from one language to another and we shouldn’t care too much about them understanding what we do. What we need to make sure is that we deliver the product that creates value for them and that they’re satisfied with that service. How it’s done, whether we are respected or not, that’s not the point. The client pays, we deliver, everybody’s happy.

So, it actually has something to do with the opinion that LSPs are doing something wrong. We’re not doing anything wrong?

No, we tend to have an inferiority complex in our business, which is absolutely wrong. We are experts in what we do. When we go to a doctor and the doctor asks you questions and gives you a diagnosis, you respect that diagnosis. Why? Because he’s an expert.

If you have a leakage in your house and you call a plumber, and even though he doesn’t have three university degrees, you talk to him, he tells you that you need to change this and you need to do that, you respect him. Because he’s an expert.

When it comes to translation, a client tells us I want to pay less, I want it to be done this way and we want it to be done that way, and we lower our ears and we always say yes, sir, yes, sir. And the reality is that WE are the experts and we should be telling THEM how it’s going to be, how much it’s going to cost and what’s the way to go. Of course, I’m talking about an extreme situation here, there is a balance that needs to be achieved, but we in the language industry need to learn to position ourselves as the experts in what we do.

We in the language industry need to learn to position ourselves as the experts in what we do.

That would be your definition of today’s respectable LSP?

Absolutely! The ones that know what they do.

Which services and solutions do you think would be around in five years? A lot will change, of course, even in a year.

Absolutely. We need to keep in mind that ten years ago Google Translate didn’t exist. What we’re going to translate in five years has probably not been invented yet. The jobs that people are going to have in the future are jobs that don’t exist today. We overestimate the rate of change, but we underestimate the impact of change and this happens in every industry. Change is not going to happen as fast, so in five years we’ll be probably doing 80% the same job as we’re doing today, but we underestimate the impact of change. We will probably have completely new types of content, completely new types of products that will need to be translated and localized and they will have significant impact in our day to day lives. We don’t know that because they’re not there yet. I’m very positive of the outcome of the industry, I don’t believe there’s any danger for us in the next several years – at least.

Okay, that perfectly sums up the answer about the future of the industry. Do you have anything else to say to our readers?

Yeah, buy our book!

The post Interview with Renato Beninatto: “What we’re going to translate in five years has not been invented yet” appeared first on Ciklopea.

The term first appeared in 1980s in Japan as dochakuka, which originally meant adapting farming technique to one’s own local condition. Only later on it started to refer to global-localization. If you think about it, it now has more sense, since every business is oriented towards decentralization in order to attract more costumers.

However, it’s one thing to have a product that you can easily launch globally, but it’s another thing when you know it needs additional changing and improvement. As we said earlier, ignoring your client’s desires and needs might destroy your product. Assuming you don’t want that, a thorough research and a detailed plan are essential. Different audiences require different approaches.

To show this on a particular example, we can use global food and beverage companies that operate in many parts of the world, such as McDonald’s, KFC or Starbucks. They had to redesign their menus according to local taste – and not only menus. Some of them even adapted their merchandise and other products and services.

But how can it be applied to language?

The easiest way to explain the process of glocalization would be by using English as an example. Its forms, styles and usages vary depending on part of the world it is spoken in. Let’s start with differences between American and British English, which can sometimes be subtle and barely noticeable, but most of the time they’re pretty much evident. Since there’s a possibility of confusion, we’ve made our tools smart enough to recognize those differences. Looking at other English-speaking parts of the world, like Scotland, Ireland, Australia or New Zealand, we can see that, over the time, they’ve modified language according to their needs. Even if in general it is “the same” language, it just couldn’t resist the change.

Digging more into the language structure, we can find several localized varieties of it. The most known would be Pidgin English that is simplified and adapted for international communication between countries that don’t speak the same language. Maybe it could be shown clearly through Chinese English, or how some like to call it – Chinglish. Even if they’re just bunch of strange expressions full of misspellings or literal translations, it serves its purpose.

All these examples are just the tip of the iceberg, hiding further language expansion and modification. We shouldn’t be afraid to use it as we please, it’s our creation, after all. In the end, it should serve us as not only as a means of communication, but it can also be a tool of interconnection and an ocean of new possibilities.

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So it isn’t all about language, huh?

Sure, the term grew from localization, but it’s more specific and apparently goes deeper into the problem. The focus is on symbiosis of content and context, meaning that one cannot exist without the other. The problem with the context is that it is subjective and in most cases it will differ from the one game developers / content producers had in mind. Which, again, can lead to the suspicion of “personal” attack or the attack on the one’s entire culture.

It’s true! Some games, such as Kakuto Chojin, were banned in certain parts of the world because of their offensive nature. I reckon developers didn’t really mean to offend anyone, but they didn’t take that possibility into consideration. We may also be positive that the producers of The Simpson Movie didn’t want to support rebel groups in Burma, but that is exactly how the movie was perceived and what got it banned in that country.

Culturalization includes everything that defines a culture – spanning from history (perception of historical figures and events) and religion to beliefs, geography and interpersonal relationships, often stepping into the slippery realm of politics. Knowing that, a serious research on these elements for every market of interest should be obligatory.

Everyone has an opinion

Audience is always the key factor for deciding the destiny of a product / service, so it has to be made and presented in a way that will please them, preferably even leave them speechless. Because in a world of free speech, it’s really hard to avoid criticism and possible negative reactions.

Speaking of freedom, I couldn’t help but wonder, does this entire process provide more room for producers, designers, marketers and other stakeholders to explore and test the boundaries of possibilities, or does it limit their creativity? Because, as a creative person, I can tell it’s really frustrating to be careful what you’re going to say. But if the main purpose is to place a product into the world, one has to exclude his/her ego from the equation. It’s all about the wider picture and satisfying others, not ourselves.

Okay, but is it really that important?

Yes, it is. Everyone wants happy customers and to accomplish that, the product must meet the criteria of the culture it is intended for. If it means sailing away from your primary idea, so be it. Just like any other relationship, this one requires compromises. They always tell us change is a bad thing, but it really isn’t. If a minor change to your product will make the end users recognize, like and trust your product/service, just do it and enjoy your positive outcome.

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As every software developer knows, not everything goes as planned and it is necessary to think ahead and consider possible difficulties before they occur. First and foremost, software localization is not something that can be done last minute. It needs to be planned in advance, along with translation, compatibility and regression testing and other crucial stages of software development. It has been shown time and again that localization process runs the best when it is integrated into the software development process from day one. Finding a localization partner who can integrate the language solutions into software development and work with you on agile localization projects can save you a lot of headache.

2. Cutting the code

It’s always a good idea to separate the main code from translatable strings and keep those strings in their own document. This helps translators focus on actual translation instead on finding what needs to be translated. It also doesn’t hurt to identify those strings and describe them as precisely as possible (i.e. title, button, image, etc.) Doing this at the very beginning makes job a lot easier and saves a lot of time and resources in advance.

3. Expanding the space for translatable strings

Some languages require more space than English – some of them even up to 30% more!

However, simply leaving extra space after each label might cause them to appear far apart from each other in compact languages. To avoid that, it is possible to align labels to the right or even place them above the controls. Other solution would be to use layout managers that understand how locale affects user interface.

4. Avoiding concatenated strings

Simplifying code by using placeholders in software development is nothing unusual, but when it comes to translation and localization, concatenated strings are better left behind. It just presumes grammar and sentence structure, which makes order of words and phrases in some way hard-coded. Obviously, that’s not the most wanted case so maybe it would be better to break sentences up into several smaller pieces.

5. Rooting out hard-coded text

Dates, time, currencies and other culturally specific features should definitely not be hard-coded since their format and use varies from culture to culture. Instead, it is better to have localizable strings and let translators decide what would be the best choice for their language. Also, it’s a smart move to store this type of data in a standard ISO format and use a library to format them for the given locale.

