Software, mobile app and game developers often make a serious mistake when they approach localization by assuming it can be handled once the coding is done in native language. In fact, you need to consider localization from the very moment…
How To Reduce QA/Testing Costs For Localized Software/Video Games (Without Affecting Quality)
Localized software QA/testing is, sadly, a step that tends to be overlooked, executed poorly or ignored altogether by developers, for cost reasons or lack of understanding of the process. Yet, with proper organization and planning, it is possible to keep…
How to Get Game Localization Experience – Tips & Repository of Translation Packages
Getting started as a professional game translator is a bit of a catch-22 situation. Everybody wants you to be experienced before sending you projects, but you need to work on translation projects to gain experience. One solution can be to…
7 Points you MUST Check Before Accepting Translation Projects
“Hi, I have a document for translation, can you help me?” We freelance translators all know at least one client who keeps checking our availability that way. I had one such customer. They would send me that very sentence every…
The Game Translator’s Toolkit, Or How to Boost Your Productivity
The Game Translator’s Toolkit from Anthony Teixeira I’m a big productivity enthusiast. It may have something to do with my background in programming, but I like when things are optimized and streamline. I believe efficiency is a really important part…
Okapi Rainbow (PC, Mac, Linux): Great Term Extractor, Future Alternative to XBench?
I already wrote about how Okapi Olifant was a fantastic TMX editor. Today, from the very same people, let me introduce Okapi Rainbow. Rainbow is part of a large framework, mostly composed of command-line tools. Fortunately, this one offers a…
How to Reject a Discount Request for your Freelance Services
Initially I wrote this post for fellow freelance translators dealing with direct clients, but I realized most of the tips applied to all types of freelancers and decided to expand a bit the content of this post. Should freelancers accept…
12 Tips to Reduce Software, App and Game Localization Costs
Even if the benefits of software, app and game localization are well known, the associated costs are often a turnoff for developers. Yet, by applying a number of rather simple tips and best practices, you can significantly reduce the price…
TMX Editor for Updating/Cleaning Translation Memories
Translation memories grow quickly with time and can get quite messy. If you want to do a bit of cleaning in your TM files, your options are limited. Some CAT tools, such as Trados Studio, allow you to work directly…
Importing an Excel File as a Translation Memory (for Trados and others)
Sometimes my clients send me references materials as “Translation memories” in Excel files. Usually, it will be pretty simple files with column A being the source and B the target translation. If you work with such files and want to…