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Learn how CMS localization can boost your online presence, expand your reach, and optimize for international success with our informative article.

CMSs: industry state and how to localize them best

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Localization Blog

People focus on linguists, managers, marketers, and designers when talking about localization teams. However, one key player whose role is frequently overlooked is the localization engineer. In this article, our team highlights the importance of this role, its function, and contributions to the localization process to give you a better understanding of the people who entirely handle the technical part of localization.

## Who is a localization engineer?
A localization engineer is a technical specialist responsible for smoothly implementing your software's translations and delivering quality localized results to the end users. S(he) is like a single link that unites managers, translators, and developers to ensure a highly productive process. 
The main tasks of a localization engineer can vary based on the specific company, but the most common are:
### Preparation of files and Internationalization support.
S(he) is responsible for close communication with the development team and controlling all content requiring translation to be correctly prepared for localization. This person ensures all strings are parsed, placeholders, tags, and other formatting or structural elements exist.  

The localization engineer also reviews all elements, such as data and time formatting and character encoding, for different languages and provides the development team with the best practices.
 
### Improving the existing localization process. 
The engineer knows everything about localization and is ready to implement new approaches. That means that s(he) researches new tools, thoroughly explores the current instruments to know everything about their capabilities, and can develop simple scripts (for example, for extraction translatable content from source code, placeholder replacements, file format conversions, etc.)

### Preparing and maintaining the technical instructions.
A localization engineer's role implies knowing everything about localization processes and tools used in the concrete organization, which means this person is the best source of knowledge. Thus, s(he) can accurately prepare documentation like:
- Localization wiki, 
- Best practices for using localization tools,
- Localization standards for different regions,
- etc. 

### Control of quality assurance. 
Familiarity with localization testing tools and frameworks is necessary, as the localization engineer also works with the QA team. In some companies, this role is entirely responsible for performing quality assurance before deliveries. 
So, as evident from the points above, the localization engineer accompanies localization, starting from translation management systems setting up and file preparation to QA of the final result. Let's overview which skills s(he) should have to cover all these tasks with high quality. 

## The primary skills of a software localization engineer
### Hard skills 
- Know at least one programming language (e.g., JavaScript, PHP, Python.) 
- Understand the software architecture, coding standards, version control systems like Git (to collaborate with developers,) and localization file formats (e.g., JSON). 
- Proficiency with the localization tools available on the market, including CAT tools (translation memory, machine translation) and their realistic capabilities. 
- Strong self-management skills. Localization engineer is a role that implies a variety of tasks and communication with different people. Often, this person can be a bottleneck in some processes. So, correct prioritizing and time management are essential to meeting deadlines and building a well-structured localization process in the company. 
- Project-management skills, including understanding frameworks and methodologies like Agile, SMART, SWOT, Lean, etc. 

### Soft skills 
As any person responsible for the entire process, the localization engineers should have the following skills:
- Proactivity - finding and resolving the localization challenges and improving the created processes to raise the effectiveness. 
- Perfect communication skills — coordinating and contacting various teams requires cultural sensitivity, empathic communication, the ability to resolve conflicts, and assertiveness. 
- Attention to detail - localization engineer tasks imply checking for linguistic errors, formatting inconsistencies, and other possible issues.

## What are the localization engineers' salaries, and how to hire the best? 
The first step when hiring a localization engineer is understanding their salary in the needed market. For example, the average in the US for this role is <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/localization-engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0,21.htm" target="_blank" rel="noffolow">$92,142</a> and depends on the state, while in the UK, this figure is <a href="https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/Salaries/localization-engineer-salary-SRCH_KO0,21.htm" target="_blank" rel="noffolow">£34,421</a> ($42,994) and <a href="https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/paris-localization-project-manager-salary-SRCH_IL.0,5_IM1080_KO6,34.htm" target="_blank" rel="noffolow">$38,250</a> in France. When choosing the best candidate for your business, consider not only the wages but also the time zone, language barriers, etc., as this person will closely communicate with different teammates. 

The next step is creating a detailed job description, which will help you to find the best-fit person and weed out unsuitable candidates from the start to save time for both sides:
1. Describe the tech stack your project uses and which exact language knowledge the candidate should have;
2. Describe this role as clearly as possible (avoid vague and general phrases.) Identify specific tasks for the candidate. 
3. Include the information about development processes and methodologies your team uses.

The final part is interviewing - the correct questions will help you to make the best choice. Besides the main questions, we suggest finding out the following:
- Ask about translation management systems the candidate worked with and about other localization solutions, and let the candidate explain why they were chosen. 
- Provide the candidate with the case of the last localization challenge your team met and propose to solve it. 
Clarify the experience in your or related industries to understand if the applicant understands nuances and specifics. 

## How can Lingohub help localization engineers with their tasks?
Although localization engineers may appear superhuman in the localization industry, they still require tools to assist them in challenging work. Designed by developers, Lingohub takes into account all possible technical cases that may arise and provides the following solutions:
- Repository integrations and branching support for simple data exchange;
- 40+ language files & frameworks support;
- In-built quality checks tools that control the existing HTML tags, placeholders, and duplications in the translated text.
- [XLIFF](/integrations/xliff-localization) format, which supports the easy sharing of the translation files without structure affecting;
- Rest API for building the custom integrations and improving the localization process;
- Backups to ensure that data is stored safely and not lost;
- And many more, which we will gladly demonstrate at our [demo call](/demo). 

