After daunting localization efforts made by professional linguists, your software, mobile app, or website is only one-step away from going live; the only missing piece is localization testing. If localization is the process of adapting a software for a new target market, localization testing is the act of checking this software’s functionality and usability in a certain language or locale.
In other words, localization testing is a quality assurance (QA) phase that verifies the suitability of the content, user interface (UI), and user experience (UX) elements and ensures your product resonates with the culture and usability standards of your new audience. Done by professional localization QA testers, localization tests check the overall appearance of your software, the functionality of its features, as well as the translation accuracy and cultural appropriateness
Why is it essential?
Without localization testing, there is a major risk that all your localization efforts become useless. It is now imperative to incorporate localization testing services in your localization process. Performed tests check your code for any issues, and address stuff like national characters, date, time, and currency formats, UI elements, fonts and languages, Hotkeys and keyboard shortcuts, placeholders in strings, to name a few.
When done properly, localization tests detect and report any linguistic or technical issues, from missing or incomplete translations, broken strings, text truncation, or overlapping all the way to coding errors, misplaced UI elements, and inconsistent HTML. This allows for refining your localized products and launching a flawless version of your application or website that feels authentic and originally created for your new target users.
Localization testing process
Step1: Planning
It is always important to set your testing plan or strategy at the very beginning. A deliberate localization testing process usually begins with determining the testing environment and preparing manual and automated test cases, use scenarios, and testing checklists. The planning phase also covers the script generation and the designing of the workflow, including how all participants communicate with each other and report bugs and linguistic errors.
To do so, however, a professional team of test design and QA automation development specialists run a high-level review of the software. In this phase, they ask questions like: Are there any obvious bugs in the UI or UX? Do the widgets have enough room for the translated text? Does the correct language load? Are there invalid placeholders in strings?
It is equally important to share the available information with the testers, from documentation, and background information, to glossaries or industry-specific term bases in this step. This may develop into a user guide that helps localization testers do their job more efficiently.
Step 2: Smoke/Sanity testing
The implementation of preliminary automated testing of your software comes in as an initial step before manual testing. In this phase, testers run a build verification test (BVT), or the so-called smoke/sanity test, to check the basic functionality of the software and detect the obvious and severe failures or bugs.
The execution of BVT paves the way to larger-scale testing where every single aspect is checked thoroughly and individually.
Step 3: Actual execution
Following the automated tests, normal localization testing takes place. Testers run normal test cases in this step to find log defects during execution. A regression testing is enabled afterward to ensure the discovered defects are fixed and this does not affect surrounding areas. If your platform supports different devices, you need to execute the testing on all these devices.
The actual implementation of language and software testing includes UI and UX checks, testing of language resources, examining the software compatibility with the required script, , let alone the cultural considerations and local regulations compliance checks (e.x. Data Privacy laws).
Step 4: Final Sign-off
A final round of checks is performed eventually on the software build at this phase. After that, the software gets signed off and delivered to the client, along with a detailed feedback report stating the test results, in most cases.
After all, running adequate localization and QA tests guarantees the successful completion of every localization process and gets your software, mobile application, or website ready for its new journey. All you need to do is find a reliable language service provider that has demonstrated experience in localization testing services.
We, at Contentech, have a team of highly qualified localization testers and engineers who leverage technology and follow the best localization testing practices. We promise a comprehensive localization process, including detailed localization testing with meticulous attention to details
Contact us now and get your software ready to penetrate new markets and make further success!
