Continuous

Localization
A comprehensive guide by Crowdin
Contents
English is not enough 3

Old-school vs continuous localization 6

Introducing continuous localization to each team 10

Engineering department 11

Design stage 13

Marketing team 17

Customer success team 18

Workflow-driven localization 21

Final thoughts 24

What is Crowdin? 26

2
English is not
enough
Promoting your product internationally is an essential part of any successful
business strategy.

Getting customers and sales on your local market isn’t enough; you need to keep
moving forward and achieve results on a global scale. The effective way to do this
is to settle localization running in parallel with the development process.

Localization is a must when entering a new market and

building a scalable global strategy. There is much research
conducted showing that global users prefer products if they
are in their native language.

Selcen Kalender Coşkun, Head of Localization at Adjust

In 2021, around 1.35 billion people worldwide spoke English, either natively or
as a second language. But if the key to success was just making your product in 44%
English, it would be too easy, right? of Internet users
will immediately
reject an English-
only website*
Let’s think like your customer for a minute. Would you enjoy, buy and
recommend a product with UI in your native language or your second or third
one? The CSA research on translation affecting the web customer experience
shows that users are more likely to use or buy a product translated to their native
language, including the customer support content.

And a simple one-time localization won’t be enough. Each new piece of content
must be available in the language of your international customers as soon as
possible.

* Source: User language preferences online study – European Union

4 English is not enough

 Automation can be of great help to speed up processes in
the localization industry. In an era where turnaround is of
always increasing importance, it, therefore, plays a key role.
Repetitive and manual tasks are eliminated. It helps scale
operations. Automation allows to manage workflows better
and keep costs down.

Stefan Huyghe, Localization VP and LocLunch Ambassador

That’s why you need to start implementing continuous localization in your

workflow. The sooner you start, the better results you will see.

5 English is not enough

Old-school
vs
continuous
localization
Nowadays, everyone knows that localization isn’t just a linguistic process.

Translation into the language of the target audience is only one integral aspect of
the process. The whole procedure typically consists of several steps and a whole
team involved. However, approaches can differ.

You may be familiar with this approach, in our e-book, we’ll call it “an old-school
approach”.

Software development teams used to hand over corresponding source files to

the localization team after the product was finished. Thus, the final new version
could be released once a year. The main job was to translate the product and
provide support documentation. There was no collaboration between the
localization team and the product development team.

Due to this, there were misunderstandings → delays.

The localization team needed additional context or clarifications. With the

described approach, it was difficult to obtain them, or it was truly time-
consuming.

Imagine translating one string with the word ‘’clear’’ with no idea where it’s
located and its functions. It can be placed on the button and be a verb ‘’to
remove’’ or an adjective ‘’easy to understand’’ and lead a customer to the next
step. Without the context provided, imperfections are likely to occur.

Having no context is like walking blindfolded and hoping

you won’t smash into a wall. A word or expression can take
up a whole different meaning or nuance depending on
where and alongside which elements it’s going to appear,
not to mention how it’s going to be used. For example, is it
for a call-to-action button? Then we’ll have to take design
and space constraints into consideration. What does it link
to? Even this can completely change what the text should
look like.

Martina Russo, CEO of MovingWords, SaaS Localization Specialists

7 Old-school vs continuous localization

In the 21st century, companies are releasing updates monthly, weekly or even a
couple of times a day, and you can’t lag behind.

Not everyone can afford the long translation process. Users expect new
features to be available instantly, ideally in as little time as possible. Make your
information, updates, and products accessible to users in just a few clicks.
Otherwise, you run the risk of losing a customer.

Localization after development is no longer an option. Development time

has shortened, and translation time should be reduced too. The old-school
localization approach is not adapted for this.

You need another solution – continuous localization. The main objective of

this approach is to automate tasks that require little manual intervention or
involvement from developers, automate content delivery to translators, and
provide quicker release cycles.

Continuous delivery is already a reality in the industry, and

that means that the localization processes need to adapt
and complement this approach. For this reason, there are
many steps in the localization workflow that can benefit
from a high degree of automation (project management,
quality assurance, CAT tools, delivery process). The more we
can automatise any repetitive, not creative tasks, the bigger
the efficiency of the process, and the more time available to
the production phase itself.

Jennifer Vela Valido, Localization Vendor & Quality Manager at Expedia

Continuous localization is a never-ending process that works in parallel with

software development cycles. Products created in the modern era follow these
cycles regularly. Updates that alter how the software functions can happen
weekly and can include bug fixes, new features, and modifications to the user
interface.

8 Old-school vs continuous localization

Content development isn’t just about software strings. It has expanded and
includes technical documentation, knowledge base content, marketing material,
web content, and apps. It can be applied to any category of written content your
team continuously delivers for translation. Having an integrated localization tool
is a crucial part of this workflow. It means that the work of your teams will be
continuous as well as the results they show.

