Application localization guide for the Chinese market. Part 1

Application localization is a mandatory item in the list of tasks of each developer for 2017. Why? Because increasingly it turns out that this is an effective way to gain market share and increase sales worldwide. It doesn’t matter what localization you started with: do it right for the Chinese market - and you will break the bank.

Since 2013, China has been 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 of more than $ 25 billion as of 2016 and  $ 42 billion  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). Chinese users today spend five times more than two years ago, and when it comes to technology and gadgets, they are simply insatiable.

Sounds tempting, right? But do not flatter yourself: from creating an application to releasing it in Chinese application stores, you need to go a long way. Localizing applications for China is not easy at all: you have to adapt the application to a completely different consumer, who has little or nothing to do with those who are using your application now.

Then you will need to redo the application for a different culture, learn to comply with local laws, translate everything into Chinese, and finally - start smartly promoting the product. About how to tackle this without having the appropriate experience, we will tell in this guide on localizing applications for the Chinese market.

Translated to Alconost

1. Android or iOS? What statistics say

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

In 2016, less than a quarter of Chinese smartphones worked on the iOS operating system. However, Apple fans in China are usually brand-loyal, and this gives iOS apps a constant audience. It’s easier to enter the Chinese market through the iOS app store, because in this case the optimization rules for the Apple Store (ASO) and rating are the same all over the world.

Apple managed to establish itself well: in 2015, China ranked second (after the United States) in iOS app spending, and the company earned more than $ 3 billion in revenue. And already in 2016, China surpassed the United States by more than 15%.

The Android platform, on the other hand, dominates the local market, but there are a lot of difficulties for a developer not from China. Google is known to be unable to maintain a strong presence in the Chinese market. Regarding applications, it looks like this: the continued absence of the Google Play store - and more than 200 local application stores, each with its own rules.

And to localize the Android appin China, you will have to negotiate separately with each store: receive a certificate for the application in each of them and pass quality control from start to finish every time you publish in a new store.

The most popular Android smartphone app stores in China:

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

Also in China, some smartphone manufacturers and operators have their own stores where you can sell your application: 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 to achieve the best results. Apple users usually spend more money on applications 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 every fourth Chinese user 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.

It doesn't matter how successful the app is in the West - Chinese users may well 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 if there is a chance to sell the application where the interests of people differ from the interests of your current customers, especially if your goal is profit and success in the international market .

The mostpopular in China  - applications for communication, entertainment (games, videos and music) and Internet surfing. And so far, not a single foreign application for social networks has achieved success here. Among foreign applications, users from China prefer games, online stores, applications for video, photos, educational and financial services.

In recent years, almost every user has shown a special interest in  games . IOS users are more likely to install apps related to fashion, online shopping, radio, and music. In the Android ecosystem, users are more interested in watching videos, taking photos and using navigation applications; here educational and financial applications are a little more popular.

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 life cycle of applications in China is only 10 months , with about 85% of users uninstalling the application in less than a month after downloading it.

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 this should be done only if you are really interested in launching your application on the Chinese market. Ask yourself if you can keep up with the trends and - most importantly - can you find your niche among local developers.

3. The first step in localizing applications for China - preparing for new rules

Localization of the application for China is different from everything that you did before! And not only because your application will be translated into a language that you don’t understand: there are a number of technical nuances that will have to be considered 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 give support for all Chinese characters and the ability to localize in the future other languages.

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

If this is not the way 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 enough of the Western style of communication, so you should put together a team that will include both local residents and native speakers living outside of China.

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

When localized for the Chinese market, creating a high-quality product using machine translation is not possible. Therefore, do not even try to save money using Google Translate or other similar software. The Chinese love complex expressions, and they have different expectations regarding the writing style. Therefore, in order for the text to match the target audience, translation by a living person is necessary.

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

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

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

5. Nuances in localization for the Chinese market

Application localization is much more than just translating strings and various materials into Chinese: you need to consider all the little things and nuances. Chinese users are incredibly picky and can instantly uninstall a newly installed application due to some minor bug.

The Chinese do not like applications and games that look translated - which means that you need to remake 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 of trends outside their own country.

When working with the layout and design of the application, the following should be considered:

• For texts in Chinese, you typically need 30% less space than in English.
  
• The Chinese prefer bright colors, 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 associations with this color in the West.
  
• Animated interface elements are common.
  
• Empty spaces and  minimalist design , so beloved in the West, are unlikely to appeal to many in Asia. Chinese applications are often overloaded: 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 call-to-action buttons need to be reworked: most Chinese do not respond to messages that offer to buy something. It seems that the key word in this market is “share”.
  
• Applications always have some kind of icons with or without numbers, which indicate that new features have appeared or new content has been added.
  

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

• The Chinese date format is year-month-day.
  
• Time can be represented in 24-hour format, and in 12-hour format (AM / PM designations correspond to 上午 / 下午).
  
• The Chinese currency is RMB (¥). Commas are used as separators for discharge groups.
  
• The system of measures is metric.
  
• The full name format is: last name, then first name. Most Chinese surnames are the only character, and there are only 81 compound surnames throughout the country.
  
• 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 the field of trade and finance are different from those used in everyday life.
  

When localizing 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 characters and enter text in mobile applications. The pinyin method is widely used , which allows you to enter characters manually, but some people prefer the voice messaging features to manually entering text. 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

Translation of the article was done in Alconost.

Alconost localizes applications, games and sites in 68 languages. Native translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, project managers 24/7, any format of string resources, translation of technical texts .

We also make advertising and training videos - for sites that sell, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliner, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.

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