DeafCat Studios

We are Localizing the Visions of the Future!

DeafCat Studios — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 10:23:39 +0000

Big changes are happening in the Arab region. Localizing the visions of the next decades is key for Arabs to be able to hop on the bandwagon of change. The UAE is leading the race to own the future. Whether it’s vision 2030 or vision 2050, there’s no doubt that it’s a new dawn for Arab leaders. There’s a complete reshuffling of priorities and a quick acceleration to modernize and innovate. The reluctance of opening up to the world has now been replaced by an eagerness to be the first to leap heads on into the future. A flourishing economy is a magnet to businesses and investments from all over the world. But for businesses to succeed in the Emirates’ vision, they need to Arabize and futurize. Localizing visions of the future starts by localizing ideas. And that is what we do.

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Why Localizing the Metaverse is Critical?

DeafCat Studios — Tue, 22 Feb 2022 11:49:33 +0000

We are living in exciting times. We are on the verge of a new technological revolution that is the way we experience the world and how we interact with each other. Do you remember when the internet became mainstream how it changed the planet on all fronts? Well the metaverse and the web 3.0 are expected to be another big leap for mankind. Is anyone thinking of localizing the metaverse? The line between reality and virtuality is being blurred and the concept of space as we know it has become multi-dimensional.

Today for generation z and generation alpha, their virtual spaces and avatars are as real as real life itself. For them, there’s not much difference between attending a concert on Fortnite or attending it in a physical stadium. More so, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of the metaverse at all levels and at an unprecedented speed.

But in this massively scaled network that is made up of billions of users interacting at all fronts, communication becomes of critical importance and localization would be key.

From entertainment to edutainment, gaming to conferencing, leather wallets to digital wallets, technology has not only advanced us a civilization but it has also bridged the gap between reality and virtuality. Localizing the metaverse starts by localizing ideas. And that is what we do.

In our latest podcast below we take a look at the future, and how the metaverse and the web 3.0 are set to change the way we experience life and connect with each other. For the millennials it would be a difficult transition into this new virtual world but for the younger generations, they were born into it. Also we look at localization as an important and critical role in making the metaverse a friendlier place to navigate. We invite to listen to our podcast on Spotify or watch it on Youtube.

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What you Need to Know Before Importing your Cloud Kitchen F&B Brand to the UAE

DeafCat Studios — Mon, 24 Jan 2022 07:51:22 +0000

The food and beverage industry is experiencing a massive transformation triggered largely by cloud kitchen concepts and online food delivery platforms. Businesses who can’t adapt to this change will have a hard time staying afloat. On the bright side, this transformation opens up a great opportunity for those who know how to adapt. When your F&B business model operates primarily through the cloud, scaling it becomes a simple matter. Today, a cloud based F&B brand operating in the UK is able in a few weeks to operate in the UAE. But being able to export a brand to the middle east does not guarantee success. As a matter of fact, what makes it or breaks it is the brand’s affinity and proximity to the Arab consumer. Having affinity and proximity with Arabs needs impeccable communication skills and of course in Arabic. Localizing F&B starts by localizing ideas. And that is what we do.

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How Big is the Arab Appetite for Digital Content?

DeafCat Studios — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 12:46:43 +0000

According to a study conducted by PWC, digital spending will account for the majority of revenue of the media and entertainment industry. The global digital spending will reach 50% of total revenue by the year 2024,. In the MENA region, digital spending will reach 45%. These numbers are huge, which is a strong indication that Arabs are consuming digital content exponentially.

Furthermore, the pandemic has accelerated the adoption of streamed video and audio content in the MENA region. It has also boosted the popularity of online gaming even further. Arabs are hungry for content and both global and local players in the digital media and entertainment sector are short of supply.

Also, the education sector has pivoted dramatically during the pandemic. Educational institutions were forced to quickly move into the online space and adapt their curriculums to online learning. This accelerated the edutainment sector especially for younger students that have trouble concentrating in a home schooling environment.

The need for Arabic digital content is growing, yet the supply is still much lower than the demand. Consequently the entry point to the MENA market for international content producers is through localization. Listen to our podcast below to learn more about the state of digital content and the opportunities of growth in the Arab world.

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How can a Health-Tech Product Appeal to an Arab Audience?

DeafCat Studios — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 07:26:41 +0000

Healthcare has changed tremendously in recent years. The industry shifted from a provider centric business model to a patient first model. And this shift came with amazing technologies that allowed patients to be more informed and in control of their health. And with a growing health-tech marketplace, finding a spot inside the patient’s mobile phone has become a challenge to healthcare providers in the MENA region.

