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The global digital marketplace has never been more accessible or more competitive. With worldwide and annual e-commerce expected to hit by the end of 2025, the opportunity for growth beyond domestic markets is enormous. Yet many companies stumble when they go global, not because their products are inferior, but because they fail to create digital experiences that resonate with local users through proper UX localisation.

Research shows that global UX localisation can , while poor localisation drives away 90% of users after just one negative experience. In today’s global marketplace, designing for international markets means creating digital experiences that feel native to each market you serve.

This guide will walk you through the strategic approach to UX localisation, from initial planning and research to implementation and optimisation. Whether you’re a UX designer crafting your first localised digital experience, a product manager evaluating internationalisation or part of a cross-functional team preparing for expansion into global markets, you’ll find actionable insights below.

Planning for global UX localisation

The most successful global products build localisation into their DNA from day one. This approach, known as internationalisation, saves time and resources and prevents costly redesigns later.

Building digital product localisation into your design process starts with asking the right questions early on. During initial wireframing and prototyping, consider how your layouts will adapt to languages that require 30% more space than English, such as German, or how your navigation will work for right-to-left reading patterns. Create flexible grid systems that can accommodate text expansion and design components that gracefully handle varying content lengths.

Cross-functional collaboration is essential for success. UX designers need to work closely with product managers to understand market priorities, with engineers to ensure technical feasibility and with localisation experts to understand cultural nuances. Establish regular check-ins between these teams and create shared documentation that captures localisation requirements alongside functional specifications.

The most effective teams create a localisation strategy brief for each market, documenting key cultural considerations, technical requirements and success metrics. This becomes the source that guides decision-making throughout the development process.

ROI frameworks and success metrics provide the business case for investing in proper UX localisation. Focus on three key areas: conversion rates (how localisation affects purchase completion), activation rates (how quickly users engage with key features) and market adoption (overall user growth in target markets). Companies such as Airbnb have seen or more when they properly localise their user experience, not just their content.

Cross-cultural UX research that travels

Understanding your global users requires research methods that go beyond traditional Western-centric approaches. Cultural context dramatically affects user behaviour, preferences and expectations.

Conducting cross-cultural UX research demands both local insight and a global perspective. Partner with local research agencies that understand cultural nuances and can conduct interviews in native languages. Use in-market surveys to understand local preferences for everything from colour psychology to payment methods. Remember that research methodologies themselves may need adaptation; for example, .

Testing localised designs with target audiences should happen throughout your design process, not just at launch. Create validation loops that include cultural reviewers, local user testing and market-specific A/B testing.

Creating global user personas requires balancing universal human needs with cultural specifics. Instead of creating entirely separate personas for each market, develop adaptive personas that highlight cultural variables. Focus on how decision-making processes, technology adoption patterns and social influences vary across your target markets.

Crucially, avoid over-generalising cultural differences. Not all users within a culture behave identically, and cultural stereotypes can lead to poor design decisions. Use data-driven research to understand actual user behaviours rather than relying on assumptions.

Design systems for localised digital experiences

A truly global UX design system anticipates linguistic and cultural variations while maintaining brand consistency. The key is building flexibility into your components without sacrificing coherence.

Building components that work in any language requires thinking beyond pixel-perfect layouts. Create text containers that expand and contract gracefully, design buttons that work with both short and long labels and establish clear hierarchy rules that work regardless of reading direction. Spotify’s design system exemplifies this approach, as their product鈥檚 components adapt seamlessly whether displaying “Play” or “Wiedergabe” without breaking the visual rhythm.

Typography and layout considerations extend far beyond choosing web-safe fonts. German text typically requires 30% more space than English, while languages such as Arabic and Hebrew read right-to-left. Design flexible grid systems that can accommodate these variations. Choose fonts that support the special characters your target languages require. Those Scandinavian letters (脝, 脴, 脜) and European diacriticals (莽, 帽, 啪) aren’t optional.

For right-to-left languages, it’s not sufficient to simply flip everything horizontally. While text and navigation reverse, elements such as phone numbers, timestamps and media controls maintain their left-to-right orientation. Progress indicators show completion from right to left, but a time display of “10:15” doesn’t become “15:10.”

Colours, imagery and cultural considerations require careful research and local input. varies dramatically 鈥� white represents mourning in Japan but purity in Western cultures, while red signifies luck in China but danger in much of the West. Work with local cultural consultants to review your colour choices and imagery selections. in market-specific mood boards and colour palettes, recognising that cross-cultural UX design includes both verbal and visual language.

Accessibility overlaps significantly with localisation strategy. Many localisation practices, including clear visual hierarchy, adequate contrast and flexible layouts, also improve accessibility. Consider localisation as part of inclusive design, ensuring your global experiences work for users with varying abilities and assistive technologies.

Technical foundations

Building global products requires infrastructure decisions that support multiple languages, cultural formats and regional requirements.

Developer handoff best practices for localised designs go beyond traditional design specs. Document how components behave in different linguistic states 鈥� what happens when text expands, how truncation rules work and where fallback content appears. Create comprehensive style guides that specify spacing rules for different script types and interaction patterns for various input methods.

String handling deserves particular attention. Avoid hardcoded text, implement proper fallback hierarchies for missing translations and ensure your designs gracefully handle edge cases such as extremely long or short translated strings. Document these rules clearly so developers can implement them consistently.

Infrastructure that supports global UX starts with character encoding. Unicode support is fundamental to displaying international content correctly. Your APIs need to handle multilingual content, and your database architecture should support multiple languages efficiently. Consider server-side rendering for SEO benefits in local markets, as search engines in different regions may have varying requirements.

Performance matters globally, but network conditions vary dramatically across markets. Implement progressive loading strategies and optimise for regions with slower internet connections. Your users on 5G networks have different expectations than users in rural areas with limited bandwidth.

QA processes for multi-market products require systematic testing across languages, devices and cultural contexts. Create testing protocols that check text rendering, layout integrity and functional behaviour across your target markets. Automated testing can catch basic issues, but cultural appropriateness and contextual accuracy require human review.

Content and copy strategy for global UX

Words shape experience, and in global products, the right words can mean the difference between conversion and abandonment. That鈥檚 why UX copy that works internationally requires strategic localisation, not just translation.

Writing UX copy that translates well starts with choosing simple, unambiguous phrasing in your source language. Avoid idioms, cultural references and business jargon that may not translate effectively. Instead of “hit the ground running”, write “get started quickly”. Replace “seamless integration” with “easy to set up”. These changes often improve clarity for native speakers, too.

Consider context in your copy. Single-word button labels such as “List” become problematic when translators don’t know whether it’s a verb (“to list items”) or a noun (“view the list”). Provide context and examples to ensure accurate translation.

Navigation and information architecture must adapt to different cultural expectations about how information should be organised and accessed. Western users expect a left-to-right, top-to-bottom information hierarchy, but this . Some cultures prioritise different types of information or prefer different navigation patterns.

Microcopy localisation essentials include all the small text that guides user actions, such as button labels, error messages, form instructions and system feedback. These elements often have the most direct impact on task completion, so they deserve special attention. Error messages, in particular, need cultural sensitivity. A direct “Error: Invalid input” might work in German but feels harsh in Japanese culture, where .

Voice and tone should balance brand consistency with cultural relevance. Your brand might be casual and conversational in English-speaking markets but needs to adopt more formal language in cultures that value hierarchy and respect. Work with local copywriters who understand both your brand values and cultural communication norms to find the right balance.

Implementation playbook: Scaling UX design for international markets

Moving from strategy to execution requires a systematic evaluation of your current product and clear processes for improvement. Use this practical framework to assess your localisation readiness and implement improvements systematically.

Evaluate your product’s localisation readiness with this comprehensive checklist:

• Languages and formats: Does your design accommodate text expansion, date/time formats, currency display and number formatting for target markets?
• User flows: Do your critical user journeys work with different cultural approaches to decision-making, form completion and payment methods?
• Accessibility: Are your localised versions accessible to users with disabilities, considering assistive technology availability in target markets?
• Research validation: Have you tested key interactions with users from your target markets?
• QA coverage:听Do you have testing processes that catch linguistic, cultural and functional issues?

