Localization Services
Adapt your digital products for every market, not just translate them. We localize software, websites, apps, games, and e-learning in more than 200 languages — handling the interface, the formats, the culture, and the code — so your product feels native everywhere it ships.
Products targeting Chinese users localize across Simplified and Traditional scripts: our Chinese translation services page explains how script, region, and terminology choices are made.
Operating to ISO 9001 and 17100 standards · Women-owned (WBENC), SAM.gov-registered · Translation memory & connectors · 200+ languages · Serving clients since 2005
Localization is what separates a product that was translated from one that was built for the market. It is not enough to convert the words: interface strings have to fit their buttons, dates and currencies have to follow local convention, right-to-left languages have to mirror the layout, code has to handle other character sets without breaking, and the whole experience has to feel like it was designed for the user rather than ported to them. That blend of language, culture, and engineering is what we do. For two decades we have localized digital products for companies expanding worldwide, and this page is the front door to that work — choose the product type that fits your need below.
Localization services we provide
Each kind of digital product brings its own files, constraints, and testing needs, so we organize the work into focused services handled by specialists in each:
- Software localization — desktop, enterprise, and SaaS applications.
- Website localization — sites, web apps, and CMS-driven content.
- App localization — iOS, Android, and cross-platform mobile apps.
- Video game localization — UI, dialogue, assets, and localization QA.
- E-learning localization — courses, SCORM/LMS content, and multimedia.
Choosing Language Variants
Description of the main language variants chosen today along comments on the best choice strategies.
Spanish
(a) Mexican: Mexican Spanish is the most sought variety. Mexican Spanish is well accepted in both the US and other Latin American countries. It is also a consistent Spanish variant since there is a qualified pool of resources in Mexico
(b) Neutral: Neutral Spanish is an imaginary type of Spanish, which doesn’t exist anywhere. Some LSPs, for marketing reasons, came up with the idea of a Spanish that wouldn’t use grammar or spelling particular to just one country. Although we can direct our Spanish translators to avoid localisms, it is actually impossible produce a Spanish content that will read perfect in every single country.
Neutral Spanish translations should be assigned to our Argentinean translators. Argentinean translations are well accepted in other Latin countries while not being so particular to a single country like the Mexican variant
(c) Hispanic: Hispanic Spanish usually refers to the Spanish variant spoken within the US. While there isn’t a pure variety of Spanish spoken in the US, we can provide a Spanish variant targeting US residents by assigning US-born Spanish translators. Such translators are aware of the current usage of idioms, and they can implement an American stylized version of the Spanish language.
(d) Latin American: Similar to “Neutral Spanish”. Latin American Spanish, just like Neutral Spanish translations, should be assigned to our Argentinean translators. Argentinean translations are well accepted in other Latin countries while not being so particular to a single country like the Mexican variety
(e) Spaniard: Probably the least sought variety of Spanish. Few clients will be concerned with the Spaniard markets due to its small size compared to other Spanish-speaking markets like Mexico or Latin America.
Cultural Aspects and Local Regulations
a) Brand appropriateness
Check if there is a meaning for the brand name in the target country. We have seen several instances of brand names that would have a profane meaning in certain target countries. If the client chooses to proceed with a bad-choice brand name in the target country, make sure to document in written such choice by the client
b) Register
Some cultures will prefer serious styles for business (e.g.: Hispanics in general) while others will be more concerned with effectiveness (e.g.: North Americans). Client should choose the appropriate style based on:
- Target country
- Audience
- Knowledge area
- Desired effect
c) Grammar / Spelling
- Check the governing language authority for the target country
- Most countries will have a language governing entity. In Spain, for instance, there is the Royal Spanish Academy. They choose what is right and what is wrong in the Spanish language.
- For some countries like Brazil, multiple systems may coexist. The Brazil-Portugal Reform of the Portuguese language became effective in 2009, but some clients still want our writers to use the previous set of rules.
d) Personal Name
- Name orders: check on first / last name order. Latin countries, for instance, will not use last name as often as the US or the UK
- Titles
Titles should be properly used in the content. Some countries will use a title along the first name instead of the last one (e.g.: Mr. John instead of Mr. Smith).
- Colors: meaning of colors will vary greatly among different countries. Black and red are two of the most difficult colors to use universally
c) Political issues
- Assess which facts could be troublesome when writing the content
- Common political issues include geographical disputes and disputed borders
d) Social issues
Social aspects that may be important during the content writing include:
- Ethnicity
- Clothing
- Socioeconomic status
- Conventions
- Taboos
- Religions
- Superstition
Local Regulations
Clients and projects will need to meet different regulations. While some segments (e.g.: medical content) may be highly regulated, others (e.g.: giftware) may have fewer requirements.
