It has been a long and arduous process, but US companies have for the most part accepted that not everyone in the world speaks English and are taking that into account in their marketing and sales. A good deal of the credit for this can be taken by the internet. Having a web presence means that your potential market now is literally the world. Creating your internet presence, as well as other sales materials, in other languages is more imperative now than ever before. In three years, one-third of internet users will prefer using a language other than English.
Internet users are four times more likely to buy on-line from websites in their native language.
Importance of Localization Translation is one thing. Localization is another. For example, you could translate a document into Spanish for the Chilean market and find that someone in Peru would find it hard to understand. Localization is also the adaptation of a product for a specific locale. Localization means the introduction of new products to untapped overseas markets, penetration of emerging markets, maintaining customer satisfaction as international clientele insist on product in their own language, and satisfying legal requirements in many countries.