Mother Tongue partners with the world's most famous dating app to transcreate marketing and UI content in 50+ languages.

Marketing and UI Localization For World's Biggest Dating App

24hr

236k

Back in 2015, Mother Tongue secured a hot date with one of the world’s best known dating apps. Fast forward to now, and we’re the sole language provider for the brand – matching users in over 53 markets. 

The account is managed from three of our language hubs – Singapore, London, and Los Angeles. The hubs work in tandem to provide the client with a follow-the-sun model that allows for 24 hour turnaround times across all territories. 

Alongside large-scale localization of UI content, we also support the client with a whole suite of additional language solutions. These include – social listening, cultural consultation, production, legal translation, and sourcing and hiring of language ambassadors. 

All talent working on the account convey the brand’s bold, tongue-and-cheek tone of voice, and are reflective of the 18-30 year old target demographic.

Over the course of our 7+ year collaboration, we have grown into an extension of the client’s in-house team, and take great pride in the transparent and truly honest ways-of-workings we have established together.

“We absolutely love the Mother Tongue team. Everyone is extremely passionate about the work they do and about providing the best service they can to their clients”

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Swiping Right on Success

Yellow

Mother Tongue describes how they are supporting a global fashion label with translation of marketing translations into 11 languages.

Marketing Copy For Global Fashion Brand

100k+

4,000+

Since 2020, Mother Tongue has been the powerhouse behind product translation for a global, Gen Z fashion brand, who launch more than 4,000 new products every single week to consumers worldwide. 

Our task is to get these products to market in a minimum amount of time, through high-speed localization that consistently captures the brand’s fresh, youthful, and confident tone of voice.

Alongside product content, Mother Tongue supports the brand with the transcreation of various marketing materials, including newsletters, banners and push notifications. We also deploy a team of market-based, specialized strategists for consultation on local trends and culture in each of the 11 markets they operate in.

All content is briefed, localized and delivered within the client’s own technical environment, with just three project managers overseeing the account from the Mother Tongue side. Since our appointment, we have been involved in a number of large-scale initiatives. These include the migration to an entirely new CMS, and the acquisition of several major labels now being sold exclusively by the brand.

“Mother Tongue continue to work in partnership and provide a quality service. They are flexible, support us when we need it most, and deliver a great standard of work.”

Partners in Localization: 
A Perfect Fit

Mother Tongue partners with a world-renowned pharmaceutical company to help market their covid-19 vaccine.

Cultural Consultation For a Global Pharma Company

When Covid-19 swept the world by storm, Mother Tongue joined forces with a global vaccine manufacturer to help communicate critical information to the masses. 

The organization rapidly gained recognition for its life-saving vaccine, but lacked an in-country presence in markets where it wished to expand. As their localization partner, Mother Tongue worked to fill this gap. 

Mother Tongue guided the company throughout its expansion into new territories, providing cultural assessment of campaign concepts to help build brand integrity and ensure maximum uptake in target markets. The organization calls upon Mother Tongue for a wide range of language solutions – from local market insight, copy origination, and transcreation, to subtitling, voiceover, and production services.

From three of our specialist language hubs, we coordinate with over 50 client-side stakeholders around the globe, offering a always-on, one-stop-shop solution for all of their localization needs.

“Mother Tongue has a valuable capability being able to take global content and produce versions that can be used in many countries, cultures and languages.”

A Prescription for Global Expansion

Mother Tongue executes large-scale voiceover translation projects for prominent music streaming platform during pandemic.

Voiceover at Scale for Music Streaming Platform

12-16

In 2019, Mother Tongue joined forces with an agency partner to provide voiceover recordings for a prominent music streaming service. An ambitious campaign promoting premium subscriptions targeted 44 markets and comprised over a dozen scripts and CTAs. To meet the brief, we leveraged the talent of 88 voiceover artists, tapped into 24-hour project management support across our 3 offices, and refined our processes for casting, booking and executing session recordings. 

With this large-scale project in full swing, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, which introduced unprecedented global upheaval, office and studio closures, and the need to further adapt and simplify our workflows. 

Mother Tongue rose to the occasion, and the end-client was so pleased that we were soon called upon to execute a separate and timely campaign. Centered around essential steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the campaign reached 17 markets and presented clear and concise public health messaging. 

