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zh-hantEvery country has its own languages, customs, traditions, beliefs and rules of conduct. The norms in one country may differ greatly from another. When localizing for a certain region or country, you should learn more about the targeted audience & be aware of cultural differences before you take the localization decision to avoid market acceptance challenges.
What is the difference between cultural adaptation and cultural assessment?
Cultural adaptation is the normal localization/translation process through which a translator makes sure that the text adapts to the locale specifics (currency, holidays, number formats…etc.), while cultural assessment is the pre-localization process of making sure that the whole product does not challenge the cultural norms, trends and legal requirements.
We provide this service through studying the product and providing an assessment report to our customers before the localization process starts. This does not only save lots of production time, but it also can help in increasing the acceptance level of a product.
We provide this service through studying the product and providing an assessment report to our customers before the localization process starts. This does not only save lots of production time, but it also can help in increasing the acceptance level of a product.
Among the cultural differences that must be taken into consideration are:
Legal rules; such as Age rating
Use of colors
Religion
Ethics and Values
User habits
Sounds & music
Images/Photos
Censorship
Cultural assessment can be critical for industries/domains more than others. For example, when you are localizing marketing materials, campaigns, commercials or video games, you should consider the above service before actually starting the localization/translation process as it would affect many localization decision(s). Culturalization of games for example, includes identifying or adding cultural elements to a game that the players will relate to and will be relevant to their culture. Redesigning images or ensuring there are no incorrect religious references are all methods to consider when culturally adapting your product.
Censorship is also a big aspect of localization and culturalization for the MENA region. GCAM (General Commission for Audiovisual Media) is an example of the regulatory body in Saudi Arabia that monitors and supervises audio visual media content. One must consider the rules of these bodies before localizing in order to know how to mitigate the risks of having your commercial or game banned from a specific market.
Censorship is also a big aspect of localization and culturalization for the MENA region. GCAM (General Commission for Audiovisual Media) is an example of the regulatory body in Saudi Arabia that monitors and supervises audio visual media content. One must consider the rules of these bodies before localizing in order to know how to mitigate the risks of having your commercial or game banned from a specific market.