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Our goal is to provide you with in-depth knowledge regarding localization.

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Localization Blog

Helmut Juskewycz

Markus Merzinger

Lingohub

All localization resource file formats have one thing in common: they are all supported by <a href="https://lingohub.com"><em>Lingohub</em></a>. Different platforms require different approaches to making your software <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb688161.aspx" target="_blank">world-ready</a> (<strong>i18n</strong>), so there is a myriad of resource file formats in the localization (<strong>L10N</strong>) world that you need to be familiar with as a developer. This becomes especially relevant if you develop applications that are to be rolled out across many platforms.

Over the last few weeks, we blogged about a number of common<strong> localization resource file formats</strong> and how they are used in translation projects, what their characteristics are, and how they are formatted. How they work together with <em>Lingohub</em> is especially relevant, for example when it comes to contextual information like comments or placeholders in those files.

To sum up this blog series in an overview, here are once again the recent blog posts we published that outlined the core characteristics of common resource files used in localization for software, web and mobile apps. This can be a great starting point for you to look into these formats, feel free to comment your questions or share it with colleagues. <ul> <li><a title="i18n Resource File Formats" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/03/i18n-resource-file-formats/">Introduction</a> (placeholders and comments)</li> <li><span style="line-height: 15px;">.<a title="i18n Resource File Formats: RESX and RESW files" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/04/i18n-resource-file-formats-resx-and-resw-files/">resx and .resw</a> files (e.g. Microsoft .NET)</span></li> <li>.<a title="i18n Resource File Formats: RESJSON files" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/04/i18n-resource-file-formats-resjson-files/">resjson files</a> (e.g. Microsoft Windows 8/RT/Mobile)</li> <li>.<a title="i18n Resource File Formats: properties files comments" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/03/resource-file-formats-properties-files-comments/">properties</a> files (e.g. Java, FirefoxOS)</li> <li>.<a title="i18n Resource File Formats: iOS .strings files" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/03/i18n-resource-file-formats-ios-strings-files/">strings</a> files (e.g. Apple iOS)</li> <li>.<a title="i18n Resource File Formats: YAML files" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/04/i18n-resource-file-formats-yaml-files/">yaml</a> files (e.g. Ruby/Rails)</li> <li>.<a title="i18n Resource File Formats: ini files" href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2013/03/i18n-resource-file-formats-ini-files/">ini</a> files (e.g. Joomla, PHP)</li> </ul> We hope this is of help to you and your projects. We are going to return to this topic shortly with some other formats, however you can leave your comments and we can go into more detail or pick up a format that you are interested in, sooner. As we will outline in some business commentary soon, we advise to always aim for a multi-platform strategy, but more on that later.

Get more information about localization resource file formats Lingohub works with. Understand how files work with Lingohub and how they are used in translation projects.

Localization resource file formats: A beginner's guide

We are kicking off a series of blog posts about localization in different regions. Note that when you localize software, for example, to enter a new market, don't look at that region as a black box! If you've never crossed from Bavaria into Austria (or the other way around), you might assume that: 

a) the languages on either side of the border are fairly similar 

b) if you're translating for these markets your target language would be German (DE). Almost.

Lingohub is based in Linz, Austria - and I'm writing this from Berlin, Germany being a native of Bavaria (and I grew up with Austrian television). Let this be the first in a series of blog posts where we want to highlight language nuances. Feel free to send us emails with some experiences of your own.


## Austrian German and standard German

Just like you have words in European Spanish that sound weird and plain wrong to a resident of a Latin-American country, some words will determine whether a customer from either side of the Alpine border will feel taken care of using your product.

Here are a few examples that illustrate that these aren't mere different spellings but entirely different words. As linguists know, dialect differences are primarily evident in domestic vocabularies (food and other daily life words). In the case of the translations for "law," they are both Latin words, one in the singular and one in the plural. (Also see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austrian_German" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Wikipedia's </a> article on Austrian German)


## Other differences between Austrian German and German

In each of the countries, standard German is the official language. Still, regional features and neighborhoods with other countries bring zest to language development and expand vocabulary. For example, Austria has 9 lands with history, borders, and language particularities. One of them - the federal state of Burgenland, uses a mix of German with Hungarian and Croatian. Moreover, there exists Burgenland Croatian which is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burgenland_Croatian" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> recognized </a>as a minority language. Based on all the historic-social things, there are differences with:

<br>

**Mismatch of grammatical gender of nouns**

In the German language, each noun has special articles - der(he), die(she), and das(it), which designate the noun's gender. And if you think you can remember them once and use them both in Germany and Austria - you are failing.
Here are the most common differences:


**Different pronunciation**<br>

In general (if we are not going into the peculiarities of the dialects), Austrian German and standard German have a list of differences in pronunciation.
One of the differences is the common Austrian suffix -l, which turns the German Pfand, Packung, into Pfandl, Packerl. Another example is the ending ‑ig, which will be [**‑ɪk**] in Austria rather than [**‑ɪç**] like in Germany.


