Events 2023
Attached » News & blogs
Events 2023
Attached is a proud sponsor, exhibitor and attendee at the 2023 events listed below.
Come and connect with us in person!
Proud recipient of one of Adaptive’s Best Employer in Localization Awards!
Proud recipient of one of Adaptive’s Best Employer in Localization Awards!
Our mission at Attached – language intelligence is to guide and contribute to the personal and professional development journey of all our talent. This mission has now been recognized by Adaptive who awarded us with the BELA Award for Best Language Service Provider for Career Progression!
We achieved this award by creating a clear ‘career model’ that makes our talents’ paths more concrete. This model outlines a framework of the different career trajectories within Attached, which includes specialized directions, such as localization project management, content strategy and localization engineering. And we couldn’t be prouder that our efforts to support people in their growth and development have been recognized by Adaptive.
To check out Adaptive’s publication and see a complete list of BELA winners, click here.
To broaden our mission and in partnership with Localization Academy, we are excited to launch Localization Project Manager Bootcamps starting in February. These are designed to fill the gap for students and juniors who want to make the leap to becoming localization professionals and will enable them to learn the necessary skills to launch their career path in this direction.
A big congratulations to all the winners of the BELA Awards!
Quote Eveline van Sandick:
One of my many mottos is “A day without learning is a day wasted”. I firmly believe that continuous learning as well as a constant perspective on how you can progress in both your personal and professional life are essential ingredients to be and remain ready for whatever the future will bring. It is my responsibility to make sure that my team members are enabled to achieve this.
Holiday cooking at Attached
Holiday cooking at Attached
Here at Attached, we have a good smattering of cultures, and most of our conversations over the lunch table revolve around food from our native countries. And let’s be honest: nothing beats our own homeland’s cooking.
These conversations inspired us to compile some of our holiday favourites – whether it’s grandma’s recipe or new traditions – and share them with you this holiday season. They range from yummy baked goods to fun side dishes. And some are just so good, you can make them the whole year round.
In all our years working with language and culture, we’ve found that nothing defines culture or brings people together more than food and holidays. Gathering around a table full of good smells, tastes and cheer conjures memories of past holiday celebrations and the promise of more to come.
From the Attached family to yours,
have a very merry holiday season and a great 2022!
Eat and be merry – holiday recipes from Attached
Loyalty & Awards Dubai
We are looking back with great pleasure on all the nice meetups, presentations and activities at #loyaltyandawards in Dubai.
A few take-aways that inspired us:
Congratulations also to the winners of our Quiz during our workshop on Local Language Sells: Connecting with Your International Customers:
Folker Heim, Sayed Mohammed Aqdas and Ben Lipsey.
With a big Thank You to GlobalFlight for organizing this amazing live get-together again. We are already looking forward to next year’s event!
I Meet Hotel Webinar with Matthijs Kooijman
Building credibility with customers online
In the spirit of our Do’s and Don’ts series, our Commercial Director, Matthijs Kooijman, was invited by I Meet Hotel to present a webinar about the challenges surrounding online localization in the hospitality industry. His message, however, applies to a much broader range of industries. After all, the common denominator across all sectors is building credibility with your customers – and localization is the direct route.
Matthijs presents some data from CSA Research that shows the effectiveness of a winning localization plan. In short: companies that offer localized websites are simply more successful and create more customer confidence. If a website is only offered in English, you are undercutting your potential buyers by at least half.
Conversely, poorly executed localization can have major repercussions for your customers, for example by sending them to the completely wrong destination! This does not help when you are trying to build a good reputation.
Bali… or is it Paris?
Getting the most out of localization
Matthijs takes it even one step further by presenting examples of search term fails and how the benefits of doing good SEO and keyword research in other languages can majorly pay off.
Hence, he covers a lot in just 17 minutes. A few other topics include:
- Cultural and emotional aspects of localization, or the Cultural Iceberg
- The importance of a frictionless customer experience
- How investment in localization increases customer engagement and drives sales
And as Matthijs says, involving a localization professional from the beginning can save a lot of time and money in the process. If you are interested in knowing more about any of these topics, just get in touch with us.
We’d be happy to help!
Localization:
More than just language
When moving your brand to new international markets, researching not only linguistic differences but also colours is a big ‘Do’.
Below you’ll find a few examples of the difference in symbolism in different countries and the importance of good localization techniques.
A subtle colour used mostly for accents in branding. It represents purity and cleanliness in many countries.
In some countries, like Japan and Indonesia, it is the colour of mourning and sadness.
Most used colour for international brands. Why? It has broad appeal by conveying positive attributes like trust, professionalism and security.
On the flip side, in some countries it represents sadness or depression.
In the West, orange represents energy, excitement and adventure and is generally a positive colour in many lands.
However, in the Middle East, orange is the colour of mourning and loss, and in Northern Ireland it has negative political connotations (see example).
Do your research when using red in some countries. In China, it’s good luck, so used for weddings and celebrations.
It symbolizes mourning and bloodshed in wars in South Africa. Western countries see it as excitement, passion and danger.
Localization Fail: Orange
Telecomm giant Orange ran a campaign in 1994 in Northern Ireland using the slogan: ‘The future’s bright… the future’s Orange.’ Sounds innocent enough, right? However, the campaign wasn’t performing as well as Orange had hoped until they researched the association the Northern Irish have for orange. It wasn’t the colour or the company but a protestant-operated organization called Orange Order. The campaign was inadvertently suggesting the future lies in protestant Britain. For the pro-separatist Catholic region of Northern Ireland, this brought up strong emotions and an aversion to this brand.
