“We have had a lot of success working with GlobalVision… They are very receptive to our feedback during the project, and delivered a translation localization that was careful and deliberate.”
“GlobalVision has been a great fit for our translation localization needs. We deliver a technically complex, high-value product, and we need translation quality that reflects that value.”
“GlobalVision understands the ramifications of incorrect technical data to a company that does a lot of engineering. Fortunately, they seem to get it right every time.”
“I’d like to thank you and your team for a job well done. Speaking on behalf of the team you’ve made this a pleasant, efficient and painless experience.”
“… GlobalVision has been our sole translation partner for all major releases and service packs since then. They are very cost-competitive, with strong project management skills…”
“We are very impressed with GlobalVision’s professional approach to localization. Our product-update localization efforts and costs have gone down by as much as 30%.”
“Working with GlobalVision is a breeze, I wish all our suppliers had the same work ethic! I never have to worry about prompt delivery and they provide us with excellent and thoroughly checked translation services.”
“I am quite positively impressed. You met a very demanding schedule with a minimum of fuss required on my part. That is a big bonus for me. I haven’t had to nurse this project along…”
“GlobalVision’s attentiveness to our needs and wants has made them an easy choice for our company’s translations. We can send them a document and it comes back ready to use, no extra work on our end.”
“…we solely use GlobalVision for all our translation needs, software, marketing materials and product specs. The delivery was always on time (many times ahead of time)”
“Highly recommended! … They have always been a pleasure to work with, and have provided our company with high-quality finished products.”
“While GlobalVision has provided excellent translation work for us, they also have very strong project management that allows them to meet their commitments on cost and delivery.”
“We have been extremely pleased that we have found the right company to go to as we expand into other international markets.”
“GlobalVision have the experience, expertise and takes pride in what they do and it shows in their professionalism in managing the project and delivering quality results on time… Highly, Highly recommended!”
“Translation is often a very difficult and challenging endeavor. GlobalVision always takes on the task with a high degree of initiative, thoroughness and professionalism.”
“The work completed by GlobalVision was done on time, in budget, and conducted in a very professional manner. We would highly recommend GlobalVision as a supplier to any company needing translation services…”
“… Now that we have used GlobalVision to translate work into 13 differed languages our Customers tell us that they could not have done a better translation.”
“GlobalVision was a key part of launching our company’s international strategy. Their superior team helped us translate key web pages into eight foreign languages quickly and professionally.”
“We do appreciate how easy they have made this entire effort. Also, they were exceptionally pleasant to work with. Thank you.”
“After ten years of partnership with GlobalVision, SolidWorks can clearly attest to the success of the working relationship… The quality of the language translations has been high…”
“I always recommend GlobalVision to both clients and colleagues because I know their translations are accurate… they have not let me or my clients down!”
“GlobalVision is a top-notch company who not only delivers quality translations that meet or often beat deadlines, but also gives peace of mind that you are always receiving the best value in the industry.”
“The service and professionalism of the staff was A+ … the staff maintained continued contact until the job was 100% complete.”
“GlobalVision always showed professionalism along with a detailed status of how the job was progressing. Their pricing was very competitive and projects were done on time.”
“I have worked with several translation agencies before discovering GlobalVision, and I can attest that GlobalVision’s quality of customer service is unparalleled.”
“Product section looks really good, I’m impressed by the good translations!”
Enabling Globalization
Pseudo translate before you translate
After succeeding in your local market, many will look at entering international markets, where localization of your software graphical user interface (GUI) may become a necessity. Often, a product localization group or a technical translation services group is tasked at this point with converting the application into other languages, including its GUI.
All applications containing a GUI rely on text and graphics to enhance the interface with the user. This often takes the form of icons, menus, dialog boxes, tool tips, and messages.
Traditionally, the process that is followed begins with translating the GUI text. Then, the geometrical X and Y coordinates of text in the dialog boxes are changed to accommodate the typically larger text strings resulting from the translation.
After the translation and resizing are completed, the application is compiled. Quality assurance (QA) is then performed to ensure the accuracy of the translation and location of strings, as well as the absence of truncated strings, corrupt characters, or hard-coded text.
When all the problems are reported, localizers or developers must essentially repeat the initial steps:
When n languages are involved, the above process will take place 2n times, twice for each language. The same problems are often reported by different language teams, and then verified by those same teams.
Pseudo-translation can be used to resolve many localization problems before any translation takes place, eliminating the majority of the problems that are redundantly reported by the localization QA teams. Here is how:
By placing or replacing target characters in all GUI strings, you can detect character-encoding issues in the source files.
Here’s an example of two strings from a C resource file, with their respective pseudo-translations in Japanese. In the following examples, Japanese characters replace the vowels in all English words. Each string is augmented by predefined pre- (日本) and post- (本日) text.
This technique enables any of your developers to test the product, since the GUI, with some familiarity to it, is still legible:
IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "Select Device"
IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "日本Sイlイct Dイvウcイ本日"
IDS_MY_OPEN "&Open"
IDS_MY_OPEN "日本&Opイn本日"
If your text is not properly encoded, you will see junk characters instead of Japanese characters. The result will display as one of the following:
IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "Select Device"
becomes IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "??S?l?ct D?v?c???"
or IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "□□S□l□ct D□v□c□□□"
or IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "ÆüËÜS¥¤l¥¤ct D¥¤v¥¦c¥¤ËÜÆü"
After compilation, testers can easily detect corrupt characters and fix any encoding issues in the application. This process eliminates redundancy caused by errors in encoding.
Another benefit to pseudo-translation is the ability to detect hard-coded strings in the GUI before the localization starts.
Consider the above example after the pseudo-translated GUI files are compiled. Instead of Japanese characters in the strings, you will see intact English strings in the GUI.
IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "Select Device"
IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "日本Sイlイct Dイvウcイ本日"
IDS_MY_OPEN "&Open"
IDS_MY_OPEN "&Open"
Strings that remain fully in English (such as “&Open”) indicate that they are still embedded in the code and need to be externalized into the resource files.
Externalizing all the strings to translate before translation starts minimizes rework, translators minimum fees, and the need to re-translate files after missing strings are added to them.
Strings expand in size with translation. The percentage of expansion varies according to the source language, target language, and size of the source string.
Pseudo-translation allows you to expand the size of the string by any percentage you think your GUI can absorb.
In the example below, text is pseudo-translated into French and expanded by 15%. The source dialog box is shown in its initial form in Figure 1.
Figure 1 English original dialog
In Figure 2 you can see how the pseudo-translation technique permits correct resizing due to the fixed pre- and post-delimiters (_) that are added to help identify the beginning and end of each string. The characters added to each string expand its size by 15% causing many to be truncated.
Figure 2 Dialog box after pseudo-translation in French and insertion of a pre- and post-text character (_)
Figure 3 shows pseudo-translated dialog after resizing. Note the correct sizing to see the pre- and post-text character (_) at the beginning and end of each string. If any strings are hard-coded, they will appear in the dialog box intact.
When character-encoding, hard-coded text, and resizing are corrected in the source files up-front, localizing them into other languages will become much easier, faster, and more efficient.
Figure 3 Pseudo-translated dialog after resizing
The benefits of pseudo-translation help you avoid the problems that can increase your localization costs and delay your release:
Perhaps the best part about pseudo-translation is that it does not require any language skills. Your developers or SQA staff, with the help of scripts or inexpensive off-the-shelf software, can perform the task – but only if you schedule and plan for it.
If they are too busy, which is the main reason we hear why it is almost never done, contact us! The savings are well worth the effort.