Tools and platforms for global design teams should support multilingual collaboration and review processes. Figma plugins such as “Figma Localization” help manage translated content within design files. Translation Management Systems (TMS) such as Phrase or Lokalise integrate with design workflows and maintain consistency across projects. Choose tools that allow designers, developers and linguists to collaborate efficiently without losing context or introducing errors.

Launch strategies and optimisation work best with a phased approach. Start with pilot markets that represent your broader international strategy but allow for learning and iteration. Implement continuous improvement loops that capture user feedback, analyse behavioural data and refine the experience based on real-world usage.

Monitor market-specific UX metrics closely during initial rollouts. Conversion funnels often reveal cultural assumptions that weren’t apparent during design and testing. Be prepared to iterate quickly based on user behaviour and feedback.

Metrics that matter in UX localisation strategy

The most important metrics for global UX focus on user behaviour rather than just business outcomes. Track task completion rates, error rates and user satisfaction scores across markets to identify where cultural adaptation is working and where it needs improvement. Monitor support ticket themes by market 鈥� patterns often reveal UX issues that metrics alone don’t capture.

ROI measurement should account for the long-term value of market entry. While initial UX localisation investment may seem high, companies with properly localised experiences typically see sustained growth rates 2 to 3 times higher than those with poor localisation.

Turn strategy into action

UX localisation represents a fundamental shift from viewing international expansion as a scaling challenge to recognising it as a design opportunity. The most successful global digital products resonate with local users by addressing their specific needs, preferences and cultural contexts.

The framework outlined here provides a roadmap for creating digital experiences that truly cross borders. To succeed in this, it’s instrumental to work with experts in the local culture of the market you’re targeting, to know the needs of the market you’re seeking to serve and to work closely with translators, so that both the content and the user interface are reshaped in a way that localises not just words but the customer’s experience.

The opportunity is enormous, and the first step is understanding your current state 鈥� where are you starting from and where do you want to go? In addition to the readiness checklist provided above, you can get a detailed report straight to your inbox by taking five minutes to engage with our localisation maturity questionnaire.

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However, it is easy to forget that the new customers in听these听regions will require support and help in their听native听language,听especially at the beginning of the learning curve.听Truth听be told, software companies听that thrive globally听鈥� the Slacks and听HubSpots听of this听world 鈥撎齩ffer much more than just FAQs听as their product documentation.听From user manuals to knowledge听bases听and听e-learning courses, these companies produce, maintain and localise a听wide array of online and printable materials听to听help听their users听get听started,听learn new features, manage their accounts听and听preferences,听and search for topics of interest.听听

听shows that听having听a听knowledge management strategy in place听for customer service听will impact efficiency, customer satisfaction and revenue growth.听When you听combine this fact听with research from听听stating that听76% of听the听world听prefers听products听that come with听information in their own language,听the message is clear:听if you want to conquer new markets and get ahead of your competition, one of the best ways to do this is to enhance knowledge distribution and provide users with multilingual support documentation.听

What听is听support听documentation?听

• User guides听
• Help centres听听
• Manuals听
• Knowledge base articles听
• Technical documentation听
• FAQs听
• e-learning courses听
• Policies听

What users prefer听

Unless your users are extremely听tech-savvy and autodidactic,听they听turn to support documentation when听they听need to customise a specific setting听or figure听out how to use听a听complex听feature.听And just like you, they get听frustrated听if听they听can’t find the information听fast enough听or听can鈥檛 find any听help at all听in听a language they can easily understand.听听

Although听fewer听than 12% of the countries in the world听have听a听, English content dominates the web, and many companies publish their content only in English. Some of your clients or potential audience may be comfortable reading technical documentation in English, but there will always be some who feel left out.听

What languages should be catered for?听

A well-executed localisation strategy听is听driven by data, especially听when it comes to听figuring out听which languages to cover first.听Here are three听factors to take into consideration when making that听decision:听

? Existing user base

Analysing how your existing users are distributed by country is essential for determining the languages of your multilingual support documentation. If 25% of your customers are located in Sweden, Denmark and Norway, this should motivate you to publish your materials in the Scandinavian languages.听

? Support queries

Another source of data is your support queries. Where do they come from, and which topics are regularly raised by customers in specific regions? Match the topics raised with the articles in your support documentation to determine which ones to translate first into which language.听

? Website traffic

If all your support documentation is in English, you can run a听location report听in听Google Analytics听to听see听whether听your help pages are being read by people听in听non-English-speaking countries.听Shortlist听the听most听visited pages in each of your main markets听and start by translating those.听

What鈥檚 important听when听localising support documentation?听

Compared to software localisation, creating multilingual support documentation is a straightforward process. There鈥檚 no need to check that menus, buttons, dropdowns and other interactive elements work across a range of translated functions. However, the absence of an effective strategy can still have an impact, both on the cost and the speed of the product rollout.听

?️听Leverage previously translated content听

Support documents are technical and full of repetitions. A phrase like 鈥渆nter your username and password鈥� could be found hundreds of times across your help pages. If your language service provider works with translation memories, once you have translated this sentence once, you won鈥檛 need to do it again in the future.听

Translation memories help eliminate repeat costs but also reduce the volume of work for the translator, leading to faster project turnaround times. If you have never localised before, you will see the benefits of translation memories the moment you release new updates.听

? Agree on terminology听

Before you start translating support documents, make sure you and your language service provider are on the same page regarding terminology. Make a list of important words that are repeated throughout your documents and provide specific instructions on how you would like those specific terms translated. This guarantees that feature names and functionalities that are specific to your product are consistently localised across each language.听

?️ Check visual elements听

Support documentation often听complements听text with visual elements听such as听screenshots, tables, graphics听and images. As you translate your content for new languages, it’s important to check听that听those visual elements are adapted as well. Images with embedded text need to be recreated,听and tables containing听units听of听measurement听such as currency or time听must be听converted to the听new regional听format.听

? Remember regional adaptation听

Technical documents that are translated into one language, such as Spanish or Swedish, can be used in multiple geographical regions where that language is spoken. Unless you want to invest in different regional versions, support your language services partner in making the translation as neutral as possible.

The听benefits听of multilingual听support听documentation听

? Customer satisfaction听

With the complexity and spread of data in software companies, it is taking longer for both employees and customers to find the information they search for. Well-curated knowledge repositories empower your support teams and accelerate their response times when answering queries by between 20% and 80%. If you are able to launch a multilingual knowledge management strategy, it can do听wonders in听the听retention听phase of the customer journey, helping听customers across different countries and languages听convert听from听being听regular users to promoters of听your product.听听

? Support costs听

When you听take听your products into new markets, your technical support听team听can quickly become a cost听centre. Localising your support documentation is a smart alternative to having an army of support agents. , it is possible to reduce support costs by听more than听25%. Every answer that your users find in your help centre or e-learning materials means one less email or call to your support desk.听听

? Increased sales听

Potential customers are used to searching for information before making a purchase. They want to know about the features and available integrations. Multilingual support documentation can make a difference to what they find and, in turn, swing their decision.听

This article was initially published in 2021 by Gonzalo Fernandez, a former Sandberg team member, and has since been revised with updated data.

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The effects of software localisation cascade down to every aspect of development and post-development, from UX and interface design to the basic engineering and core functionality of your product, and to documentation, support and marketing. With this in mind, getting a good grounding in the repercussions that designing for different locales has for the development process is a great idea for any software developer.

We鈥檒l start by explaining some basic concepts. Then, we鈥檒l look at examples of strings from different languages and explore the requirements that different locales have. Throughout this post, we鈥檒l refer to our fictional app 鈥淪uperApp鈥� in our examples.