## Let's sum up

I hope this article brings you some understanding of what needs to be attended to if you are thinking about close-to-culture content generating for both countries. In [Lingohub](/), we are charmed by the differences in languages and dialects because they show us all the uniqueness of regions and their charm.


What is the difference of German in Austria and Germany? We overviewed the pronunciation, vocabulary and spelling particularities in this article

It’s the tiny differences: localization regions Austria & Germany

It’s the tiny differences: Localization regions Austria & Germany

> **Note**: This info is not relevant anymore. LingoChecks now is called [quality checks](/features/quality-checks) — more power and abilities to make your localization easier.

We all know that translating is a challenging job. It is hard to maintain the context of the translations, you have to consider design aspects (e.g. length of the translation in dialog boxes), finding the right tone can be tricky, and taking care of technical aspects (e.g. placeholders) can be a tedious task at times.

At <a href="https://lingohub.com"><em>Lingohub</em></a> we are constantly thinking about how we can make the (working) life of a translator easier. <strong>LingoChecks</strong> is a feature that every translator will love. With LingoChecks we are improving our editor to display the "health" of a translation to the translator. Essential information can now be passed on to be displayed in the editing environment, increasing the degree of context a translator has to his or her disposal when working on a job.

Currently we support the following types of "checks", as we call them, that a project owner can define:
<ul>
<li><strong>min/max:</strong> These checks are pretty simple, they verify the number of characters of a translation. It is possible to define absolute numbers (e.g. min: 45), absolute offset (e.g. min: -5)  and percentage offset (e.g. min: %5). Such checks are especially useful on Mobile Devices where the space is often limited. A translator will then know, for example, that a certain translation text should not exceed a certain length, otherwise it will not look pretty on the finished product. </li>

<li><strong>placeholder</strong>: Many translations contain so called "placeholders". These, as the name suggests, are replaced with dynamic content at runtime (of the app or website). A simple example would be: "Hello %{username}". In this case <em>username</em> could be replaced with First Name, e.g. Claudia, and would result in "Hello Claudia". The corresponding German translation would be: "Hallo %{username}" The problem here is, that placeholders have a different syntax depending on the file format and they must be exactly the same as in the source language. With <em>lingoChecks</em> we ensure that all placeholders are valid and occur in all languages. This decreases the occurrence of post-translation bugs and increases both quality as well as consistency. </li>

<br>

<li><strong>terms</strong>: This check is about special terms you always want to be the same across all languages, and they work as exceptions. An example would be the name/term "lingohub". This term should be all lower case and should be used in all languages (and not translated) identically. You can define such terms and make sure that the translators know that these terms should be exactly as defined. In most cases those are names, fixed expressions or slogans that need to remain the same. </li></ul>

<em>lingoCheck</em>s can be enabled on a project level to set default, but can be overridden on a translation level. As a project owner you will find the settings under project settings and under the translation detail view.
The only lingoCheck that is enabled per default is the placeholder, others have to be manually activated.

Check out our feature, LingoChecks, designed to simplify the work of translators. It provides essential information about the "health" of translations, giving translators more context while working.

Introducing "LingoChecks"

> **Note**: this information is not actual anymore. We updated a lot of features to make your experience even better. Read our [announcement](https://lingohub.com/blog/2023/08/welcome-to-the-updated-version-of-lingohub) to learn more about. 

<a href="https://lingohub.com"><em>Lingohub</em></a> is celebrating Xmas a little early this year with our feature roundup and our brand-new translation UI.
<p style="text-align: center;">

</p>

We received lots of feedback on our user interface (UI). While nearly everyone liked the look, there were some problems with the workflow and usability. Based on your input, we designed a whole new interface for translations overview and the editor. You now have the choice between using a QuickPanel for, well, quick translations, or the full-featured translation editor. One of the most requested features is included as well: performing actions on multiple translations. You can now select multiple translation texst and change the status, machine translate them and so on.

