Apple Asking Developers to Localize Apps, Opens Chinese Support Forum

[a0me]

Well, for what it is worth I've just been on a 16 day vacation in Tokyo and I can assure you that at least 90% don't speak english at all. They will get OK, yes, no and Coca-Cola. But that's all.
And oh, around half — that's 50% : ) — were using an iPhone.

Exactly. I've been living here for almost 15 years, and the vast majority of people can't even hold a basic conversation in English.
If your app isn't localized in Japanese, 99% of Japanese users won't even look at the app's description on the App Store. When you know that in Japan, iPhone is the top-selling phone - not just the top selling smartphone, not localizing your app results in ignoring a large part of the market.

Of course, as an app developer you have to ask yourself if it's worth the cost, but it's an outdated idea to think that you don't need to localize your content for being successful in foreign markets.

 

[gnasher729]

If Apple wants my apps localised they can pay for it. It's not worth my time and effort, and have never had anyone complain about any of them only being in English.

Of course you will not get complaints. People will just not use your app, they won't bother complaining.

 

[Superhai]

I can't see that Apple require you to translate your app, only suggesting it to increase your market. Apple is just showing what resources they make available, and it is of course also in their interest to see popular apps in other languages.

So, I see many asking who should pay for the translation? Of course the one making the money out of it, meaning the developer (team). If you have an app people are willing to pay for, then investing in a translation will in most cases pay off. If not then either your app is lousy (sorry to say it) and shouldn't be out anyway or you provide it for free (no ads) and in that case rather use your users to help you. If you can get 1000 more customers and getting 70 cents for each your effort has already paid off.

It is usually wise to prepare the app for localizing even if you think you will not do an actual translation and some ideas is try to use figures and pictograms instead of written text wherever it is possible (there are some caveats here however, like people being offended or not understanding certain images - I would not worry much about that however). Try to use certain imperatives or single words instead of long sentences when applicable.

When actually translating, use preferrably professionals or natives in the language. Machine translations require some profience in the language, especially with the different subtleties, negatives and similar words with entirely different meaning. Usually it is an idea to use some translation company in the country or area you target. Except for Japan and some western-european countries they are usually cheaper.

If you are developing free apps or you can't afford the risk of translating (certain speciality apps) reach out to your audience for help. Especially free no-ad apps will easily fins someone. For certain translators or linguists who just finished education or are un-employed, it is something they can put on their CV and will have benefitted even when you did not have to pay a dime.

So do people know english? Most people don't. Many have some basic understanding of simple words, but anything more complicated and they will give in. Even those who knows will know people who don't, and if they are to help them they will suggest to them an app in a language they know. Also for me I use iPhone in my native language and an app who are properly translated will be part of the same experience. However this is more noticably on the Mac or a PC. On the mobile devices the apps are rarely integrated, but especially hooks from other apps do look akward when you have two different languages. So you want to avis these apps.

Which language to translate? I suggest starting with one of the big ones first, then you will experience the pitfalls and if it works for you. Chinese covers most of China of course, Taiwan and also many Southeast-asians (however they will most likely also know some english) Russian is known by Russia and former Soviet Union countries, Spanish and Portuguese covers Latin-America and Spain and Portugal as well as some parts of the Caribbean, Arabic in the middle-east as well as french in certain countries. All these areas have rarher poor English knowledge. South-asia is another bag however and those who are literate knows written english fairly well and all the languages there are written in different scripts as well, so I would put them lower on the list.

When you find a translation company try to make some agreement for updates as well, you want them translated also. If you are translating, do it properly in all aspects of the apps. Poor and lacking translations may end up counter-productive.

Last I wish Apple would make some provisions for bi-/multilinguals as it is a pain to write English with a foreign auto-correct - which also pollutes that one.

 

[rmwebs]

Of course you will not get complaints. People will just not use your app, they won't bother complaining.

Maybe so, but for most developers there is next to zero benefit in paying to localize an app. For a very basic app you're looking at a minimum of $1500 per language. This isn't taking into account things like repeat translation work, time to implement translations (which if your app isn't already localised, may as well be a rewrite), etc.

