Multi-language product: what to keep in mind
Simple considerations that are obvious once you know them, but are not self-explanatory if you have not worked with multi-language. I’ve compiled a list of things learned on-the-go so you don’t have to.
They are loosely grouped in three categories:
- technology-related
- copy and translation-related
- translation management
Technology-related
Some back-end data can and should be localized. Things like date, time, currency, numbers often have a varying format depending on the locale. Make sure to re-format these data points to match the user’s preferred language or the location.
Use a font that supports different scripts and special characters. This is somewhat of a brand/UI decision here, and not every product personality will match the ‘catch-all’ fonts like Roboto or Noto. It is good to keep in mind that some languages will therefore need an additional, different font to be used. While this is a valid choice, it can look quite funky when two fonts are present on the same screen.
Sorting in languages with a non-alphabetical script will need a special approach. Wait what? Languages such as Chinese do not use alphabet in their writing (every character is a word), having an ‘alphabetical order’ would be a list of all existing words in an order. This sounds unbelievable if you have not dealt with this before, but there isn’t even a universal way to order the characters — my Chinese-speaking colleague had to research how to go about it. Long story short: if you have non-alphabetical languages and have items that need to be ordered, beware that this will need a small googling round.
Check out some UX-related insights from my older article.
Copy and translation-related
A more ‘mechanical’-sounding copy is more suitable for texts involving {variables}. Different languages can have quite complex conjugations, word order or even plurals. Example: The text ‘Items in basket: {X}’ is more likely to work well when translated to multiple languages than ‘{X} items in basket’. This seems a small difference, but the second text implies there are at least two text strings (for singular and plural), and it will still not work with sole Slavic languages where you have two types of plurals.
You might need to define per scenario if you follow the location or the user’s preferred language for localizing content. In most of the cases this is pretty straightforward, but in some more unique cases (think a complex customer portal, or a multi-country purchasing flow) you might need to define exceptions cases when a date, currency or language differs from the standard approach — should you show it in the user’s preferred language/format; in the format that suits the country on the app; or the format of the geographical location where the user is currently in. It often feels like walking on eggshells because the more you think about the more exceptions on exceptions you come up with. I don’t have a silver bullet solution for this, but it is good to be aware of this scenario.
Managing translations
Set up a scalable approach from the get-go, preferably with a dedicated tool. No matter how small and simple you start, make sure to think of how you will manage translations long-term: what do we do when another language is added? How do we manage texts when some of them are updated but the new translations are not available for all languages? How do we work with duplicates? How do we deprecate texts? Who should be able to edit them? How do we version control? These questions will inevitably come up, and it’s better to have something set up from the start, rather than migration later. This will for sure spare you some headaches.
Governance — make sure there is a decision-maker. Most of the time this is not an issue, but some copy is sensitive or causes a lot of discussion between the stakeholders, marketing and/or design. It’s good to have one person with a mandate to take a final decision if they cannot reach consensus.
These are my main takeaways from dealing with a multi-language product. What are the things that you learned on the go, which seem obvious in hindsight?
