Little Known Ways To Hassle Free Software Localization

Little Known Ways To
Hassle-Free Software Localization
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Little Known ways to Hassle-Free Software Localization
Table of Content
Software Localization Challenges
1. Choose The Right Translation Management Software
2. Always Plan On Enough Space
3. Never Link Your Strings Together
4. Pay Attention To Time, Date & Currency
5. Use Unicode From The Start
6. Dont Try To Localize Your Software Manually
If youre thinking that hassle-free and software localization cant be used in a sentence
together, you wouldnt be the only one. Any product manager whos coordinated a large scale
localization project will know; its not easy to roll out seamlessly from beginning to end.
Software localization is hard d
ang hard in fact.
Software Localization Challenges

Whether you think of mistranslations, spacing issues and broken code as challenges or hassles;
one thing is certain. This is not a game for beginners. The very fact that software localization
involves so many people raises the stakes even higher. The need to marry together different
skillsets is tricky when faced with different languages, different time zones and staff working
remotely.
Cultural nuances, technical issues, broken strings, incorrect translations, missing cells, lack of
context, confusing spreadsheets Need I go on? For most localization managers, hassle-fee
is the last thing theyve come to expect from their software localization projects.
So if youre left feeling frustrated about lengthy delays, rising costs and constant
misunderstandings, check out these little known ways to hassle-free software localization.
1. Choose The Right Translation Management

Software
If youre wondering what translation management software is and how it relates to your
localization project, then get ready your life is about to change. PhraseApp offers an
all-in-one solution that will form the very cornerstone of your localization project.
Designed by software localization experts for product and localization managers, the right
translation management software will save you many unnecessary hassles. Like painful,
lengthy email threads, or mountains of spreadsheets piling up.
Just imagine running a seamless project where no important information goes astray, no
strings are missed, and no comments are left unobserved. No more broken design or disunited
teams working at odds with each other.
The right translation management software provides the perfect way of getting all your
localization stakeholders on the same page. Your developers can leave easy-to-understand
notes for your translators. Your translators can explain the logic behind their actions and why
they phrased their sentences in a certain way. They can get context, translate directly onto the
website and save time, hassle and the cost of constant toing and froing.
Because trying to navigate a localization project without a translation management software is
like trying to navigate a ship in stormy waters without a compass (or GPS). You can try guiding
yourself by the position of the stars and the sun; but if the clouds get in your way, youll end up
steering off course or crashing into something major.
No one wants to crash into an iceberg when trying to deliver fast, flawless results for their
clients. Or have requests, documents, and even client orders going missing.
When youre confident in your translation management software, you can keep your project
organized, transparent and everything in one place. Even messages and chat between
translators, product managers and developers. Nothing gets lost in cyberspace (or translation)
ever again.
2. Always Plan On Enough Space
Any translator, interpreter or linguistic enthusiast knows that not all languages were created
equally. And that needs to be made very clear to your software developers and designers. For
example, an expression that may constitute just three words in English, could turn into four or
five in French or Japanese.
Major world languages like Arabic, read left to right, and some Asian languages, including
Chinese are written vertically. What does this mean when it comes to localizing your software?
That you need to allow for enough flexibility and space so that the translated text fits into the
boundaries of your design.
That doesnt only apply to your page content or blog passages. Its not just about leaving room
for the page to get longer. Think about your hardcoded design elements, such as your CTAs
Get a Free Trial in French becomes Obtenez un essai gratuit.
In Greek its . If you dont allow for these textual changes
and challenges, localizing your software can cause a real headache.
The key to hassle-free software localization starts with your design and making sure that you
design with localization in mind. Consider the possible obstacles that different language
structures can bring and leave enough space for your strings to stretch or contract as needed.
Trust me, something as simple as a little extra space will save a lot of time and money, and
avoid any issues with broken design. Or a translator faced with shortening the text into
something that doesnt make sense and sacrificing the integrity of the translation for the sake
of your design. We all know how much they love doing that.
3. Never Link Your Strings Together

Linking your strings together (or concatenating your strings) can seem like a great idea and
terrific shortcut when you design your initial software. But when its time to localize that
software into multiple languages, thats when the cracks will start to appear. As soon as the
translators set to work, the problems with concatenating strings will raise their ugly heads.
Your translators will be limited by the boundaries of strings that are linked together in a way
that only makes sense for your source language. But go back to those pesky issues of space and
format, and the fact that not all languages are created the same. Once your translators get
going with context and providing a faithful translation, your nicely united strings will have to be
broken apart.
Thats why its so important that your software developers have at least a basic knowledge of
the work your translators do. They need to understand the fundamental structural differences
in languages so that they can code each entire string. It may seem like a lot more work in the
beginning, but if youre planning for large (or even small) scale software localization, this extra
programming effort will pay dividends in the end.
4. Pay Attention To Time, Date & Currency

Something as simple as the time, date, or currency can throw up major issues for product
managers when it comes to software localization. How so? Arent time and date universal? Well,
yes and no. While we may agree on the day, date and time universally; what we havent been
able to bring in synch is the format used to display it. And that can be a problem.
You probably already recognize the varying date and time formats between the US and Europe.
Americans lead with the month, whereas much of the rest of the world places the day first.
Europe uses a 24-clock (05:30 and 17:30), whereas the States still relies on am and pm to
differentiate day from night (5:30am and 5:30pm).
But if you think thats the only measurement issue youre going to come across in your software
localization project, think again. The first day of the week for you is probably Monday (we all
love those). But did you know that in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, they start
work on Sundays?
In Estonia their weeks begin on Saturdays, and in countries like the Maldives, its Friday. To
overcome this problem, youll need to code in a universal format and use a program like jQuery
date picker or Java. Making use of these will take the hassle out of universal discrepancies in
time and date display.
5. Use Unicode From The Start

While not every platform in the world supports Unicode, its now by far the most widely used
way of dealing with multiple languages. In most localization projects with Latin languages and
newer software you wont come across data types that dont support Unicode.
But if and when you do, youll soon find out when your translations break by simply using one
wrong character while coding. This often happens when dealing with languages that use a lot
of different characters, and can generally be avoided by always using UTF-8. UTF-8
standardizes encodings across browser and server and should be used in every layer of your
stack, if you want to make your software localization hassle-free.
6. Dont Try To Localize Your Software Manually

Finally, (and more importantly of all) dont try to localize your software manually. If you havent
caught on by now that its time to leave spreadsheets and paper trails in the past, then
welcome to 2016.
Manual software localization with all the tools available at your fingertips is like sending a letter
by carrier pigeon instead of writing an email, thumbing a WhatsApp or dropping a note in
Asana.
Its time to let spreadsheets go for good and remove the hassles of not knowing what has been
translated and what hasnt, whats been updated and whats left to do, and where the string
that needs fixing is located.
Just thinking about localizing with spreadsheets gives even the most determined of product
managers a headache. If you want a hassle-free way of localizing your software, try
PhraseApps all-in-one solution. Keep control over your project, increase efficiency all round
and reduce time and cost per project. Grow faster and capture more clients (while keeping hold
of your sanity as well).
phraseapp.com
sales@phraseapp.com
+49-40-357-187-76
Groe Theaterstrae 39
Hamburg, Germany

Little Known Ways To Hassle Free Software Localization

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Little Known Ways To

Hassle-Free Software Localization

phraseapp.com | sales@phraseapp.com | +49-40-357-187-76 | twitter.com/phraseapp | facebook.com/phraseapp | linkedin.com/company/phraseapp