Let’s See What Localization Is with Examples

Localization is much more than just translation; it’s about adapting every aspect of a product or service to meet the cultural and linguistic expectations of the target audience. This ensures that the product feels natural and engaging to users, providing them with a seamless experience that resonates with their preferences.

In this blog post, we’ve compiled examples from our series Let’s See What Localization Is with an Example to showcase how localization transforms content to suit different audiences effectively.

🖥 User Interface (UI):

Arabic websites are read right-to-left, while English websites are read left-to-right. Adjusting the UI layout to accommodate these reading directions ensures usability and accessibility. For instance, navigation bars, text alignment, and button placements must be mirrored to suit the reading habits of the target audience. This attention to detail makes the user interface intuitive and user-friendly, regardless of the language.

🛍Product Descriptions:

A product marketed as “fun and youthful” in one country might need to emphasize “practical and reliable” in another. Tailoring product descriptions to local preferences and values enhances market appeal.

A product marketed as “fun and youthful” in one region might need to be described as “practical and reliable” in another. This shift ensures that the product appeals to the local market and meets consumer expectations.

🌐Website Content:
Localizing website content involves more than just translation. It includes adapting cultural references, idioms, and even humor to ensure the message resonates with the local audience.

🔄In the U.S., a website might say “Let’s get the ball rolling,” an idiom meaning to start something. However, this phrase might not make sense in other countries. In a localized version for Turkey, this might be changed to “İlk adımı atalım,” which carries a similar meaning but aligns with local expressions.

📖 Want to learn more about website localization? Check out our detailed blog post on this topic.

🗣 Language and Idioms:

🗣A phrase that works well in English might not make sense in Japanese. For example, “kick the bucket” is an idiom for dying in English, but a literal translation would confuse non-English speakers. Localizing idioms and phrases makes the content relatable and engaging.

🗣In English, humor often relies on wordplay or cultural references. For example, a joke like “Why did the scarecrow win an award? Because he was outstanding in his field!” makes sense to English speakers but might not translate well. A localized version for a Turkish audience might change the humor or use a completely different joke to ensure the same effect.

🎮 Game Localization:
In The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Nintendo localized elements to create culturally relatable experiences for different audiences. For instance, in the Japanese version, Link’s voice actor was chosen to fit Japanese anime-style expectations, whereas in the English version, the voice was adjusted for Western tastes, bringing a more grounded and less stylized approach. This extends to text choices too, where certain culturally specific phrases were adapted to resonate with Western players without losing the original meaning.

Additionally, Nintendo altered some of the game’s humor to match cultural preferences. In Japan, a line of dialogue may include culturally specific jokes or idioms, which were rephrased in Western versions to be relatable while maintaining the humor and context.

📖If you want to dive deeper into game localization, we have a detailed article on our page. You can visit by clicking here.

🎬 Movie Localization

Localization in movies often involves adapting cultural references, jokes, and idioms to make them relatable to the audience.

🎬In the original version of the movie, the main character Deadpool was talking about the football legend Maradona, but in the Turkish dubbing version voiced by Harun Can, this reference was localized and changed to “Arda shot, he scored a goal”. This is one example of localization by the voice actor with the aim of establishing a closer and more familiar connection with the audience in Türkiye.

💡Such changes in cultural reference are made more meaningful to the audience through jokes, idioms or names and provide a more entertaining viewing experience for local audiences.

Localization transforms content into something much more meaningful than a simple translation. By tailoring aspects like language, humor, cultural references, and even visual design, localization helps products resonate deeply with their intended audiences.

Whether it’s adapting a website for an Arabic-speaking audience, rephrasing product descriptions to match local preferences, or rewriting a joke for cultural relevance, localization ensures that the message hits the mark every time.

If you’re looking to create impactful content that truly connects with your global audience, localization is the key.