Localization teams have one of the hardest jobs out there: translating and localizing their content into multiple languages. That's no easy feat, and it takes time and effort. Besides the mental effort it takes to fully localize the content, they face another challenging obstacle: friction. The friction that forms in the process can be harmful.
This leads us to a pivotal concept for successful localization processes: frictionless localization. Today, we will explore frictionless localization and some practices you and your team can adopt to achieve it and accomplish high-quality work.
🛝 The concept 🔗
When we speak about frictionless localization, we're talking about the state where the localization process becomes natural and doesn't involve any lag or delay. We're talking about the best possible workflow, with zero friction between your localization experts and their relationship with the tools they use daily.
When teams reach frictionless localization, they can translate websites, applications, and interfaces faster, speeding up the launch process for versions in other languages. This makes it easier to serve multilingual markets and grow rapidly. With tools like Localazy and the right approach to localization, you can move ahead of the competition and connect with your audiences like never before.
🤸♀️ How to reach frictionless localization? 🔗
As your localization teams adapt to new tech stacks and your company enters international markets, they need to work with new languages, cultural nuances, and localization tools. In short, they have to learn and adapt, which involves some friction.
The best way for your teams to reach frictionless localization is by spending more time and resources to train them so they can get used to the new processes faster and pick new skills with minimal effort. However, this is just a part of the friction problem. There are also other issues that need to be fixed. Here are three big ones:
You need to solve conflicts 🔗
Frictionless localization needs to be paid attention to when it comes to solving conflicts and having a culture of open communication. 💬 By nurturing collaboration and showing transparency, teams can reduce conflicts and get a smooth localization experience.
Make sure there is no tension among your teammates. Tension leads to restrained workflows and slow deliveries. This tension isn't limited to team collaboration; it can also appear between your team and the tools they are using. So, it's best always to check if they're having a smooth experience working with them.
Set reliable workflow processes 🔗
When you set workflow processes, your team will naturally become more independent and efficient. Missing or loose localization processes lead to confusion, constant errors, and repetitive delays. To bring off a state of frictionless localization, it is essential to set clear and flexible processes that guide the entire localization workflow.
🖇️ Related: 8 methodologies for productive localization teams
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle can help you refine these localization processes for faster deliveries and high-quality work. Also, one central practice to remember while doing this is to get every team member's input before deciding on a process; otherwise, you'll frustrate some.
Get into flow states for more productivity 🔗
Frictionless localization is made possible when teams get into a state of flow - a psychological state where your teammates are fully immersed in their tasks and experience hyper-focus and increased productivity. 🏄
To cultivate flow, it is crucial to balance the complexity of localization challenges and the team's skills. Discover your team's skill levels and match them with tasks that are neither easy nor challenging to help them reach maximum productivity.
🌊 Related: Flow states: the ultimate hack for productive localization workflows
🔄 How does Localazy help you automate localization? 🔗
Combining automation with this groundwork is a winning recipe for reducing friction. You can simplify your team's daily routine by automating processes that usually suck a good chunk of your time, like dealing with duplicities, pre-translating content with MT, or deleting deprecated keys.
Using Localazy's automated workflows (check some examples in action here), you can automate various tasks that would otherwise be time-consuming if done manually. This ultimately leads to higher efficiency, agility, and the ability to reach global audiences more swiftly. It is a powerful solution, especially when combined with continuous localization and a solid content delivery network, which helps you ship updates of your localized products in no time.
🪜 Tips to implement continuous l10n 🔗
Continuous localization helps teams integrate translation into their agile framework and removes all the hurdles between developers, translators, proofreaders, project managers, and other team members involved in the product development process.
Localazy makes continuous localization possible thanks to its features. These are some of the actions you can take today to start off:
- ⚙️ Create automated workflows to reduce manual work and free your developers' hands.
- 🦾 Pre-translate your content with MT or use our AI features to speed up your processes.
- ✍️ Order translation and human validation services to have your translations completed and reviewed by professionals.
- 👀 Revise translations using the suggestions provided by the ShareTM feature.
- 🧩 Integrate external tools to automate and optimize your workflow on Localazy.
⛷️ More than a simple software with MT 🔗
You don't have to worry about receiving lackluster translations or hiring a special team to localize your products. Our diverse translation features include teams of linguists and human translators who translate, proofread, and revise translations at your request. The best part is that it all comes with a clean UI for non-tech folks and a CLI for developers.
Some other features that make this process seamless for you and your team include context screenshots, glossaries, and a unified TMS with an interface that allows you to approve, review, and ship all of your digital product translations from one place. Once new localized content is approved, you can enhance user experience with one click through GitHub Actions, Bitrise Verified Steps, or our Android localization library.
📌 Final thoughts 🔗
Achieving frictionless localization can be a game-changer for your organization's international expansion efforts. To unlock the true potential of frictionless localization, consider adopting Localazy and automating your localization in a smart and lazy way. 💪
With its cutting-edge features and user-friendly interface, Localazy empowers teams to streamline their localization processes, reduce friction, and boost organizational productivity. Go global with confidence, and maintain your pace of expansion with us.