Today, we pride ourselves on high-quality and resonant voiceover services at any scale, accomplished by implementing many of the processes we developed during this project alongside our highly talented artists.

If Music is Universal, Quality Voiceover is Highly Localized

Mother Tongue partners with hit Korean-language webcomic series to deliver entertaining and resonant English transcreations for dozens of series.

Transcreation for Popular Korean Webcomic Series

9,000+

5-10

A popular Korean-language webcomic company began collaboration with Mother Tongue in 2020. What began with translation of a few series has bloomed into a robust and ongoing partnership for translation of over 40 series on a regular basis.

To respect the highly creative content, complex wordplay, and stylistic elements like onomatopoeia, Mother Tongue copywriters first start by reading the series and then create a series-specific style guide and glossary. These essential elements are approved before translation begins, ensuring terminology and character consistency. 

To meet the ever-rising volume demands, Mother Tongue has performed extensive recruitment and maintained strict quality standards for all talent. A happy surprise of the partnership is that the Mother Tongue Account Management team and copywriters have all become dedicated fans of the series they manage.

Binge-worthy Webcomics, Culturally Resonant Transcreation

Mother Tongue describes how they supported a global food-delivery business with cultural insights and trends in 18 languages.

Cultural Insight For Global Food Delivery Platform

To help satisfy the appetite for global cultural insight for a high profile food delivery business, Mother Tongue rose to the challenge by assessing three core campaign concepts across 18 locales.

The three campaigns, which ran at different times between 2022 and 2023, covered different channels, from OLV subtitles to in-app content and print assets. Our in-market strategists advised on the likelihood of the core concepts to be understood by the client's young target audience. This also meant flagging any potential issues in transcreating the content from a language perspective and providing insight on any cultural associations that may not be understood. 

Despite the significant amount of data we were able to provide the client, we kept the visual formatting clear and easy to navigate by using a live online sheet. The answers in our report were colour-coded, sorted by market and, by all means, easy to digest.

Strategic Insights: Delivering Food for Thought

Mother Tongue offers language services including app translation, website translation and other localization services for meditation app.

Transcreation for Mindfulness App

300,000

In 2018, a prominent mindfulness app sought to expand their global impact, choosing Mother Tongue to adapt popular long-form audio narratives that soothe users to sleep and aid with stress management. 

Providing transcreation services for Spanish (Mexico) audiences, Mother Tongue crafted a truly resonant local script in appreciation of the vulnerability around insomnia and stress, knowing our words would find users at a time when they most needed comfort. 

The client was so pleased with the result that Mother Tongue were soon tasked with editing and honing existing translations for French and Japanese as well as with transcreating new content. Today, our daily collaboration spans multiple workstreams, including mobile app UI/UX, website copy, marketing materials and of course, the ever-popular narratives. 

Through a seamless integration between our translation management system and the client’s content, we operate on reliable turnarounds to deliver consistent results. What is more, we work closely with the client’s in-house linguist reviewers for French and Japanese to align on their specific desired tone of voice so multilingual users can continue to destress and enjoy deep sleep year after year.

Deep Sleep. Quiet Mind. True Cultural Resonance.

Mother Tongue teams up with food sustainability app to provide transcreation of CRM and other marketing materials.

Marketing Transcreation for Food Sustainability App

In 2023, a popular B Corp app in the sustainable food industry launched a rebrand and enlisted Mother Tongue’s help to roll out the refreshed content in 16 languages globally.

To assist the app in its eco-friendly campaign, we assembled a dedicated team of copywriters passionate about sustainability, who have relished the chance to sink their teeth into the brand’s playful copy. 

Our writers whip up marketing transcreations for both B2B and B2C audiences, ensuring copy truly resonates locally by adapting cultural references and always allowing the brand’s unique voice to shine through.

After the launch of the newly localized website and app, our team have continued to provide top-notch transcreation across all aspects of the user experience — from CRM, notifications and app store updates through to social and media marketing campaigns. And with new markets in the brand’s sights, it’s a tasty partnership that continues to grow!

Serving Up Transcreation Success for Popular Food App

Mother Tongue partners with leading nutrition and supplements brand on transcreation of product descriptions, labels, CRM and blog content.

