Linguistic and Functional Quality Assurance

"Working at the forefront of product development means that you get to see and use stuff before the public does"

New products and processes are constantly developed. In addition to the work that goes into releasing a product into the domestic market, there are additional steps needed for a localized product. We have all read of the embarrassing mistakes that went along with product releases abroad and that hint that some of the validation was not done properly...

Localization QA and validation are part of the content creation process. It takes place at the end of the localization project to ensure that the content is ready for release.

Linguistic QA means checking the quality of the language used in end user documentation for a given product, app or videos. It will involve linguistic review, style guide adherence, consistency, formatting review, usability review. Functional QA mostly consists of testing user interface for bugs. QA also ensures that the localized versions meet all the quality standards and requirements for international markets.

While strings or videos that need to be localized can typically leave the client's premises, this may not be possible for products. Think of a mobile phone that is not yet available to the public. Who would not want to get their hands on it? Or think of a store-security system with new motion detection algorithms. Such items need to be kept secure. But they also need to be validated and tested. Our linguistic and functional QA and validation approach makes it possible to work online but also be on-site, working alongside the client's developers in a secure environment.

Multimedia/Audio and Video Content as well as E-Learning represent another set of challenges. Courses often consist of videos with narration that require subtitles, voice-over or dubbing and that are difficult to translate accurately for a number of reasons. For example, the presenter…

• speaks in incomplete segments - the original narration is not scripted;

• uses language that may not be appropriate for audiences in other cultures;

• speaks very fast - the translation of subtitles or voice-over text does not fit into the allotted timeframe;

• refers to other online material - consistency is important and needs to be checked.

Our Linguistic and Functional QA is performed by linguistic and multimedia experts to make content available for all target cultures and languages.