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Companies that skip linguistic testing of their localized website or software often regret it when they end up with dissatisfied customers, negative reviews, and a damaged brand reputation. Yet many businesses fail to understand this step’s importance and so forego it to save time and costs.
Think about it: what do you do when an app you downloaded or a website you land on is full of linguistic errors and a buggy display? You move on pretty quickly to the next product, right?
Save yourself that pain: fixing linguistic errors post-launch, dealing with public backlash, and attempting to make up for a poor first impression will far outweigh the initial investment in thorough linguistic and localization testing.
Let’s examine linguistic testing, its importance, and how to conduct it.
This form of quality assurance testing is an in-context review of your translations after they’ve been incorporated into your software, app, or website. It checks for things like:
It differs from proofreading, which is also part of the translation process:
It focuses primarily on surface-level errors like spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting. It’s limited to the text itself without considering broader linguistic or cultural nuances.
Linguistic testing, on the other hand, focuses on the accuracy and quality of the translation, cultural appropriateness, and effectiveness of the translated text within its context. It covers grammar, spelling, and punctuation but also encompasses style, tone, terminology, and cultural sensitivity.
Linguistic testing is a crucial step between the localization process and the product launch since it helps to prevent misunderstandings, cultural faux pas, and negative user experiences.
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Professional linguistic testers will identify, record, and correct any inconsistencies or formatting issues that may not be apparent until observed in real-world conditions. These include issues like:
Linguistic testing is a detailed process that involves several steps:
Most testers get direct access to the localized product (software, website, app, etc.) to interact with it as an end-user would. Occasionally, some experts might only receive translated text or screen captures without the full product, but it’s less common and can occur for specific testing scenarios.
Test cases are created based on the localization requirements and target audience. They cover various aspects of language quality, cultural appropriateness, and functionality.
Here is where the testers do their work. They use the product as intended, paying close attention to language-related issues. While doing so, they examine the text for accuracy, clarity, consistency, and cultural appropriateness.
Testers will fill out a bug report as the final deliverable. They typically include the following information:
After developers fix the bug, the tester re-evaluates the affected area to ensure the issue has been resolved.
No matter which type of content you’re localizing, here are a few best practices to follow that help you speed up and control costs in your linguistic testing process.
You can have an in-house team or freelance localization testers do this work, and it might be less expensive, but only a language service provider will be able to provide you with broad language support, industry expertise, tried and true processes, technical know-how and tools expertise, and access to the number of professionals you need to scale cost-effectively and get work done quickly.
Professional linguistic testing experts engaged long-term at LSPs have the specialized knowledge and experience in testing methodologies and understand how to identify and correct subtle language issues.
LSPs also have streamlined processes and dedicated resources for quick turnarounds, making them ideal for large-scale projects with tight deadlines.
At Jonckers, we provide our clients with lots of options:
Extensive types of testing including linguistic, localization, internationalization, and functionality
Flexibility in terms of customized solutions, flexible pricing, and team models
End-to-end localization services that integrate with and impact each other
automations and an AI approach that drives speed, cost, and quality benefits
Integrating AI into linguistic testing has significantly increased our accuracy and speed. Thanks to our automated systems, we can cover various scenarios and monitor ongoing testing, ensuring consistent quality assurance.
Here are just a few of the ways we use AI in our linguistic testing processes:
Joncker’s AI-driven enhancements mean we can initiate a project quickly, increase the volume and speed of tests that can be completed, and catch more problems than manual processes alone.
We offer and implement other testing methods alongside linguistic quality assurance to make sure your product and content provide a great user experience and are the best representation of your brand.
Internationalization (globalization) testing takes place at the design phase, before localization. The goal is to ensure that the localized product (software, app, video game, website, etc.) is flexible and easily adapted to different languages and regions. For example, it checks that:
Localization testing makes sure that your product functions correctly in different languages and feels native and intuitive to users in various regions. During localization quality assurance, the testers make sure that:
Don’t take an untested product to market — the money and time you may save is never going to be worth the risk of releasing a flawed product to the market.
Hiring our linguists and localization testers to review your localized app or website means delivering a product that meets your audience’s expectations, maintains your brand’s integrity, and offers positive user experiences.
Contact us today and learn how our comprehensive linguistic testing services will help you retain customers and build your brand with a high-quality product.
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