Guide to localizing applications for the Chinese market. Part 1

Application localization is a mandatory item in each developer’s task list for 2017. Why? Because increasingly it turns out that this is an effective way to gain market share and increase sales worldwide. No matter what localization you started from: do it right for the Chinese market - and you will break the bank.



Since 2013, China has become the world leader in the number of smartphone owners, and today it is already the largest application market in the world. Here we are talking about revenues in the amount of more than 25 billion dollars as of 2016 and 42 billion dollars - by 2020 (according to forecasts).



Yes, the Chinese market is really impressive. And last but not least, due to the large number of smartphone owners: 1.3 billion potential buyers of your application (and this number is growing). Users from China today spend five times more than two years ago, and when it comes to technology and gadgets, they are simply insatiable.

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Sounds good, right? But make no mistake: it’s a long way to go from creating an app to its release in Chinese app stores. Localization of applications for China is not at all easy: you have to adapt the application for a completely different consumer, who has little or no connection to those who use your application now.



Then you will need to remake the application for another culture, learn how to comply with local laws, translate everything into Chinese, and finally start to intelligently promote the product. Without taking the relevant experience, how to tackle this will be discussed in this tutorial on application localization for the Chinese market.



Transferred to Alconost

1. Android or iOS? What statistics say

Whether you are an application developer or product manager, you already know that iOS and Android differ in many ways. If you look at the number of smartphone users and their buying behavior, the difference becomes obvious. In addition, in China, the application market does not look like in the West.



In 2016, less than a quarter of Chinese smartphones were running on the iOS operating system. Nevertheless, Apple fans in China are usually loyal to the brand, and this gives iOS apps a regular audience. Entering the Chinese market through the iOS app store is easier, because in this case the optimization rules for the Apple Store (ASO) and the rankings are the same all over the world.



Apple managed to settle down well: in 2015, China ranked second (after the US) in spending on iOS apps, and the company itself earned more than $ 3 billion in revenue. And in 2016, China bypassed the United States by more than 15%.



The Android platform, on the other hand, dominates the local market, but for a developer not from China, there are many difficulties in this case. It is known that Google is not able to maintain a stable presence in the Chinese market. Regarding applications, it looks like this: the prolonged absence of the Google Play store - and more than 200 local app stores, each with its own rules.



And in order to localize the Android application in China, you will have to negotiate separately with each store: receive a certificate for the application in each of them and each time you publish in a new store, go through quality control from beginning to end.



The most popular app stores for Android smartphones in China:

• Tencent Myapp App Store , owned by the Chinese social networking giant Tencent;
  
  
• 360 Mobile Assistant , which has more than 275 million active users;
  
  
• Baidu Mobile Assistant with a share of 16% of all application users in China.
  
  

Also in China, some smartphone manufacturers and operators have their own stores where they can sell their app: Xiaomi App Store, Huawei App Store , as well as several stores from operators, for example, China Unicom WoStore and China Telecom Tianyi Store .



Entering the Chinese market simultaneously with two versions of applications — for iOS and Android — is an expensive undertaking that rarely justifies itself. Therefore, you should choose one platform that will help achieve the best results. Apple users usually spend more money on apps than Android users, so if your target audience is those who pay for premium accounts, you should rather choose iOS rather than Android.

2. Effective localization: is the application suitable for the Chinese market?

According to TalkingData, in 2015, only one in four Chinese users installed foreign applications on a smartphone - that is, at least one foreign application was installed on more than three million smartphones. And this number is only growing, but local applications still dominate the Chinese market.



No matter how successful the application is in the West - Chinese users may not notice it. Get ready to enter a new market, where everything is completely different: from pricing strategies to business models and consumer habits. Therefore, it is important to know whether there is a chance to sell the application where the interests of people differ from the interests of your current clients - especially if your goal is profit and success in the international market .



The most popular in China - applications for communication, entertainment (games, videos and music) and Internet surfing. And so far, no foreign application for social networks has achieved success here. Among foreign applications, users from China prefer games, online stores, video applications, photos, educational and financial services.



In recent years, almost every user has shown particular interest in games . IOS users are more willing to install applications related to fashion, online shopping, radio and music. In the Android ecosystem, users are more interested to watch videos, take photos and use navigation applications; educational and financial applications are a bit more popular here.



At the same time, the Chinese application market is dynamic: the popular today easily goes down in history in just a few months. The average application life cycle in China is only 10 months , with about 85% of users deleting the application less than a month after it was downloaded.



It is very difficult to break through and stay here, so you need to go to the start with a well-prepared localization project. And you should only do this if you are really interested in bringing your application to the Chinese market. Ask yourself if you can keep up with trends and, most importantly, if you can find your niche among local developers.

