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Going Global: Localization and Translation for Startups

Updated: Jul 18

Early-stage startups are most likely to targeting customers in their own country or region. As they grow, however, most startups start looking to expand internationally. To do that businesses have to localize their website, promotional materials, and event their sales platform.


Translation and Localization Tips for Startups

One of the Golden Rules of commerce says: buy in your own language, and sell in the language of your customer. That means localization should not be taken lightly, and is not something you can do on the cheap. If you don't get it right, your company might struggle to sell its products or services in other markets, or fail entirely. And if you fail in a market early on, it’s hard to come back and succeed.


I worked as a translator for many years, helping companies in France sell their products and services to English-speaking countries, and I’ve seen many successes and many failures. In this article, I’m going to give you some translation and localization tips, so your startup can get off on the right foot in foreign markets.


What is localization

What is localization?

Localization involves translation, but it doesn't end there. You may localize a website from English to, say, German, but you may also need to localize a website if a US company is planning to launch in the UK, Canada, or Australia.


For example, “pants” does not mean the same thing in the US as it does in the UK, nor do terms like “windshield,” “potato chips,” or “biscuit.” You’ll need a native speaker from your target country to check all texts, even if you’re just working in another English-speaking country.


‌Localization also involves images and logos

It’s not just your texts that need to be localized, but also many of your images and logos. You need to take into account cultural norms and customs in the target country. For example, people in the UK and some other countries drive on the left side of the road; showing a car with a right-side steering wheel is incongruous. There are countless examples of localization gone awry for even some of the biggest global brands.


Before you take your startup global, make sure you're ready for this sizeable task and follow these 6 tips for localizing your business.


6 Localization Tips for Startups Expanding Into New Markets

Localize images and logos

1. Don’t rely on Google Translate

Machine translation has come a long way in recent years, and Google Translate – or other online or software-based translation services – have made a great deal of progress. A huge corpus of texts available for analysis have allowed machine learning to match source and target texts to find what works. While Google Translate is good for the occasional email or to understand (more or less) what a website in a different language displays, it's not good enough for mission-critical copy.


2. Find a reliable translation agency or freelancer

There is no shortage of translation agencies around the world who work with freelancers to outsource translations in a multitude of language combinations. Don’t have someone in your company who happens to have studied a language for a few years in college translate your website or even important emails.


Ask people you know in your sector who they’ve used for translations, and then ask the agency for samples of their work. You may be lucky enough to find a freelancer – ideally in the country where you are planning to expand – who knows your industry well enough. If you do, cultivate that relationship because that’s a person who will be valuable for your business.


3. If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys

This is especially true when you look at translation services. If you scout out a few translators or agencies, discard the cheapest ones right away. It's a competitive market, but the ones whose prices are at the bottom of the scale generally either aren’t very good. Translation is a highly-skilled profession, and good translators get paid fairly well. You're basically looking for a Senior Editor for all your local content.


4. Check your translations

When you find a translator or translation agency to localize your material, you won’t be able to judge whether they’ve done a good job. For example, it cost HSBC $10 million to fix the damage caused by a single word in a slogan that was mistranslated in several countries. You need to find native speakers who understand the nuances of the language and can evaluate translated text.


This isn’t always easy, but if you already have some staff in the country, you can use them to check translations. If not, look on LinkedIn or other sites for a freelance writer in that country who has the language skills to judge your texts and perhaps suggest alternatives when necessary.


5. A language isn’t the same everywhere

Just as British and American English are different dialects of the same language, the same is true for Portuguese (Portugal and Brazil), French (France, Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, etc.), and even Chinese (there are more than a dozen dialects). Don’t assume that texts you have localized in a language will work in another dialect of that language; they could even backfire, as some words may be used very differently.


6. Think about your brand

The most important thing to consider is your branding. Some brand names may not work in other countries; they may be the same as common, even offensive words, or they may be hard to pronounce. For example:


  • Pepsi is Pecsi in Argentina, where the “ps” sound is hard for the locals to say.

  • Toyota was originally spelled Toyoda in English, until the brand realized that using the “t” sounded better.

  • Kentucky Fried Chicken changed its name to KFC, in order to go international (and changed that to PFK, or Poulet Frit Kentucky, in Quebec).

  • Diet Coke is Coke Light in Europe; Lays potato chips are Walkers Crisps in the UK; and

  • T. J. Maxx is T. K. Maxx in the UK.


Expanding internationally is a big step for businesses, and it’s important to do this right, paying careful attention to localization and its potential pitfalls. Working with the right professionals can help ensure your startup doesn’t fail because of a foreign language or culture you simply don’t understand.


 

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