This event was the first virtual LocWorld conference. The downside for the folks attending it from North America was that the sessions were scheduled according to European time zone, but we were able to watch all presentations on demand. The theme of the event was “Engage Global Users”. Below we’ve summarized the key takeaways.
End user insights
Gather data from users through language quality surveys to understand end users’ perceptions about language in order to improve current linguistic approaches to translation. When gathering data from users you don’t want to overwhelm users or to distract them from the main use of the product. You also need to isolate translation issues from content strategy issues. Make sure to select an appropriate time to send the surveys. For instance, it is not a good idea to do that in time of crisis, such as Covid-19.
To gather accurate language quality surveys you need the buy-in from different teams in your company such as the localization team, partner teams, analytics team, etc. Define required partnerships and get them onboard as early as possible. Link your questions to your brand’s mission, tone, voice, and style.
Question the importance of translation.
- How important is to users reading content in their own language?
- Will they read it if it is only available in English?
Analyze collected data and plan actions needed.
- General breakdown on a high level perspective.
- Per region or type of partner.
- Per language.
Create or update style guides per language based on analyzed language quality surveys.
Corporate language
Brands and products are becoming more and more similar.
- 70% of all B2B-brands use blue as their color.
- Images often come from picture archives.
Companies are trying to find their own language, their own identity to win more customers.
- Language makes the difference.
- Voice is a reflection of character, tone is about mood.
Corporate terminology
A term can be:
- a word with a specific meaning (e.g. service)
- a compound word: (e.g. customer service)
- an expression that consists of several words (e.g. “Contact customer service!”)
Terminology management helps content writers and translators to be very productive and translate in a consistent way. It reduces complaints regarding incorrect terminology. The corporate terminology should be and available to all teams working on a project, not to linguists alone. Translators should be able to easily decide which translation to use for a term part of the glossary. Complexity of a term status reduces collaboration.
Continuous localization is a technology-powered process that provides a high degree of automation in the localization of small batches of content with regular updates. It can relate to any area, not just software development (e.g. websites), but it also involves continuous improvement.
Agile Means Inclusion — from Development to LSP: Part II
UX design for localization
UX writers design content that guides users across digital products and services. They usually work with the product team, not the marketing team. You need to bring localization into the discovery process. Ideally you need someone from localization team embedded into the product team from the beginning. There are three pillars to take into account when designing content, create content that is useful, clear, and concise. It is important to create English content that is localization ready.
The User Interface must not impose word-order constraints. Often you need to redesign the UI, so it’s no longer based on a sentence formed by concatenating strings. The parts of speech move around a sentence in different languages. Also, asking translators to adapt time and date formats doesn’t work. Localization engineers should adjust time and date formats referring to the code, depending on the programming language used for instance, etc.
Process innovation challenge
An innovative method for translation, introduced at LocWorld40, was tested by Precisely. In this method, a translator gets the context only and does not see the source text. The discovered pros and cons of using this method are:
Pros
- Words not “caged”
- Creative method
- Fun for translators
- Worth it to use for specific UI components
- Valuable experience for translators
Cons
- Preparation time
- Not scalable for complex user interfaces
- Restriction for content types
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