Locales vs language variants

It might be helpful to start by looking at what we mean by a locale. This is a term used both in the tech and translation industries to refer to a country-specific variant of a language. If you鈥檙e not from a multilingual background, you鈥檇 be forgiven for thinking that it鈥檚 sufficient to think about languages such as English, Spanish and Swedish. If we want to make SuperApp available in one of these languages, surely it鈥檚 enough to translate the strings and be done with it?

The thing is, 鈥渓anguage鈥� is a fuzzy term and nowhere near granular enough for our needs. Let鈥檚 start with English. It鈥檚 spoken natively by over 400 million people and is an official language in 55 sovereign states 鈥� a group of countries commonly referred to as the Anglosphere. The language isn鈥檛 uniform across the Anglosphere: there are dozens of national varieties, each with their own conventions for things like pronunciation, grammar and spelling standards, and even how dates and numbers are formatted.

You鈥檙e more than likely already familiar with the two biggest varieties: British English and American English. These national standards can be expressed with the en-GB and en-US, respectively. The story is similar (albeit on a much smaller scale) for languages like Swedish 颅鈥� which is an official language in both Sweden (蝉别鈥慡痴) and Finland (蝉别鈥慒滨).

But is this a locale? Well, not quite. The tags above refer to the language variant only and do not include the user鈥檚 selected region settings. Region settings affect things such as how the date and time is expressed (e.g. 鈥�31 December鈥� being written as 31/12 or 12/31, and whether to use 12- or 24-hour clock by default), how numbers are formatted (e.g. using a dot or a comma as the decimal separator) and where currency symbols are placed (e.g. before or after the amount, with or without a space). If we bundle these region settings up with the language variety, then we get our locale.

On most operating systems, users can independently select their interface language and preferred region settings, meaning they can end up with locales that don鈥檛 necessarily align with national language variants. For example, many Icelanders use their computers in English but with their region set to Iceland. This locale would be expressed as en_IS (note the use of an underscore as opposed to a hyphen).

Although it鈥檚 important to understand the distinction between language variants and locales, thankfully, the hard work of accounting for all the different date and number formats is done for you on most platforms. Apple, for example, provides a wide range of formatters that adjust things like the decimal indicator and date format automatically for the user鈥檚 selected region settings, even if those region settings don鈥檛 correspond to the interface language.

One final consideration is the aspect of hierarchy when it comes to language variants. Your app may only support one broad variety of English (en) or Spanish (es), for example, rather than country-specific variants. Even though you don鈥檛 support their local variant, most users will still prefer to use the broad international or regional variant of their language rather than a different language altogether.

Let鈥檚 take Spanish as an example. Most often, software is localised into Peninsular Spanish (the variety spoken in Spain) first. This national standard also acts as the 鈥榖road鈥� variety and would sit at the top of the hierarchy, designated es. Now that we鈥檝e made SuperApp available in Spanish, we have decided to offer a more tailored experience for our Latin American users by supporting their regional language variant, which is designated 别蝉鈥�419. Going further, we’ve decided to offer our Mexican users an even more localised experience and translate our strings into Mexican Spanish, meaning we end up with an 别蝉鈥惭齿 variant as well. If a user鈥檚 preferred variant is not available, then they can cascade back up the list until they find their closest preferred language variant.

Things to consider when writing strings for software localisation

Now that we鈥檝e got a firm grip on locales, we can take a look at the ramifications of software localisation when it comes to writing and concatenating (or segmenting) your software strings.

Numbers and dates

We鈥檝e already briefly touched on the subject, so we should probably get this out of the way early. In almost all situations, there is essentially one golden rule to follow here: never hard-code date, time or number formats.

No matter what programming language and dev environment you鈥檙e using, there are fantastic date and number formatters available 鈥� either native or added through libraries such as 鈥� that take care of all the hard work for you, returning perfectly localised dates and numbers that respect your users鈥� region settings. The best advice here is to rely solidly on these and save yourself a world of trouble.

Word endings

In English, there are relatively few word endings (inflections) to consider. The vast majority of nouns are made plural by adding an -s or -es. When it comes to most verbs, we have only two forms in the present tense, for example, sings听and sing. However, many languages have a greater variety of endings than English, and these can affect more classes of words than nouns and verbs; for example, many languages also inflect adjectives. The distribution can also vary by language: some languages, particularly Scandinavian ones, have less inflection than English on verbs but more on adjectives.

Let鈥檚 take this example from Norwegian:

顿盲谤 finns 1 rum ledigt p氓 denne prisen.
There is 1 room available at this price.

顿盲谤 finns 10 rum lediga p氓 denne prisen.
There are 10 rooms available at this price.

Here we can see that the verb finns is the same in both sentences, whereas in English we have two different forms, is and are. On the other hand, the adjective has changed: in the first sentence, it is singular (ledigt), and in the second, it is plural (lediga).

This affects how we concatenate our strings. As a general rule, it鈥檚 always best to avoid chopping strings up wherever you can. The translator will be able to offer a better-quality translation if we leave the string as intact as possible. Another reason for this, as we鈥檒l see below, is that word order can vary hugely between languages, so we should never assume that, for example, numbers will occur in the same position in the sentence.

Plurals

In the Swedish example above, we saw how word endings can change between singular and plural forms. In the Scandinavian languages and Finnish, we only have to worry about a singular and non-singular form. For other languages, the situation is slightly more complex. Let鈥檚 take an example from Icelandic:

1 b铆ll fannst 谩 镁essu ver冒i 铆 n谩grenninu.
1 car was found at this price nearby.

12 b铆lar fundust听谩 镁essu vir冒i 铆 n谩grenninu.
12 cars were found at this price nearby. 

21 b铆ll fannst听谩 镁essu vir冒i 铆 n谩grenninu.
21 cars were found at this price nearby.

The first two sentences in this example show the same singular鈥損lural distinction we鈥檝e seen so far: when the number is more than 1, there is a different ending for the word. The singular word is听b铆ll听鈥渃ar鈥�, and the plural word is b铆lar听鈥渃ars鈥�. However, Icelandic also requires numbers ending in -1 (with the exception of 11) to use the singular form, whereas other languages, including English, might have the plural form. This is because of the way the number is constructed in Icelandic: 21 expands to tuttugu og einn 鈥渢wenty and one鈥�, so we鈥檙e literally saying 鈥渢wenty and one car鈥�. This is something we need to take into consideration in our logic when deciding which form of a string to serve up in Icelandic.

In the Slavic languages, we have to consider a different, even more complex set of rules. In Polish, for example, there are three possible forms to choose from, depending on the number used:

1. A singular form (e.g. 蝉补尘辞肠丑贸诲 鈥渃补谤鈥�);
2. A form used with 2, 3 and 4, and any numbers ending in -2, -3 or -4, except for 12, 13 and 14 (samochody);
3. A form used with all other numbers (蝉补尘辞肠丑辞诲贸飞).

In JavaScript, we could express this rule as follows:

function returnPolishForm(i) {
听 var form = 'genPlural'; // Our default form
	var lastDigit = i.toString().slice(-1);
	if(i==1) {
		form = 'singular'; // If i is 1
	} else {
  	if (lastDigit >= 2 && lastDigit <=4) {
			form = 'plural'; // If i ends in -2, -3, -4 and is not 12, 13, 14
      if(i >= 12 && i <=14) {
        form = 'genPlural'; // If i is 12, 13, 14
      }
		} else {
听 听 	form = 'genPlural'; // All other numbers
听 听 }
听 }
听 return form;
}

Let鈥檚 take the example we used for Icelandic from above and apply it to Polish:

W okolicy znaleziono 1 蝉补尘辞肠丑贸诲 w tej cenie.
1 car was found at this price nearby.

W okolicy znaleziono 2 samochody w tej cenie.
2 cars were found at this price nearby.

W okolicy znaleziono 5 蝉补尘辞肠丑辞诲贸飞 w tej cenie.
5 cars were found at this price nearby.

