We talk a lot about optimizing our processes, but it's rare we get an inside look into how it's done. In this episode, Anna Lenik, Localization Team Lead at LetMeSpeak, tell us how they brought their localization workflow from Google Sheets to 24-hour turnaround times by focusing on vendors, tools, and timelines. Listen in to learn how it was done. Audio Text video Key takeaways Prioritizing tools, guidelines, context, quality control, and development integration can help optimize localization processes. Establishing a dedicated localization team and permanent vendor relationships improves quality over one-off freelancers. Managing vendors directly instead of an LSP allows more control, though now a project manager assists with the growing workload. Transitioning from spreadsheets to specialized translation tools helped streamline LetMeSpeak's processes. The development team sets up the localization environment and selects content to translate within the tool, with English as the source. Optimizing timelines, such as delivering all updates within 24 hours, requires addressing issues like time zone differences and more. Involving the localization lead in product design gives perspective on the cultural and linguistic adaptations needed. Providing context like screenshots and string comments is also important for translators. Machine translation is avoided for UI due to context dependencies. Translators review and score machine translations to confirm the level of post-editing needed. Guidelines cover both technical and linguistic aspects like tone. They vary by language region (e.g. European vs. RTL vs. Asian). About Anna Lenik Anna is a user research and localization expert. When this interview was recorded, Anna was a Localization Team Lead at LetMeSpeak, a language-learning platform that helps people from 140 countries learn English. Currently, she owns a boutique user research agency to help companies connect with their user base in a profound way. To learn more and connect with Anna, visit her LinkedIn page. Enjoyed the Localization Process Pod? In every episode, we'll be learning from one guest about the way they do localization for digital products. Subscribe here, on LinkedIn, or on the Localization Station website to get notified about the next ones. Transcript Michal: Hi everyone. I'm so glad to see you here for one more episode of the Localization Process Pod. I started this podcast to learn all the real hands on things that happen when companies get their products localized and we're five episodes in and we've already uncovered some incredible processes and advice from those brave enough to take the microphone first. To If you haven't done so yet, make sure you give the previous episodes a listen. And if you have a localization process to share, send me a message. I would love to talk to you too. If it's your first time here, then this is how it goes. In every episode of the podcast, we meet with someone from a different company to grill them on what they're doing right and what they're doing wrong and how they're optimizing their processes for a better localized experience. Today, I'm going to talk to Anna Lenik, Localization Team Lead of LetMeSpeak. Anna will tell us about how they managed to remove bottlenecks and optimize their process to get localized content turnaround to 24 hours. If you've been listening to me for a while, then you may know I don't think speed or cost should be our sole metric for success, actually far from it. But there is still a lot to learn from this about making localization processes more efficient. And I'm hoping you'll find this as valuable as I do. So hi, Anna. Anna: Hi. Thanks for having me here. Michal: Tell me a little bit LetMeSpeak and what you do? It's a really interesting approach. Anna: So at let me speak, I'm Head of Localization and Education. My main responsibility is product development for any educational features. It can be a challenge because in online, the motivation is really decreasing rapidly. That's why we have to think of better ways to teach people. And I'm also a team lead in the localization team. We've got 16 languages. And users in 140 markets. So your localization flow, it's pretty large. When I talk about myself, I usually just say that I am a linguist because that's my passion. I started my career in localization in 2012, so a long time ago. A little bit about us. LetMeSpeak is a language learning... medium for everyone who wants to learn English. We've got a lot of apps integrated. Like we've, we've got iOS and Android apps, a web app, and An NFT marketplace as well. So we have both users in Web2 and Web3 environment, and they all learn English together in this medium. One of our unique concepts is that we give financial rewards for learning English. And that's what makes us unique in that market. Michal: You say you have a few platforms, do you design the experiences themselves or is it more like a marketplace that people design experiences for LetMeSpeak? Anna: No, we design everything and develop all the products ourselves internally. We've got a lot of users, but for now they use what is already available. We create everything like language learning materials and all the features connected with Web3: crypto exchanges, NFT marketplace, and whatever you can do with NFT and crypto on the marketplace and then the app. Michal: You mentioned that you're doing both educational design, like in the product, and also localization. So how does that add up? It seems like two separate roles. Anna: In the beginning, I was more a localization manager because we didn't have... established processes at all. When I came to the company three years ago we had two languages and it worked with makeshift processes established by someone else. At that time, they didn't have a separate role for that. And then I came, we decided to scale a little bit more, so we needed more localization efforts. And now we only need to update and keep everything on track. So now it's easier to manage. But with education design, we've got a lot of new features basically every month. It's not so hard to work in both of these roles because we've got established processes already. Michal: Yeah. Okay. So do you feel that being involved in localization gave you a different perspective on designing the experiences? Anna: Yes, sure. Because when you work in localization, you just instantly become aware of what you deliver in different languages and in different cultures and how people react to it. You have to always keep that in mind when creating educational features or whatever product features you design, because all, the cultures and all the languages are different. For example, if we talk about education design, you have to adapt your methods to the audience, because people have different native languages and they understand the grammar rules and exercises differently. For example, if we talk about RTL languages, like Hebrew or Arabic, the syntax is very different. So you have to teach things differently for those users. The same in localization. You have to adapt everything to the culture, otherwise it just won't work for them. I think those two domains are very close because you have to adapt everything for culture. Michal: Do you find that people in different cultures learn differently? Anna: They actually do, but I think if we talk about online learning, the differences are not so distinct. If you teach online, you basically have to think of the syntax and the cognitive load for different types of learners, based on their level and based on their native language as well. But it's also very hard to adapt. If we talk about localization. We usually adapt the learning content when localizing it. We've got special style guides for, like, grammar explanations. We always ask our linguists, what do you think is the best way to explain this concept to speakers of your language? How do teachers teach this concept in your language? And it's always different. For example, if we talk about Chinese, they find special metaphors to explain certain concepts like tenses. And in Russian, we usually just use a lot of translation. So we try to adapt. So the copy is not the same in any language. Michal: Do you find that, components of the experience, like for example maybe... if you give positive reinforcement, do you give it differently to people from different cultures? Anna: Well, I don't think we do that now. But I think in the future we have to adapt things. All the marketing copy should be adapted, but sometimes it's like, too costly for certain markets, so you have to first analyze and do the research and then think of how much effort you want to put in that. market. Michal: Yeah. Prioritize. Cause you talked about motivation and I was thinking, okay, I know that people here are motivated by different things compared to those from other cultures. And then... I'm guessing the more you adapt this to the culture, the more motivation you're actually able to achieve for each of these markets. Anna: Yes, that's right, for example, if we talk about learning English, the motivation is very different in different countries. A lot of people want to learn English for moving to an English speaking country. That's why it's just important to emphasize different things in your marketing copy. Michal: Yeah. I would imagine. Okay. So I want to ask you about your process in localization specifically. Cause you said that you came at the beginning and there wasn't really a process, but then gradually you evolved it into something that can now more or less maintain itself. So you need a smaller team. So tell me a little bit about that. Anna: Okay, so when I came to the company, we didn't have any established processes. The only thing they used at the time was Lokalise for UI localization. We didn't have any vendors or freelance teams at the time. That's what I started with. I think that team is one of the most important things in localization, because everything else depends on how qualified your vendors are, how qualified your managers are. The quality of the end product will depend on that. That's why I started from the sourcing and testing and everything. Now we have a wonderful team of mostly freelancers, but we've been working with some of them for more than a year. They know the product thoroughly, and they know everything about it. So that's what I did. Next came the tools. As many other companies, we also used spreadsheets in the beginning. Everyone has that step in their processes when they use spreadsheets. Michal: Yeah. That's all we had, though. Wasn't it? It was, it was born out of necessity, I guess, because before we had of these tools, it was the only cloud based environment that we could use Anna: So we used Google spreadsheets as well. And then we realized that they are not reliable for localization. So we started using more translation management platforms. And after that, we focused on streamlining the process, we wanted to deliver all the updates in 24 hours. And we kept on adding new languages, so the time zone difference was a problem as well. So we optimized, now we can deliver everything in 24 hours, basically. So that's how all the processes changed. Michal: Let's talk about each of these. You mentioned people, vendors. You mentioned tools, and then you mentioned timelines. So first of all, people, because you said you found your team and you started working with permanent linguists. Which I agree is a really important part of it. Where did you find them? How did you get them to work with you permanently? Anna: So at first, we started working with people from Upwork. Because it was the easiest, it's super easy to hire people. But what we found out in the process that the quality could be very low. We couldn't guarantee we deliver the best quality. So we invested more time in hiring more freelancers. Who we could work continuously for a long time. And after that I also used Upwork and Proz, and also, I just Googled and used LinkedIn a lot to find the right vendors. So we tested them thoroughly. We just integrated a test processes with sample tasks that they had to complete before we had an interview. That worked like magic for us, we found a lot of very professional linguists who could do the work we have. And just... Continued working with them after that. Now we've got 30 linguists in different languages. We've got two people for each language and we usually double check everything. So the first person is a translator. Then the second person reviews everything. Our quality just went up after we integrated that. Michal: So you manage all the vendors yourself? So don't work with LSPs, you manage the freelancers on your own. Anna: I used to manage all the freelancers on my own for a long time. But now we've got a localization project manager as well because now the workload is growing and now I mostly do strategic planning. Michal: Yeah. And they manage the vendors. So that's great. And then you mentioned tools too. So you said you're using Lokalise for your UI translation. Anna: Yeah, we do use Lokalise for UI translation. And we use everything it has to offer inside, like glossaries and also... machine translation. Sometimes when we need to do things quickly, we use it, and then our translators review it, but not so much in UI. Michal: So why not for UI? What was your experience with that? Anna: Because UI is very content dependent. I think machine translation is just not the right tool for the UI localization. That's my personal opinion. I think the technology will develop and probably in the future, you'll be able to use it without any changes, but now it's more of a hassle. When you write or when you localize the UI copy, you have to keep the whole scenario in mind. Machine translation can't do that for you. That's why we don't use it for UI. Sometimes we do, but only for very simple things. Very simple titles when we have to deliver things very fast. We do machine translation, but we never release anything with machine translation without review. We review it with the translator and only then we can release it. I think machine translation works great for longer texts. For example, if you have a long article that is not too specialized, you can use machine translation, and then you need to review it anyway. And sometimes we just use it for educational content. When... It's not context dependent. Two years ago, I worked at a language learning game, and we didn't have a budget to translate the huge dictionary manually. So we used machine translation for the dictionary translation, and we asked our translators to review it. It saved us a lot of money because they didn't spend so much time translating every single word of that dictionary. Michal: How do your translators respond when you send them machine translation for MTPE? Anna: The first thing we do is we do the machine translation, and then we ask them to review it just very quickly. Just to assess it from one to five. And if it's four out of five, they just do the post editing. So... But when the quality is very poor... I think Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and all the Asian languages. Machine translations just can't cope with that. So we don't use it for all the languages as well. For French, for German, I think for Spanish, it would be very effective use it for them. so it depends. Michal: Yeah, absolutely. There's also, I think, sometimes other issues when you're using machine translation. Like in Hebrew, a lot of the times we have a gender issue because machine translation is trained on a lot of masculine form content. Anna: Yeah, that's right. Michal: And that's an issue on its own. Because, those sentences, even if they're correct. Changing them to non-gendered, it's like re-translating everything. I think it's more of a question of prioritizing. Once you prioritize a language, and you teach the engine to handle that language correctly, then you will get significantly better results. But you do need to say, okay, I want to focus on that language now, and actually invest time to understand what it needs, and understand how to adapt that. And I'm guessing there are languages that get the spotlight for now, because they have a lot more material and a lot more speakers. But it will change. Anna: Yeah, that's true. Absolutely. Michal: So let's get back to the process. When you localize. Who sets up the environment, who sets up the ICU syntax, who chooses the screens and imports them and exports them? Anna: Usually the dev team. It's important that the dev team creates the strings because all the titles are integrated in the app. We usually have the