- Local privacy requirements
- Additional required disclaimers (e.g.: California)
- Specific labeling requirements
- Encryption and data access by local authorities
- Taxation
- Government assigned documents
- Battery Sizes
- Voltage and current standards
- Others
Download a PDF version of our Localization Checklist
Language codes and nomenclature
Top 100 languages according to observed demand over the last 10 years of business at The Translation Company Group.
| Language | ISO 639-1 | All Names |
| Afrikaans | AF | Afrikaans |
| Albanian | SQ | Albanian |
| Arabic | AR | Arabic |
| Armenian | HY | Armenian |
| Azerbaijani | AZ | Azerbaijani |
| Basque | EU | Basque |
| Belarusian | BE | Belarusian |
| Bengali | BN | Bengali |
| Bokmål, Norwegian | NB | Bokmål, Norwegian; Norwegian Bokmål |
| Bosnian | BS | Bosnian |
| Bulgarian | BG | Bulgarian |
| Burmese | MY | Burmese |
| Castilian | ES | Spanish; Castilian |
| Catalan | CA | Catalan; Valencian |
| Chechen | CE | Chechen |
| Chewa | NY | Chichewa; Chewa; Nyanja |
| Chinese | ZH | Chinese |
| Croatian | HR | Croatian |
| Czech | CS | Czech |
| Danish | DA | Danish |
| Dutch | NL | Dutch; Flemish |
| English | EN | English |
| Estonian | ET | Estonian |
| Finnish | FI | Finnish |
| Flemish | NL | Dutch; Flemish |
| French | FR | French |
| Georgian | KA | Georgian |
| German | DE | German |
| Greek, Modern (1453-) | EL | Greek, Modern (1453-) |
| Greenlandic | KL | Kalaallisut; Greenlandic |
| Guarani | GN | Guarani |
| Gujarati | GU | Gujarati |
| Haitian | HT | Haitian; Haitian Creole |
| Haitian Creole | HT | Haitian; Haitian Creole |
| Hawaiian | Hawaiian | |
| Hebrew | HE | Hebrew |
| Hindi | HI | Hindi |
| Hungarian | HU | Hungarian |
| Icelandic | IS | Icelandic |
| Indonesian | ID | Indonesian |
| Italian | IT | Italian |
| Japanese | JA | Japanese |
| Javanese | JV | Javanese |
| Kannada | KN | Kannada |
| Kashmiri | KS | Kashmiri |
| Kongo | KG | Kongo |
| Korean | KO | Korean |
| Kurdish | KU | Kurdish |
| Lao | LO | Lao |
| Latin | LA | Latin |
| Latvian | LV | Latvian |
| Luxembourgish | LB | Luxembourgish; Letzeburgesch |
| Macedonian | MK | Macedonian |
| Malay | MS | Malay |
| Malayalam | ML | Malayalam |
| Maltese | MT | Maltese |
| Marathi | MR | Marathi |
| Moldavian | RO | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan |
| Moldovan | RO | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan |
| Mongolian | MN | Mongolian |
| Navaho | NV | Navajo; Navaho |
| Navajo | NV | Navajo; Navaho |
| Nepali | NE | Nepali |
| Norwegian | NO | Norwegian |
| Norwegian Bokmål | NB | Bokmål, Norwegian; Norwegian Bokmål |
| Persian | FA | Persian |
| Polish | PL | Polish |
| Portuguese | PT | Portuguese |
| Punjabi | PA | Panjabi; Punjabi |
| Pushto | PS | Pushto; Pashto |
| Romanian | RO | Romanian; Moldavian; Moldovan |
| Russian | RU | Russian |
| Serbian | SR | Serbian |
| Slovak | SK | Slovak |
| Slovenian | SL | Slovenian |
| Spanish | ES | Spanish; Castilian |
| Swahili | SW | Swahili |
| Swati | SS | Swati |
| Swedish | SV | Swedish |
| Tagalog | TL | Tagalog |
| Tahitian | TY | Tahitian |
| Tajik | TG | Tajik |
| Tamil | TA | Tamil |
| Tatar | TT | Tatar |
| Telugu | TE | Telugu |
| Thai | TH | Thai |
| Tibetan | BO | Tibetan |
| Tonga (Tonga Islands) | TO | Tonga (Tonga Islands) |
| Uighur | UG | Uighur; Uyghur |
| Ukrainian | UK | Ukrainian |
| Urdu | UR | Urdu |
| Uzbek | UZ | Uzbek |
| Valencian | CA | Catalan; Valencian |
| Vietnamese | VI | Vietnamese |
| Welsh | CY | Welsh |
| Xhosa | XH | Xhosa |
| Yiddish | YI | Yiddish |
| Zhuang | ZA | Zhuang; Chuang |
| Zulu | ZU | Zulu |
Numbers, addresses, currencies and dates
Numerical
a) Numbers
- Check decimal separator
- Check digit grouping
b) Measurement
- Metric System
- Imperial System
- United States Customary Units
Check if we should use only main system or dual system. Some clients choose to present multiple systems to cover different markets with the same localized material (e.g.: US/Metric in a French document to be used in France and Canada as well)
c) Phone Numbers
- Phone format: use official format
Addresses
a) Official
- Based on national postal service
b) SEO-driven
- Google will have specific requirements for SEO and online map features to operate properly. Such requirements not always match the official standard from the target country. Check if they match. If they don’t, client should choose which one should be used
Currency
a) Currencies
- Single or multiple currencies in the target country
- If multiple, check which one(s) should be used.