Marketing Transcreation for Leading Nutrition and Supplements Brand

Direct

300k+

Efficient

Since 2022, Mother Tongue has partnered with a leading nutrition and supplements brand on transcreation in nine languages. With the help of our handpicked team of nutrition-savvy linguists, we provide a one-stop language service solution— from translation of product descriptions, ingredients and labels through to creative adaptation of website, CRM, paid marketing and blog content.

Mother Tongue acts as an extension of the brand’s internal team, working in close partnership and integrating seamlessly with their existing processes. Using a connector, we linked their content management system with our translation platform, allowing copy to flow directly from their system through the translation process and back again - maximising efficiency and removing the need for manual uploads.

To further streamline processes, we invited the brand’s in-market teams to share new project requests and review translations directly within our platform, allowing for speedier briefing, feedback and copy approval.

It’s a true partnership that goes from strength to strength, with the help of open communication and a healthy dose of integration innovation.

A Dose of Transcreation Integration for Leading Nutrition Brand

Mother Tongue partners with Global Luxury Bath and Body Brand to deliver linguistic assessments of customer service candidates’ written tests.

Assessing Recruitment Tests for Luxury Bath and Body Brand

900+

Faced with a customer service hiring surge ahead of Christmas time retail peak, a luxury bath and body brand chose Mother Tongue to assess their candidates’ written tests for their 6 EMEA markets over the course of summer 2022.

Mother Tongue’s QA specialists provided feedback on more than 900 written tests from the client’s 6 recruitment agencies, who then used our assessment scores to decide whether they would proceed with the hiring process.

To achieve this, we liaised with the client in creating a score grid that would cater to both grammar and language use, assessing spelling, punctuation, style and tone of voice.

We also partnered closely with the 6 recruitment agencies and facilitated a bespoke cloud environment to process the written tests, providing a 1 working-day assessment turnaround while complying with GDPR requirements.

A Fresh Look at Recruitment Testing

Mother Tongue teams up with a global children’s charity to provide transcreation, transcription, VO and ASL interpreting

ASL Interpreting for a global children’s charity

We carry out pro bono work for a global children’s charity, which delivers projects that improve educational opportunities for children disadvantaged by circumstances such as conflict, climate crises and other emergencies. Services we provide for the charity include transcription, transcreation, interpreting and voiceover (VO).

One of their initiatives is a Global Youth Ambassadors scheme, which amplifies the voices of young people aged 18-30 and provides training and resources to help them campaign for the right to education worldwide. The ambassadors usually meet remotely via Zoom, a few times per month. We provide an American Sign Language interpreter for one of these participants, enabling them to participate fully in the initiative.

Delegates are from all over the world, but discussions are led in English, which for many is their second, or even third language. Our dedicated talent team recruited and onboarded an interpreter with extensive experience working with clients from around the world, including in the education sphere specifically, to ensure easy communication.

“Mother Tongue’s ASL Interpreting Service transformed our ability to participate in meetings and gives people a voice on a global platform”.

ASL Interpreting for a Global Children’s Charity

Mother Tongue partners with ocean travel company to improve and hone linguistic quality of multilingual website

Linguistic Quality Assessment for Luxury Cruise Line

5,600

When a luxury cruise line launched their website in 4 new languages, they hoped to reach wider global audiences while preserving their distinct tone of voice and regal language. To ensure the translated website copy was truly resonant, Mother Tongue stepped in to provide linguistic quality assurance services (LQA). After the website was reviewed, we established an ongoing LQA workflow for new content. 

Successful LQA involves close review of both linguistic elements of translation and formatting elements, such as text expansion and contraction, meaning utmost attention to detail is required. Mother Tongue leverages up to 4 QA specialists for each language, who act as guardians of the brand’s voice, terminology and positioning. 

Like two luxury liners in tandem, Mother Tongue also successfully tends to our relationship with the client’s other translation vendor, as LQA can only be optimized if vendors remain in active communication. Our success in collaboration is viewed tangibly through our nearly 6,000 hours of LQA performed since the start of the relationship. Our third-party review strengthens translation quality and in turn helps drive and direct strategy for the other vendor’s translator team.

Around The World in LQAs

Mother Tongue partners with a US ride-sharing platform to support their localization needs in 8 languages, including UI/UX and website copy.

Localization Support For Major Ride-Sharing App

100+

In 2018, unsatisfied with the quality of their Spanish (US) language program, a popular Silicon Valley transportation app kicked off work with Mother Tongue, with the aim of boosting linguistic accuracy and resonance.