English copy as our source text. We first review it and check if it's correct, if it corresponds to the context and if everything is how it should be. And then we assign the translators from our team to do the localization of those strings. Michal: What kind of context do you provide? Anna: Oh, we try to provide a lot of context because that's... I think it's essential. So we screenshot everything from the app, or we also copy the screens from Figma and add them right in Lokalise as well. We also write comments for basically every string, if there is something that is hard to understand from the screenshot sometimes. Sometimes you have to divide the strings into small parts and they are joined together in the end. So you have to leave a comment about that. So that's what we do. We also have guidelines for our translators that they have to read before they start working with us. Like how they should deal with strings translation, how to use variables, how to translate the titles. Michal: So about the guidelines. You mentioned that translators need to read them before they start. Do you mean before they start every project or is it before they start working with you? Anna: No, basically, before they start working with us. Not every time. Sometimes we have to remind them of certain things because they just... Yeah. but it's not every time. What we add every time is screenshots and small comments to strings that can be hard to understand. Michal: Are these guidelines general for the company or are they language specific or locale specific? Anna: They are specific to certain types of languages. Like European languages have similar syntax, so we don't create separate guidelines for every language. And we have specific guidelines for RTL languages, for Asian languages. Some languages, we have certain instructions that we have to follow. It's usually with polite and impolite. So we have special that we want to emphasize. Michal: Do you also give guidelines on branding and things like tone of voice, or is it just technical guidelines on gender and formality and syntax and stuff like that? Anna: Yeah, we do. We've got a tone of voice file in Notion, where we state all the important points, how we want to address the user, and a small explanation: what our product is about, how people interact with the product and what they expect to see there, and also the level of formality we want to use and the forms we want to use for buttons and for different kinds of titles. Michal: Do you sometimes get feedback from linguists on how that tone of voice fits their culture or the language? Anna: Yes, we have a lot of feedback. In localization and in product development, nothing is set in stone. You can't create a file that will stay with you forever. You have to change it all the time. You have to edit things. You have to think of better ways to convey your message. That's why we usually ask our freelancers for feedback. We also do UX research and we talk with the users. So we got some insights from them. And after that we adapt our tone of voice to what they expect from us. We also look at the competitors and see what they use in different languages, and also use these findings to continuously improve our documentation and how we localize. Michal: Do you do UX research in all languages that you localize into? Anna: I don't think so. We only use this for... Our big largest markets mostly. But ideally that's what I want to achieve. I think every user deserves to read quality copy. I think that we try to achieve the best quality, but of course we have to work and do more research in every language. Michal: If you had gotten the budget now to do research in all of those markets. You don't have a lot of budget, but you do want to make an effort. So what kind of effort would you choose to get insights? Anna: One of the most important things you can do is to use your translators as a source of expertise in that language. Or maybe use your team members as well, because I think in international companies, there are at least a few people who can speak different languages. Ask them about the copy, go to whatever source you have... I'm also in a polyglot community, I'll just ask people to talk to me. I'll show them the screens, and they just give me a lot of feedback. I remember once, when we wanted to launch in Japan, I just opened the Polyglots Facebook group and created a post. I had a lot of people who commented. We had a call and we showed him the product and we had a lot of insights after that. And it was basically for free. So you can always find people to talk to. Michal: Yeah, definitely. And I like that you... instead of saying, oh, we don't have the budget, you said, okay, let's try something creative. Which I think is really great. Anna: Yeah, it's very important to be creative. Sometimes you don't have the process you don't have the people. Sometimes you are just a one person team. So you have to think of creative ways to solve problems that come up, to get better results. That's what we do a lot in localization. We also try different platforms to hire freelancers. We tried everything. Michal: Yeah, we should call it " localization hackers". Anna: Yeah. Michal: Try and find ways to do localization better if you don't have the budget or the time or the people. Do you have an example of a time when you made an effort as a company, you changed something in the UI or you made an effort in terms of how you guided the translators, and you saw real measurable improvement in performance? Anna: Let me think. if we talk about localization all your efforts pay off because you can cover more markets. I think when we localized to Chinese traditional and to Hebrew, we had the biggest return. If you find the right market you'll see the return. With the revenue, with downloads and with everything. I can't think of a specific example because localization is usually an iterative process. You come to the market with the first version of, localized copy, and then you don't see any return. But you do very small changes. And in a few months you see the revenue growing and you see the user base growing. Michal: I think it's probably one of the hardest things about localization. Is you can't really say, Oh, we did this effort from A to B. And then we saw improvement in performance subscriptions or something else, because it is, like you said, a very, very long term process. And there are a lot of little tiny improvements throughout, which makes it really hard to measure and really hard to prove the value of it. When you take a step back and you look at the longer process you can see there's definitely a significant improvement. Anna: Yeah, absolutely. Michal: So, okay, you mentioned that you managed to get all your requests answered within 24 hours. How did you make it happen? Anna: We used a lot of project planning. We did kind of audit to see what the bottlenecks are. In the beginning we had a very long turnaround time, like three or four days for basically each language, because we had a distributed team of freelancers working from different countries. So there is a huge time difference. We didn't know how to manage that. So we just sat down and looked at the processes and we found out that we assign the translators too late for them to start right away. Michal: Yeah. Anna: So we found those bottlenecks and we just started working on them. At first, we started assigning the translations as early as possible. And it worked great right away. And then we talked with the project manager and we changed the release processes a bit. The strings were added in the beginning, so we had time to review them in English, add all the context and assign them to the translators at the right time. And we also integrated some planning tools. We use Notion for the project planning, so we created a board where our translators could see all the tasks and the timelines and the deadlines. And we also just made sure they are available every day. We talked with them and discussed the workflows, and continued working with those who were okay with that, and wanted to work with us. Because it's important to be transparent in your communication. I remember we had translators who were not so used to UI translation, but they did the other translations perfectly, like articles and marketing copy. So they ended up procrastinating on those stuff. So we talked with them. It was a lot of project management. And... Michal: Yeah. Anna: And we also just invested a little bit of our time in automation. We started using Smartcat and Lokalise for different types of content. And we also used plugins for Figma to automate the workflow. So we just came to 24 hour turnaround time, you know, in 16 languages. Michal: Yeah. That's really impressive. You said there were some people who were not so inclined to do UI translation. Do you find that it also impacted the quality of the UI content that they created? Anna: Some of the translators are more proficient in certain areas. I think most of the translators do all kinds of translation work, but every person likes a certain type of tasks more than the other ones. Michal: Yeah. Anna: And now we keep on working with people who understand our product, who see the mission of our product, who are reliable in terms of deadlines and timelines and who just have a passion for their language. It's a pleasure to work with people who are like that. They ask a lot of questions. They always want to know everything about the feature and you just have very interesting chats with them about certain features and intricacies of their language. Michal: There are linguists who will do a lot of the work that you ask them to do, but the thing that they really do amazingly is marketing, or something else, maybe technical, maybe business, maybe medical. So I'm curious why you chose to work with one or two translators per language for everything, rather than split the linguists by their specialties and the things that they're really passionate about. Anna: We didn't come to that in the beginning, we had a lot of staff turnover in the process. In the beginning we had a small team of freelancers and they usually come and go and then you just find someone else. And after that we just found the right team for this kind of translation work. So they usually specialize in UI as well and in marketing copy. That's what we mostly have. And we also have translators who work on educational content, so now the teams are kind of specialized because we've got a team of freelancers who work on UI, and another team that works on educational content. Michal: I would imagine it even takes time to find those people because usually good translators are busy. Anna: Yeah, it takes a lot of time. Another approach could be: you find people who really want to with you. And you teach them everything. But it takes a lot of time, a lot of effort from the manager. Michal: Yeah, although I would imagine that if you invest in teaching your linguists, first of all, you get exactly what you need in terms of the training that they get. But also I'm guessing they are automatically more invested in working with you . Anna: Yeah. Michal: Because you gave them something as well. Anna: Yeah, that's what we do a lot. We think of them as our team members, but just those who work part time. It's important that they feel that they are the part of the team. They are developing with us. So I think it's very important. Michal: Yeah, I completely agree. So I have a question. Can you outline just the process looks, from creating the content in the source language and the design stage to having a completely localized feature out in production? Anna: So in the beginning, we just brainstorm, we look at the user story, and then we interact with the designers with the product manager a lot to come up with the design that serves the right purpose. The English language copy comes up at the time. When we approve the final copy, we usually try to gather all the context, the screenshots and all the comments and everything that we need to assign it to the translators. After we review everything, we create the UI strings and add the terms to the glossary. We've got a large glossary of crypto terms. We need to sometimes think in advance how to translate them because there are no direct equivalents in many languages. So that's what we do. We create new terms. We talk with the linguists about how we can translate those terms. We do the research. We look at the competitors at this stage as well. Sometimes when the features are very complicated, we have to talk with the developer team about the variables, about the plural strings, about the strings that are divided into different parts sometimes. So we have to look at that and talk with them about how we have to deal with them in different languages. Like Hebrew and Arabic and Chinese and all the others that don't use the Latin script. So we try to gather and direct all this information to our linguists, so that they understand the context. And then we localize the copy, the QA team checks everything, visual bugs and functional bugs. Sometimes we spot the localization bugs at this stage or sometimes before the functional QA, we do the linguistic QA, but it usually depends on how big the feature is. And after the LQA, we do the edits if they are needed. We correct everything and review everything and then it's launched. After the release, we also check it once again to see if it's okay. It's always double or triple checking. Localization is like that. You have to be ready for that. Michal: Yeah, absolutely. So if you could do one improvement, whatever you want. What would you have optimized? Anna: Well, I'm a big fan of automation in any process. As a strategist, I always think about how we can automate this. So I would integrate more automations in the process. The last one we did is... We've got 16 languages and we got app store pages. Michal: hmm. Anna: And We've got like 10 screenshots for each of the languages. And for a long time the process was, we translated all the copy from the screenshots, and then the designers manually added them. We had to first copy and paste those strings, then the localizers had to change them and check them and... It was such a daunting task. No one wanted to update the screenshots anymore. And it just left us behind. If you want to do marketing right, you have to update your assets. You have to do the experiments. So I just found the Smartcat plugin that helps you import everything from Figma to Smartcat. Then it adds the translations from your Smartcat project to Figma. You don't have to copy and paste anything manually. I'm always looking for the ways to automate things. So that's what I would continue doing. Michal: Yeah. Automation and optimization, right? Anna: Yeah. Michal: Just making things faster, I would guess, because even if it's not really automated, just having the busy work done for you can probably make everything much more convenient. Anna: Yeah, and it makes your people happier sometimes, those who do these daunting tasks, like designers and localization manager. They are more satisfied with what they do because they don't have to do those routine and manual work that's very daunting Michal: Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. Okay. Thank you for taking the time to share your process at LetMeSpeak. Anna: Thank you so much for having me here today. I hope it will be helpful for your audience. I would be happy to follow up anytime on the processes and on how the localization industry develops and talk about anything localization related. So that was great talking to you today. Thank you, Michal. Michal: I also want to thank you, the person listening to this now, for taking the time to learn more about localization. Localization has always had this gray kind of lackluster image, but it's got such a huge impact on the world around us. When we take the effort to make localization processes better and improve localized user experiences, we make a positive impact for users globally, and you are a big part of that. If you're as passionate about localized user experiences as I am, make sure that you join our community. There's a link on the Localization Station website, and it's where all the most interesting conversations happen. And if you want to hear about new episodes of the Localization Process Pod... Be sure to subscribe on Spotify, on YouTube, or the Localization Station email list for updates. I was Michal Kessel Shitrit and this was the Localization Process Pod. Hope to see you again for another localization process review soon, and until then, have a great day!