b) Symbol and Usage
- Define proper currency symbol and usage
- Choice for ISO or country-preferred codes
Dates
a) Dates
- Define proper format for dates
b) Time
- Define proper format for time
- Time zone may be UTC (international) or location-based (e.g.: name of the city). Location-based time zones should be used unless specified otherwise by the client
c) Calendar
- Check if there is more than one calendar in use (e.g.: for Israel)
- The Gregorian calendar should be used unless specified otherwise by the client
More than translation
The engineering side of localization is where projects succeed or fail, and we handle it end to end. We extract translatable strings from your resource files and put them back without touching the code, manage text expansion and contraction so nothing overflows a button or truncates a label, and localize the details users notice — dates, numbers, currencies, units, addresses, and sort orders. We support right-to-left scripts and bidirectional layouts, get encoding and fonts right so every character renders, and respect placeholders, variables, and string length limits so functionality survives translation intact.
Localization technology: memory, connectors, and continuous localization
Modern products do not ship once; they ship continuously, and our tooling is built for that reality. Translation memory stores everything we have translated for you so repeated and updated strings are reused — consistent, faster, and cheaper every release — while termbases keep product names and UI terms uniform across the whole experience. We work in standard localization file formats (JSON, XML, PO, .strings, .resx, YAML, and more) and connect to your repositories, CMS, and TMS through APIs and connectors, so new and changed strings flow to us and back automatically. For agile teams, this enables continuous localization: translations keep pace with your sprints instead of bottlenecking the release.
Linguistic and functional QA
Localization is not done when the strings come back; it is done when the localized build works. We review translations in context so wording fits the actual screen, then perform localization QA on the running product — checking for truncation, overlap, broken layouts, encoding errors, and functional bugs introduced by the localized content. You receive a product that has been seen and tested in each language, not just a file of translated strings handed back untested.
Languages we cover
We localize into more than 200 languages and locales, with attention to the regional variants that matter — Latin American versus European Spanish, Simplified versus Traditional Chinese, Brazilian versus European Portuguese. The most requested include Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Portuguese, Italian, Arabic, and Russian, with additional locales sourced on request.
Why companies choose us
We are a family-run, women-owned (WBENC) firm, registered in SAM.gov, with more than two decades of localization experience and most of our linguists on board for over ten years. We deliver in-house rather than brokering, pair linguists with localization engineers, and fit our tooling to your release process. Localization pairs naturally with our e-commerce content work and our technical translation for the manuals behind the product. Talk with our CEO: book a complimentary consultation with Camila Saunier to plan your localization.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between translation and localization?
Translation converts words; localization adapts an entire product — interface, formats, culture, and code — so it works and feels native in each market. Localization includes translation plus engineering and QA.
Do you work from our code and file formats?
Yes. We handle standard formats (JSON, XML, PO, .strings, .resx, YAML, and more), extract and reinsert strings without touching code, and connect to your repo, CMS, or TMS via APIs and connectors.
Can you support continuous localization for agile releases?
Yes. With translation memory and connectors, new and changed strings flow to us and back automatically, so localization keeps pace with your sprints.
Do you test the localized product, not just translate strings?
Yes. We review in context and run localization QA on the build, checking for truncation, layout issues, encoding errors, and functional bugs in each language.
Which languages do you cover?
More than 200 languages and locales, including regional variants, with the most common being Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and Arabic.
Request a localization quote
Tell us the product, the file formats, and your target markets and release cadence, and we will scope the right approach and a clear quote — at no cost to ask.
Book a complimentary session with our CEO, Camila Saunier, or email [email protected] or call 800.725.6498.