6. Encoding the data

It’s not a secret that different languages use different encoding system, but it is often hard to decide which one to use, since choosing wrong character encoding may cause translation to break, which leaves you with extra work to fix it. To avoid confusions and complications, use UTF-8 whenever possible. Ideally, every part of your project should use UTF-8, from HTML and HTTP server to database and the application itself.

7. Testing the software

Of course this is the logical and obligatory step in software localization so skipping it would be a terrible decision. Localized software versions should be tested as rigorously as the original one. Seeing a foreign language in context within your software might be an eye-opener for overlooked details and possible mistakes.

8. Localizing documentation

Every software comes hand in hand with its documentation so it’s very important to localize it as well. Users will eventually experience some problems when using your software and will probably try to find a solution under Help or User’s guide documents. Having that in mind, try to be as consistent as possible with usage of terminology and localization in general.

Wrap-up

Software localization is a seemingly never-ending process. Each new project comes with new challenges and problems that require unique solutions and this short guide surely can’t predict every single one of them. However, it should serve you as a good springboard for getting to know the whole process and a guiding light through the chaotic world of background code.

The post How to Make Your Software Localization Project Run Smoothly – A Quick Guide appeared first on Ciklopea.

However, the advent of the internet (seems like it was centuries ago, doesn’t it?) fundamentally changed the way we exchange the information, including the products and services. Succinctly speaking, space ceased to be the force it used to be. We came to realize it was no longer enough to just communicate the meaning of the textual information anymore, but to fully adapt the content for the international audiences. Which brings us to the next step – covering our first doll with the bigger one.

What does that mean?

As every country has its own values and social norms, it is important to adapt the translated content in accordance with their linguistic and cultural standards. This includes adaptation of currencies, date and time formats, symbols and icons, culturally appropriate text, graphics, references and so on. This process of adaptation is called localization. Before diving into the localization process, we need to thoroughly research not just the language of target audience, but their culture, habits and behavior as well. When doing so, we use any piece of cultural intelligence we can get a hold of – from style guides that provide a deeper insight into the linguistic mysteries and details of the target language, to various market researches.

Once we have a product that is translated, localized and prepared for everyday use, it is ready for global launch. This is where we create our biggest doll – the one that makes our company visible and represents our work in the best possible way. Globalization is usually a tricky word, but its meaning is perhaps best described as the output of all our localization efforts. It is all about putting our product/service out there in the world. What needs to be considered in this phase is product management, financial, marketing and legal aspects. It also includes research and identification of global markets, market validation and selection, identification and formalization of global business requirements and other activities.

Finally, we can send our precious doll safely into the world, which means we can be recognized as someone who cares not only about developing a good product/service, but also about satisfaction of our customers and respect for their culture and language.

The post The Curious Case of Translation, Localization and Globalization appeared first on Ciklopea.

Ideally, the same amount of effort that was put in the production of marketing materials should be put in localization to each and every market to ensure that your new audiences have the same connection they have with your local brand.

Where can LSPs help me localize my marketing materials?

Chances are you’re not able to have an in-house team of translators for all of the countries and languages you’re doing business in, so getting a good LSP on board is going to be your key to success. As marketing documents shouldn’t be translated literally, you’ll need to make sure that your LSP has plenty of creative translators to hand.

Also, only working with native speakers is a must so that they know how to make sure your marketing texts are culturally suitable. They’ll also have to be experienced in dealing with marketing content, and translating things like CTAs, headings, forms etc.

I have in-country company resources. Can they be involved in the translation process too?

The answer to that is a resounding yes, the more you can get them involved, the better.

They will have a good insight and deep knowledge of your products or service and can help the translator achieve the desired flow, clarity and vividness of the localized versions. That’s why it’s so important that they check the translations after they’ve been done.

They’ll be able to give that all important feedback to the translators, and of course let you know if there are any serious issues with the translation if you can’t speak the language yourself.

How can my LSP be sure that they convey the full meaning of my brand?

In order to get results, you’ll have to work with your LSP.

To make things easier, we’d recommend teaming up and creating a glossary and terminology base so that the translator knows exactly what to translate and how. You could also create a style guide for linguists so that the translator knows which tone you’d like them to use.

At any rate, close cooperation between all stakeholders (content producers, marketing managers, linguists etc) is a winning formula for localization of marketing materials.

The post Localizing Marketing Materials: Do’s and Don’ts appeared first on Ciklopea.

WPML enables full integration of cloud-based translation productivity software (also known as computer-assisted translation or CAT solutions, such as those developed by SDL or Memsource) into the CMS, making the localization process smoother, faster and leaner.

The main benefits of performing the L10N through CMS-CAT integration with WPML include:

Code and layout integrity preservation

HTML, CSS, JS and other codes will not get lost in translation, i.e. deleted, corrupted or compromised any other way. The layouts, font, image and video settings will remain intact across the localized versions.

Process optimization

There is no more need to waste time and resources on daunting tasks of preparation, export and import of textual content for localization, regardless of the volume of materials.

Automatic assigning

A website can be localized to more languages simultaneously as the completed content is automatically assigned to linguists working on all required languages.

Updates and editing

One of the most rewarding aspects of this approach to localization is an opportunity to centralize the management of multilingual content, which in turn enables further optimization of the entire process at all stages.

The benefits of CAT solutions (increased productivity, time/cost efficiency due to development and management of translation assets – translation memories and termbases) are integrated into website development process and the linguistic tasks – translation, editing, proofreading and expert review of the localized textual elements are all performed in cloud, enabling easy and centralized implementation of any edits and updates at all times.

In addition, all the parties involved can view the localized elements at any moment and address all potential issues, linguistic, design or development-related.

Going global in real time

Website localization represents a meeting point of information technologies and language solutions, but it took some time until the integration of the two into a unified process in which translation and other linguistic tasks run in line with website development.

Localization is still usually performed once an internationalized website has been fully developed, but this concept can largely be bypassed for WordPress-powered websites with the introduction of integrated cloud solutions that enable translation of strings and localization of the textual elements almost in real time.

The end result of automated localization process is a faster and leaner website development, with less translation-related client’s requests that need to be handled by developers.

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Do you have any aggregated data that show or indicate cost/time savings effect of Verifika QA? 

We rely on our client’s feedback.

They found Verifika to be effective in different applications. A client used Verifika to check terminology in 1041 files instead of a built-in QA feature in the CAT software. Verifika does this swiftly, while processing of a large number of files in a standard CAT tool may take hours and there is always a risk of program freezes.

Although QA software has a great traction in the market, applications may vary from one company to another. A client can benefit a lot from one particular feature. For example, a pharmaceutical giant highly values our back terminology check and powerful check for untranslatable terms. Proofreading had always been a bottleneck in their process, but Verifika made their localization process highly scalable and unified.

Aleksander Gilev

What’s your estimate of cost/time expenses of translation double-checking without using a tool like Verifika QA? 

I’ll share our client’s opinion: five people did the proofreading of practical manuals at a time. They all experienced decrease of attention after 3.5-4 hours of this tedious work and started omitting mistakes. When they started using Verifika, the decrease of attention was no longer an issue. Verifika embraces a system of multiple rechecks, which prevents proofreaders from making a wrong correction.

What features are unique to Verifika? 

Verifika does not only detects errors but also let you correct them from within the software.

Therefore, users perform corrections without hopping around from one software to another. To make this possible, Verifika has a thorough support of all popular file formats. If a client has already switched to a cloud CAT tool, Verifika offers integration with the four most popular cloud CAT tools on the market.

What are the common translation errors that Verifika always detects?

Verifika leverages 49 quality checks pre-set with language specific standards. It enables Verifika to detect accuracy, fluency, terminology errors, and even some stylistic errors (in case there is a customer’s style guide).

