How to Create a Style Guide for Localization + Free Template

As a marketing manager, if you're embarking on creating a style guide to send to your translation partner for the first time, this article will guide you through the steps to take.

Why is it so important to have a style guide for localization? Because it ensures that the translated content maintains the same style, tone of voice, and brand identity as the original content. At the same time, it provides valuable direction to translators, allowing them to adapt the content more freely.

Throughout the translation project, translators, editors, and reviewers will consult the guide to ensure consistency across your various products and services, maintaining alignment with your brand guidelines in multiple translation projects. So, a style guide is a valuable tool for the translation team to become familiar with your preferences.

Here are the main steps:

1. Define Your Style

Indicate what your company considers a good style. That is a way of writing that reflects your brand and company philosophy. 

For instance:

• Sentences should be accurate but concise
• Sentences should not be too long or overly complicated
• Clarity is essential
• Sentence case should be used for all web pages, landing pages, and calls to action
• Numbers one to ten should be written down (unless in a title)
• All dates should be written in day-month-year format, with the month spelled out completely

2. About Your Company 

Add a short description of your company, its products or services, and its goals to help the translators understand your company better.

For instance, describe the:

• Positioning Statement
• Brand Personality
• Brand Positioning
• Corporate Values
• Competitive Attributes

3. Target Audience, Market, and Profile

Add a short description of who is your target audience, your target market, and your target profile.

The target audience is defined as the group of people (potential customers) that your product and marketing campaign are hoping to influence. This target group determines the type of language to be used in the localized material.

The target market refers to the country, state, region, Industry, and competition where the product or service will be sold.

The target profile refers to the male/female, age group, socio-economic profile, and rural/urban of the potential buyers. In some cases, the target profile will impact the style used in the target language. 

4. Translation Material Objective

Explain the objective of the material you are sending for translation.

• Awareness: Blogs, email templates, white papers, eBooks, case studies, etc., are created to make potential customers aware of your brand, product, and service
• Promotion: website pages, CTA, and landing pages have promotional discounts and marketing offers
• Compliance: Legal notices, privacy notices, cookies policy, and human resources content, make a company compliant with the law
• Notifications: Internal communications, external notifications to customers, and product updates inform customers

5. Tone of Voice

Define a tone of voice that best matches your company's values that should be maintained in the translations:

• Visionary: Use a mix of shorter and longer sentences. Make it sound as exciting and intriguing as you can
• Progressive: Sound active and avoid passive constructions
• Innovative: Do not use clichés and business jargon. Do not copy competitors
• Confident: Use language that is simple and easy to understand. Avoid unnecessarily complicated language
• Creative: We want people to pay attention to our message
• Human: Use 'we' and 'you' to make us sound more human
• Integrity: Avoid ambiguous words. Make intentions plain by using more conversational phrases

6. Technical Information

Add instructions for handling measurements, time, etc., in each country:

Suggestions:

• Always convert measurement, time, weight, etc., to the correct equivalent format for your country
• Always convert Pounds to Kilos
• Always convert Miles to Kilometres
• Always convert the date (day, month, year)
• Always convert time to the 24-hour clock
• Always convert Fahrenheit to Celsius

7. Country-Specific Grammar and Stylistic Issues 

Include instructions regarding country-specific grammar and style if appropriate. For instance, you can mention that translators must use new or reformed grammar and spelling rules for their language/country on all occasions and avoid anglicisms.

8. Copyright and Trademarks

 Explain how to handle application, product, and feature names.

• Do not translate the names of applications and products as these are trademarked or may be trademarked in the future
• As a rule, leave the English original name and keep the TM and ® symbols
• If in doubt, check with us to verify names and feature names before you submit your translation

9. Bias-Free Language 

Clarify how to handle gender and stereotypes.

• The language used should be as neutral as possible
• Avoid gender differences
• Avoid reinforcing stereotypical distinctions between men and women, race or religion

10. Acronyms and Abbreviations

List any instructions regarding your preference regarding the use of acronyms and abbreviations in your translated materials. 

• Always write out the acronym first, for instance:

1. Machine Translation and Post Editing (MTPE)
2. Desk Top Publishing (DTP)
3. Translation Memory (TM) 

• Use the standard abbreviations for your language

11. Industry Specific Terminology

Add any instructions regarding your preference for the use of technical or specific terminology for your industry in your translated materials. 

• Avoid generic terminology
• Ensure that you have the latest translation memories for your project
• Only use this company's approved bilingual glossary as it contains translated key terms used by our company and related to our products such as:

1. Company-specific terms
2. Industry-specific terms
3. Audience-specific terms
4. Keywords
5. SEO Terms
6. Do not Translate terms

12. Reference Materials

Add any links to already translated materials (if available) or relevant content that might aid a translator.

Suggestions:

• Company website 
• Links to published online catalogs
• Product descriptions
• White Papers, eBooks, Case studies
• Social Media

As Microsoft neatly describes:

A localization style guide describes how things should read when translating from English into a different language. Style guides are a great tool for understanding the specific tone and level of formality you should aim for when addressing the user. They also provide tips on how to write clearly and how to deal with practical things like capitalization and acronyms.