The difference to their previous vendor was ‘night and day’, so the company decided to expand collaboration for their next 7 international languages.  

When adding a new language, Mother Tongue copywriters spend a week at the company’s HQ for a full brand immersion and collaborative meetings. Through immersive and engaging sessions, we define tone of voice guidelines, glossaries and best practices. 

Today, our support continues for all of the app’s localization needs, spanning UI/UX, website copy, CRM, blog and even audio-visual services for support videos. Expansion into other asset types and workstreams is always accompanied by a robust expansion of our glossary and style guide to accommodate different kinds of copy. 

Driving Translation Quality

Mother Tongue partners with brand agency to deliver interpreting and live chat moderation in 4 languages

Interpreting and live moderation for global Electronics brand

50K+

In March 2022, Mother Tongue helped a global electronics brand with interpreting, live moderation and transcreation for a live escape room event.

In partnership with their creative agency, the brand set up a filming location in an East London house, where Gen Z influencers from Italy, Czechia and the Netherlands completed puzzles involving the brand’s products, such as a hoover, a phone, a projector and a smartwatch.

The three events were live-streamed on YouTube, and fans online helped the influencers solve the puzzles via a live chat, which was displayed on set.

We provided an end-to-end localization solution, transcreating the puzzles to Italian, Czech and Dutch and providing interpreters for each language to facilitate communication between the influencers and the English film crew, who were connected via earpiece.

As part of our language support, we also provided live moderation of the three YouTube chats, with our native Italian, Czech and Dutch moderators closely monitoring hundreds of messages and filtering out inappropriate comments before they would be shown live. Multilingual events needn't be a puzzle!

Unlocking Multilingual Events with Interpreting and Chat Moderation

Learn more about the importance of transcreation when it comes to localizing your brand content and what qualities a Mother Tongue linguist needs to perfect the art of transcreation.

What is Transcreation? Mother Tongue

If you work in international content, chances are you’ve heard of transcreation. Unless you’ve worked first-hand on a project, however, you may be less sure of exactly what it is, or what it involves.

Consider this your primer to the subject: Transcreation 101.   



Transcreation is a more thoughtful approach to localization. In a nutshell, it’s about ensuring the international versions of your content feel like locally produced work and are as rich, engaging, and impactful as the English. 

Rather than simply translating the words on the screen, a transcreation copywriter will consider the purpose of the content and the strategy and nuance behind it. The work will often move away from the English version in terms of phrasing, structure, and references. But it will always be consistent in the tone, messaging, and impact it seeks to create.



Much as you need a professional writer to craft good English copy, so too do you require a copywriter for good transcreation. 

Copywriters have a level of creative flair that is rarely found among translators, and it is this skill that ensures transcreated copy really comes alive. As they’re content professionals, they also have the grounding in the industry to know what works in their part of the world, and what does not. And they’re based in-market, which means they have their finger on the pulse of the latest cultural and linguistic trends.



In terms of process, transcreation is comparable to other creative work. Which means a good brief to the writer is essential. All the strategy needs to be called out, and any reference materials and guidelines shared in advance. Good transcreations rarely stick closely to the English, and the copywriter needs to be confident they’re taking it in the right direction. To do that, the more context they have, the better. 

And just as English content is rarely signed off at the first pass, so too are client amends part of the process when transcreating. Where local stakeholders want to have a voice, that should be encouraged – revisions are often the best way of nailing down the preferred tone of voice. 

Transcreation has been well established in the advertising industry for some time now. It is increasingly associated with tech and user interface (UI) content – where an immersive, engaging experience is essential. Content marketing is also a good fit, as are any communications intended to build affinity with the brand or trigger a response from the audience. 

In short, if there’s a strategic piece behind the English, that strategy needs to flow through in the localization too. And the best way of doing that is through transcreation.

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Transcreation 101: Making Meaning in Global Markets

Mother Tongue shares some top tips on preparing your creative concepts for media localization. Find out what to expect when recording a foreign language voiceover and get help with voice artist selection and studio hire.

Media Localization - Voiceover - Mother Tongue

Taking your creative concept from one medium to another, aka media adaptation, can seem a daunting task. Add to the mix a need for media localization, and it can all start to feel a little … foreign. But creating multilingual versions of your media assets need not be a puzzling process.