What is your vision of the future of software solutions for the language industry and of the language industry itself?

Personally, I think that people in the language industry should be aware of the arrival of the AI age.

AI-assisted translation will lead rapid transformation and eventually ease communication to the extent when “translation” becomes an archaic word. Translation QA software derives from translation imperfections, which is a human factor. For example, translators usually make typos trying to keep up with the fast business pace to make a living. AI technologies are developing very fast. Fewer people are involved in translation, they make less errors, there is less demand for QA. In short terms QA will transform and it will eventually disappear.

Are there any interesting trends among your users that you have noticed?

Automation of everything that can be autoamted. Unification.

What’s Verifika’s greatest challenge in development of their QA tool?

Performing a QA of software designed for QA. People are relying on Verifika, so you need to make sure that every nuance of the check counts.

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Reviewing analytics for your business’ website can often be tedious and boring. But it is also the best place to find insights on new markets. If you’re a British company providing IT solutions, serving only the UK and analytics reveals that a large chunk of your views have been coming from Ireland or Germany, then it’s time to review your policies and expand. Keep in mind, although Google dominates Europe and America, Yandex is used by most of Russia and Baidu equally in China. So if these countries are your goals, they may require further research.

Website Localization

When translating and localizing your site, do you need to be multiregional or multilingual?

Multiregional refers, for example, to add both UK and US versions of English to keep both markets happy and similarly for other polycentric languages, whereas multilingual refers to adding an extra version of the site in the target country’s language (just like our own website is available in four languages). Google doesn’t like content translated by machine translation, so to get good rankings, you’ll have to get a quality LSP (language services provider) involved too.

Domain and URL

The next step to success after speaking the language, is looking local. Country Code Top Level Domain Name (ccTLD) is a great way to boost your ranking in the target company. To look local, your site needs a domain in the target country. Hosting your site on a ccTLD may be an additional cost, but it gives your new customers extra trust in the site, although some countries don’t make it easy to bear their signature. For example, gaining .co.uk is a lot easier than gaining .ie, as Ireland requires Irish residency to setup a .ie URL.

Site Structure

Since the internet never stops evolving, neither should your website. Every website could be improved if you have the passion or interest to keep developing it. One of the biggest mistakes a business can make is finishing its website and leaving it to rust.

Your website does require a lot of attention to grow. Annual restructures and research for best practice is also helpful.

International Keyword Research

If you’re dedicated to bettering your website, tools like SEMrush and MOZ will show you how your site is performing in target countries. They also come with keyword research tools. These tools will help show keywords that you should be using in these countries.

Performing SEO into a new language can be a bit of a minefield so these tools will help point you in the right direction. Just remember, there is no such thing as translating a keyword! Every language has a different way of searching for something, so you have to make sure that your search terms are local too – and global success comes from local adaptation.

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Creative translation – taking localization a step further

Transcreation cuts through localization, translation and cultural adaptation to communicate the style, rhythm, vividness and intent of the source material on the foreign markets. For example, will the meaning and the sound of the rhyming adjective true-blue remain the same if the phrase is simply translated to, say, Russian? Not very likely. And in the event the phrase is used deliberately because blue colour is important for branding/marketing campaign, we will have to find a linguistic solution that will preserve the intent, style and meaning of the original phrase and yet work on the target market.

Damage prevention

Perhaps the most well-known example of successful transcreation comes from the automotive industry – Mitsubishi famously rebranded their SUV Pajero to Montero on the Spanish-speaking markets because the word has a negative connotation in Spanish, being fully aware of the damage it would cause of those markets, although it may sound exotic and powerful in the rest of the world (it is actually named after the Pampas cat, Leopardus pajeros). Just for the record – the same SUV was named Shogun in the UK.

This example also shows another, extremely important aspect of transcreation and that is the damage prevention. A word that may be right in one culture may completely backfire or flop in another culture, and the results of that honest mistake may truly be disastrous. In this regard, transcreation is something of a safety device.

When do I need transcreation?

The simple answer is whenever you’ve employed a creative copywriter to convey a concept or motivate your audience into action. Transcreation is the only way to preserve the creative investment you’ve made in your original text and ensure that localized versions are both culturally sensitive and relevant to your target audience. As a client, you need to provide your provider of linguistic solutions with as much information about the purpose, target audience and esthetic features of your source materials as possible – and enjoy the benefits of transcreation afterwards.

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What is a quality translation?

First and foremost, we need to have a clear idea of what quality really is. Although this may also depend on specific features of each particular project, such as industry, language pair, type of material, target audience, there are four basic elements that define quality of translation:

• Accuracy – the translated content is consistent with the source content.
• Correctness – the rules and norms of grammar, orthography, vocabulary, date/time and currency formats of the target language / country are followed.
• Consistency – the translated material lexically and stylistically consistent.
• Fluency – the translation stylistically appropriate in terms of material type, intent and the target language/audience.

Check out our white paper on translation quality for more in-depth information.

It’s all about the team

Language solutions are developed by people, so all quality QA systems start with a quality team.

Having a vendor manager who can source the best translators, test them, and then help them grow into irreplaceable members of the team is just the start. Project managers need to be trained on how to put a translation team together and how to match the right translator to the right project.

Some agencies even have a dedicated Quality Manager who oversees the quality side of all the projects the agency does. They’ll normally be responsible for overseeing things should anything go wrong, too. The final piece of the puzzle has to lie with the rest of the team. This involves training sales teams to know all about the company’s processes, and ensure that management is ready to deal with quality-related issues.

Certification

One way of telling if an LSP is a reputable one is by seeing if they are certified. There are three different certifications to look up in this regard – the ISO 17100:2015 Translation Standard Certificate, international standard that establishes and defines the requirements for the provision of quality services by translation services providers, the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certificate and the ISO 27001:2013 Information Security Management System certificate.

These certifications ensure that agencies have to document things like their translator evaluation process, their quality control procedures, and all about their project management, to name a few.

Quality Assurance tools

The translation technology market is highly developed and dynamic. It not only helps us with productivity, but it also helps us with QA too. CAT tools (Computer-assisted translation tools, also known as translation productivity tools) have in-built quality checks that really help translators stamp out minor errors that might get missed. Specialized QA tools like Xbench and Verifika also provide an extra pair of eyes and really help a project manager out, especially if they don’t speak the target language. Also making sure that glossaries and translation assets (translation memories and term bases) are regularly developed, maintained and used prove a vital part of a quality QA process.

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Life sciences and translation/localization are a bit of an odd couple, but deep down inside they are a match made in heaven. Almost all companies in the life sciences industry have to do business abroad, which means they need to speak the local lingo. Very few companies have the resources to translate everything in-house, which is where LSPs (language services providers) like us come in. Given the life-or-death nature of the majority of texts, understanding the translation process has never been more important. More importantly, using a professional agency who can deal with the complexity of this industry is an absolute must.

What life sciences regulations do I need to know about?

The life sciences industry is one of the most heavily regulated industries in the world, and this makes our lives as translators that little bit more complicated. Not only does your translation agency have to be capable of handling medical terminology, they have to know the rules and regulations too. Acts like HIPAA are in place to protect patient confidentiality and protected health information, and translation agencies are legally required to follow it. Reputable LSPs should also work in accordance with ISO 9001, ISO 27001 or ISO 17100 regulations, which cover translation quality standards and information security. There are also European and national regulatory bodies that have specific translation terminology that needs to be kept to.

Is there anything else I need to keep in mind when ordering a life science translation?

Another thing to keep in mind when tackling life science localization is the fact that traditional TEP (translation-editing-proofreading) is simply not enough anymore. One example is that PIL (patient information leaflets) actually require readability testing, and it’s recommended for other of documentation too. You should also consider the marketing and sales potential of your new markets, so that you’re not missing out on that all important ROI.