Here’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot: can we utilize the benefits of a design system in localization, too? A localization content design system, if you will? But OK, let’s start from the beginning. What are design systems, and why are they valuable? About design systems A design system is essentially a collection of reusable components, guidelines, and standards that ensure your user experience will be cohesive across different flows, platforms, and products. Maintaining consistency is hard, and the more your team and product grow, the harder it gets. Design systems make consistency possible. A big advantage of design systems is that they eliminate the need to recreate design elements from scratch, and so they save time and effort. They also promote consistency in visual design, interactions, and user flows, which ultimately leads to a better user experience. When you have a design system, there’s less discussion over how each component should look and ‘act’ when users interact with them. You can onboard new team members easily, and have a clear framework and references for design principles and best practices. And with everyone having access to the same set of design assets and guidelines, teams can work together more effectively and ensure that the final product meets the desired standards. Design systems also contribute to scalability and flexibility. Teams can quickly adapt and iterate on designs without sacrificing consistency since changes to the design system impact the components based on it. And from a cost perspective, those time savings naturally lead to significant savings in operational costs. Often, design systems include some reference to content – especially in the documentation. Style guides and brand voice guidelines were used to try and ensure consistency. But content was just a small subsection of a greater system, focused specifically on experience and UI design. About content design systems Once we discovered how helpful design systems can be, content designers’ interest started to pique, too. Better consistency? Better communication? Quick iterations? Yes, please! But here’s where things start to tangle. Because components can have a preset design, but content is hardly ever identical. Initially, teams started using content design systems to pull all their content-related guidelines and documentation in one place. For example, the content design system at Intuit has a glossary, guidelines on inclusive language, a voice and tone document, and some formatting instructions. The Material design content design system also includes some instructions on accessibility and a style guide with grammar instructions. It was a nice way to start, but guidelines and documentation are not new in any way. And so some teams started considering ways to offer more value through their CDS – reducing friction for writing teams. They examined their processes, discovered repeatable, scenario-specific components, discussed them, and documented their final decisions. For example, the design team at Deliveroo described how they set a pattern for their error messages, making sure that they are always: Explaining what’s happened IIviting users to try again, or Giving them the option to discard the action and “Go back”. (Seriously, read their article. It’s excellent). Source: https://medium.com/deliveroo-design/content-design-systems-need-you-82836afb4fe6 The best part of a CDS is that, ideally, you only have to think about each component once. Then, you can plug in new information and get a new error message, or success screen, or splash screen at any time. These patterns are only useful if they’re rooted in real-life scenarios. Content design systems need to be extremely specific to the product, flows, and audience content designs and UX writers will need to deal with. Should you create a localization content design system? In the context of localization, design systems can prove to be even more valuable. By design, there’s always a rather high level of entropy in localization. The high number of people involved, combined with the fact that not all people can read and understand the content created, means we’ll never get to 100% control. But just like a content design system enhances predictability and consistency for UX content, a localization design system can help us enhance predictability and consistency for localized UX content. Advantages of a localization design system Ensure consistency. Oftentimes, similar components are localized in different times, by different linguists, and/or with minimal context, causing consistency issues. A localization design system ensures components are consistent for every language, not just the source. Streamline onboarding of new linguists. With a clear framework and references, new team members can quickly understand and contribute to the localization efforts without compromising consistency or quality. Keep localization scalable and flexible. Teams can easily create new versions of components without having to rethink every localization challenge from scratch. The fact that decisions are already made and common issues handled helps keep things efficient. Remove friction. When localizing content, there is often a need for clarifications, queries, and back-and-forth communication. With a well-defined localization CDS, many of these queries and issues can be preemptively addressed. Speed up localization. Instead of recreating design elements from scratch for each localized version, teams can leverage the components already defined in the design system. Help with tracking and improvement. Having set components gives localization and content teams a starting point to measure and assess localized content. Tracking performance for these components can give teams an idea of the quality and efficiency of each localized experience. Disadvantages of a localization design system Requires preparation. Setting up a comprehensive localization design system requires substantial initial effort and time, which can be a challenge, especially for teams with limited resources or those already stretched thin. Requires buy-in from managers. Convincing upper management of the need for such a system is critical. Without their support, it may be challenging to get everyone involved to implement the system. Requires collaboration from everyone. You’ll need the cooperation of in-house teams, language service providers (LSPs), freelance linguists, and more. This level of collaboration can sometimes be hard to achieve. Correctly implementing a localization content design system Remember, building a localization CDS is a means to an end, not a destination. This system is a tool meant to empower your team to make better content choices in every language. Keep that goal in mind as you create it. Create language-specific versions of the style guide and voice guidelines Start by tailoring your style guide and voice guidelines for each language. This ensures that the linguists creating the components - and those using them later - are familiar with these requirements. Since each language and culture has its unique challenges, you can use these guides to address them without overloading the general style and voice guides. For example, you’ll discuss the formal vs. informal dialect in a Croatian style and voice guide, but you won’t mention it in English, as it doesn’t have formal and informal forms. Develop a glossary of repeatable terms from your UI A comprehensive glossary is critical if you want to keep consistency in localization. For UX, it also ensures your users will be able to find their way in your product. This glossary should include tab names, UI terminology, and industry jargon, as an example. Make sure you keep this glossary up-to-date. Of course, if you change a term down the line, have your linguist change it across the product. Start creating your localization content design system components If your company already has a CDS Collaborate with the UX and design teams to localize the content design system components they have already defined. Before you start working with your linguists on this, train them to effectively use and apply the principles of the CDS in their localization work. If possible, give them some UX training, as well. Especially when localizing CDS components, ensure your linguists have as much context as possible. Remember that the quality of these components will dramatically impact the quality of all localized content based on them. If your company doesn’t yet have a CDS Work closely with UX and design teams to create a content design system from scratch. This involves defining the core types of components you’ll want to replicate, creating content templates, and localizing those. Since you’re starting from scratch, you can use this opportunity to ensure that the system will be flexible enough for different languages. Verify that the layout has enough space for localized content and that the typography chosen works for all languages you’re localizing into. If you can, create RTL versions of your LTR components, too. Use your localization content design system When sending content out for localization, ensure your linguists have access to the relevant CDS components and can use them as a reference. If you’re using a CAT tool you can upload each component as a context screenshot for the relevant string or attach them in your handoff to your linguists. Remember: placeholders in a CDS are there to support content work and help writers and localizers understand what they should include. Do not concatenate your content or separate a placeholder from its line before you send this content to localization. This can result in significant usability issues. Each component should come with a clear explanation of its intended purpose and what it should contain. This way, your linguists will know what they need to pay attention to when localizing. Monitor your system and iterate Just like a design system and a content design system, a localization content design system should never be static. Keep your LCDS up-to-date. When the UX content design system gets an update, ensure this update is localized to all relevant languages, too. From time to time, ask your linguists for feedback and ensure LCDS requirements are actually implemented into the localized product. This iterative process will help you adapt to your team and company’s changing needs.

Let's talk about four brands that executed impressive localization strategies. Ones that are so well-thought-out and inspiring, we can all take a minute to learn from them, too. We already know that a company's localization strategy takes into account much more than translation. It needs to be creative, bold, and inventive, producing assets and initiatives that resonate with audiences worldwide. To account for the cultural nuances and generate real connections. It's not an easy feat, but when done right, localization can help a brand tap into new markets and find significant success beyond its home country. Today I want to discuss four brands that executed impressive localization strategies. Ones that are so well-thought-out and inspiring, we can all take a minute to learn from them, too. Let's dive in, shall we? Examples of localization done right 1. Coca-Cola Coca-cola worldwide As a true staple in almost every supermarket aisle around the globe, Coca-Cola is no stranger to localization. In over 100 years of activity they've perfected this art - successfully creating a presence in more than 200 countries. In 2000, their then-CEO Douglas Daft cemented this position by introducing a new localization and marketing strategy for the company: "think local, act local." In each region where they operate, Coke creates ads, social media posts, packaging, and even products that reflect the local culture. The coca-cola localization strategy Coke's localization strategy is evident when examining its localized marketing materials and offering. In India, for instance, the company created different regional variations to attract local consumers. Rather than have their labels in English, they rolled out Bengali labels in West Bengal. They also launched unique local drinks, like Vio spiced buttermilk and Minute Maid Nutriforce. Source ‍ In China, Coke uses a Chinese name on its packaging to appeal to consumers and features celebrity icons and cultural references. Their ad strategy made use of some unique Chinese practices, too. For example, a few years ago, the team at Coca-Cola discovered that Chinese teens communicate through a series of codes containing numbers, emojis, and graphics. And so, they featured 35 of those codes on their labels. The company calls this their "hyper-localization" strategy - which means they're doing much more than simply translating their marketing materials. Understanding each country's culture and customs lets them appeal to a broader range of consumers. What does Coca-Cola do well in its localization strategy? • Adapted visuals and concepts Coca-Cola's localization strategy is evident not just in the words they use but in the visuals they create. They incorporate colors, graphics, and cultural references into their ads and packaging, making their products more relatable to the target audience. They also work with local ad agencies to create advertisements that resonate with people - rather than try and nail down a marketing strategy remotely. • Local product variations Another way that Coca-Cola does marketing localization is by creating different product variants for each region. Like the Vio spiced buttermilk, tailored to the Indian palate, they launched herbal infusion drinks in China, cream soda in South Africa, and ginger drinks in Australia. • Original marketing assets When creating its marketing materials, Coca-Cola does more than translate English ads. Instead, their localization efforts include investing in local actors and actresses, original soundtracks, and local designs - all to give people the feeling that these ads were created especially for them. This focus on localization has led to some of Coca-Cola's most iconic and well-loved ads, which is a big part of what makes the company successful in its target markets. • Local manufacturing Coca-Cola has manufacturing facilities in many different countries, which helps them keep their logistics costs down and reduces their environmental impact. It also allows them to create products tailored to each market. They can work with their employees to experiment with different flavors and ingredients, getting feedback from people directly in their target market. What can Coca-Cola improve about its localization strategy? • Be sensitive While Coca-Cola's localization strategy is largely successful, we mustn't forget they are a massive international force. If people see their marketing efforts as inauthentic, they could do more harm than good. The company should be extra cautious not to step on any tows - something that's incredibly hard to do without in-depth cultural knowledge. • Take an active part Rather than staying on the commercial side, Coca-Cola can contribute with outreach programs and additional community development initiatives in the countries where it does business. This would help to build positive relationships with these communities, and could even lead to increased sales as people come to see Coca-Cola as a company that cares about them and their wellbeing. 2. Netflix Global content localization Netflix is perhaps best known for its original programming, tailored to fit the unique tastes of each region. By investing in local filmmakers and creative talent, they've been able to create content that's popular with viewers worldwide, generating lots of buzz on social media. Netflix's algorithm also supports its localization efforts: It automatically customizes the thumbnail and imagery displayed for each piece of content, so it naturally adapts itself to the preferences of each locale. Source But that's not all their translation and localization team does. Netflix gives users in their new markets a truly native user experience - putting a lot of effort into creating an interface in their language and providing translated content through subtitles and dubbing into multiple languages. Quality management at scale In 2017, they even launched the ambitious Project HERMES - an attempt to design a standardized testing system that will allow them to generate high-quality subtitles on a massive scale. With so much translated content in their catalog, their localization department needed to control the quality of the translators they work with. But in 2018, Netflix reported that HERMES was shut down - saying that the task was "best left for the experts." On top of being a good business decision, Netflix's choice to go global and support foreign creators tremendously impacts cultures worldwide. The syndicated, programmed TV of the 20th century made American culture an attractive "norm" to aspire to in many countries. But with the advent of multi-national television - thanks to streaming services like Netflix - American culture is no longer the only option on the table. Viewers worldwide can now choose from a variety of content that reflects their cultural values. This is good, as it allows for greater diversity and understanding. Paolo Sigismondi wrote a fascinating article about this here, which I recommend reading. What does Netflix do well in its localization strategy? • Original international content ‍This has helped them appeal to a broader range of viewers and also nurture a more personal connection with their global audience. As a plus, they were able to support smaller creators and bring great TV to people around the world. Win-win for localization! • Localized user interface Netflix did an excellent localization job on their user interface, too. It improved their customer experience, making it significantly easier for non-English-speaking viewers to use the app and find the content they wanted. Source ‍ • localized marketing strategy Netflix also did a great job of marketing its original content. They used targeted ads and social media campaigns to reach specific demographics globally. The audiences in countries where these