If you want to try all the Lingohub abilities on your own, sign up for a 14-day free trial and evaluate our platform's benefits. And remember that our team is always here to assist you. Stay awesome!

Read this article for a comprehensive overview of the localization engineer role and how this person can support the localization process.

The role of localization engineer in the globalization process

Translating content inside a CMS (content management system) is always challenging when you don't use the right tool. That's why the Lingohub team released a new, updated, and improved Storyblok integration to make the stories translation easier than ever. This article will overview the new opportunities for **Lingohub-Storyblok** integration and describe how to use it with the most significant productivity. 
## What is Storyblok?
Storyblok is a headless CMS (content management system) that empowers companies by providing flexible tools for developers and content creators. Released in 2017, it now provides a top-notch content management experience and independence for teams worldwide.
## How has Storyblok transformed the content creation process?
Storyblok is a headless CMS, meaning content management and presentation are separate processes. The front and backend are split; users can utilize different frontends (heads) with the same backend code (body). Thus, developers can use any framework and technologies that increase the project's flexibility. 
**Other advantages of the Storyblok are**:
- Intuitive **interface** for content management;
- Simple **content structuring** with different components and blocks;
- The previous point provides **easy scalability** and content re-usage - you can re-use the same blocks for different pages;
- **Internationalization** - Storyblok provides creating different language versions of your content;
- **Versioning** to track changes or roll back to previous versions;
- Simple integration with third-party tools by Storyblok's **API-First Approach**. 

In conclusion, Storyblok is a robust content management system that allows flexible implementation of technical solutions compared to a user-friendly interface, making it a perfect solution for any size company, independent of the technologies they prefer. 
## 5 challenges during the manual CMS localization
In our blog, we already overviewed [CMS localization](/blog/cms-industry-state-and-how-to-localize-them-best) and the ways to do this best, but here, we want to focus on the challenges the companies face during this process if they don't use a supporting solution. Below, we identified five main points that are most complicated to handle:
1. **String management**. In addition to the content itself, the software always includes various elements like buttons, navigation, pop-ups, notifications, etc. Managing these content strings and maintaining consistency throughout the project can be challenging when the team handles them manually. Managing and organizing strings and building a simple and scalable process for them is nearly impossible without tools created for this task. Something can be lost; others use non-actual versions or missed, etc.
2. **Content translation**: To translate CMS content without a translation management system, the team should constantly import/export files, which becomes annoying, especially when it is needed to update small changes. Imagine that when you decide to change, for example, a feature name or make some terms translation differ, your team should spend a significant time importing and exporting all the needed files or opening each page and changing them one by one. 
3. **Collaboration**. Localizing CMS content requires the involvement of developers, translators, and often designers, marketers, and QA. Thus, all these people need a transparent communication and collaboration process, which is hard to build from scratch. 
4. **Multilingual SEO**. Besides the content for users, when going to a new market, companies should consider the requirements of the [search engines](/blog/seo-for-multilingual-websites), such as metadata optimization, hreflang preparation, interlinking, etc. 
5. **Continuous localization**. As with any other product, the CMS localization is an ongoing process, and the translation should go in parallel with the development process to have a fast time-to-market. If your translators wait for the ready feature/page/etc. to start the translation, the company will lose precious time. 
As a localization management platform provider, we know about all these main and other tiny nuances. That's why our team is always focused on processed optimization by their automation.

### How does the Lingohub support the Storyblok localization?
Previously, our users had to use the Storyblok import/export abilities to extract data from their workspace. They uploaded the files to Lingohub for translation and then exported and re-uploaded the translated files back to Storyblok. It doesn't sound like the most effective way, does it? 

To save our clients time, we built a smooth integration that allows them to connect their Storyblok workspace to Lingohub with a few clicks and pull/push data within seconds. Setting up this authentication is as easy and takes minutes to prepare. You only need to generate an access token and enter it into the Storyblok workspace plugin inside the Lingohub app.

Read our Help Center → How to connect the Storyblok workspace to Lingohub.


Let's overview a few cases that Lingohub-Storyblok integration can successfully cover. 
1. **Terms consistency keeping**. The Lingohub [term base](/features/term-base) can contain all the project-related terms and their translation rules. You can mark the term untranslated or provide preferred/admitted options for translators. The best thing is that the glossary applies to your entire Lingohub workspace, no matter which type of project you created, which means that besides Storyblok content, your other texts, like emails, will use the same terminology.
2. **More context**. We usually repeat in our blog that [context](/blog/why-is-context-important-in-localization) is essential to success. We are not only talking about this but also designed a list of tools aimed at providing it, namely:
- Terms' **images and descriptions**. Besides the translation inside the glossary, you can add the image that represents the term and helpful information;
- **Context images** are screenshots of your software so translators can see where exactly the specific text segment is located. To simplify the process, they can be uploaded manually or automatically to Lingohub.
- **Segment descriptions** that all localization participants can edit — developers in the resource file and translators/managers inside Lingohub Editor. 

