Making your Apps International

Making Your Apps International

Testronic Labs

Filipe Samora - AppsWorld - 2011/11/30

AGENDA

1. Why Make Your Apps International?

2. Prepping Your Apps for International Markets

3. How to Make Your Apps International

Why Make Your Apps International?

Can’t Read…

WON’T BUY!

WHY MAKE YOUR APPS INTERNATIONAL?

“Translation is not necessary. Don’t most people speak English anyway?”

11 out of 12 people worldwide don’t speak English

Speakers of English as a foreign language feel more comfortable using apps in their native tongue which increases the chances of them buying these apps

You might also be surprised to hear that English is third on the list, behind Mandarin and Spanish in terms of native speakers…


No. Language Native Speakers1 Mandarin 845 million 2 Spanish 329 million 3 English 328 million 4 Hindi-Urdu 240 million 5 Arabic 206 million 6 Bengali 181 million 7 Portuguese 178 million 8 Russian 144 million 9 Japanese 122 million

10 Punjabi 109 million

List of top 10 languages by number of native speakers (2010)

Source: Wikipedia


While English is the top online language, it only reaches 26.8% of the online population.

In other words, with your English-only website and apps, you’re ignoring 73.2% of the online population!

2010


Now, what would happen if you translated your website and apps into the other 3 top languages on the chart?

By doing that, you would drastically improve your reach to 63.5% of the internet population. Simply put, that would more than double your available prospect pool!


It is estimated that the worldwide smartphone application market will grow to $15.65 billion and the number of smartphone users will increase to 1 billion by 2013.

PREPPING YOUR APPS

FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

Even if you aren’t thinking about releasing your app in multiple languages, you need to ensure your app is ready to accommodate different languages. This process is known as internationalisation.

Internationalisation should be step one in the design and development process of going global. It involves setting up solid foundations so that your system architecture is translation-ready, supportive of multilingual data, user interface and regional requirements.

1. Technical Component

2. Linguistic Component

PREPPING YOUR APPS FOR INTERNATIONAL MARKETS

EMBRACE UNICODE

Unicode supports double-byte (Asian languages), special character sets (e.g., Eastern European) and bi-directional (right-to-left, e.g., Hebrew, Arabic).

Unicode eliminates dependencies on byte values. It is a fixed-width, 16-bit character set, which enables it to capture more than 65,000 characters. That means that Unicode can represent scripts and symbols for writing text in nearly every language.


TECHNOLOGY STANDPOINT

ISOLATE TRANSLATABLE TEXT FROM CODE

Textual elements, e.g., GUI component labels or text messages that vary with locale, should not be hardcoded in the program. Instead they should be stored outside of the source code and retrieved dynamically (JSON, PO, XML, XLIFF, etc.). This eliminates the need to recompile your app for different languages.



JSON file

Translatable text

Path to translated graphicsString ID

Pre-populate a built application with dummy translation automatically, according to applied settings, in order to detect implementation issues in the software, prior to starting the real translation phase. This process verifies that application’s GUI or functionality will not break with the translated text and examines whether the application can support special characters and text expansion.



CHECK IF ALL YOUR CONTENT CAN BE TRANSLATED

PRESERVE LAYERED GRAPHIC FILES AND ORIGINAL FONTS

By doing so you will avoid additional costs during multilingual graphics production. Supplying the translator vendor with only flat GIF/BMP/JPEG files without original fonts will result in higher cost and reduced quality when attempting to mirror source graphic output.



ALLOW FOR TEXT EXPANSION

Bear in mind that most European languages expand by 25-50% from the English. Provide character space limits to the translators for strings that cannot be expanded in restricted boxes. Although you can resize your dialogs before after software translation before rebuilding the translated application, the process will be much more efficient if most of the dialogs and controls have sufficient size before translation.




LANGUAGE STANDPOINT

TRY TO WRITE GLOBALLY

It’s not easy to ask writers to stanch their creativeness, to drop slick jargon wording or to let go of comforting local references and instead, draft generic examples that resonate worldwide.

However, if you’re aiming at going global, bear in mind that a lot of jargon, slang or local culture-specific references will not necessary translate into other languages / regions / cultures.


LANGUAGE STANDPOINT

AVOID ABBREVIATIONS

Some languages do not have abbreviations (e.g. Chinese, Japanese, Arabic) so avoid them. Abbreviations are often an emergency solution for squeezing text into a cramped layout. Consider adjusting the layout first.

PLAN FOR RIGHT-TO-LEFT

If your app will be released in Arabic or Hebrew, for example, plan for the layout to be reversed. Don’t assume that sentences can simply be flipped; this may cause usability issues as well as weird text display wrapping.


