Enterprise guide to UI localization

User interface (UI) localization means adapting software for different languages and markets while keeping it fully functional, user-friendly, and on-brand.

A great localization process fits seamlessly into your development workflow, ensuring your product’s user experience stays smooth and natural for a global audience.

For example, H&M’s mobile app is as valuable to Japanese shoppers as to English-speaking Americans despite the markets’ different products and written characters.

In this case, the word ‘dresses’ has formal connotations in Japan, so the company uses the more casual ‘ワンピース’ (or ‘one-piece’). 

Accounting for different meanings ensures users of both versions can quickly find products by searching in their native languages. 

It’s a velvety-smooth shopping experience that makes them want to return. After all, 40% of consumers told CSA Research they won’t buy products in other languages. 

Meanwhile, H&M reinforces its brand across borders with matching design features and style-consistent imagery. It keeps building recognition and familiarity, whatever the location.

These careful touches have helped the Swedish retailer build a truly global presence. Antarctica aside, it ships to all continents:

Remember this, though: effective UI translation isn’t a one-time activity.

If the goal of reaching new markets is growth, success will mean more products, features, and marketing content for more audiences.

That’s why a forward-looking localization strategy that scales with your business is a must. You need the tools and tactics ready at all times to process more content without compromising quality or delaying releases.

There’s too much at stake for global enterprises to get UI localization wrong.

Technical problems cost sales and bookings. Regulatory issues lead to fines. Poor organization causes product delays.

Before we get to solving these key challenges, let’s take a closer look at what you’re up against.

We’ve all seen it: a beautiful interface in English becomes a broken mess after translation. Buttons with half-visible text. Weird typography issues. Navigation that suddenly makes no sense.

This happens because different languages need different amounts of space. It’s known as text expansion or contraction.

For instance, German words can be up to 35% longer than English ones as the language uses many compound words — like ‘Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkungen’ for ‘speed limit.’ Most Asian languages use different alphabets. Arabic reads right to left, or RTL (it’s called script directionality, if you’re interested!).

Now, consider the impact that diversity has on interface design and usability. 

Truncated words prevent users from getting the information they need to navigate effectively, making the product less valuable. Users end up logging on less often or finding an alternative.

Different text lengths can even be dangerous in some cases. 

Let’s say a medical tech company ships a product with warning messages that show fine in Spanish but get cut off in Hebrew. It’d put lives at risk. 

Or, if number formats or units of measurement differ, it’d be easy to confuse medication dosages. What a way to ruin a hard-earned brand reputation.

The simple solution to all these challenges is to use a translation tool that provides visual context. Then you can see in real time how translations impact usability (more on this later).

Every region has specific rules for digital products, all meant to protect users. 

For example, Europe has GDPR and the US has laws like COPPA and CCPA. Brazil and Japan have their own privacy regulations, too.

If your translated product doesn’t align with local requirements, you risk massive fines eating into your profit. Or even time-consuming legal issues that delay updates or launches. 

You could even be blocked from certain markets, stalling growth altogether.

The knock-on effect of all these outcomes? Reputational damage that’s hard to fix. And all because of a poorly translated privacy policy or truncated ‘opt-out’ button.

You only have to scan this list of GDPR breaches to see how easy it is for huge tech companies to violate privacy and protection laws in other countries. And how expensive it can be.

Effective project management plays a big part in preventing compliance issues. Ensure you know who’s responsible for checking local laws and quality-checking translations against them. 

We’ll get deeper into workflows and accountability shortly.

Most modern software solutions are living, breathing products. If localization can’t keep up with the dev team’s update cycle, you’re left with three bad options:

• Delay your global release and watch competitors overtake
• Rush UI translations and deliver a substandard product
• Release in some markets but not others, sparking a deluge of support inquiries

Whichever you choose, users and revenue suffer. That’s why it’s worth baking localization into the product development workflow instead of treating it as an afterthought.

That may take some extra planning and investment upfront. However, you’ll get it back and then some by avoiding last-minute scrambles and improving product design.

Rigi by XTM is an example of a software localization tool that streamlines collaboration between developers and linguists. Its real-time in-context visual previews of translated UIs let LSPs work fast without coding support. 

Which frees them to deliver high-quality translations that fit right the first time.

As we’ve established, effective UI localization has multiple stages — from planning and execution to quality assurance and publishing. The more systems you add to that mix, the more workflow friction you create.

You might have a content management system (CMS) for storing UI text and a translation management system (TMS) for linguistic assets. Meanwhile, devs use code repositories and designers stay in the Adobe suite. 

It’s far from efficient. And if you’re building for both iOS and Android, the fragmentation multiplies fast.

The lack of a single source of truth causes delayed handoffs and lost context. Not to mention the time wasted switching tools and chasing updates. It slows everything down and opens the door to errors.

