distribute/stories/localization.jd

page.title=Developer Stories: Localization in Google Play
meta.tags="google play, developer story, localization, global"
page.tags="stories", "video", "case study"
page.image=/images/distribute/zombie-ragdoll-n5-land.jpg
page.metaDescription=Hear from Android developers who have successfully used the Google Play App Translation Service.

@jd:body

<p>
  As you build your app and distribute it across the world through Google Play,
  localization becomes an increasingly important tool to reach more users.
  Localization involves a <a href=
  "{@docRoot}distribute/googleplay/publish/localizing.html">variety of tasks</a>, but
  most important is creating quality translations of your app's UI strings and
  marketing materials.
</p>

<p>
  Managing the translation process across multiple languages can be a
  challenge, especially if you need to locate translators on your own. Thats
  why Google Play offers the App Translation Service right from the Developer
  Console. It's a single place where you can go to source professional
  translators, get cost estimates, and then send your strings and other
  materials for translation.
</p>

<p>
  Here are some stories from developers who have used Google Play's App Translation
  Service to localize their apps and the results they've seen as they've
  expand their offerings beyond a single language.
</p>

<!-- START STORY -->

<div style="margin-bottom:2em;padding-top:10px;" id="zombieragdoll">

<h3 style="line-height:1.25em">Zombie Ragdoll: Improved user engagement<br /> with localized versions</h3>

  <img alt="" class="screenshot thumbnail" style="-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
            -moz-border-radius: 5px;
            border-radius: 5px height:78px;
            width: 78px;
            float: left;
            margin: 12px 20px 9px 20px;" src=
            "https://lh4.ggpht.com/m-Ew8c8C_nGctbP6PSPGOaVNnGFryReOE2yHXJ9Z6Prk1nsDyx5w5TmWfg-P5N3HypA=w124">

  <div style="list-style: none;height:100%;
  float: right;
  border-top: 1px solid #9C0;
  width: 220px;
  margin: 4px 20px;padding: .5em;">

    <h5>About the app</h5>

    <ul>
      <li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rvappstudios.zombieragdoll">Zombie Ragdoll</a></li>
      <li>A fun zombie-based physics game</li>
    </ul>

    <h5>Localization Results</h5>

    <ul>
      <li>Increased engagement because of appeal of the localized version</li>
      <li>80% of installs came from users of non-English languages</li>
      </ul>

    <div style="padding:.5em 0 0 1em;">
      <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rvappstudios.zombieragdoll">
        <img alt="Android app on Google Play"
         src="{@docRoot}images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png" />
      </a>

    </div>
  </div>

  <div style="line-height:1.4em;">

<p>
  The 2013 Google I/O talks about <a href=
  "https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions/326345917">Building Android
  Apps for a Global Audience</a> and <a href=
  "https://developers.google.com/events/io/sessions/326455375">Whats New for
  Developers in Google Play</a> inspired developers at RV AppStudios to go global
  from very beginning for their new game, Zombie Ragdoll. They launched Zombie
  Ragdoll in August 2013, localized into 20 languages.
</p>

<p>
  They quickly saw the impact of their decision to ship simultaneously in
  multiple languages through increased non-English installs and improved
  engagement with users worldwide. In addition, they started getting
  significant usage in countries where their apps had not been as popular
  before. They are seeing great traction in countries like Vietnam, Russia,
  Philippines and Thailand.
</p>

<p>
  Vivek Dave, founder of RV AppStudios, credits the success of Zombie Ragdoll
  to localization:
</p>

<p>
  "The value of localization is clear, it helps discoverability and helps
  connect with the users in other countries. So when the localization
  opportunity arose, we immediately jumped on it. Android is worldwide, and we
  would be severely limiting ourselves if we focused on English as the only
  language.
</p>

<p>
  "The App Translation Service offered in the Google Play Developer Console is
  extremely easy to use and the pricing is very attractive. Developers with
  limited localization experience can easily create, upload, and translate
  their app."
</p>


<p>
  RV AppStudios not only localizes the text within the game, but also localizes
  the game assets to a specific country/culture. Dave says, Users want a
  personalized experience, and by offering a localized game with translation of
  text and graphic assets, we believe users will connect at a much deeper level
  with the game.
</p>


  <div style="margin-top:8px;float:left;margin-right:24px;">
    <img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/zombie-ragdoll-n5-land.jpg" style="width:470px;">
  </div>


    <div style="margin-top:128px;">
      <p class="img-caption"><strong>Hindi version of Zombie Ragdoll</strong>:
      Localized screenshots and videos in the app's Google Play listing go a
      long way toward increasing the number of installs.</p>
    </div>

  </div>

</div> <!-- END STORY -->

<!-- START STORY -->

<div style="margin-bottom:2em;padding-top:18px;clear:both;" id="sayhichat">

<h3>SayHi Chat: Install growth and user engagement<br />
  from professional translations</h3>

  <img alt="" class="screenshot thumbnail" style="-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
            -moz-border-radius: 5px;
            border-radius: 5px height:78px;
            width: 78px;
            float: left;
            margin: 12px 20px 9px 20px;" src=
            "https://lh5.ggpht.com/qiL6CF1Hktz618T3mbGrxvm_OoeheQ78FgG7zr90C2MCRiz4IDQsbKuHT4xQGiWEU8o=w124">

  <div style="list-style: none;height:100%;
  float: right;
  border-top: 1px solid #9C0;
  width: 220px;
  margin: 4px 20px;padding: .5em;">

