The global software market is currently valued at over $456 billion and is growing across all devices. But despite significant growth, today’s applications will be rejected if they don’t meet user expectations.

Giving the product the look and feel of having been creating for a target market—no matter the language, culture or location—requires localization.

What is software localization?

Software localization is the process of adapting software to the linguistic, cultural and legal requirements of a specific locale. It requires not only software translation (e.g., translating text-based elements), but also tweaking graphics, layouts, formatting, and more—not to mention satisfying local legal requirements, data compliance, device preferences and technology trends.

Lionbridge offers a full spectrum of services, including:

Software translation
Software localization
Internationalization
Software engineering
User Acceptance testing
Localization testing
Bug fixing

We can create all necessary documentation, roadmaps and auxiliary tools for implementing software from scratch, as well as improving an existing software, using your framework for any language.

Why is software localization important to global companies?

When your software has significant network effects, meaning it provides more user value as it becomes more popular, then software localization will ensure scalability.

If you already have an audience abroad, or you're likely to get one, consider the software localization process in the early stage of application development.

According to Can’t Read, Won’t Buy – B2B from CSA Research (September 2020) 70% of users will not buy software that does not have a local version and 80% of users will not buy software without local support.

MULTIPLE PLATFORM SUPPORT

For a leading travel customer, Lionbridge translated content into 10+ languages using in-country linguistic teams with extensive domain experience. In-market on device linguistic testing was also performed by in-country professional linguistics, delivering support across multiple platforms including Android and iOS. Projects were regularly delivered within 24 to 28 hours using Lionbridge’s agile localization methodology.

ON-DEVICE TESTING

A leading global company needed to work with a language provider that could help it expand into the Indian market. It needed translation into 13 Indic languages as well as on-device testing. Lionbridge’s linguistic experts in India created glossaries and language style guides to improve the overall translation quality and increase consistency. Lionbridge performed baseline functional testing on key features of the OS and generated screenshots for in-country linguistic testing.

LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIPS

Lionbridge has been the sole localization provider to a major financial application producer for more than 12 years. To meet our customer’s requirements for quick turnaround times, we developed a follow-the-sun production model with production centers in Asian, European and US time zones. Our global team is responsible for project management, language coordination and engineering.

END-TO-END LOCALIZATION SERVICES

Lionbridge is proud to have an 8+ year relationship providing a range of services from global solution centers to 14 departments in a major technology customer including: Servers, Legal, eCommerce, Marketing, Mobile Business Group and more. We deliver technical localization, marketing localization and transcreation, app localization, content authoring, SEO and localization testing into 40+ languages.

One of the largest enterprise software providers in the world—a leader in natural language text technology—needed a partner that could help them scale their software implementation framework into multiple languages. We delivered results in 17 additional languages, in the context of 25 projects.

Read the Case Study to Learn More

TIPS FOR SOFTWARE LOCALIZATION

Avoid concatenation
Design with language in mind
Build a library of internationalized objects
Use pseudo-localization
Plan for at least 30% text expansion so keep text short
Don’t use acronyms
Don’t reuse the same text in different context
Don’t hardcode text or punctuation
Make sure to use UTF-8 encoding
Do use icons

Read our blog to learn 10 do’s and don’ts for the software localization process.

WHAT IS AGILE LOCALIZATION?

Agile localization is closely related to concept of agile software development, which emphasizes developing code in small and short but more frequent increments. This means that software is being localized as it is being created. It includes not only translation, but also internationalization (i18) and globalization (g10n) activities that help prepare the software for translation and localization.

This approach is particularly taxing for translators that often get pieces of loosely connected, out-of-context text. It also requires tight integration between development environments and code repositories like GitHub with translation and localization platforms.

The benefit is clear—live and localized software which end users can start interacting with sooner, thus providing valuable feedback early in the development cycle. It also helps to fold in software and localization testing into the development process, removing a vast number of defects early on, which results in a more mature product on a shorter timetable. Rapid turnaround times also help iterate software faster, add features more quickly and get the final product to market promptly.

What is software localization and who needs it?

For software developers, globalization means a potentially unlimited market for any new program or application. But it's not enough for a website or program to support multiple languages. It has to make sense for users in every country that it reaches. Otherwise, it's not truly global--it's just multilingual.

10 do’s and don’ts for the software localization process

Check out these 10 software localization best practices and pitfalls to be mindful of.

Localization, globalization, internationalization what’s the difference?

Localization, globalization, internationalization: These all sound like similar concepts. However, subtle distinctions set them apart, and understanding the differences is key for anyone tasked with helping a company "go global".

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WHO WE ARE

WHAT WE DO

INDUSTRIES

Software, App and Device Localization

Localization is the key to driving software sales and acceptance

We fully integrate with and localize your proprietary software, apps and devices