Writing for a global product
The journey of a non-native English speaker working as a UX writer for a global product.
A year has passed since I began working at Pipefy, and what an experience it has been!
An aspect that caught my attention since the first interview with the Pipefy team was the challenge of writing for a global product. What does that mean, one might ask?
It means that everything we write for the product’s interface is written primarily in English. We consider more than just grammar but also cultural aspects and language trends when understanding our users and addressing the product’s problems or opportunities.
Taking a step back, this is not my first time working on a product with different language versions. However, it is the first time that English has become my primary working language.
Before Pipefy, I used to write exclusively in Portuguese, and the translation team localized everything I created. (Hi, Jacobo and Peter!) This team was responsible for quality assurance of the translated and localized content. Even though we used a localization platform called Crowdin, they checked that all titles, instructions, and CTAs were accurate in English and Spanish.
After a while, these professionals were assigned to the Product Design team so our work would be even more connected. After all, they needed to understand the context of our design solutions and our users. An example of how this process has become essential to our daily lives is that we added a localization guide to our Design System.
Through this experience, I understood how vital translation and localization are for any business that wishes to reach a broader audience. I learned how translators can be valuable assets and how they complement my role as a UX writer very well.
When I joined Pipefy, I knew there wouldn’t be a specialized team that handled translation and localization quality. Before my arrival, American colleagues from the Marketing Content team used to review some of the content created for the product. Despite its shortcomings, this process was effective.
And in what ways did that affect my work? Quite a bit.
Every line of text should be delivered in English and Portuguese, which meant double the workload for me as a solo UX writer. Also, not having a localization culture or process within the company meant that some parts of the product were not translated correctly or were inconsistent. This took a while to fix.
After the first few months, I knew I had a lot to study and investigate to understand our users' linguistic and cultural aspects while highlighting the need for a team specialized in localization at Pipefy.
To be able to write in English, considering the localization aspects, and without a team supporting me, I relied on my partnership with our UX research team. That gave me the motivation to understand and validate our content decisions.
It was crucial to bring native English speakers to the moderated research stages. Likewise, we always generated versions in English and Portuguese for unmoderated tests. Additionally, we could rely on platforms like User Testing and User Interviews to recruit and test quickly.
It never ceases to amaze me how consistently different the research results are between Portuguese and English speakers. By simply translating the content, we would rely on words and expressions that would not resonate with users.
It is important to point out a challenge for our team: it takes longer to find English-speaking testers outside Brazil due to a smaller client base.
We learned another curious fact along the way: native English speakers are generally more objective. To give you an idea, interviews that last an average of 50 minutes with Brazilians drop to almost half with non-Brazilians.
Also, we are constantly concerned about differences in the number of characters between Portuguese and English because Portuguese texts tend to be much longer.
Happy place
Having participated in the research process, I have learned a lot about these cultural factors that affect how people express themselves and understand the content. That kind of immersion allowed me to write for a global product, despite not being a native English speaker.
We are still working towards a mature translation and localization process at Pipefy, even without a specialized team supporting us.
Through this learning journey, I again emphasize the importance of these professionals working closely with Writers, Product Designers, Product Managers, and Developers.
I hope this article has helped you find ways to act or even reassured you that you are not alone. Happy localization to you!
Você pode ler este conteúdo também em Português.