It's all well and good Apple saying 'localise your apps' but realistically, its a pointless and expensive move for developers with virtually no way of making a reasonable return of investment. Sure, for 'big' apps that are regularly in the charts, it's a worth while expense, but given that over 90% of apps will be fairly low volume (in comparison to the top 100), its not worth even looking at.

 

[biel]

hey guys, i can help you translate your app to Brazilian Portuguese... just send me a message!!

 

[firewood]

Has anyone seen any statistics or other analysis on how much Internationalization of an average app (previously English only) will increase sales, preferably per each major language? e.g. Which language will likely provide the most "bang for the buck"?

Getting multiple new translations done for every app update can get pretty expensive.

 

[etrinh]

Wow. People have really bad attitudes. You need to think about it more constructively. Hypothetically, If spending $1000 gets you $4000 vs spending $500 gets you $1000, as a developer what do you choose? Of course you factor in maintenance costs and other issues with app development but you are willing to give up on potential sales/profit because from what I am reading it's: 1) costly 2) a pain to manage 3) Apples problem?

 

[Superhai]

Has anyone seen any statistics or other analysis on how much Internationalization of an average app (previously English only) will increase sales, preferably per each major language? e.g. Which language will likely provide the most "bang for the buck"?

Getting multiple new translations done for every app update can get pretty expensive.

Statistics is not always telling, as it depends on the app. A popular app with just a few simple english phrases, will propably not gain as much as a more complicated one. But it also comes to the description in the app store, it is part of your advertisement, and if the user don't understand why it should buy your app he or she won't.

What Apple could have provided was templates for different legal licensing and privacy texts, and translate and let developers use them. Because those are the most costly as they should be proofed by a lawyer or similar. They are also almost similar, but could really help smaller developers.

Other than that you will find that a translation is much cheaper than it seem many are thinking here. Just shop around.

 

[firewood]

Wow. People have really bad attitudes. You need to think about it more constructively. Hypothetically, If spending $1000 gets you $4000 vs spending $500 gets you $1000, as a developer what do you choose?

Most apps do not produce a lot of revenue. The risk that the vast majority of developers face is spending $500 or $1000 on some translations, and then seeing only $400 or less in increased International revenue over the life of an app or app update. Money down the drain.

 

[seyo]

where the hell is the new Mac Pro???

 

[flottenheimer]

If Apple wants my apps localised they can pay for it. It's not worth my time and effort, and have never had anyone complain about any of them only being in English.

It is presented as a reminder of an opportunity to you.

Translation for many apps represents a relatively small amount of work in comparison to the many, many, many hours of work that has gone into a polished app of almost any kind.
If you ask for translation help — and perhaps even offer a promotion code, I'm pretty sure you could find people willing to do the translation for you. The internet is filled with people willing to help.

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This isn't true. I have recently released TodoMovies 2.0 (http://www.taphive.com/todomovies/) ...

Great work. Really nice looking app!
...and PS: Was your ad shot in Copenhagen?

 

[bushido]

i can see that it may be hard work but to be honest i have yet to see an app that isnt in german on my iphone

 

[JosephAW]

Right now Apple is asking for localization. Eventually it will be required just like iPhone 5 screen support and retina display support. But don't worry. For an annual fee they will help you translate as long as you keep paying in. If you cancel they will pull your app.

And even it you localize your app will all countries allow your app in there store? There are apps from other countries that you can not download because I use the American iTunes Store and their governing rules are different than ours.

 

[gnasher729]

Maybe so, but for most developers there is next to zero benefit in paying to localize an app. For a very basic app you're looking at a minimum of $1500 per language. This isn't taking into account things like repeat translation work, time to implement translations (which if your app isn't already localised, may as well be a rewrite), etc.

It's all well and good Apple saying 'localise your apps' but realistically, its a pointless and expensive move for developers with virtually no way of making a reasonable return of investment. Sure, for 'big' apps that are regularly in the charts, it's a worth while expense, but given that over 90% of apps will be fairly low volume (in comparison to the top 100), its not worth even looking at.