- **Quick "try-on" of new languages**. To understand the design changes for a new language, you need to see what it will look like inside current layouts. Waiting until the translation is fully ready isn't a best practice; the more suitable option is to use our AI pre-translation feature. The process will take less than 5 minutes: pull the stories you want to translate inside Lingohub, pre-translate them in a few clicks, and push back. That's all — your pre-translated content will be visible inside Storyblok.
- **Simplified quality assurance**. Lingohub provides an inbuilt [quality check](/features/quality-checks) tool that prevents issues with HTML tags, markups, duplications, line breaks, etc. Thus, you can reduce the number of tasks for the QA team, and they can focus on the more essential things that look for human error described. 

## Let's start right now
It's better to see something once than to hear about it a thousand times. That's why we suggest you try all the abilities of Lingohub-Storyblok integration for yourself. Sign up to Lingohub and test all the features and integration for 14 days for free. No credit card is required. 

If you need any support or have questions, schedule a [demo call](/demo). Our team will show you how Lingohub works and provide the best practices for your organization. 

**Stay awesome!**


Want to translate your Storyblok content faster and easier? Read this article to learn the key to success.


Localization of your Storyblok CMS

The right strategy is the key to success when companies go global. The chosen strategy affects time and financial spending, the number of human resources needed, deadlines, company awareness, success, and many more. In our blog, we have previously discussed the global standardization strategy that international companies fairly often use. This article focuses on the alternative option - the multidomestic strategy, its components, and, most importantly, the benefits it can bring to your business.

## Definition of multidomestic strategy
A multidomestic strategy is the most local-oriented strategy for business globalization. It opposes the standardization approach and is highly oriented to the target market preferences and habits. In terms of management, multidomestic is the most decentralized option, as each of the local representative offices/departments works independently from others regarding marketing campaigns, business processes, etc. As can be apparent from this description, a multidomestic strategy requires much more time and financial spending than others because the target markets should have their own team, strategy, budgets for campaign implementations, etc. 

So, why are the companies using it? Because the benefits often outweigh the spending. Take a look at the table below to compare.

|Advantages|Drawbacks|
|--|--|
|**High competitiveness**. The multidomestic strategy implies high local adaptation, which allows for building a solid local brand using deep knowledge about the market.|**High operational costs** are caused by businesses having to work with markets differently. That means companies will need separate teams per region, local offices (often), different marketing strategies, budgets, etc.|
|**High responsiveness to market changes**. The deep dive into the local market allows businesses to react to market changes much faster, which is essential today when information can be shared in seconds between continents.|**The lack of global consistency**. Businesses with an implemented multidomestic strategy often have different positioning across their markets, as they can offer products or services that vary in advertisement, branding, and quality.|
|**High level of customer loyalty**. Enhanced customer service is part of a multidomestic approach, which builds strong relationships with local customers and increases loyalty and trust, driving long-term business sustainability.|**The lack of fast experience exchange**. As multidomestic is a decentralized strategy, communication between the head and regional departments can be less streamlined than in a centralized one. As a result, exchanging experiences and best practices will be slower and more complicated.|
|**Asset diversification**. A company with a multidomestic strategy approach is independent of specific markets and immune to regional changes. In the worst case, it can rely on the success of other regions.| |
|**Comprehensive overview of worldwide trends**. A professional marketing approach across multiple regions can provide a comprehensive overview of global trends and events. The multidomestic strategy facilitates deeper insights and enables more confident and accurate predictions of upcoming changes.| |

## 3 main steps for implementing a multidomestic strategy 
Efforts for developing and implementing a multidomestic strategy can vary depending on the region. For some, you must build all the processes from scratch, while others can partly use the established best practices. Generally, there can be highlighted the following steps:

### Step 1. Assessment and planning
The first step in creating a multidomestic strategy is choosing a new region(s) and planning the budget to enter it (them). The business should have clear **goals**, **budget** frames, and selected **market**(s). This step can be described as a high-level company vision, which is the foundation for further actions. 

## Step 2. Comprehensive markets research
Here, the researchers and analytics teams have the crucial task of understanding the region as much as possible because the entire success of the multidomestic strategy depends on fitting to the cultural sensitivity and adaptation to market needs. At the end of this process, the business must have a ready-to-implement business expansion strategy with concrete budgeting, KPIs, etc.

The checklist of tasks is long and includes analyzing **demographic** and **economic** data, researching **competitors**, and studying **consumer** behavior. 

## Step 3. Formation of a region-related team
With all the information above, businesses can build a dedicated regional team responsible for implementing strategies and enhancing business adaptation. At this stage, it is worth beginning a [localization strategy](/blog/how-to-build-an-effective-localization-strategy) development, such as localizing a pricing policy, building a detailed marketing strategy, positioning, etc. 

No less important is the construction of communication between the head office and regional department, viz.:
- Building cross-functional collaboration;
- Organization of communication channels;
- Creating knowledge sharing mechanism;
- Providing feedback instruments.

## Role of localization in a multidomestic strategy
Localization (l11n) is more than just a translation. It is a core process that ensures products, services, communication, marketing, and all company-related materials fully align with the local culture, regulations, and consumer preferences. That's why, after all the preparation stages, it is the **#1 priority** during multidomestic strategy. 

