App Localization Tools Guide
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The document is a guide on app localization tools, emphasizing the importance of adapting apps for different markets to expand user bases, especially as the US market becomes saturated. It reviews various app localization companies, detailing their services, pricing, supported languages, and pros and cons, highlighting the need for professional and native translators in ensuring effective localization. The guide concludes that selecting the right localization partner is crucial for app developers aiming to enter multiple local markets.
App Localization Tools Guide
- 1. App Marketing Networks 2014 App Localization Tools Guide Adapting your app or game for local markets is key to succeeding internationally and we’ve researched the top app localization partners to help you do it. 2015Edition
- 2. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com App Localization Tools Guide 2 . . . App Localization Tools Guide With an exponential advance of the app ecosystem, it becomes more and more evident that app localization is one of the best ways for app developers to grow their user base. The US app market has long passed its saturation point, especially for mobile games, and releasing an app in several different countries has become the way to reach a greater app user base. App translation may seem like a trial task but it’s only on a surface. It implies making sure that all translated app content looks and feels natural to a native speaker, otherwise an app won’t be taken seriously and users will just move on to another app. The next thing to re- member is that an app update that involves its content change requires translation, this is an ongoing process. Summarizing these points, it becomes clear that choosing the right app localization partner is essential. We encourage you to check out the following list of the top app localization companies to choose from.
- 3. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 3 Tethras Tethras is an mobile app localization company, which was founded by Brian Farrell and Brendan Clavin in 2010. It’s based in Mountain View, US and Dublin, Ireland. It was one of the first companies to help app developers to localize their apps to different markets. Tethras team is focused on a seamless integration of its translation service into an app development workflow. The company’s cloud based solution tracks all changes in resources files app own- ers submit and track changes for subsequent translation automatically. Because the compa- ny’s team knows app development first hand, they know how to make sure that translation doesn’t slow down app creation and updating process. Pricing: ranging from a Basic plan – $0.12 / word to Specialist plan – $0.30 / word Languages supported: Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, French, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, Danish, Hungarian, Czech, Finish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Catalan, Croatian, Ukrainian, Romanian, Slovak, Greek, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean, Turkish, Ar- abic, Thai, Hebrew, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malay, Portuguese, French (Canadian), Spanish (Mexican), English (Australian, British, US, Canadian) Pros: • Focused on apps translation • No sign up or subscription fee • Resources files original format support (.strings, .xliff, .plist, .sub, .sbv, .xml, resx, .resw, .resjson, .rrc, txt, .html, .properties) • iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry platform support • Cloud based • 5+ years on the market Cons: • Accept payments via PayPal only • Minimum cost of $4,99 per language App Localization Tools Guide
- 4. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 4 Applingua Applingua Ltd was established in December 2010 by Robert Lo Bue in Cardiff, UK. The company’s staff consists of a small but enthusiastic team of Robert himself and Sarah Chong. Despite the company’s modest staff size, it has managed to get among its clients apps like Pixelmator, Sprout, iDraw, Flipps Media and others. Pricing: $0.18/word Standard Translation plan, $0.23/word Pro Translation plan, price on application (POA) per request Languages supported: German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Turkish, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Arabic Pros: • No sign up or subscription fee • Metadata (description and keywords) localization • Resources files original format support (.strings, .xliff, .xml, resx, txt, .html, .properties, .docx, .xlsx, .po) • iOS, Android, OS X, Windows Phone platform support • Supports Credit Card, PayPal, Wire Transfer payment methods Cons: • No Cloud based solution to submit resource files OneSkyApp OneSkyApp is a cloud-based translation platform to translate content of mobile apps, web- sites and documents. It was founded in 2010 by Loki Ng in Hong Kong and currently operates from its San Francisco, US office as well. It serves for 3,000 companies, among which Scribd, British Council, Change.org, Yummly, Day One, Moves, Hootsuite, VSCO, Dubsmash, Crossy- Road, Viber, SoundHound and other prominent app-based service companies. Pricing: • Several plans with pricing from $0.05/word to $0.17/word for professional manual trans- lation • Free plan for a collaborative translators team with up to 5 members, $99/month for a team of 25 members, and $299/month for a team of up to 100 members App Localization Tools Guide
