Host Simon Hodgkins speaks with Muhammad Ikram, Localization Trailblazer and long-time advocate for linguistic inclusion, on this episode of VistaTalks for a deeply thoughtful and challenging conversation about technology, culture, and why billions of users in emerging markets are still underserved by modern digital products.

A 20-Year Journey at the Front Lines of Localization

Muhammad’s career spans more than two decades in the localization industry, working across major global technology platforms and languages, including Urdu and Punjabi. Early in his career, he contributed to the localization of Windows into Urdu and Punjabi, only to discover a troubling reality: almost no one was using the localized versions.

Instead, users consistently defaulted to English-language interfaces, even when English proficiency was limited. This observation became the starting point for Muhammad’s long-term inquiry into why localization efforts were failing the very audiences they were designed to serve.

What he encountered repeatedly was friction between linguists and decision-makers, between usability and linguistic “purity,” and between global product teams and the lived realities of local users.

The Cultural Blind Spot in Global Tech

One of the central themes of the episode is what Muhammad describes as a cultural blind spot. From the perspective of large technology organizations, languages like Urdu and Hindi were considered “mature” in digital contexts simply because localized versions had existed for years.

From the user’s perspective, however, technology itself was still new, and the language being used to describe it felt unnatural, academic, or disconnected from everyday speech.

Muhammad explains that, unlike European languages, South Asian languages did not evolve alongside industrial and technological revolutions. As a result, many of the terms used in localized software were artificially constructed, rarely spoken, and often unintelligible to everyday users.

Breaking the Cycle of Linguistic Puritanism

A pivotal concept discussed in the episode is linguistic puritanism, the insistence on using “pure,” historically rooted versions of a language rather than allowing it to evolve naturally.

In practice, this meant:

• Heavy reliance on Sanskrit-derived Hindi or Persian-derived Urdu terms

• Coined words unfamiliar to users

• Syntax that felt alien in conversational, human-to-computer interactions

Meanwhile, real users were already borrowing English technology terms organically, such as computer, keyboard, and settings, and using them fluidly in everyday speech.

Muhammad argues that localization should reflect how people actually speak, not how institutions believe they should speak.

Localization Is Not Translation

A recurring message throughout the conversation is that localization, especially for technology, is not traditional translation.

Human-to-human language and human-to-technology language serve different purposes. While local languages are incredibly rich in expressing emotion, relationships, and culture, Muhammad advocates a simple but powerful rule:

• Human to human: use rich local language

• Human to technology: use transliteration and familiar terms

Technology interfaces are conversations. They must feel intuitive, spoken, and immediate, not literary or academic.

Why Users Reject “Localized” Products

When users switch back to English interfaces, it is often misinterpreted as a preference for English. Muhammad challenges this assumption directly.

The real issue, he explains, is that many localized versions are worse than the international ones:

• Inconsistent terminology

• Poorly adapted UI layouts

• Lack of right-to-left design consideration

• Confusing vocabulary, even native speakers struggle to interpret

As Muhammad puts it, a localized version must be better than the international version to succeed.

Three Critical Steps for Localization Teams

For teams working today on underserved languages and regions, Muhammad offers three concrete recommendations:

1. Fix the Vocabulary

Stop forcing obscure translations for technical terms. Use transliteration where appropriate.

2. Retrain the Linguistic Ecosystem

Tech localization requires a conversational mindset, not book-language translation.

3. Embed Cultural Knowledge in Leadership

Decision-makers must understand the linguistic and cultural realities of the markets they serve.

Without these changes, even the best intentions will fail at scale.

AI, Data, and the Risk of Repeating Old Mistakes

AI plays a major role in the latter part of the discussion. While many hope AI will solve localization challenges, Muhammad warns that it may actually reinforce them.

Because AI systems are trained on existing data, including decades-old glossaries and flawed localized content, they often reproduce the same unnatural terminology that users have rejected for years.

If the underlying linguistic assumptions are wrong, AI simply scales the problem faster.

However, Muhammad remains cautiously optimistic. As computing becomes more intimate, through voice, wearables, and ambient interfaces, natural, spoken language will become unavoidable.

This shift, he believes, could finally force the industry to confront usability, dialects, and hyper-localization at a much deeper level.

The Bigger Picture: Technology, Identity, and Inclusion

Drawing from his background in filmmaking, Muhammad connects localization to storytelling, identity, and cultural resonance. Just as films fail when they ignore cultural context, technology fails when it assumes one worldview fits all.

True digital inclusion is not about checking a localization box. It is about respect, respect for how people speak, think, and interact with technology in their daily lives.

This episode of VistaTalks is a powerful reminder that global scale does not equal global understanding.

As AI accelerates and technology reaches deeper into everyday life, localization is no longer optional, and it cannot remain superficial. The future belongs to products that listen, adapt, and speak the language of their users, naturally, respectfully, and authentically.