Localization (or translation) of software and documentation poses special challenges in an agile development environment. Learn techniques and best practices for agile localization. Presented at the Society for Technical Communication, Philadelphia Metro Chapter (STC-PMC) Conduit conference, April 1, 2017.

1. Agile Localization
Oxymoron or Heroic Achievement?
Laura Dent
Freelance Technical Writer
www.linkedin.com/in/lauradentwriter
@laurainspace

2. Overview
• Goals
• About Me
• About You
• Definitions and Intersections
• Agile
• Localization
• Software and Content
• Benefits and Challenges
• Localization in Action
• Process
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3. Goals
• You learn something new about:
• Agile
• Localization
• How you fit into the process
• You get some ideas for first steps – or next steps – in your
agile localization process
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4. About Me: Laura Dent
• Freelance technical writer specializing in single-sourcing and
localization; clients include translation agencies and product
companies
• Now MAD Certified! (MadCap Advanced Developer)
• Adjunct faculty at James Madison University, teaching Technical
Communication for Computer Science
• Wanted to be a writer since I was 5
• Studied languages since I was in elementary school
• Majored in Russian at Harvard
• Formerly at Rosetta Stone, language-learning software company;
localized software and documentation – SimShip with Agile
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5. SimShip with Agile
Why “Oxymoron”? What’s “Heroic”?
Rosetta Stone story:
• Software and documentation localized in 9 languages
• Agile software development environment
• Software: All languages shipped simultaneously (SimShip)
• Documentation (Help and manuals) followed later
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6. About You
Poll: What is your level of experience in …
• Agile?
• Embedded in Software Team?
• Software:
• User Interface Text (UI)?
• User Experience (UX)?
• Content:
• Single-Sourcing?
• Localization?
• Software?
• Documentation?
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7. Intersections
Agile
Content
Localization
Software
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Agile Localization of Software and Content

8. Intersections
• Agile Software Development
• What agile is made for – rapid iterations
• Empowering developers
• Agile Software and Content Development
• Natural combination – Software UI text is Content
• Documentation Writer  Content Developer
• Upstream – embedded in Agile software team (pigs &
chickens)
• Single-sourcing of documentation
• Agile Tech Comm team – it works!
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9. Intersections
• Agile Localization of Software and Content
• Challenges
• Benefits
• Software Internationalization
• Terminology: glossary and style guide – consistency of
content: UI text and documentation
• Hybrid: Between waterfall (handoff) and agile (incremental):
Batches
• Other approaches: n-1 (translating previous content); tiered
languages
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10. Agile Development
• Agile software development
• vs. Waterfall
• Agile Manifesto
• Methodologies
• Scrum
• Kanban
• Feature-Driven Development (FDD)
• Extreme Programming (XP) …
• Processes
• Sprint planning
• User Stories
• Daily meetings
• Sprint review
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11. Agile Manifesto
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12. Waterfall vs. Agile
Waterfall:
• Linear
• Sequential
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Agile:
• Cyclical
• Iterative
© Study.com
Documentation Writer:
You are here
Content Developer:
You are here
and here and here

13. Agile Development Process
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By Scrum_process.svg: Lakeworksderivative work: Sebastian Wallroth (talk) - Scrum_process.svg, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10772971

14. Agile Development Process
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15. Content: Single-Sourcing
Single-Sourcing: Use of a single document or set of files to
produce multiple variations in the output.
Single-Sourcing can
repurpose content across
the organization.
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16. Content for Localization
• Glossary: consistency of terminology
• Software UI text: clean and concise; allow room for
expansion
• English (source) content: write for translation
• Single-sourcing documentation: make use of variables and
conditionals – carefully
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17. Globalization to Localization
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18. Software Internationalization
• Take the text out of the code
• Create external “locale” files for localization
• Create file structure for software to “switch” locales
• Make translatable strings
• Don’t concatenate strings – make complete strings
• Avoid variables if possible (within sentences)
• Allow for text expansion in GUI screens
• Link – Verknüpfung
• Login – Anmeldung
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19. Single-Sourcing and Localization
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20. Challenges
• Linguistic – grammar differences
• Formatting – screen size (software), paper size (documentation)
• Quality
• How to verify? Ideally, need in-country review
• Level of quality required – see webinar “A Case Study in
Translation Management,” Chris Steele:
• Machine Translation (MT)
• MT + Human editing
• Human professional translation
• Transcreation
• Cultural and legal issues
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21. Linguistic Issues
Common to Software and Content
• Don’t use variables for common words.
• Don’t concatenate strings (using variables):
• <subject> + <verb> + <object> doesn’t work in languages that have the verb at the end (German, Japanese)
• <adjective> <noun> doesn’t work in Romance languages; word order, number/gender agreement
Example – English:
• “The <device/machine> should be plugged in. Then, turn it on.”
French:
• L’appareil doit être branché. Puis, allumez-le.
• La machine doit être branchée. Puis, allumez-la.
Example courtesy Jennifer Schudel, Advanced Language Translations
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22. Localization in Action
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23. Localization in Action
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24. Benefits of Agile Localization
• Rapid time to market
• Continual improvements in translation quality
• Cost is spread over time
• Linguists become SMEs in your product
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25. Agile Localization
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Iterations each Sprint
• Source content
• Translations
• Review
• Revisions
• Localization Engineering
• Release

26. Agile Localization
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• N-minus-1 (or more): Localize
content of previous Sprint
• SimShip: Ship all languages
simultaneously
• Later cycles:
• Documentation
• Rich content (multimedia)
• Tiered languages

27. Rich Content, Tiered Languages
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28. “Hybrid” Localization
• Between Agile and Waterfall
• Finalize source text
• Larger batches to translate
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29. Agile Localization
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New content added
(and revised) each Sprint

30. Goals: Review
• You learn something new about agile and localization:
What did you learn?
• You get some ideas for first steps – or next steps – in your
agile localization process: What will you do differently now?
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31. Resources
Flare Webinars:
• “Using MadCap Flare to Support Your International Content Strategy”
https://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/signup.aspx?id=1144010340194854916
• “A Case Study in Translation Management – How to Reduce Costs by 90% While Enabling New
Markets” https://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/signup.aspx?id=1146179877138420211
Jennifer Schudel, Advanced Language Translations: Presentation, “Five Things to Consider When
Developing Multilingual Content”
• http://www.madcapsoftware.com/demos/player.aspx?v=2197c5687bd28
• http://assets.madcapsoftware.com/webinar/Presentation_FiveThingsFlareTranslation.pdf
Venga Global eBooks (I wrote or edited):
• “Single-Sourcing to Reduce Translation Costs”
http://www.vengaglobal.com/resources/ebooks/single-sourcing-to-reduce-translation-costs/
• “Software Localization in the Agile Environment”
http://www.vengaglobal.com/resources/ebooks/software-localization-in-the-agile-environment/
• “5 Smart Steps for Software Internationalization”
http://www.vengaglobal.com/resources/ebooks/5-smart-steps-for-software-internationalization/
Val Swisher, Content Rules http://contentrules.com/about-us/team/#val
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32. Thank You!
Questions?
Laura Dent
www.lauradentwriter.com
laura@lauradentwriter.com
www.linkedin.com/in/lauradentwriter
@laurainspace
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