Not doing research on their brand in this specific market led to distrust and a major loss of revenue.
Localization Success: McDonald’s
When McDonald’s, the fast-food franchise, wanted to start opening across Europe, they took a look at how the colours in their logo would be perceived. In the US, the brand used red and yellow. To appeal to the European market, they substituted the iconic red for green.
What was the reasoning behind this decision? From their research, it showed that Europeans in general are more concerned with health and environment. Green was a better representation of this. Today, McDonald’s generates the most revenue of all the fast-food chains in Europe and is the most recognizable.
Easy conclusion: getting to know and studying new markets before they entered majorly paid off.
Want to make sure your message hits your target – in any language? Yet not sure where to start exactly with localization?
Here are 5 Do’s and Don’ts that you need to know.
5 Localization Do’s and Don’ts
Want to make sure your message hits your target – in any language? Yet not sure where to start exactly with localization?
Here are 5 Do’s and Don’ts that you need to know. We’ll be expanding each one weekly with more details and examples to get you on your way.
Stay tuned!
Localization: an intrinsic part of your communication strategy
Leave translation and localization until the end of your content creation process.
Include localization as a critical part of your internationalization strategy. This allows time to foresee opportunities and bottlenecks in an early stage.
Localization: more than just language
Focus only on the linguistic differences.
Take account of all differences between target groups. This includes not only the tone of voice, salutation, form of address, local dialects and information density, but also design elements such as visuals, colours, symbols and even numbers.
Differentiation: more ways than one to approach your language portfolio
Adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to your language strategy.
For all your content channels, opt for a differentiated approach to localization. Consider elements like visibility, duration of use, degree of creativity, planning and budget to determine the best type of localization, such as translation, transcreation or copywriting.
Pseudo-translation: an ideal way to prevent obstacles from popping up before it’s too late
Second guess character count in design elements.
Include pseudo-translation in the design phase to check if the translation will actually fit. This ensures that translations with languages that are longer still look nice in the channel used.
Local offices: essential for local company knowledge
Underestimate the importance of determining which content should be validated locally and which centrally.
Consult closely with your language specialist, so that they offer workflows with a review step in targeted local markets to combine the best of your company’s central and local expertise.
A localization thriller
The American film director Stanley Kubrick still receives praise for his incredible attention to detail. His movies are noted for their unique cinematography, extensive set designs and evocative use of music. Kubrick’s 1980 screen adaptation of Stephen King’s horror novel The Shining contains one memorable scene that is fascinating from a localization point of view as well.
That scene is when Wendy finds page after page filled with the phrase All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, and she realises that her husband Jack lost his mind. Kubrick made sure to film five versions of this typewriter scene – with English, German, French, Italian and Spanish copy.
Interestingly, Kubrick didn’t opt for translating this phrase. Instead, he used well-known sayings of the respective target audiences to induce spine-chilling impact in the context of the scene:
German:
Was du heute kannst besorgen, das verschiebe nicht auf morgen
Never put off until tomorrow what can be done today
French:
Un tiens vaut mieux que deux tu l’auras
What you have is worth much more than what you will have
Italian:
Il mattino ha l’oro in bocca
The morning has gold in its mouth
Spanish:
No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano
No matter how early you get up, you can’t make the sun rise any sooner
Why all this effort to type these sentences out hundreds of times, restage, direct, film and edit this one image when it is only visible a few seconds? Well, Kubrick reasoned that it would take away from the shock value if the audience had to read the translation in a subtitle at the bottom of the screen instead. Hence the choice to localize.
Be like Stanley
Key to Stanley Kubrick’s localization approach is that he managed his audiences’ expectations and kept them forefront in his mind when designing his movie’s experience. This wasn’t done at the end of the process or as an afterthought but planned from the very outset. This attention to detail is what has made The Shining legendary worldwide.
Why do we relate this story to you? It’s because this is something that you can also do when creating your own stories and marketing strategy. The level of localization your target audience expects and how that matches your expectations in terms of gains can be built into your approach. In other words, what impact do you want to make on your audience? What’s your “shock value”? For the best results, don’t make localization the tailpiece of your communication strategy.
Do you want to optimize your localization strategy, but you don’t know where to start?
Contact us! Localization is in our DNA and we’d love to help you out.
Localization – what, why and how
In September and October this year, we were honoured to write 3 guest blogposts for the women’s entrepreneurs network GroYourBiz. Our focus was on the ‘What’, ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of localization. For some, this is new territory so we were happy to share insights, information and tips about how localization – a very important element to effectively grow your business across the globe – can increase customer loyalty.
Below we’ve compiled the links to our 3 posts so you can also easily access them.
We’ve tried to keep them short and sweet, but as you can see, we could go on and on about localization.
If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, don’t hesitate to contact us. One of our experts would be happy to help.
Attached turns 20!
Attached turns 20! And we want to celebrate with you!
To show our appreciation to all our clients and partners for making these past 20 years so successful, we are offering 20% off your project ordered between October 1 to October 7, 2020! Check out the conditions below.
Thanks to all who supported us throughout the past 20 years.
Here’s to the next 20!
Conditions:
This discount applies to one project using our standard rates with a total project price of minimum €200 and ordered between October 1 to October 7, 2020. Use the code ATTACHED20 in your request.
To submit a request, you can:
- send an e-mail to ,
- use the quote request form via the button above, or
- call us on +31 (0)70 345 94 01.