Effective localization will allow businesses to get all the advantages of a local-first approach described in the first paragraph. 
Let's define the main localization steps and tools that will help adapt the business to the new market: 

- **Design localization**. The [design-first approach](/blog/localization-first-approach-in-the-ux-design-process) is recommended for business adaptation, mainly when the market significantly differs. It allows teams to **prevent text length issues** when the width of words and sentences can destroy layouts, font issues when some characters can be unsupported in another language, cultural blunders when using inappropriate symbols or images, etc.

Lingohub provides a [Figma plugin](https://www.figma.com/community/plugin/1091712683693829044/lingohub-for-figma) that allows content exchange between Figma and Lingohub for fast translation and text fittings, making design localization easier than ever. 

Read details in the blog --> [Localization of your Figma design](/blog/localization-of-your-figma-design).

---
- **Marketing localization** is one of the most responsible and challenging parts of a multidomestic strategy. Its goal is to create a highly targeted and personalized experience for local users that will feel native. In other words, during this stage, the team should clearly understand **what** to say, to **whom**, and **where**. Marketing localization includes various activities, from SEO localization to text translation, transcreation, and rebuilding the company vision, mission, and slogans.

**Read more**:
- [How to build an effective localization strategy?](/blog/how-to-build-an-effective-localization-strategy)
- [How to avoid duplicate content SEO punishment?](/blog/how-to-avoid-duplicate-content-seo-punishment-with-hreflang)
- [How to localize your app store?](/blog/localize-app-store-descriptions)


---
- **Content localization**. It may wrongly seem like the easiest part of the process - don't rush to conclusions. Content localization has a lot of pitfalls, including:
- [Figures localization](/blog/how-can-the-figures-be-a-challenge-for-your-localization);
- [Dialects and slang translation](/blog/how-do-localize-to-dialects-and-pluricentric-languages);
- [Technical terminology consistency keeping](/blog/the-challenges-of-translating-technical-content);  

Lingohub provides a list of tools to support translator with their job: 
- [Term base](/features/term-base) that provides the team with the correct terms' translation and context.
- [Quality checks](/features/quality-checks) that warn about errors.
- [Machine translation](/features/machine-translation) with AI engines under the hood.

Check out our [features](/features/) list and try all of them with a 14-day free trial. 

---
## Example of the multidomestic strategy
We talked a lot about multidomestic strategy; let's take a quick look at Nestle, which successfully uses this approach.
Nestle is the world's largest producer of grub products, with more than 2000 brands for different countries. Besides product diversification, they offer different tastes, depending on the region, respecting local preferences and culture. For example, they provide unusual flavors in Japan, such as green tea and wasabi for Kit Kat.  

Another example is a brand name difference for the same product; here, we overview only one – instant coffee.
|**Country**|**Product**|**Product’s peculiarity**|
|--|--|--|
|Argentina|instant coffee|Dolca|
|Greece|instant coffee|Loumidis|
|South Africa|instant coffee|Ricoffy|
|France|instant coffee|Ricore|
|Sweden|instant coffee|Zoegas|

Using the multidomestic strategy, Nestle cultivates consumer loyalty and engagement and cements its position as a global leader in the food and beverage industry. 

## To sum up
The first step to going global is to choose a strategy. While the multidomestic approach may seem challenging at first, your customers' loyalty and trust will make it worthwhile. Regardless of your chosen approach, the right tool can simplify the localization process, and Lingohub is a magic wand that can help you. If you want more information, let's schedule a quick [demo call](/demo) with our team to discuss how we can help you achieve your goals.





Read in our blog about multidomestic strategy and how this approach can help businesses achieve success.  

How can a multidomestic strategy help businesses achieve success?

Lingohub is committed to making localization easier and providing the best practices to support our users. Today, we are discussing one of the popular quality control translation approaches, back translation, and how and when Lingohubbers can use it. 

## What is a back translation?

In other words, it is a reverse (re-translation) when content is translated back to the source language. Then, the original text is compared with the back translation results to see how the meaning of the content was changed. Such an action helps to:
- Control the cultural adaptation;
- Evaluate the accuracy of the translation;
- Guarantee the correct meaning of the translated content.


## How to use the back translation?

Reverse translation can be compared to the children's game "Chinese Whispers," in which players hear only snippets of information and interpret them into similar words or phrases.

Using this method requires at least two translators to avoid conflicts of interest. Translator #1 does a translation, and translator #2 should translate the content to the original language with high precision. Thus, the customer can evaluate how accurately the translated text shares the needed thought. 


## When to use the back translation?

Reverse translation is expensive (compared with the classic way) as it requires more linguists and additional edits during the process. Thus, its usage pays for itself best when text accuracy is the top priority and crucial. For instance, we can highlight the following industries where back translation implementation is completely reasonable:
- **Pharmaceutical and healthcare**. [Medical localization](/blog/medical-software-localization) is challenging, and accurate translation of its related industries, no understatement, is vital. For instance, the correctness of the pharmaceutical instructions guarantees patients' well-being and can also significantly impact the company's reputation.
- **Marketing and advertising**. Slogans and calls to action translation (or, best to say, [transcreation](/blog/the-importance-of-transcreation-in-localization)) are creative processes during which the initial idea can be changed. Often, in such cases, the direct translation does not resonate with the cultural nuances and preferences of the new region. Thus, back translation is one of the best tools to ensure the transcreated content fits local rules and carries the right message.
- **Legal and Regulatory**: The regulatory materials do not allow any ambiguity of interpretation and require precise translation to ensure compliance and avoid misunderstandings. That's why back translation can frequently be used to verify accuracy and ensure the correctness of meanings.

