“Localizing a product means creating it in another language.”

 

Our client is a global IT company working on various kinds of projects, including a product for hosting online meetings, events, training, support, and collaboration wherever you are.

 

The complex approach to product localization is required due to the various types of content in different product components: user and administrator interfaces, help materials, presentations, audio, video, and graphic content. Localizing each content type requires a unique process and a set of steps, various expert knowledge and skills, and involves a team of professionals.

According to the content types and the variety of tasks, the following roles were distributed between the members of our localization team:

 

• Technical translator
• Marketing translator
• Generic content translator
• Editor
• Proofreader
• Terminologist
• Tech SME
• QA specialist
• Testing specialist
• Project manager

Localization settings

Our team has been working on Russian localization since 2010. For more than ten years, Russian was the only language for the post-Soviet countries. In March 2022, after the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the client decided to add Ukrainian. The work began in April, and the Ukrainian localization was released in June.

 

We do not know the details of all the client’s processes except those agreed with us.

Before starting the actual translation, we had to set up support for the Ukrainian language and locale in all product components. This process involved agreeing on the date and time format, the start of the week, week and month names, and their abbreviations

Terminology selection and approval

After the setup, the next step is to translate and approve terminology. With the client having Ukrainian support for some of their products and services, most terms have been translated and approved earlier. Our task was to update the terminology for our needs. The translation of certain terms was outdated and did not fit the purpose, or was insufficiently clear and generally accepted in the industry.

Content translation

When all the preparations were done, it was time to translate the content.

Everything that had been translated into Russian gradually over the years came for translation into Ukrainian at once. A huge volume and a month timeline. But here, our Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism came in handy and allowed us to engage the translators who had worked on the Russian version to translate the Ukrainian version. The advantage of this is that they knew the product, its peculiarities and bottlenecks. They had answers to all questions. That’s why we could complete the work quickly and efficiently, as the client required.

 

Of course, the first step was interface localization. Next, the translation of help and other supporting information, as well as accompanying documentation and periodic updates. Such updates arrive simultaneously for both languages and are executed in parallel by the same team.

IT content component and specifics

User interface

The entire text of the application and everything the users see on the screen when interacting with the product, i.e., all the labels, buttons, drop-down lists, and pop-up tips, are all user interface elements. Translation of user interface content is the crucial and the most challenging stage of software localization, as it requires adopting a responsible approach, studying the product, and, if possible, using it in test mode. The translator’s task is to choose the most accurate translation, following the established industry terminology (if any), for each text line and sentence. It is worth noting that during translation, the linguist works with the export of text strings and does not see their placement on the screen, making it more difficult to understand the context (i.e., the use case or purpose of the corresponding string).

The peculiarities of user interface translation:

• Lack of context: translation of individual and often unrelated strings
• Terminology proficiency
• Numerous variables and placeholders
• Localization of numbers, dates, measurements
• Word order adaptation for singular and plural
• Identification of headings, buttons, CTAs, pop-ups, drop-down list items, etc.

Approach:

• Only involve translators with technical background and experience in technical translation and software localization
• Use the client-approved glossary
• Get customer feedback through an online Q&A form
• Utilize a dedicated team of translators and editors with profound product knowledge
• Perform localization testing to check the appropriateness and relevance of the translation in the context, correct inaccuracies, and ensure that formats, dates, and times are correctly localized.

Help content

With help content, users learn how to navigate the app, deepen their knowledge and skills, and solve issues on their own. This type of content is not considered a priority, but it makes life much easier for users who can access it and get information in their native language.

The peculiarities of help content translation:

• Large volumes in a limited time
• Use of machine translation to reduce the time (speed up the translation)
• Use of actual interface translations
• Review the context on the help site for the correct text formatting

Approach:

• Engage linguists with machine translation post-editing experience
• Use translation memory to look up the interface translations

Audio prompts

For voice calls and joining meetings from a phone, audio prompts replace the user interface, and all features are voiced. The availability of such voice prompts in different languages and their comprehensibility directly impact usability for end users. For example, Press “1” followed by the pound sign may be difficult for a Ukrainian-speaking user to understand, so it should be adapted. While the words “pound sign” are understandable for English speakers, it can be confused with the currency sign £ in other countries and languages.

The peculiarities of audio prompts translation:

• Written translation of prompts text followed by a voiceover
• Lack of context
• Combining several prompts in an audio file

Approach:

• Conciseness
• Use plain language to translate voice prompts
• Coordinate interrelated prompts during translation
• Select generic and simple language structures that will simplify dubbing

Error descriptions

This type of content contains detailed descriptions of failures or known issues in the product, both resolved and unresolved. It is usually created by technical specialists for their peers and is often overloaded with industry-specific terminology. This text may also contain grammatical, spelling, and punctuation errors, making it difficult to understand and translate. For example, the error Addressed an issue about the attendee list window column settings refers to the column settings in the meeting attendee list, but in fact, there is no specific information about these issues in the text.

The peculiarities of error description translation:

• Interpretation of content written by developers
• Understanding of internal software development processes
• Understanding the product’s logic to describe the problem and solve it correctly

Approach:

• Assign translation only to the primary technical translator
• Clarify the meaning of the unclear text with the client

Presentation materials and email correspondence with clients

Any product on the market needs to be effectively presented to the target audience. It can be done through presentations, infographics, introductory videos, emails introducing new features, and product release announcements. Such materials must be impeccable, as impeccable content is the foundation of a company’s reputation.

The peculiarities of presentation material and email
correspondence translation:

• High content visibility
• Marketing nature of the materials
• Formal style

Approach:

• Engage translators with marketing translation experience
• Consider the context to choose the appropriate forms of address and the appropriate text formatting
• Perform an additional stage of translation verification in the target format (LSO)

Terminology translation

Software localization is a continuous process. As new features become available, localization needs to be updated—year by year. Consistent terminology is the basis for success and a very responsible task, as it requires in-depth knowledge of the product’s logic, proficiency in the established industry terminology, and the ability to choose the most common translation while understanding the possible homonymy in particular use cases. For example, the English word host is often used in the project context as a meeting organizer, but it can also mean a host as a computer.

The peculiarities of terminology translation:

• Choosing the best term translation
• Versatility of application
• Compliance with industry standards

Approach:

• Involve a linguist with expert knowledge in the industry
• Select the most generic and understandable terms in the target language
• Use generally accepted industry terminology where possible

IT content translation workflow

The process of adapting text in other languages depends on the content type and intended use.