

Ask HN: Should a fledgling SaaS website consider internationalization? - wamatt

Hi HN. My friend and I are working on a SaaS project. We&#x27;re about 2 months from launching, and wondered if we should consider translating into other languages (eg cn, de, ru, jp etc) to help reach a wider audience. This type of service  would likely have appeal in those countries too.<p>Or would it be better to only focus on USA&#x2F;CA&#x2F;UK for the first year (or two)? Hope to hear other HN&#x27;ers comments and experiences with this :)
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aggieben
I wouldn't worry about actually translating, but I for sure would do as much
as possible to build out the infrastructure necessary to support it. In most
cases I think it would be more work to shoehorn it in after the fact than it
would be to get it done up front.

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wamatt
Good suggestion, Ty. We've at added support in code and data for the LTR
languages.

While that means Arabic and Hebrew won't be supported without refactoring, it
should be an appropriate compromise.

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iancarroll
It might be ideal to validate your idea in one market first before expanding.

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wamatt
Yes, I'd agree with that.

In this case there is an established market (eg competitors) which would
suggest there is ongoing customer demand. Whether visitors will like our
service though is anyones guess, but we hope so!

We're placing most of our effort into making it simple to use, and helping
users beam with happiness

