Agile Localization

Building Bridges Between

Translation Quality and

Rapid Software Development

Laura Dent

Freelance Technical Writer

www.linkedin.com/in/lauradentwriter

@laurainspace

Overview

• About Me

• About You

• Definitions

• Agile

• Localization

• Software and Content

• Benefits and Challenges

• Agile Localization Process

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About Me: Laura Dent

• Freelance technical writer specializing in single-sourcing

and localization; clients include translation agencies and

product companies

• Content Strategist at Rosetta Stone, language-learning

software company; localize software and documentation

– SimShip with Agile

• Adjunct faculty at James Madison University, teaching

Technical Communication for Computer Science

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About You

Poll: What is your level of experience in …

• Agile?

• Embedded in Software Team?

• Software:

• User Interface Text (UI)?

• User Experience (UX)?

• Content:

• Single-Sourcing?

• Localization?

• Software?

• Documentation?

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Intersections

Agile Software Development

ContentLocalization

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Agile Localization of Software and Content

Intersections

• Agile Software Development

• What agile is made for – rapid iterations

• Empowering developers

• Agile Software Development and Content Strategy

• Natural combination – Software UI text is Content

• Documentation Writer Content Strategist

• Upstream – embedded in Agile software team(s)

• Single-sourcing of documentation saves localization costs

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Intersections

• Agile Localization of Software and Content – Sweet Spot

• Challenges

• Benefits

• Software Internationalization

• Terminology: glossary and style guide – consistency of

content: UI text and documentation

• Hybrid: Between waterfall (handoff) and agile (incremental):

Batches

• Other approaches: n-1 (translating previous content); tiered

languages, SLA with LSP

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Agile Development

• Agile software development

• vs. Waterfall

• Agile Manifesto

• Methodologies

• Scrum

• Kanban

• Test-Driven Development (TDD)

• Extreme Programming (XP)

Many agile environments are a blend of these

• Processes

• Sprint planning

• User Stories

• Daily meetings

• Sprint review

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Agile Manifesto

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Waterfall vs. Agile

Waterfall:

• Linear

• Sequential

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Agile:

• Cyclical

• Iterative

© Study.com

Documentation Writer:

You are here

Content Developer:

You are hereand here and here

Agile Development Process

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By Scrum_process.svg: Lakeworksderivative work: Sebastian Wallroth (talk) - Scrum_process.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0,

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10772971

Globalization to Localization

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Software Internationalization

• Take the text out of the code

• Create external “locale” files for localization

• Create file structure for software to “switch” locales

• Make translatable strings

• Don’t concatenate strings – make complete strings

• Avoid variables if possible (within sentences)

• Allow for text expansion in GUI screens

• Link – Verknüpfung

• Login – Anmeldung

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Content for Localization

• Glossary: consistency of terminology

• Software UI text: clean and concise; allow room for

expansion

• English (source) content: write for translation

• Single-sourcing documentation: make use of variables

and conditionals – carefully

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Content: Single-Sourcing

Single-Sourcing: Use of a single document or set of files

to produce multiple variations in the output.

Single-Sourcing can

repurpose content across

the organization.

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Single-Sourcing and Localization

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Localization in Action

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Localization in Action

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Localization Challenges

• Linguistic – grammar differences

• Formatting – screen size (software), paper size

(documentation)

• Quality

• Linguistic QA Ideally, need in-country review

• Timing

• Cultural and legal issues

• Process

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Linguistic Issues

Common to Software and Content

• Don’t use variables for common words.

• Don’t concatenate strings (using variables):

• <subject> + <verb> + <object> doesn’t work in languages that have the verb at the end (German, Japanese)

• <adjective> <noun> doesn’t work in Romance languages; word order, number/gender agreement

Example – English:

• “The <device/machine> should be plugged in. Then, turn it on.”

French:

• L’appareil doit être branché. Puis, allumez-le.

• La machine doit être branchée. Puis, allumez-la.

Example courtesy Jennifer Schudel, Advanced Language Translations

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Benefits of Agile Localization

• Rapid time to market

• Continual improvements in translation quality

• Cost is spread over time

• Linguists become SMEs in your product

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Agile Localization Process

• Hybrid: Between Agile and Waterfall

• Finalize source text

• Larger batches to translate

• Service Level Agreement (SLA) with Language Services

Provider (LSP) for lots of quick turnarounds

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Iterations

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Iterations each Sprint

• Source content

• Translations

• Review

• Revisions

• Localization Engineering

• Release

N-1 or SimShip?

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• N-minus-1 (or more): Localize

content of previous Sprint

• SimShip: Ship all languages

simultaneously

• Later cycles:

• Documentation

• Rich content (multimedia)

• Tiered languages

SimShip

Rosetta Stone story:

• Software and documentation localized in 9 languages

• Agile software development environment

• Software: All languages shipped simultaneously

(SimShip)

• Documentation (Help and manuals) followed later

• Now use Scalable Agile Framework (SAFe) to sync

teams

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n-1 (or more): Tiered Languages

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Localization by Sprint

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New content added

(and revised) each Sprint

Scalable Agile Framework

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SAFe® Training from Scaled Agile® http://www.scaledagileframework.com/posters/

Program Increment (PI) Planning

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UI Content/Localizations

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“May I take your order, please?”

Kanban Board

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Resources

Flare Webinars:

• “Using MadCap Flare to Support Your International Content Strategy” https://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/signup.aspx?id=1144010340194854916

• “A Case Study in Translation Management – How to Reduce Costs by 90% While Enabling New Markets” https://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/signup.aspx?id=1146179877138420211

Jennifer Schudel, Advanced Language Translations: Presentation, “Five Things to Consider When Developing Multilingual Content”

• http://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/player.aspx?v=2197c5687bd28

• http://assets.madcapsoftware.com/webinar/Presentation_FiveThingsFlareTranslation.pdf

Venga Global eBooks (I wrote or edited):

• “Single-Sourcing to Reduce Translation Costs”

http://www.vengaglobal.com/resources/ebooks/single-sourcing-to-reduce-translation-costs/

• “Software Localization in the Agile Environment”

http://www.vengaglobal.com/resources/ebooks/software-localization-in-the-agile-environment/

• “5 Smart Steps for Software Internationalization”

http://www.vengaglobal.com/resources/ebooks/5-smart-steps-for-software-internationalization/

Val Swisher, Content Rules http://contentrules.com/about-us/team/#val

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Thank You!

Questions?

Laura Dent

www.lauradentwriter.com

laura@lauradentwriter.com

www.linkedin.com/in/lauradentwriter

@laurainspace

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