Author: Marine

Everything goes digital in this digitalized era. Technology and the Internet have thrived at such a rapid pace that you feel like you still have a long way to catch up with it.

You might have heard about website localization services in the conversation you had with your colleagues, yet still do not have any clue what’s the term about.

So, what is website localization? It is the process when you modify the content on any website. Website localization services are provided so that the needs and preferences of users located in different geographic regions are satisfied.

Those who provide website localization services very often concentrate on the part where they need to translate web content, focusing on typesetting or desktop publishing. 

The most professional ones may also consider some other aspects of website localization services, e.g adaptation to local regulations and cultural differences, if there exist any.

1. Why do I need Website Localization Services?

You may need website localization services when, for example, you have a strong desire to expand your website to different other regions. This is not an easy process, as you need to do it  in a well-functioning way so that it adapts to the local language, and not only. Sometimes you need to adjust it to the local culture and regulations of your targeted region.

Be very careful with this. Website localization services are not only used to translate content to meet the needs of your targeted region, but also to replace any images or graphics to go well with culturally relevant examples.

In other words, website localization services are vital when it comes to the outcome of having an easily accessible website content for users possessing various native languages.

There are cases when there is no complete translation of the website content. Frequently, people end up utilizing some form of localization, namely welcoming the potential customers in their native language.

Website localization service providers make sure that the language, functionality and appearance of the website are adjusted to users belonging to foreign markets.

2. What Are the Advantages of Website Localization Services?

Indirect advantage:

– When reading the content,  users feel that the the text was written in their native language.

– There is no change in the original text in the source. The message remains the same.

Direct advantage:

– Tons of potential new customers will appear providing a long term cooperation and growth for your business.

So, you already know that website localization services enable you to refine any type of website content to  match with the corresponding language, culture and flow. The end result of this is that users enjoy their browsing experience on your website and most of them will end up taking your product or service.

The Internet is full of misinformation so, be extremely careful not to equate the two terms –  “localization” and “translation,”  and most importantly not to confuse them.

5 Key Features of Website Localization:

Here are the five key features of a website localization for you to never confuse it with something else rather than localization:

1. Culture – by saying this we mean smaller elements such as date and time formats,  local holidays ensuring that websites understand the global nuances resulting in a more user-friendly environment within your website.  It is vital that the potential customers feel themselves at home on your website.
2. Language – it is essential to make sure that the  copy goes alongside the content accurately so that the users have the feeling that the website has been customized for them specifically.
3. Local Transaction –  if there is any issue related to payment options, currencies used, addresses, etc.  This all has to be handled accurately, within a timely manner for a successful operation in the future.
4. Website Navigation – taking into account that this is a translated website, it is vital to assist users in the language selection to match their preference, only this way can they start interacting with the website at once and in an authentic way.
5. Trust – this is a must if you want to have a successful run of your website in quite different areas of the world. Trust starts but is not limited to local addresses, phone numbers, customer support in their native language selected.  Here, however, legal content or security banners are not mission-critical, yet they are still important when it comes to engaging with local users. This all is interrelated, and will ensure that the in-market marketing and sales teams possess the information required in order to serve new customers.

3. How Do I Know if I Need to Do Website Localization?

It is quite natural to have multiple questions in your head regarding the website localisation services.

Here is a checklist of questions to ask yourself, to understand if you really need a website localization services:

• • Is it worth it to invest in the experience users will get when browsing through the website. You need to be committed to your goal of creating an authentic, multilingual website with a positive user experience and feedback.
  • You will need a website team to support the international website your local one is transformed into.
  • Do I have a trustworthy partner to rely on when making a website localization?
  • Have you ever been asked by your sales team to provide a robust and complete online user experience for the existing customers?
  • Have you ever evaluated the content you currently have on your website?
  • Is it compelling and valuable enough to accelerate your international business growth?
  • Suppose you have a global audience, what is their feedback on your website?

Always put yourself in the place of your international customers and imagine the picture they get from your website. Put maximum effort to maximize the return you get from the investment you have made.

If you have answered YES to at least 3 of the questions, it means you are all set to go for website localization services.

To Conclude

A high quality website localization is exactly what you need for your website to expand globally.  You will need professional, world-class translators alongside powerful technology to serve the relevant localized content to target the right audience. Your investment has to serve its ultimate goal.

Keep in mind that a reliable partner is a must to be competitive and stand out in the market. Find a partner who can combine website translation and localization elegantly with the end result of a clear and effective content related to what your users seek.

Content creators on the Internet do massive work every day not only creating impressive video content, but also making sure it reaches out to their target audience. Living in a global community, their content can not only transcend geographic boundaries but also language capabilities.