- 5. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 5 Languages supported: Afrikaans, Amharic Arabic, Azerbaijani (Azerbaijan), Basque (Spain), Belarusian (Belarus), Bengali (India). Bulgarian (Bulgaria), Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Simplified (China), Chinese Traditional, Chinese Traditional (Hong Kong), Chinese Traditional (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch (Belgium), Dutch (Netherlands), Eng- lish (Australia), English (Canada), English (India), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Estonian (Estonia), Filipino, Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German (Aus- tria), German (Germany), Greek, Hebrew, Hindi (India), Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian (Italy), Japanese, Kannada (India), Korean, Kurdish, Latvian (Latvia), Lithuanian (Lithuania). Mac- edonian (Macedonia), Malay, Malayalam (India), Norwegian Bokmål, Oriya (India), Persian (Iran), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian (Russia), Serbian (Serbia), Slovak, Slovenian (Slovenia), Spanish (Argentina), Spanish (Latin America), Spanish (Mexico), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Tamil (India), Telugu (India), Thai Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese Pros: • Cloud-based • Upfront quote for translation • iOS over-the-air plug for localization updates • iTunes App Store and Google Play integration for app description translation • SDK for capturing and tagging app content for translation • 30+ resources files original format support (including xml, .strings. .yml, .po and others) • Supports iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry Cons: Due to timezone difference it may take more time to proceed orders GetLocalization GetLocalization is an app, website and document translation company, based in Helsinki, Fin- land, founded in 2009 by Jari Herrgård. The company presents a platform to create collabo- rative workspace for developers and translators to work on content localization. A content translation can either be handled by professional translators or by translators on a client’s side. The company serves hundreds of customers from small development houses to Fortune 500 companies. Pricing: • For crowdsourcing & community translation plans pricing is ranging from $8 to $249/ month. Plans are based on a content volume and number of projects allowed per plan. App Localization Tools Guide
- 6. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 6 • Professional translation pricing quote is based upon provided source file(s) • Continues translation plan (for ongoing content translation) pricing is provided upon request Languages supported: English (UK, US), all major European languages, as well as Chinese and Japanese. Pros: • Cloud-based • Upfront quote for translation • Support for multiple platforms (iOS, Android and Windows Phone) in a single project • Translation Memory feature for users to share and re-use previously translated content. • Support for specific glossaries • 30-day free trial Cons: • video demo can’t be easily expanded on a fullscreen, with a default video size it’s hardly watchable POEditor POEditor is a collaborative web-based translation platform, launched in August, 2012 by Mihai Basalic. It was designed to localise mobile apps, websites and games easily. POEditor is owned by Code Whale Inc. The company sophisticated translation solution powers content localization for such well-known companies as Pebble, Siemens, IKEA, Red Bull, Nissan and others. POEditor translation projects are handled by contributing translators, managed by localization managers. Pricing: • Free (for up to 1,000 app source code strings import) • Ranges from $15/month for the Starter plan to $199,99/month for the Enterprise plan (plans are based on the number of app source code strings) • Languages supported: not specified Pros: • Translation Memory feature for users to share and re-use previously translated content. • Resources files original format support: .po, .pot, .strings, .xliff, .xml, .properties, .resx, .resw, .xls, .xlsx, .json • GitHub and Bitbucket integration App Localization Tools Guide
- 7. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 7 • Free Open Source localization Cons: • In addition to manual translation by translators utilises an automated translation by either Google or Bing. • No automatic notifications to contributors when user makes changes in translation. Noti- fications are supposed to be send manually. • Doesn’t provide the list of supported languages POEditor Dashboard LocalizeDirect LocalizeDirect is a Sweden-based app localization company, founded in 2010 with a focus on mobile games translation. The company is a member of the Swedish Games Industry organ- isation and a member of the UK Interactive Entertainment trade body. It provides a cloud- based SaaS solution for app game developers to localise their product quickly and efficiently. LocalizeDirect has become a localization solution for Microsoft game studios, Capcom, NC- Soft, Deep Silver and many other game studios. The company has gone through two funding rounds and managed so secure $708K. Pricing: pricing is provided upon request Languages supported: 20 languages Pros: • LocDirect tool to translate games during their development • Focus on mobile games localization • Free StoreFront tool for app description translation • No minimal fee on professional translators service App Localization Tools Guide
