Seasons greetings to you, friend! ❄️
 
This time of year brings a range of emotions, from jolliness and gratitude, to existential dread over the relentless passage of time as another year draws to a close.
 
We also get fun things like our Spotify Wrapped, National Geographic Pictures of the Year, Pantone's Color of the Year (Mocha Mousse), and the ever-provocative Oxford Word of the Year. Brainrot. Yes, the Oxford Word of the Year is Brainrot.
 
What you may not have realized you need—but might want to consider adding to your year-end wrap-ups—is a special end-of-year edition of Borderless. Today we're looking back at the blog post you guys loved the most, this year's biggest milestones in the world of language and localization, and the weirdest holiday traditions from around the globe. 🌍

From the Lokalise blog

Throwback: The Captivating World of Game Localization 🎮
 
Of the many articles I've shared here this year, this was the one readers loved most. And for good reason! Localizing games is endlessly complex, nuanced, and subject to a highly critical end consumer who value the integrity of the original story above all else.
 
So, time for a re-run of this excellent read. Within, you'll find gold nuggets of information, such as:
  • From Puck Man to Pac-Man: iconic examples of successful (and some not-so-successful) localization.
  • Speaking the Language of Gamers: the most popular languages used by gamers worldwide.
  • The brand risks of not localizing: If you don’t do it, fans might do it themsleves leading to poor quality after-market translations.
  • Localization Done Right: how to avoid brand disasters and create a top-notch localization strategy with expert tips!

Read it now or tuck it away for later 👇


2024 Localization Wrapped

This year is one for the books when it comes to localization. In our post-AI world, the paradigm is still shifting, bringing back-to-back breakthroughs in language technology. Our industry is booming. Dare I say we're witnessing the localization renaissance?
 
Here is my list (hardly exhaustive) of the biggest headlines this year:
 
Biggest milestones in localization tech:
The growing integration of translation technology: Growing spotlight on language preservation and cultural heritage:

What a year!


Winter holiday traditions from around the globe

Cozy nights and festive cheer are great, but what really makes the holidays special are the odd traditions people come up with around the globe to celebrate. Here are a few of my favorites:
1. El Caganer: of all the things you'd expect to see in a nativity scene, a little figurine of a man defecating is probably pretty far down on the list.
 
In Catalonia (and neighbouring regions) they do things differently. The exact origins are unknown, but at some point in the 1700s someone somewhere decided that the usual baby Jesus/three kings/farm animals combo was just too boring, and the tradition stuck.
2. Krampus: along with hot chocolate and presents, kids in Alpine Europe also have special memories of being terrorized by an evil anthropomorphic demon on the 5th of December. 
 
Krampus takes good behaviour very seriously. He'll scare your kids senseless and beat them with sticks. He'll even put them in a bag and take them away. Keep this in mind the next time the threat of a lump of coal doesn't do the trick.
3. Fried chicken: Christmas is actually a widely-celebrated holiday in Japan. Not because of Jesus — because of the Colonel, his 11 herbs and spices, and some great marketing back in the 70s.
 
KFC Japan earns about 5% of their annual revenue when millions of people line up for their "party barrels" in the days surrounding Christmas in this decades-old tradition.
4. Burning the old man: New Years Eve is a time to leave the past behind, embracing change and new ideas with open arms. 
 
In Kerala, India, they symbolically represent this youthful mentality by burning a straw-stuffed, booze-drinking effigy of a cranky old-timer (Pappanji). 
5. Colorful underwear: In Brazil, the course of the forthcoming year is dictated by the color of your underwear on New Years Eve
 
Hoping for a good 2025? Wear white for peace, pink for love, red for passion, yellow for wealth, green for luck, or blue for success. Choose wisely.
Read more here and here.

New years resolutions

🙋‍♀️ Raise your hand if you've ever set new years resolutions. Keep your hand up if those resolutions usually last less than two weeks. No shame. 
 
This year, we'll make it happen. After all, now we know about the Brazilian underwear tactic. If that fails, we'll just have to draw strength from our collective solidarity. 
  
Will you be aiming for any of the resolutions below? Submit an answer to see where you fall among the Lokalise team and other readers.

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Lokalise partners up with AWS

We're so excited to announce that Lokalise is now available on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace.
 
This is the kind of thing you'll love if you've ever dealt with lengthy procurements and corporate red tape. If you're not familiar, the AWS Marketplace is a virtual catalogue of highly-vetted, market-leading tools (like us!).
 
For companies that use AWS and get allocated annual credits, these can now be used to purchase Lokalise with ease, drastically shortening procurement and renewal cycles. No jumping through hoops, no tedious budget requests.
 
Now we can help you localize that much faster! Read more on this latest partnership below 👇

And that's a wrap. This is the last edition of Borderless this year because, let's be honest, y'all have better things to do over the holidays than read emails from SaaS companies. Hopefully.
 
See you in 2025!

Claire Smith

Lifecycle Marketing Specialist, Lokalise

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