Software localisation

Preparing software for localisation

A concise checklist for files, context, variables, screenshots and release planning.

7 min read•Yepanoff editorial team

Separate language from code

Externalise user-facing strings and keep stable identifiers. Concatenated fragments, hard-coded dates and text embedded in images all make grammatical, maintainable localisation more difficult.

Give context deliberately

A screenshot, character limit and note explaining where a string appears can resolve ambiguity faster than a long email exchange. Context is especially valuable for short labels and strings reused in several screens.

Protect variables

Document placeholder syntax and provide examples. Automated QA can flag altered variables, but clear instructions reduce the chance of the error being introduced in the first place.

Plan for in-context review

Linguistic QA inside a build catches truncation, line breaks and context errors that are invisible in a string table. Reserve time for fixes before release.

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