Language testing of websites and applications
LANGUAGE TESTING IS AN IMPORTANT ELEMENT THAT MAY CONSIDERABLY CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR COMPANY’S SUCCESS IN THE FUTURE
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Every website, programme or mobile application contains content. This is necessary to ensure that whoever uses the application or visits the website can achieve the intended purpose: obtain information, make a purchase, etc.
To make sure that the content posted on your website or in our application is free from errors, it is worth performing language testing on the finished product before launching it. Check whether you also need this service!
FIRST IMPRESSIONS MATTER!
The first impression when visiting a website is always important. On the basis of the first impressions, your potential customer may decide whether to stay on your website or visit a competitor’s instead.
What can discourage someone visiting our website? This includes incorrectly selected photos, too vibrant colours, improperly selected content on the home page, and also linguistic errors.
Typos immediately strike the eyes, while improperly created grammatical sentences may be incomprehensible to the reader.
Websites and applications are most often created by specialists, so they should be free from errors. However, it is worth remembering that the content is uploaded to the website by means of a panel where it is easy to lose the context. Individual blocks of text may seem appropriate, but the final website as a whole may contain many errors.
A language tester is someone whose task is to eliminate linguistic errors before the website reaches the users. Thanks to this, no linguistic error may have a negative impact on how your product is perceived.
Ensure your website or application makes the best first impression. Contact us today for language & functional testing services!
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TESTING MULTILINGUAL WEBSITES AND WHY YOU NEED TO DO THIS
The first step in expanding your company into international markets is very often the creation of a multilingual website. The process of translating a website often relies on the need to export the content that needs to be translated into the xliff format, and then importing the final translation into a new language version of the website.
This process guarantees consistency of translation and significantly accelerates the work of the translator. However, the content imported to the website also requires verification. As part of the website language testing process, we check whether the text is free from editorial errors, all elements of a given page have been translated, the text after translation is compatible with the graphics, etc.
Regardless of whether your website is multilingual or it is only used on one market, language testing is an important element that can considerably contribute to your company’s success in the future.
MACHINE TRANSLATION OF WEBSITES
Some CMS systems offer an automatic translation option. If you choose this, then thorough testing is a must. What is more, the testing should be preceded by post-editing, which means the checking of the machine translation by a linguist.
There is no doubt that translations prepared by machines are increasingly better, but they are still far from excellent. Various spelling mistakes, lexical and stylistic errors, and incorrect grammar endings may make your website unreliable to the recipient. Therefore, it is always important to consider post-editing.
It is worth noting that the post-editor cannot be the tester for the same application. Such testing requires accuracy and, as you know, it is very difficult to notice mistakes in your own work. Therefore, the tester should be another different, independent person.
WHAT MAKES A LANGUAGE TESTER?
In order to correctly carry out language testing, we need to be fluent in a given language, understand the rules of grammar and spelling and have a basic knowledge of editing. It is also good to prepare for the testing by gaining information about a given industry, review the websites of your competitors, and get to know the target group of your customer. This approach requires a little more time, but it certainly pays off!
You should also make sure that your tester is a native speaker of the given language. Thanks to this, they can also improve awkward things related to the style or the cultural nuances of a given country.
LINGUISTIC ERRORS – WHAT DOES THIS REALLY MEAN?
In order to assess whether the website is free of linguistic errors, the following elements should be taken into account:
- orthography
- grammar
- vocabulary
- punctuation
- syntax
- typography
A proofreader who is a native speaker of a given language checks the website or the application in linguistic terms, which means that they go through subsequent elements just like the user, but pays attention to potential linguistic issues.
ERROR REPORTING
Any linguistic error encountered is reported and classified from the point of view of the seriousness and impact on how the product is perceived by the user. Corrections can be made on an ongoing basis, in the course of testing, or when we receive a summary in the form of a complete test report.
The language testing of the website is carried out in the browser and mobile version. This is very important as the mobile version often has typographical errors that do not appear in a computer-based web browser. This results from the different typesetting and the narrowness of the screen.
On the basis of the test report, our access to the administrative panel of the website or the application allows us to make all the necessary edits. Testing is fully successful when all errors have been corrected.
However, this does not mean that there will be no need for change in the future. Users themselves are the most perceptive testers of the product. Therefore, it is worth following the comments on the Internet, reading the users’ opinions and trying to make corrections that can guarantee that our website is perceived better by the customers.
HOW LONG DOES WEBSITE TESTING TAKE?
The developers and programmers usually have a project deadline, a tight schedule, and problems that can delay the progress of work may occur.
However, it is not worth avoiding the testing in order to meet the deadlines. When the users of the website or application start working with an untested product and reporting errors, the costs of making corrections can be much higher. The wave of criticism from users and the need to temporarily withdraw the application from the market may also cause reputational damage.
The time required to test the website or application depends on many factors:
- size (number of words, subpages),
- type of product (shop, website with online courses, catalogue, etc.),
- number of languages.
It is also worth remembering that testing is going well when the product is almost free from errors. The more failures to report, the slower the testing. In the case of a large number of problems, the time needed to make corrections may also be longer.
MANY LANGUAGES IN ONE PLACE
We offer a language testing service for websites and applications in many languages. We are experienced in testing multilingual products intended for different international markets.
Our language testers are native speakers of their language. When checking a website, they pay attention not only to typos or grammatical errors, but also the style and whether the expressions used are commonly used in a given country. Thanks to this, the users of the application have no difficulties understanding the messages on the website and the content is tailored to their cultural preferences.
Such testing saves time and money. Our testers work on several language versions at the same time. You do not need to ask multiple testers from different countries or coordinate work progress, as we can do that for you.
CONTACT US!
Here at Skrivanek, language testing can be ordered separately or together with other services, such as translation or machine translation post-editing of a website, software or some other application.
Feel free to contact us to talk about your needs regarding website testing. We are always happy to organise an online meeting where we can answer your questions and discuss the scope of your project in order to prepare a free quote.