Other sensitive industries, like finance, education, engineering, etc., can also be added to the list above. 

As mentioned earlier, reverse translation is expensive, so it is rarely used for a large volume of content. More often, this approach applies to small and critical pieces of the projects.


Moreover, you can use reverse translating in a QA area when you need:

- **Test the quality of new translators' work**. Suppose you, as a manager, want to evaluate the quality of a new linguist. In that case, you can provide testing content to a reliable translator and compare the original and back-translated versions.
- **Check the translation of character-limited strings**. There are often differences in word length between languages; the typical cases are English and German. This fact can cause issues when trying to fit text into a button or block of a certain width. To solve this problem, a translator may provide a shortened option but may not convey the intended meaning. To ensure accuracy, the localization team can use back translation to review all text and discuss possible options to find the most appropriate translation.


## Examples of back translation 

In our blog, we have already reviewed [localization fails](/blog/fired-ducks-and-other-assorted-localization-fails), such as "Fired Duck," Pepsi's, and Parker's misses. It is clear now that the reverse translation could have helped these companies avoid mistakes from scratch. Let's look at a better example of a famous slogan — McDonald's and its back-translation. 

|**Language**|**Slogan**|**Back translation**|
|-|-|-|
|Portuguese|*Amo Muito Tudo Isso*|I love it very much|
|French|*C'est ça que j'M*|The phrase can be translated as "That's what I love." The thing is that the capitalized "M" makes the "j'M" a shortening of "j'aime" - "love."|
|Ukrainian|*Я це люблю*|I love this|
|Chinese|*我就喜歡* |I just like this |
|Spanish|*Me encanta* |I like it|

As you can see, a simple slogan was translated similarly to the original content; in some countries, like France, McDonald's played with the spelling, which made the company even closer to the local customer. 


## Best practices for back translation

Correctly using reverse translation can be a powerful tool. Follow these simple rules for a 100% success rate. 
- Work with native experts. In creative or cultural-specific content, sometimes it can be hard to understand all the subtleties of a phrase's meaning. You can ask to add additional comments explaining phrases or idioms.
- Work with different translators. As mentioned above, such a step will minimize the risk of conflict of interest. 
- Provide a context. The translator who does a back translation should understand the task and have enough information and context. Also, you can highlight which part of the project is the most important for you (terms, creativity, etc.)
- Compare the versions by yourself or with an independent expert. 
- Use only human-based translation for comparison. Although translation systems have become powerful tools today, they can't compete with human translation and provide a correct back translation for analysis. 


## How can Lingohub support back translation?

With Lingohub, you can create unlimited projects, making it convenient to do a back translation. Let's take a look at one of the ways of how this can work:
1. You or your translators can add specific labels or set chosen statuses for the important text segments during translation. **Note**: Lingohub provides an unlimited number of labels. 
2. Then, you can easily export the selected text segments as an [XLIFF](https://lingohub.com/integrations/xliff-localization) file (the platform-independent standard) and share this document with the independent agency/translator or create a new project in Lingohub and upload it. 
3. If you want to proceed with in-house translators, you can create a new project, upload the generated XLIFF, and provide project-based access for your translators, which means you can manage who from the linguistic team sees one or the other project. 

 3.a. Lingohub provides [translation ordering](/features/professional-translation) services as an option, meaning that if you need an independent view, you can hire translation services inside the application.



## Why is using Lingohub for back translation the perfect option? 

- **Context providing**. All the projects inside a workspace have single sources of trust — a style guide and term base. You shouldn't create a new one for a back translation project. 
- **Segment descriptions and discussions**. During reverse translation, the team can leave notes inside the segment description or open a new conversation if they have any questions or suggestions.
- **Version history**. You can manage the previous versions of your content and create backups to restore earlier translations if something changes.


## To sum up

Back translation is a great tool that allows managers to evaluate the translation and improve the quality of the content comprehensively. As with any narrowly focused instrument, it has rules and best practices, which we highlighted in this article. One of the challenges for back translating is the organic organizing of this process in the entire localization, and here Lingohub can help you with it. If you have questions about building a reverse translation for your company or want more information about Lingohub tools, do not hesitate to book a short [demo call](/demo) with our team - we are always happy to support you!

You create - Lingohub translate!

Learn more about back translation and how it works! Head over to our blog to get more information about this method. 


What is back translation? The method overview

One of the important aspects of localization is the technical side, as this is a significant factor in localization speed and cost. Developers work with resource files, implement new translations, and are responsible for the correct work of localized software versions. But what will happen if developers, instead of the technical part, upload and download resource files and spend time and effort on manual tasks? The technical team will be frustrated by the constant back and forth of the files, distracting them from important tasks and slowing down the processes. 
However, we know how to prevent this situation and ensure everything is done correctly. Let's start with the basis and overview of Git and its ability to be used in development. Then, till the end of this article, you will get the best practice of organizing the technical side of localization.

