Understanding Translation vs. Localization for Global Websites (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: As of 2018, there are over 4 billion people connected to the Internet. The Internet is a global network, and it's important to communicate with all users in a way that's easy for them to understand. When you're considering how to adapt your site for different languages, you have two major choices, translation and localization. Translation converts content from one language to another. Make sure that the language that you use is appropriate to the context and error-free. For example, let's look at the Canadian Starbucks website. Canada is a bilingual country, so the site has an English version and a French version. The text content has been translated. Some expressions are slightly different to flow naturally in the target language, but the meaning is the same. As you can see, when you translate a site, the look and feel of the site is identical. Localization is a more involved process. It goes beyond simply transcribing your content into another language. Localization makes an application or site culturally relevant and appropriate. This often includes changes to a site's visual aesthetic, to page layouts, communication style, and the way that user inputs are accepted. Here's the Starbucks website again. This time, let's look at the site presented to users accessing the site in Japan. Much more than just the language has changed. The visual style is entirely different. The page is more densely packed with information, and the layout has been organized to support a right-to-left style of reading. Translation changes the language of a site, and localization is a process of comprehensive adaptation. Consider the characteristics of the market you hope to reach when choosing to translate or localize your product. Thank you for watching.