In fact, Gartner found that 47% of digital workers have a hard time finding the information they need to do their jobs well, as “information and applications flood their workplace.”

The good news? There’s a better way.

The XTM product suite brings everything into one connected system:

• XTM Cloud: The core TMS that acts as a central hub for content assets and localization workflows
• XTRF: Translation business management platform for overseeing projects and handling LSP relationships
• Rigi: Provides translators with accurate visual localization context right in the UI 

These tools reduce friction and speed up delivery. They work as one or individually to help localization teams work more efficiently.

Enough about challenges and risks. Let’s talk solutions.

A repeatable, optimizable UI localization process will help you keep products in their best shape long into the future, iteration after iteration.

Here’s how to build one.

Manual processes are slow and error-prone. So, the more you can automate without compromising quality, the better.

Automation isn’t about replacing your people. It’s about freeing them to focus on tasks that need their full attention and expertise, like handling complex translations and cultural nuances.

With the right localization tech, you can: 

• Automatically route files to the right translators based on language pairs and past performance (e.g., native speakers with expertise in your target market)
• Set up rules that push updated strings straight from your codebase to your translation platform
• Trigger automated quality checks or reviewer assignments based on content type or target market

XTM in particular makes UI localization automation super simple and reliable. 

Using its three interconnected tools, you can link development, translation, and project tracking into one clean workflow, making handoffs feel less like hurdles.

This reduces delays and minimizes human error, helping teams focus on quality.

It’s also worth noting that automation is more of a ‘must-have’ than a luxury.

A 2024 study found that 85% of large firms in the US had adopted labor-replacing automation in the previous year. 80% said they’ll continue down the same path.

That means not automating will almost certainly hold you back as your competitors race past.

Without context, even the best linguists are guessing. Is ‘close’ a verb or a button label? Is ‘back’ a direction or a return action?

Mistakes happen when translators can’t see how and where a string appears in the product. Those mistakes are expensive to fix and delay releases.

Rigi solves this by letting translators preview UI screens as they work — like this:

Source: Rigi

It means they can instantly spot layout issues and understand intent to deliver translations that feel natural and fit the space.

Sure, the QA and product teams should ensure the content is accurate before release, but chances are they’ll have little to tweak.

It’s a faster, cleaner process that prevents the dreaded back-and-forth between developers and LSPs. You know the type: those drawn-out interactions that push localization projects over budget and frustrate stakeholders.

You can’t improve what you’re not measuring. So, talk to your teams to gather feedback and dig into TMS data to see where things slow down or go wrong. Then use those lessons to adjust your process.

A mix of performance, quality, and cost metrics will paint the clearest picture. 

The following key performance indicators (KPIs) are great starting points:

• Time to market. How long does it take to get from development handoff to localized release? If this decreases without impacting quality, your strategy is working.
• Translation quality. Are there recurring issues in specific markets or languages? Are reviewers flagging the same types of errors? These need further attention.
• Project spend. Are your costs increasing without an obvious reason? It could be time to revisit your vendor agreements.
• User feedback. Are users in one region bouncing more than others? Are helpdesk tickets spiking after releases? Then your localization efforts are hurting the user experience.

The Business Intelligence dashboards in XTM Cloud make it easy to track such markers and more. 

Get real-time data on translation speed, quality scores, linguist performance, plus project costs with a few clicks. So you don’t waste time chasing reports or exporting countless spreadsheets.

Filter by target language, vendor, or workflow step, then share that data with stakeholders to inform future decisions. If a particular language pair is always behind schedule or a vendor’s quality scores are dipping, you’ll spot it early.

Over time, these insights help you create a localization process that’s not just reactive, but truly responsive. One that improves with every release and sets your product up for global success.

SAP’s localization team translates more than 10 billion words a year across 87 languages. It’s a huge operation, so finding ways to work faster without losing quality is a constant priority.

One of its biggest wins came from integrating Rigi to improve three key parts of the process: language testing, in-context translation, and multilingual screenshots.

Language testing used to be clunky. Developers had to set up test systems and send over huge Word files for navigation. Testers would spot issues and log them manually using separate tools. 

This slow process was messy. And easily breakable.

With Rigi, SAP was able to switch to image-based testing.

Developers now capture UI previews once in English. Rigi displays the same screens in all languages, and testers give feedback directly in one place. No more jumping between systems or 300-page test plans.

The results:

• Testing now happens in over 40 languages at once
• Developer effort relating to translations dropped by more than 50%
• Reviewers flagged more than 26,000 issues during the pilot, many of which would’ve reached customers before

Translators benefit, too. With Rigi plugged into XTM, they can see exactly where each string appears. It’s a big step up from working with isolated text and guessing what it means.

Source: Ludecke

Their feedback? Clearer source content and fewer queries, resulting in quicker workflows.

Get the full story in our recorded webinar: Scaling Software Globally: How SAP Uses Visual Previews for Global Success.