Like most great ideas, localization is actually quite simple—but with a lot of tricky details. When you take on a new localization project, there are a few questions you’re going to have to answer. And it’s best to answer them before you get started. After all, localization isn’t one-size-fits-all. For some projects, it might make sense to localize everything; for others, it might make sense to localize only part, or to do it gradually. You’re going to have to figure

This interview is part of our series “Bring It to the World,” which is crafted for developers of websites and apps that offer localized versions to users worldwide. We’re catching up with some of OneSky’s best-known users in order to ask them about their localization experiences, and to discover some of their secrets for building a global presence. In this installment of the series, we chat with Itai Damti, CEO APAC at Leverate, a fintech provider specializing in complete brokerage

Don’t just localize. Localize well. When it comes to localization, quality matters—a lot. Global users won’t flock to a localized app just because it’s available in their native tongue. If the translation is shoddy, the app will seem silly and unprofessional, at best. At worst, it can come across as disrespectful, or even offensive. Right now, we live in an era of bad translations. Machine translators such as Google and Bing simply don’t produce coherent content. And even small mistakes

Introduction Translation is an art. In order to practice that art, translators need more than a hunk of text to render in a new language. They also need guidance. They need context. They need to know your brand. That’s where a translation style guide comes in. The translation style guide is a tool that helps you get consistent, high-quality translations. It sets the standards for content in any language, defining the voice, tone, direction, and style that will characterize your

Keeping user experience consistent In any kind of writing, you need a consistent style, voice, and vocabulary. For example, I’m writing this blog post in a form of casual 21st century American English. If, in the midst of these labors, I did exchange one tongue for another, and commenced to write as did the people of Shakespeare’s time, it would be passing strange, forsooth. See? That’s totally confusing. And it’s the reason that a translation glossary matters: because your translators

Localization is hard—but only if you do it wrong Are you a hyperorganized multitasker with a perpetually clean inbox and an amazing memory? No? Me neither. And this makes it difficult for us to oversee a translation project using only email and a bunch of spreadsheets. What’s the issue? Basically, a spreadsheet-and-email system doesn’t respond well to the two main challenges of localization: Localization involves many stakeholders There are the engineers, who extract text for translation, prepare it for the

It’s shopping time The Christmas season doesn’t just bring a windfall for kids. It is also a joyful season for app developers. In this post, we’ll show you why and how to boost app downloads this Christmas. Yes, it’s going to be a smartphone Christmas—globally With the recent release of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus, millions of Apple fans are looking for an upgrade. Over at KGI, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicts that Apple will sell more than