But how can a health-tech product appeal to an Arab audience?

Well, the doctor patient relationship for Arabs is very personal, as doctors are seen as part of the family. So by developing health-tech products that are personalized and that speak the patient’s language, healthcare providers are able to attract and convert an Arab target audience.

Localizing healthcare starts by localizing ideas. And that is what we do.

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How can a crypto currency or a marketplace establish trust with the Arab consumer?

DeafCat Studios — Thu, 23 Dec 2021 08:15:05 +0000

Crypto is the future of currency. It is not far-fetched that the next generation will ditch plastic money and move completely to digital wallets making paper money a thing of the past. But with everything related to money, the trust factor becomes a main concern.

So how can a crypto currency or a marketplace establish trust with the Arab consumer?

Well, transparency is key but more importantly you need trustworthy communication. All that crypto jargon has to resonate with the target audience; it has to speak their language.

In the Arab world, when giving your word is more important than any contact, then the choice of words becomes absolutely crucial to building trust.

So if you are a crypto brand wanting to attract an Arab target audience, then localizing the crypto’s philosophy, its use, the marketplace, the information resources as well as producing original localized content are key ingredients, essential for success.

Localizing crypto starts by localizing ideas and that is what we do.

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How Easy is it to Localize Chinese Video Games into Arabic

DeafCat Studios — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 11:09:37 +0000

Is it easy to localize Chinese video games into Arabic? Over the years, the team at DeafCat Studios gained in-depth experience in video game localization. That’s mainly due to working on global titles such as FIFA and Battlefield but also working with the smaller titles and mobile games.

Our process at DeafCat Studios has been tested and optimized to produce a top quality product quickly and efficiently. This is also true when we localize Chinese video games into Arabic. Recently DeafCat established an operation in China and has recruited Chinese speaking team members that help us close the cultural gap between our team in the middle east and China. The added value of having native Chinese resources on our team is that they understand the intricacies and specificities of the Chinese culture and they can relay very well our ideas and thoughts to the client et vice versa

Whether the video game is massive or tiny, the localization process is pretty the same and can be summed up into four distinct categories:

– Linguistic (this includes translation, diacritics and adaptation)
– Audio (VO recording of in-game lines)
– Marketing Asset Localization (Localizing all marketing assets such as trailers and producing customized content)
– Quality Assurance (language quality assurance as well as game testing.

With our current set-up and our new representative office in China, we are now more than ever capable of servicing a bigger Chinese customer base, while at the same time simplifying the process of localizing Chinese video games into Arabic; A process that might seem difficult to most Chinese clients especially due to the language barrier.

Check out our podcast below to learn more about localizing Chinese video games into Arabic:

https://spoti.fi/3IrjNTA

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How Can Chinese Startups Reach Customers in the Middle East?

DeafCat Studios — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 13:23:09 +0000

Bringing your idea to life in a start-up is an exciting yet challenging endeavor. Putting long hours to make it work and overcoming obstacles becomes your daily bread and butter. When things finally start to pick-up, so does the need to generate revenue. And if your target audience is in the Middle East, you will quickly realize that the biggest barrier to entry will be the cultural difference and mainly the language.

Generating leads to your business from the MENA regions requires you to have a very good communication plan that can resonate with your target audience. However, what works in China, doesn’t necessarily work in the Middle East et vice versa. For that reason, localizing your ideas in Arabic will bring you closer to your target audience and intern grow your business.

So what does localizing ideas mean? Well, let’s assume your startup is in the gaming industry and you are developing the next best selling game. Your game plot has been thought of in Chinese and all your marketing assets are also in Chinese, so in order to sell your game to an Arabic target audience, you will need to localize the game itself and all its assets into Arabic and also create new original marketing materials to support your campaign. Your social media posts, website and all other digital assets have to be localized in Arabic. Interviews have to be subtitled and gameplays have to be dubbed into Arabic. Therefore, having an expert partner in localizing video games into Arabic such as DeafCat Studios is key for your success.

Want to learn more about localizing ideas, listen to our podcasts here:

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Helping Chinese Video Games Publishers Enter the MENA Market

DeafCat Studios — Sat, 14 Sep 2019 12:13:29 +0000

VideoGame Publishers In the Mena Market

The MENA region has the fastest growth rate in the videogame market, with more than 4 billion dollars of total revenue in 2017. We’re confident that the future of the videogame industry in the Arab world is promising and DeafCat Studios is happy to be part of it. Our main objective in the coming years is to localize more Chinese games into Arabic.