How can I make sure that my LSP is a life science professional?

The market is full of translation companies, but knowing which one is right for your translations is better than ever. So, to round things up, here’s a checklist of things to keep in mind when choosing a new partner:

• Different documents need different styles, so feel free to discuss this with your LSP. They’ll be able to recommend which style is best for you.
• Make sure they know about approved terminology. They will be able to give you a list, and most companies like ourselves even perform in-house quality reviews to make sure this set terminology is kept too.
• Ask for blind CVs of the linguists doing your translations. Most translation agencies keep their translators’ CVs on record, so by having a look at their CV, you can make sure that their linguists really are life sciences experts.
• Check how they work. Some LSPs like us have set teams for documentation and another one for marketing, even if they are for the same products.
• Ask about rules and regulations to make sure that they are always followed.

The post Where Does Localization Fit in The Life Sciences Industry? appeared first on Ciklopea.

Gateway to Non-English Speaking Audiences

The world population is estimated at about 7.5 billion people. The ever-increasing number of global Internet users amounted to about 3.5 billion in 2016, with roughly 21% (or 625 million) of them using the Internet in English, making it the single most used language on the Internet. But what are the languages of the remaining 79% of Internet users?

As it is clearly demonstrated by the CSA Research report, Digital Opportunity: Top 100 Online Languages for 2016, it takes three languages to reach 50% of online users (English, Chinese (Simplified) and German), nine to reach 80% (plus Japanese, Spanish, French, Arabic, Portuguese and Russian) and 14 languages to get to 90% of the global online population (plus Italian, Korean, Dutch, Chinese (Traditional) and Swedish).

If we remember that virtually every research ever conducted shows that more than 50% of the customers value proximity over price, i.e. that they would rather opt for a more expensive product presented in their first language and in accordance with their culture than for a cheaper deal presented in the language they do not understand, it’s easy to see why localization represents the road to global success.

$1 Invested in Localization Generates Up to $25 in Revenue

Several studies show that localization ROI is actually as high as 25 dollars for every dollar invested. Of course, this figure depends on different factors, such as the type of the product/service, its quality, price, financial landscape of the target market, timing, marketing efforts and so forth, but the truth is that it may be even higher – if we take into account the long-term benefits of localization:

# Prevention

Localization enables you to present your product/service, company and values in the way that target audiences will fully understand, thus reducing the risk of bad publicity and helping you build and maintain a strong and positive global presence.

# Proximity

Investing in professional localization means investing in developing a positive relationship with target audiences. In addition to bringing your business closer to your clients by adapting it to the target language and culture, you also have an opportunity to make it a part of the target culture, something your audiences will know, like and trust.

# Popularity

A properly localized product/service also communicates respect for the target language and culture, and respect is one of those precious things that are hard to earn and easy to lose – but the good news is that it is always returned. Localization helps you send your message to target audiences in an appropriate and respectful manner, building a solid base for the popularity of your brand.

The post Localization and ROI: A Very Happy Marriage appeared first on Ciklopea.

What can be objectively determined, though, are the realities of a specific linguistic area and this article is about them.

Standardization

Croatian, Bosnian, Serbian and Montenegrin are the four standardized languages, meaning they are developing independently, and their linguistic norms, orthography and grammar are independent and regulated by their own respective institutions. Each of these languages has its own regional dialects and non-standard forms with variable degrees of mutual intelligibility.

The differences between these languages are lexical, morphological and syntactical, the degree of which is lower than that between British and American English in certain aspects (lexical stock) and in some cases higher (syntax, morphology, orthography).

While Croatian and Bosnian are ijekavian languages written in the Latin Script, standard Serbian is an ekavian language written in both Cyrillic and Latin scripts and Montenegrin is an ijekavian language also written in both Cyrillic and Latin writing systems.

Mutual Intelligibility

The four standard languages are highly mutually intelligible.

Native speakers from all countries of the region fully understand each other and cultural products such as movies, books, music albums and TV programs are regularly shared between Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Montenegro, mostly without any linguistic adaptation.

Due to the distinctive features of each language, however, every native speaker of either Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or Montenegrin can always determine from which country a product or a person comes.

Pitfalls of Translation Asset Management

Ironically, mutual intelligibility can create some problems in providing language solutions.

A linguistic product featuring elements from more than one of the four distinct standardized languages is quite simply a poor linguistic product. Translation assets such as translation memories or termbases developed on the basis of mutual intelligibility between Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin alone are often unusable before a thorough editing, ultimately demanding more resources instead of less.

The linguists native in one of the four languages understand the materials composed in other languages, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they can produce impeccable linguistic products in their non-native language forms, unless they are fully aware of the entire scope of more and less subtle differences between these languages.

For these reasons, it is important to remember that mutual intelligibility is not necessarily your friend. Croatian or Bosnian translation assets and/or linguists will not help you get a high quality linguistic product in Serbian and vice versa. The most they can do is provide consulting materials in certain cases.

Localization and Globalization

Regardless of their linguistic and cultural similarities, these are four different markets with four different languages and while any content localized to, for example, Croatian will certainly be understood in Serbia, Bosnia and Montenegro as well, it will most definitely be recognized as the content developed for the Croatian market.

Localization is always about the market and the standard language – as there is no single standardized form of the mutually intelligible languages spoken in these four countries and since they do not form a single market, the localization efforts for this part of the world should be accessed the same way as for any other.

Last but not least, legal requirements in each of these countries demand that marketing materials, user manuals, SPCs, PILs and all other materials designated for public use be presented in the official language of the country – and there are four of them.

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The short answer is that it doesn’t matter, as long as the script of choice is used consistently – and this is why:

One Language, Two Alphabets

Your computer or smartphone may list Serbian Latin and Serbian Cyrillic as separate languages. They may be assigned different codes, however, with the exception of the writing system, it is one and the same language

Everybody Uses Both Scripts

Every literate native speaker of Serbian can read and write both scripts equally well, meaning there are no target group preferences in this regard – your message will be understood regardless of the script.

What you should keep in mind, though, is that consistency is the priority. Latin and Cyrillic scripts are used synchronically, but not interchangeably, meaning that mixing the two scripts in the same material is a telltale sign of a poor linguistic product and must be avoided.

This, of course, doesn’t apply to the elements that are kept in the Latin script in Cyrillic materials, such as units of measurements, certain acronyms, foreign names and quotes, etc.

Cyrillic Script is Official, Latin is More Common

Seeing as the Cyrillic script is official, all government and personal documents are issued either in Cyrillic or in both scripts. The longest-running magazines and newspapers and the packages of some of the products with the longest tradition in the country are printed in Cyrillic.

However, the Latin script is widely used in the popular media, on the Internet, on most of the product packages and shop signage, with the still low, but steadily rising trend of encouraging a wider use of Cyrillic script in the public arena.

For these reasons you may consider opting for translation to Serbian Cyrillic if you want to add an official, traditional or trendy vintage touch to your product/service and it may be the only marketing aspect for consideration. In all other cases, Serbian Latin is as good as Serbian Cyrillic.

Why Not Use Both Scripts?

Microsoft famously offers its products localized to both Serbian Latin and Serbian Cyrillic, most of the open source software is available in both scripts, Wikipedia and many local websites feature the content presented in both Latin and Cyrillic versions, leaving the choice of the writing system to the end user.

At the same time, Facebook, Google and Apple localize their services only to Serbian Cyrillic, or at least use the Cyrillic script as the default one for Serbian.

Depending on the type of your product/service, you may choose to include both scripts. One of the advantageous aspects is that the cost of professional conversion of translated and localized content to either writing system will certainly be significantly lower than a full new translation. Furthermore, the current level of technology enables an easy inclusion of two scripts and this choice most definitely provides a higher level of adaptation to the Serbian market.