Let’s talk about the second biggest search engine in the world and one of the top social media platforms, YouTube. If you notice, more and more videos on YouTube nowadays come with subtitles. This is how content creators reach out to more viewers globally, YouTube subtitling.

 

What are Subtitles?

Subtitles are the text version of speech or voice content in videos, translated into different languages for foreign viewers. It doesn’t incorporate non-speech sounds made in the videos. Therefore. subtitles are not as suitable for the hearing impaired for an immersive video watching experience as having captions. However, they can still understand the content of the video and may enjoy it just as much.

YouTube is not only the biggest video content platform, it also hosts a variety of video content types. You can find skits, comedies, music videos, home videos, short movies, series and many more.

With so much video content in YouTube from all around the world, people can consume whatever they like with the use of subtitles. Viewers don’t have to wonder what was being said and figure out actors’ body language anymore. Whether it is a mukbang in Japanese, makeup tutorial in Arabic, or pranks in French, we can understand and enjoy them all.

 

Why Must There Be YouTube Subtitling In Your Videos?

First of all, is there a need to add subtitles to the videos you upload on the Internet? The answer is YES! When you add subtitles to YouTube videos, your video will rank higher in search results. 

As mentioned before, people from different corners of the world can consume the content you put out, regardless of individual language and/or physical capabilities. 

And last but not least, high audience engagement is very important in social media. Viewers are aware of you and what you have to offer, your messages get sent across better and you get better reach to your audience. In other words, having more views, likes, comments, shares, mentions and subscribers help to grow your ROI.

 

How Did YouTube Subtitling Come About?

Subtitles were traditionally used for the hearing-impaired viewers. Today, captions are better suited for them as it includes non-speech sounds, giving non-verbal cues for better watching experience.

In the past decade or so, consumption of foreign video content has increased and now it has become available for foreign viewers who don’t understand the language used in the videos. 

Sometimes, due to different accents in the videos, it gets really hard to understand what the speaker says, and subtitles are hands down the best solution to this problem as well. 

 

How To Get Started With YouTube Subtitling?

YouTube subtitling has the option of transforming the submitted data into metadata, which will help make your videos appear in search results. The end result of this is that you will get more viewers on YouTube. This has a great potential to increase the number of your viewers, helping your video rank better in search results.

If you submit the actual texts of the subtitles of your videos, YouTube will immediately send the caption file to Google Translate, and this happens automatically. Your foreign audience can then easily select the Translate Captions option and enjoy your video in their preferred language.

YouTube Studio has also simplified the process of YouTube Subtitling where content creators can add captions to their video content automatically via Google’s voice detection software.

 

Drawbacks of Automated YouTube Subtitling

As a content creator, your ultimate goal is to ensure that your viewers keep watching your videos until the end. Incomplete video views will decrease or hamper your earnings from Youtube, thus, reducing your ROI.

However, due to the limitations of technology, automatic subtitling sometimes fail to correspond with the voice content of the videos. And viewers end up with badly written and/or translated subtitles. This may reduce the comprehension of the content itself and reducing viewer’s satisfaction.

Although it holds a supporting role in your video production, bad subtitling may annoy viewers, thus, causing incomplete video views, negative comments, dislikes and potential viewers to stay away from watching your content.

 

Why Engage Professional YouTube Subtitling Services?

To avoid bad subtitling and its consequences, there are many professional YouTube subtitling services available that can help you. These professional subtitling services are done by real human beings, painstakingly listening and transcribing and/or translating every word manually, thus, providing the correct grammatical, punctuational and syntactical sentences for your video content.

You may decide to go DIY and add the subtitles to your videos yourself. However, it is a very tedious job and takes a lot of your time. You could otherwise use the time for producing more interesting video content that viewers want to see. 

And with the recent announcement made by YouTube to discontinue its automated captioning functions due to underutilisation, there is a greater need for professional subtitling and captioning services.

 

What Languages Should You Have Your Youtube Subtitles In?

You don’t need to have subtitles in every language just yet. That would be a huge undertaking and definitely costly, especially for new and mid-level YouTubers. However, you can check out your audience demographics in YouTube Analytics. You can see your audience’s geographies and get subtitles for your biggest fans in respective languages.

 

To conclude

Youtube subtitling benefits video content creators by:

– Reaching global audiences

– Getting more engagements to videos

– Ranking better in search results

– Increase earnings and ROI

There are many other video content platforms apart from YouTube such as Vimeo. Streaming giants such as Netflix and Disney+, and new social media apps such as TikTok and Snapchat, are also sprouting into the market more and more. Subtitling services may be more in demand now than ever.