With the arrival of globalization, we should no longer offer technology products in a single language only. We can no longer consider that the English language is more than enough; we must consider the localization of applications in other languages as necessary.

The advent of localization platforms opens up an opportunity for most of the world’s users to use their favorite applications in their native languages, which gives them significant added value. We assume that many people who do not speak English can easily understand the meaning of basic words in programs and applications. However, if messages become complicated, the user could completely miss the meaning for them.

At some point, we have to take into account that we want to monetize the application in some way. In order to have more satisfied users, it is important to improve language support. So what are the advantages localization can bring you?

Attract new users #️⃣

Among the strategies to increase the number of users in applications and software, localization is one of the most important ones. Localization allows the application to be understandable and available to a more diverse audience. Generally, if the application is open to the public only in a single language, it would limit the number of users to people who understand that language. Suppose you add more regional settings and multiple languages to your software. In that case, you will expand the number of potential buyers since they can use the application in their native language.

Users will understand the functions of the application correctly #️⃣

One way to get users to understand and interact with your application’s features is to have it in their local language. This will allow them to use the software and understand its features correctly. Properly handling the buttons, menus, commands, and messages will provide a pleasant experience that will allow recognition of the product’s advantages without language barriers that prevent exploiting its potential.

Strengthen the International market reach #️⃣

New markets can be reached much more easily if the software is localized and available in different languages. If you have more localized versions, it will help you get a diversity of users in the world. And in the end, localization can be reflected in increased profits, positioning the company in more privileged places in local and global markets.

Increased Competitiveness #️⃣

Today, competition can be an important factor in differentiating your brand. Offering a localized application can be a feature that will allow you to differentiate yourself from other products on the market. Reaching markets that are not yet served by your competition can mean a significant boost in positioning that will allow entering new markets and foster the attraction and retention of clients.

Increase your brand loyalty #️⃣

One way to gain the trust of your buyers is to provide them with a satisfying experience that would ensure brand loyalty. You can earn this trust based on constant communication with the user in their native language and customizing your product. A satisfied customer will show a loyal attitude to your brand and can become a true defender of your products.

Closing thoughts #️⃣

Software localization is considered an excellent way to build an international brand, strong enough to gain the trust and loyalty of potential users. The success of localization lies in researching what language your target markets speak and trying not to send the wrong message by taking into account their regional dialects and vocabulary.

Further reading #️⃣

• Mythbusters: Our users speak English, so we don’t have to localize
• Stop making these 7 software localization mistakes
• 12 Reasons Why Localazy is Better Than Spreadsheets for Localization Projects

A localization strategy is a plan for making your content available in multiple languages. This may involve creating separate versions of your website for each language or using translation and localization services such as Localazy to make your content available in multiple languages.

How to create a localization strategy? #️⃣

To create a localization strategy, you must consider the following points.

What resources do you have available #️⃣

Consider the budget, time constraints, and workforce available to execute the plan. Setting unrealistic goals will make your plan useless when you don’t have the resources needed to achieve them.

Which markets do you want to expand to #️⃣

Consider your location, logistic & service capabilities, and examine data from your analytic tools. Determine the languages you will want to translate based on the countries/markets you will be able to enter relatively easily. Consider cost/benefit ratio of the target market size against the resources needed to serve the market.

Audit your content #️⃣

Create a prioritized list of all your content and assets and decide what is absolutely necessary and what has low priority. Typically, landing pages for certain products will work better when localized, but some technical articles in the documentation could stay in English.

This also applies to the quality of the translation - high-impact translations such as landing pages and headlines should probably be handled by professional translators or even copywriters in the target language. However, some descriptions or rarely visited pieces of content could be translated with the help of batch machine translations.

What technology are you using #️⃣

Translating relatively static print documents is not the same as software localization of a product that evolves every two weeks. Consult with your tech team to determine the technical requirements necessary for efficient localization. Localazy offers over 50 integration options to help you translate all of your texts on various platforms.

Select your translation provider #️⃣

Research the market of language services providers and select your vendors. Some localization platforms, such as Localazy, combine various translation approaches and enable you to utilize machine translations and automation options. You can invite your own translators or order translations directly from the marketplace.

Create the plan #️⃣

Once you know everything that needs to be addressed, put everything in a timeframe and appoint roles and responsibilities. In the case of agile development, define at what point in the sprint translations happen and who is responsible for it. In the case of a one-time translation project, the plan should include a set of deadlines to execute everything.

The difference between agile and continuous localization is that agile localization is a process that relies on a team of localization experts to work together to get a product or website iteration localized quickly and efficiently.

Continuous localization, on the other hand, is a process that relies on automation and technology to keep a product or website continuously localized.

Localazy can help you with both approaches to the localization of your project. Localazy automates the workflows for agile teams while keeping control in their hands. On the other hand, you can use Localazy as a set-it & forget-it solution with our Continuous Localization Services.

Localazy will streamline your localization process, serve as a source of truth for your translations, and facilitate collaboration with your team and translators.

The main benefits of Localazy for product managers include:

• Less back and forth between team member tasks
• Simply defined process, clear visibility of the progress, and the definition of done
• Automated distribution and change management
• Less time spent on managing translators

Localazy offers over 50 integration options, including native plugins for Figma, Strapi & Zapier. You can also integrate your product with Localazy via API, CLI, and mobile SDKs for Android and iOS.

