Your website or app must be tailored to local audiences if you want your brand to be well-known and if you are operating in international markets.

But localization goes beyond ensuring that translated text is verbatim accurate and uses regional idioms. The areas that need testing include colors, data formats, currencies, and payment platforms, to name just a few.

Application, web, or game localization testing is a way to check the applicability of software for particular places and areas as well as its accuracy and behavior. The procedure examines how the software might operate in various situations.

Localization testing aims to ensure that software that operates across borders has linguistic and cultural significance for many regions of the world. It seeks to alter a website or app in line with the desired language, locale, audience preferences, and local laws. The linguistic game, app, or web testing aims to determine where the software corresponds to other languages.

Software is subjected to localization testing to examine its user interface, functionality, and usability as it appears in various locales. This involves making sure the app or website performs as planned. It tries to provide a personalized user experience by selecting features and products for people based on their location and potential preferences.

The following are the primary considerations for localization testing:

1. Language

  • To accommodate character encoding, use Unicode text.
  • Variations in spelling
  • Numbering schemes
  • Rules for capitalization and sorting
  • Creating instructions
  • Shortcuts and keyboard configurations

2. Culture And Region

  • Titles and names
  • Currency market position and its symbol
  • Passports and official identification numbers (the USA uses Social Security numbers)
  • images and colors
  • Measurements and weights
  • Sizes of paper
  • Zip codes, phone numbers, address formats, and important events
  • Format for dates and times
  • Calendar formats (Gregorian, Lunar, etc.)
  • Sizes for numbers (decimal separators, a grouping of digits, etc.)

Leading Practices For Localization Testing

The internationalization of an application has an effect in several areas. We must focus on the following crucial elements to provide thorough testing coverage.

● Localizing The Content

Graphics and text are included in localized content and display static and dynamic ranges in the user interface. Contents that are static, such as tabs, buttons, labels, and names for site elements, as well as welcome messages, help texts, and tooltips.

Dynamic contents include messages like those that appear when a form is filled out, validation messages when mistakes occur, and messages that only appear when a mandatory field is filled out. This language testing is carried out by linguists or is validated against language-specific properties files given by the client that contain word meaning translations from English to other languages.

● Feature-Based

Some functions are available everywhere, while others are not. The feature must be hidden for users in the region to which it does not apply, and it must be visible and usable for users in the area.

● Culture Awareness

Understanding the variations in date and number formats used in various regions is a part of cultural awareness. This includes variances in the calendar, special days and occasions, date and time formatting, currency formatting, number formatting, addresses, phone numbers, zip codes, and measurement units, among other things.

Since we are working with data from many locales, encoding format conversion is necessary. It is essential to thoroughly understand encoding formats and how to convert between formats because doing so can also cause data loss.

● User Interface

Testing for linguistic content adaptation should be done on the user interface. It should adjust as necessary to accommodate text with longer lengths without altering the alignment.

The interface should accommodate this shift without becoming distorted because particular language-specific text requires more space than others. For instance, compared to English, German text requires more space to express the same information. Consequently, an interface needs to be flexible.

To ensure everything runs smoothly, like shortened strings, overlapping or misaligned controls, duplicate hotkeys, etc., we must evaluate an application’s user interface. Additionally, everything must be translated into the appropriate language.

This includes the following:

  • The menu bar’s menus
  • Prompt, warning, and alert message
  • Dialog windows (titles, buttons, and help messages)
  • Images
  • Toolbars (tooltip for tools in Toolbar)
  • Status details in the Status bar

● Rendering

It is crucial to verify that all of the supported scripts are accurately rendered in accordance with the language-specific characters attached to them. The scripts on a page should be executed appropriately when viewed in a particular language, meaning that no script errors should be presented and all characters are displayed in that language.

Character rendering features include bi-direction, context-based character shape, character reordering, and character combination. Other formatting options include word breaks, line breaks, justification, left/right alignment, etc.

● File Exchange

If the application supports file transfers, we must verify that the file transfer interface has been localized for the chosen language. Whether the file is successfully sent or not, it is not corrupted.

When attempting to read a file containing Unicode characters, it is crucial to provide the encoding format. When nothing is supplied, UTF-8 is used as the default encoding. When viewed with UTF-8, text saved in the UTF-16 encoding format will display incomprehensible text. Therefore, encoding is crucial to file transfers.

● Database

The database’s support for Unicode characters will be tested as part of the internationalized application. There are specific data types that can be used for this. The SQL server defines data types including nchar, nvarchar, and ntext to assist store Unicode characters.

  • The prefix then represents the National Unicode data types. The original char, varchar, and text data types are utilized similarly to these n prefixed data types. Only the N-prefix data type supports the additional features listed below.
  • We require more disk space.
  • There are more supported characters.
  • Nchar and nvarchar have a 4000 maximum size, but char and varchar have an 8000 maximum size.

When migrating databases, caution must be exercised. Data loss will occur if the right data types are not mapped to the migration. It is the same to work with N-prefix data types as with conventional ones.

Final Thought

To grow your business internationally, you must conduct linguistic game testing. If you get it right, you’ll be letting in millions of new clients worldwide—dramatically increasing your chances of making money.

Cornerstones of the process include ensuring your software and content are compatible with a wide range of devices, operating systems, and browsers, as well as accurate translations and cultural sensitivity. Your consumers will notice your attention to detail and realize how much you value their business.

One cannot stress the value of researching your target audience, and hiring a linguist or localization company with a track record of success pays off in spades. Doing this lets you clear any awkward or pricey misunderstandings.

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