As mentioned in our post about Misconceptions in Website Translation and Localization, the planning phase of the project for a website translation and localization is crucial. Evaluating all important elements while planning will help the project go smoothly, within budget, and reach expectations and goals.

In this post we are going to cover an important planning component: Identifying and understanding your Audience for your website translation project.

Establishing Your Audience:

As previously mentioned, it is very important to know your audience when performing a translation and even more so when dealing with website translation and localization.

Who will visit your site, and why they will visit your site are the first questions to consider when planning a successful multilingual website. It is imperative to take the time to do the appropriate research on your clientele. Understanding cultural nuances of each desired market will give you a leg up over competitors as customers will find your website reliable and appealing. Take into account the following:

What countries are you going to target and why? What languages are you going to have in your website?

When it comes to a particular language that has different locales like Spanish, French, Chinese or Portuguese, you must decide whether you want to address a global population (global reach) or if you are going to speak to a region or particular locale (localization). For example, targeting Mexicans and Spaniards would require either two distinct versions of Spanish websites, or one carefully crafted website that satisfies both countries differences in cultures, etiquette, and linguistic preferences.

Do you want to address your target audience in a casual or formal way? This factor is important and varies according to cultures, the nature of your products/services, and how you want to approach your prospect customers.