The more you can automate and cut down on the manual
work (exporting the newly-created text, sending it out to
the translation team, re-importing it back in the tool, etc.)
can only speed up the whole release cycle. Automating the
whole process works both ways, not only on the client’s
side aiming at reducing time-to-market, but also on the
localization vendor’s side: LSPs can considerably save Project
Management time, which is essential when it comes to
working on such a great amount of tiny projects that are
usually compensated on a word-base rate.

Daniela D’Amato, Operations Manager at Creative Words / Events

Manager, Women in Localization Italy & Global Community Events Manager
/ LocLunch Ambassador

Progress and the benefits of continuous localization are crystal clear. It helps
your product to stay agile and the localization team to work productively.

The best localisation strategy is the strategy that helps the

business achieve its goals, and for Canva that is definitely
a continuous approach with great automation and
internationalisation infrastructure.
Michael Levot, Localization Program Lead at Canva

Find out what benefits each team can receive from continuous localization in the
next paragraphs.

9 Old-school vs continuous localization

Introducing
continuous localization
to each team
Engineering department
Continuous localization helps the engineering team focus on their tasks. The key
challenge engineers face during the process of localizing products is a lack of
automation.

Teams can create their own automation processes in some cases, but this will
not simplify their workflow. For various projects, each team needs different
functionality. As a result, the development team will have to spend much more
time on it and can still miss some features needed for the localization team.

Why spend time on it if there are ready-made solutions that take into account all
possible scenarios and the experience of your colleagues.

The best choice is the localization tool that provides you with the necessary
integrations, so you could integrate localization in the development process. It
would be a good idea to choose a tool that has built-in integrations with GitHub,
GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure Repos, and offers API, CLI, and webhooks.

This way, you can avoid almost any manual file transfer between developers and
translators. The only action needed is to set up the integration that will download
sources to the tool. There they will be correctly shown and ready for translation.

The more a team works together with open communication

and avoids getting stuck in silos the better. In an ideal
world everybody works together in the same collaboration
platform where updates happen in real-time and tasks can
be done simultaneously, saving time and money.

Stefan Huyghe, Localization VP and LocLunch Ambassador

The localization management platform guarantees you:

• translators won’t crash the code during the localizing process

• translators could start localization of the features that are still in
development
• you can keep sources in the localization projects and translations on the repo
instantly up-to-date

11 Introducing continuous localization to each team

For more information, check out our article about apps, integrations, and tools
for development teams.

The localization team should work simultaneously with the software

development team. If there are some changes in the source, they will be visible
in the project, and the translation team will be informed. The most reliable way
to do this is to notify them about new content and automate the file syncing
between teams.

When working with several branches and frequent updates, it’s important to
manage duplicate strings correctly. A string becomes a duplicate if the same
string has already been added to the project. You can choose to show them, hide,
or auto-translate to share the translation of the original string. If you configure
your project to automatically hide duplicates, translators will only see the new
texts. Hiding duplicates will also save you costs on localization and ensure the
localization team won’t waste time doing the same job twice.

12 Introducing continuous localization to each team

 Automation in localization is really about removing the
bottlenecks that slow down software updates. For example,
we use Crowdin to automate file syncing between our
clients’ repositories and the TMS so that we’re always
working on the latest texts. Manually uploading files is
time-consuming and error-prone. Automated file syncing
also makes small updates seamless and efficient.

Benjamin Zadik, Head of Localization at Babble-on

Crowdin allows you to notify your translators when new content is added
to a project. You can also configure custom notifications about updates
on integrations you set up, created/deleted or updated tasks, and more.
Notifications could be sent via the app, email, or both. In this way, they won’t
miss anything and will finish the project on time.

That’s how you’ll accelerate release cycles and move toward continuous
localization and automated solutions with your developer’s team.

Design stage
Don’t forget about an important part of the team. Most customers pay attention
to a visually appealing product with a user-friendly UI. The goal of localization is
to maintain the look of your product and adapt it to other markets. The sooner,
the better. The most innovative way to achieve this is to include the design team
into the continuous localization workflow as well.

What’s the problem with an old approach?

Its typical workflow consists of:

1. Product release.
2. Translating the released ‘’original’’ product.
3. Fixing designs to suit another language/culture.
4. Pushing translations and design fixes.
5. Releasing localized versions.

13 Introducing continuous localization to each team

This strategy could take a lot of time, especially before the actual localization
starts, making it impossible to release the product into several markets
(languages) at once. What’s more, there is a considerable dependence of each
team on one another. Designers wait until the developers finish the needed
adjustments to the code, or developers wait until designers finish all their edits.

You can release all multilingual versions at once. Ensure simultaneous work of
designers, translators and developers from the very beginning.