- 8. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 8 Cons: • List of supported languages and pricing aren’t available on the website Babble-on Babble-on is San Francisco, US based copyright and app translation company, founded by Benjamin Zadie in 2004. The company offers iOS, Android and Windows apps localization service, combined with copyrighting service, specifically app description and press release writing. Babble-on doubles down on translation quality by working with highly skilled soft- ware translators, the team of 12 native speakers. Pricing: $0.21/word (supported payment methods – major credit cards, PayPal, Bitcoin) Languages supported: 40+ (including 31 language supported in iOS), $99/app description, $229/press release (PrMac distribution included) Pros: • Translators are native speakers • Resources files original format support: .xml, .strings, .xliff, .html, .txt, .csv, .resw, .resx, .rrc, .properties, .po, .pot, .xliff, .xlf, .md, .rtf, .ts, .dklang, .lng, .dtd, .json, .yml, .yaml, .ini, .sbv, .srt • No setup or monthly fee • Translate and adapt iTunes App Store keywords set Cons: • Because of a small staff it may handle a limited volume of apps to translate simultaneously Babble-On App Localization Service Intro App Localization Tools Guide
- 9. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 9 ElLoco ElLoco is an app localization company, founded 2014 in Walnut, US. The company’s transla- tion service is entirely focused mobile apps localization and it aims to simplify app by com- bining professional translators work with an automated translation. The company’s exclusive and patent-pending Visual Context feature allows developers and translators to view and edit translations directly in an iPhone screen simulation using any browser. As a result of December, 2014 round of funding El Loco has managed to secure $2.3M Pricing: • a free plan with 10,000 words translation to 2 languages for a single app • $20/month plan with 20,000 words translation to unlimited number of languages for 3 apps • $100/month plan with 60,000 words translation to unlimited number of languages for unlimited number of apps • Price tag for Pro plan for more than 60,000 words translation available upon request Languages supported: any mainstream language with focus on English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Korean, Chinese (simplified), Dutch, Chinese (traditional) Pros: • Swift apps translation support • Simultaneous translation to multiple languages • App updates ongoing translation support Cons: • Young company without a credibility track record yet PhraseApp PhraseApp is an online translation company, founded in Hamburg, Germany in 2012 by Frederik Vollert. It offers the online platform for translating mobile and desktop apps, as well as websites. Among more than 500 international customers PhraseApp has such well estab- lished companies such as Wimdu.com, SponsorPay and BangTheTable, MeetUp, XING as well as small businesses. App Localization Tools Guide
- 10. © Soko Media - Learn more at www.appindex.com 10 Pricing: • $25/month – 20K words, single project plan • $59/month – 50K words, change history, unlimited projects plan • $125/month – 120K words, change history, Translation Memory, unlimited projects plan • $249/month – 250K words, change history, Translation Memory, unlimited projects plan, extended stats • $499/month – 250K words, change history, Translation Memory, unlimited projects plan, extended stats, draft Languages supported: 24 languages Pros: • Web-based • Resources files original format support: .yaml, .json, .po, .properties, .xliff, Android, iOS, ResX • Free Trial • Demo • API access • Translation Memory feature for users to share and re-use previously translated content. • File translation changes tracking with previous version recover • Collaborative workspace for user’s translators team Cons: • Doesn’t provide professional translator service, works strictly as a platform for a client’s translators team • List of supported languages and pricing aren’t available on the website Conclusion As you can see, the pricing of these companies services doesn’t vary significantly and hence it shouldn’t a key to prefer one company to another. What matters – does a specific company hire professional translators, preferably native speakers, or not, how fast it can handle your app resource files translation, does it support app versions translation further on? Once you know the answers on these questions, you have a reliable app localization partner that will help you to go with your app on multiple local markets. App Localization Tools Guide
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