Whether you’re producing subtitles, closed captions, or recording a voiceover (VO), there are a few things to keep in mind when it comes to media localization. Let’s start with VO:

Languages naturally differ in length. For example, when English copy is translated into French or Spanish, the length will expand by roughly 20-25%. By contrast, if the same English text were to be translated into Finnish, you can expect your foreign copy to do the opposite, and contract by roughly 30%. Identifying your target markets early on in the process, and gaining an understanding of how your source copy will behave once adapted for those markets, will buy you some buffer at the writing stage – so you can avoid last-minute alterations when it comes to recording.

 A consistent and effective tone of voice is essential to any brand’s success. So, when it comes to selecting the voiceover artist(s) to record your campaign, the same diligence is due. The artist you select to record your ad will represent your brand image and values, so it’s well worth setting aside enough time to ensure you find the right fit. Partner with a language service provider (LSP) who can provide a wide range of talents to choose from, and who can offer advice and recommendations of the artists most suited to your messaging and market. And don’t be afraid to ask for demos or samples. 

Arranging for language supervision (LSV) just might be the most valuable thing you can do for your voiceover project. No matter their level of experience, if this is the first time a VO artist is recording for a particular brand, they will benefit from some guidance on the desired output. Having someone present to advise on pronunciation, style, acronyms, tone and pace, will ensure the recording doesn’t fall short of your expectations. Speak to your LSP to arrange for a native expert to dial into the session and provide an extra pair of well-trained ears. And even if you yourself are not a native speaker of the target language, an in-depth knowledge of the brand’s identity will always prove beneficial – so we strongly recommend that a client representative attends the session whenever possible.

Your studio environment is central to the quality of your voiceover recording. So, if your recording is taking place via a remote set-up, it’s wise to carry out a quick test-run between the artist and the studio ahead of the big day to ensure the connection is good to go. You’ll also want to agree the deliverables with the studio engineer in advance – are you happy with raw takes, or do you require polishing? What file format(s) are you after for your audio files? And to be on the safe side, make sure you’re aware of the studio rules around overruns – just in case your voiceover recording takes a little longer than planned.



Did you know, Mother Tongue offers an end-to-end voiceover service, including LSV and studio hire? Get in touch with us to hear how we can help make your brand voice heard. And to read more about media localization, check out our piece on subtitling.

Mastering Media Localization: Ready, Set, Record

Mother Tongue unpacks the importance of strings when it comes to app localization as well as the purpose of externalizing strings and resource files. Part two in a three-part series.

What Is a String? App Localization - Mother Tongue

Following our first instalment on this topic (Behind the Screens: App Localization 101), you’re hopefully now a little more familiar with both localization and internationalization, and how they work together to create an app that’s geared up for global success? We hope that’s a resounding “yes”, as it’s time to journey on and unpack the next aspect of app localization – externalizing strings. 

Firstly, what exactly do we mean when we talk about “strings”? In computer science terms, a string is “a type of data that represents text” (source). And in the simplest of localization terms, strings are what we translate. But if you’re not a software developer and you’re looking at a text file full of code, it’s not always obvious what is considered a string. Different coding languages tend to use words that look like English text but are actually part of the code holding the app together (“initialize,” “variable,” “class,” etc.). You might be tempted to translate everything that looks like an English word, but if you translate something you shouldn’t, you could break something in the process. So, how do you know what is a translatable string and what isn’t?

The good thing is, when strings are externalized, you don’t have to worry about this. When strings are externalized, that means they are saved in a separate file, outside of the source code for the rest of the app. And because the text displayed in the app is separated from the code that forms the app, we remove the risk that a linguist will inadvertently translate something they shouldn't and by doing so, break the code. Linguists are also spared from having to parse through complicated code in order to find what they need to translate. Translations can also be updated with ease, as the entire code of the app need not be updated whenever a translation changes. 

Finally, externalizing strings reduces the risk involved in sharing content with vendors. If you are working with a language service provider (LSP) or a freelance translator, you only need to share the files that contain the content for translation. You do not need to expose your entire code base to an external user, which reduces the risk of leaking proprietary information. Separating your strings from the rest of your code is an important practice both for information security and for smooth localization.


