Mastering Website Localization: Key Steps for Global Expansion (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Congratulations, the business is booming. It's time to expand globally. But it's not as easy as pasting text in Google Translate and putting the new translation into your new website before calling it a day. Website localization is the method of adapting a product so it's completely embraced by your new target market. This means not just processing words but also adding cultural references, images, and sounds to appeal to the audience you're aiming for. So let's talk about the various chains that we'll need to link together to come full circle in website localization. The actual translation process is one of them but it's not the first thing you should do. There needs to be a thorough assessment of what needs to be translated in the first place. In other words, content extraction. It's only when you've identified all necessary information that you can start translation. Translation is part of the process where you can use automated tools like Google Translate to make the work faster and easier. However, translation will always require some human oversight to ensure that quality is maintained all throughout. Not just through the use of language but also the website's functionality and overall user experience. This is where another link of the chain, project management, can come in handy. Localization projects can come with large volumes of content but the job needs to be done as soon as possible. It can get complicated and chaotic real quick but with a focus on time and scheduling, localization can become easier for all the people and machines involved. The next link, localization engineering, is the most technical part of website localization. This is where your website is formatted and fixed so everything will fit correctly when the new language and other elements are added in. Your website functionality can become more or less complex depending on the localization engineering from the original language. Throughout the process of localization, accuracy of the facts and the putting of right information is paramount. So another link of the chain, source validation, is done to check that the website being created is behaving as expected. This final link that completes the chain, LQA and testing, will let you know if the business is suitable for the target market. This is where rigorous testing and quality checking comes in. Not just the quality of the content and also website functionality, user experience, and more. Once all of these links are shackled together and most of your clients requirements have already been met, all that's left is to ensure that the brand new website works perfectly from the other side. But sometimes this doesn't work out. You did the research, spent a lot of time, money, and effort, but your business doesn't click with the customers. In that case, it's always better to reflect on what can be done better and what strengths can be expanded on. Maybe looking for a localization company that has experience in both the language you're targeting and translation work in the business industry you're working in can be a solution. Good reviews and expertise can count for a lot. Maybe hire a project manager that can coordinate and oversee the human resources that's a part of your localization process. No matter what path you take in your future plans, these six links make up the entirety of the website localization chain. Good luck on your journey to become a global business powerhouse.