The Best Language for Startups

By Sarah-Claire Jordan

A startup or startup company is any kind of small business that has recently been created but has already had some success. They are becoming more and more prevalent throughout the United States, and even the world, with certain regions turning into real breeding grounds for them, for lack of a better term. This, combined with the rapid globalization of marketing and businesses in general, has created a bit of a conundrum for startup companies. How should they handle the linguistic aspect of their company so as to have a better chance in the new global market?

For some less experienced startups, the simple answer to this would be to just keep everything in English and deal with translating when things expand into a market that needs support in some other language. This could work for a bit, as a over half of the web content in the world is in English, and many people speak it as a second language. However, that doesn’t mean that people wouldn’t appreciate content in their native language.

When you take a look at the data, you see that English is actually only in third place when it comes to the most commonly-spoken languages, with Mandarin as number one and Spanish coming in second. Couple that with the fact that those three languages are the most common among Internet users, and you can see how startups should probably be thinking more along the lines of which languages to have content available in first, rather than when to even start translating and localizing.

The fact that the more languages, the better, becomes even more apparent when you stop and take a look at some of the most successful companies that, in the beginning, were mere startups. Uber, Pinterest, and Tinder all clock in at around 30 languages each in terms of linguistic support, and they are all doing quite well. You can keep looking at other startups that have found global success, but you will most likely see the same thing: companies taking the time and effort to invest in their global audiences.

Of course, there are still some startups who might want to go rogue and not invest in any translation and localization, but they are doing so at the risk of losing out on a whole lot of business. Not only that, they will lag behind their competitors significantly, and will ultimately have to do something in order to catch up. That something will most likely be to invest in translation and localization services, and to pray they will be worth it after not incorporating them sooner.

To answer the question this article addresses, there is no one “best” language for startups. There are several, as many as 30 or more, and they should be used in content creation and marketing as soon as possible. The number of languages spoken by Internet users will only increase as time goes on, too. Basically, the bottom line is that any startup should make sure to localize and translate for English, Spanish, and Mandarin speaking audiences, and be prepared to do more.

Tags: foreign markets, globalization, spanish

Category: Business Translation