Localizing Your Website—What You Need to Know
International companies know the importance of website localization. Localization is important to introduce your company and its products to your international customers. If you what is important about localization, you can save money and a lot of trouble that you would have to go through if you found any glitches after the translation of your website. First, the localized version of your website must be functional in every way. Localization with errors and glitches can turn away your prospective customers.
To make sure that your localized version is flawless, you need to keep a few things in mind. When localization of a software is being done, the localizable elements are handed over to a localization team. Unfortunately, only after translation into different languages do the bugs become obvious. But at this point, correcting them is costly. A Spanish translator working for the Houston services of The Marketing Analysts Translation Services company briefed us about some of the problems that may arise during localization.
The translated text in the target language may occupy more space than the text in the source language. Also some languages have diacritical marks or accents which cause the text not to fit into the same space without the marks being deleted. Another problem is the difficulty in localization when the source language and the target language are written from different sides (for example, if one language is in Roman script and the other is in Arabic script). The use of application codes also poses problems which can lead to glitches if one not attended to.
These problems should be addressed before the localization process starts. One method to use is pseudo-localization, a software testing method which tests software for its internationalization. Instead of translating the whole text as required for localization, the text to be translated is replaced by an altered version. This altered version is in the original language, which is readable by native speakers. It highlights and exposes the problematic areas in a text which after translation can make the whole thing look unprofessionally done.
Pseudo-localization is cost effective and avoids future expenses by detecting issues beforehand that might be identified only after localization. This process not only saves money and time but also ensures a quality translation of your website. Website owners know that any bugs that may be found in the localized version can harm their company’s reputation and credibility. Such shortcomings also definitely build a negative image of the company. The pseudo-localization process usually takes a few days or even a few hours, depending on the client’s needs. According to language translators, asking your hired translation service company to carry out pseudo-localization is a good idea.