Pseudolocalization

Pseudolocalization is a software testing method used to test if localizing a product will succeed or fail. Pseudolocalization is an important step in the software development process. It allows for changes that will be reflected in the final version of the product before the actual localization process begins.

Strings are replaced with an altered version of the original language that includes special characters from the target language. These specific alterations make the original words appear readable but include the most problematic characteristics of the world’s languages: varying length of text or characters, language direction, fit into the interface, and so on.

It is standard practice to test different parameters in user interfaces (UIs) to help provide product development teams with the first impression of their product’s final layout and usability without actually translating it.

Engineers can continuously test the UI for localizability during the development sprints when pseudo-localization becomes the default language in the team.

Example of a pseudo-localized string:

Account Settings ➡️ [!!! Àççôûñţ Šéţţîñĝš !!!]

Pre-translate #️⃣

Another approach you can take is to use a machine translation engine to pre-translate all of your texts into the target language. This approach will help you further because the modern MT is usually accurate enough to provide closely similar results to the final localized version.

You can pre-translate in bulk with the Localazy Additional MT Feature.