Localization is the process of adapting a product or service to a particular language, culture, and desired local “look-and-feel.” Ideally, a product or service is developed so that localization is relatively easy to achieve – for example, by creating technical illustrations for manuals in which the text can easily be changed to another language and allowing some expansion room for this purpose. This enabling process is termed internationalization.

The localization process is most generally related to the cultural adaptation and translation of software, video games and websites, and less frequently to any written translation, which may also involve cultural adaptation processes. Localization can be done for regions or countries where people speak different languages, or where the same language is spoken: for instance, different dialects of Spanish, with different idioms, are spoken in Spain than are spoken in Latin America; likewise, word choices and idioms may vary even among countries which share a common language.

Language localization is the process of translating a product into different languages and adapting what is said to a specific country or region. It is the second phase of a larger process of product translation and cultural adaptation (for specific countries, regions or groups) to account for differences in distinct markets, a process known as internationalization and localization.