Whether for user interfaces (UI) or industrial human/machine interfaces (HMI): Users expect to be able to operate your product in their native language – and in English as the international “fallback” language.
While your programmers implement a functioning internationalization (i18n) in the code, DeFrEnT will make sure that the localization (l10n) – i.e., the translation of all output strings – of your software or machine control is understood by users speaking German or French as their primary language.
The localization of UI or HMI strings poses particular challenges to a translator:
- Often, inflexible graphical layouts lead to character limits, which must be observed even if a target language can easily need ±30% characters to express the same concept. Consider the German “Druckerwarteschlange” (20; +82%) or “Druckaufträge” (13; +18%; actual meaning: “print jobs”) against the English “print queue” (11).
- An increased use of non-standard abbreviations in the source language to meet screen space constraints will lead to a lot of translator queries if they are not properly documented.
- Code or variables within the strings that absolutely must be preserved.
- Additionally, string concatenation leads to a heap of problems when the target language’s syntax is different from the source language.
- No context to infer the meaning of certain words from, as translators regularly do when working on continuous text. This, too, can lead to translator queries if you don’t provide screenshots, documentation or other reference material – or even a VM appliance running your software so the translator can find this out for himself.
- Special data formats used in localization, for example .po, .resource and .resx files, client-specific XML dialects, .ini files, etc. which your translator ought to be able to process efficiently.
Thanks to his long-standing experience in localization, Mr Köbel has the necessary translation strategies and L10N tools to master these challenges and to deliver translations that are meaningful and intuitive to users with a minimum of hassle.
As added value, DeFrEnT provides you with free proofreading of your source strings. Since Mr Köbel needs to read the original strings anyway, he will be happy to notify you of errors or inconsistencies, so you can further optimize your product.