This release contains other important changes as well. Here is the full changelog:

<h2>Translation overview and quickpanel</h2>

Previously this view showed all available language texts including additional information. This used a lot of space and required a lot of scrolling. Projects with 4 or more languages suffered from it. Furthermore, this view made it hard to allow multiple changes at once. The new view shows only two languages horizontally, not vertically. Translators are much more accustomed to such a presentation. It helps to quickly scan both, source and target language, and review them. The left side shows the source language for information and the right side shows the target language for editing. With this kind of review process a common use case is to do small changes (e.g. correcting spelling mistakes). Such small changes don't require a fully fletched editor, hence, we introduced a so-called QuickPanel. Simply click on the target language and the QuickPanel opens. Within the QuickPanel you see context information, can change the status, and do text changes - no page reloads required.

## Translation editor 

The editor follows the same left side - right side principle as in the Translation Overview. The only exception here is that you can show multiple languages at once. In some cases translators like to see an additional language next to the master language. A Russian translation may help a Bulgarian translator to better understand the translation texts. Also, with the new view it is now possible to edit multiple languages at once.

Of course previous functionality such as machine translation, review process (status), comments and so on are included.

<h2>Github hook integration</h2>

We had a Github integration from the beginning. When you authenticate your Github account with lingohub, a Web-Hook was automatically created and your repository will be synchronized. With the Github Web-Hook you can create the hook manually at Github without connecting your Github Account. One caveat though: this works only with public repositories, for private repositories lingohub needs the connection to access the resource files.

<h2>Windows 8 ready</h2>

Windows 8 introduced new format types: .resw (previously .resx) for C# applications and .resjson (JSON) for Windows Store apps using JavaScript and HTML. A lot of things have changed in detail to previous formats that you should be familiar with as a developer. You should definitely stay on top of <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh465006.aspx" target="_blank">the documentation at MSDN</a> . <a href="https://lingohub.com/blog/2012/11/lingohub-now-supports-windows-8-resource-files-for-microsoft-app-localization/">Read our blog post on Windows 8</a>. 

## Subscription plans announced 

In November we went out of Beta and announced our subscription plans. You can find information about Mini, Basic, Business, and Plus plans on our [website](/pricing). Of course, translators use lingohub for free.

## Language selection and Japanese

We live our motto "Go Global, Be Local!" that is why we are <span style="color: #333333; font-style: normal; line-height: 24px;">constantly </span>adding new languages to lingohub. The old language selector was quite boring. Since we think languages are fun, the selector has to be fun as well, and now it is. Japanese is one of the new languages our service is available in.

## Footer

One of our focus in the future is to provide you more and better documentation of lingohub's features. The new footer is a first step to a better structure of our documentation.

<h2>OAuth fixes</h2>

There were some bugs with some OAuth providers. The bugs are now fixed and we added extra behavior that considers if on the provider side goes something wrong.

<h2>What’s next?</h2>

<ul> <li>Translator profiles: we want to help translators to show off their skills – and more.</li> <li>Better indication of the "health" of a translation including missing placeholder, too long texts, ...</li> <li>Improving file upload and handling of comments</li> <li>more! Let us know what we think, we are looking forward to your thoughts.</li> </ul>

Discover the features in our November/December 2012 roundup, including Translation Overview and Quickpanel, Translation Editor, and Github Hook Integration. Check out our article for more information.

November/December roundup: new features all the way

The cultural and linguistic nuances are the common pitfalls during localization. The good-adapted product requires tons of attention to recheck and prevent all possible mistakes. And all these thoughts feel natural. All people involved in localization understand that attentive proofreading and deep contextual adaptation are necessary for a good result, but it is not always possible to avoid mistakes in practice. 

The idea for this article was born in an Asian food restaurant where our team had lunch. All the menus in the restaurant had bad and inconsistent translations - nobody double-checked the text before printing. As a result, the ordered "*Fired Duck*" (which sounded really intriguing) became just ordinary "*Fried Duck*." 


The next case happened near the ATM in Brussels. German buttons displayed the wrong word, which was confusing. Instead of "abheben" (to withdraw), the button said, "abnehmen" (to lose weight). 

The cases above emphasize the importance of quality testing for businesses with close customer interaction, so after these situations, we decided to check how localization can affect success. Let's dive into the five famous examples of localization failures.
 
