7 Reasons That Translation Management Systems Are Essential for Your App

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Patrick Yip

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

The Essential Guide to App Store Localization

Posted on December 19, 2014 by Patrick Yip

Some localization is better than no localization You may not be ready for a full-scale localization, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start to explore global markets. The key to it is Minimal Viable Localization (MVL). With MVL, you localize your app store description for different global markets, without actually translating the app itself. It’s a quick, affordable way to test the water in markets around the world, and get a sense of where your app may have major potential.

The Essentials to Game Localization in Brazil

Posted on December 12, 2014 by Patrick Yip

Why does Brazil matter to game developers? The market is big and growing fast. Last year, Brazil’s gaming industry generated $1.4 billion in revenues making it the largest gaming market in Latin America, and the fifth largest in the world. Mobile games are especially popular and they take up the largest share of the digital games market with $606 million in revenues per year. And by 2015, estimated total revenue will be $2.4 billion dollars, a 71% increase. The numbers make sense

How to Boost App Downloads this Christmas

Posted on December 8, 2014 by Patrick Yip

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

Why You Have to Localize Your Mobile Game Today

Posted on December 4, 2014 by Patrick Yip

Introduction Game localization is a bit like going to the dentist. It has to be done sooner or later, but we keep putting it off until it’s way too late. However, by then things could be messier and costlier… Why the procrastination? We can’t speak for dentistry, but with localization, we understand the process can seem daunting. You have to prepare your app for translation, wrangle translators and handle a multi-stage, unfamiliar workflow. Sometimes by the end of the day,

How Localization Helped Classcraft Reach More Than 50 Countries

Posted on November 28, 2014 by Patrick Yip

This is part of our series “Bring it to the world” which profiles websites and apps that offer localized versions to reach happy users from many parts of the world. Classcraft is a role-playing game and a teaching tool. Designed to helped teachers gamify their classrooms, the free, online program lets students earn points and gain levels by participating in class, asking questions, and arriving on time, among other good classroom habits. As one teacher has described it, “Classcraft is

Why English-Speaking Countries Want Multilingual Apps

Posted on November 21, 2014 by Patrick Yip

Let’s say you have an app that’s specifically designed for users in the USA, or the UK, or other countries where English is their primary language. Would you still need your app translated then? In an English-dominated market, translation is probably the furthest thing from your mind, so why would you need to translate an app into another language? Fair question. And the answer might be unexpected. Even if you never plan to go overseas, translation can open up important new markets

Gearing up for Web Localization? Five Must-See Presentations

Posted on November 18, 2014 by Patrick Yip

Introduction For English speakers, it’s easy to pretend as if the internet is just a giant English-language playground, ruled by American companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft. But that sense of dominance can be misleading. Only 28.6% of internet users are native English speakers. Major new markets—and major new internet companies—are growing around the world. There’s a huge demand for products that bridge language markets. The lesson here should be fairly obvious: every business with an online presence should at

Why On-Device Testing Is Essential for App Localization

Posted on November 14, 2014 by Patrick Yip

“I AM ERROR” – Nintendo’s famous localization error. Back in 1987, gamers playing the English-language version of Zelda II encountered one of the most confusing messages in gaming history. Link would walk into a room, and a speech bubble would pop up. It read “I AM ERROR.” Was this a poorly translated error message? Was it a joke? Was “Error” the name of a character? Zelda was originally in Japanese, and, as it turns out, the game’s translators had decided

Why Game Translation Continues To Strive

Posted on November 6, 2014 by Patrick Yip

Gamers are constantly seeking new games to “destroy”, I mean to complete and if it’s in the language they speak in, then that’s a plus. In the past recent years, game developers have gotten smarter and taken the smart route in finding some of the best translation services to help localize their games and making sure translation are up to scratch. You see, back in the days, Japanese game developers didn’t have the budget nor manpower to provide good translation,