shows were created take pride in heading the Top 10 charts, generating even more buzz around those new shows. • Flexible pricing models Netflix also did some localization with its pricing, tailoring its subscription plans to fit each locale's income levels and preferences. So while Denmark customers pay an equivalent of $11.50 per Basic subscription, in Brazil, they pay $5.50, and in Pakistan - $2.50. • Subtitling and dubbing The Netflix localization team has done an excellent job of subtitling and dubbing a considerable part of its content catalog. This has helped them reach a much wider target audience, as not everyone understands or enjoys English-language content. What can Netflix improve about its localization strategy? • Invest in subtitle quality Despite their ongoing efforts with the HERMES project, Netflix subtitles often get bad user feedback. Some went as far as saying that Netflix should focus on fewer languages to invest more effort into improving the quality of its subtitles. With such an extensive content catalog, it's understandable that some subtitles will be of poor quality, but this area could use improvement. • Avoid inaccurate cultural depictions Another issue that has come up is the question of cultural accuracy. In some cases, Netflix's productions have been criticized for their inaccurate depiction of foreign cultures. For example, the show Narcos has been criticized for its portrayal of Colombia, which many viewers found stereotypical and inaccurate. And Emily in Paris was panned for its patronizing depiction of the French culture. It's certainly a problematic issue and something that Netflix should be aware of. 3. McDonald's Fast food localization As one of the biggest fast-food chains in the world, it's no surprise that McDonald's has a significant global footprint. Wherever you choose to travel, the company has a restaurant there waiting to serve you - with over 32K restaurants in over 117 locations. But their massive global growth isn't a fluke - it's a result of a carefully-crafted localization strategy. Source Unlike Coca-Cola's hyper-localization approach, McDonald's localization treats the world as one big, international target market. But while the golden arches are always there and the core characteristics of their chain restaurants remain the same everywhere, there are always original touches that make a huge difference. Marketing materials, visuals, and packaging get a local version that's often very different from those well-known designs in the US. In fact, the company likes to launch new, exciting menu items in their global branches. Diners appreciate that their favorite food is featured at McDonald's, and tourists treat these unique items as a draw when visiting from other countries. Source What does McDonald's do well in its localization strategy? • menu localization McDonald's did a great job tailoring their menu items to each country's tastes, cooking up their versions for all-time favorites. There are infinite examples of this: From iced milk tea in Hong Kong to the Cordon Bleu Burger in Poland, and from the McRice Burger in Indonesia to the Spicy Paneer Wrap in India. Source • Brand flexibility Another thing McDonald's did well was adapting its brand identity in their branches around the world. This is evident in their local marketing campaigns, staff, restaurant decor, and more. They even embraced local architecture by setting some of their branches in historic buildings and traditionally-designed structures. • Worldwide familiarity McDonald's maintains a sense of consistency and familiarity for their customers everywhere. There are certain items you'll always find on the menu - from burgers to sundaes. People often appreciate that, as it gives them a sense of comfort and stability no matter where they are. Additionally, this helps to build global brand loyalty among McDonald's customers, who see the chain as a global institution that they can rely on to provide consistent meals no matter where they go. What can McDonald's improve about its localization strategy? • Provide the whole meal experience While McDonald's developed its versions of local dishes, they were often flat representations of the local meal experience. For example, in many Asian countries, a meal is usually made up of various dishes eaten with noodles or rice. While I'm sure McDonald's Tsukimi Burgers taste great, they don't quite fill the same culinary slot. It would be great to see them reinvent their international menus, providing a more authentic and complete meal experience for those foreign markets. • Tailor more than food McDonald's built its business on fast, cheap items you can grab on the go - a very American approach to dining. But in many cultures, dining is a much more leisurely affair, and people often want to sit down and enjoy their meal in a relaxed setting. In other countries, the service expectations people have of a dining establishment are significantly different. Adapting their restaurants - and menus - accordingly may help them assimilate even further into their international target markets. • Respect its host countries At McDonald's, even local foods get the brand treatment: A Chilean dish of breaded chicken and guacamole becomes "McPollo," and a Norwegian salmon-and-dill-sauce sandwich is called "McLaks," for example. This familiarity can be comforting - but it can also be seen as appropriation, with the brand absorbing the unique foods of these markets and generating its flat version of them. It would be nice to see the company step out of its comfort zone, serving local dishes without transforming them into its fast food variant first. Source 4. Ikea Local brand, global presence Ikea's successful localization strategy helped it expand into new foreign markets. With the help of a team of translators, Ikea translates its offering, products, and marketing materials so that they are relevant and relatable. The company also localizes its website, ads, social media, and catalogs to be culturally appropriate and easy to understand. However, in a very strategic choice, the folks at Ikea chose to leave all product names in often-unreadable Swedish. This choice works in their favor, creating a fun, memorable customer experience. What does Ikea do well in its localization strategy? • Enviable atmosphere Ikea sells more than furniture - it sells a dream. Their showrooms are filled with micro-spaces, with every bit of detail carefully placed to make customers feel at home. These decorated rooms, with their warm, inviting look & feel - in-store and online - encourage visitors to copy the clean Scandinavian design in their homes, too, no matter where they are. Ikea catalogs even became coveted reading material in some markets, and they're displayed in living rooms worldwide next to reputable home decor magazines. Source • Consistent branding Ikea dropped any semblance of assimilation in favor of an "imported from Sweden" edge. No matter which store you visit, you'll immediately get recognizable Ikea vibes. The decor is similar; the signage is always the same; the colors are consistent. They even sell the same Swedish food products in-store - from cookies to preserves. Customers don't come to Ikea for local furniture. Instead, they come for that unique foreign customer experience and for decor they can't get elsewhere. Source • Consumer content The Ikea community developed a hobby around the global brand: "Ikea hacking." Ikea furniture is known for its durability and versatility, and there are plenty of affordable options to use as raw material. This led to the development of a culture where people find creative ways to use it in their homes, creating bespoke-looking furniture from the simplest pieces. Some of the most famous Ikea hacks include transforming essential pieces like cabinets and dressers into built-in furniture, using Ikea furniture to create custom storage solutions, and using the company's inexpensive accessories to add personality to a room. These hacks generate buzz worldwide, making Ikea a household name. Source • Language-free manuals The high-ups at Ikea likely planned for globalization, creating a recognizable illustrative language for their manuals. This allows them to provide customers with clear assembly instructions without translating every word. A brilliant way for Ikea to ensure that all of its customers can understand how to put together its furniture. Source • Small adaptations While the Ikea brand stays consistent everywhere, its product offerings vary slightly. This allows them to appeal to a broader target audience, as they can tailor their products to fit the needs of each specific foreign market. For example, for the Indian market, Ikea designed outdoor furniture that will withstand high heat and humidity. And for Korea, they released a wide range of small beds and sofas to fit smaller apartments. These minor tweaks help make Ikea products a staple in every home, growing their large fanbase even more. What can Ikea improve about its localization strategy? • Local collaborations Ikea has done a great job at localizing its products and materials to fit the needs of its consumers. However, they could improve their localization strategy by collaborating with local designers and manufacturers in each target market they expand into. This would help them create products that are even more relevant and relatable to local consumers, while also building stronger relationships with local businesses. It will also enhance their eco-friendly & sustainable brand promise, setting them apart from other furniture retailers. • The human touch While Ikea's furniture is undoubtedly popular, the brand can come off as somewhat plastic-y. The cookie-cutter quotes plastered on the showroom's walls and the uniform furniture you see wherever you go... don't scream 'authentic.' And the bigger they get, the more noticeable that's going to be. Working with artists and designers in every country would be a great way to lend some warmth to their brand. For example, Ikea stores worldwide could sell framed prints of local artists or host special concerts and events in the showroom. This would help customers connect with the brand on a more personal level. Does every company need a localization strategy? No, but it can give you an edge when tapping into a new foreign market. When you localize, you can connect with customers on another level, building trust and credibility. Assuming your original marketing would do the trick can damage your brand's image, and you might lose out on potential customers. So if you're looking to expand your business into new territory, it's worth considering planning your marketing localization strategy ahead of time. That being said, keep in mind that smaller brands just getting a feel of new markets can postpone their localized marketing efforts for a bit, and get away with a one-size-fits-all marketing strategy in the short term. And in some cases, if you don't have the time and funds needed to do it right, it might be better not to localize. Whether to invest in your localization process right now depends on the brand and the product or service you're selling, the market you're getting into, your brand image, and a boxful of other considerations. If you're unsure, set up a consultation with a local marketing agency. They'll be able to help you figure out if localization is suitable for your brand, what your localization needs and goals are, and how to go about achieving them. Thank you for reading! We hope this gives you a better understanding of the importance of localization strategies in marketing, and how some of the big ones successfully implemented it in their business.

Here's something I know to be true: Big, industrial-like localization flows dehumanize linguists. 🔵 Ideally, we want our linguists to think big and be proactive 🔵 But when people are treated like a cog in the machine, they're bound to stay inside their tiny little cog space*. * I don't know machine lingo but I'm committed to this metaphor, OK? If we want quality, we need to start humanizing translators again. That's exactly what I talked about with Marta Boer in this episode of the Localization Process Pod. If you haven't given it a listen, now's your chance to add it to your list. But if you're in a rush (aren't we all? Always?) and want to make sure you get the gist, here's the bullet point version just for you: Emphasize trust When you're hiring translators, trust is your best friend. Invest time and energy into building relationships with your vendors. It keeps everyone commuted and engaged, and it's essential for long-term success. Humanize the process Translators should be treated as valuable team members rather than just service providers. A humanized approach leads to better engagement and higher quality work. Give language leads some autonomy Allow language experts some level of autonomy in choosing other team members. A sense of teamwork can encourage individuals to contribute more effectively to the project. Give feedback its place Providing clear guidelines and constructive feedback is important for the growth and improvement of translators. Sharing style guides, glossaries, and project instructions upfront can set the stage for high-quality work. If possible, get a vendor manager Having a dedicated vendor manager can be beneficial for managing translator relationships effectively. If a full-time position is not possible, assign this responsibility to a capable team member.

Last night I was a guest at Nimdzi Live, talking about bringing UX and localization teams together (👈🏼 Click there for the recording). We covered a whole bunch of topics. Like: 🔵 What even is brand voice, and why is it so hard to keep it in localized content? 🔵 Why should localization and UX teams stay in touch? 🔵 Why should everyone in localization learn the basics of UX? 🔵 What will the role of localizers be with AI-generated UX content? But we also covered a question that's been bothering me for a while: Is there a place for LSPs - localization agencies - in today's UX localization landscape? It used to be that the value LSPs offered was in managing the process and bringing in the linguist. But nowadays, tech clients buy their own loc platform license anyway, and it's much easier for them to find linguists across the many social networks and directories available. It's still a hassle, you'd say. And you'd be right. But the fact is that having someone else source your linguists and manage your processes has proven itself as a poor strategy for UX teams. To put it simply: The results are bad. The content is generic at best. And you can kiss your brand voice goodbye. Does this means LSPs are obsolete? No, it doesn't. It just means they need to find a new way to offer value. And for agencies hoping to work with UX teams, that starts with learning about UX. Why? 🔵 You can't claim to support UX localization without understanding what good UX means, i.e. what you're expected to provide. 🔵 You can't figure out how to offer value without understanding what your clients need (in this case, UX teams in software companies). And yes, I have a UX workshop for LSPs opening in just 3 weeks - but this isn't a plug email. I have my ideas, but I'd genuinely love to know what you think here. What kind of value can LSPs offer to UX teams in 2023? I'm here for your replies and your questions, Michal

A few months ago I got a lovely gift: A watch. It may have been a hint. I used to be a punctual person, but with an overloaded plate of routine tasks, I might have teensy-bit neglected my commitment to timeliness lately. But anyway. It was a nice watch and I liked to wear it, and be the person people came to for time advice. That joy lasted for a while, but then... The watch tragically stopped working. And that meant I had to do one of my least favorite things in the world... Reach out to customer care. You already know I'm a content person. And the fact is that many companies have got gorgeous front-room content. Beautiful ad copy. Glorious site wording. Marvelous checkout texts. But then, once customers make the purchase, there's a significant drop in content quality. 🔵 The templates are often poorly written, are so far from the brand voice they may be on another planet, and are full of grammar mistakes. 🔵 The people editing those templates (customer service reps) are often not fully fluent in the language they're meant to be writing in. 🔵 Localization makes this worse, as the already-poor source makes for a bad starting point, and there's rarely enough context provided as templates are meant to fit many cases and get adapted later. This is the response I got this time, from this Spanish watch company. The fact is that to create a great experience for our customers and users, we need to embrace a 360 approach - for both source and localized content. Yes, you can start with one piece of the puzzle. Real improvement is incremental. But in your long-term plans, you should always strive to have every single touch point on-brand and strategically phrased. Post-purchase content or edge case copy are just as critical, and can have a huge impact on things like stickiness, retention, and more. So in this newsletter, I wanted to send over some resources on creating content for those areas. I hope these will help you place the spotlight on some neglected gaps in your company's content. So in this newsletter, I wanted to send over some resources on creating content for those areas. I hope these will help you place the spotlight on some neglected gaps in your company's content. Six localization tips for multilingual customer support Gabriel Fairman for BureauWorks Read now Content design and legalese: Collaboration within constraints Panel by the UX Writing Hub Watch now Improving the help center experience with user-centered design Sulaimon Salako for UXCC Read now When life gives you lemons, write better error messages Jenni Nadler for Wix UX Read now Writing user feedback requests: Five guidelines Anna Kaley for Nielsen Norman Group Read now Boost conversions with transactional emails: A dummy guide Samavia Malikfor Unlayer Read now Are there any other often-neglected touchpoints you think should be covered?

