Is it Possible to Translate an App Into Five Languages Within Two Weeks ?
The rush for translation. I’m in a hurry, the plan is to translate my True Iloan app into five languages within two or by the most three weeks. Yes, the app is not too difficult – although there are some financial terms that needs to be translated. Four different Tabs in the Tab Bar Controller, but still it has do be done. Why this rush you may ask – well actually I’m planning another app – before I can embark on that new initiative I have to put all these languages into place.  As you probably know – localized applications normally sells better than a general one. Especially this is true for a loan application – the financial terms are different from one country to another.
My app True iLoan today has two languages – Norwegian and English. I have ordered – Â with a local company – Â to translate this into: Spanish, French, Danish, Chinese and German. This seems like an easy and straight forward task – however according to my experience – this is not always the case.
Steps to carry out. The following scenarios have to be done: (i) Send the text to translation, both program text and metadata text. After receiving the translation I have to (ii) create version of the app for all the languages, (iii) test it on each language, (iv) submit application to apple for approval, (v) update the metadata accordingly.
What happend actually. Translation in itself should be pretty straight forward, the app is localized – no strings direct in the code –  and the localizable.string file, as well as the meta data are sent to the company for translation. Well almost 100% localized – a couple of buttons are still hardcoded with text (save , cancel etc).I have already received an initial offer of the cost of the translation – anyway the final cost was a little higher.
My app is on the top twenty list – in the finance category – of the best selling apps inNorway.
Danish first language to go. I started out with the Danish language. Since it is pretty similar to Norwegian. Also I have alredady sold several apps there – all in Norwegian. Althoug the app is available in English as well.
Since I have already implemented Localization as a concept, the book Beginning iPhone Development written by Dave Mark and Jeff LaMarche is excellent, it gives great information on doing this. So what you need to do are:
- Add a new localizable.string file for each language ( Yes – five different)
- Add a nib file for each language, since I have five this will give five new nib files for each view, a couple of buttons with static text have to be changed. Ideally these texts should also have been localized. I’m planning to do this in the next release
Translation was not that easy, translating of meta data was an issue. The translator asked: What is meta data? Â Well that is the description of the application that the potential buyer should read. Anyway after some communication the agreement went fine. The meta data and the program messages and labels were translated correctly. Some clarification on how financial terms like “True Rate” had to be done.
The plan seems a little optimistic – Apple normally uses at least a week for approval of a small change of an app – some times even more. According to the their latest information from their development pages claims that 89 precent of all apps are approved within two weeks. Well, I think this is marketing, sometimes they use up to a month. But sending email, requesting for update on progress, to their support site may help.
Anyway, everything can be made ready, the testing, the metadata can be updated in itunesconnect whilst waiting on approval from Apple.
Summary with experience
Process: Approvals from Apple takes more time than anticipated. After submitting the app for review it took over one month to get approval, I had to change only one icon, which was not correct according to their Human interface Guidelines(HIG). It seems like apple is prioritizing the word wide app store. I submitted an update on at the same time to the english version of the same app, this was approved within 2 weeks.
Testing will also require some focus, be prepared to do a full regression test to ensure that all changes are moved in correct. Althoug you used Localization on all your fields and text labels. One or two error might slip through, hence detail testing is important.
Technical issues: Text have different length between each language, althoug you may have added Localization, the fields will vary in length. Be prepare to adjust some of your design. Yes, you can set to scale, but then the presentation will look a little funny see screen shot below.
So the technical aspect of the translation is pretty straight forward.
Summary: With only focusing on the technical part, it is possible to translate an App within two weeks. However, adding the delay in the approval process – the elapsed time is more like two months.
September 29, 2009
Posted in: Localization
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