## Git in a nutshell
Git is a utility for tracking and maintaining a history of file changes. The system enables developers to track modifications and work on the same project simultaneously with colleagues. 
The primary function of Git is to provide developers with version control and tracking changes; thus, engineers can roll back changes, compare and analyze versions, or merge changes into a repository. 
**Here, we combine the list of factors that condition the popularity of Git:**
- Free and open-source;
- Small and fast - all operations are local;
- Data safety: Git is efficient at storing backups.
- Simple branching: Git makes branch management much easier and more efficient.
- Version control: Simplified code rollback to a working state and avoided spending hours looking for errors.

For comfortable collaboration with the code, teams often use web Git hosting services, which fit the requirements for teamwork and provide a list of abilities for CI/CD. Take a look at an example of such solutions:
- GitHub
- Bitbucket
- GitLab
- AWS
- CodeCommit
- Azure
- JetBrains Spaces
- etc.

Let's overview Git's collaboration with the web hosting services on the Git+GitHub example.

## Git + GitHub: how does this work?

As mentioned above, Git is a tool for implementing a distributed version control system. GitHub is an online Git-hosting service with all the distributed version control and source control functionality — everything Git supports and more. In addition to GitHub, other services such as Bitbucket and GitLab also use Git. 

Let's take a look at GitHub's additional capabilities.
- convenient UI,
- boosted access control, 
- issues tracking, 
- task management,
- analytics,
- wiki for each project,
- **CI/CD pipelines** (actions),
- and more 

Let's examine Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery more closely. This approach speeds up development, automates the process of building, testing, and deploying software, avoids early-stage mistakes, and minimizes risks. 

GitHub actions allow the creation of any automated workflow with the code. For example, developers can provide tests across multiple operating systems and versions, validate code, compile and log all changes (CI process), and automatic assembly deployment in production, test, or development environments (CD process). After committing to GitHub, the changes will be automatically built, tested, and placed in the needed environment. Different events can trigger GitHub actions, e.g., after pushing a commit in the branch, pull request, or by schedule (once per day/week at the same time.)

Regarding localization, CI/CD pipelines allow easy handling of software versions in different languages. Developers can configure a **separate pipeline for each localized version**, ensuring the localization changes are appropriately integrated, tested, and deployed. To create such a smooth and automated localization process, teams require a translation or [localization management system](/) (TMS/LMS) that allows file transfer between the editing environment and the repositories. 

## Why does the TMS system need repository integrations?
The market for translation management systems is vast and offers various solutions. One essential thing to consider when choosing a solution for your team is the support of repository integration. Localization implies communication between at least two teams — translators and developers, so the smoother this process is, the more time and cost-saving localization you have.


We designed Lingohub with customers' needs in mind, so our solution supports GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, Azure, etc., integrations which, in combination with CAT tools, will allow translators and developers to do their work without worrying about manual file transferring. The file import or export can be done in a few clicks, and you will know that all placeholders and technical nuances are correct as they are controlled by the [quality checks tool](/features/quality-checks). 

In the context of this topic, an additional Lingohub feature that requires a deep overview is **branching support**. This magic wand allows your team to take advantage of all the advantages of Git and repository integrations we provide.

## What is branching?
Branches are a tool that allows developers to work separately on different features/processes and keep the main code clean. For example, you can have a branch "main" with the clean project code, a separate branch for a new feature "**feature_1**", or release, "**release_1**", etc, and work with each independently. At the same time, you can create unlimited branches, and in each branch, you can commit changes. Also, the additional branches can be merged with the main one if/when needed. So, this is a safety and collaborative feature that ensures code correctness and isolates the development of the specific part of the project.

In turn, we at Lingohub provide a branching feature that allows our users to localize branches’ files and work with them directly. With Lingohub, you can connect as many branches as you need and filter them to keep only the required ones. Thus, the localization process does not violate the logic of project development; your team can work with individual parts of the project and easily implement the localization into the CI/CD process, which ensures continuous localization. Let's take a quick look at how Lingohub branches work.

## How to work with Git branches with Lingohub?


> Find detailed guidelines on how to work with branching inside our Help Center  → [How to use branching in Lingohub](https://help.lingohub.com/en/articles/6816754-how-to-use-branching-in-lingohub)?


To overview this topic, we first need to describe the Lingohub plugins briefly. In Lingohub exist two plugin types:
- **Workspace-based plugins**, which are responsible for settings across the entire workspace.
- **Project-based plugins**, which are defined by the project type and configure the connection for a specific project(s.) 

So, the Lingohub user should connect the repository (for example, GitHub) to the workspace via a plugin, create a project, and set up the Git plugin inside the project (see image below). 



## How can the branches be used?

After successfully setting up the connection between your repository and Lingohub, you can use the following advantages of the branching feature:

- **Focus only on important things with the branch filters**. Lingohub supports regular expressions that simplify the filtering process; for example, in the feature* expression, the asterisk matches zero or more characters. Read details about the [branching](https://help.lingohub.com/en/articles/6816754-how-to-use-branching-in-lingohub) in the help center article.

