Why not use local language!
Why not use local language!
Besides locally assembled personal computers (PCs), there are
a lot of ready built PCs entering the Indonesian market. Hewlett
Packard, Compaq and Acer to mention but a few. All these brands
appear almost everyday in print advertisements, side by side with
local brands. It is advantageous because consumers will have more
choices and prices could be lower because of tighter competition
among these world class computer manufacturers.
My office purchases computers of different brands. Every time
I see the user's guide inside the computer box, be it Hewlett
Packard, Compaq or Acer, I don't remember seeing any Bahasa
Indonesia user's guide accompanying the computer. Everything is
in English, the computer user's guide, printer user's guide, and
monitor user's guide, and mostly printed in Singapore where their
regional headquarters are located. This is a pathetic fact. It
seems that these manufacturers don't care about localizing their
products. They are not aware that by translating or having their
manuals translated into the local language, higher sales may be
obtained.
Localization is the process of creating or adapting a product
to a specific locale, i.e. to the language, cultural context,
conventions and market requirements of a specific target market.
In Indonesia, I can only see a few companies applying
localization for their product. Nokia is one of the companies
applies localization to its product to gain better sales. I think
this is one of the reasons why Nokia leads the mobile phone
market in Indonesia.
All Nokia's manuals are in local languages, according to their
locale. For example, in Indonesia, they are in Bahasa Indonesia,
in China in Chinese, etc. Not only manuals, but also software
used in the phones provides the following languages: Bahasa
Indonesia, Malaysian, Vietnamese and Thai for the Southeast Asia
region. For other regions, Nokia provides languages according to
their locale. So if we buy a Nokia mobile phone in other regions,
for example, in Europe, we will not see Bahasa Indonesia or other
languages in Southeast Asia, but instead, will see major
languages used in Europe such as Danish, Swedish, Dutch, Russian
and French.
I don't see any reason why computer manufacturers should delay
localizing their products in Indonesia. Consumers tend to buy
products that are more familiar to them, products that use their
language, products that are localized. Beside giving better
service to their customers, better sales may be obtained.
ADRIANUS HIYUNG TJUNG
Jakarta