“There is an app for that” was a quote from Steve Jobs during his keynote presentation a couple years back when Apple released the first iPhone to the world. From fulfilling our daily groceries, food delivery, until cleaning the house, we can easily find an application to serve our needs from the smart mobile device. Localizing an application for a specific market can be a challenge but keep these on your list.
Make sure that the translator can use active language. Why? This is an important key to ensure that the user can stay engaged. Using the same application of writing when translating text on an application is not possible. Using long and descriptive narrative might not work since this is not an effective technique to provide information to the users. For example, during an onboarding, there are two possible texts to ask the user to register themselves with: “Are you a new user?” or “Register and fill in your personal information!”. The first text can evoke a conversation between the user and the application and feel that they are speaking to them while the second option might not provide the same effect.
Know the local lingo can be a great asset. Understanding the users can help the translator to know the best style of language to ensure that they treat the text very carefully. Good knowledge of the cultural context can help to amplify the message on the application and improve the engagement. The hope is that the users can relate to the information provided on the application.
Localizing an application through translation requires easy-to-understand language and deep understanding of the users. Without these two, the translator will fail to imply the message that the application requires the users to execute while using it.
