Translation - tips and things to look for

When designs and screenshots are sent to translation services, there are a number of things to watch for when they’re returned that can introduce usability and accessibility issues:

• Instructional text

  • As with English text, plain language writing should target under a grade 8 reading level. When text is translated, the reading level should be the same, but may sometimes be translated at a higher reading level depending on who’s doing the translation and their background.

  • Formal vs informal translation and the use of slang should be discussed with your translator to understand if it this makes sense for your intended audience

• Terminology

  • If your application is related to content published on the Transport Canada web site, ensure that terminology provided in your translation is consistent with the terminology used on the web site. It’s confusing to users transitioning from the web site into or out of an application when there are several different ways of referring to the same thing.

  • If a legal term must be used and it’s not a common, well-understood reference, use the common form first followed by the legal term in brackets to cross-reference.

    • Example: In order to { do this thing you want to do}, you will need to apply for an exception ({a legal reference to the regulations requiring it})

• Buttons

  • Button labels are typically actions and should stay that way when translated. Sometimes these are mistakenly changed from verbs to nouns.

    • “Add user” translated to “Ajout d’un utilisateur”, which actually translates to “Addition of a user”. Makes for a weird button, eh?

    • “Add user” translated to “Ajouter un utilisateur”

  • Consistency between screens

    • Different translators may translate the same button inconsistently across different screens when they should remain the same

    • Instructional text that refers to a button should be reviewed to ensure references to the button match the button labelling. It’s confusing if instructions refer to a Delete button, but the button is actually labelled Remove in the resulting translation.

  • Watch the length of translations as they may not fit the layout it’s being used in

    • French translations are 2.2 times longer than English on average!

    • Example:

      • a Save changes button translates to Sauvegarder les changements. This could cause display or flow issues in the layout, so it’s acceptable to use Sauvegarder, which translates literally to Save.

Tools

• Use Termium Plus to get official Canadian translations of specific terms

  • If in doubt, verify these against what’s published on the TC web site

• DeepL is a fairly accurate translator for paragraphs or instructional text

  • Keep text to 1-2 sentences at a time as accuracy gets worse the longer the text is.

• Bon Patron is a good grammatical correction tool

Presentation

All the above information, wrapped into a presentation.

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