Well, that's up to the developer, isn't it? If they are capable of writing code in Objective-C, they should also be capable of doing some simple maths. How many apps per million citizens do you sell in the USA and in the UK? How many in France, Germany, Italy? Do you sell less? Do you think it might be because your app isn't localized? Do you have competitors, where you either lose out because their app is localized and yours isn't, or who you could beat by localizing? Estimate how many additional sales you'll have by localizing, and how much additional revenue; compare to the cost of localization. Simple maths.

I can't see what people are moaning about here. Apple reminds people that they might be leaving money on the table. The business decision is up to the developer. Yes, if you made $1,000 from English versions, then you won't recoup a $1,500 investment in a French version. If you made $100,000 from English versions, you will.

And a bit of common sense: You might know someone who is fluent in one non-english language and can do a translation cheaply. So that is one localization that you could try out. Translating into Japanese or German will get you more additional sales than Portuguese, or Icelandic. So you can start with a small investment and see what happens.

 

[SoGood]

So who is going to pay for the translators to translate my stuff into French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and Arabic "just to start"?

Is it even worth it? I get sales from China and Japan all the time. A few months ago a Japanese blog/website "featured" my app by writing a nice review out of nowhere, which followed up by a few thousand sales that very same day. Not a single person asked about translations, but I did get several well written emails in english (more well written then most emails I get from english speaking folks, fancy that) asking about future features and tweaks.

It would be nice if Apple offered some kind of statistics on what I can expect in return for localizing, since doing so is neither straight forward nor cost free for me as a developer. It costs me enough of my own time to produce an english only application. I can't imagine trying to juggle 20 different languages and keeping those localization files up to date across application updates with UI tweaks.

Depending on the quality of your wares obviously and potentially short-sighted. If it's a crappy app, then no amount of localisation will turn it into a commercial success. If it's quality, then localisation will simply expand the potential market space. With the iPhone/iPad penetrating the core societies, there'll be at least 8 potential customers who are more comfortable using a localised app than struggling in English. So if you are seeing thousands out of one local review, then localisation will dramatically expand your market there and sustain it. Without, you'll find localised copy-cat apps quickly take over what should have been your. That's international business and it's a question of whether you have what it takes to capture it.

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And a bit of common sense: You might know someone who is fluent in one non-english language and can do a translation cheaply. So that is one localization that you could try out. Translating into Japanese or German will get you more additional sales than Portuguese, or Icelandic. So you can start with a small investment and see what happens.

+1

Further, in many of those countries there are often enthusiastic geek who are willing to offer their language skill for a simple credit. Shuttering oneself of the options available is not exactly wise.

 

[fujitsu]

Apple can have *everything* they produce localized. But a small developer? Probably not. Since English is used in pretty much every country by the well-educated, I think it's not of major importance to spend money on all those langs.

I have to agree on you with that one.

Big firms may have the budget to localize their apps but small ones will probably not have the resources for it.

Small developers should find alternative/inexpensive ways for them to translate their app to different languages.

 

[firewood]

Small developers should find alternative/inexpensive ways for them to translate their app to different languages.

They have. They use google (mis)translate to produce some near gibberish that they haven't a clue how bad it looks to a native. You can find tons of apps with English descriptions that are just as badly translated in the App store. No idea whether this helps or hurts sales of the typical (doesn't sell in high volumes) app.

 

[LastMinuteMike]

Well, for what it is worth I've just been on a 16 day vacation in Tokyo and I can assure you that at least 90% don't speak english at all. They will get OK, yes, no and Coca-Cola. But that's all.
And oh, around half — that's 50% : ) — were using an iPhone.

Just ask your App users for some help. I just did a Danish translation of Little Things Forever for free, because I wanted my kids to be able to play it. I'm sure there are a lot of people willing to help out.

PS: Sad to see that Danish is not on Apples 'important languages' list. It's a small country, but iPhones and children with iPhones are everywhere.