- **Push directly or create pull requests for the defined branch**. The second option (pull requests) is preferable because it is more secure, protects your project from code issues, and allows code review. It is the most common flow in the most significant part of a complete project. Use the push directly option only if you are 100% confident with the changes.


- **Control the progress per branch.** You can have different numbers of languages for each branch and monitor the progress separately within one project.

- **Work with separate branches in Editor**. The ready filters allow translators to select the needed branch in a few clicks.


## Bottom line

Repository integration to TMS is required for all who want to build a smooth and continuous localization process. Lingohub offers integrations with repositories such as GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket, and Azure, which, in combination with the branching feature, allow organically included localization in the CI/CD process and assist the comfortable work with the translations and resource files. Our team will gladly demonstrate how this option can work with your repository at the short demo call, so don't hesitate to [book a suitable time](/demo) for you right now.  

Discover how Lingohub confidently implements branching feature for localization in our informative article. Learn more about branching abilities and Git and localization features.

Importance of branching and repository integrations in localization

SAAS, or Software-as-a-Service, has become popular since Internet speeds reached acceptable levels, allowing users to perform various manipulations without delay. I remember the days that were accompanied by the sound of a dial-up connection (all who want to feel these nostalgic sounds are welcome <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsNaR6FRuO0&t=8s" target="_blank" rel="noffolow"> here </a>) over a telephone line, and no SaaS was possible then. It used to be much faster and cheaper to buy a music disk at the shop than to download tracks from the web.

And what do we have now? The Internet connection allows people worldwide to collaborate effectively, so SaaS is a widespread option for different industries. In 2023, the SaaS market revenue reached <a href="https://www.techopedia.com/saas-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noffolow">$258 billion</a>, up from $62 billion in 2016, marking an incredible leap. Also, the average lifetime value (LTV) ratio to customer acquisition cost amounted to 6:1, which describes the high profitability of SaaS solutions.

SaaS services have many advantages. They help businesses increase agility and improve availability by reducing the need to install software directly on the computer, buy user licenses, and share data via additional paths. So, considering all the benefits of SaaS (companies have increasingly preferred SaaS solutions (<a href="https://www.techopedia.com/saas-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noffolow">64.5%</a>) over traditional software), the questions of SaaS localization have become a top priority for their developers. 


## Localization for software as a service (SaaS)

SaaS localization is adapting SaaS and related resources to a specific location. What does "related resources" mean? This is a broad phrase, and we will discuss it separately. The thing is that SaaS is a term used to describe different products, including:
- ERP
- CRM
- CMS
- HR apps
- Project management apps
- Code management apps 
- And many more

Each type can have a list of marketing resources, websites, help centers, etc. One of the well-known SaaS companies is Netflix. In addition to the app, they have a website, marketing emails, social media, mobile applications, a YouTube channel, etc. For each supported region, Netflix translates the content for all the resources to meet the user's needs. Find a more detailed overview of [Netflix localization](/blog/famous-products-localization-overview) in our blog. 

SaaS localization is a complex process, so we listed all the possible tasks you can meet during the localization of SaaS and have described the main "related resources" below. 


## Desktop SaaS localization
 
One of the most essential parts is to localize the main product perfectly. The UI and UX for users from different countries should be identically high-quality and comfortable, regardless of location. Here included:
- The color palette and visual content localization (if needed) — the same colors and symbols can have opposite meanings in some regions because of cultural or religious nuances.
- Content translation and [transcreation](/blog/the-importance-of-transcreation-in-localization): Not all content should be translated literally; some CTAs, slogans, etc., are best to transcreate to share the correct message. 
- User experience optimization — ensure that button size, forms, and menu items look correct - text is not overwrapped or clipped, and all URLs lead the user to the proper language version.


## Mobile SaaS localization

If your SaaS is mobile-based or has a mobile version, consider the region's preferences regarding the preferred platform to concentrate on the important first. For example, iOS shares in Japan are almost <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ios-vs-android-market-share-135251641.html" target="_blank" rel="noffolow">70%</a>, while in the UK, the iOS and Android platforms have nearly the same position - around 49%. During mobile SaaS localization, pay your attention, besides the things described in the paragraph above, to:
- Platform-specific features - location services, push notifications, and gestures;
- Performance and resource constraints of mobile devices;
- [App stores optimization](/blog/app-store-optimization-localized-apps).


## SaaS price localization 

You should first analyze your users' purchasing power parity to compete in the local market. Regional market analysis will give you more information about the country's GDP, the competitors' pricing policy, and other financial indicators of your audience. For instance, Spotify - a big music platform, provides different prices depending on region. Thus, pricing in the <a href="https://www.spotify.com/us/premium/" target="_blank" rel="noffolow"> USA </a> is 10,99$, while in <a href="https://www.spotify.com/ua-uk/premium/" target="_blank" rel="noffolow"> Ukraine </a>, it is only 4,99$. 


## SaaS payment systems localization

When choosing the best tool for a payment processing task, consider the tool's regional availability and audience preferences. The most popular options, such as PayPal, Alipay, Payoneer, Stripe, etc., are widespread, so finding the appropriate alternative for some regions should be easy. 


