A Developer’s Guide To User Experience In App Localization
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
A <strong>Developer’s</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> <strong>To</strong> <strong>User</strong> <strong>Experience</strong> <strong>In</strong> <strong>App</strong> <strong>Localization</strong><br />
Translation Contexts And Glossaries<br />
<strong>In</strong> Spanish, the English word “run” can be translated in more than 100 different ways. If a user is<br />
using a localized map app, “run” might mean a jog from A to B, but for a home automation app,<br />
“run” might mean “execute a program” as in setting the alarm, or switching a house into night<br />
mode. Context is vital in such cases, especially when there is only one right choice and so many<br />
other wrong ones.<br />
Translation notes and comments that you append to text strings help translators pick the right<br />
translation, maintaining user experience quality for the localized language. Useful information<br />
includes:<br />
● Subject context, as in the feature or domain most closely related to the word<br />
● Sentence/syntax context, for instance, whether the word is a noun, a verb, etc.<br />
● Definition, an alternative way of expressing the word<br />
● Specific usage, about how the word is being used in this specific case<br />
A translation glossary can also help preserve a good user experience in localized versions, by<br />
ensuring that certain words are always translated in the same way, that brand names remain<br />
untranslated, and so on. Such glossaries should always be reviewed by native speakers before<br />
being distributed for general use.<br />
Once again, remember that translation must sometimes go beyond words and make sure that<br />
cultural differences are properly reflected. On the Google home page in English for example,<br />
there is the link entitled “I’m feeling lucky.” <strong>In</strong> some cultures, luck is viewed differently, and the<br />
phrase may be changed to “I choose to trust in God” to correspond better to native speaker<br />
expectations.<br />
phraseapp.com | sales@phraseapp.com | +49-40-357-187-76 | twitter.com/phraseapp | facebook.com/phraseapp | linkedin.com/company/phraseapp
Change language