Yeah, I felt like the Scandinavian languages should have been on that list too. Basically everyone and their grandma has an iPhone over here! But I guess since basically 99% of Scandinavians speak English - and we do it pretty darn good as well, Apple thought localization for us isn't as urgent

 

[Compile 'em all]

Great work. Really nice looking app!
...and PS: Was your ad shot in Copenhagen?

Thank you, good sir! Yes, it was shot in Copenhagen .

 

[vmachiel]

Hmm, rather have my apps stay in English. Somehow when I see apps or games in my native language, I feel they're.... not as good. I'm weird I know

 

[gnasher729]

They have. They use google (mis)translate to produce some near gibberish that they haven't a clue how bad it looks to a native. You can find tons of apps with English descriptions that are just as badly translated in the App store. No idea whether this helps or hurts sales of the typical (doesn't sell in high volumes) app.

The way that localization works is that every user has a list in which order they prefer localized versions. If an Italian user sets that order to Italian / Spanish / English / all the others in some random order, then without an Italian translation they'll probably get the English one, which they other understand or they don't. So some may become customers, some may not. If you provide a rubbish Italian localization, that's what they see, and they will run for miles.

 

[simonmet]

That's nice.

So who is going to pay for the translators to translate my stuff into French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, and Arabic "just to start"?

Is it even worth it? I get sales from China and Japan all the time. A few months ago a Japanese blog/website "featured" my app by writing a nice review out of nowhere, which followed up by a few thousand sales that very same day. Not a single person asked about translations, but I did get several well written emails in english (more well written then most emails I get from english speaking folks, fancy that) asking about future features and tweaks.

It would be nice if Apple offered some kind of statistics on what I can expect in return for localizing, since doing so is neither straight forward nor cost free for me as a developer. It costs me enough of my own time to produce an english only application. I can't imagine trying to juggle 20 different languages and keeping those localization files up to date across application updates with UI tweaks.

-SC

What's your app SC?

 

[thewitt]

They have. They use google (mis)translate to produce some near gibberish that they haven't a clue how bad it looks to a native. You can find tons of apps with English descriptions that are just as badly translated in the App store. No idea whether this helps or hurts sales of the typical (doesn't sell in high volumes) app.

Machine translations are worthless.

You need to be serious about offering your app and support in multiple languages if you do nothing at all.

The first time you get a Chinese or Japanese email to customer support, you will understand your folly if you don't have support options in place.

You do NOT need in house staff, however you do need to be ready to pay someone to support your alternative languages.

 

[Manderby]

It is not so much the translation which is costly, but preparing the software to support it is cumbersome. Even just preparing your resources for multiple languages costs you one to many hours if you have never done it before. Going through your app and translating all user interfaces and strings costs you days. And when the code did not support Unicode for example (which there can be various reasons for), you are in for a real pain.

And the translation itself is organized in a way that you quickly become dependent on translators. Over and over again.

That said, I did saw some increased sales due to a localized description in the AppStore in my maternal language. Some. But I don't have much to compare with anyways.

Beside that: Localized apps are not always helpful or even better for your sales. Bad translations are bad. And nobody can guarantee you that a translator will produce good translations. Even the translations of some big companies are just facepalmeristic, MS being one of the most amusing sources.

 

[joemod]

Machine translations are worthless.

You need to be serious about offering your app and support in multiple languages if you do nothing at all.

The first time you get a Chinese or Japanese email to customer support, you will understand your folly if you don't have support options in place.

You do NOT need in house staff, however you do need to be ready to pay someone to support your alternative languages.

By reading this and one of your previous posts, I understand that you are working in a company with many developers. Such a company must have directors, business plans, an owner who is willing to invest money to open foreign office in order to get more money later.
There are also developers such as Scottish Captain who is probably (I guess so from his posts) working solo. Such developers don't have much time to create localized versions by themselves, so they have to hire others to do this work for them. This requires investment for creating, testing and providing support which means that the developer should also do the business plan of localization. Too much effort and too time consuming in my humble opinion.