What do you think the future of UX localization is? I'm an early adopter at heart, so more than anything, I'm curious to see what the future brings. But while we can find any number of predictions for the future of localization in general (ranging from: "the robots are coming, run for your lives" to "ignore the doomsday prophecies and carry on'"), I think UX localization just might take a different path than the rest of its loc siblings. Why? First of all, the metrics we use (or should be using, ehm), to measure success are different in UX. It's not all accuracy and correct punctuation. It's emotion and engagement and experience. And if what we define as "success" is different, it's likely we'll also go about achieving it in different ways. But the ingredients for success are different too. Think about it: To do many types of localization, you need proper context, subject matter knowledge, and a good grasp of the source and target languages. But that's not enough to create a good user experience. UX localizers – just like UX writers – need to understand the flow of information, design principles, and development constraints, just to name a few. Yes, it's a lot. And most of all it means that as UX localizers, we need to make our own predictions about what's going to happen. To satisfy my curiosity and my incessant need to always be prepared (not a girl scout but will take the cookies if offered), I've been walking around and asking people what they think will happen. I've gotten a bunch of interesting replies, and thought I'd share them with you. The doomsday approach Time to find a new career, but no rush No need to expand on this one, I think. Some think this is the end of human linguists in localization, UX included. Despite that, even the most pessimistic of them agree the robots will take longer to gobble up UX localization jobs, compared to other translation niches. That's because companies still hesitate to use MT for their UI copy. If you're a linguist, this means you'll have longer to find your bearings in your new profession. If you're a buyer, it means you still have time to get a feel of the land and find the best MT-based workflow for you. The happy medium approach It's adapt or die, but you can definitely adapt Others think humans will always have a role in UX localization, but the focus might shift. I agree with this one the most. I think in a decade, we'll have a hard time remembering how we've ever created UX copy (in any language) without the help of AI tools. But that being said, we'll always be there in some form or another: 🦾 To train and fine-tune the models. 🦾 To curate and direct the results. 🦾 To run some QA and a sanity check. That is especially true for UX localization, for the reasons mentioned above. Experiences are heavily based on culture and emotions, and those shift and change and evolve constantly. Without retraining and fine-tuning, we won't be able to stay up-to-date with current language trends. That is until the flow of information becomes dramatically, futuristically fast (and that should still take a while). The ostrich approach Nothing is happening and nothing needs to change Sorry if it's judgy, but there are still some who say it's all a storm in a teacup. A beautiful yet non-realistic expression, in this case. Here are some claims I've heard: 🐦 "Linguists have been saying that robots are coming for their work for decades. It hasn't happened yet." To this, I say: Have you looked at the going rate for translation these days? 🐦 "There will always be work for good linguists out there". True. But the way the industry defines "a good linguist" is changing. To be considered, you still need to adapt and upskill. 🐦 "Technology will never get good enough to replace me. Look at this ridiculous Google-translated line I've just randomly encountered". But the fact that free machine translation is bad does not indicate that gated, b2b-oriented services are bad. And the fact that it's even remotely usable today is proof of how fast it'll get to human-like content creation. Which approach do you agree with? Are you a doomsdayer 🙀, a balanced middler-grounder 🦾, or an ostrich 🐦? Let's discuss! Heads up 🚨 The UX writing course for localizers is opening for enrollment real soon. This time we'll meet in the mornings (CET) and it's a rare opportunity to see me less tired and in daylight (exciting, I know). I expect this cohort to be in high demand, as there are quite a few people already listed to enroll. So if you're planning on joining, stay tuned to learn when enrollment opens!

In our interconnected world, reaching a global audience is a key goal for many businesses and organizations. However, one challenge that often arises when expanding internationally is ensuring that the user experience (UX) of your product or service remains impeccable across different languages and cultures. UX localization is the solution to this challenge, but it's more than just translation; it's about creating an experience that resonates with users around the world. In this article, we'll explore the top 5 tips for UX localization and the reasons why they are crucial for success. This is a guest post by ProTranslate. 1. Understanding cultural nuances Localization is not just about language; it's about culture. To create a user experience that truly resonates with your target audience, you must understand the cultural nuances that can impact user behavior and expectations. Different cultures have distinct ways of expressing themselves and interacting with technology. By understanding these nuances, you can avoid cultural missteps that could alienate users or even lead to misunderstandings. For example, colors, symbols, and gestures can carry vastly different meanings in different cultures. Knowing these subtleties allows you to design a UX that feels natural and respectful to users worldwide. 2. Prioritizing user-centered design User-centered design (UCD) should be at the heart of your localization strategy. This means involving users from different regions and cultures throughout the design process. Conduct user research, usability testing, and gather feedback from your target audience to ensure that your product or service meets their specific needs and expectations. UCD ensures that your localized UX is not just a one-size-fits-all solution. It's tailored to the preferences and behaviors of your diverse user base. What works well in one culture may not be effective in another. By involving users in the design process, you can identify and address any issues early on, saving time and resources in the long run. 3. Consistency across platforms Maintaining consistency in UX design across different platforms and devices is crucial for creating a seamless experience. Users should be able to transition between web, mobile, and desktop versions of your product without feeling lost or confused. Inconsistent UX can lead to frustration and confusion among users. It can also harm your brand's image. When your UX is consistent, users feel more confident and comfortable using your product, regardless of the platform they are on. This consistency also reinforces your brand identity and message, making it easier for users to connect with your product. 4. Paying attention to language quality While this may seem obvious, the importance of high-quality language translation cannot be overstated. Sloppy or inaccurate translations can not only confuse users but also damage your brand's reputation. Language is a fundamental part of UX localization. Users rely on clear, concise, and accurate language to understand and navigate your product. Poor translation can lead to misunderstandings, frustration, and, ultimately, abandonment of your product. To ensure high-quality language in your localized UX, invest in professional translators who are not only fluent in the language but also familiar with the culture and context of your target audience. 5. Test, test, and test again Thorough testing is the cornerstone of successful UX localization. Conduct usability testing with users from different cultural backgrounds to identify any issues or pain points in the localized version of your product. Continuously iterate and refine your design based on user feedback. Testing helps you uncover issues that may not be apparent during the design phase. It allows you to see how users interact with your product in real-world scenarios and make adjustments accordingly. Testing also provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of your localization efforts and helps you fine-tune the user experience for different regions. UX localization is not just about translating content into different languages; it's about creating a user experience that feels natural, culturally relevant, and user-centered across the globe. By understanding cultural nuances, prioritizing user-centered design, maintaining consistency, ensuring language quality, and conducting thorough testing, you can create a UX that resonates with users worldwide. Investing in UX localization not only expands your market reach but also enhances your brand's reputation and fosters user loyalty. In today's globalized world, these tips are essential for crafting seamless user experiences that transcend borders and languages.

In honor of Pride 2023, we've invited the brilliant Kinneret Yifrah to talk about gender-neutral writing in UX. After writing gender-neutral guidelines for all government products in Israel, Kinneret shares her unique insights and experiences on the importance of gender-neutral language in UX and the challenges and potential solutions in implementing it. This video is in Hebrew, but don't worry if you're not a Hebrew speaker, we've got you covered with English subtitles. Scroll on for the full English transcript. Video [Hebrew with English subtitles] Transcript Michal: So how are you? Kinneret: I'm very good! And you? Michal: Great! So, because we're recording this, and it's going to be public, I'll do an introduction, even though it's just you and me in the conversation. Kinneret: Go ahead, go ahead. Michal: So the reason we met and arranged this meeting is because this month is Pride, and I really wanted to do something related to non-gendered language, non-gendered writing, specifically in UX writing. And because I'm in the localization space, I really wanted it to be available to the international community, because I feel like there are some gendered languages that deal with it heavily, like we do, we talk a lot about non-gendered writing, and I feel like there are languages that don't focus on it as much, and it's not as present in the conversation, and mostly there's less talk about the how - How much of it is possible, is it even possible. And the spaces that deal with how to localize, or how to write, and don't deal with the writing itself, like, not the writers themselves, they deal with it even less. Kinneret: What do you mean by how you do the writing, and not the writing itself? What does "how" mean? Michal: For example, if you're a project manager, managing some kind of process, writing in several languages or even in one language, so – especially if it's several languages – you don't understand HOW to write, you don't understand what it MEANS to write in a non-gendered way. Often you just know it's something you should do, and if your client isn't asking for it, you're not going to focus on it too much, because it's one more thing on your mind. Kinneret: Okay. Michal: And we don't really talk about how we can lead processes like this, how do we make them happen, how... I have all kinds of questions for you about that, but we don't really talk about these processes over time, and how they work. We just say it's something that should happen, and let's all be inclusive, but we don't talk about how to implement it. Kinneret: Yes. Michal: That's it. So that's why I really wanted to meet and talk about it, especially because you led such a comprehensive process, so in-depth, which also had, at least from where I'm looking, very significant implications on how we write in Israel in general, in UX, and how our government offices look online. And I would love it if you could start by talking about the project itself, and what it included... Driving change towards gender-neutral writing Kinneret: So there's a voice and tone guidelines for the government, which I wrote together with Digital Israel, which is now part of Digital Operations. And in this project, we included – and it was very clear that we were going to include – a chapter about equal writing, about writing for all genders. Writing microcopy for all genders. And we wrote this very comprehensive chapter, and there's a bit of a change, and I can't take all the credit for it. And in a bit when we'll talk about how things like this come to be, how organizations... how there are organizations that do it, and organizations that don't, and what the difference is between them, I'll talk about what I think was the driving force behind the change. So I really can't take all the credit for this change, there are others, like Daphna Eisenreich, who are leading a very, very big movement of change, and there was Michal Shomer's book, Non-Gendered Hebrew, which also made a very big difference, that word: "Welcome" that applies to both genders at the same time. Just people seeing the word "welcome" for both genders everywhere, including at the entrances to government offices, already makes people aware and creates a change, and people think about it, and... So that's about the government. There's the voice and tone guidelines for the government, and it contains rules on writing for all genders, government offices do recognize that and use it, and it did make a difference. I can't say that it's the only thing that made a difference. It was a big part of it, but just a part still. But in general, writing equal UX copy for all genders started because digital products started talking to users. They're now more than a machine referring to itself and addressing itself, they address the users directly. This happened in the past seven or eight years, a conversation came to be: between the product and the users. Both male and female. When we're speaking out loud in Hebrew, we don't have a way to refer to both in one word, so we have to choose. And that's when the problem started, because, in gendered languages, where nouns are either masculine or feminine, we need to know the gender of the person we're addressing to speak to them. At least in a personal way. Now, for government digital products – there are 3,000 products. So even if they would change some of them, even if they would only change the new ones, it'll be extremely hard to go back and change all of them. So some would stay as they were, some would change, the new ones are different, the new products are already being launched with non-gendered language, and we'll cover this soon, they are even sometimes launched in a way that lets men and women choose how... they're actually asked at the start how they would like to be addressed, we'll talk about that later, how to make that happen... So yes, there's progress, a lot of progress, but I don't think they'll ever be able to go back and change all 3,000 products, I think it'll apply to products from now onwards, not retroactively, like a lot of transformations that take place through big processes like this. Michal: So when you say that you decided to include a section on non-gendered Hebrew in the voice and tone guidelines, who was the one deciding? Who was involved in that decision? Kinneret: That leads me to the first and - in my opinion - most important factor in whether it's going to happen or not. Whether our product will have equal language or not. The biggest question is this: Is there someone who owns that in the team. This is where it starts and ends. If no one in the team owns that part, someone who really cares about this thing and is willing to fight for it, it won't happen. In my case, the one leading the entire voice and tone process with me, together, was Liron Libskind Mulyan, who was then at Digital Israel, today he's no longer there today, and he cared about it a lot. Deeply cared about it. He wanted there to be a section on it, I wanted there to be a section on it, of course, I had a partner to help me with it inside Digital Israel, and that's why there was a section on it. Of course, during our discussions and conversations, as we wrote the voice and tone guidelines, we got everyone's agreement, and we discussed this with everybody, and we led this process, but there has to be someone within the team who really has a passion for it. A bit after this I wrote Avodata, which is a product by the Ministry of Labor, and there, too, you can browse through professions, it's a product that makes all professions and learning pathways available to young people – not just young people, to anyone who's at a professional crossroads or facing a big professional decision. And the person who led that was Evyatar, who found it very, very important that you will be able to view all profession names in both male and female forms, that you will be able to view the masculine and feminine form of engineer, the masculine and feminine form of architect, the masculine and feminine form of teacher. Actually, teacher reads the same for both. But nurse - masculine and feminine. Right? That all those professions that are stereotyped as meant for men or women, will be there in both male and female forms. He led it, he cared about it, he was the owner of the product, he acquired the resources needed to get it done, he motivated people to do it, and he made a product where you could choose how you wanted to be addressed. He later added a questionnaire, and in it, you could also choose if you wanted to be addressed as male or female. So there was someone who cared about it, who got the resources for it... There were development resources needed. It's a financial investment. There's a financial cost. And when there's an owner, it happens. That's really the biggest thing I can say about whether it's going to work. It'll work when someone really