3. First step in localizing apps for China - preparing for the new rules.

Localization of the application for China is different from everything you did before! And not only because your application will be translated into a language that you do not understand: there are a number of technical nuances that will have to be taken into account in order to fit into the local market.



You can use any of the encodings EUC-CN, ISO-2022-CN, ISO-2022-CN-EXT and GBK, but a more reasonable choice is Unicode (UTF-8), since this will support all Chinese characters and the ability to localize in the future to other languages.



It is also important to place the application on a local server and embed the application in the “clouds” located in China. Otherwise, users will have difficulty accessing your services — delays and trips. And to access Chinese servers, you need to find a local partner or legal entity in China.



If this path is not for you, you can use servers in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore or the Philippines. Using servers in Europe or North America is usually not recommended.



A large Chinese firewall is one of the most unpleasant problems for a foreign developer, so having a local partner can significantly increase the chances of success.

4. Carefully approach the translation: Chinese is very difficult

One of the most important stages of application localization is translation. Many Chinese translators do not know the Western style of communication deeply enough, so you should assemble a team that will include both locals and native speakers living outside of China.



So you will be sure that the lines are translated correctly, taking into account Chinese syntax and terminology, and at the same time correspond to the overall style of the brand. Give translators detailed information about the application: to make an accurate translation, they need context.



With localization for the Chinese market, it is impossible to create a high-quality product using machine translation. Therefore, do not even try to save using Google Translate or other similar software. The Chinese love complex expressions, and they have different expectations regarding the style of writing. Therefore, in order for the text to fit the target audience, translation by a living person is necessary.



Translate everything from headings, descriptions, texts on images, error messages and to feedback requests. If something is not translated, the application will be immediately removed. If you do not know which version of Chinese to choose for translation, then you should remember that the North Chinese and Cantonese dialects are colloquial, and they have nothing to do with written materials.



You will have to choose from them only if you have voice messages in the application - in this case, you should prefer North Chinese, since this is the official language of both China and Taiwan.



And there are two writing systems for Chinese: simplified writing is used in China and Singapore, the traditional one - in Hong Kong and in Taiwan. The choice of system depends on the target market.

5. Nuances in localization for the Chinese market

Localizing applications is much more than just translating strings and various materials into Chinese: you need to take into account all the little things and nuances. Chinese users are incredibly picky and can instantly remove the newly installed application due to some minor error.



The Chinese do not like applications and games that look translated - which means you need to redo your product so that it seems to be made in China. That is, you need to adapt the application to the local culture. If your concept is too “Western”, Chinese users will not understand what you are trying to sell. Many of them have little or no knowledge about trends outside their own country.

When working with the layout and design of the application, consider the following:

• For texts in Chinese you usually need 30% less space than in English.
  
  
• The Chinese like bright colors more, so increase the saturation of the color palette. Avoid dark colors, brown and gray - especially if you enter the gaming market.
  
  
• In China, each color has a specific meaning , which differs from the associations with this color in the West.
  
  
• Animated interface elements are common.
  
  
• Empty spaces and minimalist designs , so loved in the West, in Asia are unlikely to appeal to many. Chinese applications are often overloaded with text, colors, and links that show users all the possible functions.
  
  
• QR codes are extremely popular: they are in almost every application. They can be used as links to promotions and other interesting features that may please the user.
  
  
• All buttons with calls to action must be reworked: most Chinese do not respond to messages that offer to buy something. It seems that in this market the key word is “share” (eng. “Share”).
  
  
• In applications there are always some icons with numbers and without, which indicate that new features have appeared or new content has been added.
  
  

In the process of localization, do not forget about the features of language standards:

• The Chinese date format is “year-month-day”.
  
  
• Time can be represented in both the 24-hour format and the 12-hour format (AM / PM designations correspond to 上午 /).
  
  
• The Chinese currency is yuan (¥). Commas are used as separators for the discharge groups.
  
  
• The system of measures is metric.
  
  
• Full name format: last name, then first name. Most Chinese surnames are the only symbol, and composite surnames throughout the country are only 81.
  
  
• Addresses in China are written like this: country, then province and city, then street name.
  
  
• The Chinese have characters for numbers from 0 to 9, as well as for large numbers - tens, hundreds and thousands. The symbols used in trade and finance are different from those used in everyday life.
  
  

With localization for China, you will have to forget about the social functions that are in the original version of the application. Most Western social networks do not work in China, so if you want to settle in this country, they will need to be replaced by local social networks.



Developers should be familiar with the methods used by the Chinese to type and type text in mobile apps. The pinyin method, which allows you to enter characters manually, is widely used, but some people prefer text-to-text to prefer voice messaging. Try to implement support for both methods - so that the application is as simple as possible for as many users as possible.



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About the translator



The article is translated in Alconost.



Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 68 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources, translation of technical texts .



We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.



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