Top Essential Things About Software Localization Services
English is frequently referred to as a universal language. But when it comes to software, concentrating primarily on English-speaking markets leaves out a sizable portion of the global clients. Around 7.9 billion people live on the planet, yet only 1.5 billion of them speak English. Software localization services can help your business reach more target customers in every local language.
Here are essential tips about software localization services to assist you in localizing your software effectively, saving time and money, and creating high-quality software products for the worldwide market.
#1. Reasons to use software translation services
Software localization service is crucial for global businesses, and the advantages of having localized software are outlined below.
Reach global markets quicker
With software translation services, your marketing messages will become more enticing to new consumers. Localizing your software will help you win over new clients and earn their trust. As a result, your product users may spread the word about your software. A localized multilingual software can help international clients understand and buy your software products, and your business can enter the global market quicker.
Your software will be ready to launch in a number of markets once it has been localized within your development process.
Expand your customer base
Software localization service ensures that your target clients will appreciate your software product and tell others about their positive experiences. Clients are more likely to buy and recommend your software product if they can quickly understand what it is, what it does, and why it is the best option for their needs.
Enhance the user experience and brand visibility
Since software localization service is one of the ways to give your customers a personalized experience, it can help your software company grow and increase brand loyalty. People value customization and prefer to stick with companies they like, even when a less expensive option is available. The whole customer experience of the chosen brand is what keeps customers coming back, even though the alternative may offer comparable benefits.
Furthermore, before selecting similar products, consumers frequently consider average ratings and user reviews. Your software product’s user experience will stand out from the competition if it is localized.
Increase your revenue
Localizing your software might increase sales in your target market. Many consumers favor local over international shopping. Your website and other marketing materials will receive more traffic if you use a local language that is stick to the local clients. Your businesses consequently get more leads and conversions by using software localization services.
#2. Top essential practices for software localization services
Plan ahead
Many businesses do not consider software localization services until a product is released. To create a high-quality product, scheduling and planning should be done far in advance and should consider all required process steps, including translation, review, testing, and regression.
Externalize all translatable content
To successfully internationalize software, the text must first be removed from the source code and placed in source files. It is easier to avoid code duplication problems and allow translators and engineers to collaborate on updates when the text to be localized is kept separate from the code. Additionally, it eliminates the potential for malicious code during the software localization process.
Invest in a style guide and glossary
The style guide offers consistency in style and formatting throughout all of your software and documentation by outlining the style, vocabulary, and standards from the beginning. Your software localizations will be of higher quality, there will be fewer errors, your work will be more professional, and you will save time and money.
Understand translation tools
You can make the most of this technology by learning more about how translation and localization tools operate. With translation memory, all translations and localizations are continuously stored in a database while the translator works. To assist translators, this database keeps track of previously translated “segments,” which can be sentences, paragraphs, or sentence-like entities (headings, titles, or list items). These segments can be reused when the same section is repeated elsewhere in the project or in updates. Software localization service takes much less time and money thanks to these translation tools.
Before choosing a software localization partner, you should ensure that the agency you choose can support translation and localization tools for your software localization projects.
Plan for text expansion
Various translated texts require up to 30% more room than the original English content. You should leave enough space on your layout. The resource file for such items should contain comments if there are any strings that are limited in size for expansion or to incorporate dynamic UI expansion into your software. To get perfect software localizations in this case, you can use DTP.
Use Unicode/UTF-8 encoding of strings
You should always use Unicode/UTF-8 encoding when sourcing your string tables or software resources. These character sets were developed to support all of the world’s written languages. The cost of development and support is decreased, unnecessary conversion stages are avoided, time-to-market is shortened, and just one source code version is needed.
Avoid concatenation and overuse of single strings
Many languages do not have the same English word order and structure. Concatenated strings that are used in many contexts frequently have problematic grammatical constructs and gender agreement problems. Only content that has been written for a particular language can be combined. Concatenation makes software localization challenging.
Notice internationalize numbers
This stage is crucial because it helps users from all over the world to recognize dates, numerals, and other region-specific data in a familiar way. Even within locations that share the same language, such data may vary. For instance, the UK uses DD/MM/YYYY for dates, whereas the US uses MM/DD/YYYY.
Engineers should always bear in mind while designing code that different nations may use various date and time formats, as well as various measurement systems, different calendar systems, time zones with partial hour offsets, different currencies, and various phone number formats.
Partnering with native translators is the best way to ensure accurate software localization services.
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Provide comments on software resources
For translators, all comments in software resources can be highly beneficial since understanding the context and usage of particular strings enables them to select the appropriate translation from the start. The majority of translation software enables translators to see these remarks when they translate.
Localize help (UA) and software (UI) at the same time
Many non-English speakers have found that software wording varies when asking them to click on a button under Help or a User guide. To guarantee consistency, you need to localize the user guide, online help files, and graphical user interface (GUI) simultaneously.
Test your software
A crucial phase in the translation process is testing the software prior to release. It should be carried out by qualified localization QA specialists and will aid in revealing any potential technical problems with character corruption, hard-coded strings, text truncation, and UI scaling. The opportunity to examine the translation in its entirety at this last step also allows the linguist to make any necessary revisions.
#3. Start your software localization journey with us
We hope you enjoy our post about software localization tips and find some useful guides for your next software localization projects. Software localization may have some difficulties, so it is essential to partner with a professional translation company that can support you overcome all challenges and complete your task fast and effectively.
If you are interested on find a professional software localization service, don’t hesitate to work with GTE Localize. We are a comprehensive localization agency that only delivers high-quality software localization services for all sizes of businesses. At every stage of the software localization process, a partner like GTE Localize can assist you in problem-solving and eliminating redundancies to ensure that your launch goes successfully and on schedule.
To find out what our team can do for your next launch, get in touch with us. We are happy to give you a free 300-word test and a free consultation for any software localization projects.
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