General tips:
- Since translatable text in strings is generally written in quotation marks (" "), using them in the translated text or deleting them in the original should be avoided.
- Using the ampersand should be avoided because it can confuse the compiler and corrupt hot key functionality. If it must be used, then doubled or escaped ("&&").
- Very often it is better not to change date, time or number formats in the resource files even if they should be adapted to the target language during runtime. The reason is that sometimes these formats have to remain untouched for the application to retrieve the right formats from the operating system.
- Do not translate file names or file extensions, unless specified by the software publisher (e.g. "readme.txt")
Language and style tips:
- Before translating a function or option in a software, verify its meaning and then try to be creative, not the other way around :-)
- Make sure translation of software strings is consistent within and between software products.
- There is standard terminology for commonly used operating systems (e.g. Apple Mac OS, Microsoft Word, etc.). Try to use it.
- Avoid using first and second person forms in messages.
- Always use the imperative mood.
- Use exclamation marks with care. They may be common in English, but are they really common in your target language?
- If terms are used in menus or options and also, for example, to open a dialogue box, try to be consistent.
- Do not always use automatically capitals for software options in title cases (e.g. "Save File as"). Follow the grammar rules of your target language .
Non-translatable elements:
Strings may contain sections with items which should not be translated. Some examples of these items are:
- Words all in capitals (e.g. EDIT)
- Words containing underscores (e.g. size_is)
- Word combinations (e.g. ConnCount) However, it must be said, that it is not always easy to differentiate between translatable and non-translatable elements in strings. In these cases, the help of a software engineer is valuable.
General tips:
- When editing online help source files, never translate, change or move hidden text. Only words linked to hidden text or tags can be moved if necessary because of grammatical rules, etc.
- Do not translate, change or delete code elements such as references to screendumps, index markers, encoding or formatting tags
- Never sort items until the files have been converted back to their original formats
- Do not insert or delete line or page breaks, hyphenate words, or justify lines manually
- Be careful with the search and replace function, since a translation can replace a hidden text section and this may be difficult to correct
- Document settings should not be changed. Example of these are: tabs, margins, page size, line spacing, paragraph spacing and styles, etc.
Language tips:
- If terminology and style guides are provided, translators should stick to these. In addition, they should try to prepare their own terminology lists with translations of common terms or phrases in the text. These lists should be approved by the project manager or the software publisher
- Culture-specific information should be adapted to the target market. These could be: information phone numbers, common sports, holidays, etc.
- Regarding style, active voice, imperative forms and active verbs are recommended for technical texts; passive style and sentences with many nouns are to be avoided
- Style issues should be agreed on in the translation/localisation team before starting translation, for example: acronyms, lists (bulleted or numbered), when to use capitalization, how to write numbers, style to be used for image captions, etc.
- In order to translate the software references in the text, the application itself should be already translated. If this is not the case, it is preferable to leave all software references untranslated and change them afterwards
Quality Assurance tips:
To make sure the online help functions properly, the text should be reviewed in the running online help, particularly the following elements:
- Table of contents: All translated items in the table of contents should correspond to the actual headings in the online help document; tree structures should correspond to the order of contents in the document; special characters should be checked for correctness, etc.
- Graphics: Since graphics are generally linked rather than embedded, they are only visible for translators once the help source files are compiled. Translators should check if graphics are all localised, if the text refers to the images, if graphics contain callouts with image descriptions (in this case, the references should be consistent with localised images), etc.
- Tables: tables should be checked, since translation memory tools often display them differently from the format displayed in the compiled help file
(Adapated from Esselink, 2000:65-172)