Continuous Localization – a bridge between development and translation

Digital products (such as software, games, apps, websites, and so on) are never finished since they are continuously improved and are updated often. People always strive for something new, and users have come to anticipate it. Continuous content generation and integration are essential for greater customer engagement, and this content must be translated and localized.

Localizing products and services is a strategic concern if global growth is the primary goal of a certain company. It’s critical not just to get it right, but also to accomplish it at the appropriate time.
When large chunks of material throughout the entire customer experience are not translated and localized, user experience becomes disjointed and inconvenient for international customers. To avoid this, it is important to ensure that localization is not an afterthought, but rather an essential business process for going global and committing to continuous localization. This is the main reason why continuous localization plays a fundamental role in a continuous delivery cycle. Especially if you’re in the software or SaaS industry, where quick and frequent upgrades are expected.

Continuous Localization vs. Traditional Method

Continuous localization is a process of continuous software localization using agile development technique.

Without continuous localization, you risk experiencing drawbacks of the waterfall product development model, which requires each phase to be completed in order. Developers complete a development sprint, and project managers package string resources into localization kits and deliver them to translators in a normal waterfall situation. Developers are already involved in a new development sprint when translations begin to arrive. They must then return to the prior sprint and resolve any questions, coding modifications, feature retesting, or other issues that arise from the localization work.

Continuous localization overcomes this by keeping up with development rather than slowing it down or disrupting it. Translators and translation or localization managers are always aware of what developers are working on and can communicate with them about translation concerns as soon as possible.

It is considered to be the best practice in the industry for developing global software and may be used by a variety of businesses.

Benefits of Continuous Localization

Continuous localization serves as a link between development and localization. It incorporates the translation process into agile development, enabling the delivery of localized products alongside each new feature release. Continuous localization, when done right, nearly always leads to improved team productivity, more collaboration, faster time to market and reduced risk than traditional techniques, and includes benefits such as:

• Simultaneous release – Rather than introducing a product in one market and then translating it for new markets, continuous localization allows localization to work in lockstep with development, allowing products to be localized in parallel with each sprint.
• Multilingual development – Localized products can be produced in various languages and launched in multiple markets at the same time by including localization into development. In other words, your localized content is always ready to go.
• Faster communication between developers and translators and vice versa – Translators can ask their questions while the information is still fresh in the developers’ minds. Developers don’t have to change their focus or look through previous code submissions to figure out what the translators are asking about. As a result, translators are more likely to receive prompt responses to their questions. A translator will certainly discover any flaws in the text. If a passage is ambiguous enough for a translator to inquire about it, the developer can rework it to make it clearer.
• Less work for product managers – The purpose of continuous localization is to synchronize translation with development. When this is achieved, the complexity of the project is significantly reduced. Workflows become seamless and tightly connected because of automation. It also relieves product managers of a lot of boring work that they would otherwise have to do.

Continuous localization may be successfully implemented at scale, resulting in enhanced focus, higher-quality products, faster launches, significant cost savings, and complete flexibility to work with your requirements.