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Regardless if it is an interactive presentation of a brick and mortar company or if it is the interface of an online service, website is the main channel of communication of contemporary world. Thus, the fastest, safest and the most efficient way to reach the global customers and expand your business globally is through website localization.

But how exactly localization helps you increase your sales? Let’s take a look:

Your Message is sent to Bigger Audiences

English is undoubtedly the dominant language of the internet, business, politics and virtually everything else. More than 1 billion people speak and understand English to a certain degree, but there is still a great majority of people who speak other languages. Chinese, Spanish, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Russian and other languages are mother tongues of your potential international clients. Having your website localized to other languages means sending your corporate message to larger audiences in a language they can understand perfectly well, which in turn means more clients and customers.

You Develop a Deeper Connection with Your Clients

I recently saw “Hungarian Rhapsody: Queen Live in Budapest” on Blu-ray and what made this concert footage particularly interesting was Freddie Mercury singing a Hungarian folk song – in Hungarian. Rock stars usually learn a few phrases such as “Thank you”, “Hello” or “Goodbye” in the language of the country where they play, but Mercury went much further having learnt an entire song and I suppose it did wonders to Queen’s brand identity in Hungary.

This is the principle that can be perfectly applied to website localization – people will always like and trust you more if you express respect for their culture and present your work in their first language. Your localized product or service will become something your foreign clients like and trust – and buy. This is what all major companies do and this is what the great Freddie Mercury did. Be smart. Be like them.

You Reduce Risks

Your web content and marketing campaigns may be impeccably designed – in English. At the same time they may be misunderstood on the foreign markets, or, even worse, they may offend your foreign clients and make an irreparable damage to your corporate identity.

We often say that localization is more than website translation as it also includes technical, legal and cultural adaptation of all textual and non-textual elements (images, colors, titles etc.) to the environment of the target market.

However, it is even more than that – you can translate and localize content and it may still make no sense to the foreign audiences whatsoever because different markets demand different approach and different content.

Localization helps you present your company in the way the foreign audience will completely understand, thus eliminating the risk of bad publicity and enabling you to create a strong, positive and successful presence on the global markets.

You Reduce SEO Competition

There are millions of companies similar to yours on the Internet with their content primarily written in English, which means that achieving a high ranking on search engines is a tough and long job with uncertain results.

However, having your website properly localized means achieving an almost instant visibility on the local search engines covering local, comparatively smaller markets with lower competition. Thoroughly researched keywords related to your business in the language of the target market will bring local clients to your website faster, which, naturally means higher conversion rates.

Great, but what’s the Price?

Investing in website localization means investing in a positive global presence and reaching out to larger audiences, new clients and customers. While the price of localization is easily measurable, it generates a long-term ROI that is essentially immeasurable, meaning that is always cheap.

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In addition to general linguistic quality, accuracy of translated information and clarity of the translated materials, confidentiality and compliance with the industrial and legal standards of the target market, as well as International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and International Accounting Standards (IAS), are the essential criteria for the translation of financial documents, bank statements, credit documentation, finance contracts, invoices, insurance policies, the localization of financial and banking software, online banking platforms and other language services required by the industry.

Information Security and Confidentiality

The subject of information security and confidentiality depends on the credibility and professionalism of each individual assigned to a project, including project managers, translators, proofreaders, editors and QA specialists, and on LSP’s technological infrastructure.

Therefore, choosing an LSP that, in addition to its experience in the field, good reputation and an advanced business culture, also holds certificates on the implementation of specific standards such as ISO 9001:2008 (quality management system), ISO 17100:2015 (quality management system for translation companies), and ISO 27001:2013 (information security management system) is an essential step.

Translation Asset Management

Translation assets include all bilingual or multilingual data that can be used to produce consistent, faster and cheaper translations. The industry-specific terminology approved by the client is incorporated in glossaries and terminology bases (TB), while translation memories (TM) are built over a certain period and include translated segments in a certain language pair.

Given the high percentage of industry-specific terminology, localization and translation projects for the financial industry may particularly benefit from the production, management and maintenance of translation assets.

These assets are used in all future products, ensuring the consistency and the same high level of translation quality, as well as a leaner translation or localization process that takes less time and fewer resources – in other words, a language services provider that employs these procedures will help you get a better translation at a reduced price.

Developed Project Management

Standard translation projects for the financial industry of all sizes and scopes, as well as complex projects such as financial or banking software localization, require excellent coordination and a clear workflow in order to achieve a high quality output that will be delivered on time and within budget.

This is achieved through structured localization project management developed for the management of translation and localization projects at all stages, starting with analyzing clients’ requests, setting deadlines and technical requirements, assembling linguist and expert teams, performing quality assurance checks and ending with translation delivery.

Before entering into a translation or localization project, ask your prospective LSP about their project management. The more the procedure is developed, the better the final results will be.

Advanced Quality Assurance Procedure

In addition to specific terminology, financial and insurance documents also feature a high percentage of figures, currency formats, dates and other numerical elements.

Naturally, the accuracy of numbers is always essential and for this reason an extended quality assurance procedure should be applied to inspect the translated material for any possible errors. In addition to bilingual review, review by a second linguist, native speaker or a field expert for accuracy, consistency, correctness, fluency, and terminology, a computer-assisted QA procedure should be used for the ultimate quality check.

If all these criteria are met, the result will be an impeccable and secure translation that will help any financial or insurance company communicate its message to foreign clients and partners.

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Translators, proofreaders and editors are as essential to localization as actors are to the movies.

It is their words, their linguistic perception, knowledge and style that the clients and the customers are finally seeing. It goes without saying that these people must be chosen on the basis of theirs linguistic proficiency and university degrees, but it is worth noting that the gap between the academic approach to language and the industrial demands is sometimes as wide as the gap between the standardized language and the vernacular.

This, however, by no chance means that either should be ignored.

Linguists assigned on localization projects should be fully aware of the living and ever-changing nature of language as a phenomenon, as well as the differences between the standardized form and the spoken language and willing to take a creative and active approach to translation with regard both to its content, intent and the medium on the one hand and the academic standards on the other.

Somewhat exaggerated, but not entirely untrue – the best translators are those who know the rules well enough to know when and how they can and should be bent.

Approachable Experts

Localization projects frequently require services of a wide range of non-linguist experts, from medical professionals, software developers and engineers to graphic editors and designers. These people are hired on the basis of their experience and knowledge and they don’t need to know much about the translation industry, let alone the linguistic subtleties.

However, they should be made fully aware of why they are approached in the first place – to share their industrial or scientific knowledge and help the translators render both professionally and linguistically impeccable product, to the benefit not only of LSPs and their clients, but of the particular industrial or scientific field and the society as well.

Trustworthy Project Managers

To use the movie metaphor once again, project managers are somewhere between casting producers and directors.

It is them who organize the projects and choose particular individuals for each task, it is their responsibility to deliver the quality approved goods within the given timeframe, and, ultimately, they are responsible for the project failure or success. In addition to all these responsibilities, LPMs (Localization Project Managers) must be the people all the parties involved trust and like.

For this reason, LPMs should be the linguists themselves who understand the translation process, its flow and its possible pitfalls and have at least a clear idea of the very nature of the other experts’ professions.

Simply put, these people must have an academic background and, equally important, a working experience at all levels of localization process.

Wrap-up

Communication is, quite naturally, in the very essence of the entire language industry. It is all about communicating meanings between the different languages and cultures, exchanging information between linguistic / expert teams and clients. In other words, it is all about the people and the interaction between them.

There is no simple way of finding the people with the required skills, experiences and human qualities who will be able to work as a team from day one, but keeping an honest and open approach, friendly attitude and allowing enough autonomy to each team member to show his or her creativity, knowledge and ideas may surely help.