Imagine, for example, having to localize a US videogame

into 30+ languages, including those belonging to very
different cultures: wouldn’t it be better to know from the
start if any parts of the script or any visual elements need
to be amended according to how the target audience would
perceive the final product? And wouldn’t it be helpful to
know it ahead of time, and not right before the launch?
If Companies and LSPs could work together right from
the start they would definitely save time, money (and
headaches).

Daniela D’Amato, Operations Manager, Creative Words / Events Manager,

Women in Localization Italy & Global Community Events Manager /
LocLunch Ambassador

Crowdin features and design plugins that will assist your team.

Prototyping Stage

We believe it’s best to start localization even before the development begins.
Involving the localization team at the prototyping stage ensures simultaneous
product release in several languages. Translators can have a “skeleton” of
the future product or its new feature look and start translation even before
developers write a single line of code.

14 Introducing continuous localization to each team

 Of course, it is important to clarify with the designers early
on how many characters will fit and whether the design can
be adapted again if necessary. The sooner all those involved
think globally and do not just focus on the source languages,
the fewer problems there will be in the end.

Sarah Sandführ, Content & Localization Lead at Trusted Shops, LocLunch

ambassador and Events Manager for Women in Localization Germany

Moreover, this stage will allow designers to get production-ready texts from your
localization project and use them in mock-ups. In other words, they can identify
any UI issues that appeared after translation and fix them before developers
even begin the work. The prototyping stage will help save time, money, and
nerve cells for the developers, designers and the localization team.

QA checks

What if the translated name of the register button didn’t fit? A 14px font may
be readable in English with no issues, while the same font may be extremely
uncomfortable to read when translated into Chinese. Unfortunately, there
isn’t a font size that works for all languages without exceptions. To make sure
translations fit the UI, you can turn on QA checks.

To avoid this, you can use QA checks, that look for:

• length issues
• spaces mismatch
• character case mismatch
• and other QA checks

On Crowdin Enterprise, you can also add custom QA checks like a color
mismatch, emoji mismatch, or customize yours (e.g., max pixel limit). Read our
article to find out more about how QA checks can help you to ensure top-notch
translations.

15 Introducing continuous localization to each team

Design plugins

Avoid situations where designers correct errors in a hurry on the last stages. You
just need to invite the localization team at the very beginning of the project and
ensure team cooperation.

A good brief is where it has to start. Then, during the actual

translation phase, screenshots or even access to Figma (or
other design) files are great to help translators understand
the context. They can be added to localization software or at
the very least provided alongside the brief.

Martina Russo, CEO of MovingWords, SaaS Localization Specialists

Integrated design plugins for Adobe XD, Figma or Sketch, help translators get
context, as they can preview the designs while translating.

With design plugins, you can also easily track the translated files/mock-ups/
strings and modify them right away. Moreover, designers can add new strings
right on the banner or mock-up and send them to the localization project in a
click

Thus, teams can work simultaneously without any unnecessary delays..

16 Introducing continuous localization to each team

Marketing team
Marketing plays a significant role in ensuring customers can find your product.
Imagine sending emails about a new product or feature in 10 languages 56%
of consumers
simultaneously. consider the
information
in their native
The process of continuous localization is crucial for marketers. language to be
more important
than price*

Marketing translations still need to read well and be fully

localised, but when you have a lot of the same content that
gets translated regularly, templates save you a lot of time.
It’s all about finding a solution that works well for your team
as well as for your client.

Kelsey Frick, Freelance Translation Account Manager

Staying agile will be easier with favorite marketing tools integrated with the
localization platform and having translated templates for emails or notifications,
for example.

With proper planning and a scalable localization program

in place, it is possible to run global marketing campaigns
simultaneously with all languages involved, and also provide
any new content to customers/clients as quickly as possible.
Taking localization into consideration from the very early
stages of content creation, and adopting an agile approach
is vital. It is important to understand that localization is
never a one-off task in the context of global expansion, and
should be nurtured and maintained in a continuous manner.
A well-integrated TMS is essential to achieving this.

Selcen Kalender Coşkun, Head of Localization at Adjust

* Source: User language preferences online study – European Union

17 Introducing continuous localization to each team

You don’t have to come up with anything new to accomplish these tasks. You
can sync (send source texts and pull translations) content instantly between your
localization projects and the applications your team uses.

For example, in Crowdin you can integrate your localization project with:

• HubSpot
• Mailchimp
• Mandrill
• Typeform
• Marketo
• Google Docs
• Contentful
• Prismic
• or use any other integration available in the Crowdin Store

You can use these apps to manage the localized versions of your blogs, email
campaigns, and other content more effectively and remain focused on your
marketing localization strategy. Read more about some of the apps that can help
you localize your marketing content.