cares about it within the team. And that's what happened in Digital Israel, in fact. Liron and I were there. And both of us really cared about this. And every person we talked to in the various government offices, we got them on board, too. We talked to a lot of people in government offices for the voice and tone guidelines. Obviously, as it represents the voice of the entire government. And... We got them on board, we got confirmation, and it went in. But that was led by people. A man or a woman who cares, that's the secret, if you ask me. Getting everyone on board Michal: But did you also face resistance? Kinneret: No. Michal: Really? Everyone just accepted it, despite the additional investment, despite the additional effort, it was just kind of obvious that this is what you're going to do? Kinneret: No, so in the voice guidelines, the directive is just not to write in the masculine form, and it includes all the "usual" methods to avoid the masculine form in Hebrew. How to write in a way that's equal for all genders. At Avodata, we did need development resources because they split the interface so that you could choose how you wanted to be addressed. For that, you need development resources. You don't have to go that far. They could have written male/female engineer. I mean, there are other ways to do this. They wanted it to be top-notch, so they did it this way, but you can also do it without a development resource. You can just write in non-gendered Hebrew, without using development resources. Using all those techniques that we know, with the letters ך and ה and all of those. Michal: Now, I want to ask... From my experience in projects, both in government office projects that I did personally, but also in other projects... You write the voice guidelines, and the initial copy for the product, and everything looks nice and shiny, and then it goes out into the world, and they suddenly need to add a line, or need to add a headline, and someone adds it in quicklty... you know. And all sorts of things go in that you didn't mean to be there. So how did this go? I mean, did the guidelines succeed in implementing or preserving writing for all genders? Or was it... Kinneret: No. I mean, it's exactly the same thing. A product that is written... you described exactly what happens. The product that is written according to the guidelines, the big initial mass is really gender-free, and then all kinds of things come in. So yes, you're asking about things that happened after I was done, or when I wasn't there to write them, some of them really are in masculine form. I think it's very noticeable that it's different from the other copy in the rest of the system, but I guess the general public doesn't notice this as much as we do. And it stands out, it does a little bit. But... But you know how it is. When you're a writer, not everything will go up. Not everything I write goes up. So in this case, it was really about the gender, but it's something I'm letting go of – because I'm a freelance writer, and not in-house. If you're writing in-house, you can keep track and follow up after that, and fix and improve. As a freelance writer, I submit the content, I cross my fingers that it'll all go live, including error messages. Somehow those are the ones always left out, but I'm a bit used to it, that they change a bit after I'm done, and turn informal words to more formal ones, and then it sounds too formal, and I guess I'm a bit used to it already. Michal: Yes. I have to say that... It's part of a different conversation, but... That's a big part of writing microcopy, giving it to people, giving them the content. It's an exercise in giving up control, right? Because... it'll never end up the way it was meant to be. It's true for copywriting too, by the way. Not just UX writing. They always make changes, and then you're like... cringe, you have to hold yourself back from sending them an angry message. Kinneret: Absolutely. Absolutely. A while ago a friend sent me a screenshot, and she asked me, "did you write this?" It was in the government "My account" zone, which I also wrote a big part of. So "did you write this?" And I told her, it really sounds like me but I would never write "due to". So something doesn't... something doesn't add up. And that's what happened. They turned my "because of" to "due to". They thought it was too low-brow, "because of". You know? It was really funny. But what can you do. Michal: It's like when someone sends you a project you did, and you have the urge to write, yes! I wrote this! ...but they changed... they changed things since then. Kinneret: Exactly. In your portfolio we need to use what we wrote, and not what was actually launched at the end. Michal: In my early days I'd take screenshots. I'd save screenshots so that I'd have fresh versions, before they'll make their changes. But if we go back to the topic, I'm interested to know, because I've actually seen, in the past years, a certain movement, that when you talk to clients, government or otherwise, it comes from them, a little bit. They do want it to be non-gendered, sometimes they don't notice that it's gendered. It's like a sense you need to develop. Right. But they do want it. And the question is, do you think that this movement is linked to this stamp of approval that these voice guidelines became? Because it is a significant, very formal stamp of approval. Making this possible. Kinneret: I'm not sure everyone knows the government's voice guidelines. We do, in the community, we've heard of it and work with it, but I don't think most of the clients asking for non-gendered language do it because of the government voice guidelines. I think it's very much connected to the work of Daphna Eisenreich, Dabru Elenu, and she is very, very public about it, and it's always talked about, and... I think it's much more connected to our work in the community, and to Dafna's work, and Vered Huri's work, who's also working on it, so there are a number of activity centers, who are in contact with very large customers, with very large organizations, who do this work, and drive this change. I'm not sure it's linked to the government's guidelines. And I think it's these actions that drive the change, and it's now... It's now considered unreasonable to write in the masculine, it's considered old-fashioned. But it's several actions that made this unacceptable to write in the masculine. It's going to be shared in some group, in Dabru Elenu, in Kinneret's group, it's going to be shared somewhere, and they'll talk about you, if you write in the masculine. So I think that's what... At the end, that's what drove the change. That... That it's unacceptable. That it's not OK to write in the masculine. And... It's very welcome, in my opinion. But I think that's it. It's true that the government guidelines makes this more official, but I think it's actually from the ground up, and not from the top down. That is, the fact that the field doesn't accept it anymore is what makes the people in charge and brands reluctant to be in the spotlight like that. Not be those that get criticized in the groups for writing in the masculine. Michal: Although, I have to say that this... Israeli brands, being from here, naturally care more about what the Israeli public thinks. But for international brands, we're just a dot on their global growth map. Right. And so they don't care about it as much. It's not something that's on the agenda at all, because it's like, it's just ten million people living in this small country, and we don't care if it's gendered or not. Or what they think of us. Kinneret: Right. But I think what big brands don't understand is that those who localize into a lot of languages... it's not just Hebrew. It's the full ten million, because Arabic is also gendered, So it's anyone living in Israel. but it's not just that, 40% of the world's population speaks a gendered language. So if you create the infrastructure that allows you to split your copy by gender, you'll be able to adapt the language to fit 40% of the world's population. So this platform isn't for ten million people, it's for 40% of the world's population. I'm not going to calculate how much 40% of the world's population is, but I think Arabic speakers alone are around 300 million. Michal: That's right. Though there are some problems here because gender comes through differently in various languages. Creating the infrastructure Kinneret: Yes. But if they created the infrastructure that allows me to choose how I want to be addressed, they wouldn't even have to create their copy using non-gendered language. They could write in the masculine and feminine, and maybe even in a third gender, if possible, and that's it, you see? So creating the infrastructure, which they did, by the way, in both Android and iOS, there's already the option to split by gender. We can talk about that later. So if you made it possible to... if that becomes common practice, to write two or three strings for each spot, masculine and feminine, and a neutral form if it exists, that should be the common practice, and you wouldn't need to force non-gendered writing. Although in Hebrew we're stuck because we only have two genders, and what will we do with the neutral form? We're still stuck. But even if we only have two genders, and I can switch from one to the other at any time, if I'm non-binary, that's great. That also works. Not ideal, but we don't have a neutral form. We can't invent a third neutral form. So I think that, take Microsoft for example, there's no reason that Microsoft won't have my pronoun, set in their operating system, and they'll show me the right masculine or feminine forms. There's no reason that can't happen. And that's relevant for 40% of the population. So the fact that they're not doing it is really strange. That's what I mean, to have the option to choose, based on my pronoun. Language innovation Michal: So I really want to talk about technology, but before we move on to technology, because it's a big topic, what are your thoughts on inventing a third neutral form? Because there are languages where that's done. They actually invent another way to use words. Kinneret: Right. They do, but it hasn't been... for now, it's still... experimental. Like we use dots or slashes, or the non-gendered Hebrew font. These are all experimental methods still. Even adding a third neutral form, I've yet to hear of a language where this truly caught on. There are all kinds of experiments, but it still leads to a lot of opposition from all sorts of language purists. So should we invent a third neutral form? Maybe, I don't know. I don't think it's something that can be decided. I think if it has to happen, it will happen. No one is going to wait for the Academy of Hebrew Language to decide. And if it has to happen, it will happen, and someone will invent it, and if it catches on, it catches on, and if it doesn't, it doesn't, and... I don't think we'll have a choice in the end, because... the masculine and feminine forms are simply not enough. They don't reflect reality. And if they don't reflect reality... Language has to reflect reality. It can't be... we use it to convey reality. So it can't not reflect reality. Which means that in the end, it will have to happen, I don't know if it will happen in our lifetime, and in what way, I don't know. Let's take, for example, the plural imperative form. Today we only use it in the masculine. "Come", "go", all masculine. There used to be two forms, we had a feminine plural imperative form for "come" and "go" and so on. Michal: That's right. Kinneret: We cancelled the feminine form. We now only use masculine, and it works well for us. To use that form for both masculine and feminine. We're good with it. So what if we decided to cancel all forms of plural feminine? So the plural "you" would have worked for all genders. No separate feminine form. And that would have been the correct way to use it. It could solve this for us. It will be very difficult for us to change the direct, first-person form of "you". That will be very difficult to change. But say we figure out a solution for plural forms. If we had a solution for plurals, it would have helped a lot. We can address users in the plural, and it'd be gender-free Michal: And we can say it's a movement that's starting to happen because we are using plurals today when we want to stay non-gendered. Kinneret: Exactly. We use it today because we don't have a choice. But maybe we can actually cancel the other form. Like we did with the plural imperative. Then we can address people in the plural and stay non-gendered, and that's another bit of progress. It's a good question. What will people choose to do? How will it happen? I don't invent things, but I do try what's invented. Like using the dot method for gender neutrality, sometimes I use the dot. Sometimes I use both suffixes. I try all the options, and I wait for something to catch on, for a method we can keep using. I don't really accept the whole readability claim, where people say it's hard for them to read with a dot separator. It's hard to read it because we're not used to it. It's not... If we learn it from the get-go, we'll get used to it, like, from age six. If we learn to use it when we learn how to read, we'll get used to it, and it'll be perfectly fine. I don't think it's a fundamental problem. It's just a matter of getting used to it. But we'll see. Michal: We'll have to adapt all the easy reader classics. I don't know if we can do that. Where do you put the dot? [Laughs] But seriously, my main issue with dots, and slashes, and all of those methods, is that it works when you read the text, but it doesn't work when you speak. You can't read it. Kinneret: Right. And then, on the other hand, we have the option of using plurals. In English, we have "they" and "them", people just choose to switch their pronouns. Michal: Right. And it doesn't work as well in Hebrew, or at least, as far as I know, people don't really use it. Kinneret: Right. Because even "they" and "them" is gendered in Hebrew. It doesn't solve the problem. It's still gendered. It doesn't work. With anything related to voice, we'll have to solve this problem by splitting our UI. There won't be a choice. They'll have to start by asking how you'd like to be addressed and split the UI into masculine and feminine, unless we choose to use plural. But it's a bit ridiculous to use plural when you address one person using voice. So there they will have to split things, and maybe that would create that common practice of offering two gendered interface options. I'm really interested to know - what would big companies do in terms of localizing voice interfaces. I'm curious to know what they're doing today. Do you know? For example, Microsoft's Cortana, which speaks French, German, gendered languages. What does it do? Do you know? Michal: I don't know, actually. And it's a very interesting question. I'll try and ask this on LinkedIn. My voice assistants are always in English, so I don't know how they work in other languages. But it's really interesting, and in general... Using technology to stay gender-neutral Let's start talking about technology because I'm interested in knowing what you can use today, but also... we're at the start of a huge technological revolution, which will probably also give us a lot more flexibility in this regard. So how will our future look, in your opinion? Kinneret: Okay. So, today what technology allows us to do is to split the UI and write each string in two or three forms: feminine, masculine, and a neutral form, if it exists, so that we can offer several setting options and ask every user how they'd like to be addressed. That's the most advanced technology we have today, and today, when we start using AI, it feels so outdated. So outdated. Because I think it's clear that with AI, in Hebrew, we still don't have AI, which is very sad. I hope we will soon. There is a little bit, but not at the same level. Not the really high-end models that we have in English today. And I have no doubt that today you can ask ChatGPT to write a full, gender-neutral text, and it'll do it. Gender-neutral. You can pass anything through it, asking it to turn it gender-neutral. What did it do when you tried? Change the suffix in "shirt" to make it masculine? Michal: Yes. I have to say that I tried in English too. I didn't try switching the gender because English is very easy to keep gender-neutral. It's not that big of a challenge. But I did try to get it to write about inclusive writing and non-gender writing. It didn't understand what it even means, "inclusive." It kept trying to explain to me that I don't have to write the word "guys" in my article because people will be offended, because "guys" is masculine, so write "folks" instead. It loves the word "folks." It bothers me a lot. Really, it said: So when you write, use words that don't have a gender, and that's it, and your problem is solved. It doesn't understand what it means at all. I assume it's because it has been trained in English, so it's hard for it to really understand the challenge of it. And it certainly wasn't trained on texts that describe these challenges because it's not the kind of texts that are available in English online. Kinneret: Right. I would ask him about gendered languages, if it knows, in the languages it does know well and was trained on, like German, French, and so on. Latin languages, yes. Michal: It's interesting. Also, the way people use ChatGPT today, it won't be effective in the flow of localization because we're talking about a lot of texts, and everything is becoming very automated. Things are practically happening on their own now. Kinneret: If they bring GPT's capabilities into the tools used for localization, sure. Without having to manually feed everything into ChatGPT. Michal: Then you can set up a "fence" that'll stop texts before they go in and check if they're gendered. It's an interesting question. Because we're really at the very beginning, and only the early adopters are trying at the moment. Experimenting with all of these changes. Gender-neutrality in