Translation process

Translating the textual data is a very time-consuming process. The textual data should be available to translators very early in the development stage, even before the code is stable. Consider the areas in this topic when planning for translation.

Physical equipment

Each translator should have equipment compatible with the language being translated. The display stations and keyboards should have all the characters needed to translate, and the printers should be able to print the translated text.

Translation tools

Provide the translators with tools that increase productivity and that prevent translation of non-textual application data. When purchasing or developing a translation tool, the following features should be included:

An editor that provides the ability to show displays that can be seen by the user, and the ability to translate the textual data on the system but still protect the parts of the application that are not textual data. The editor should also include functions such as scan and replace, find, copy, move, and delete.
A dictionary function to provide consistency of words and phrases throughout the product.
A validation process to check translation errors that might cause the application to malfunction.
A merge function that provides the ability to merge the translated text into a new version of the original text. This merge function allows for translating only new text, and saves time and effort.
A print function for validation purposes.

Translation education

It is important that translators are familiar with the product they are translating and also with the tools they are using. The translation process is not the replacement of one word with another, but the formation of concepts in another language. Knowledge of the product being translated provides more understandable products to the user. Time and resources for educating translators should be planned well in advance.

Translation guidelines and instructions

Translation guidelines and instructions should be provided to ensure correct translation. For example, to translate an error message properly, it is important to know in what context this message is displayed. A note to translators telling them what error caused the message to be displayed also helps.

Translation glossary

To ensure accurate translation, use terminology based on definitions in standard, widely available, dictionaries. If your application uses terms not found in standard dictionaries or terms that are used differently from standard definitions, provide a glossary of non-standard terms to the translators. Avoid using abbreviations and acronyms in your application. If you must use abbreviations or acronyms in your application, define them in the glossary. Remember, abbreviations and acronyms that are obvious in your language might not be obvious in another language.