Software localization best practices

​​Many organizations are looking forward to expanding their business and offer software applications for the global marketplace via localization

Software localization is the process of translating the text within a software product into various languages so it can be used by customers in a particular region or location.

But sometimes many localization efforts are wasted due to technical problems like the fonts are not correct, coding of the languages does not look correct or the phrases are cut off.

Here are some suggestions to assist you in preventing these difficulties and create an excellent product for the international market.

1. Make a Plan    

Software localization should not be a last-minute decision before the software release. To produce a High-Quality product You must pick the right professional translators that suit your application requirements. 

2. Employ the professionals. 

Don't hire students or amateur translators especially on complex projects like software localization, make sure to hire only professional translators because they will provide you with high-quality translations that meet your needs.

3. Invest

Excellent quality has its cost so you must be prepared to invest in High-quality translation otherwise your own prospects will discover it and it may result in poor reviews which are not a good thing for your business.

4. Examine your software

Make sure to test the localized software to be as strictly as the primary English software before launching to the target market to prevent any functional problems like Missing translated text, mistranslation or any other Localization bugs.

5. Provide Details

Provide the translation agency with a lot of details about your application like telling them about the targeted audience or clients. Make sure to supply them with all the instructions needed.

6. Complete your Original text

It is highly recommended to complete the original text prior to employing translation, or else it will become more complicated to estimate the costs.

7. Make sure to have space for text expansion

Lots of languages acquire about 30% more space than the English language, you are going to have problems If your software developers designed the software to barely fit English so make sure to Leave plenty of space or a use a UI dynamic extension into your application.

8. Present several comments in the software sources that define context

Understanding the use of specific strings will assist the translators to pick the correct translation from the starting point.

9. Review

If you hired multiple translators you may need to review the quality of the translation provided particularly when there are different translators working together in a big project and for this task you may need a translation reviewer who is going to check the quality and correctness of the translation provided by your software primary language, but you can skip this step if you give the job to a reputable professional translation agency

10. Don't Ignore localization for the software help guide

People around the globe will recognize when context-sensitive help informs them to press a button that is written in a different way in the application itself. To guarantee reliability among your application and help documentation at the same time, seek only an experienced reputable translation company that can manage both the software UI and the users help guide at the same time

Software localization can be frustrating, we hope you can avoid major hassles by following those useful tips.