Website Localisation Services by GWS Media, Bristol
A well-translated website that lacks cultural sensitivity isn't going to be great for business.
Localisation is about properly adapting your website to a local audience
Localisation is the cornerstone of a global business strategy
A successful localisation strategy should be part of your multilingual web build
Culturally-targeted websites perform better than bland ‘international’ ones
You should localise your website to your target market in all countries and regions where you trade or have a presence.
A comprehensive localisation strategy is needed to ensure that the right brand message is being pushed out through all your websites, whether local, global or regional.
You will need to consider culture, expectations, behaviour, branding and language to make sure your website isn't turning users off.
In addition to commissioning translations into the languages you need, GWS will undertake research on behalf of your business to optimise cultural localisation.
Reaching the right global audience
Localisation is about finding out what your global audience want to hear and giving them a website that does just that. A properly localised website will be more competitive in a local marketplace and won't feel out of place when compared with national competitors.
- You will need to consider how users act online, taking into account the complexity of the global marketplace
- You want people to feel like you understand the local community, and aren't just another faceless global brand
Culturally sensitive design & language
A website designed for a global audience takes into account different cultural conventions and sensibilities.
- Visual imagery and sales copy should be adjusted to make sure they resonate with locals
- Around the world, some colours and numbers are associated with bad luck or are seen as ill omens
- Without a properly localised website, you may be inadvertedly alienating your target market
Languages for Localisation
There are many different languages spoken around the world, any number of which may be appropriate for your business to target, depending on the particular needs of your market:
- Germanic languages (English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Afrikaans, Low Saxon, Danish, Norwegian, Yiddish, Scots, Limburgish, Frisian, Luxembourgish, Icelandic, Faroese)
- Romance languages (Spanish, Portugese, French, Italian, Romanian, Catalan, Galician, Romansh, Venetian, Corsican, Sicilian, Occitan, Mirandese, Asturian, Aragonese, Ladino, Gascon, Piedmontese, Ligurian, Lombard, Emilian-Romagnol, Istriot, Sassarese, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Aromanian)
- Celtic languages (Welsh, Irish, Breton, Scottish Gaelic, Cornish)
- Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian)
- Slavic languages (Belarusian, Czech, Polish, Slovak, Russian, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, Slovene, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, Kashubian and Rusyn)
- Uralic languages (Estonian, Finnish and Hungarian)
- Iranian languages (Persian, Pashto, Kurdish, Balochi, Ossetian)
- Turkic languages (Turkish, Azerbaijani, Gagauz, Crimean Tatar, Tatar, Kazakh, Karaim, Krymchak, Kumyk and Chuvash)
- Other European languages (Albanian, Armenian, Greek, Romani, Basque, Georgian, Svan, Mingrelian, Laz)
- Semitic languages (Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya, Hebrew, Aramaic, Maltese, and Cypriot Maronite Arabic)
- Other Afroasiatic languages (Hausa, Oromo, Amharic, Somali)
- Indo-Aryan languages (Hindustani, Bengali, Sindhi, Punjabi, Marathi, Gujarati, Rajasthani, Bhojpuri, Awadhi, Maithili, Odia, Braj Bhasha, Sariki, Chhattishgarhi, Nepali, Sinhala, Assamese, Haryanvi, Kannauji, Dogri, Bundeli, Garhwali, and Kumaoni)
- North Caucasian languages
- Mongolic languages
- Sino-Tibetan languages (Mandarin Chinese, Wu Chinese, Cantonese, Burmese, and Tibetic languages)
- Dravidian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam)
- Niger-Congo languages (Swahili, Yoruba, Igbo, Fula, Shona, Zulu)
- Austronesian languages (Malay, Javanese, Filipino and others)
- Austroasiatic languages (Vietnamese, Khmer, Khasi, Santali, Mundari, Wa)
- Other major Eastern languages (Japanese, Korean).
Consistency and adaptability in your brand messaging
- Try to develop a brand message that is strong enough to resonate across cultures
- Remove references to local knowledge if they aren't going to be understood internationally or can't be explained
- Think about how your product or service intersects with universal concerns
- Your brand messaging and voice need to be consistent across different languages