Go slow to go fast: solving internationalization problems

Why trust what you’re about to read? Well, I’ve worked with a range of start-ups, scale-ups and other fast-moving organisations where I’ve done just that: help with the internationalization of their digital products.
And no — it’s not a quick translation and you’re done. Actually, I don’t even run translation rounds. It’s the things that come before and after, that are the main issues. That’s why more than one CEO has called me Ms Wolfe: there is a mess — and people need to know what to do to fix it.
But enough about me, you want to know what problems you should be solving, right? They might not be what you think they are, so here is my top three…

Yes, I know you’re probably talking to your teams about localization. But really, do yourself a favour. And be honest. Did you actually internationalize before you localized?
When you start scaling, and want to move into another market, with a different language and cultural setting what you need to spend time and budget on first, is internationalization — i.e. the readiness for localization:
“The process of planning and implementing products and services so they can be easily adapted to specific local languages and cultures”.
The single biggest issue I come across in companies is that they have started localization without having done any actual internationalization process work. This results in things like: Dev throws translation work towards marketing, marketing throws it to account management and they throw it to product. Or even worse, someone in dev has decided that machine translations will do for every part of the product (there is a time and place for it, just not everywhere). Or translations come back from an agency at a rather suboptimum quality level. Or dropdowns don’t have local options that are legally required for that locale, the overall Product Design doesn’t fit the local customs and the language doesn’t “fit” in the UI. Sounds familiar?
I can tell you that, in real life, the graph below is a much more appropriate representation of the problem you’re actually facing.

Some quick questions for you to consider:
· Who’s responsible for facilitating the internationalization process across all the teams?
· What processes do you have in place that support it?
· What does your budget look like? (more on this in the next point)
· How are you specifically working with all your teams on embracing the complexities of internationalization?
· Has your information infrastructure been updated to reflect your expanding cultural landscape (and are actual needs reflected)?
Or, in graph form, are you working on these internationalization building blocks in a cohesive way:


“What treasure?” I hear you ask. Well, go with me for a minute.
First of all, you will want to accept that translation is a proper job. Yes, your internal employees in your culturally diverse teams have a part to play as proofreaders and subject experts. But they are not language specialists; their grammar isn’t perfect (just like mine ain’t). They don’t think about the emotive issues surrounding the use of certain words compared to others, and … they do the work on top of their actual job (like — the one you hired them for) — so they will rush it, to get this translation thing off their desk.
Is that really how you want to welcome your customers? With a rush job that hasn’t received any TLC? Did you treat your base language users like that? I bet you didn’t. (i.e. those users who speak the same language as you and you’ve been successful at reaching, otherwise you wouldn’t be scaling now). So when you hear yourself say “I’m not paying that much for words” or “that’s an expensive tool” or “there is no translation budget”, just hear this instead: ”I’m not really serious about scaling to other markets”. It’s really that basic: you’re not paying for words, you’re paying for access to a market — that’s the treasure. Those “words” are the conversation you’re having with your customers.
And by the way, I have no agenda in saying the above. I don’t offer translation services; I don’t receive lead gen payments from any agencies in any fields (including translation services or localization tools). It’s just based on doing this stuff, more than once.

Ok, I’m making a huge cultural assumption here that you have seen the film Pulp fiction. If you haven’t — you can see a clip of the above scene here. You know that conversation in the car about mayonnaise on fries? As a Dutch woman who’s lived in London (UK) for over 18 years I can tell you: that local stuff, those ‘details’ — they matter.
Stop loving the sound of your own voice, and start asking locals. Properly. Not just like we’ve read an article and ‘they’ like ‘this’ and ‘not that’. But actual listening to local users (and employees if you have them there), and pivoting your approach of your digital product, user flows and tone of communication accordingly.
And no, I can’t see how you can do that without proper local input from someone who still lives there now. I have been away from The Netherlands for 18 years, I don’t think I’m the best person to tell you about The Netherlands of today. Although I do know they still do the mayonnaise thing ;-)

If you are already in a muddle i.e. you’ve localized before you internationalized, and you now have UX/Usability problems, or have received “bad” translations back from either an agency or individual translator. Or your teams are just fighting over the UX or translations. Every. Single. Day. Or your information infrastructure is proving a nightmare and feature releases are getting delayed because of it etc. (I could go on).
Before you do anything else, have a look at what you sent the translators. Did you give them the context they needed to be able to deliver a quality translation for each screen? Did you question your base language texts beforehand — in terms of local deviations that need adding or just don’t fit? Did UX get the opportunity to do a full internationalization audit (and no –it’s not just address fields). Did you write notes for translators, and included a high quality glossary for consistency? Were legal pieces of texts like T&C’s separated out and sent for proper legally certified translation?
If the answer to all or some of those is ‘no’, then I would suggest you stop trying to “fix localization”. You breathe in, and allow your teams the time to fix the underlying issues of the base product and the processes around it. Or in short: you allow them to fix internationalization. That’s what will fix your language and usability issues. When you get that base right — localization itself really is a breeze. Expanding to even more markets will now be a ‘rinse and repeat’ process with continuous learning built in; executed by a robust set of teams who know what part they play and how to play it.
So in short about going slow to go fast:
- Get your internationalization set-up right
- Have realistic budgets and team structures
- Stop talking and start listening
I promise you, that’s what’s really going to make you do that twist.
I hope this article has been helpful and has given you some things to think about. Or perhaps has shown you where you might be skipping some steps.
Want to know all the nitty-gritty on getting things done in your specific set-up? Then do say hello to me here: www.digitalgloballocal.com.