W okolicy znaleziono 23 samochody w tej cenie.
23 cars were found at this price nearby.

W okolicy znaleziono 25 蝉补尘辞肠丑辞诲贸飞 w tej cenie.
25 cars were found at this price nearby.

Note how the word for 鈥渃ar鈥� changes with the number. To serve the correct form of the string to the user, we need to add some logic that is specific to Polish. If we don鈥檛 do this, then we鈥檒l introduce a grammatical error that, in the best case, detracts from the user鈥檚 experience and, in the worst case, creates a severe misunderstanding.

Gender

Many languages have a feature called grammatical gender. These are essentially classes of nouns that inflect in a similar way. While they may be labelled masculine, feminine or neuter, a word鈥檚 grammatical gender doesn鈥檛 always align with its natural gender. In German, for example, the word for 鈥済irl鈥�, 惭盲诲肠丑别苍, is neuter. Gender doesn鈥檛 only affect nouns, though; it has knock-on effects on adjective endings and pronouns as well.

Pronouns

In English, we use the neuter pronoun it to refer to inanimate objects. A typical string in SuperApp might look something like this:

This document is over 50 MB in size. Would you like to send it anyway?

In Icelandic, this would be:

脼别迟迟补 skjal (n.) er yfir 50 MB a冒 st忙r冒. Viltu senda 镁补冒 (n.) samt?

The word for 鈥榙ocument鈥�, skjal, is grammatically neuter (n.). As a programmer, it may be tempting to split this message into two strings, as we have two sentences. Then, if we need to swap out the first string, say, to refer to a photo instead of a document, we can just concatenate them at runtime. However, if we change 鈥榙ocument鈥� to 鈥榩hoto鈥� here, we get an ungrammatical construction in Icelandic (indicated by the asterisk):

脼别蝉蝉颈 mynd听(f.) er yfir 50 MB a冒 st忙r冒. Viltu senda *镁补冒听(n.) samt?

The problem stems from the fact that mynd is feminine (f.), but 镁补冒 is neuter. This means that the gender doesn鈥檛 agree, making this pair of sentences ungrammatical. Instead of 镁补冒, we should have the feminine pronoun hana (literally 鈥榮he鈥�), which refers back to mynd. The better solution then is to keep these sentences together in one string and allow the linguist to translate it as one block.

Adjectives

Gender also affects how we address users. In English, particularly in user interfaces, we tend to see a lot of structures like this:

Are you sure you want to delete this folder?
Are you ready to turn on your camera and microphone?

These kinds of sentences work great in English regardless of the gender and number of the people we鈥檙e addressing. However, in languages such as Spanish that mark gender on adjectives, we need to account for feminine and masculine forms in order to be inclusive:

驴贰蝉迟谩蝉 seguro/segura que quieres eliminar esta carpeta? 
驴贰蝉迟谩蝉 listo/lista para encender tu c谩mara y tu micr贸fono?

In the first example, the translator can solve the problem somewhat creatively by rephrasing it to 驴Seguro que quieres eliminar esta carpeta?, which can be translated as 鈥業s it certain that you want to delete this folder?鈥�. This construction avoids addressing the user directly with an adjective.

However, the second phrase is more challenging to rework without addressing the user directly, so here we need to include both the masculine listo and the feminine lista to avoid excluding female users.

When writing strings, it鈥檚 good practice to avoid addressing the user directly with adjectives if you can help it. While a good translator will always find a solution, sometimes it might not be as neat as in English, and it could use more characters and subsequently take up more space in the UI.听

Text expansion and contraction

As we鈥檝e seen above, translation can drastically alter the length of software strings. Some languages require more words or characters to express the same meaning as in English, whereas others may require fewer. show the number of characters in a string may increase by up to 200%, and that this is most likely to happen in the shortest strings, typically those below 10 characters. French, Italian and Spanish are all languages that see character expansions in this range. For the Nordic languages, your strings may actually contract in certain contexts as well. For example:

Another thing to note from the example phrases here is how the word order can vary from language to language. Notice how in Spanish, the verb comes at the start of the sentence, and our photo count is pushed further down. In Finnish, the album name is pushed up to the top of the sentence, directly following albumista 鈥榝rom the album鈥�.

Also, note how the punctuation varies from language to language. Each has slightly different conventions for things like speech marks. English uses 鈥� 鈥�, whereas Icelandic uses 鈥� 鈥� and French uses guillemets 芦 禄 (with a space on either side of the enclosed word).

For this reason, we should avoid syntax like this:

var string = photoCount.' '
             .photosWereDeleteFromAlbumString
             .'鈥�'.albumName.'鈥�.';

The preferred syntax would contain placeholders that the linguist is free to move at will, which you can then replace with variables at runtime:

// English
'{photoCount} photos were deleted from the album 鈥渰albumName}鈥�.'
// Finnish
'Albumista 鈥漿albumName}鈥� poistettiin听{photoCount} valokuvaa.'

Note that the above examples don鈥檛 account for singular鈥損lural distinctions 鈥� further logic is required to accommodate for those.

Context is key for software localisation

The thing that perhaps best equips a linguist to be able to translate your strings successfully is adequate context. Knowing when and where a string appears enables the translator to make a whole range of linguistic decisions and ultimately provide a correct, high-quality and consistent localisation of your software.

We recommend sticking to these guiding principles:

1. Get your product into the hands of your translators

It鈥檚 crucial to loop translators into your development process early. Even if you鈥檝e not yet delivered your first public release, it鈥檚 vital that linguists understand your app鈥檚 purpose and how your UI is laid out. Giving them access to pre-release versions means you save yourself from future headaches and endless rounds of feedback and feedback implementation.

2. Provide local context

Software strings can be as short as one word. They might consist of a single verb: 鈥榙elete鈥�, for example. But is this verb functioning as an imperative (giving a command) or just as an infinitive (the dictionary form of the verb)? In English, they look the same, but that鈥檚 not necessarily the case in other languages. To enable the translator to make the right choice, give them access to view surrounding strings even if they鈥檝e already been translated, or even better, provide screenshots. Some tools can automate this process for you.

3. Give your translators access to other translations

If you鈥檝e already localised into several languages or variants, giving translators access to those can make a world of difference, especially for closely related languages. For example, if you鈥檝e already localised into Swedish and are now adding Danish and Norwegian, giving your translators access to the Swedish strings in a translation memory will help answer a lot of questions they鈥檒l have and may even allow them to recycle some existing translation solutions.

4. Keep an open line of communication

Translators are used to surmising the meaning of a text from the context they have available, but sometimes they just don鈥檛 have the key information to hand that would allow them to choose the right translation. Be receptive to translator queries and respond with as much information and context as you can.

5. Be open to adapting your product

It鈥檚 impossible for any one developer to account for all of the nuances of every language variant they might want to localise into. Leverage the linguistic expertise of your translators to improve how you write, segment and concatenate your strings. For example, you might need to account for a different word order than you anticipated, or you might need to adapt your logic to account for different word endings. Linguists can advise you on what works and what doesn鈥檛 for their language.

We鈥檝e covered a lot of ground in this post, but there鈥檚 always more that could be said. The main thing to take away is to approach software localisation with an open mind. Be prepared to give and receive feedback, adapt and iterate as you go, and take advantage of your translators鈥� linguistic expertise to deliver the best UX in your target locale.

Many developers are rightly wary about the software localisation process. After all, you鈥檙e essentially entrusting somebody else to deliver your core user experience in a specific market. You want to make sure that you deliver on tone of voice, brand values and naturalness, not just having a grammatically correct translation. The key to this is a collaborative partnership and close, regular communication.

If you and your translators are all aligned around the same end goal of delivering a fantastic experience, and they鈥檙e armed with the tools to make that happen, you鈥檒l reap the many benefits that software localisation has to offer.

This article was initially published in 2020 by Max Naylor, a former Sandberg team member, and has since been revised with updated data.

