What Is App Localization? How Do You Create Multi-Language Mobile Apps?

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  • By Sandeep Kumar
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  • clock 8 minutes MIN READ
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  • calendar Updated: June 2, 2022

The Lord of the Rings was not a phenomenal hit because it was dubbed into multiple languages and dialects.

It’s because the series features universal themes that apply to anyone and everyone, regardless of their geography or social background.

Is this something you can say about your app?

Your application must be able to attract a vast number of individuals while delivering an amazing user experience.

When building a new application, you must consider how to scale it internationally, who it is intended for, and how to make it relevant to all intended users.

Applications should be ubiquitous and simple to use—nothing should limit them to a single language or region.

That is why app localization into what customers would surely see as a sub-par variant of the first version is not an option.

Instead, you need to design applications for native speakers in various languages, ensuring that every detail—from money to regional peculiarities, scales to user-friendliness—is tailored to them.

Multi-language mobile apps might be the key to breaking into overseas markets and engaging more customers.

In this post, we’ll go through the processes of mobile app localization, the distinction between mobile app localization and internationalization, and how to tailor your application for a certain app store’s native audience.

What Exactly Is App Localization?

Customizing every component of your application to meet the local cultures, languages, and technology demands of many of your potential consumers is known as mobile app localization.

An early stage dubbed ‘internationalization’ is required to localize everything from the application’s vocabulary and cultural allusions to its multimedia content and user experience (UX).

Internationalization is the process of separating content and other user-facing data from the programming of an application.

Hard-coded language is replaced by ‘actions’ that automatically get content in the customer’s local language.

Following the internationalization stage, numerous aspects of the application are rebuilt, convincing a customer that it is made in their native tongue. For example:

1. Customer instructions, terms of service, forum posts, text inside visuals, etc., are all examples of text.

2. Graphics, photographs, and hues with cultural and country-specific content.

3. Audi is important, whether it’s spoken speech, music, or sound effects.

4. Formats for currency, dates, and numbers.

5. Design – Will the application have to be updated for languages with different personality sets?

Of course, application localization for worldwide use is pointless unless enough users install it.

When you publish your business’s application on the app stores, it becomes accessible to everybody around the globe.

However, there is a significant difference between worldwide availability and global accessibility.

Mobile app localization is required, even if your mobile app is accessible in hundreds of languages.

Benefits of Mobile App Localization

1. Get More Downloads for Your App

Global mobile phone users are approaching four billion, and this figure is anticipated to rise in the future years.

China, India, and the United States have the highest mobile phone subscribers, each with 1.46 billion.

The Google Play Store contains more than 2.56 million apps for Android users, while the iOS App Store has more than 1.85 million.

Both are available in over 40 languages worldwide, and your software must connect with the target audience and encourage them to click the download link.

2. Provide a Personalized User Experience for Mobile App Users

According to CSA Research, mobile phone users are far more likely to connect with a brand if the application is available in their local language:

* 65% prefer stuff personalized in their regional language.

* 40% of users do not prefer to buy products offered in other languages.

* 73% desire product rating and feedback in their native tongue.

According to a Distomo survey from 2016, firms that translated their applications experienced 128% higher installs than those that didn’t.

Customers love to download and utilize applications in their local language.

Thus, updating names, captions, summaries, comments, images, tags, and other content in an app’s listing to the local language would dramatically enhance an app’s download prospects.

3. Boost Your Profits

Mobile app localization increases your application’s popularity and accessibility by allowing it to reach new market segments.

It’s worth noting that the Android and iOS app stores don’t cover every country.

Mobile app localization ensures compatibility with a wide range of screen widths and software platforms worldwide.

According to research, having a localization application will boost your app’s ranking in the play store, resulting in an estimated rise in total downloads and, as a result, more profit.

Making your app more accessible and easy to use for all new subscribers helps to increase the user base and, as a result, earnings.

How to Design a Multiple-Language Mobile Application

To compete in the technological world, businesses must have a worldwide presence.

Multiple language mobile apps that appeal to a global consumer base can boost lead generation and result in long-term relationships with customers.

Multilingual apps are more appealing and engaging, resulting in a twofold boost in brand exposure. The app would be more popular if it had more clients.

1. Developing a Mobile App Localization Strategy

Thanks to app localization, mobile apps may be translated into a range of languages.

It requires some planning, but it is a good foundation for expanding into a worldwide market.

Messages should be fine-tuned to match the unique needs of their target market, which goes beyond simple translation.

It takes into account the target audience’s language, cultural, and dialectical differences, giving a mobile app a more local feel that customers like.

Designers that produce variations of designs that appeal to their audience’s community, also known as internationalization, significantly increase their chances of interacting with them and, as a result, help build brand awareness.

The initial stage entails concentrating on the application system design. While doing so, bear the following in mind:

* Allow enough room for the customer to extend the text. Most languages, such as Sanskrit, require additional room for translation.

* Try putting the string in UTF-8 encoding since it is faster. Additionally, there are fewer chances of making mistakes.

* It is preferable to utilize their unique forms in your application when localizing, such as date, time, and currency.

* It is critical to provide substantial support for the native dialect, both in terms of the application and maintenance, like online help, for instance.

Consider providing a unique keyboard for each language.

2. Visual High-Level Design Preparation

One thing to keep in mind while drawing up your visual high-level layout is to keep everything organized. The application must entice its ideal customer base.

The app may need to adopt a new writing style, vocabulary, and grammar throughout the process of translation, causing the existing design patterns to fail.

As a result, the application’s utility may be compromised. In this instance, creating a fresh multilingual app layout is recommended.

It’s critical to remember the following while developing layouts:

1. Avoid using lines or specifying the number of characters for UI Labels.

2. The width of the UI Labels must be fixed, but not the height.

3. Set up the content flow appropriately and provide equal weight to all critical areas using symmetrical patterns and more white space.

Give your controls suitable names that are separate from the content names.

3. Process of Translation

Translating applications across multiple languages takes a lot of persistence. Multi-language mobile app localization can be done using one of two methods:

Human Translation: The application is converted into the chosen language by human translation experts. A multilingual person knowledgeable about the community’s complexities is chosen. Customers now have access to the original content.

Translation by Computer: The technique of transferring words or phrases from one dialect to another is known as machine translation. Experts have devised several approaches to allow the simultaneous translation of many languages. Machine languages allow for quicker translation of languages.

4. Translation Services Outsourcing

Mobile app localization is a demanding and time-consuming undertaking. Instead of completing the task yourself, you can hire a team of specialists to assist you.

They are skilled professionals who are fluent in the native language. Simply submit the code, and they will return the translated version to you.

Next, you or an expert must perform the mobile app localization test. Once everything is in order, it’s time to deploy your app.

5. Application Evaluation/Testing

Apps that are translated must be thoroughly tested in the same way as the original application.

You don’t want a language other than the target to appear “incongruent” within your application. Your intended audience would easily pick up the distinctions.

Final Thoughts

Multilingual apps help attract more clients and expand your limits in today’s world. A bilingual option allows businesses to connect to a worldwide audience.

Thus, companies can make a stronger impact by providing content in their customers’ local language.

Consumers prefer applications that deliver better messages in their native language.

These apps keep rivals at bay by providing an engaging layout, and customers are willing to pay for its offerings.

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