Features of the translation of mobile applications. Part 2

In the first part we have learned the main features of the mobile applications translation. However, there is more to come: it is often necessary to take into account cultural and linguistic peculiarities, which can significantly and directly affect the localization.

Cultural sensitivity

It is desirable that localization is not done by an ordinary translator who knows several languages, but by a person who was born and grew up in a cultural environment common to the potential new customers. Such work can be done only by a native speaker – only he/she will be able to do it so that the consumer will not even think about the fact that it is a translation of the program.

What, you personally do not pay any attention to, may cause a negative attitude among the carriers of another culture: used colours and their combinations, the use of terms considered indecent, etc. In such cases, the efficiency of the application will be lower than expected.

Provide free space

The translated text will never coincide in volume with the original. So the German version of the site is always 10% more than the English version, the Russian is 2 times longer, and the Arabic version is 75% more than the original text. Volume does not mean the number of characters, but bytes: the letter of the Latin alphabet requires one byte, and the Arabic or Cyrillic alphabet takes 2 bytes. You should also take into account the peculiarities of a particular language - the presence of compound words will require them to allocate a full line of the interface.

Remember that, for example, in German and Finnish, there may be many characters that may not fit on one line in small interface elements.

Screen standard definition

As an addition to the previous paragraph, you should understand what devices potential customers prefer to use. The screen settings depend on the phone model. It is desirable to rely on the smallest parameters, in this case, the application will be able to fit on any other devices.

Taking into account the features of declination

It is necessary to consider the possibility of integrating declension and case management into the application. Each language has its own approach to such issues, it is possible to do without their solution, but this can lead to a decrease in the expected profit.

Quality control

The team of localizers needs to evaluate the work of independent reviewers who are able to objectively determine the quality of the first. It is desirable to do this not only before launching the application, but also in the process of use.

Testing

You will need to let localizers test the final product before launching. This should be done in advance, so that specialists have time to correct deficiencies and errors.