Geek Answers Handbook

How to exchange texts and translations in mobile applications?

We currently support English, German, Spanish, Italian and French . We have an app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone and HTML / JS webapp . The three mobile apps are very similar. Everyone has basically the same screens and texts. Each application is executed by a small team, and functions are developed for all applications in parallel. Webapp also uses several texts.

Now we are faced with the problem of how to manage our (English) text strings and their translations . Right now we have Google docs with tables that show drafts of the screen and their corresponding English texts and their translations. We coordinate translation work by e-mail and comments in documents.

We studied translation tools (namely Transifex). We value things like translation memory, a glossary, and easy integration into software development workflows. But these tools do not meet two basic requirements:

  • Sharing the same texts (source language and translations) in all applications, so if the source text or its translation changes, this change applies to all applications.
  • Grouping texts on screens and showing draft screens during translation to give context to the developer.

Therefore, we began to think about whether we really look more at a (text-) content management system with some translation support, and not just at the translation tool.

So what are we going to look for? How do other companies with similar requirements deal with the situation?

+11
android ios windows-phone content-management-system translation
source share
5 answers

There are many tools for managing translations (mostly paid services, but some have free plans). Here is a list (originally borrowed from here and supplemented by some more elements):

+3
source share

I think Lokalise , where I work, is the only localization tool available that affects all your problems:

  • It supports cross-platform projects and text strings (keys), i.e. the same line is correctly exported to iOS, Android, web, .resx and other platforms if necessary. In addition, the tool offers duplication, merging or deletion, while maintaining all the information about the file.

  • Automatic matching of screenshots with lines in the project. You upload screenshots in large numbers, and they are associated with lines and appear in the web editor, arrow!

  • 50% of teams using Lokalise translate themselves, 50% order through the platform.

  • Some icing on the cake is the iOS and Android over-air SDKs , which instantly update text strings in your apps, bypassing the app store and Google Play. You may need intermediate application updates to correct typos, optimize your wording, and / or complete your translations on the fly.

  • You can send your translations from the crowd by including translation suggestions and voting and posting the link on the Internet or in your internal blog.

  • Subscription starts at $ 50 / mo . Open source and / or nonprofit projects get everything for free .

  • On the Internet, online chat support with developers on the other hand, for example. placing an API request is not a big deal.

Hope this helps.

+3
source share

You want to find a translation management tool that gives you flexibility in how your source lines are created and organized.

I suggest you take a look at Smartling .

  • You can control whether your original source lines will be duplicated or distributed in different applications. If you have a line of type โ€œSendโ€ that is used in each application, you can have only one instance of this line, so if the translation of this line changes, it can be used for all your applications. If you want to maintain separate lines for each application, SmartMatch and translation memory can help you ensure consistent translation. Learn more about string uniqueness in Smartling.

  • Smartling lets you see your lines grouped by context. Therefore, no matter how they are organized in your file, if you pass multiple lines in the same context (because they appear on the same screen), you will see them grouped in this way. Smartling allows you to automatically provide context for web and iOS applications , and using screenshots for other platforms such as Android and Windows Phone.

Disclosure: I work at Smartling.

+1
source share

I think you can try https://l10n.ws/doc , this is a simple web service for storing translation

+1
source share

Weblate (which I wrote) can do this if you have the same string identifiers.

As an example, you can check this OsmAnd translation , where it complains that one line is broadcast for Android, but not for iOS.

0
source share

More articles:


All Articles