There’s no doubt that for foreign video game developers and publishers, tackling the Arab market can be quite tricky. Recently we were at Gamescom in Cologne and had the chance to chat with various publishers such as EA, Ubisoft and Microsoft and we felt that there’s a big appetite from these global companies to grow their footprint in the MENA market. The biggest appetite of them all was definitely that Chinese publishers who currently are rejoicing the Chinese government, lifted the freeze on new video game licenses according to the Economist. At one point China was producing more than 9,000 new games every year before the freeze and now the giant machine is back on. We met with top Chinese video game publishers and they all had their eyes on the Arab gamer. Most certainly the biggest validation to this, comes from the gaming giant Tencent Games that recently picked Dubai as their MENA headquarters.

News

The good news for the Chinese is that the Arab videogame market is real and lucrative. But the bad news is that Arabs consumes content primarily in Arabic and not English and especially not Chinese and this is where we can help. As a matter of fact, for the past five years, DeafCat Studios localized video games into Arabic. We have been working with global publishers such as EA to help them localize some of their biggest titles into Arabic including World Cup 18, FIFA 19, FIFA 20 and also Battlefield 5. Our best added value to EA is the fact that we are a dynamic team who acquired unique video game localization skills. We also like to believe that we have the necessary middle eastern cultural know how fused with an international mindset and that allows us to easily bridge between Arabs and the rest of the world. Our presence in both Beirut and Dubai solidifies our Arab roots and expands our international spirit which is attractive to most global publishers. For those reason we believe we are in a best position to localize Chinese games into Arabic.

Now if you are a Chinese publisher reading this article, the following message is for you. DeafCat Studios is more than your typical localization company. We are part of a trio set-up made up of three other companies that have digital marketing and advertising as a core service offering. The trio set-up is perfectly positioned to localize and drive highly targeted converting traffic to your IPs or video games. We can help you enter and grow the MENA video-game market quickly and efficiently.

To learn more about our services, feel free to contact us or chat with us by clicking the chat icon on the bottom right of the screen.

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Modern Standard Arabic is Key to Reach a Global Arabic Audience

Deafcat Studios — Fri, 13 Jul 2018 13:05:37 +0000

Modern Standard Arabic dubbing in the Middle East

Arabic dubbing in the Middle East started with the late Nicolas Abou Samah, a celebrated Lebanese film director when he established his company FILMALI in Leabnon. His initiative sparked the industry in the Middle East given the importance of Arabic localization, as the significance of Arabic (Modern Standard Arabic specifically) cannot be underestimated in the modern world. It is the official language of over 20 countries and there are about 300 million speakers of Arabic across the world. As so, this is a huge potential in the global market growth.

Modern Standard Worldwide

The Arab world exhibits an immense opportunity for media, entertainment and many other different industries to expand their global reach. Nevertheless, Arabic localization is a particularly tricky task due to its complexities and dialects. Many brands chose to localize in Standard Arabic, from those we mention Netflix and Amazon and many other; this seems to be a wise choice since it’s the official language used in most all Arab countries. By definition, this choice escalated the global reach of these brands. However, and as mentioned before, Arabic is a complex language with many different dialects, which will directly affect the pronunciation when opting to localize in Modern Standard Arabic.

Lebanon & Egypt using Modern Standard

In terms of volume, there is no doubt that Lebanon and Egypt are the two biggest localization hubs in the Arab region. However, there are some major concerns that should be addressed when deciding which pool of talents to choose from and the reason in mainly due to the local accents. The Levantines (people living in Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon) have almost non-existent local accent when speaking Modern Standard Arabic; consequently they have a better pronunciation then other Arab speakers. Whereas Egyptians, have a predominant local accent that remains present when speaking Modern Standard Arabic. Comparing the two accents is rather simple. Lets take the letter G as an example. In Modern standard Arabic, it is pronounced “Jee” as in Jar, but Egyptians pronounce it “Gee” as in Galaxy, which is wrong. Consequently, the increase in demands for Modern Standard Arabic localization in Lebanon prove to be reasonable when intending to maximize the reach across the Arab world. With all eyes on the MENA region, it is becoming the future ahead. The market is booming which is pushing international brands to seek every way and opportunity to connect with the market’s demands, and language is a key factor to attain this connection. DeafCat Studios

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