localization Kinneret: But you know, it's funny - I'm surprised the whole gender issue isn't more present, especially in the localization community. Because... And I only discovered this when we did the Gender Neutral Language Project, with all those videos. I discovered that this isn't something people in localization speak about that much. And I don't understand how that's possible. It's not just the 10 million Israelis who speak Hebrew, it's hundreds of millions of people speaking a gendered language. How can that be, that it's not discussed more? I'm asking you now. What do you think? Why? Why isn't this on the agenda all the time? Gender inclusivity... It's a hot topic. It's a very hot topic. So how isn't it in localization? Michal: First of all, I think that culturally, how do I put this? The level of candidness and how much people are willing to insist on things is different. And I'm sure there are places where women's status is different. I think that the privilege we have in discussing non-gendered language is a result of the fact that we're already, in many ways, getting past that glass ceiling, in many ways starting to break. Career-wise, family-wise all of that. And so we have the privilege to come and discuss gendered vs. non-gendered. Kinneret: I completely understand what you're saying. We have the availability and freedom for it. Michal: Yes. Kinneret: That might have been true, but it's also French or German or Czech. And it's a topic that's just now starting to get some public attention, even in very widespread, very western languages. And I was very surprised to discover that 40% of the world's population speaks a defined language. I told myself, so how is it that we feel so alone in this? Right? Like we're the only ones stuck with this Hebrew, and it's not just us at all. In German they talk about it a lot. In Italian they published a book about it recently, a whole book about how to write non-gendered in Italian. Michal: Amazing. Kinneret: But only now, and I also hear this discussed by writers and less by localizers. It's really something that, if you look at it in localization, it would be very cool, because I've been hearing this from writers... this book in Italian... it's all by UX writers. Not as much by localizers. Michal: I have to say that many times in localization, it's exactly this, it's availability. The amount of time you have to think about gender strategies is very small, because in the end you get a text and you're told to translate it, quickly and cheaply, and those are the client's instructions. And they're the client instructions, because the client, in many cases, comes from a country where the language isn't gendered. And it's not their top priority. And so gender isn't mentioned, or they write, "we want to be inclusive, because we want everybody to feel accepted", like, someone copied and pasted that line from their voice guidelines, and no one actually cares. And also, no one can really check that it happens. That's true. Kinneret: And there are also varying degrees of training in localization, there are places in the world where you would have to get a translation degree to work as a translator, and there are places where all you have to do... It's like here, right? You just say "I'm a translator", and then you can start working as a translator. And so the levels of knowledge and training are different, and people just don't talk about issues that are more complex than those initial classic translation issues. I can say that I do mention this in my course, there's one lesson dedicated to this, among a few other topics. I do think that your project at the UXCC, the Content Collective, actually made a very significant impact, because it's... first of all it's one of the first results on Google. Kinneret: Really? Michal: Yes. If you search for non-gendered writing, or all sorts of examples and guidance on how to write, it comes right up. Kinneret: Right. We got, I got emails from localization teams around the world saying that they passed it amongst themselves, that they're using it. I know the project had an impact. Which I'm very happy about. Again, even if it's just awareness, I'm very, very happy about it. But there are also a lot of practical tools. Michal: In the end, I think it's really a question of awareness, because people sometimes don't even think about this little detail. It's really a little detail among many, many details that we need to consider as we work, both in writing and in localization. And people don't take time to do this, and then when someone comes and puts a spotlight on it all of a sudden they start thinking about it, and consider it in their day-to-day. And this alone has a huge impact. Kinneret: Absolutely. The Awareness is... You're absolutely right. It's true that people have that penny drop moment, and they're like, oh, right... we just didn't think about it. Of course, we need this. And then, if they also get the tools, like, if tools are included, and an owner, which is no less important, then it can happen. But I think it's these three things: You need awareness, you need someone who cares about it, because otherwise it's like "ok, but we don't have time, or budget, or..." So you do need someone who cares about it. And tools. That is, the knowledge of how to do it. Like, ok, here's how do you write in Hebrew in a gender-neutral way. Five methods. Just like that. So you also need the tools and methods of how to get it done. Taking responsibility - as much as possible Michal: So on the subject of ownership, I'm bringing us back to the beginning, we'll go full circle. So let's assume that we're writing a project, and we really want it to be gendered, and we do what we can on our own, as the writers who write the first part of the project, and then someone comes and takes it forward, and maybe they don't really care as much. How much would you insist if this happens? Kinneret: Today, I wouldn't write something that's not gender-neutral. If in the past... My first client was a bank, Bank Hapoalim, which, today they're the leaders of... In their app, you can choose how you'd like to be addressed, and then the entire app is written in feminine Hebrew when I log in. So today they are very advanced in this field. When I started UX writing for them years ago, they were my first client, they said, "we want it in masculine Hebrew." And I wrote in masculine Hebrew. Today I would never do that. Well, no one would ask me to write in masculine Hebrew today. But if someone would have told me, "we want the whole application in masculine Hebrew," I'd say, no, thank you, and we'll go our separate ways. Today I wouldn't do such a thing; it would seem absurd to me. So, to answer your question, if someone would take it forward, how much would I care? I would care a lot. As long as it's mine, and it's under my name, my name, or my company's, Draft, there's no way we'd put our name on something written just in masculine Hebrew, and we all really, really insist on it. So, yes, I'd insist on it a lot. It's not something we'd let go. Michal: And say you've finished the project, and you've sort of released it into the world, and then it starts to appear there? Kinneret: There's nothing to do. We have nothing to do with it. Like, there's no way... We have no way to follow our projects. The clients that we... Our clients have been with us for the long haul. Bank Hapoalim, they're Amir's customers, my partner, for a very long time, and Maccabi is with us, and Isracard is with us, and so in that sense, we're with them throughout the process, and then this can't happen. We're with them. We're permanently with them, and then things like that won't happen. But the clients we do a single project for, we know there are going to be things that... It's not just... I told you, it's not just the gender issue, there are a lot of other things that... you don't even want to hear. Things we don't want to see in an app that we wrote. But there's nothing to do with it. Like we said at the beginning, it's an exercise in letting go of control. It's not ours, and it's their decision, and if they don't understand the value of having a professional writer review every word and check and approve it... that's life. Michal: And that sums up the whole experience of UX writing in general, I think. Kinneret: Totally. Michal: We can sign off on this conversation now. Kinneret: Totally. Michal: But it was really interesting. Thank you so much for sharing, and I hope I'll be able to translate it into English so that more people will be able to... Kinneret: Good luck! Good luck translating the gendered forms of "shirt"! Michal: Thank you! And thank you again for being here.

For ages, there has been an unspoken consensus that when creating UX content, you need to adapt your writing for localization. This convention was born out of necessity, understanding that localization is not a simple linear process. It involves a network of interconnected tasks, each with their own set of intricacies. Considering the numerous variables and complexities involved in localization, it makes sense to simplify the source. Uncertainties in the original content could exacerbate and cause significant disruptions down the line. Let's consider a UX copy created for an English-speaking audience, featuring idioms or culturally-specific references. If this copy were to fall into the hands of someone not so familiar with the source culture, it might be localized without any adaptation. And it may certainly be confusing for a non-English-speaking user. An unadapted phrase like "raining cats and dogs" might lead a Spanish user to expect literal felines and canines, rather than a downpour. It's clear that any foggy areas in the source content could snowball into significant issues when transferred to a different cultural context. Therefore, it becomes clear why we've adhered to the practice of "writing for localization" in creating UX content. By taking the time to adapt the copy, says the industry, we can streamline the localization process, mitigating the chances of misunderstanding or misinterpretation. We also help to ensure a more user-friendly experience in every market where the product is available, affirming the global nature of our digital age. Should we write for localization? But the mandate to "write for localization" led us to strip our copy of all its personality, resulting in clear but stark and lifeless writing. We removed any cultural references, nuances, or distinctive voices to ensure absolute clarity. The result? Text that was precise but as engaging as a tax form. This goes against the trend of the past few years, where conversational, engaging language has become the gold standard for UX copy. We've migrated from stiff, formal language to a more conversational, engaging approach. This shift reflects our increasing understanding of the user's need for intuitive, interactive, and human-like digital experiences. Think of the messages that pop up when you're filling out an online form, the words on a button, or the subtle instructions that help you navigate an app. Today's microcopy is often personable, aiming to create a friendlier user experience. Gone are the days of "Invalid input"; now we're more likely to see "That doesn't look right." However, when we put this vibrant, engaging UX copy under the lens of localization, the picture gets a bit complicated. The cultural context, idioms, and informal language that make copy engaging also make it tricky to localize. While maintaining the clarity and accuracy of our copy is vital to avoid any localization-related issues, there's a growing need to keep our UX copy engaging and inspiring for users, aligning with the original source as much as possible. It’s a balancing act between maintaining the spark of the original and ensuring clear understanding across multiple languages and cultures. The challenge we face now is adapting to this new gold standard while maintaining the clarity needed for successful localization. Can we do it differently? There is an alternative method to achieve this - providing detailed guidelines for each string to the linguists, outlining the context, and the key messages we want to convey. Instead of leaving the translation team to guess the meaning or the importance of a certain element, these guidelines provide clear-cut instructions. Imagine you are localizing a banking app. In its source form, the app uses professional yet approachable language, with clear instructions and perhaps a touch of finance jargon. It is intended to project trust, security, and user-friendliness. Let's take a simple example: the copy for a button that initiates a money transfer might read, "Swipe to send money securely." In this case, the string isn't just instructing the user to swipe; it's also reinforcing the app's focus on security. By providing linguists with context and intent for this string, we ensure they understand the dual purpose of the text. They'll know that the localized copy should not only instruct users about the swipe action but also reassure them about the security of their transaction. But here's the catch: The level of detail required in these guidelines demands a substantial time investment. For every piece of copy, there needs to be an accompanying set of instructions. Writing these guidelines is a painstaking process, demanding a deep understanding of the product, the brand voice, the intended user response, and the specific nuances of the source language. Additionally, these guidelines need to be clear, precise, and easy for the translator to understand. The time drain doesn't stop at writing the guidelines. They also lengthen the translation process. The linguists now have an additional document or set of texts to study and comprehend before they can even begin translating. Enter: technology The advent of AI and LLMs (Large Language Models) has transformed the landscape of machine translation. These groundbreaking technologies have expanded our toolbox, adding new capabilities that can be game-changers in the localization process. AI and LLMs can be likened to quick learners. They are capable of receiving complex, detailed instructions and processing them at a rapid pace, outmatching any human capacity for speed. This ability makes them particularly useful in the context of localization. They can absorb and interpret extensive guidelines for each string of text, thereby aligning the localized output with our preset criteria. Let's revisit our banking app example. Instead of a human translator pouring over pages of instructions, we could provide these guidelines to an LLM. The LLM could quickly analyze these directives, comprehend the context and intent, and try to accurately translate the UX copy accordingly. Even complex tasks, such as understanding the dual function of the 'Swipe to send money securely' button, may very well be within the capabilities of advanced LLMs in the near future. Unlike traditional Machine Translation (MT), which is limited by rigid algorithms and fixed phrase databases, LLMs are designed to be adaptable. They can handle nuances and generate unique solutions tailored to specific cultures when provided with ample multilingual data. Can AI translate alone? While LLMs and AI bring numerous benefits to the localization process, like any technology, they're not without their problems. One such problem is their tendency to "hallucinate." They sometimes generate content that, while plausible, wasn't originally included in the source text or the provided guidelines. Returning to our banking app example, an LLM might take a phrase like "Swipe to send money securely" and interpret security in a broader sense. Consequently, it might generate a translation that implies additional safety features, like fraud protection or insurance, that the app doesn't actually offer. These extraneous details, while well-intentioned, could mislead users and create unrealistic expectations. This is where the role of detailed instructions becomes crucial. It's akin to providing our LLM with a map that clearly outlines the boundaries of its creativity. These instructions not only guide the LLM in understanding the context and intent of the original copy, but they also set clear limits to prevent the addition of unwarranted content. Moreover, despite the impressive capabilities of AI and LLMs, the human touch remains an invaluable part of the localization process. A proficient human translator or a localization expert should always review the LLM-generated content before it goes live. They can spot and correct any deviations or hallucinations, ensuring that the localized copy stays true to the original message and intent. The secret is in the combination The interplay between advanced LLMs, detailed instructions, and human involvement brings us to a promising juncture in the localization journey. It allows us to balance speed and accuracy, maintain the engaging qualities of UX copy, and prevent misunderstandings due to overzealous AI translations. It's an exciting step towards redefining what it means to write for localization. This synergy between LLMs and detailed instructions can create a multilingual UX copy that is more fluent and less robotic than what we would usually get. Additionally, LLMs can expedite the creation of these instructions. We can feed the AI a brief summary or even a recorded explanation, and it will efficiently write the guidelines for us. All these advancements prompt a reconsideration of our practices when it comes to "writing for localization". We don't have to make our copy characterless anymore; instead, we can start articulating our intended meanings in a more engaging way. As we ride this wave of change, let's embrace this evolution in writing for localization. This technology is new, but it's growing and evolving at an extremely fast pace. Our goal should be to keep our content lively and clear, make sure we're explaining our intentions, and, yes, also use technology to make the process more efficient. With this mindset, we can change localization from a task into an opportunity to improve the experience for our users.

