Crowdin: anesthetic for localization
Everyone who knows what localization is about painless localization. Especially dreams of someone who needs to translate your product immediately into a dozen languages. And the one who has continuous terms in the texts. And even stronger is the one who constantly releases updates with new lines, which with the same consistency must be translated, translated, translated ...
A shot from Leonid Gaidai’s film “The Caucasian Captive, or Shurik's New Adventures”
We are coping with these and other difficulties in Alconost thanks to a single tool that solves a dozen problems at once. Doctors would call such a thing a panacea. And we, localizers, call it the cloud platform Crowdin . It was Crowdin that allowed us to do localization of applications, sites and games in more than 40 languages ​​for dozens of different clients at the same time.
')
So, we have identified six main localization difficulties, which Crowdin relieves of:
1. Very. Lot. Different. Formats. We have to work with a huge number of different files in various formats: .xml, .strings, .resx, .properties, .po, .yml, .json, .ini, .xliff, .csv, .xlsx and so on . If, however, they are loaded into Crowdin, it will “process” them and provide translators with only text without keys and code - nothing superfluous that they could get confused or inadvertently spoil (which are some errors with coding or corrupted keys).
Files of different formats in one project
2. Confusion and delays with dozens of translation directions. Both the product and all related marketing materials need to be translated into 20 languages ​​... Imagine only how many mishaps happens only when writing Russian texts, and now all this is twenty times the volume!
With Crowdin, the translation process is transparent, clear and intuitive: you can follow how each line is translated into each of the project languages.
The process will go even faster if you work through the API. You can configure Crowdin so that it receives the file each time it is updated from GitHub and automatically sends notifications to translators and original partners, and when all the lines are translated, he himself took them and put the updated resource file back into the repository.
3. It is necessary to show everything, and explain what is shown. Often, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. One would like to attach +100500 explanatory screenshots to the project, so that the translators understand what's what. And leave a few hundred comments. And mark all those lines that are in no way worth touching.
Crowdin does it all. As many screenshots as you like while downloading are available to the entire team of translators and editors (no need to send a copy of the screenshots to each translator, hooray hooray). Same story with comments. For example, a translator has a question, he asks him, you get a notification, you answer - and here, attention, the answer is seen by the whole team, including translators who work with other language versions. After all, it is no secret that most of the questions relate to the source code. Effective communication is convenient for everyone: translators do not need to ask again if they already have a question from a colleague, and you personally need to answer everyone, because everyone can see the answers.
4. Your product does not stand still. It is constantly improving: new lines are added regularly, and all of them need to be commented on, and each translated into 20 languages ​​... And it doesn’t matter whether one new line or one hundred new ones - when it comes to multilingual translation, you won’t be troubled anyway.
In fact, continuous localization is not a problem, but a service . In this case, we in Alconost do this: agree on a budget with the client and ask him to upload new lines directly to Crowdin. As soon as another update arrives, we immediately receive a notification - and immediately begin localization.
5. You need a shared translation memory and glossary. Both that, and another simplifies the coordination of terminology. Not every translator will guess that Snow Maiden is not a fat retired Snow Maiden! And you have to somehow explain to everyone that this is a huge bloodthirsty monster, devouring everything in its path.
This is especially true of continuous localization: for example, nothing was translated for three months, and the translator managed to forget all the terminology. It is the translation memory and glossary in Crowdin that will help him quickly restore all spaces. This function is equally important and useful when the translator changes on the project.
It looks like a glossary
6. Still not to damage resource files! That is, it would be good to “chew” on translators how to work with source codes so that they only translate, and do not do parallel writing of code (we all know what this leads to). And I would like to bring all this back to the original look as quickly. As a wave of a magic wand: op - and beauty :)
With Crowdin, you can not worry about the preservation of the code. No need to make bulky comments, no need to export and copy anything. It is enough to upload files to the platform and select several settings to suit your needs. By the way, Alconost customers do not have to spend their precious time on this: our managers are ready to take everything on themselves .
The .xml file, as the translator sees it. No code!