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There鈥檚 no doubt that you want users not only to click on your app or visit your website, but also to stay for a while and respond to the products or services on offer. If this is the case, you need to have a UX that works for the user 鈥� and that means one that works differently for different people in different places. Read on to find out how you can build on the best practices in UX localisation to thrive on cultural differences and drive business your way.

The key UX localisation challenge听

Since the first 500 apps for smartphones were released by Apple鈥檚 App Store in 2008, the market for apps has exploded, with 8.9 million apps globally by 2020 and 40% of spending in the Chinese market. Another two million apps were launched in 2021 alone.

E-commerce has generally grown over the same time period: there are now more than five billion internet users world-wide, with e-commerce generating an estimated USD 5.7 trillion of revenue in 2022. Consumers spent 3.8 trillion hours on mobile devices and USD 320,000 every minute through apps in 2021, an increase of 20% on 2020.

Plan for UX success听

In the wake of this, a new discipline has emerged: User Experience (UX) design, which embraces not only the functionalities of an app or website, but how the user interacts with these and how well they succeed in making the user want to stay online and use the product or service that you are trying to sell them.听听

What is UX localisation?听听

A simple working definition of UX localisation is the adaptation of the user experience to local expectations in terms of language, culture, norms and formats, as well as offering products suited to the local audience.听听

Using best practices in UX localisation can increase your conversion rates fourfold while making users more engaged, satisfied and therefore more likely to return 鈥� this matters because 9 out of 10 users are , app or other software-based interface after a bad user experience.听听听听听听

UX design听

Localised UX works best when adaptation has been at the forefront of the UX design process. It鈥檚 easy to get caught up in the excitement of the user interface and all the wonderful functionalities for users of an app or website but forget that unless the page or app loads in three seconds, more than half of visitors will not stay to enjoy the party. What鈥檚 more, the remaining half are 62% less likely to come back and interact again if they have had a negative brand experience on your app or site.听听听

A functioning UX 鈥� and therefore a well-localised UX 鈥� is absolutely key to winning in the marketplace and ensuring that the return on your UX investment is as high as it can be.听听

Indeed, the value of UX design became apparent to the entire world in November last year, when Adobe acquired Figma 鈥� a platform for visual communication design 鈥� for USD 20 billion. 听

Key UX challenge听

Not every company has the luxury of having a localisation owner to draw up a plan and a strategy for them 鈥� at least not at the time that they need one. But in this article, you will learn about best practice and some key considerations for preparing to take the next step in localising your user experience.听

Plan for internationalisation 听

As in the old joke where a tourist asks a local for directions, and the reply is 鈥淚f I were you, I wouldn鈥檛 start from here,鈥� it鈥檚 always best to design your UX with a global perspective in mind. For example,it is much easier to structure your original UX, which is most likely in English, in a localisation-friendly way if you have built it with translation and local adaptation in mind.听听听

For start-ups with global ambitions, this is second nature, but even well-established businesses can design their apps and websites in a way that makes them localisation-friendly or tweak existing content where needs be.听

User interface elements听

The question that we need to ask is: what does the user experience upon opening your app or website? What are the menus like? How does navigation work? How are the forms laid out? In short, how do all these UI elements feel and behave for the user? Will a Spanish user find it easy to enter their surname? (In Spain people have two surnames, one from the father and another from the mother, but in everyday usage only the first one is used. However, in English speaking countries, the very last name is usually taken to be the surname).听

If users are left confused or having to navigate back and forth to guess where something should go, where it is or how it works, they are far less likely to continue using the platform.听听

Currencies and numbers听听

One element, or rather elements, to reckon with are units of currency and measurement. Whether you make sales in dollars, pounds or euros, you will need to take the target market鈥檚 preferred currency into consideration.听听

In some cases 鈥� most notably B2B sales 鈥� sticking to one international currency can make sense. But if you are selling to private consumers or small businesses, their ability to see prices in their own chosen currency !听听听

Current currency听

The two most common methods for stating local prices on apps and websites are dynamic currency conversion (DCC), which is regulated by Visa and Mastercard, and multi-currency pricing (MPC).听听

The former is linked to a foreign exchange system that automatically localises the prices, whereas the latter requires the seller to set different prices in different markets. The advantage of the latter is that it can also be used with alternative payment methods (APMs) such as iDEAL, UnionPay or Przelewy. 听

Local payment methods contribute to a customer鈥檚 confidence and the fact that you have made an effort to cater to their local requirements is unlikely to be a bad thing from their viewpoint. Stripe may be a very convenient and global tool for payment, but across Scandinavia, Klarna or Vipps are more commonly used, so it would make sense to incorporate these into your localised e-commerce pages if you are targeting those markets.

Units of measurement听听

However, being on the money with currency is not enough. Although currency is extremely important if the consumer gets as far as considering a purchase, remember that a large proportion will drop off long before this step if they are annoyed by other aspects of the UX.听听听

For a European, this could come in the form of confusion caused by the increasingly ubiquitous American date format, where the month comes before the day. Additionally, many non-British Europeans struggle with the AM/PM system 鈥� it鈥檚 not always obvious that Ante Meridiem and Post Meridiem should mean that a meeting booked in at 12am will become a midnight rendezvous rather than the intended lunch meeting.听听

鈥�Britain has everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language鈥�. 听

Americans may perfectly understand the use of Fahrenheit rather than Celsius, and gallons per mile may also be obvious to them, whereas a consumer in the Nordics or on the European continent would struggle with all of those. Add to that the fact that an American gallon is different from a British gallon, and you can see how careful you need to be to create a truly localised user experience that is not going to annoy or confuse people in different parts of the world 鈥� as Oscar Wilde said, 鈥�[Britain has] everything in common with America nowadays, except, of course, language鈥�.听

Phone numbers and addresses听听

Has it ever annoyed you when you were asked for the 鈥渮ip code鈥�? It鈥檚 not so bad if you can enter your postal code using your own country鈥檚 system, but wouldn鈥檛 it make sense if the request changed according to where you are in the world? 路听

Data encoding 鈥� ASCII vs Unicode听

A technical aspect that is worth thinking about is the difference between Unicode and ASCII, which are the two most common character encoding standards in use all over the world. Unicode can support a larger range of characters whilst ASCII can be considered a . Unicode is said to have to application developers, not least reduced time-to-market for localised products. Make sure that the character encoding you end up using will support your internationalisation strategy.听听

The font of wisdom听

Fonts can matter in unexpected ways when localising a UX design beyond being clear and pleasant to look at: some languages, for example German and in some cases the Nordic languages, use more characters than would be used for the same words in English, and using a font that takes up less space on the screen whilst remaining clear and legible can enable you to have a unified style by using the same fonts even as the interface language changes from one to the other.听听

A simple command such as the seven-character 鈥淩estart鈥� can require 13 characters and 3 words in Norwegian: 鈥�Start p氓 nytt鈥�. Will it fit, especially on a small smartphone screen? Japanese or Chinese characters may need more vertical space, so if you are moving into those markets, that must also be allowed for.听

Localised characters听

In addition, some languages use characters that do not exist in all English-based fonts. This could be the Scandinavian letters of 脝, 脴 and 脜, or the special characters used in many European languages, such as the cedilla, the little 鈥渢ail鈥� added on to the 鈥淐鈥� in 鈥渇a莽ade鈥�, or the caron, the little 鈥渉ook鈥� on top of some letters, such as 鈥溓庘��.听

The challenge when carrying out localisation is that if your original text uses a font that does not support such characters, you may end up asking us, as one client did, whether we could simply avoid those characters when translating. As these characters can often make up about a third of the letters in the target language, the answer to that question is very likely to be 鈥渘o鈥�. In the case of our client, the font had to go, but you can ensure that your font is a 鈥渨eb safe font鈥� from day one by consulting .听听