    <h5>About the app</h5>

    <ul>
      <li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unearby.sayhi">SayHi Chat,
      Love, Meet, Dating</a></li>
      <li>A social app to help you find people nearby</li>
    </ul>

    <h5>Localization Results</h5>

    <ul>
      <li>120% growth in language installs for new languages added</li>
      <li>~20% increase in revenue and ~50% increase in User Reviews in the new
        languages</li>
      </ul>

    <div style="padding:.5em 0 0 1em;">
      <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.unearby.sayhi">
        <img alt="Android app on Google Play"
         src="{@docRoot}images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png" />
      </a>

    </div>
  </div>

  <div style="line-height:1.4em;">

<p>
  The SayHi Chat app started out only in Japanese, Chinese and English. It soon
  became one of the most popular apps in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The
  SayHi team realized it was time to launch in more languages, as the language
  barrier was restricting how fast SayHi could grow globally. </p>

  <p>Yan Shi, senior
  developer at SayHi, says: "We checked Google Analytics for our DAU and user
  growth numbers in each country, we also looked at total Android and iOS users
  in those markets before finalizing our next set of languages.
</p>

  <div style="margin-top:8px;float:left;width:270px;">
    <img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/hichat-n5-port.jpg" style="width:240px;margin-right:48px;">
  </div>

<p>
  SayHi used the App Translation Service to launch in 13 additional languages
  in August 2013 and immediately saw 120% increase in install rates. In
  addition, they are seeing their app ranked in Top 10 apps in countries like
  Poland and Italy.
</p>

<p>Notably, they saw steady growth in Spain after replacing their previous
  non-professional Spanish translation with a professional one produced through
  the App Translation Service.</p>

<p>
  Yan Shi adds, The App Translation Service is really easy to use and
  the completion time for translation requests is very good.
</p>

    <div style="width:600px;margin-top:98px;padding:0;">
      <p class="img-caption"><strong>Arabic version of SayHi Chat</strong>:
        User engagement increased significantly with
        the localized version.</p>
    </div>

  </div>
</div> <!-- END STORY -->


<div style="margin-bottom:2em;clear:both;padding-top:18px;" id="g4a"><!-- START STORY -->

<h3 style="line-spacing:1.25em;">G4A Indian Rummy: Benefitting from ease-of-use and<br /> fast turnaround time</h3>

  <img alt="" class="screenshot thumbnail" style="-webkit-border-radius: 5px;
            -moz-border-radius: 5px;
            border-radius: 5px height:78px;
            width: 78px;
            float: left;
            margin: 12px 20px 9px 20px;" src=
            "https://lh4.ggpht.com/IxSyQgO0LWzPRoLfCrER06-0kr6aMAa2azF7eNYB30EBZAGOLYJUZulknPockbTlDYU=w124">

  <div style="list-style: none;height:100%;
  float: right;
  border-top: 1px solid #9C0;
  width: 220px;
  margin: 4px 20px;padding: .5em;">

    <h5>About the app</h5>

    <ul>
      <li><a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.games4all.android.games.indianrummy.prod">G4A Indian Rummy</a></li>
      <li>A card game in which the players try to form sets and sequences of cards</li>
    </ul>

    <h5>Localization Results</h5>

    <ul>
      <li>Double the number of users in French and German languages</li>
      <li>300% increase in user engagement with localized version</li>
      </ul>

    <div style="padding:.5em 0 0 1em;">
      <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rvappstudios.zombieragdoll">
        <img alt="Android app on Google Play"
         src="{@docRoot}images/brand/en_generic_rgb_wo_45.png" />
      </a>
    </div>
  </div>

  <div style="line-height:1.4em;">

<p>
  Games4All (G4A) is the developer of Indian Rummy and a variety of games that
  they distribute broadly to users around the world. After noticing that
  certain apps had become especially popular in specific countries, they
  decided to localize those apps. Initially they used a local agency to do
  the translation and got great results &mdash; the number of users in
  that language increased tremendously when they released the localized
  version.
</p>

<p>
  Building on that success, G4A expanded their localization goals but
  found that translation quality varied across their vendors and costs limited the
  language/game combinations they could try. That's when G4A decided to try the
  App Translation Service.
</p>

<p>
  Founder Pieter Olivier says, "When we heard that the App Translation
  Service was available in the Developer Console, we jumped at the opportunity.
  We've now been using the App Translation Service for several months and found
  that the cost per translation is much lower than with local companies and the
  process is much easier."
</p>

<p>So far, G4A has translated the game Indian Rummy into five languages through
   the App Translation Service.</p>

<p>
  Olivier continues, "The first thing we did was convert all of our texts into
  the strings.xml format. After that using the service was extremely easy and
  straightforward. In contrast, our previous experiences with translation
  agencies were much more difficult: files often required extensive conversion
  operations to make them usable, and turnaround times varied wildly.
</p>

<p>
  "With the App Translation Service, the turnaround time is usually measured in
  days instead of weeks that we were used to with traditional translation
  agencies."
</p>

  <div style="margin-top:14px;float:left;margin-right:24px;">
    <img src="{@docRoot}images/distribute/indian-rummy-n4-land.jpg" style="width:470px;">
  </div>

    <div style="margin-top:158px;">
      <p class="img-caption"><strong>Dutch
      version of Indian Rummy</strong>: Making slight changes to games rules based on
      local nuances was key to success of the game.</p>
    </div>

  </div>


</div> <!-- END STORY -->