Localisation services are key for anyone hoping to compete internationally

Travelling is all about exploring new places, cultures, traditions and most of the time a new language. Airlines, tour operators and hotels particularly know the importance of having of enlisting in quality localisation services for their content and speaking to their visitors and clients in their native language.

As  consumers, we do not like “guessing” what we are going to buy. Finding a website in our native language is almost an assurance for us. As you can see in the picture above, the British Airways site is translated and localised in different countries. Price and fees are converted in the local currencies in order to give the most relevant and familiar information. This sums up what localisation is all about! It doesn’t only apply to the travel industry but to almost every industry.

So what happens when we come across the website of a hotel, product or service which is poorly translated? Does it put us off from making a purchase? And even more, what if the website is only available in a language foreign to us? Would you be put off by a company who had not invested in localisation services?

The Gallup Organization has conducted a research in 2011(link to the pdf http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/flash/fl_313_en.pdf) . The results are a confirmation that translation is needed.

– A slim majority (55%) of Internet users in the EU said that they used at least one language other than their own to read or watch content on the Internet, while 44% said that they only used their own language.

– In 23 of the 27 EU Member States, at least half of Internet users used a language other than their mother tongue to read and watch content on the Web; this proportion ranged from 50% in Hungary to 90%-93% in Greece, Slovenia, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus.

-In the remaining four countries, a majority of Internet users said that they only used their own language to read and watch content on the Internet: 52% in Italy, 61% in the Czech Republic, 80% in Ireland and 85% in the UK.

-In the UK and Ireland, more than 8 in 10 respondents only used their mother tongue when writing emails, sending messages or posting comments on the Web (90% and 85%, respectively).

– In almost all countries, English was the most frequently mentioned language for reading or watching content on the Internet: the proportion of Internet users who said that they at least occasionally read or watched online content in English ranged from 35% in the Czech Republic and Italy to 90%-91% in Cyprus and Malta.

Translation is no longer a luxury and plays a vital role in international marketing, in the everyday online sales process and it should be seen as part of a bigger strategy. In an ideal scenario, your digital marketing agency and your translation provider should work together. If this is not an option, make sure your digital strategy is known by your translation partner and vice versa. 

Discuss your localisation strategy with TranslationsInLondon! We will create a customized proposal for your company!