Culture and Website Localization

Written by Neil Payne


Culture and Website Localization

Withrepparttar rise in ownership of computers and internet usage growing daily,repparttar 132528 internet is fast becomingrepparttar 132529 primary port of call for information, shopping and services. In addition, those computer and internet users are increasingly from non-English speaking countries. Atrepparttar 132530 end of 2002, it was estimated that 32% of internet users were non-native English speakers. This figure is constantly rising. In response, businesses have quickly become aware ofrepparttar 132531 benefits of website localization.

Website localization isrepparttar 132532 process of modifying an existing website to make it accessible, usable and culturally suitable to a target audience. Website localization is a multi-layered process needing both programming expertise and linguistic/cultural knowledge. If either is missing,repparttar 132533 chances are that a localization project will encounter problems.

Inrepparttar 132534 majority of cases it isrepparttar 132535 lack of linguistic and cultural input that lets a website localization project down. In order to give an insight intorepparttar 132536 impact culture has on website localizationrepparttar 132537 following examples depict areas in which a solid understanding ofrepparttar 132538 target culture is necessary.

Language in Website Localization

Translating a website from English into another language is not as simple as it may appear. There are numerous factors that have to be taken into consideration when translating a websites’ content. Do allrepparttar 132539 words, phrases, sayings and metaphors translate directly torepparttar 132540 target language? Would it be wise to translaterepparttar 132541 phrase “everyman for himself” in text describing a company or product if this is going to be read by a highly collectivist culture? Doesrepparttar 132542 content of your website use humour and if so willrepparttar 132543 target culture appreciate or even understand it? Native alternatives should always be sought and used in any website localization.

When translating into another language carefully considerrepparttar 132544 variants. If it is to be an Arabic website then is aimed at Tunisians or Iraqis, Egyptians or Yemenis? If you are targeting all Arabic speakers then ensure Modern Standard Arabic has been employed by your translator.

One must analyserepparttar 132545 style ofrepparttar 132546 language andrepparttar 132547 target audience. Ifrepparttar 132548 audience is foreign business personnel,repparttar 132549 vocabulary, grammar and punctuation must reflect this. Ifrepparttar 132550 audience is informal or youth orientated then a more relaxed language must used. Just as we inrepparttar 132551 UK would identifyrepparttar 132552 difference between a site using ‘posh English’ and ‘street English’, other cultures will haverepparttar 132553 same perceptions of language. Usingrepparttar 132554 wrong language forrepparttar 132555 wrong reader in your localization project will lead to a misunderstanding ofrepparttar 132556 site or company.

It is essential to assess what information is necessary to carry over intorepparttar 132557 new site. Do not assume that all information onrepparttar 132558 English site is automatically transferred over. One must evaluaterepparttar 132559 target culture and society. Is it a culture that relies on information rich writing to fully understand a concept or product or is a culture that relies more on images or one that needs little text to grasp ideas and concepts? If your English site employs a lot of technical language then consider how best to transfer these concepts withoutrepparttar 132560 use of language.

Pictures in Website Localization

Images carry many subtle cultural messages within them. These can speak volumes about your company or product. Pictures or images may have certain negative connotations that may repel viewers. This is now an area that thankfully is receiving attention in website localization.

For example, if a travel site in a Muslim populated country used pictures of scantily clad women in bikinis, disco dancing and beer drinking,repparttar 132561 chances are that they would not be very successful.

When including pictures of personnel it is wise to tailor these to whatrepparttar 132562 target audience will look positively upon. A picture ofrepparttar 132563 Director behind a desk in an office will be fine for a seniority respecting society, but for an egalitarian society it is better to showrepparttar 132564 Director mixing with staff.

Improving your website’s usability

Written by buytemplates.net


Web usability is perhapsrepparttar most important factor in any web design. This isrepparttar 132526 driving factor that keeps your visitors coming back to your website. Given below are a few points that you need to consider to increase your website’s usability.

Points to consider for improving web usability

1.) Give your visitor what he is looking for

A visitor means business; he is looking for information and will stay in your site as long as he gets what he wants. So provide only relevant information. Web logs arerepparttar 132527 best means of finding out which keyword your visitor used and for what purpose he could have visited your website.

2.) Tell your visitor what your site is all about

Often websites are crammed with information in no specific order making it hard to figure out whatrepparttar 132528 site is all about! Your site should give information about what it can offer a visitor on an instant basis. You can do this by providing relevant information onrepparttar 132529 homepage. You can also provide links like ‘about us’ or ‘about this website’ for further clarification.

3.) Provide site wide links

Site wide links are very important in any website. They allow easy navigation to all pages and reduce time consumed on browsingrepparttar 132530 pages. Your user can have instant access to what he is looking for from any webpage usingrepparttar 132531 site wide links. They also allowrepparttar 132532 search engine robots to cache your pages efficiently. Site wide links can be provided atrepparttar 132533 bottom of all web-pages.

4.) Provide a sitemap

A sitemap isrepparttar 132534 mark of a good website. Sitemaps giverepparttar 132535 skeleton of an entire site on a single webpage with all links. As site maps are specifically meant to provide site information they can lead to efficient browsing.

5.) Ensure that your website loads fast

No one likes pages that take long time to load. Your website visitor takes decisions in seconds and it won’t take him long to pressrepparttar 132536 back button or type another address to access other related websites. So make sure that your site loads fast.

The possible reasons for long loading times are

a.) Use of large graphics, java applets, flash programs or ad banners b.) Inappropriate use of tables, like placingrepparttar 132537 entire page under a table c.) Placing too much information (more than 50K) on one page d.) Use of free or inferior hosting services resulting in slow data transfer e.) Use of bad or junk html codes

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