United Kingdom

To which language should you translate to localize in the United Kingdom?

There are almost 40 different dialects in the UK, including famous ones like Brummie, Geordie and Cockney. But there is one language to be used for the UK and that is the standard UK or British English. Because of this melting pot of dialects, there are differences in meanings of certain words, which sometimes have to do with geography, but others are influenced by the British class system. For example, many people in the North of England would call their evening meal ‘tea’, where others in the South, would call it ‘supper’ or ‘dinner’ (though dinner is also used to mean ‘lunch’ in some places!).The important thing is to be consistent in the terms used that are commonly understood in the UK, even if some areas use regional words for certain things.

Official languages

English (97.3%; 66.5 mln), Welsh (0.9%; 615k), Scottish Gaelic (0.1%; 68k), 

Actual languages

English (97.3%; 66.5 mln), Welsh (0.9%; 615k), Scottish Gaelic (0.1%; 68k), other (1.7%; 1.16 mln).

What the top 150 best localized websites in the world do in the United Kingdom

(Top 150 websites listed in the Global by Design ranking – published annually by Byte Level Research, this report provides a list of globally localized websites, showcasing best practices and emerging trends in their globalization)

• 141/150 localize by translating into English
• 2/150 localize by translating into both English and Welsh
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and British Sign Language
• 1/150 localizes by translating into both English and Romanian
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, Romanian and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese and Polish
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian and Portuguese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Simplified Chinese
• 1/150 localizes by translating into English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Arabic, Czech, Hungarian, Dutch and Swedish