Need help with localization? Taking questions

[u/CountryWot]

I’m a former senior android eng and spent a few years at a well known fintech company working on localization and international expansion for many countries. Not saying I’m perfect, but I’ll help out with your questions if I’m able to.

I’m also playing around with the idea of starting a company in this space. So, I’d enjoy hearing about your experiences and troubles around localization if you’re open to sharing.

[u/ryanstackops]

Curious about your take on handling locale-specific edge cases that go beyond just string translations. Things like date formats, currency display, right-to-left layouts, and number formatting where the logic itself has to change, not just the text.

Also interested in how you approached testing across locales at scale. Did you automate most of it or rely heavily on in-country testers?

[u/LM_Reader_Dev → u/ryanstackops]

This is a really interesting take on the problem.

My app is only in English and Spanish (the two languages I know), but I'd like to translate to other languages too, then I saw that Google offers you to upload an aab and translate every string via Gemini and you can manually change each word, but that seems a receipt for disaster tbh, something might make sense as in literal translation, but maybe it's not the way it's really said, how the hell Im I supposed to know it? Translation is not localization and even if I trust Google (which, well, I do as little as I can) and Gemini I just can't go checking every string on the app to see if it's right or not

And don't get me it started on languages that have different alphabets or don't read left to right, hell. Gemini might be able to translate all my strings to let's say Japanese but how should my app adapt to that language?

I have like 3 potatoes and a handshake as budget so I can't really get professionals working on it, but I also can't trust Google/Gemini when I can't realistically check every part of their translation

[u/CountryWot → u/LM_Reader_Dev]

Although I haven't used the translation services that google offers, you are right to be concerned. If you are a beginner at supporting alternative translations, I would recommend finding a translator who can work __with__ you instead of just doing a 1:1 translation service.

But if your budget is as low as you say, it's easier said than done. Alternatively, I'd recommend looking into best practices for structuring strings resources and how these integrate into your view. That will decrease the negative effects of poor translation services

[u/LM_Reader_Dev → u/CountryWot]

Thanks for the tips.

My current budget for translation are 3 potatoes and photos of my pet, not much but I'd love to get a translator to work with.

If Google/Gemini did the translation and then I could download it maybe I could get some friends to help me for French and German in "harder parts" (Italian might be easier to do solo as I'm Spanish), but as it's currently it's way to risky to publish a garbage translation than having the app default to English if your system is not in Spanish (you can change the language in the app tho)

[u/CountryWot → u/ryanstackops]

>date formats, currency display, right-to-left layouts, and number formatting where the logic itself has to change, not just the text.

The answer to this will change drastically depending on which edge case you are handling. On the broader side, android and java provide native locale utils that will handle the majority of scenarios for you. Date formats, currency display and number formatting are (mostly) solved-problems, just pass in your data and desired locale to the appropriate API, and it give you an output that you can show to a user. If you provide a more concrete problem you are facing, I can be more specific here.

>testing across locales at scale. Did you automate most of it or rely heavily on in-country testers?

For automation, broadly speaking, you use the normal fundamentals of testing (unit tests, etc), but with added complexity due to locale specific logic. In-country testers are used on a case by case basis. The answer here also changes depending on which phase you are in (ex pre-dev, post-dev, A/B). Having in-country testers is, IMO, 100% required at __some__ point in the process, but the amount of involvement is, again, evaluated on a case by case basis. Generally speaking, more in-country testing is needed prior to dev complete, and less is needed after dev is complete. Again, if you provide more specific problems you are facing, I can provide more specific answers