In our global world and competition is not possible to be focused on consumers from one region who speak only one language. Every business think about enlargement.
For this reason, your webpage should be translated and available to read in different languages for different people all over the world. It means that we are facing with two definitions “internationalization”and “localization”.
Internationalization (also called globalization) is adaptation by design and develop of website or document content to languages and cultures. For example, varieties of writing direction. English is left to right, but Arabic are right to left. Some Asian languages are read vertically. Internationalization is happening automatically if your website has Unicode. Unicode is a system for "the interchange, processing, and display of the written texts of the diverse languages of the modern world." Unicode has become the top standard for identifying characters in text in nearly any language. It also supports many classical and historical texts in a number of languages.
Localization of website is adaptation to meet the particular language, cultural and other requirements of a specific target local market. It is related with customization. You need to find right words, symbols, images to adapt website to consumers. For example, icon using fingers such as an OK sign mean different things to different cultures. So why many web pages have option to switch between offered languages and choose more acceptable for website visitor. Process of localization needs both programming expertise, linguistic and cultural knowledge.
When you chose localization of website you should think about many aspects. So why it should be smart to involve native speakers and persons with knowledge about cultures. Non-professional translation looks comicand because we could not translate phrases, metaphors, words directly to the target language.
Mistakes on important details do not show respect to specific audience. Think global!
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