If you are new to the world of software development and product management, you probably find the jargon and processes around localization a bit confusing. The good news is that the core idea behind it is actually pretty simple. Localization is just the art of making your app, site, or digital product feel like it […]

Ruby on Rails is a web framework for Ruby that follows the principle of convention over configuration. A new application comes with its database layer, routing, views and asset handling already set up, so there’s less to configure before you can start building. As soon as an app serves people in more than one country, […]

When you’re translating a product, it can be hard to keep everyone involved in the process on the same page. As your product grows, so does the amount of content that needs to be localized. You’ll also need more manpower. Collaborative translation can make a difference, as you’d bring everyone into the same workflow. Here’s […]

ASP.NET Core is Microsoft’s open-source framework for building web apps and APIs in C#. It runs on Windows, Linux and macOS and includes built-in support for localization. If your app is available in several languages, you’ll need to account for more than translated text. Dates, numbers and other values should follow the conventions of each […]

Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different meanings. Because of this, they are quite interesting in translation. The written form alone may not tell us which meaning is intended. In a previous article, we discussed how machine translation systems handle these words. Now, it’s time to look into how humans are […]

We always say that you should start localization before you finish your product. This is a must. When you consider different languages, cultural conventions, and regional requirements during design, you can avoid common UI issues and prepare your product for international markets from the get-go. There’s a name for this: design-stage localization. In this article, […]

Localization revolves around culture. In this industry, a cultural consultant can be just as important as a translator in localization. For some types of content, it can make a real difference. A seemingly innocent phrase, image, color, joke, or reference can mean something completely different in another culture. Many companies hire cultural consultant in localization […]

Once an app has users in more than one country, hardcoded English strings are no longer enough: people expect labels, messages and dates in their own language. Internationalization (i18n) prepares the code so its text can change per language, and localization (l10n) supplies the translations and regional formats for each one. In this guide, we’ll […]

Which markets should you localize for? The only way you can answer this question is through market research. When you conduct market research for a localization strategy, you gain an understanding on where your product has the strongest potential, what people in those markets expect, and which languages and locales you need to support. Read […]

During translation, not every part of a text string should be translated. Some elements need to stay exactly as they are so that the application can insert dynamic information correctly. These elements are called placeholders. It’s important we know how to handle placeholders in translation the proper way. A missing or modified placeholder can lead […]