When Coca-Cola launched its famous “Share a Coke” campaign in China, it tanked. Since most Chinese consumers don’t go by just one name, the idea of printing common first names on bottles didn’t work well. So, the brand adapted this campaign to print social labels like “Comedian” and “Fashionista.”
The localization process is not easy. You do not necessarily know all the languages you want to expand your product into, so you have to trust your teams that your international offer is solid and relevant. When localizing your software, there are a number of issues and challenges that are—unfortunately—almost inevitable. However, they are fixable. Discover in this article eight software localization issues, how they could harm your business, and what to do to overcome them.
You decided to open your product for the world to discover. Congratulations! Translation is one of the next steps to open the doors of the global marketplace. One problem: you do not have an in-house translator team, and now is neither the time nor the priority to hire them. One solution: connect with vendors who will assist you in your localization projects. One better solution: discover vendor management in loc
When I visited Norway for the first time, my biggest challenge was driving on the right-hand side of the road. Every turn, every signal, every instinct felt off. I wasn’t exactly lost. But it took way more effort than cruising through the left-side driving lanes in India. That’s exactly how people feel when they try to navigate your website or app in a language they don’t speak fluently. Sure, they can use it. But it feels clunky, disorienting, and far from intuitive.
It’s been a while since brands discovered the power of social media and started using it to promote themselves. What many of them don’t realize, though, is that their social media efforts need to be tailored to each local audience to be genuinely effective. How? Through social media localization. Imagine this: your favorite sports team just won the national championship, and you’re out in the streets celebrating with friends and fellow fans. Between cheers and selfies, you find yourself
Medical software localization reshapes every part of your app. The goal is to make it fit seamlessly into a new healthcare system, regardless of the country and language. Will the French clinicians read dosage instructions in the units they expect? Will a German regulator raise an eyebrow at an English-only consent form? Your job is to ensure everything from text and drug units to date formats, error messages, privacy wording—all work as intended and feel native to the user. Miss
Picture this: you live in Japan and you’re planning a weekend getaway in the mountains. You download that new car rental app you’ve heard so much about from your American friends — and great, it’s in Japanese! That makes things easier. But wait a second… pick-up times are in AM/PM format, and you can never remember if 12 PM is noon or midnight. When you try to enter your address, there’s no field for the prefecture! And the app insists on knowing which U.S. state issued your driver’s li
Imagine walking into a store and asking a salesperson for help. But they start talking in a language you don’t understand. You cluelessly try to gesture with your hands, speak slowly in English, and pray that they somehow understand you. But nothing works, and you walk out of the store disappointed. That’s a lot like what your potential customers feel when your business website isn’t localized for their market. They’re confused and frustrated, ultima
Localization workflow for your web and mobile apps, games and digital content.
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