The externalized files where all strings in an app are stored are called “resource files.” The source language and all of the translation languages each exist in their own separate resource files.

Essentially, resource files are a two-column table of keys and values. The keys uniquely identify every string, and tell the app where to display them, while the values are the strings that are actually displayed on screen to the user. When we translate a resource file, the keys stay the same, while each of the values gets translated. Once translation is complete, you receive back one resource file per language, where all of the values have been replaced by translations. 

Then when you open an app on your mobile device, the app determines what language resource file to show you by reading the language your device is set to. The app then loads the corresponding resource file for that language, and for each key it finds the corresponding translated value in the resource file and displays that string of text to the user. Pretty nifty!

And just before you go, it’s also worth noting that different platforms have different requirements for naming and formatting their resource files. The most common ones you will encounter in your software localization journey are:

Still with us? Then stay tuned for our last instalment on app localization, where we’ll explore the translation pipeline right through to the final phase of publishing your app for the world to enjoy!

Behind the Screens: App Localization 2.0

Mother Tongue takes you through the basics of app localization starting with a look at internationalization vs localization alongide best practices to consider when creating a global app. Part one in a three-part series.

The Basics of App Localization - Mother Tongue

The world of app localization can seem a complex place. For starters, there’s a hefty helping of terminology to unpack and understand; what is a string? A repo? What does it mean to cut a build? And how does the content for translation travel all the way from software developer to translator? There’s a lot to tuck into here, so consider this part one in a short series that takes you behind the screens to explore the work involved in creating an app that’s truly global. In this first instalment, we’ll get a little more familiar with the two terms that sit at the centre of it all – internationalization and localization.



Localization (l10n for short) is the part of creating a multilingual product that we tend to be more familiar with in our daily lives, and refers to adapting content for specific markets or languages. This can include a wide variety of activities ranging from translation, transcreation, and copywriting, to changing images, fonts, or colours to better represent each market. Depending on the scope of the localization work, individual languages or regions might have very different versions of the same product – as each version has been custom made for success in particular markets.

Internationalization (i18n), on the other hand, is the tech infrastructure that allows an app to work well in any potential language or market. Examples of i18n practices include using Unicode encoding so that text in all major languages will display correctly, building responsive user interfaces that can dynamically resize for longer or shorter text, using internationalization libraries to help handle conversions of numbers, and externalizing strings from the rest of the app’s code (more on externalization another day).

Good internationalization is crucial to allow tech companies to scale, because it is not sustainable to customize an app for every individual language. Let’s say, for example, that we have a successful English-language rideshare app, and now we want to expand into a few new territories. Not only do we need to translate all of the words in the app and transcreate all of the catchy headlines we use to attract users, but what happens when we need to show our users how much their rides cost, or what time their driver will arrive? Do we need to ask our linguists to tell us where to put dashes, slashes, dots, commas, or colons whenever we display a number? Our app uses one sentence to tell drivers they are picking up “a passenger” and another sentence when they’re picking up “passengers” but what about when we translate into Polish, for example, and we need different sentences depending on if there is one passenger, two passengers, or five passengers? How will our app handle all of these custom scenarios, in every language and region we want to support?

It doesn’t make sense to do these customizations for every new market. Instead, if we set up our app to work with internationalization libraries that manage numbers and pluralization – computers can help us remember and implement these rules. Without internationalization to give us this framework, we would have a lot of custom work to redo every time we plan to enter a new market.

Now that we have a handle on what these terms mean, let’s take a look at some best practices that we can put into action.

●     Responsive and flexible design

A translation can often be much longer than the original source text, so any design elements in an app user interface need to accommodate both long and short text automatically. Fonts and text boxes should automatically resize when text is long, and text should wrap automatically to the next line instead of allowing long words to shoot off the edge of the screen.

Fonts need to support all characters in all languages so you don’t end up with errors in the middle of your strings – following Unicode standards helps ensure special characters won’t be corrupted.

Lastly, wherever possible, strings should not be concatenated. “Concatenation” is a technical term for making one message out of multiple short strings. It can save time when writing code, but it is not considered good internationalization practice because there’s no guarantee that the phrases you have combined in the source language can be combined in the same way in all translation languages.

String 2 and String 3 are options that can fill in the blank in String 1.