What鈥檚 left is right听

Make sure that your UX is easily adaptable for languages that read from right to left (RTL) 鈥� most notably Hebrew and Arabic, though there are also others. This can not only have ramifications for buttons and text boxes, but also for scroll-down menus that open on the 鈥渨rong鈥�, i.e. left side of the screen, meaning that the text has nowhere to go except either beyond the edge of the screen and be truncated or wrapped up so much as to be difficult and awkward to read. Creating a right-to-left design and then changing it to left-to-right is certainly not a smooth process, so it is best to consider this in the early design stages.听听听

It is, for example, . Phone numbers and time formats are not read from right to left, whereas action progression is, which means that Image A Image B becomes Image BImage A, but 10:15 is still a quarter past ten, not ten past three in the afternoon.听

Avoid hardcoded text听听

Hardcoding tends to be a quicker method for an interface to get its data, but can be compared to a knitted jumper where the data is knitted into the pattern itself. It is very difficult to replace such data with the data suitable for another country or language group, for example. Softcoding can be attached to various sections of the jumper鈥檚 pattern 鈥� or coding 鈥� and as such make it easier to change. , but if you wish to be prepared for localisation, softcoding is the safer option.听

Don鈥檛 string it out听

It is one thing to write UX for a strictly English-speaking audience (keeping in mind what we said above about the differences between the various 鈥渇lavours鈥� of English around the world), but when UX writers are designing with a global perspective in mind, they need to balance the potential user鈥檚 goals with the company鈥檚 needs. You may need to include certain information, but you should avoid overly wordy or colloquial forms of听 English , as this can make it difficult to translate into natural sounding text in other languages.听听

Words with double meaning听听

And that also goes for ambivalent phrases 鈥� English is full of business jargon that can mean different things, such as 鈥渢akeaway鈥� (fish and chips or key lessons?) or 鈥渟eamless鈥�, (woven cloth or easily integrated?). Of course, an experienced translator will be familiar with how these expressions are used differently in different settings, but shorter strings can sometimes be almost impossible to translate unless the linguist is given reference information and an explanation as to where the text will go and what it is for. For example, does it refer to an action button or the name of an item? 鈥淟ist鈥� can be the action to list something or the name of a tab containing a list.听听

Images that speak to the culture听听

It鈥檚 often claimed that a picture is worth a thousand words. In that case, let鈥檚 make sure that those words are not offensive to the people you wish to woo. Some find dogs cute, for instance, but in some cultures it鈥檚 an unclean animal. Alcohol consumption is not equally acceptable in all cultures.听听

Images need to follow the local culture of the locations that the app is being used, and one way of ensuring that images are appropriate is to consult with people from your target areas to gauge their reactions to different imagery.听听

The music and podcast app of how this can be done by using a variety of models to present the same basic message in different culturally appropriate ways.听

Colours and symbols听听

Did you know that colours can have different meanings across cultures? For example, Japanese people associate the colour white with mourning, while many Asian countries associate red with good luck. This is why Uber went to considerable length in ensuring that each country has a colour palette of its own, that had positive connotations in the respective country.听

The same level of effort must be applied for ensuring that symbols say what you think they do in the target culture 鈥� emojis, for example, can have a wide variety of meanings depending on where in the world you are.听

Products are local too听

It is one thing to localise the ways in which content is presented, or in other words how you offer your product or services. But UX localisation also requires the tailoring of the products and services you offer so that they are as suited to the needs and demands of the local people as possible. In 2017 Ctrip bought Trip.com and to offer unique services relevant to the customer base in the respective target areas.听

A plan for going global听

A good plan for going global with your software or application includes the localisation of UX design. To succeed in this, it is instrumental to work with experts in the local culture of the market you are targeting, to know the needs of the market you are seeking to serve, and to take a trans-creative approach 鈥� working closely with the translator 鈥� where both the content and the user interface are re-shaped in a way that localises not just words but the customer鈥檚 experience.听

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Product names and descriptions often require a premium marketing translation, sometimes called听trans-creation, to work well in the target language 鈥� essentially adapting or even re-writing the copy to fit the target market, rather than providing a straight-forward translation.听 For top performance, keywords should be researched and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) carried out to identify specific attributes in the target language before translating any content. This entails not so much translation, but research skill to identify the terms that people in the target markets use when searching for a particular product or service.听

One thing to remember when localising consumer reviews is that the volume听of text听tends to grow so听quickly that听human听translation might prove听impossible. Here, the judicious use of machine translation (MT) can be extremely helpful听to keep up.听Other forms of direct customer interaction where MT can be helpful are chatbots听and听frequently asked questions 鈥撎齣n these contexts,听the听MT听function could be turned on or off by browsing consumers themselves.听

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If you are someone who has periods, chances are you鈥檝e downloaded a period-tracking app, such as , to keep an eye on your symptoms throughout the month and to get an idea of when your period is due to start.

If you have children or are looking to conceive, maybe you have used or other fertility and ovulation trackers, pregnancy trackers like or a smart breast pump such as that developed by .

From apps allowing users to set up monthly tampon subscriptions to products such as period underwear 鈥� , and to name just a few 鈥� and health advice services, 鈥渇emtech鈥� is a catch-all term for products aimed towards women (and those with female anatomy).

Breaking taboos

Historically, the general public and investors alike have tended to shy away from discussing periods. Even adverts for feminine products often skirt around the very topic they are advertising for. Any talk of what actually happens during a period is avoided. These adverts will even go as far as using blue paint rather than red when demonstrating how products work.

Adverts for feminine products will often use blue paint rather than red

In the past, this has caused many of us to be ashamed of talking candidly about the symptoms we experience on a monthly basis. This in turn can lead to issues such as infertility and conditions like endometriosis to go undiagnosed.

However, the emergence of these apps in the femtech sector is changing things. We are being led to become more comfortable with our own bodies, helping us identify more easily when something is 鈥渨rong鈥�.

Not only does this empower women to better track their health, but it also proves to them that there is nothing to be ashamed of. Especially when it comes to taking care of their bodies.

Empowering female-led startups

92% of femtech startups were founded and are led by women

reported that 92% of femtech startups were founded and are led by women. This demonstrates just how valuable the perspective of women for women is in the tech world.

And even more so if we鈥檙e going to tackle some of the biggest challenges impacting us.

Compared to other sectors, this is an astounding number of female-directed companies. It helps to diversify the gender makeup of those in power in the technology industry 鈥� where decision-making power most often lies in the hands of men.

With much of this technology being developed by women for women, this is not only a win for gender equality. It also means that the people who are providing solutions are those who truly understand the health issues that women face.

Put simply, it allows the concerns that women have to be seen and addressed by someone with similar experiences.

At the forefront of telehealth

In the throes of the Covid-19 pandemic, many people were sequestered in their houses, only leaving when absolutely necessary in order to help slow the spread of the virus.

During the lockdowns, this meant that many turned to subscription services to buy their period products or order medication rather than popping to the pharmacy. Not only was this invaluable during the pandemic, but it is also a useful service for those with reduced mobility who may find it hard to get to the shops regularly.

Often, disability issues are not accounted for when it comes to technology. So, it鈥檚 promising to hear that these innovations are making a positive impact in terms of telehealth. This technology may enable those with disabilities to access a similar level of care as their able-bodied counterparts.

Obviously, there is still a long way to go. But it is encouraging that certain forms of femtech have succeeded in improving the quality of life for many who have historically been marginalised by society.

The role of language in femtech

Femtech solutions should, by their nature, have universal applications. When a company plans to provide these products to new user groups across a wider range of markets, there are many aspects to consider.

Among the most important are the reasons for them to carefully vet and translate their content:

• Women have the right to access health information in a language they understand and feel comfortable with.
• In many countries, the level of education is still not the same for women as it is for men. Therefore, any products available only in a non-native language may be a barrier to women who wish to use them.
• These are personal, often private, matters that you might only discuss with your closest circle or your doctor. So that these products are more relatable and confidence-inspiring, the right tone of voice needs to be translated.
• These are important matters that concern your health. Consequently, terminology must be translated correctly so as not to be confusing or misleading.

