Think of all the apps in the market you know to be successful. From social media apps to cab booking services and so on, very few are restricted to a specific geographic location.
Expanding an app’s user base beyond a certain geographic boundary is a fairly common practice. It is a sign of success that an app has a user base that crosses geographic boundaries and serves people across the board.
How does one take an app beyond a geographic location? This question brings us to the concept of mobile app localization.
Mobile app localization – The essentials
Let’s say you have an app on the Google Play Store that you built with a free Android app maker. The app is currently available in the United States only. This is because you can only provide the key services your app offers in the States.
At some point, you’d want to take your app beyond the United States. There is a whole world out there that can utilize the services your app provides.
Your first target is the European countries. How do you proceed to make your app available in Europe?
There are two sides to this question. The first question is of availability alone. You make your app available by simply making a few changes in your app visibility on the Google Play Store. You can add the countries you want to make your new app available in. The Play Store will comply and make your app visible wherever you want.
Is making your app available to European countries enough? No. A lot of content on your app is tailored for American audiences. The same content may not get through to people in Europe. Thus, you will also need to create a different version of your app tailored to European countries.
This practice of changing app content to suit the needs of a specific country is called mobile app localization.
Apps are not the only place where localization takes place. From websites to books and even movies, localization is everywhere. For instance, the movie Ford v Ferrari was released as Le Mans ‘66 in Europe. This is because European audiences relate to this title more. In most cases, localization is a simple business decision to attract more people in a specific region.
How is mobile app localization different from internationalization?
When we speak of app localization, the discussion inadvertently turns to internationalization. Because both concepts overlap in certain key areas, many tend to use both terms interchangeab. There are however key differences between both.
Localization simply refers to the changes in content when an app is made available in a new region. App internationalization is a subject which generally arises during the development of an app. It simply refers to creating a technical structure within the app that can adapt to different locations and dialects automatically.
Companies planning on launching an app on a global scale have to take into account internationalization. It gives an app the technical resources needed to adapt to different languages and locations. Some examples of these resources include bi-directional language support, adapting to non-Latin alphabets, and location data tracking.
App localization comes into the picture much later. When can think of internationalization as the base from which an app can localize later. Localization is much more focused on giving the finishing touches to an app such as currency changes, use of colloquial language, date formats, and so on.
How does app localization take place?
The ideal question of app marketers and developers localizing an app should ask is this – what do people in the country expect from an app?
Let’s say you’re about to launch an ecommerce app you built with a WooCommerce Android app builder without coding. The country you’re targeting is India.
Firstly, Indian customers would expect to see the prices of all the products in INR, the standard Indian currency. Secondly, they would expect the ecommerce app to provide accurate results when they search for products with colloquial terms and phrases.
The list of expectations is literally endless. You’ll have to keep making changes to your app content to suit Indian audiences.
The following sections provide some more tips on localizing a mobile app for a specific location.
#1 – Don’t depend on automated translation tools
Many bilingual people use Google Translate at times to simply check the inaccuracy of the automated translation tool. While translation tools are an impressive technological achievement, they’re still not the best channel to translate long-form content.
During app localization, you’ll be tempted to use free automated tools to change the language of your existing app. This will take care of your language problems, right?
The reality is different. Translation tools are improving all the time, but they can sometimes be misleading. The best thing you can do is hire a translator to check all the content you translated on the automated tools. This will refine your content further and ensure the context is never off.
#2 – Get the language keyboard right
There will be many areas in your app where users need to type something. You need to make sure that the keyboard matches the language being used in the app. You can’t expect an app user using the Hindi version of an app to type in English.
Language keyboard support is typically handled during the app internationalization process. Developers generally add it to an app build as a dynamic feature that can be called upon whenever necessary.
Companies should make sure they add these little elements to the during app development. Otherwise, they’d need to build such features again and launch a new update just to make it available.
#3 – Study existing apps in the region from your segment
A little market research never hurt a business. Before you take your app to a different country, study the apps people are already using in your segment. This will give you an insight on the standard you need to reach.
The people using your app in a local region should not notice the fact that you’ve localized your app. Your app should in fact look like any other local app in a region. This marks the fundamental difference between good and bad app localization.
Good app localization is unnoticeable. Think about the last time you used Amazon. Did you ever think Amazon is trying hard to adapt to Indian audiences? Probably not because Amazon has succeeded in localizing its app.
Studying existing local apps provides companies a template to follow. Anyone building an app with code or even by going from WordPress to app should follow this simple tip. As long as they stick to the template, they can create an app which is fully localized and tailored for a specific region.
In conclusion
App localization plays a key role in making an app work on a global scale. However, a successful location requires a solid framework on app internationalization as well.
This piece provides a complete analysis on mobile app localization as a practice. There is also a section covering the differences between localization and internationalization. Lastly, the final sections provide some insights on practical localization tactics.
