Many global SaaS teams assume: "If they can afford good education, they probably speak English."
Not true — not in Brazil, and not even in Japan.
A story about "dismal"
My Brazilian friend has a Master's in English education. She spent six months studying in London. She taught English in high school for 20 years.
When we went to see Banksy's Dismaland — the dystopian parody of Disneyland — she asked me quietly: "What does 'dismal' mean?"
She's not poor or uneducated. She's a professional English teacher in Brazil. And even she didn't know that word.
Proficiency isn't the same as full understanding
English proficiency is not the same as full cultural and contextual understanding. A teacher who can explain grammar, read academic papers, and hold a conversation in English can still encounter words, idioms, and cultural references that simply don't appear in formal education.
"Dismal" is not a difficult word. But it belongs to a specific cultural and literary tradition that non-native speakers may never encounter — regardless of how well they speak English.
Your product copy is full of words like this. Words that feel basic to you. Words that are invisible to your users.
What this means for localization
If you want real adoption in Brazil — or anywhere outside native English — don't assume language skills. Don't assume that education predicts comprehension. And don't assume that users who can navigate your product in English are fully understanding what it says.
What's basic English to you might be invisible to your users. Localization closes that gap.