In this article we are going to be discussing business software. These technological programmes are very elaborate and have to meet very specific requirements in a business. There are several languages that are used in software. The main ones are HTML, XML, and JSON. We will help you manage your software translations!

Translation, software and business software

The advantages of business software

Business software programmes have many advantages:

  • Cost reduction: they allow you to progress in productivity thanks to the optimisation and automation of processes.
  • Increase in revenues
  • They can adapt to a company’s requirements
  • They are constantly evolving, which means that they are updated regularly.

Why should you translate your software and its updates?

If other countries use the same software, you will have to translate the software into whatever language necessary. On average, software is updated two to three times a year.

These updates affect the encoding and translating this correctly is crucial in order to avoid bugs. In fact, these software bugs can end up being catastrophic.

Here is a little reminder of some of the words software bugs in history:

  • In 2016 General Motors has to recall 4,000,000 vehicles after a software bug was discovered. The airbags were not working at all in certain cases.
  • The manufacturer Lockheed Martin encountered some technical bugs on their F35 model, which delayed it launch on the market. According to the American Secretary of Defence the F35 is “screwed”. Estimated cost of this bug: 18-20 million dollars.

A translation of the highest quality ensures the correct functioning of business software. When the software updates, you must translate it into all the languages of the countries in which it is used. For this, you would be better off seeking out the help of a translation agency. In fact, translation agencies have specific tools to deal with software updates.

Software translation

How does software translation work?

A software programme is made up of lines of code. According to the size, it can vary from a few lines of code to several million lines of code. Google, for example, is 2 million lines of code!

During updates, only the tiniest parts are changed. In order to see which lines of code need to be translated and which remain the same, we use a programme called SDL Trados.

This programme can compute all of the data and find each and every change in the document since the previous session. Therefore, only the newest elements need to be translated. This saves businesses time and money, since the translation is focused on the certain parts that have been updates.

Our translator, carefully chosen from our team of 400 translators, will then receive these highlighted elements to translate.

A better software translation for better productivity rates

More than just translating into their native language, our chosen translator will also be specialised in the sector. Therefore they will know which word to instead of another in their language(s), and which word suits the given situation, and, if one word has many translations, the knowledge to determine which one is the most relevant translation in the context of the field.

Lastly, software programmes help companies to evolve. Their role will continue to grow in order to help these companies. To make sure that it is beneficial to companies, everything should be done to ensure success: specifications, training future users, and of course, the perfect translation of the software programme and its frequent, inevitable updates.

All of our team here at ACSTraduction is at your disposal, we can advise you on the best ways to manage the translation of your business software. Do not hesitate to come and talk to us about your projects!