A Study On The Localization Strategies Of Business Websites

Currently,the total value of the global gaming market exceeds 100 billion US Dollars and the Chinese gaming companies own the revenues more than 4 billion USD in overseas market.The localized websites of gaming companies are significantly effective in improving the company’s image and connecting to the world.The website localization is not only the transformation of texts,but also a communicative process that integrates perception,cultures and aesthetics.This thesis takes the websites of Chinese game companies as cases,with foreign leading gaming companies as references,to investigate the localization strategies of business websites based on qualitative and quantitative studies.On the one hand,the study summarizes the strategies adopted and explores the problems occurred during the process of business website localization.On the other hand,correspondent suggestions of solutions are provided.The analytical framework of the thesis is adapted based on the localization framework proposed by Singh et al(2009).In terms of intra-linguistic features,Skopostheorie is integrated into the framework for the analysis of translation quality.As for extra-linguistic features,cultural customization and content localization are measured.The dimension of cultural customization includes 5 variables: colors and aesthetics,target cultural symbols,cultural values,unique products / services,and web page layout.The dimension of content localization encompasses 5 aspects: customer support,policies,navigation,e-commerce readiness,and content depth.The Cultural Values Framework proposed by Singh and Pereira(2005),theories of corporate identity system,and the theories of web page layout are adapted in the localization framework to evaluate the cultural customization dimension.With regard to intra-linguistic features,according to the results of statistical research,the overall translation quality of foreign companies is significantly better than of Chinese companies.Under the scope of Skopostheorie,the website localization strategies are summarized as: deletion,addition,substitution,and reorganization.As for extra-linguistic features,foreign companies perform significantly better than Chinese companies in terms of cultural symbols,cultural values,unique products and services in cultural customization dimension,and customer support,policies,navigation,e-commerce readiness in content localization dimension.Both groups have no significant differences in terms of colors and aesthetics,web page layout,and content depth.Moreover,the results of factor analysis has proved the validity of the framework and the result is consistent with that of Chao et al(2012).The strategies of extra-linguistic features are: deletion,addition,and substitution.The study summarizes best practices in some aspects of website localization,points out the problems and provides suggestions accordingly.Intra-linguistic problems are mainly the wrong choices of translation strategies,and the inconsistency of texts.It is suggested to use translation tool or running the program codes to ensure text consistency.While problems of extra-linguistic features include: the lack of policies,of localized pages,and inappropriate web page elements for target cultures.It is advised to update the website in a timely manner and to replace those inappropriate web elements.