Translation and localization of human-machine interfaces

It comes as no surprise that customers are increasingly bound to and reliant on digital technologies. Consumers are also now more aware of their rights and, in turn, have higher expectations of the products they want to buy. Branching out into foreign markets is a formidable challenge for many companies as it involves breaking geographical barriers which necessitates breaking language barriers as well.

Bringing functional elements in line with local standards is a proven way of broadening the circle of prospective customers. Professional design of an interface is crucial as it is the part of an application that directly interacts with the end user. If quality of service is important to a company, the texts related to its products and services must not only be translated into the customers’ language but they should also be adapted to the cultural and conventional characteristics of the target country.

Translating user interfaces requires exceptional language and technical skills and knowledge. All commands and messages must be unambiguous and comprehensible to the user while being consistent with previous versions of a product. At the same time the text must fit in well with graphical elements. Utmost attention must be paid to ensure that the text is displayed correctly and the right font size is used. Those factors affect the usability of an application or software, which is the most important criterion for rating the product quality.