Language service providers (LSP) have a natural affinity with femtech companies. Many LSPs are female-led and they have a great percentage of highly educated female staff who work competently with technology. Many of our linguists and project managers are fans of such tech solutions and are keen to make them accessible to a wider audience.

All in all, this is clearly just the start when it comes to the potential growth of femtech. The femtech sector has already made so much headway, with hundreds of millions of dollars invested in femtech within just the last decade. With this, it鈥檚 safe to say that there鈥檚 a lot more to come 鈥� and likely sooner rather than later.

It will certainly be interesting to see in what ways the industry continues to adapt and develop as it expands into new niches and international markets.

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Although you鈥檝e put great effort and thought into all aspects of your product, including the software localisation phase, there are some things that might have escaped your attention and that you need to consider before releasing your creation into the world.

At Sandberg, we鈥檝e had our fair share of software localisation projects throughout the years and we鈥檝e distilled that experience into a five-step live review phase that you should consider running before hitting that launch button.

1. Check for truncated strings

Nordic languages are different from English on many levels, one of which is the length of words. Often, words in the Nordic languages tend to be longer than their English equivalents. This shouldn鈥檛 pose a problem in most cases, but in software localisation, having an awareness of this is vital.

Text expansion varies from 5鈥�10% for Norwegian, to a staggering 30鈥�40% for Finnish. This may cause strings to be truncated in the user interface (UI) and lead to misunderstandings that can, well, cause serious problems.

According to our Lead Finnish translator, Antti Lamminen, 鈥渋t鈥檚 really important to have appropriate context when translating; it鈥檚 good to know when something is supposed to fit into the space of a button!鈥�.

A simple example would be a button with the English text 鈥淪ave for later鈥� that could be correctly translated into Finnish as Tallenna my枚hemp盲盲 k盲ytt枚盲 varten:

In this case, there鈥檚 no easy way to contract the string so it fits inside the button, although this is sometimes possible. Antti suggests that 鈥渢his could be translated simply as Tallenna 鈥楽ave鈥�, because in the end, that seems to encapsulate the essence of 鈥榮ave for later鈥�; you save something so that you can use it later, right?鈥�. This might not back-translate exactly into the original English text, but it still conveys the intended meaning and fits the space limitations.

Antti also advises against setting a character limit in the target languages based on the length of the current source segment. He adds that such a limitation would require 鈥渢he translation of a string consisting of one four-letter English word to use no more than four characters. As can be expected, this sometimes creates completely silly super-abbreviations that no-one can understand sometimes not even the translator themselves, when they return to the work at a later stage.鈥�

2. Check for missing translations

In our experience, one of the most common things that can slip through the cracks and find its way into your final product is untranslated strings. This doesn鈥檛 happen that often, but the bigger and more complex your software is, the bigger the chance is that something will go unchecked. This may well go unnoticed by your users too, but is this reason enough to overlook it and skip the double-checking?

The most common things that can be missed during the translation phase are warning/error messages or strings that are not externalised. This is why detailed testing of the entire app and its functionality is needed as it is the only way to catch any 鈥榝ugitives鈥�.

Depending on how you have engineered your software, the error messages might be in a different file than other strings. This might lead to English pop-up messages and errors in the localised version of the product.

String externalisation allows you to easily localise your software without the need to rebuild your software from the ground up for each and every language you decide to expand your product into. Externalisation听can just as easily be described as听translation.听So, before you send your strings for translation you should make sure that everything that needs to be localised is externalised using the development platform you have selected to code your product on.

3. Incorrect locale settings (date formats, numbers etc.)

You鈥檙e planning a holiday? Great! But did you book your flight for Monday 5 April or Tuesday 4 May? Was it for 4:15 pm or am? What does this even mean if you are, like most of the world, using the 24-hour format?

These questions can have big impact and consequences if you don鈥檛 get the answers right. Therefore, when launching your product, or localising it to expand to new markets, you should make sure that it鈥檚 on point around-the-clock.

You should avoid hard-coding time and dates into your software product if you want to avoid serious problems. Even if you have missed this, live review can bring these issues to the fore, allowing you to easily fix them.

Different locales may use different decimal and thousand separators. For example, in Denmark and Iceland, dots are used for separating thousands, however in Finland, Norway and Sweden a space is used instead. Although they may have different preferences for separating thousands, when it comes to decimal separation the Nordic countries are on the same page and opt for the comma.

Often the user will set their language or locale at the operating system level and so you should make sure your app respects the user鈥檚 preferences when it comes to date and number formats (find out more about this topic in our guide to working with currency, number and date formats).

4. Currency and pricing

If you鈥檝e gone this far and invested time and effort in your software product, then you鈥檇 better get your i鈥檚 dotted and your t鈥檚 crossed when it comes to money. If you still haven鈥檛 done that, then consider the points mentioned in this section.

Four of the five Nordic countries use a currency that literally means 鈥榗rown鈥� 鈥� the Danish/Norwegian krone, the Swedish krona and the Icelandic 办谤贸苍补 鈥� all of them are represented by the customary symbol kr. Finland on the other hand is in line with most of the European Union and has adopted the euro, represented as 鈧�.

As is the trend in many non-English speaking European countries, the Nordics agree that the amount should precede the currency symbol and that they should be separated by a space.

It might not be too big of a problem if your product costs kr. 999 or 999 kr. in Denmark, but the same cannot be said if the price is listed as 100.000 kr. instead of the intended 100,000 kr. This is why you should be extra careful when it comes to monetary amounts and leave no stone unturned 鈥� a thorough check by a native linguist of the areas of your website or application that deal with buying or selling should prevent any future headaches.

5. Aesthetics

So far, we鈥檝e discussed the most common linguistic issues that you can encounter in the software localisation process. But often problems can鈥檛 be foreseen when localising, so let鈥檚 go through the looking glass and dive deeper into the product and all of its features.

This helps us discover any non-linguistic issues that may pop up in your software but that are still directly related to the language your software has been localised into.

As shown in the truncated strings example above, sometimes the translation can be substantially longer that the original and this can lead to an eyesore in the final product.

As Danish Translator Christina Bjerggaard explains, the translator has two options in cases like these: either to try and rephrase the translation to make it shorter or to use abbreviations: 鈥淎bbreviations are not always a good option, because there is a risk that the reader will not understand them. The problem with UI strings is that they are often rather standardised phrases, and it鈥檚 not really possible to paraphrase them, because there are no other options for conveying the same meaning.鈥�

But there is another way the problem can be solved, and it鈥檚 in your hands entirely 鈥� it comes down to using a simple wrap attribute on your buttons! This way you can overcome most UI related problems. So, by just adding wrap to your button definition you get the more aesthetically pleasing:

Another cosmetic problem concerns text layout. Having a bad layout won鈥檛 lead to misunderstandings or misinterpretations, but it detracts from your product鈥檚 aesthetics and overall user experience, and it may encourage people to stop using it.

You can improve the look of your software by keeping certain words together on the screen or across page breaks. This might require using or hyphens, or automatically inserting in just the right place to avoid awkward line or word breaks. Think about text in a newspaper column: where there isn鈥檛 sufficient space, a hyphen is used to break the word across two lines. However, the hyphen can鈥檛 just be placed anywhere in the word, there are specific rules and conventions which vary by language. Which of these is easier to read?

听听听听听听听听听听听 in-for-ma-tion听 听听听听听听听听听听听 vs. 听听听听听 i-nfo-rm-atio-n

The only way to deal with the text layout and different language鈥檚 rules related to that is through detailed review, carried out by a native speaker of the language in question.

Everything mentioned in this article, or other unforeseen issues, can be easily prevented by including a final live review in your product鈥檚 software localisation cycle. Taking the extra time to ensure your user experience is fantastic across different localisations increases overall user satisfaction and loyalty and can reduce the number of support requests you receive.

So don鈥檛 take any chances with your product and go that extra mile to achieve total user delight!

