The translation projects need to be micromanaged constantly, in order to ensure a good result,
A general translation PM quality plan:
In order to keep high standards, it would be good practice to involve quality assurance also before and during the translation process.
- Define the scope of the translation project.
- Provide examples of previous translations that meet the quality expectation (as well as common mistakes to avoid).
- Give all the information possible about the product, including brand guidelines.
- Define target audience and text type.
- Creating Glossary if needed.
- Use customer’s style Guide.
- Translator and Reviewer chick lists.
- We deliver our customers “Verifika report” with the deliverables if needed.
- For product lines; we do not change any team member without permission from the customer.
- Big translation projects have special kickoff steps to make sure of the consistency and unity of the output.
- Communicate regularly with the linguist and make sure that anytime there is an issue there is a good corrective plan as well.
- The final checks can be either automated or non-automated.
Most localization testing is manual as text needs to be read, layout needs to be checked and localization needs to be verified, all of which require a human to manually do it.
However, there are still cases in which automation can be used; for example:
Automated checks:
Web localization testing
Forms can be submitted using automation and links can be verified.
Software localization testing
Functional validation can be performed via automation.
Also for cases where advanced knowledge of the software is necessary for testing, taking screenshots for review by localization testers may be a more efficient approach.
Although automation testing solutions may not be feasible for all software localization projects, for some big software localization projects which have huge repeat testing requests, automation testing may be good solution for long-term cost saving considerations. This method is typically used in projects which have lots of legacy features and functions and where there are high volumes of screen capturing workload for each release. Automation testing is commonly used for the screen shooting, UI testing and functional testing, which can all be adopted to both web testing and normal software testing.