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There are several reasons for this, ranging from the decades-long misconceptions about the powers of MT, lack of insight into what a professional translation is (and isn’t) and finally, lack of understanding of the true value of professionally translated and localized product / service.

Can’t read it – won’t buy it

There is a very good reasons why the world’s biggest companies whose top positions are seemingly eternal, from Apple, Microsoft, Facebook and Google to Coca-Cola and Disney, invest heavily into translation and localization of their products and services every year.

These companies are so big that it’s hard to imagine the contemporary world without them, and yet they are fully aware that potential customers are more likely to opt for a product or service presented in their native language and in accordance with their culture and this is why, in addition to all the multi-million global marketing campaigns, they also invest in professional translation of their products and services.

Simply put, a seller must speak the buyer’s language and translation costs are justified by the global presence stretching from New York to Beijing and from Moscow to Rio.

Bad translation always costs more

Can you imagine paying thousands for a high-end Japanese hi-fi system and receiving user manual written only in Japanese or, worse still, in bad English? What do you think this frustrating experience would do to the brand image and future brand loyalty on the global market, even if the product quality is truly impeccable?

The answer is self-evident and this is why global companies take localization seriously and rely on professional services of established LSPs. Because, whatever the price of professional translation may be, the price of a bad, inadequate or missing translation is always higher.

Role of LSPs in global business

All through the history, language services have been an essential part of business and although we tend to believe it was the other way around, it was the economic activities that spurred the cultural ones.

Writing was invented in the ancient Sumer not because people wanted to write poetry, but for the reasons of trade and taxation. Ancient Phoenician merchants introduced the use of alphabet to the ancient Greek merchants and, in all probability, were the first professional translators as it took a good deal of linguistic knowledge to do business in the multilingual Mediterranean region.

Essentially, the things haven’t changed all that much. The role of translators remains the same – accurate and appropriate communication of meaning between the languages.

However, in the age of globalization and fierce competition, their role in business activities is even more pronounced. Today, LSPs combine linguistic expertise and advanced technologies to help companies do what the ancient merchants had to do themselves – build gateways to global market. And what is the real value of that?

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However, if the content is originally written for localization (i.e. globalized), the localization process can be streamlined to take significantly less energy, time and resources. This article features some of the writing and technical tips that can help you create highly localizable content.

Know your Audience on the Target Market

Make sure you know precisely who your audience is. What is their age, social status, are they new or returning customers, what are they expectations – and build your content accordingly. This will help localizers get the wider and more detailed picture about the ultimate intent of the material and make the localization process run more smoothly.

Be Concise

Build your content with concision and precision as the ultimate values. The line between being succinct and saying too little is thin, but it is rarely crossed if you have a clear idea of what you want to say. Re-read your material and ask yourself if the point is made and if there are redundant words. Then re-read it again. And again, until you are sure the ratio of the accurate and complete information and the number of words is optimal.

This approach will produce fewer words for translation and a greater level of understanding for localizers, ultimately reducing the costs and time required for localization.

Be Clear

Being clear in this particular case means composing the content in a neutral and standardized form of the source language. In case your products or services are not particularly targeted to a distinct group, all slang, region and culture specific, or otherwise non-standard terminology should be avoided.

The reason for this is simple – you will avoid the possibility of mistranslation, localizers will understand the text the right way and the quality of your product/service will also be highlighted by the quality of language itself.

Be Consistent

Building glossaries and terminology bases (TB) is a great way to keep your business-specific terminology consistent, achieve accurate and contextual translation of specific terms and save time and money.

However, before creating TBs, make sure to develop a glossary of specific terms related to your product/service and use them without exception during the content creation. Date, time and currency formats, as well as the measurement units should also be used consistently. Precise and concise use of terms in source material will help translators and localizers achieve faster and better results.

Reuse the content whenever you can – this will result in a technically and linguistically uniform material, while the amount of new words for translation will be reduced.

Keep Non-Textual Elements Localizable

Design the visual part of your content with localization in mind. Texts in different languages and different scripts may also be different in length, so designing the visual elements with the possibility of space extension is another smart move that will prevent additional costs.

All non-textual elements that feature texts, such as various types of graphics and infographics should be saved in their native, editable formats. CAT software can easily process this type of content, enabling translators to do their part of the job effortlessly. This may come particularly handy in localization of DTP files, where no other services but purely linguistic may be required – provided that the content is created localizable.

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The world has shrunk. The space and distance are not an issue they used to be only decades ago. Thinking globally about your product/service from day one is one of the smartest things you can do – and to achieve the global visibility and reach global customers you need to localize your content.

Professional human translation is always worth It

Can you imagine any really big international company debating the ROI of translation? We can’t either. Have you ever seen any material from a successful international company presented in a bad or awkward target language? We haven’t, either.

Virtually every study ever conducted shows that people are more likely to purchase product/service that is presented in their language and in accordance with their culture. In the long run, it always pays off.

Machines can’t do it

Translators use computers to save time and provide consistent translations. The language industry of today is unimaginable without specific software and databases. But using the benefits of technology as a tool and delegating the entire translation process to machines are two quite different things. Translation is a sophisticated operation that simply can’t be done properly without a professional human touch.

LSP is your partner

Find the language service provider you can trust, the one with the experience and deep knowledge of the culture of the target market.

Very soon you will realize that your chosen LSP is your friend that will help you cut the translation costs, time and effort and send your corporate message to the target market in an appropriate and effective manner, and that its services may be valuable for more than just linguistic tasks as localization is also very much about culture, habits, needs and expectations of a target audience.

Remember, different markets require different approaches. Your localization consultant is there to help you find the right approach for your chosen market.

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1. Get Insight into the New Markets

You probably already have at least an idea on what your next foreign market will be. But is it really right for your product/service?

First, you should check the local market trends and the demand for your industry on the given local market by using the dedicated market research tools and resources. Next, you should check the data such as website hits from the desired location and keywords related to your business in the target languages.

This step includes data crunching, strategic and marketing decisions but also a little bit of intuition and for these reasons it is probably the most important one.

2. Analyze the Local Competition

Knowing where similar businesses stand on the local market and what makes your business different from the local competitors and detecting the comparable pros and cons of your company is always a valuable information that may help you get a more realistic expectations from a new market entry.

3. Set the Conversion Goals

Every industry is different, every business is different and every market is different, but taking the idiosyncrasies of your own company and the data collected above, you should get an estimated conversion value of your localized website.

The estimated conversion values and rates will help you set realistic conversion goals to be achieved on the local market.

4. Calculate Localization Costs

Once you get your data, you can decide on the localization scope, number of languages and calculate the localization costs of a new market entry.

5. Estimate the ROI

Return of investment is sometimes elusive and difficult to calculate, but with all the mentioned figures collected you may be able to make a pretty good ROI estimation that may help you make the final decision.

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International e-Business Possibilities

While customers are traditionally more likely to purchase products presented in their own language and in accordance with their own culture, recent studies show that at least 40% of the EU citizens will not purchase goods from a foreign website. This leaves roughly 60% of those who might, but detecting where these potential clients come from to properly target and convert website hits may be a tricky business.

Look at the Analytics

Website analytics can show you where the interest for your content comes from. This is always a good place to start as it may help you determine not only the territories of your potential interests, but also the type of your content of interest in those territories. Are these the products and services you want to develop further? Is the foreign interest in your site a result of linguistic similarity or is there a genuine interest in your business? Answering these questions on the basis on analytics is a good place to start.

Consider the Real Foreign Market Potential

The real potential of a foreign market can be assessed by combining figures such as per capita GDP, number of speakers of certain language, number of internet users and other figures related to your particular business, such as cultural and legal environment and presence of similar businesses on the market.

Website analytics can show you where the interest for your content comes from.

