Glocalisation: more than translation is needed to allow your message to hit home on a local level across the globe.

There are a lot of global and international companies which operate in many countries and although a company’s philosophy may focus on creating consistency throughout the company, sometimes certain adaptations will need to be made for a product or translation to be acceptable locally.

Glocalisation is often the key to the success of global acceptance. Glocalisation is a combination of ‘globalisation’ and ‘localisation’ and means to think globally, whilst also acting locally. Glocalisation means taking a global product or service and delivering it to anywhere in the world by adapting it to suit the specific local target area.

There are a number of ‘global’ companies that have adapted their products to suit a local market. McDonalds is famous throughout the world and is a truly global company. When McDonalds penetrated the Indian market they did so by changing their ‘standard’ menu to include items such as the McAloo Tikki Burger, to ensure they were locally recognised whilst they continued to maintain their standard global menu.

McAloo Tikki Burger

Failures in glocalisation normally arise because the item/service isn’t either needed or locally accepted, it’s normally the latter. Maybe the item/service caused offence or wasn’t to the local taste.

Here at The Translation People we offer much more than a standard translation service. We work closely with our client to ensure that their translations allow global coverage, whilst still respecting the local market. For advice on glocalisation or translation services, please contact us today.