Software Localization Services

Software localization

Software localization that looks and feels native

Users notice within a minute when software was translated as an afterthought: a button label cut off halfway, "3/4/2026" in a German date field, an error message still in English. Software that has been through our localization process looks and feels as if it had been designed for the target market, and we offer best-in-class methodology and the most advanced localization technologies to make sure your software is ready for global use.

Software localization means translating the text and adjusting the functional elements of an application so that customers in other countries can use it. We shape our approach to each project around what you want to achieve, and when you choose our software localization services, your brand gains an international reputation and the trust of customers who do not speak English.

Getting the source ready

We always take pre-emptive measures to make sure your source software is ready for localization and international roll-out. Before translation starts, our in-house software engineers look for the problems that cost the most to fix later:

• Text still hard-coded in the source
• Sentences built by joining fragments
• Plurals handled as "1 file / 2 files"
• Dates and numbers formatted by hand
• Layouts with no room to grow
• No support for right-to-left scripts
• Text baked into images
• Fonts missing characters you need

Plurals are a good example. English has two forms, one and other. Polish and Russian have four categories, and Arabic has six. Software that assumes the English pattern will be grammatically wrong in those languages however good the translator is. Allow room for text to grow, too: German and Finnish often run to a third longer than English.

We work in your files

We translate directly in your resource files, so nothing is copied and pasted: .resx, .properties, .po and .pot, .json, .xml, .yaml, .strings and .stringsdict, .arb and XLIFF. Placeholders and tags such as {0}, %s and <b> are protected, so they reach the translation exactly as they left your code.

Context makes the translation right

"Open" can be a verb or an adjective, and "Home" can be a page or an address. Translators need context: screenshots, string IDs that show where each string appears, character limits and notes on anything ambiguous. The better the context, the fewer questions and the fewer mistakes. Operating systems also have their own established translations for common terms such as Settings, Save and Cancel, and following them makes the product feel native.

Testing

All our linguists follow a standard process and make sure their work is accurate and error-free, and the translation is then tested in the running software. Linguistic testing has a native speaker check every screen in context. Functional testing looks for truncated labels, broken characters, wrong formats and layouts that fail with longer text. Pseudo-localization, which swaps the English for lengthened, accented text before translation begins, finds most of these problems early, when they are cheapest to fix.

Beyond the interface

Users meet your product in more places than the screen: help and documentation, release notes, licence agreements, privacy notices, onboarding emails and support replies. Keeping the terminology consistent across all of them is what makes the product feel as if it were made in their language, not converted into it.

Continuous localization

Most software now ships continuously, and localization has to keep up. New and changed strings can come to us in small batches with each sprint or release, from your repository or your localization platform, so every language ships at the same time as the English.

Languages

Our native translators localize software into more than 350 languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Polish, Arabic and Hebrew.

Questions about software localization

Do you need access to our source code?

No. We work from resource files, exports or your localization platform. If you want our engineers to review the code for localization readiness, that can be arranged separately.

How do you handle updates?

Send new and changed strings as they come. Translation memory means strings that have not changed are not translated again.

Do you localize mobile apps too?

Yes. See app localization, which also covers store listings. For the wider picture, see our localization services.