Consider the Logistics

Shipping costs or additional fees can seriously affect prices of your products or services, as well as the entire shopping experience. Considering how to deliver your goods to foreign clients in a safe, fast and cheap way is the last, but certainly not the least important aspect to consider. Delivery methods and legal requirements of the foreign market should be carefully examined before the entry on a new market.

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Going Local to Go Global

In the realm of language services and business and marketing in general, localization is the process of adaption of internationalized content, products or services, to foreign languages, markets and cultures. The internationalized content is the one that is ready to be adapted to any language or locale and this includes the user interfaces and navigation of software and websites.

The old adage says that the most personal is the most universal, and it is this seemingly paradoxical idea perfectly describes the relation between localization and globalization. Going global means conducting cross-border business activities and this in turn means composing and sending the message to wider audiences speaking different languages and living in different cultures, i.e. localizing.

Globalization is greater than the sum of its parts.

Localization and Future of International Business

It is plain to see that the process of globalization works on two levels – the level of internationalization and the level of localization. Creation of internationalized content, composition of message to be sent across the borders is the first phase, while the second one is localization to specific markets.

As per usual when it comes to complex systems, it is hard to determine which one is more important, as both levels are interconnected and interdependent, but it is safe to assume that globalization is greater than the sum of its parts. The key to success is in finding the perfect balance between the uniform, internationalized approach and the approach that respects and uses the advantages of international diversity.

Simply put, there are about 7000 languages in the world today, while the number of specific cultures and markets is even greater. Common sense says and market researches confirm that people generally respond better to the content written in their own language and in accordance with their own culture, while simple math says that having content localized to something over 80 languages to reach more than 80% of the world population.

Having the content localized to 7000 languages is what it takes to reach everyone on the planet. Not too hard to figure out where the future of international business is, right?

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Once you have set up your business and your website is online, there are several points of consideration that will lead you through the localization process easily and successfully.

Attract visitors to your website

First and foremost, your website should feature engaging, high quality content, and it should have an intuitive, attractive, and user-friendly design. No matter how good your SEO strategy may be, poorly written or translated content and a cluttered design will neither attract nor retain visitors.
Your content should be well-written in the target language and well-presented in accordance with the target culture. LSPs who provide complete language solutions – and these include writing original articles – are extremely helpful.

SEO is based on territory, not on languages

Good content and a well-designed website will bring you visitors and a good ranking, but you should be aware that Google and other search engines operate on the national / regional level, not on the linguistic level.

This means that an English website with a good ranking in the UK will not work all that well in, say, New Zealand. This is why, in addition to understanding subtle language differences, a thorough understanding of the Internet and SEO is required for a successful localization project.

No matter how good your SEO strategy may be, poorly written or translated content and a cluttered design will neither attract nor retain visitors.

Conversion of visitors

Attracting visitors is one thing, but persuading them to use your services is quite another.

Well-written, engaging, and original content in the target language is simply a must. Feature informative content on your destination’s attractions, tell stories about your hotel or restaurant, be creative and let your website be an inviting corner of the Internet that presents your business at its best to foreign visitors perfectly in their own language — all of this can be achieved through a carefully planned and executed localization process combined with a smart SEO strategy.

Communication with visitors

Social media is the dominant channel of communication of the modern age. Keeping in touch with your visitors after their holiday ends will surely enhance their chances of returning the next year – or even making your business their preferred holiday spot.

Running it all – localization, SEO, and social media communication in a friendly, engaging, original, and – above all else – properly localized manner is more than likely to bring success to your travel or hospitality business.

The post Successful Localization in Travel and Hospitality: Tips and Tricks appeared first on Ciklopea.

Project Scope and Timeline

The first necessary step is to determine the scope of the project – type, size, required CAT and QA tools, language pairs, additional requirements (such as particular expertise, expert review, DTP) and the timeline – the project start, the realistic projection of the time needed for translation, proofreading, and QA – as well as any additional linguistic or technical steps required by the project.

Each phase of the project should be clearly defined in its initial stages, as virtually anything left undetermined can seriously affect the project, its timeline, and its budget, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem. The best practices include equal dedication to every project, regardless of its size, careful examination of all aspects of the project, clear and transparent communication with all parties involved, and the timely and precise entry of all data into the project management system.

This will help isolate and eliminate any possible issues that might affect the project.

Budget

The budget should be determined before the project execution, and should remain tightly controlled throughout the process. Every cent counts, and the only possible way not to cause financial losses to any party is to maintain honest and clear communication throughout the project.

Localization projects are complex and require extreme versatility from project managers. An LPM must be involved in all stages and keep his or her eyes out for potential issues.

Risk Management and Quality Control

If there is one skill that separates a good project manager from a mediocre or downright bad one, it is the ability to recognize potential problems before they occur. However, this is one of those skills that no one is born with, but is instead developed over time. Keeping communication clear and records neat (as well as a clear idea of the place of language solutions in a greater scheme of things) will greatly help detect and avoid potential risks.

Quality control should be implemented both during and after the project. During the project, quality control is achieved through constant monitoring as to whether the technical and linguistic requirements of the project are being met throughout the process, and this includes everything from file formats and the software being used to translating and localizing in accordance with TMs and glossaries. Once the process has been completed, quality control is achieved by thorough QA checking.

Conclusion

Localization projects are complex and sometimes require extreme levels of versatility and agility from project managers. To complete projects successfully, an LPM must be involved in all stages, understand the essence of each step, and keep his or her eyes out for potential issues. Smooth and transparent communication is at the core of all of this, and remains the most essential resource for completing all localization project tasks in a timely and successful manner.

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However, there is an additional step that has to be taken to make sure that search engines on a local market take your localized website into account and to announce its presence to the local online audiences.

Having an online business localized to Spanish does not necessarily mean that search engines used in the Spanish-speaking countries will recognize your website as a local one.

For example, having an online business localized to Spanish does not necessarily mean that search engines used in the Spanish-speaking countries will recognize your website as a local one and list it among the search results.

In other words, a translated and localized website is speaking to people on the local market. A multilingual SEO strategy is required to make it speak to the search engines on the local market as well. Multilingual SEO is there to drive traffic to your website and send your business message to the local Internet users.

A multilingual SEO strategy combines programming, web design, market research, marketing and linguistic skills and, depending on the scope, may range from simple defining of keywords to full-fledged multistep projects.

While an LSP is primarily there to translate and localize your website, it may also be helpful with the multilingual SEO, particularly nowadays, when more and more LSPs are expanding the scopes of their services, including SEO.

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Every translation task has one ultimate goal – communicating the meaning of the source material in an accurate and stylistically appropriate manner to the target language. In other words, if translators cannot understand the meaning of the source information the accurate translation is impossible, and it goes without saying that the consequences of a bad or imprecise translation in life sciences may be very serious.

In addition to the mandatory mastery of both source and target language, every translation task also requires a certain level of additional background knowledge and this is where the main challenge of translating the life science content lies – proficient translators with background in medicine, pharmacy or any other life science are rare.

When translating and localizing to comparatively smaller languages, we may encounter terms that simply do not exist in the target language.

When translating and localizing to comparatively smaller languages, we may encounter terms that simply do not exist in the target language. In some cases, the appropriate linguistic literature, such as medical dictionaries, is not available and the terms need to be adopted or transcreated, which can only be done with the linguistic and life science knowledge and experience being combined.

Translating of life science content encompasses a wide range of materials ranging from instructions for use of medical devices and in vitro diagnostic devices (IFU), manuals for MDs and patients, patient information leaflets (PIL), summary of product characteristics (SPC), study protocols, questionnaires, informed consent forms, instructions, packagings, labels, marketing materials and more.

To answer these challenges and to provide linguistic services to the ever-expanding life sciences industry, LSPs form teams of translators specialized in translating the life sciences content that usually include professional consultants such as MDs, pharmaceutics and other professionals.

