Building in Estonian
Why I write my product in two languages, and what the Estonian version teaches me about the English one.
My product ships in two languages: Estonian and English. I am the only person writing both. The English version was the first to be written. The Estonian version is consistently the one that catches my mistakes.
What translation surfaces#
A sentence in marketing copy that sounded fine in English becomes visibly empty in Estonian. There is no longer a way to hide vagueness behind the cadence of English filler words. If I cannot translate it clearly, it was not clear in English either.
The Estonian version is shorter, harder, and more direct. Then I rewrite the English version to match.
What Estonian is for#
It is not for marketing reach. Estonia is a small market and most of my users read English fluently. The Estonian version is for the small group who prefer to use the internet in their own language, and for me.
For me, it works as a forcing function. A second language reveals the seams in the first.
What I would do differently#
I would start in both languages from day one in any future product. I spent six months on English-only, then retroactively translated and discovered three places where I had been hand-waving in English. The discovery cost me a week to fix. Starting in two languages would have cost an extra hour per page and saved the week.