Introduction to Localization

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Varun Patil

Date: Compiled in 2018

Localization = Language translation

+ market considerations

+ cultural elements

+ context

+ expectations

+ legal

+ others…

Translation Workflow - Simple

Hi

Hola

English text

Spanish translator

Spanish text

Source

Agency or Freelancer

Translations

Translation Workflow - Real World

• English text from marketing into 15 languages
• Polish text from Legal into certified Danish translation
• Product development AB test translation into 5 languages

• 2 agencies
• 7 freelancers
• 1 legal translation agency
• 4 in-house

• Portuguese continental vs. Brazilian Portuguese
• US vs. UK English
• Quality/Context
• Date/Time/other formats

Source

Agency or Freelancer

Translations

Challenges

• Marketing, legal and Product context varies
• Source formats are different (docs, spreadsheets, pdfs, code snippets etc.)
• Communication with multiple agencies, freelancers, internal staff is nightmare
• Reviewing all translations for quality is extremely hard
• Cultural and legal considerations often missed out
• Turn around time tracking and cost control

And others…

Solution?

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Automation + Quality Control

Localization Automation - High Level

Source text in defined files formats, with context

Source text in code snippets, CMS and other places

Translation Management System (TMS)

Translation

Review

Feed source text

Feed source text

Receive translation

Receive translation

Translation Management System (TMS)

Translation Memory

Glossary

Machine Translations

API & Connectors

Workflow Management

Human Translation

Onboarded Agency + Individuals, Translators/Reviewers

Reviews

Reporting on Linguists

Some TMS providers: Memsource, Smartling, XTM, Wordbee, GlobalLink, MemoQ

TMS is a software (mostly SaaS) which:

• Integrates with your tech stack containing source text
• Allows manual file uploads
• Onboards internal users and external vendors
• Allows custom workflows for different translation requests
• Offers machine translations
• Reduces costs using translation memory
• Automatically scores quality of translations
• Others…

Localization Quality Assurance (LQA)

1. Project based QA
1. step workflow (translation and review) done by separate linguists
2. QA checks in-built in TMS (e.g. spelling, punctuation)
3. References: Style Guides, Glossary, Instructions
2. Vendor based QA
• Language Quality Assurance on 1000 word samples of all vendors every quarter.
3. Content based QA
• Audits (review only) on selected contents on a yearly basis.
• Audits of most critical content (home page, funnel, legal terms) quarterly.

Other pointers to ensure higher quality of Localization

• Localize for browser locale or user preference, not for geo location
• Add context to your translation request, including images, videos and detailed description
• Specify turn around time clearly, to correspond to launches and/or development start
• Involve your allocated Localization manager in meetings, sprints planning etc.
• Give detailed feedback immediately if you don’t like the translation

Thank you!