LOCALIZATION
KEY TO SUCCESSFUL DIGITAL CONTENT WORLDWIDE
Customizing your websites, portals, computer programs and applications is fundamental to success in a global marketplace. Customers want you to speak their language and value their culture. Your business results therefore depend on how well you localize your content. If people can identify with your brand, you’ll win their hearts (and wallets). If not, they’ll take their business elsewhere. Every digital platform is unique, so localization calls for a range of advanced technical and language skills. Versacom has it all!
LOCALIZING TO AVOID COMPROMISING YOUR REPUTATION
Neglecting to localize even the minutest textual, visual or functional element can hurt your image. You may have a Spanish website for Mexico, but using it as-is for Argentina is not a wise move. If red features prominently in your communications, that will go over well in China, but not at all in South Africa, where the colour evokes violence and death. And while many audiences will understand a flow chart that reads from left to right, others who read from right to left won’t get it. Potential issues abound, but there is a solution for every one of them.
LOCALIZING TO AVOID COMPROMISING YOUR REPUTATION
Neglecting to localize even the minutest textual, visual or functional element can hurt your image. You may have a Spanish website for Mexico, but using it as-is for Argentina is not a wise move. If red features prominently in your communications, that will go over well in China, but not at all in South Africa, where the colour evokes violence and death. And while many audiences will understand a flow chart that reads from left to right, others who read from right to left won’t get it. Potential issues abound, but there is a solution for every one of them.
LOCALIZATION AT VERSACOM
Versacom will spare you myriad problems down the road by consulting with you from the outset to identify every element requiring localization. Our professional service includes all the strategic advice you need, along with adaptation of the textual, visual and functional elements of your websites, software, apps, portals or other digital content.
Content
This encompasses all of the textual elements customers can see in your user interface.
This may consist of messages, headers, photo captions, and text in graphs and charts, for example. It may also include wordplay, numbers, cultural references or other elements, all of which can vary not only from one language to another, but between varieties of the same language spoken in different countries.
Form
This is the full range of visual elements supporting your content: colour schemes, images (even emojis!), fonts, page or screen layout, text-to-image ratio and so on.
Each of these elements has cultural connotations and may need to be adapted to suit your audience and target market.
Function
Function means all structural, programming or other functional elements which directly affect how easily and quickly your customers can find and read your content, not to mention how much traffic you’ll get from the most popular search engines in different parts of the world.
Functional elements are the most likely to be overlooked in the localization process, which is why our initial analysis stage is so essential.
A COMPREHENSIVE PROCESS YOU CAN TRUST
Year after year, clients turn to Versacom for its professional localization process, knowing their exacting standards will be met. This process is rooted in close collaboration between your team and ours, and can be summed up in four steps. Click on each step to learn more.
SIMPLIFIED LOCALIZATION FOR WORDPRESS WEBSITES
Do you have a WordPress-based website that you need translated into one or more languages? Avoid the risk of error and save considerable time with the WordPress Multilingual Plugin (WPML). With WPML, you can submit your website content to us directly from the WordPress environment. Our language experts will localize your content and deliver a perfectly formatted version to you, also via WordPress. Versacom is a partner for WPML and can provide you with end‑to‑end professional support as soon as your website primes are ready to have the plugin installed and configured. Learn more in our blog post on WPML and its benefits.
PROVEN EXPERTISE
Our team
Here at Versacom, we have a sizeable cross-functional team dedicated solely to handling localization projects and solutions, as well as hundreds of additional language professionals who can provide invaluable assistance. Our localization team includes specialists for every key area:
- Project managers
- Cultural consultants
- Language professionals for all languages and cultures
- Technical specialists for all platforms, tools and formats
- SEO experts
Our qualifications
From our translators and adaptation experts to our IT personnel and project managers, Versacom’s localization experts all hold the relevant professional credentials for their particular areas of expertise.
In addition to having well-documented qualifications and years of experience in the field, our experts are highly efficient and professional, as many satisfied clients can attest.
EXPERTS TO SIMPLIFY THE COMPLEX
From day one, our team is there to help with any issues, including those of a more technical nature. With their initial analyses, our experts gain a thorough understanding of your project, allowing them to take a highly personalized approach that ultimately saves you time and money. They then firmly support your experts until the very last test. This end-to-end support provides a safety net against preventable oversights and miscommunications. With Versacom, you are guaranteed the professional quality that defines all of our services, and the same sound advice as well.
