Professional Documents
Culture Documents
smartcat.com
Ivan Sokolov
8–11 minutes
Want your website or app to reach potential customers around the world? Then
localization is crucial. And testing plays a key role in ensuring that localization is
done right, i.e. that you’re offering a quality product in every target market.
Here are just a few reasons why localization testing is so important:
Localizing content and the UI to another language may cause bugs and errors.
Elements like dates, holidays, numbers, currencies, scripts, etc. must be
changed to those used in the target location.
Cultural elements, like colors, symbols, etc. should provide a local user
experience.
The localized version of the product has to be consistent with the original
version and function as intended.
Let’s delve into all aspects of localization testing and guide you through the
whole process so you can make sure localization works for you.
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Localization Testing: A Step-By-Step Guide and Checklist about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartcat.com%2Fblog%2F...
1. Does the appearance of the localized software correlate with the original
version?
2. Are all interface elements translated correctly?
3. Is the interface displayed correctly on different devices?
4. Are the fonts and font sizes consistent throughout all language versions?
5. Are the dates, number format, currency, measuring units etc. adapted to the
local culture.
6. Is your website or app compatible with the software and hardware used locally?
7. Have help resources and documents, placeholders, internal links, etc. been
translated?
8. Is the content free of errors and translated appropriately?
As you can see, localization testing requires translation skills, cultural
knowledge, and software testing skills. This means many professionals need to
be involved, including developers, QA engineers, linguists, and managers.
However, if you break down the process and let automation do the heavy lifting,
you’ll be able to take a significant load off your team.
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Localization Testing: A Step-By-Step Guide and Checklist about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartcat.com%2Fblog%2F...
Did you know that the shortcut Alt+S (Search), as used in the US, is translated
as Alt+R (Rechercher) for France?
This step focuses on how well your product works in another country, no matter
the language. It covers both frontend and backend aspects such as usability
and interoperability.
Test case creation tips:
First of all, check if the product is stable after it’s localized.
Make sure that any older versions of the product still operate as expected when
localized.
Try upgrading/downgrading/installing/uninstalling the local versions of the
product on different devices.
At this stage, testing is still done mostly with the design and development team
and requires little external coordination.
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Localization Testing: A Step-By-Step Guide and Checklist about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartcat.com%2Fblog%2F...
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Localization Testing: A Step-By-Step Guide and Checklist about:reader?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.smartcat.com%2Fblog%2F...
Respect differences. Not all cultural specifics can be translated. At the same
time, negligence can cost you your reputation as well as affect your revenue.
So don’t disregard any research or human testing whenever possible.
We wish you the best of luck in conquering the global market with your
products. It's not easy but can pay off nicely if done right.
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