You can use Localazy to offload the translation work from your team completely. Thanks to the built-in Continuous Localization services, you can get your project translated by professionals and don’t have to worry about any task handling.

Learn how proactive professional translation services by Localazy work.

Consider your location, logistic & service capabilities, and examine data from your analytic tools to see from where most of your visitors come. Determine the languages you want to translate based on the countries/markets you can enter relatively quickly. Consider the cost/benefit ratio of the target market size against the resources needed to serve the market.

Suppose you focus on a specific geographic area. In that case, you may want to first localize your product into languages spoken in that region, starting with the official languages and those which are vastly adopted or mandatory. Later, you can focus on adding the languages of the foreign citizens and minorities who are likely to spend some time in the region.

You can find which languages are spoken in particular regions in the Localazy Hub.

While many digital product makers choose machine translations for the very start (and it’s a standard best practice for early stages of development where MT-pre translate is a rational decision), they often forget that machine translation alone yields subpar results.

It’s vital to focus on the highest possible quality of translation when it comes to product interfaces and product marketing. But enlisting professional translators is not a silver bullet solution. You need to be diligent and prepare a sound basis for successful localization.

These are best practices to ensure the best translation quality:

• Read how to Make your translators happy to cooperate
• Prepare your glossary
• Prepare your style guides
• Upload screenshots of your product to improve the context
• Make sure there are multiple rounds of quality assurance. You can e.g., follow the first round of translations with proofreading.
• Perform thorough localization testing

To download translations to their original locations, you can follow these steps. First, in the localazy.json configuration file and go to the download section. In this section, configure where you want to download your translations.

For a smoother process, ensure that you include the “path” parameter during the upload and use the same variable in the download section. Here’s an example of how to do it:

"upload": {
  "files": [
    {
      "pattern": "src/**/locale/en.ts",
      "lang": "inherited",
      "path": "${path}"
    }
  ]
},

"download": {
  "files": [
    {
      "output": "${path}/${lang}.ts"
    }
  ]
}

By setting the “path” parameter correctly, the translations will be downloaded to the respective locations specified in your localazy.json configuration file.

Your projects can often contain multiple keys with the same content. Be it button labels across a large-scale information system, including keys on the backend and frontend or Android vs. iOS versions of your app. There are two ways to approach duplicate keys with Localazy.

The first option to consider when you have two or more projects that contain duplicities is to use the Connected Projects feature, which is available with the Professional plan. Connected Projects can help you by translating identical keys across multiple projects. This feature is great for a portfolio of projects sharing duplicate keys or Android and iOS versions of the same app. When enabled, Localazy distributes existing translations between connected projects and automatically decides whether the translation can be used right away or needs to go through review first.

For a robust duplicity management that can work with duplicities inside one project and across multiple projects as well, we recommend the Duplicity Linking feature, available with the Business plan. With duplicity linking, you can define one key as the source for all other keys with the same or similar content. The other keys are then marked as hidden and get their translation from the linked key.

You can upload existing translations to your source files in Localazy File Management or follow the guide to uploading existing translations via the CLI.

In file management, you won’t see multiple versions of the same files in various languages.

You can imagine each Localazy file as a stack of its localized versions - with the source language on the bottom and all of the translated versions on top of it. So when you want to add a new language file, you update the stack.

If you want to upload translations in another language to Localazy, use the Upload existing translations option.

Yes, absolutely. You can have multiple files in different folders uploaded to the same project.

You can include files by their exact path or by using standard path wildcards ? (single character), * (anything except path separator), ** (anything including path separators).

You can control files you want to upload with exclusion rules and conditions.

Example:

"upload": {
    "type": "json",
    "files": "modules/**/en.json"
  }
 
}

The above configuration will scan for files named en.json in all subfolders of the modules folder.

The configuration process centers around the localazy.json file in your project root.

An example configuration includes:

{
    "writeKey": "your-write-key",
    "readKey": "your-read-key",
    "upload": {
        "type": "json",
        "files": {
            "pattern": "src/**/locales/*.json",
            "path": "${path}",
            "file": "${file}"
        }
    },
    "download": {
        "files": "src/locales/${lang}/${file}"
    }
}

The configuration supports variables, conditions, transformations, and format-specific features. You can also include group definitions for organizing different sets of files and rules for handling special cases.

There are two main approaches to structuring translations in a front-end project:

Centralized Approach #️⃣

All translations are stored in one location:

my-app/
└── src/
    └── assets/
        └── locale/
            ├── en.json
            └── es.json

Pros:

• Simple to set up
• Easy to find all translations in one place

Cons:

• Can become unwieldy in larger applications
• All translations load at once (potentially impacting performance)

Component-Based Approach #️⃣

Translations are distributed alongside their components:

my-app/
└── src/
    └── modules/
        ├── feature-a/
        │   └── locale/
        │       ├── en.json
        │       └── es.json
        └── feature-b/
            └── locale/
                ├── en.json
                └── es.json

Pros:

• Better organization in large applications
• Works well with lazy loading
• Teams can own their translations

Cons:

• More complex setup
• Requires additional configuration

For most applications, especially as they grow, the component-based approach offers better maintainability and scalability. However, for smaller applications, the centralized approach might be simpler to start with.

Localazy shows you the path to the original file, so you know what module you are translating.

Choose based on your project size and team structure, with the understanding that you can migrate between approaches as your needs evolve.