Is it just me, or does it seem like every conversation in the localization world these days comes with a side of machine translation and AI? It's like I'm back in middle school and MT is Backstreet Boys' "I want it that way" – and if you think this analogy is stupid, you should have seen what chatGPT proposed I'd use. But somehow, through all that chatter, MT for UX still remains mostly undisturbed, in the sense that people are completely ignoring it. Try and find an MT report highlighting UX or UI as one of its domains - I dare you, because you won't, because there isn't. Everyone's elegantly ignoring UX, since using MT or AI to generate passable-quality multilingual UX copy is HARD, y'all. Some would say, so hard that it's not worth the effort. I'd like to question this premise – a hobby of mine, along with reading fluffy novels and hunting for scones (we're not big on scones in this country). I still think we can get passable results using MT for UX, and more than that, I think companies that use this time to experiment and learn will be the first to benefit from MT when we do get translation singularity*. And yes, plenty of companies are already getting some mileage out of MT. Mostly, they run their content through MT first, then pass it over to their human experts for post-editing (PE). Even if they focus mostly on none-UX content (help centers, blog posts and more) it still means that both loc managers and linguists get to practice MT-driven processes. If you'd like to learn more about this super interesting topic, join Boryana Nenova and yours truly 🙋🏻‍♀️ on June 20th, at 10:00 CET for a deep-dive webinar on machine translation for UX. There will also be a recording for those who can't make it live - but still, make sure you sign up to get the link when it's up! *Translation singularity was all the rage a few months back when Translated announced we're steamrolling into an age where we won't really need humans for translations anymore. I like to imagine we'd all be sitting in our gardens then, eating scones and just overall enjoying life. My kids will be older by then and will obviously be serving me fresh coffee whenever I snap my fingers. Reality's great, isn't it? How is this still happening? Some companies, in an earnest (although misguided) attempt to save costs (which I get), play a peculiar game of hide-and-seek with their legacy content. How? By excluding it completely from the word count, meaning translators are expected to localize new content without any reference to the existing history. It simply doesn't make sense. I’ve used my significant illustration skills to make this very clear: Basically, every part of the screen is translated in a different way. Maybe one is singular, one is plural. Maybe sometimes the product name is left in English and sometimes it’s translated. Who knows? It’s a wild west of linguistic chaos. The result is that we end up with this awkward Frankenstein-ish blend of localized content. And other than the fact that it’s disorienting for users, it’s also completely disrespectful. Do you want your users in other markets to feel like they’re an afterthought? Because that’s a surefire way to make them U-turn straight to the competition at the first chance they get. This is a rant, but it’s also me begging you to be proactive about this. If you’re a linguist and you get a request to overlook 100% matches, make sure your client knows exactly what they’re asking - and exactly where it might lead. And if you are a loc PM… Please, just don’t, OK? I’ll send you a scone.

Truth: In a world that's more connected than ever, language barriers shouldn't stand in the way. We want everyone to be able to benefit from the incredible tech available, no matter the language they speak. Essentially, that’s where localization experts come in, right? We swoop in like caped heroes. Armed with translation superpowers and ginormous cups of coffee, we make it happen so that apps, websites, software - are available to everyone who speak our language. But here's the thing. This is the age of automatic machine translation. Soon (if not today), humans will no longer be needed to just move words from one language to the other. Bots can do that, and they can do it faster and cheaper. You’re skeptic, right? “Ah, those bloody bots… they’ll never write as well as I can. It’s ridiculous!” You’re right. For digital user experiences, bots will never write as well as humans - as long as those humans know what they’re doing. Writing for digital experiences – apps, software, UI in general – is complicated. The words we get for translation are just the teeny tiny tip of the iceberg. Underneath the surface, there are countless hours of discussions and piles of information. The people who first create the source copy – called UX writers – work based on data-proven methodologies to create copy that does its job. But once the source copy is created, it’s sent out for translation. The people who translate the copy are also UX writers. With two differences: They do it in another language They don’t know how to UX write Except for very few people, translators don’t know UX writing. Even though they write copy for user experiences every single day. Today, this changes. In this article, we're going to dive deep into the world of UX writing to learn why it's a superpower that every localization expert should have. So, whether you're a localization expert wanting to level up your game or just a curious person wondering what the fuss is all about, stick around. By the time we're done, you'll be itching to sprinkle some UX writing magic into your localization efforts. What is UX writing? UX writing, or User Experience writing, is the art of creating user-friendly interfaces that speak the users' language. UX writers create clear, concise, and user-centric text dedicated to helping users achieve their goals (all while helping companies achieve some goals through those users, too). UX writing ensures that the words on your website or app not only make sense, but guide users smoothly through their journey. It's like a trusty GPS system, gently nudging users in the right direction without making them want to throw their device out the window. When done well, good UX copy can even go the extra mile, adding a touch of personality and charm. This helps companies create stronger, emotional connections with users – ones that last longer, promote trust, and make all interactions more effective. Imagine a world where error messages don't send users into a fit of rage, but rather calm them and help them solve the problem. Or a world where button labels are so convincing that users simply have no reason not to click them. That is the power of UX writing. That makes UX writing a key to unlocking the full potential of a product. And when localized properly, it helps companies make the most out of their localized products, too. And YOU have the power to help them do that. When words make or break the experience Let's put UX writing under the microscope and examine some real-life examples. These case studies will show you the good, the bad, and the creative side of UX writing – and how it can make or break a user's experience (no pressure). Good UX writing: A warm welcome and a guiding hand Imagine you’re signing up to an app. You enter your name and email and then… you get this screen. Yes, it’s technically an explanation, but it’s: Stiff, dry, technical, and impersonal Not very clear (doesn’t really explain what you need to do) Heavy with redundant information (who knows or cares what a one-time password is?) If you’re a savvy internet user, you probably already know what to do. But if you’re… An older person A child Someone with low technical abilities Someone who doesn’t use the internet much Someone with visual accessibility issues You’ll have trouble figuring out how to proceed. But what if you get this text, instead? See? This one is Super clear (tells you exactly what to do) Phrased in a way that’s friendly and approachable Contains only important information Pre-troubleshoots two very common issue (email landing in spam and clicking the link from another device) This means that this screen from Substack Reader is much more usable than the one from Audible - thanks to the copy and the way it’s phrased. Not convinced? Let’s see another example. You download an app, decide to upgrade, and make a payment. And you get this confirmation screen. This screen tells you it worked, and you’ve upgraded… But there’s nothing else. No excitement. No brand relationship. No reinforcement that you made the right decision. Wonder do it differently: They’re… Congratulating you for the choice you made Reinforcing it by calling you “pro” and telling you you’re going to “enjoy” Showing + creating excitement with their “Let’s go!” button It’s just a few words, but it makes a huge difference in the way users will feel when they see this screen. Get the impact? Good UX copy makes a significant difference - which is why companies invest in it. More and more companies are hiring UX writers worldwide. Why should localization experts care about UX writing? First, it’s fascinating, especially for wordy people like us. But there are more reasons why localizers should learn about UX writing. To stay in demand Let's face it – with the rise of AI, non-specialized professionals may find themselves gradually replaced by machines. They work faster and get increasingly better at it over time. So to stay relevant and in demand, you need to adapt and upskill. That's where mastering UX writing comes in. By adding UX writing to your arsenal, you become a linguistic superhero who can tackle both localization and crafting user experiences, making you indispensable in the industry. To collaborate well and get respect Regardless of whether you're a freelancer or an in-house localization expert, a crucial part of your job – if you’re localizing UI copy – involves working closely with product teams. These teams include designers, developers, UX writers, and more. They’re all working hard to create a seamless user experience. But if you want to get a real seat at the table, get treated like a professional and have their respect, you need to be able to speak their language. Having a firm grasp of UX writing concepts and terminology will allow you to communicate clearly and effectively with product teams. And when you show you truly understand their goals and the way they work, you’ll get a chance to share your ideas, provide input, and get your feedback taken seriously. To create better experiences As a localization expert, you already possess a valuable skill: bridging language gaps and making digital content globally accessible. But let's be honest, translation alone is no longer enough to impress users. You need to widen your skillset to create copy that's not just linguistically accurate but also makes for a great experience. UX writing enables you to create digital experiences that resonate with users on a deeper level. By mastering the art of crafting clear, concise, and culturally relevant copy, you can make localized interfaces feel more natural and user-friendly. Where can localizers learn UX writing? The good news is that there's no shortage of courses and resources to choose from. Whether you're seeking a comprehensive paid course or just dipping your toes into the world of free resources, there's something for everyone. Here are a few options to get you started: 1. Paid courses: Localization Station's UX Writing course for localizers: Currently the only course designed specifically for localization professionals, this course offers a comprehensive tailored program to mastering UX writing skills, with a focus on adapting content for different languages and cultures. It’s great for localizers who want a deep dive into the UX writing skills relevant to their work, but prefer to skip additional skills they don’t need. UX Writing Hub's Academy: This course provides a thorough overview of UX writing principles, with modules covering everything from the basics to more advanced techniques. They have a highly-recommended mentorship plan with plenty of opportunities to learn from real-life UX writers and experience the work they do. UX Content Collective Fundamentals Course: Another option for those seeking a comprehensive understanding of UX writing, this course covers a wide range of topics and includes hands-on exercises and projects. It’s an online course that’s self-paced, so you can take it on your own time. 2. Free courses Localization Station's Free Email Mini-Course: Get a taste of UX writing for localizers with this email-based mini-course, which delivers bite-sized lessons straight to your inbox. You get 7 lessons delivered through email, and it’s completely free. UXcel's Free UX Writing Course: This comprehensive course provides a solid foundation in UX writing principles and practices, giving you the tools you need to create engaging, user-friendly digital experiences. The UXcel course covers a range of topics designed to help you understand the ins and outs of UX writing. UX Writer in 15 days: This unique and engaging email-based course delivers a fresh UX writing prompt straight to your inbox every day for 15 days, helping you build your skills and confidence one step at a time. By tackling a new UX writing task each day, you'll not only learn the core principles and techniques of UX writing but also practice applying them to real-world scenarios. In addition to these courses and resources, don't forget the value of networking and joining online communities. Engage with fellow localizers, UX writers, and other professionals in the field to share knowledge, ask questions, and gain valuable insights. As you dive into the world of UX writing, you'll discover a wealth of learning opportunities that will help you become a more versatile and in-demand localization expert.