 

## "Don't bring our ancestors back from the grave!"


The Chinese language has always been a challenge for localization. And Pepsi, in the last century, made a translation mistake. Their slogan - "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi generation,"  targeted to attract the new generation, was translated as "Pepsi brings your ancestors back from the grave" in China. The small nuances of the language led to the wrong meaning of the entire phrase and, as a result, the company's downfall in the market. 


## "What are you selling us?"

The current case is about the well-known IKEA. As we already mentioned, [e-commerce](/blog/e-commerce-localization-big-guide-to-driving-growth) is a sensitive area where companies should consider all minor things. When IKEA opened a new store in Thailand ten years ago, they didn't check the naming of the goods. 

As a result, some Swedish words like "*Redalen*" provided a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ikeas-product-names-were-almost-a-disaster-in-thailand-2012-6" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">text</a>tactless meaning. To fix the situation, IKEA hired Thai translators and rechecked all product names to keep the Norwegian style as much as possible but avoid issues. 



<center><a href="https://www.ikea.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ikea website</a> 



## "Blame it on the stork"

Like the previous examples, this one also pertains to East culture and language. Actually, Eastern countries are a big localization challenge not only because of the translation difficulties but also cultural misunderstandings. In such a trap was caught the Procter and Gamble Co. 

At the end of the 20th century, Pampers became popular goods on the market. The USA advertisement was excellent - the stork brings a child to the family - an idyllic picture. When it came to Japan, the audience was discouraged. Why did the stork bring a child? What does this mean? The fact is that in Japanese folklore, newborns arrive courtesy of a giant peach floating in the river. 

This mistake was discovered when P&G researched why sales were slumping. The company did its "homework" to fix the issue but lost time, and Japanese competitors successfully captured the niche. P&G spent a few years climbing to the top of the market.



## "The ‘embarrassing’ pen"

There are just brands in the world, but there are legends that everybody knows. Such an example is the well-known Parker Pen. But this famous brand also produced a failure with the translation. In the 1930th, the company expanded to Mexico and unsuccessfully translated its slogan into Spanish. 

The reason is that the similar-sounding words "embarrass" and "embaraza" were mistakenly assumed to have the same meaning. However, "embaraza" actually means "impregnate" in Spanish. "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you" was translated to "It won't leak in your pocket and impregnate you."


## "Car to die"

Mercedes Benz tried to enter the Chinese market by changing its brand name to Bensi, hoping it would be more relatable to the Chinese people. However, they were unaware that "Bensi" translates to "Rush to Die" in Chinese. So, they changed the name to "Benchi," which means "dashing speed."


The examples above demonstrate that even large companies with extensive teams working on market expansion can experience failure in localization.

## How can Lingohub support localization?

At Lingohub, we strive to provide our customers with the best tools to simplify the localization. The automated processes allow our customers to focus more on the localization nuances than on manual tasks and checking minor things. Let's overview some of the features:

1. **Automated files import/export.** If you have a middle-size+ project, you have a lot of texts that should be adapted. If you ignore translation management software, your developers will manually export files from the repository, send them to the team, and import them back. In case of any issue with files, the iteration is recurring. Lingohub supports smooth integration with all popular repositories like GitHub, Gitlab, etc. All the changes in source files are tracked automatically, meaning your team does not need to ping other team members or wait for any response. Moreover, your team feels free to work with separate branches to keep the project versions clean.

2. **Quality checks.** Blurred vision often is a reason for simple mistakes in the project. The entire team can check the text a few times, but you will still find the error in the prod after release. To help our clients with content checking, Lingohub developed quality checks. This feature aims to fix issues like duplicated or missed placeholders, additional spaces, term usage, and more. Thus localization managers can pay more attention to the essence of the text without rechecking simple things. 

3. **REST API.** With Lingohub, you can use both HTTP and Token authentication. Our API makes it easy to integrate Lingohub into your development processes or quickly check project status without logging in. Simply select the best option for you, manage and switch it effortlessly in your account, and establish the solution that meets your needs.

4. **Hire proofreaders just inside the application.** Finding the best translators is challenging, especially for rare languages or dialects. Lingohub provides translators and proofreaders for more than 40 languages, including Japanese, Chinese (with dialects), etc. You can order the translation and/or the proofreading of some content to ensure the final result is perfect. 


## Conclusion

Localization is a complex process, and failure can happen to anyone. Even big enterprises have missed the cultural or translation context somehow. However, you can utilize a translation management platform to prevent and reduce issues, making the process much simpler. 