LANGUAGE STANDPOINT

CREATE A GUIDE FOR TRANSLATORS

Your translation suppliers shouldn’t have to guess what something means and you can’t afford to explain everything to them as translations go along. Create a guide that provides details on your project including a glossary of terms. If possible, work with translators who are already familiar with your subject matter.

Your objectives, what you are trying to achieve with your app Preferred Style (formal/informal) Target audience Expressions / Messages to avoid Contextual information for ambiguous strings Screenshots of the App

HOW TO MAKE YOUR

APPS INTERNATIONAL

Translation

Reproduction of text in another language so that the meaning is still the same.

Localisation

Localisation involves taking a product and making it linguistically and culturally appropriate to the target locale (country/region and language) where it will be used and sold.

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

HOW TO MAKE YOUR APPS INTERNATIONAL

Three main approaches…

1. Machine Translation

2. Freelance Translation Suppliers

3. Integrated Localisation and Testing Lab


MACHINE TRANSLATION


PROS: It’s cheap $$$$$$$$$$$$

CONS: You get… what you pay for.


MACHINE TRANSLATION – PROS & CONS


MACHINE TRANSLATION – PROS & CONS

FREELANCE TRANSLATORS



FREELANCE TRANSLATION SUPPLIERS – PROS & CONS

There are plenty of websites out there which allow you to hire the services of freelance translators:

PROS: You should be able to get better quality than Machine Translation

Still a relatively cheap option

CONS: Uncertainty (you won’t necessarily know who’s the best translator to handle your job). Not every certified linguist can translate an app or a good sales pitch for the App Store.

Translations will not be independently proofread

Content will not be tested on the devices


FREELANCE TRANSLATION SUPPLIERS – PROS & CONS

INTEGRATED LOCALISATION AND TESTING LAB


CONS: It’s typically the most expensive option for localising your apps when you consider the entire package (translation + editing + testing on devices)

PROS: You should get what you pay for


INTEGRATED LOCALISATION AND TESTING LAB – PROS & CONS

A Lab should be able to:

Provide a team of translators, proof-readers, editors and testers with proven experience in localising and testing apps

Reduce translation costs by reusing previously translated content

Create and maintain translation memories, terminology databases, style guides and query databases in order to ensure consistency

Handle any last minute product updates in a cost-effective manner



Labs will also provide you a project manager who is responsible for:

Defining and providing a project plan for their internal team which consists of clear, written project instructions and milestones

Examining, reviewing and preparing the source files for translation

Appointing the best resources and ensuring the project runs in accordance to time, budget and quality requirements



Resolving most linguistic and technical queries allowing you to focus in your core business

Creating and maintaining multilingual glossaries, translation memories and style guides

Acting as a "smoke detector" that senses early signs of deviation from the plan, which can affect delivery dates and project budget





Why…testing???

Last but not least, Labs will be able to test your apps



Because you want to avoid comments like these…

Slow and cheesyby ...E.Y.- Version 1.0.0 - May 12, 2010 The game is painfully slow to play. The registration process is very difficult, with many steps. Poor translation, typos galore. A sad waste of money. RUN AWAY!

Nice avatars, awful app by ...C.S.- Version 1.0.0 - May 15, 2010 I suppose we could consider this app an open beta, and wait for the devs to go in. But (a) I doubt the company is eager to balance it on the fly and (b) no one's paying me to correct their app for them, or to deal with their faulty testing. It's just easier to delete it, and way easier to not download it in the first place.



Because you want to avoid comments like these…

Come on!by ...P.B.- Version 1.0.2- June 12, 2010

This would be a pretty frikin awesome app if u would fix it! Every time I open the app I have to reload it cause it says no Internet connection and I have an Internet connection. Fix it and it would get a lot better reviews!

Ugh!!!by ...L.K.- Version 1.0.1- May 21, 2010

DO NOT DOWNLOAD this app unless you have extreme patience for poor game play or they fix it. Not worth the free price, but it does have great graphics.



1. Functionality Testing

Interactive text input using different input locales

Font independence Text handling in the UI Adherence to local standards: ensuring

that time, date, currency, and numeric values can be entered, interpreted, stored, and retrieved according to the rules set by the user locale.

Localisation-independent functionality: system errors, crashes, etc.

Checking the overall usability of the UI. Compliance with system, input, and

display environment standards.



2. Linguistic Testing

Verification of translation accuracy in context

Checking for typographical errors Checking for overlapping, truncated

or misallocated text Checking corrupted fonts Grammar checks (inaccurate

sentence structure, incorrect gender, plurals, conjugation, or declensions)

Assessment of cultural appropriateness

Checking for culturally sensitive content

Verifying whether corrections have been properly implemented

Generating a final QA report

See you on Stand 103Thank you!

Making your Apps International

Technology

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