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It is said time and again that localization is much more complex and demanding process than translation, and this is particularly true when the word is about website localization. It is necessary, but it is just not enough to translate the textual and to adapt the nontextual elements of the website. Quality, style, tone and accuracy of the localized information are essential.

The elements of the website to be localized that require special attention (and that should be the first to be localized) are product information and support pages. Marketing materials such as ebooks, white papers, case studies, news, audio and video materials and blog posts are always extremely popular with the users and should be localized whenever it is possible.

A website is never complete – it always requires more or less frequent updates and a localized version is no different. Depending on the type of a website, its structure, target audience and content, the frequency of updates may span from once a week to once a year, but updates should always be considered in a localization plan, no matter whether you opt for translation proxy or the standard localization process.

To conclude, a good website localization strategy should be focused on the two main elements – quality of the localized content and frequent updates.

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There are three basic reasons to localize your products and services to other languages on a single market. The first is the financial one – your product or service will find its way to the customers who live in the same country, but speak other languages faster, as the message communicated in one’s first language and respect for the customer’s language and culture is always a great additional value.

The second is preparation for further expanding of your business. As more than one language is spoken in virtually every country of the world, and as almost every language is spoken in several countries, localizing to the country’s minority languages will not only be a very smart business strategy, but it may also help you get prepared for the foreign markets.

Also, as there are no specific legal or technical requirements during the localization process as you are sending your message to the citizens of the same country who only happen to speak another language, meaning that this is a completely safe localization scenario.

The third reason is what the localization is all about in the first place – preservation of cultural and linguistic diversity of the world in the age of globalization.

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The localization of e-learning and m-learning material is one area where the multilevel localization process really comes to life due to the multimedia character of the materials, which combine sound (narration and lectures), images, video, text, and interactive software interfaces. Before localizing or preparing such a product for localization, there are a few things that should be taken into account:

Content should be created to be localizable

This means that content should be composed in a clear and precise manner using the standardized form of the source language with as few slang terms or dialecticisms as possible. Of course, this will always depend on the subject of the learning material itself, but it is something that should be kept in mind nevertheless.

The localization of e-learning and m-learning material is one area where the multilevel localization process really comes to life.

Create termbases

When creating or localizing e-learning content, you are dealing with educational material. An incorrect translation means incorrect knowledge in this case, and this is something that should be avoided at all costs. The creation of termbases is possibly nowhere more advisable than in these cases, both for reasons of clarity, consistency, speed, and, finally, the accuracy of educational materials.

Keep the text width in mind

Different languages and different scripts require a different amount of free space to be displayed properly. When designing e-learning and, particularly, m-learning apps, this is something that should be kept in mind. This will not only make the localization process faster and easier, but will also benefit the final product.

Stay culturally neutral

Once again, this will mostly depend on the subject of e-learning, but there are things that can prevent confusion. Be sure to prepare content that is in accordance with the target culture, as what is acceptable in one country may be offensive or confusing in another. In such a scenario, content should be rewritten for the specific market. Choose images suitable to the target country, especially those depicting public signs.

Following these steps will make the localization process faster, smoother, and more cost-effective, and the final product will be appropriately localized.

The post E-learning and m-learning localization: Translating Knowledge appeared first on Ciklopea.

In this article, we take a look at the essential elements of the successful localization of an online store.

Currencies and Symbols

The first logical step is to display prices in the local currency, at competitive rates, with the proper symbols and decimal marks as they are used in the target market.

However, displaying prices in two or more currencies is also an option to consider, particularly in areas where both local and foreign currency are used.

Translated content of the website should be customized to create a flawless, localized buying experience for foreign customers.

Local Paying Preferences

In some countries, people mostly use credit or debit cards for online shopping, while alternative payment methods such as bank transfer, checks, or money orders may be preferred in others.

Make sure to research local payment preferences well beforehand, as this will save your customers unwanted frustration and ensure a smooth buying experience.

Addressing Customers

The same form of address may be acceptable in one culture and offensive in another. Make sure to check the preferred formats of name ordering, use of titles, names, and surnames in the target culture and to customize screen messages and e-mails accordingly.

Address Formats

Although every address in the world contains basically the same information, different countries use different formats of addresses and postal codes. Make sure to check the right format for addresses in the target territory.

Multilingualism on the Local Level

In addition to official languages (one or more depending on the area), some countries also have recognized minority languages or different standards of the official language.

The linguistic and cultural landscapes of the target territory should be well researched beforehand, as in certain cases localizing into multiple languages or dialects on a single market may be the perfect strategy.

Laws and Regulations

Last, but certainly not least, the legal requirements and laws regulating trade in the target country should be researched thoroughly. Laws and regulations may differ greatly from one country to another, and this is why every legal requirement, from the calculation of taxes to information that must be provided to the customer, has to be studied carefully.

The post Localizing e-Commerce Websites: God is in the detail appeared first on Ciklopea.

Here are 5 tips for the successful localization of foreign toponyms in Croatian and Serbian.

1. Explore first

The most problematic issue in localizing toponyms in foreign languages is the fact that place names do not follow the same pattern, as each word entered the targed language in different ways. The orthography primarily depends on the script of the source language and the way the word is used in the target language. It is not enough to simply learn a few rules to ensure the proper localization of toponyms — instead, it takes a little more thinking and research in each particular case.

When you encounter a foreign toponym for the first time, make sure to check if there might be some other name in use, or if your language uses a name that is completely different from the original one.

2. Use relevant sources

Professional literature must be consulted for each linguistic dilemma. No matter how sure a translator is of his or her knowledge, linguistic intuition and an Internet search can sometimes lead to incorrect results. Even various atlases and cartographic publications list various forms of toponyms whose accuracy is not always guaranteed. For a complex area such as toponyms, it is necessary to consult the relevant dictionaries.

3. Use an exonym if there is one

When you encounter a foreign toponym for the first time, make sure to check if there might be some other name in use, or if your language uses a name that is completely different from the original one. If an exonyms can be used in place of a geographical term, it should be used, as this is the only way the text will sound natural to a native speaker.

4. Mind your consistency

In cases where place names can be written in several ways, ensure that one form is consistently used. Various forms should not be found in the same text. The old spelling rule can be applied here as well: when there are multiple solutions, select one and use it consistently. Otherwise, you’re wrong.

5. Be able to explain your choice

Sometimes it will seem that a text with different toponyms contains inconsistencies when it does not. If you are well prepared for the localization of toponyms, you’ll know why you chose a particular solution and you will stand behind its successful localized text.

The post Localization of Foreign Toponyms in South Slavic Languages appeared first on Ciklopea.

People are usually more perceptive to the content in their own language

This was true even before the Internet was invented, but in the days of the dominance of English, it may be even truer – people simply like to hear or see the content in their own, first language. Having a website localized into languages other than English means reaching out to more potential users.

Website is above all the interface of the enterprise, serving as an interactive bridge between the company and its customers or users.

More than 70 percent of Internet users do not speak English as their first language

English is the dominant language of the culture, technology and business of our era, it is the most widely learned second language in the world, but it is not the first language to a great deal of Internet users.

The localized version of a website must be a “mirror image” of the original one

The localized version of a website is not a new version of the website, but a customized version of an existing one, usually in English. It has to be represented in the target language and culture as if it originated within them, but it has to follow the pattern of the original one and convey the exact same information.

The localization process is easier when the original website is complete, tested and stable

It is not only easier, it is also safer and less complicated and promises better results – the finalized source text is translated and the finalized design elements are adapted and no quick and stressful changes are required.

Website localization is more than website translation

Translation is the central process of localization, but not the only one – it also includes the localization of code, and, in certain cases, images, audio and video files, interactive content and other multimedia.

The post What you need to know before making your website global appeared first on Ciklopea.