Localization: How to do a global project

LocalizationHow to do a global project

Alexander Murauski

Alconost Inc.

Top 10 languages online

According to http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats7.htm

Regional distribution of Internet users

According to http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Google Play revenue by region

Growth in Internet user base

Philosophy for global projects

Philosophy for global projects

Make two languages right away at all levels:

• Development

• Design / UX

• Marketing

• Management and business development

• Technical support

• Sales

• HR

If you have two languages, the rest will be easy to add

Internationalization (i18n)

• on-screen text (string resources)

• variables in strings

• formats for display of numbers, dates, times, currencies

• units of measurement

• sort order

• encoding (better to do UTF-8 from the get-go)

• bidi texts

• RTL layouts

• string length

• fonts

• graphics, audio, video

• proper nouns

• politics

• nudity

• religion

Internationalization (i18n)

Worse

String s = 10 + " of " + 10 + " files deleted";

Better

String s = "%d1 of %d2 files deleted";

Guidelines for i18n and l10n

Google Developer Internationalhttps://developers.google.com/international/

Internationalization (i18n) – Google Developershttps://developer.apple.com/internationalization/

Localizing Your Applicationhttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/aa140876(v=office.10).aspx

Microsoft Language Portalhttp://www.microsoft.com/Language/en-US/Default.aspx

Globalization and Localization for Windows Phonehttp://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff637522(v=VS.92).aspx

Facebook Internationalization Guidance for Developershttp://developers.facebook.com/docs/internationalization/

Adobe Flash Localization Guidelineshttp://blogs.adobe.com/globalization/adobe-flash-localization-guidelines/

Translation + more

Ignore everything but the main case:

saw ad → came to your site → downloaded/bought/registered → uses and pays

What we translate:

• Product descriptions

• Interface

• Barebones landing pages

• E-commerce (important)

Pay-per-click advertising?

Looking for local partners?

Localization management

• Loc managero coordinates with translators and developerso responsible for everything getting translated

• Wiki (loc manager knowledge)o what is translated and into which languageso where resources are storedo where translation memory and glossaries areo who translators areo language-specific nuances:

colons in French, exclamation marks in Spanish length of texts in different languages dots above letters numbers in Arabic informal vs. formal you in Spanish and Japanese

Translation does not delay release

We translate as development progresses – we don’t wait until the week before release.

If something isn’t translated, let it be in the master language. Fix it in the next update.

Asynchronicity guaranteed by the loc manager, ideally by a cloud translation platform with API.

“Notify of new content” form.

For small projects: professional online translation service.

Glossaries

• Special terms, explanations, approved translations

• For games: names of characters, locations, artifacts

A standardized XML format and tools are available, but a Google Spreadsheet is easier.

Glossary is imported into a CAT and if the program sees a term in the source text, it suggests the translation.

Translation memory

Case study: localization for iOS and Android simultaneously. 90% of strings match.

Pluses:

• Quick

• Money saved thanks to repeats

• Consistent translation

• Can change language services provider

Minuses:

• Context – any given word will always be translated the same way (although the opposite is sometimes needed)

• "Disjointed” translation (if segments are at the sentence level and a paragraph is cobbled together from separate sentences)

• Mistakes are repeated

How does the translator work?

Programmers have an IDE and translators have their own tools too (CAT)

• Resource formats

• Segmentation (sentences, strings)

• Translation memory

• Glossaries

• Volume estimation

Desktop CAT tools: Trados, Wordfast, Deja Vu, OmegaT, MemoQ

Cloud platforms: WebTranslateIt, Google Translator Toolkit, crowdin.net

Best translation providers

Criteria: flexible (does not interfere with your work, adapts to your processes), quick, convenient to pay, MLP.

Ask for a test translation and references, ask who the translators are.

"DIY" translation marketplaces.

Translation by users, aka crowdsourcing. Is it worth it? Only when there is a crowd and interest (Facebook, WoT, Twitter).

Linguistic testing

Always test after translation.

Bug reports (screenshots and suggestions for fixes) from localizers.

Usually paid by the hour.

Why translation is so expensive

20 workdays * 2,500 words per day (10 pages) * $0.07 = $3,500/month.

$3,500/month for U.S., Germany or Japan before taxes?

TEP (Translation + Editing + Proofreading) + agency cut.

Total: $0.2/word is the cost of a good translation.

But there are ways to save!

Case study: WebTranslateIt

Situation

• App for iOS and Android (.xml, .strings)

• 10 languages

• Short strings, complex context, many questions about context

• Mandatory proofreading by second translator

• Can retrieve and include still-untranslated resources for beta testing

• Can add strings as development progresses

Solution: WebTranslateIt cloud platform

• Developer added money to account

• Uploaded strings

• Loc manager at localization agency sends their translators to the site

• Translators ask online about all unclear strings

• After the translator is done, the editor goes through and selects the “proofread” check box

• After localization versions are compiled, translators view all screens and make bug reports

API allows integrating translation into the development process:

https://webtranslateit.com/en/docs/api

Case study: quest and screenshots

Goal

• Translatе hidden object game with large amount of text, explanations, static locations, and unambiguous object names

Solution

• Location screenshots in Excel with all strings used in the location (screenshot on left, original and translations on right)

• Glossary of names of objects and characters

Case study: Google Translator Toolkit

Can set up the translation process in Google Translator Toolkit

• All necessary formats

• Translation memory

• Glossaries

• Auto-translation with corrections

• Real-time

http://translate.google.com/toolkit/

Case study: mini-translations in one hour

Alconost Nitro live online translations

http://alconost.com/en/nitro

Get a special coupon and get a bonus for your account – write to nitro@alconost.com

Case study: mini-translations in one hour

Thoughts on local partners

Translation by itself doesn’t do much. Promotion is necessary, preferably by partnering with local resellers.

Partner can evaluate translation quality.

If you don’t know what to translate, the partner will say what they need for sales.

Thoughts on multilingual contextual advertising

Barebones landing page +

contextual advertising gives an idea of the local market

When choosing an e-commerce provider, make sure that your users can:

• pay in their own currency,

• in their own language,

• using methods convenient for them.

Localized e-commerce

Contact us

Thank you for your attention!

Alexander Murauski, CEO

Alconost Inc.

http://alconost.com/en

twitter: alconost

e-mail: am@alconost.com

Always open to scintillating conversation with scintillating people

Presentation and text of this talk

Presentation

http://goo.gl/OCXzyE

SMM in different languages

If you are a small company with two languages, one combined Facebook and Twitter feed is OK.

For anything more, start separate accounts.