Article

Oliver Bock
Oliver Bock 16 December 2016

Why Spreadsheets Suck For Software Localization

Software localization with spreadsheets is like trying to write a dissertation on a typewriter. Send spreadsheets back to 2010 & start growing your business.

Don’t you just love manual work for your software localization? Extracting strings. Copying and pasting. Editing documents line by line. How about lengthy email trails? Going back and forth between twelve team members, searching through your inbox for the answer you need. How much fun is that?

Maybe it’s not even the tedious manual work that gives you your kicks. Perhaps you’re addicted to the thrill of delivering a finished product littered with human errors, duplicate translations or missing parts. Do you love the challenge of having sections returned with track changes, comments or complaints?

I think you can see where I’m going with this, but I’m going to come right out and say it anyway. Spreadsheets suck for software localization. Here’s why:

Manual Work Can Kill You

If you raised your hand at enjoying manual work, then you may not appreciate the efficiency of translation management software for your localization project. But I have a sneaky suspicion that even if you secretly relish getting blurry eyes staring at spreadsheets, part of you deep down knows. When you rely heavily on manual work, you slow your software localization project down. You increase your margin for human error and, most importantly, have a negative impact on your health.

Extensive use of the keyboard and mouse, like copying and pasting in spreadsheets, stiffens the muscles in your hands, forearms and neck. Frequent staring at the screen without adequate breaks causes dry eyes and headaches. And sitting still for hours at a time seriously affects your circulation, causing weight gain, heart disease and even cancer.

If you work from a home office, as many translators and programmers do, spending too long at a computer without human contact can lead to isolation and anxiety. Especially with no collaboration functions or interaction between team members. In fact, when you really think about it, manual work is pretty dangerous stuff indeed.

Using spreadsheets for your software localization project increases your employees’ exposure to this treacherous practice. You may as well spend a team building trip diving with great white sharks for a more adrenaline-filled way of meeting your end. After all, no one wants their epitaph to read “death by spreadsheets.”

Your Client Can Fire You

The traditional software localization process is heavily manual, which means that there’s a high margin for human error. Which also means that even after dicing with death from spreadsheet overexposure, your client might fire you anyway. The accuracy of your software localization project is impossible to ascertain when using spreadsheets. With so many areas dependent on human input, the chances for error are increased tenfold.

The data in spreadsheets can easily be manipulated, either on purpose or by mistake. Just one change in a column formula here, or a missed cell there can make troubleshooting errors an arduous task.

Using spreadsheets for software localization makes collaboration between parties difficult and slow. There’s infinite scope for entering the wrong information in any given field, resulting in incomplete or inaccurate work. Resulting in contract termination.

There’s So Much Scope For Error

Your programmers (working in isolation in different parts of the world on different time zones) must first identify the correct strings for translation. They then start to navigate the minefield of extracting the strings. Which means relying on that copying and pasting action we all love so much. They must effectively copy the source content and paste it over into a new document or spreadsheet.

Once all the content has been painstakingly copied and the new document is ready for translation, it is sent to the translator. Who may also be working in isolation in a distant corner of the world with next to no technical support should questions arise. They want to get the project finished on time, so instead of waiting for the answers they need, they guess at the string translation.

There’s no translation context. They can’t see the bigger picture of what they’re translating and they can’t work directly onto the website. There’s no solid translation memory or API for automation. When the translator’s done, they simply send the document back and their work is copied and pasted back into the product. Everything is manual, slow and inefficient, with so much scope for error.

A good localization product manager will have a built-in layer or two of quality control, involving proofreaders and the like. But it doesn’t take a genius to see that with so much back and forth, localizing with spreadsheets is highly inefficient.

It’s A Model Of Inefficiency

Spreadsheets suck so much for software localization because they have to be accompanied by a myriad of other inefficient practices. Like long email threads, questions related to certain sheets, strings and cells; missing information, unanswered questions, misunderstandings and delays.

Nobody’s perfect and there’s no safeguard in place if the programmer extracting the strings accidentally misses one while preparing the document for the translator. Likewise, the translator may have no way of knowing that a string is missing if the singular text blocks are completely out of context.

Not everyone is a programmer or technically minded. You may have the best Urdu or Marathi translators in the world, but their management of technology may be basic. Even if they’re highly skilled at Excel, it’s easy to make an error while copying and pasting into a spreadsheet. Translating the wrong cell. Translating the same string twice. Locating strings in incorrect places and jumbling up the final message.

The first person to find these glaring errors is usually the client. And going back to the programmer and translator in question can be time-consuming and tedious. Frankly, it can suck.

You Have No Centralized Platform To Work From

If you localize with spreadsheets, you will still need to work with multiple emails. Or add a project management software in which you upload the documents. When you’re working with offline documents in multiple languages, the amount soon begins to pile up.

Because software localization projects are so big, you’ll already need a lot of different team members with diverse skillsets. Which makes the nature of software localization expensive. And when you have no centralized translation management software to work from, you can’t cut down the hours of manual work.

You’re working with outdated technology, a decentralized team, a high margin for error and costly delays. By ditching the spreadsheet system, you can speed up project completion by removing repetitive manual tasks. Everything is centralized in one translation management software with an integrated API that makes automation possible.

You can easily add new localization projects into your workflow, eliminating the constant need for copy, paste, copy, paste.

Collaboration Options Are Limited

If you’ve ever tried to localize your software with spreadsheets then you’ll know how hard it is to coordinate between product manager, translator, proofreader, programmer and client. Your collaboration options are limited to email threads and Skype chat. By managing the whole software localization process from one place you have access to awesome collaboration options.

You can provide context for your translators. You can add comments for your programmers. You can even ask someone how their day’s going and tag your colleagues so that they know when they receive a message from you. You’re no longer using outdated technology to perform one of the most cutting-edge practices on earth.

Your Project Will Cost More

Let’s say that your client doesn’t fire you. Apparently they don’t mind waiting forever for their software localization project to be completed. That’s definitely a plus. But the lengthy delays of localizing with spreadsheets will still cost you more in the long run. More hours. More people. More time spent correcting your work. Which means less profit per project and fewer projects overall.

Spreadsheets suck for software localization. It’s like trying to calculate pi without a calculator. You can do it. But there’s room for human error and omissions. And frankly, why would you task yourself with something so complicated when there’s a handy tool at your fingertips ready to do it for you?

Faster Software Localization With Translation Management Software

You can speed up your localization projects by leaving spreadsheets behind you. With a robust translation management software like PhraseApp, communication between all parties is easy. Your projects are faster and more efficient, reducing your time and cost. Instead of all that dangerous manual work and the real possibility of client termination, you can harness the power of technology to get more done quicker.

Automated platforms were made to streamline and improve our workflow, leading to improved efficiency and reduced cost. Localizing software with a spreadsheet is like trying to write a dissertation on a typewriter. Cutting corners by using subpar technology and outdated practices will mean you’ll pay more in the long run for lower-quality results. Trust us when we say: send the spreadsheets back to 2010 and start growing your business faster.

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