Dear Language Friend,

A firm understanding of Chinese localization is essential in order to attract Chinese consumers.

Nowadays, Chinese consumers are turning to the internet more and more as a source of information on goods and services, and this is why it's critical for businesses wanting to profit from this growing market to have a  Chinese website. A Chinese website will act as a marketing tool, attract new customers, give you a competitive edge and ultimately increase your revenue.

Today’s newsletter aims to underline the importance of web localization and give you some tips in order to be efficient and effective in the Chinese market.

Translating your content is only a part of the process that makes your website appropriate for a target market. Chinese localization involves adapting the website’s language, functionality and appearance to meet the needs of Chinese markets.

Contributed by Gaia Urati.

Thanks for reading.

Lenka de Graafova, 
Managing Director and the LingoStar Team

 

 What are Chinese consumers attracted by?

  Super busy websites with java and flashes  

 Symmetrical design

 Tangibility

 Clear navigational structure

 Visual, colorful and contextual clues

 Interactive & posting forums

 

 What do Chinese consumers look for?

 Special offers

 Post-sales service

 Cash on delivery payment (credit cards are not as commonly used)

 Product safety description

 Consumer review, discussion boards and blogs (59% of Chinese population is influenced by these kinds of online spaces when deciding on a purchase, compared to only 19% of the American counterpart)

 Respect, Transparency and Trust. A culturally and linguistically adapted webpage is seen as a sign of trust and respect.

 

You may have already heard the infamous story of Coca-Cola's mistranslation into Chinese. When Coca-Cola was first sold in China, it was obvious that they needed to translate the trademark into Chinese. They looked for a phonetic equivalent with little regard for the meaning of the Chinese characters and came up with a word that sounded like Coca-Cola but  meant, “bite the wax tadpole”. Chinese speakers caught the odd and inappropriate meaning straightaway and helped to avoid a huge public embarassment.  This is one reason why it is important to have native speakers translate and review a website when localizing it from English into other languages.

 

 How can LingoStar help?

Our process of website localization starts with LingoStar sending you a Creative Brief where we ask questions about your target audience and the purpose of the translation. Based on your detailed requirements, we will analyze your current site, understand the purpose of your site, help define your target audience and take care of the translation of the website content into Chinese. Our project managers and qualified translators will look at the structure of your site: the use of colors, pictures, logos and overall presentation to make sure that it will appeal to a Chinese audience. They may advise on how you can improve the use of colors, date and calendar formats, etc. For example, the color red is considered auspicious in China.

Call and email us for further information. We will be happy to provide a free initial consultation so you have all your localization questions answered.