The automation features, CAT tools, and robust engines will speed up the process and take the quality to the next level. If you want more information - schedule a [demo call](/demo) with our team or try all Lingohub benefits with a 14-day free trial. 

Discover more about localization fails, including the infamous "Fired Ducks," in our article.

Fired ducks and other assorted localization fails

Fired Ducks and Other Assorted Localization Fails

When we [blogged about colors](/blog/meaning-of-colors), we knew we touched upon a critical topic in localization and cultural awareness. What do colors mean in different contexts? Do connotations change from culture to culture (hint: they do)? As a logical continuation, we prepared this article as a checklist of color and cultural peculiarities you should consider during localization.


## Things you should consider during localization

Localization is more than just a translation. It is a meticulous process that requires both perfect adaptation to the new region and keeping the original business tone of voice, ideas, values, etc. When localizing products, services, or content for a different culture, it's crucial to consider various cultural peculiarities to ensure your offering resonates with the target audience and avoids potential misunderstandings or offenses. 


### Language of colors 

The meaning of colors plays a vital role, and sometimes, you will be required to change some elements or the entire color palette. The common trap is a white - symbol of purity and simplicity in Western countries and mourning and death in a big part of Asia. 

### Language of the region (dialect)
Literary language is not always the best fit for translation. Using the dialects is especially important for creative industries like game localization. Such a technique allows to provide the atmosphere of the digital product and immerse the user in the context. Remember the Hagrid from Harry Potter? He speaks with a strong West Country accent. During localization for other languages, it was crucial to convey the features of speech as it is a part of the character. For example, the Ukrainian translation uses the dialect from the western part of the country (cute coincidence), so Hagrid speaks a non-literature language. 
> If you want to learn more, we suggest reading about [famous product localization](/blog/famous-products-localization-overview) in our blog. 


### Cultural sensitivity 
Ensure you are not using disrespectful or offensive content in localized product versions. 
- **Religion**. In predominantly religious countries, being sensitive to their rules is essential. For example, Muslim countries often have strict rules about the content -  in Saudi Arabia, you can't show affection in public, your characters should have appropriate clothes, etc. Some of these regulations could be unclear, so hiring a local expert to check and approve your product is best. 
- **Taboos**. Not all things are open to discussion and demonstration— for instance, the tattoo in Japan. Of course, nowadays, they are more or less acceptable, but there are still people with more traditional views. 
- **Gestures**. Recheck all the illustrations with gestures to be sure they fit the cultural context. For example, the friendly "thumbs up" in some Middle Eastern and Asian countries has the same meaning as a middle finger in Western culture. 
- **Holidays**. Each region has its own essential cultural holidays. Even the New Year, the 1st of January, is not standard for all the world.
- **Pop culture understanding**. You can collect important information by staying up-to-date with local pop culture references. Pop culture references and trends reflect a society's values, interests, and concerns. By staying in tune with it and using some connections, you demonstrate cultural relevance and understand and respect the culture you're engaging with. 

### Figures localization.
This is a broad, separate topic, so you can read about [how to localize figures](/blog/how-can-the-figures-be-a-challenge-for-your-localization) and what to pay attention to in our blog. Here, we just want to remind you about this important part of the localization process. 

### Communication
Formal and informal speech is a fundamental aspect of language that varies from culture to culture. It involves using different levels of formality and politeness when communicating with others. When localizing content, whether it's written, spoken, or digital, understanding the nuances of formal and informal speech in the target culture is crucial for effective communication. 

> We suggest reading our blog's "[The importance of formal vs. informal speech](/blog/the-importance-of-formal-vs-informal-speech-in-web-and-mobile-software) " article to dive deeper into this topic. 

## Conclusion
Localization is a much broader topic than a translation and requires a complete understanding of the local cultural context and preferences. At Lingohub, we provide various tools for mobile and <a href="https://lingohub.com/use-cases/web-app-localization">web application localization</a> that will help to keep the context understanding on the same level for the entire team: 
- Style guide - to save the tone of voice 
- Glossary - to maintain consistency throughout the whole project
- Context images - to share more visual information with translators
- Descriptions - to provide additional data

To get more information about Lingohub - schedule a quick [demo call](/demo) with our team or try it yourself with a 14-day free trial. 

Our blog post focuses on the importance of considering colors and culture when localizing software and apps.