The post 5 things to check when reviewing your software translation appeared first on sa国际传媒.

The ideal user experience (UX) would be designed with all the various languages your users need in the markets you serve. But the reality is that often a company grows into new markets faster than planned or into markets they didn鈥檛 plan for originally. As your company scales, it鈥檚 easy for localisation to become an afterthought, with translations tacked onto a structure built for English and little or no attention given to the context of the text.

At Sandberg we have many years of experience partnering with online businesses and creating localised content that delivers the same high-quality experience, tone and delight in translation as in the original. In order to achieve this, there are at least three important points that must be taken into consideration.

1. Context 鈥� is your UX copy written with only English in mind?

Consider a common sentence string that appears on a website:

Your [X] is ready

The 鈥渋s鈥� at least indicates that the X here is a singular item. But 鈥測our鈥� in different languages can be your singular or plural. In some languages, like Norwegian, the form will also change depending on the grammatical gender of the item X, i.e. din or ditt (or deres, if plural). The same is true of 鈥渞eady鈥�, which could be klar or klart depending on the grammatical gender. If the 鈥渋s鈥� is not reliable and could be 2 items, then klar becomes klare, the plural form of the adjective.

We recommend that you supply whatever reference materials you have that could be relevant, such as PDFs, screenshots and links to your existing website or social media posts.

The solution to these challenges has been identified by marketing expert Nataly Kelly, Head of Localization at HubSpot. She points out that, 鈥�Whatever you can do to provide context to your linguistic talent will yield hugely better results [鈥鈥� .  In other words, context is key: we鈥檒l work very closely with you to make sure that the context in which your text appears is fully understood and will work as you intended. Where possible, we use translation tools where descriptions of the text鈥檚 function appear next to the text to be translated, and in some cases the tool may have a context view, where the translated text with examples of the X in question will show up, to see if the sentence still makes sense in the translated language.

To increase the overall quality of the translation and reduce unnecessary back-and-forth, we recommend that you supply whatever reference materials you have that could be relevant, such as PDFs, screenshots and links to your existing website or social media posts. This enables our translators to understand where the text fits into the relevant part of your user experience.

If we still need more context, we will raise a query with you to get the required information. This is always better than producing a nonsensical or potentially dangerous mistranslation.

2. Localising correctly

There are many elements to get right when you adjust a user experience to new markets.

Firstly, different businesses have different voices, i.e. styles of expressing themselves in writing. A streaming service directed at a youthful audience may have a profoundly different tone to a travel booking service for business executives. If you don鈥檛 provide detailed instructions, your carefully crafted copy may suffer changes during translation that could potentially undermine your brand and corporate image. In the best-case scenario, you鈥檒l fail to connect with your target audience. In the worst, you will upset or even offend them.

You may want to keep a playful tone, such as Hey [X]! What鈥檚 up? Our linguists rely on their experience and cultural knowledge to judge what exact words or phrases in the target language will convey the same sense of formality, without going too far for that culture. They鈥檙e able to do this in part because many of them live in the target country, and because the bulk of our translation work is performed by linguists we directly employ. Another advantage for you is that you can use the same appointed linguist 鈥� if you鈥檙e happy with a particular translator鈥檚 style and quality, you can use them again and again.

And for any business looking to make money, currency will be a consideration. Often this is already handled in your code, with currencies changing automatically according to the country of the user. But the format in which the currency appears on the page can vary depending on many factors. In English, saying for example that Price per item is 拢[XX.XX] would be quite common. This would potentially show on a website as 拢10.50. But simply replacing the 鈥溌ｂ�� for 鈥渒r.鈥� would in Scandinavia be wrong for the following reasons:

• Firstly, a space is required between the currency symbol and the value;
• Secondly, a full stop after the currency symbol is usual; and
• Thirdly, the decimal marker should be a comma, not a full stop. A correct version is therefore: 10,50.

Of course, the value would also change, and that is also a consideration.

Additionally, if a more formally correct version is required, then it is fairly common across Scandinavia to use the three-letter ISO 4217 currency code 鈥� NOK for Norway, SEK for Sweden, etc., rather than just 鈥渒r鈥�. You can find out more about how to deal with numbers, dates and times in our PDF guide.

Getting both the tone and the content correct is crucial for your UX design to work as you intended. Your users鈥� experience is about so much more than a quick transaction; it鈥檚 also about experiencing your company鈥檚 voice, style, approach, brand, message and quality 鈥� it鈥檚 your opportunity to impress. UX that doesn鈥檛 work well, or where the text appears nonsensical, is not only annoying to the potential customer, it also tells them something about your commitment to quality.

This could be something as basic as the text on a button fitting within the allocated space. A button on the English site saying, 鈥淩estart form?鈥� could, without proper context, be translated as the grammatically correct 鈥溍榥sker du 氓 starte skjemaet p氓 nytt?鈥� (Do you wish to start the form again?鈥�). The latter sentence is 28 characters longer than the first and may therefore not fit in the button layout.

This may not only look strange but in some cases, if the text gets truncated, may change the message. In the example below, the only text showing clearly is 鈥溍榥sker du 氓 starte鈥�, which means 鈥淒o you wish to start鈥�, and that is a far cry from the actual function of the button. This not only makes the user鈥檚 experience frustrating, but may lead them to ask 鈥榳ell, if the company is sloppy about this, perhaps they are sloppy about other things as well鈥�.

Apart from the functional text, product names and descriptions can also suffer if careful, professional attention is not paid to them. Recently, a well-known international business expanding their online offering to the Swedish market saw the use of automatic translation software leading to translations that were not only comically wrong but also potentially offensive. One of the less grievous examples was 鈥渢runks鈥�, in the meaning of underpants, being translated as 鈥渓uggage compartments鈥�. Such mistranslations reflect poorly not only on the host website, but also on the very well-known underwear brand.

3. Understanding your business

At Sandberg, we take the time and effort to learn about your business and to understand what you wish to achieve 鈥� not only in terms of hard sales, but also in terms of style, message and branding. Some businesses are of course digital natives 鈥� apps or online services that grew out of the ubiquity of the internet and the rise of the smartphone. Others have built or are in the process of digital transformation: building an online presence as an extension of a traditional business model. Whatever the case may be, we have the experience and expertise, as well as the established systems, to make sure that your business is properly supported as it enters new markets.

According to payments company , 30鈥�40% of online commerce is conducted on smartphones, and every year for the past five, e-commerce and m-commerce have grown 10% to 20% annually. The coronavirus outbreak has only seen this trend accelerate. During the pandemic, online sales with home delivery from an already high starting point in Norway. In 2018, the Nordic online market was across the Nordic countries, with Sweden the biggest player, and Norway and Denmark having the highest spend per customer.

It鈥檚 clear that this is a market worth tapping into, but there is competition. To win and stand out in a crowded marketplace, you need to keep UX at the core of your product strategy so customers are able to engage with you effortlessly. That means that every label for a tiny button, legend on a product, call-to-action or other instructions must work in a way that feels completely natural and intuitive for a non-English speaker.

That鈥檚 where a professional translation provider comes in. UX text translation and localisation are a core part of the services we offer. The deep and broad experience we鈥檙e able to offer you 鈥� built over many years 鈥� means that we鈥檝e developed an approach to UX localisation that works for the user and therefore for you, as you reach out to the user.

A UX-friendly localisation strategy focuses on the importance of research: both to gain a full comprehension of your business or service, but also to understand your users and the market segment you鈥檙e trying to connect with. Our translators are trained in conducting research and support one another in finding the key to unlocking a tricky translation or enabling deeper knowledge about a product or service. Our specialist translators have both the breadth and depth of expertise within such fields as medicine, law, finance, engineering, marketing and more.

Whichever provider you choose, make sure you find a partner who is sure to translate your product鈥檚 user experience into sheer user delight.

The post 3 ways to ensure that UX translates into user delight appeared first on sa国际传媒.