This is a problem for localization, because translators have to ensure that “You have” agrees with both string 2 and string 3, as well as anything else that could conceivably be added later on – which is not possible in many languages because the gender of a verb depends on the gender of the noun(s) in the sentence. Also, if syntax rules differ between the source and the target languages, and the linguists aren’t able to change the location in string 1 to insert string 2 or string 3, they may end up with very clunky, unnatural sentences in an attempt fit the pattern set by the source strings.

With internationalization in mind, the correct way to structure this string would be to create two separate strings, each containing its own complete message:

String 2: “You have # friend requests.”

This way, the linguists can ensure that all parts of the sentence will have the correct grammatical agreements. Remembering “one message, one string” can solve a lot of localization headaches.



Ready for more on the ins and outs of app localization? Dive into our next piece, App Localization 2.0, to untangle the importance of strings when it comes to creating a global app.

Behind the Screens: App Localization 101

Mother Tongue takes you through the translation pipeline all the way to publishing your global app for worldwide audiences. Learn about the different cycles involved in publishing your app in other languages.

App Publishing - Mother Tongue

We’re here, we made it – welcome to the final instalment of our three-part series on app localization. In this piece, we’ll be talking translation pipelines and translation management systems (TMS), before we take the plunge and hit “publish” on our global app. Disclaimer: unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple.

If you’re wondering what on earth you’ve entered into, we’d suggest tracking back and having a read over parts one and two first.



The process of automating the flow of translatable strings from software developers to linguists, and back, is often called a “translation pipeline.”

As developers write their code, they save it into a code repository (sometimes called a “repo” for short). As new strings are saved to the repository by the developers, automated processes pull updated strings files into a translation management system (TMS). This is usually the point where client-side localization teams, language service providers (LSPs), and individual linguists get involved, because the new strings will create a new job in the TMS that needs to be translated. LSPs will pick up the translation jobs and distribute them among their linguists for translation and review. Once the linguists publish their work in the TMS, the translations of the strings are saved back into each language’s resource files, and then those files are automatically pulled back into the code repository to be included with the rest of the app. This process repeats as new strings are added and translated, reducing the manual work for everyone involved in the localization process.



If you’ve ever worked as a linguist on an app localization project, you may have encountered a scenario where you updated a translation in the TMS, but the old translation is still appearing in the app. The reason this might occur is because the translation that you updated has not yet been included in the latest release of the app – just because something is coded into an app it doesn’t always mean it’s available to the public to download.

Software developers need to periodically put their code together into a complete package called a “build.” You may hear people call this process of creating a new packaged-up version of the app “cutting a build.” To be made available to the public, the build needs to be released to the App Store (iOS) and Play Store (Android). When a new build is submitted to these app stores, they each run quality checks on the files to make sure they meet certain requirements and don’t contain any malicious code. Once an app passes the checks, it is made available as an update in the store, where users can then download the latest version.



There can be a number of steps involved in creating the new build, so to understand why translation updates are not live to the public immediately, it helps to understand how engineering teams tend to work. Engineering teams often structure their workload into short cycles called “sprints”. They are constantly iterating every sprint, adding new features over time as they receive feedback from their users and stakeholders. The cycle of releasing new builds to the app stores usually corresponds to the end of a sprint cycle. Leading up to the release, there is often a period of “code freeze” where none of the content that will be included in the newest build can be changed, to allow time for testing. Companies working on a continuous localization model will usually set their translation deadlines based on this cycle of code freezes and scheduled releases, to make sure that the latest and greatest translations are included in each release.

And there you have it – we’ve reached the end of our journey on app localization. We hope you’ve gained some tips for preparing your content for an app environment, a few new techy terms, and all in all a little more knowledge of what goes on behind the screens.

Have you got an app you’d like to take around the world? Get in touch with us to hear how we can help.

Behind the Screens: The Art of App Publishing

Mother Tongue explains the importance of tailoring your social media strategy for different target audiences and different platforms. Learn more about the importance of a multilingual social strategy here.

International Social Media Strategy - Mother Tongue

In today’s digital age, online content has morphed into a currency of its very own – a currency for communication. Its ability to engage global audiences, in real time, anywhere in the world, makes its reach unrivalled. And with such a powerful tool at our disposal, comes a responsibility to ensure the content we share makes the right kind of impact.

