Translation versus Localization: What’s the difference?

Introduction

When globalizing, companies must ensure their marketing content and internal global team materials are understandable for audiences and staff in foreign language markets. This activity is essential for accurate and effective communication to ensure corporate and brand value understanding, requiring investment in reliable multilingual translations.

However, in addition to understanding the need for translated content, you may have heard about localization as a leader or globalization project manager. While these terms are often mentioned together and in the same context, it’s crucial to understand the difference.

About Localization and Translation

Pure translations provide a word-for-word conversion of one language to another, ensuring adherence to grammar rules and language conventions. However, not all languages support this direct, verbatim translation approach, with more complex language structures and contexts based on cultural nuances.

So, instead, localized translations consider these cultural and contextual subtleties, refining translations to more closely match the authentic language and dialect requirements in your international target markets.

Already in use for several decades as an extension to traditional translation, localization, including sympathetic website localization solutions, transforms source content into materials that could have originated in the target market. This authenticity resonates with new audiences, building brand rapport, loyal usage, and long-term emotional equity. Consequently, as a contemporary tool, localization is considered essential by roughly three-quarters (74%) of global organizations for international revenue growth.

Hence, translation is just one element of localization services. However, translation without sensitive localization can mean launches with errors, including mistranslations that could create misunderstandings or content that’s hard to understand. In addition, at its worst, unlocalized or poorly refined content could offend or alienate potential new customers, and see the rejection of websites, products or services.

What to Expect from Localization?

Effective global language solutions rely on various inputs, including new market social research and a robust understanding of local legal obligations and regulations. In addition, it needs feedback from on-the-ground native language speakers, who have the knowledge and skills to recognize and adjust for local cultural and linguistic nuances.

In addition, relying on single departments to localize effectively rather than creating and employing an overarching communication and localization strategy can lead to inefficiencies, with secondary teams ultimately lacking what they need to cater to customer needs.

For example, a recent Zendesk analysis of 45,000 companies worldwide suggested that over 70% of customers expect businesses to collaborate and liaise with them regarding global localization. In other words, to "connect the dots" in the background to ensure communication and relevant data sharing across related departments to help fulfill consumer demands.

Beyond addressing the challenges of silos, modern localization teams must also grapple with translation quality and consistency and come to grips with automation and scalability requirements.

How to Enhance Localization?

So, instead, with their objectives and pain points in mind, AI-enabled language departments can rely on technology and automation to help operationalize localization across an organization. In addition, creating a committed department supervising and optimizing the implementation of language operations helps streamline localization processes and success.

This dedicated resource provides linguistic and technical support to all departments, helping the organization achieve consistency and quality while avoiding process duplication and inefficiencies. In addition, by relying on appropriate automation and AI-enabled technology, these teams can assist other departments in scaling and expansion.

While creating an efficient AI-enabled localization team may require a strategy reinvention and an organizational re-alignment, the higher quality localization outcomes will add superior value in the short and long term.

At the same time, while more giant corporations have the in-house resources to manage large-scale multilingual localization projects, most organizations, even with dedicated teams, struggle to complete localization commitments fully and on time. These concerns are especially valid when translating more complex languages and significant volumes.

In that case, rely on a reputable language solutions partner, such as Straker, as your dedicated language team and global localization provider.

Your Preferred Language Solutions Partner

Straker is a global strategic language partner offering expert language solutions.

Beyond extensive global translation and subject matter specialist teams, Straker utilizes advanced AI-enabled, state-of-the-art translation technology with expert-in-the-loop human localization refinement, sophisticated process automation, convenient centralized systems, and tailored customer dashboards to provide fast, accurate, and more cost-effective localization translations for more efficient globalization.

So, get in touch today to book your free global localization consultation.