## SaaS website localization

In addition to the application itself, SaaS products often have a website where users can get acquainted with the product features, use cases, pricing, guidance, etc. We overviewed the website localization challenges in a separate article, but for SaaS, there are things you should always consider:
- Terms accuracies. The situations when some feature was redesigned and renamed aren't alone. Therefore, controlling the consistent naming elements within your website content and app is essential for a better user experience. 
- SEO. If you support different languages for website content, take care of [local search engines](/blog/seo-for-multilingual-websites), relevant keywords, and located-specific URL structure. 


## SaaS social media localization

As a SaaS provider, you should deeply analyze the audience's preferences in a particular region. This knowledge is essential for getting answers to two questions:
- What to show? You will have a correct answer to this question, and the content plan for social media will meet the audience's needs. 
- Where to show? It is crucial to identify and prioritize the social media platforms that are widely used in each region, such as <a href="https://www.mixbloom.com/resources/social-media-usage-by-country" target="_blank" rel="noffolow"> Facebook </a>in the USA, Canada, and Western Europe, WeChat in China, and Line in Japan. 

## SaaS marketing localization
Here, we will miss the already clear statements, which include text and image localization, and will look at the following specific things:
- Local partnerships and influencers market. Collaboration with regional partners can help build trust and target audiences in new markets even before you reach them. 
- A/B testing. Regardless of your confidence in the localization strategy, it's important to continuously explore new approaches and conduct A/B tests to enhance your business's presence in the new market.

## SaaS customer support localization
To build this process effectively, you should do fundamental work. 
- Prepare a localized knowledge base for the support team. This document will help your team maintain consistency during communication with the users. 
- Translate a help center for users. This process includes translating articles, FAQs, tutorials, and user guides and organizing content in a convenient and user-friendly layout.
- Build local support channels. Regional phone numbers, email addresses, and live chat options make it easier for users to reach customer support in their time zone and preferred language. 


## 5 SaaS localization challenges and how to solve them


### Challenge 1. String length variability

Languages vary in word length, leading to design issues when the translated text fits outside predefined UI elements. For example, text "OK" and "Гаразд" for the same button will require different widths of the component. 
**Solution**: The Lingohub translation tool provides a few options to solve this challenge:
- First, you can use the [Lingohub Figma plugin](/blog/localization-of-your-figma-design) to try on the needed language for the current layouts and check how it will work. This process takes minutes to show how the current design will look after translation and which component should be changed.
- Second, you can set up [quality checks](/features/quality-checks) with the predetermined length for some text segments (e.g., for buttons). Thus, translators will know the number of characters they can use for the segment. 
- Third and the best one - combine both approaches for the best result.

### Challenge 2. Consistency across platform
It can be difficult to keep consistency across different resources, such as websites, mobile and desktop apps, help centers, user tech documentation, etc. 
**Solution**: The Lingohub app provides CAT tools aimed at solving this issue:
- A [term base](/features/term-base) or glossary is a tool where you can keep all the project-related terms with their detailed description and images (if needed). The ability to share the context and automatic suggestions for translators during their work supply the accuracy and consistency for terminology usage. 
- The [style guide](/features/style-guide) by Lingohub allows for the uniformity of all the texts during localization and gives additional information for linguistic teams. 

### Challenge 3. Resource management
Localizing a SaaS requires managers, translators, developers, local experts, and testers. Managing such a large team requires effort, time, and established processes; otherwise, the localization will drown in chaos. 
**Solution**: We build a Lingohub translation management tool with customers' needs in mind, which means there is everything needed for localization control:
- Custom roles and permissions;
- Dashboard and project's progress bars;
- Work and cost reports;
- Labeling and filtering options;
- and many more.

### Challenge 4. Continuous updates
Localization is a long-lasting process that requires regular maintenance. The SaaS content will change with time; new features will be launched, and new content will be written. That means the localization process should be continuous and "live" in parallel with the development. 
**Solution**: Smooth synchronization with repositories like GitHub, Azure, GitLab, and Bitbucket provides a nonstop localization process. Your team can work on translating new features from the initial development stages, which speeds up time-to-market as there is no need to wait for the development process to finish before starting translation.

### Challenge 5. Testing and quality assurance
Quality control is crucial during the localization process. Your QA team should generally check the correctness of the texts, interfaces, and so on. This will take additional time, and some human mistakes can be present in the ready version. 
**Solution**: Lingohub quality checks feature reduces the number of issues checking some predetermined criteria like:
- Missed or extra placeholders, HTML tags;
- Duplications in the text;
- Extra spaces;
- Length of the segments;
- Terminology usage;
- etc. 


## Conclusion
 
SaaS localization is a long-term process that requires a professional team, strong skills, a lot of effort, and the best tool to manage all the processes. We at Lingohub did our best to create a solution that helps our SaaS customers effectively manage different language versions. 

Read the case study of the SaaS localization:
- [CompanyMood](/case-studies/companymood)
- [Tractive](/case-studies/tractive)
- [Rocket.Chat](/case-studies/rocket-chat)

Want to test how the Lingohub will work for your business? Start with a free trial or register for a [demo call](/demo), and let's grow together.

SaaS localization is a complex task with a lot of corner stone. Read inside our blog how to solve the SaaS localization challenges.  