Why Localization QA & Testing Is Essential

If you have a software product that you plan to make available outside countries where English is not their primary language, you are already aware that you may have to work on translation. Companies that make the mistake of running their text through Google Translate or another translation service, tend to miss a great opportunity to make a difference in the market. Often, software development companies do not realize that they will need more than text translation to make their software app successful in other countries. So, localization is the right solution to making a product stand out from the competition. Localization is not just about text translation. An independent software testing company also provides localization QA testing services to help businesses survive in both, local and global markets. 

Some major differences to be considered for localization accuracy include:

• Measurement standards such as metric conversions
• Number standards such as comma or decimal usage 
• Alignment for right-to-left languages 
• Shortcut changes for different keyboard layouts
• Text input string or button text length 

Localization QA Testers and Their Responsibilities 

Localization QA testers check all the elements of a product including text and other aspects of the user interface. They are responsible to ensure that a product is ready to be released to its end-users. These testers analyze a product in the following three ways:

1. Linguistic Testing:

This type of testing includes the following:

• Accuracy of translation – Testers may have to translate some words differently depending on the usage. 
• Consistency of terminologies – They ensure that the same word is used when users are required to confirm a response. For instance, ‘send’ or ‘submit’ should not be used interchangeably. 
• Proper Calendar Format – The calendar format varies from country to country, so this needs to be considered during localization QA testing.
• Missing Content – Developers who build a local product most probably do not speak the target language. Only testers who understand the language can notice the missing content. Thus, they need to ensure that all these missing elements are filled in before reaching to the end-users. 

2. Functional Testing 

These testing processes are designed to check the following factors:

• Links – Are the content linked to the correct pages? 
• App Behavior – Is the application behaving as it is expected to? 
• Input/output Validation – Can the users use target language characters in their input? Are the error messages localized correctly? 

3. Cosmetic Testing 

• Consistent with the source – Have testers checked if everything is laid out properly? 
• Images – Are the images localized accurately? 
• Character Display – There may be some corrupted characters in localized products that can only be pinpointed by localization QA testers.

Localization QA and testing teams play a crucial role in assuring the suitability of localized software products in local markets. With an effective localization testing strategy, companies can ensure high-quality products in their target markets, and also make apps free from bugs or errors that were introduced in the localization process. With the help of QA testing, firms ensure that their products are linguistical, functionally, and culturally acceptable by the users. 

Most of the leading IT firms consider localization as their competitive edge. Software users have a number of products to choose from, in the global markets. As soon as users experience a glitch in the software app or find that their experience is not flawless, they tend to switch to a competitor product to meet their needs. In today’s digital era, bad user experience can damage a brand’s reputation as the user spreads his negative experience with others on social media. 

The localization QA and testing experts should ensure users have a good experience so that it builds a positive brand image. An independent software testing company can help enterprises in understanding their localization QA needs and addressing them with the right testing program.

Let’s have a look at the 6 major reasons why localization QA and testing is important:

• Meeting the Locale Specifications – Testing ensures that characters appear correctly according to the local calendar. For instance, dates, numbers, holidays, currencies, etc. In the products being localized for Asian markets, they should be able to address complex characters that have an impact on factors like text expansion, misaligned menus, etc.
• Consider all Factors– All the important aspects with respect to localized products are considered before testing is performed. These include internalization, translation, and localization. Testing helps a team in identifying bugs and errors that have been introduced in the testing processes. 
• Cultural Factors – in order to ensure that user experience feels local and not generic, testers should consider different cultural factors. It has a great impact on how people think and utilize software app. 
• Localized Versions – Although the elements of software products vary from country to country and region to region. But the main objective is to retain global solutions. Testing ensures that all localized versions are consistent with its source product and deliver the user experience. 
• Speed and Accuracy – With the help of QA and testing processes, teams should ensure that only high-quality products are released faster in every country. All products should be tested for new features or bug-fixes. 
• Linguistic Translators – They might work with strings in an isolated source file. Testers should ensure that the context of each localized product works for each user and focuses on the quality and experience, let alone the functionality. 

Conclusion 

According to research, more than 50% of users prefer using software applications in their native languages. In addition to this, more than 70% of Fortune 500 firms prefer localizing their products. These are a few reasons why localizing software products can be worth the investment and businesses can grow successfully.