Why Translate and Localize Your Content Into Chinese?
China is no doubt one of the world’s most attractive markets. Entering this market is one of the indispensable steps in your company’s globalization plan. But all of your efforts might go nowhere if you don’t prepare a good translation and localization strategy. Why do you need to translate and localize content into Chinese? You may ask. Let’s consider 5 reasons below:
1. A Potential market of 1.4 billion people
Chinese is currently the largest population country in the world, with over 1.4 billion people in 2019. Recent research conducted by online database company Global Demographics and analytics firm Complete Intelligence shows that China population is likely to hit a ceiling in 2023. The fact speaks for itself, China’s economy still has huge room for future growth.
The Chinese market can generate millions of potential consumers for international companies, especially those in E-commerce, Healthcare, Electric vehicles, Food and Beverage, and Clean Technology industries. What’s more, the large population of China creates almost 900 million people for the workforce, making China the world’s largest manufacturer. In a nutshell, China is a fruitful market that no foreign companies should be missed. To make the most of this potential market, you should translate and localize content into Chinese with the utmost care.
2. Attachment to mother tongue
Besides cultural richness, the native language is the value that Chinese people attach great importance to. They do not put too much focus on learning foreign languages. Let’s see some figures. According to the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), China ranked at number 47 (with 51.94 scores) out of 88 countries from which the data was collected. With this score, China is classified into Low English Proficiency. So even when your company uses English – one of the most common languages in the world, it might not reach as many Chinese audiences as you expected.
By translating your websites, apps, marketing materials, and any business documents into Chinese, you increase your company’s chances to communicate with Chinese consumers. Once you get engagement from these potential consumers, your global sales will rise significantly.
3. Search engine
Google and Bing might be the top 2 search engines in the world. But in China, these two search engines only rank at number 6 and 9 respectively. Top 4 search engines in China include Baidu, Sogou, Youdao, and Shenma, all of which are tailor-made for Chinese Internet users. That means most search activities in China are conducted in Chinese. If your company visibility channels are in English or Spanish, the percentage that your target audience can find your Website and Facebook, for instance, is comparatively low. Even if they do, they still prefer making purchases in their native language.
So if you don’t translate and localize your content into Chinese, you are missing out on millions of potential customers in this billion-dollar market.
4. The boom of smartphones and the Internet
Over 800 million people in China get access to the Internet regularly that is 57.7 percent of the population. What’s more surprising is, 98% of them go online through mobile phones. In other words, Chinese people are addicted to mobile phones. Any global businesses, especially games and apps companies cannot afford to miss this fruitful market. Excellent localization products and an impressive marketing campaign will bring you closer to Chinese people.
5. A propensity for international brands
The steady economic growth of China has made a huge contribution to the improvement in Chinese people’s income. As people become wealthier, their need for luxury goods and global brand products increase. But that’s not all. Many research shows that Chinese people have a tendency to choose foreign brands over local brands even though the quality and price of both are the same. International brands can take advantage of this preference to boosts their sales in China. But first, you have to make sure that your marketing materials are translated into Chinese and attractive enough to grab local people’s attention.
With years of experience in the translation industry, we have a wide network of top-rated native in-house as well as freelance translators and editors from China. Once we receive your orders, we know exactly where to find the best linguists with long experience in translation and subject-matter expertise yet having the most competitive rates for your Chinese translation and localization projects. Contact us to get a free quote now.
