At first, translation and localization might appear very similar, but localization is often a much more complex and comprehensive process. Localization aims to translate corporate contents while adapting them to the target market, creating the impression that they actually originated there. The cultural features of the target market and the functionality of the product or service in that area are taken into account.

Localization can include not only adaptation to numerous cultural nuances specific to every language or dialect, but also to the legal and regional requirements of the target language and country. It involves text translation, transcription of audio materials and other components, but also adaptation of other things, such as design, marketing messages, colors, dates, or currencies.

All the cultural, ethnical and geopolitical features, as well as the history and religion of the target area have to be taken into account during localization. Using the same localized content is not recommended even in countries where the same language is spoken, for instance Spanish in Spain and Mexico, because there are certain important linguistic and cultural differences between those language varieties.