Language localisation
Language localisation or language localization (depending on the localisation you apply to your text) involves tailoring a language for a particular group within the speakers of that language. Localisaton works at producing language that sounds as if coming from someone raised, educated and living in the same society as the receiver of the text.
A clear example is the translation of the wording of a product so that it easily assimilates to the tastes of consumers in a particular country.
Localization also takes into account other (non-linguistic) aspects that will influence the target audience, such as imagery, colour and style, on a case-by-case basis. In this regard, translators may work together with other professionals to create a message that can be naturally and effortlessly assimilated by the target market or audience.
The so-called largest languages are often spoken in many different parts of the world and have therefore changed to suit the particular characteristics of a place. Spanish is a point in case.
Spoken in Spain, almost all of Latin America and an important part of the US, Spanish is a language for which localisation plays a paramount role. Lack of localisation results in native speakers being challenged by a text that, although written in their mother tongue, sounds foreign, distant, odd. Readers cannot identify themselves with its content and utimately, its meaning.
Localisation is mainly important in colloquial language (colloquialisms are the fastest to change when location changes) and in technology. The increase in vocabulary that technology has in recent years produced has developed differently in different regions with the same language. This is especially the case with video games and websites.
While it is obvioulsy true that two people proficient in Spanish from different countries will communicate well, it is when it comes to instruction manuals, pamphlets, brochures, press releases, that regional differences may cause communication to break.
But localisation is by no means limited to vocabulary and idioms. Throughout the different Spanish-speaking countries there are grammar and spelling differences that vary from place to place. The localisation process that follows translation also comprises adopting local currencies, selecting the usual date format for a particular place, measurement systems, addresses, phone numbers, register, sometimes also names.
In marketing localisation is key: consumers who cannot identify themselves with a product, will probably not buy it. Localisation aims at producing the necessary changes to 'touch local sensitivities', avoid conflict with cultures and customs, and penetrate the local market by merging into its needs and wants. This process may require thorough rethinking of a product, language localisation playing an important part in this rethinking. Many large companies choose to have country-specific websites, where linguistic and non-linguistic aspects have undergone a careful localisaton process that may include iconography, choice of colours and other details.
Localisation plays an important role in literature, too. Readers of a novel understand the fact that language is somewhat different if the events take place somewhere else than their street, but, does the translation suit that place? Has localisation been taken into account at the time of translation? It may be necessary to edit different editions of a book depending on where it is published. ❒
The simple statement 'If you travel by coach you save the cost of toll roads', can be localised in several ways:
'Si coges el autobús, te ahorras el coste de la carretera de peaje' (Spain)
'Si tomas el camión, te ahorras el costo de la carretera de cuota' (Mexico)
'Si tomás el colectivo, te ahorrás el costo de la ruta con peaje' (Argentina)
A clear example is the translation of the wording of a product so that it easily assimilates to the tastes of consumers in a particular country.
Localization also takes into account other (non-linguistic) aspects that will influence the target audience, such as imagery, colour and style, on a case-by-case basis. In this regard, translators may work together with other professionals to create a message that can be naturally and effortlessly assimilated by the target market or audience.
The so-called largest languages are often spoken in many different parts of the world and have therefore changed to suit the particular characteristics of a place. Spanish is a point in case.
Spoken in Spain, almost all of Latin America and an important part of the US, Spanish is a language for which localisation plays a paramount role. Lack of localisation results in native speakers being challenged by a text that, although written in their mother tongue, sounds foreign, distant, odd. Readers cannot identify themselves with its content and utimately, its meaning.
Localisation is mainly important in colloquial language (colloquialisms are the fastest to change when location changes) and in technology. The increase in vocabulary that technology has in recent years produced has developed differently in different regions with the same language. This is especially the case with video games and websites.
While it is obvioulsy true that two people proficient in Spanish from different countries will communicate well, it is when it comes to instruction manuals, pamphlets, brochures, press releases, that regional differences may cause communication to break.
But localisation is by no means limited to vocabulary and idioms. Throughout the different Spanish-speaking countries there are grammar and spelling differences that vary from place to place. The localisation process that follows translation also comprises adopting local currencies, selecting the usual date format for a particular place, measurement systems, addresses, phone numbers, register, sometimes also names.
In marketing localisation is key: consumers who cannot identify themselves with a product, will probably not buy it. Localisation aims at producing the necessary changes to 'touch local sensitivities', avoid conflict with cultures and customs, and penetrate the local market by merging into its needs and wants. This process may require thorough rethinking of a product, language localisation playing an important part in this rethinking. Many large companies choose to have country-specific websites, where linguistic and non-linguistic aspects have undergone a careful localisaton process that may include iconography, choice of colours and other details.
Localisation plays an important role in literature, too. Readers of a novel understand the fact that language is somewhat different if the events take place somewhere else than their street, but, does the translation suit that place? Has localisation been taken into account at the time of translation? It may be necessary to edit different editions of a book depending on where it is published. ❒
The simple statement 'If you travel by coach you save the cost of toll roads', can be localised in several ways:
'Si coges el autobús, te ahorras el coste de la carretera de peaje' (Spain)
'Si tomas el camión, te ahorras el costo de la carretera de cuota' (Mexico)
'Si tomás el colectivo, te ahorrás el costo de la ruta con peaje' (Argentina)