Website Localisation

What Is Website Localisation?

Website localisation involves modifying your website’s content so that it’s suitable for foreign audiences. Whilst this does entail translation of content, localisation goes way beyond translating text and also takes cultural and aesthetic factors into consideration. This is crucial in ensuring the site’s content is natural to these users.

It’s never enough to simply translate your website’s text into another language and hope that foreign users understand it. Certain analogies and cultural references in your native language may not make sense in other tongues, so doing this could risk alienating potential customers. This makes localisation a vital step, as it helps you avoid these issues by ensuring that your website speaks to those it is aimed at.

Localisation is also applicable to the aesthetic features of your site. For example, displaying times and dates in the relevant local formats will help tailor your site to foreign users. As will following the correct currency rules. In the UK, for example, the pound symbol appears before the number, whereas in Russia the rouble symbol appears after. Getting these differences right prevents confusion and enhances user experience.

Every business needs website localisation if it wants to offer the same quality of service to customers around the world. Even if you believe your target audience in other countries will speak English, localising your website will create a more intimate experience for these readers, and show them that you have taken time and put in effort for their benefit. Not doing so can leave your target audience confused or even offended by your content, harming the user experience and potentially causing you to lose out on their custom forever.

It’s also important to bear in the mind the increasing number of different languages being spoken within larger nations. The rise of Spanish speakers in America or Polish speakers in the UK are just two prominent examples of this. So, even if you’re not selling outside of your domestic market, your content still might not be suited to some of your target audience. With more than half of global consumers preferring to purchase products from sites that give them information in their own tongue, website localisation could be a no-brainer for your business.