The digital space is ever-evolving – news is only news if it's new. Every day, hour, second there is new content published that can overshadow and overwrite what has come before it. However, the ability to share, screenshot, and retweet means brand blunders can live on much longer than they would have done previously. This can make social media a total minefield to navigate. Get it right, and you’re on the road to global glory, but get it wrong, and you risk a bruising to your brand image, along with an audience who have lost trust in your brand values.

With all this in mind, adapting your online copy for multilingual markets is no mean feat. Brands must break the mould when it comes to localizing their social campaigns – switching out traditional translation methods for a more strategic approach that hones in on the behavioural as well as the linguistic. To develop such a strategy, it’s worth taking the time to consider the building blocks that will support your foundations for localization.


You’ve identified your target markets and their specific locales – now it’s time to pick your platforms. Although the likes of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn might seem like the obvious contenders, it’s vital to tune into the channels most popular with your target markets. For example, in most of China such platforms are blocked and therefore rarely used by market-based consumers. And in South Korea, much of the social scene takes place on a platform called KaoKaoTalk. Knowing your market’s local hotspots for the highest social engagement ensures your messaging reaches the people it’s written for. Trust in in-situ specialists to show you around the social space and keep you in step with what’s trending in your target market.

Next, you should turn your attention to how you can get the most from your social copy. And this is where your strategy comes in. Successful engagement on a global scale often requires an approach that is tailored to a local level. Opting to publish multiple languages on one social account, without the use of proper targeting, will lead to a lukewarm reaction that sees your messaging scrolled past and skim-read. 

Instead, if you wish to manage a global account and combine languages, then curate foreign language profiles to target each of your specific audiences – this not only makes your content more accessible, but it gives your followers a chance to fully grasp every bit of your social copy, leading to all-round more effective engagement. Following a strategy that is guided by local trends will allow you to create a sense of relatability around your content – in turn growing a consumer base with a community feel, who are much more likely to stay loyal to your brand in the long run.



When faced with a dizzying sea of social media jargon, character restrictions, and hashtag strategy, localizing your social content calls for skills far beyond those possessed by your average translator. To win in this arena, you need to partner with on-the-ground specialists who can be your eyes and ears when it comes to keeping up with trending topics, current voices, and all the latest lingo. 

So, although consistency is key when it comes to translation, here, the localization strategy must shift from blanket to bespoke. To pull off a tailored social strategy for each of your target markets whilst still projecting one cohesive brand image, you need an air-tight tone of voice. Before beginning any localization work you should therefore spend time drilling down on your brand identity to ensure all stakeholders have a clear, collective vision of what defines your brand. That way, when you come to involve a localization partner and your in-market talent, you will all be speaking the same language.

One element that sets social media copy apart from other marketing collateral, is its prolific use of hashtags. Hashtags are essential for every social media campaign. They are the lungs that bring your social copy to life, and keep it alive – fueling the buzz and conversation around your content. So, it’s no surprise that they should form a key part of your transcreation strategy. Should you translate them? How will you integrate them into your posts? Do you want a certain hashtag to achieve global reach and viral potential? These are all discussions that should be had before you launch into any localization work. 

This is not to say your approach must be set in stone from the get-go. In fact, if you do not have the know-how in-house, then it would be wise to welcome guidance from your language partner on what works best for each market. This may involve researching international competitors in your space, and what approach they are taking to tags, learning your audience’s habits, and selecting tags that reflect the behaviour and interactions seen in your target community.

Social strategy is a two-way street. Much like fruitful conversation, it should be a dynamic, balanced interaction between parties – in this context, brand and consumer. So, although it’s important to plan out your strategy in advance, it must come with enough slack to accommodate consumer feedback along the way. Being open to and aware of the way in which your audience is perceiving your content, as it goes live, allows you to better understand the behaviours and patterns that exist in these environments. You can then use this valuable feedback to help shape and inform your strategy moving forward. 

And there are several tools and tactics you can call upon to help you tune into these all-important conversations. So, trust in technology to help you digest your data. Not only can it provide one easy-to-navigate space for all your scheduling and managing needs, its ability to track and record how your various campaigns are performing means you can take stock of the bigger picture, whilst keeping your finger on the pulse. 

Got an upcoming social campaign that you’d like to take into foreign territories? Get in touch at hello@mothertongue.com to find out how we can support your localization strategy.

A Prescription for Global Expansion

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