Customer success team

Most successful businesses today put their customers first. You need to stay
proactive and satisfy the client’s needs. Localized support content helps your
customer success team achieve this goal.

Frequently, customers contact companies through their help centers. Articles and
responses to consumer inquiries appear there constantly, and agile localization
of your help content will help you satisfy international customers. Through the
continuous localization workflow, your team will translate important articles or
responses in time and help the customer success team ensure your growth and
profitability.

18 Introducing continuous localization to each team

 The best solution is to have local, in-house agents
responding to customers. However, it’s not always possible
for a growing business to have entities in every market their
software is available. This makes it challenging or impossible
to hire in-house agents. A mixture of outsourced, in-market
agents and robust machine translation with a translation
memory edited by human translators is a more achievable
solution that meets the needs of international customers.

Michael Levot, Localization Program Lead at Canva

In case you need to translate your help articles fast and have large amounts
of content, you can pre-translate it using machine engines (e.g. Microsoft
Translator, Google Translate, DeepL Translator). And improve them at the post-
editing stage. You can also invite your community to help translate or proofread
your documentation.

Smart people have already translated millions of button

names, emails, and documentation pages with roughly the
same text. No need to reinvent the wheel when you can rely
on their past experience.

In business terms, a translator with MT editing experience

goes at 700+ words an hour, while manual work is around
250 words an hour. It’s a big difference.

In addition to UI, you can machine translate documenta-

tion, support tickets, reviews, and forums. Pages in extra
languages will give you traffic and the ability for people to
find content, stop by and read.’

Konstantin Dranch, Co-founder of CustomMT

19 Introducing continuous localization to each team

To automate the process of receiving translations, you can use integration with
the solution your team is using.

Read articles about how to integrate Intercom, Document360, Zendesk or Wix

Answers with your localization project and make your help content multilingual.

20 Introducing continuous localization to each team

Workflow-driven
localization
Everyone agrees that a well-organized project is easier to work on. Use workflows
to organize the localization steps, like TM pre-translation, human translation,
and proofreading. It’s possible to customize the default workflow or create your
own based on the requirements you have, like several levels of proofreading or
adding MT pre-translation.

On Crowdin workflows are pretty straightforward. You can add as many

proofreading/review steps as needed. Also, you can automate TM or MT pre-
translation, so once new content is added it will be automatically translated.

On Crowdin Enterprise workflows are more elaborate. You can use the following
workflow templates:

• Crowdsourcing
• In-house+Machine Translation
• In-House Translators
• Translation Agency

Worflow on Crowdin Enterprise

22 Workflow-driven localization

One of the benefits you can use is the source text review. It means that you can
review and approve source strings before sending them to the pre-translation
or translation step. You can also assign different teams to each workflow step.
So each translation or proofreading step can have its assignees. It can be your
in-house translators, freelancers or vendors. Each vendor will receive a secured
copy of the defined step in their incoming projects. There is an option to add the
Custom Code step to divide the content flow from a single step into two, based
on the criteria you need.

Moreover, you can edit and build your own workflow with predetermined steps.
If there are typical approaches to how your localization processes are organized,
you can create workflow templates and save them for your future projects.

Our website has a lot of content of different types that have

their unique needs and workflows. Crowdin allows us to
automate the workflows to manage localization of all that
content. This has allowed the localization operations to
become quite seamless and streamlined.

Anoop Goyal, Co-founder at Inspirock

To learn more about available workflow steps and how to customize them, read
our Workflow Overview article.

23 Workflow-driven localization

Final
thoughts
Your localization process should be flexible, scalable, and complement a
continuous delivery approach.

Localization that runs in parallel with development or is done at the design stage
is a modern approach. It helps you release updates in several languages with no
delay. This way, your customers will have equal access to the latest features and
new content.

Even outstanding products might face troubles expanding to new locales.

Speaking the language of your potential customers is a great advantage.
Especially if there are local competitors. A well-integrated localization
management platform helps you reach new markets faster.

The core benefits of a localization tool are automation, translation quality

assurance, and team collaboration.

Start localizing your product, marketing, support, and design content. Use
integrations to automate updates of your source texts and translations.
Cooperate with your team and translators to make sure all the right content has
relevant translations in time.

Begin your localization

journey with Crowdin

Book a demo call Start free 14-day trial

What is Crowdin?
Crowdin is a cloud-based localization management software for teams. It helps
to efficiently create and manage all your multilingual content in one place. You
can localize your apps, websites, games, help documentation, designs.

Speed up the localization process and automate content updates with our
automation, collaboration, and translator’s efficiency features. View the full list of
Crowdin features.

For more information, visit crowdin.com.

For enterprise businesses, try our new product – Crowdin Enterprise.

Contact Crowdin team at [email protected]

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