In general, it turns out a continuous profit for developers, translators, managers, and editors. If our experience will relieve the fear of localizing at least one Habr reader, we will assume that they wrote all this for good reason :)
about the author
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
A shot from Leonid Gaidai’s film “The Caucasian Captive, or Shurik's New Adventures”
We are coping with these and other difficulties in Alconost thanks to a single tool that solves a dozen problems at once. Doctors would call such a thing a panacea. And we, localizers, call it the cloud platform Crowdin . It was Crowdin that allowed us to do localization of applications, sites and games in more than 40 languages ​​for dozens of different clients at the same time.
')
So, we have identified six main localization difficulties, which Crowdin relieves of:
1. Very. Lot. Different. Formats. We have to work with a huge number of different files in various formats: .xml, .strings, .resx, .properties, .po, .yml, .json, .ini, .xliff, .csv, .xlsx and so on . If, however, they are loaded into Crowdin, it will “process” them and provide translators with only text without keys and code - nothing superfluous that they could get confused or inadvertently spoil (which are some errors with coding or corrupted keys).
Files of different formats in one project
2. Confusion and delays with dozens of translation directions. Both the product and all related marketing materials need to be translated into 20 languages ​​... Imagine only how many mishaps happens only when writing Russian texts, and now all this is twenty times the volume!
With Crowdin, the translation process is transparent, clear and intuitive: you can follow how each line is translated into each of the project languages.
The process will go even faster if you work through the API. You can configure Crowdin so that it receives the file each time it is updated from GitHub and automatically sends notifications to translators and original partners, and when all the lines are translated, he himself took them and put the updated resource file back into the repository.
3. It is necessary to show everything, and explain what is shown. Often, seeing once is better than hearing a hundred times. One would like to attach +100500 explanatory screenshots to the project, so that the translators understand what's what. And leave a few hundred comments. And mark all those lines that are in no way worth touching.
Crowdin does it all. As many screenshots as you like while downloading are available to the entire team of translators and editors (no need to send a copy of the screenshots to each translator, hooray hooray). Same story with comments. For example, a translator has a question, he asks him, you get a notification, you answer - and here, attention, the answer is seen by the whole team, including translators who work with other language versions. After all, it is no secret that most of the questions relate to the source code. Effective communication is convenient for everyone: translators do not need to ask again if they already have a question from a colleague, and you personally need to answer everyone, because everyone can see the answers.
4. Your product does not stand still. It is constantly improving: new lines are added regularly, and all of them need to be commented on, and each translated into 20 languages ​​... And it doesn’t matter whether one new line or one hundred new ones - when it comes to multilingual translation, you won’t be troubled anyway.
In fact, continuous localization is not a problem, but a service . In this case, we in Alconost do this: agree on a budget with the client and ask him to upload new lines directly to Crowdin. As soon as another update arrives, we immediately receive a notification - and immediately begin localization.
5. You need a shared translation memory and glossary. Both that, and another simplifies the coordination of terminology. Not every translator will guess that Snow Maiden is not a fat retired Snow Maiden! And you have to somehow explain to everyone that this is a huge bloodthirsty monster, devouring everything in its path.
This is especially true of continuous localization: for example, nothing was translated for three months, and the translator managed to forget all the terminology. It is the translation memory and glossary in Crowdin that will help him quickly restore all spaces. This function is equally important and useful when the translator changes on the project.
It looks like a glossary
6. Still not to damage resource files! That is, it would be good to “chew” on translators how to work with source codes so that they only translate, and do not do parallel writing of code (we all know what this leads to). And I would like to bring all this back to the original look as quickly. As a wave of a magic wand: op - and beauty :)
With Crowdin, you can not worry about the preservation of the code. No need to make bulky comments, no need to export and copy anything. It is enough to upload files to the platform and select several settings to suit your needs. By the way, Alconost customers do not have to spend their precious time on this: our managers are ready to take everything on themselves .
The .xml file, as the translator sees it. No code!
In general, it turns out a continuous profit for developers, translators, managers, and editors. If our experience will relieve the fear of localizing at least one Habr reader, we will assume that they wrote all this for good reason :)
about the author
Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.
We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.
Read more: https://alconost.com
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/253739/
All Articles