A few years ago, the European Commission sponsored a survey to the analysis company Gallup, showing that 90% of people prefer to browse a website in their native language, if available. More importantly, 45% of people abandon a site if it is not available in their language.
That’s right: almost half of the people who use the Internet skip over monolingual websites.
This is where localisation comes in.
Localisation (also called ‘l10n’) is the process by which a product or content is adapted to a specific local market.
If you are reading this page, you may have developed a WordPress plugin or theme in English and now want to translate and localise it into Italian.
Or your tech product is ready for launch in Italy, but you still need to make the documentation and all marketing resources available, which are all in English.
In these cases, a simple translation is not enough. You need a localisation and transcreation service, i.e. fluid Italian that can adapt to the needs of different customers and cultures.
Why is it important to have your software translated by a professional?
Translation is only the beginning of the localisation process. It serves to communicate the meaning of the original text (e.g. in English) in another language (e.g. in Italian), while the localisation process is more complex.
And it must be approached differently from a translation.
Localising a product means working on multiple aspects of its life and its presence on the market: it is not just transporting words from one language to another, and it does not just involve textual content.
An example?
Observe how Facebook’s words for the slogan on the English and Italian homepages change.
In the English version, Facebook chooses to talk about friendships (friends) and the world around you (the world around you).
The translation from English to Italian, however, is not literal; the sense remains the same, but the protagonist words change: there are no longer friendships but the people in your life.
Why this choice?
It is likely that the Facebook team did their research and determined that, outside of the English-speaking context, it was better to change the lexicon and untether the platform name from the generic context of friendships to include all the important people in life.
What about transcreation (or creative translation)?
With transcreation comes the creativity of translation.
Think of it as translation applied to marketing: I use it whenever translating from English into Italian is not enough.
Using creative translation for the content of your website or software serves to recreate the magic and persuasiveness of the original language when, for cultural and contextual reasons, it cannot be translated literally.
Think for instance of the readaptation of some advertising payoffs in different languages.
One of them? Coca-Cola’s late 1980s slogan ‘You can’t beat the feeling’, became ‘Sensazione unica’ (unique sensation) in Italian.
What can I do to improve your technical documentation and product translations?
Here is what I can do to translate your web content:
- I translate your textual content from English into Italian. I can also do the opposite and translate your software or website from Italian into English;
- I adapt the texts of your graphics for the Italian market;
- I modify the content to make it more consistent with the tastes and consumption habits of the Italian market. Together we will see if and how to adapt the design of your pages so that they correctly display the text I have translated;
- I convert content to local requirements (think for example of currencies, units of measurement or formats for dates, addresses and telephone numbers);
- When needed and applicable, I adapt content to local regulations and legal requirements.
By localising your product or service, I will ensure that your Italian audience will perceive it as having been created specifically for them!
Forget the rigidity and inevitable inconsistencies of pure translation: your product will speak a fluid, inclusive and captivating Italian.
How does the technical translation and software localisation service work?
Tell me briefly about your project, write to me via the contact form at the end of this page.
If you prefer, we can make an appointment to talk about it via Skype or Zoom.
Once I have clarified how I can help you, I will send you a free quote.
Before I start translating or localising your texts, I will ask you to fill in a short questionnaire in which you can tell me all the details of your business.
The questionnaire serves me to find out whether you have an internal glossary that I should stick to and what your communication style is.
What does the service include
- The personalised questionnaire;
- A one-hour video call to go over the answers of the questionnaire together (only if you like);
- The translation of your texts, as defined in the quote;
- The final revision.
How much do technical translations and software localisation cost?
The price of the translation and localisation service depends on several factors that are difficult to estimate in advance: you will have to help me by giving me all the necessary details.
To define the final price I consider the sector you work in, the quantity of texts to be written, their length and your urgency.
💡 If you have a valid VAT number for intra-Community transactions, all prices of my services will be exempt from VAT.
Some companies I help with my translations
