Localizing a Covid phone app: A university class experience

Warburton, Kara; Krishnan, Kamya Bharthi

doi:10.1075/jial.21007.war

Article published In: Localization in Healthcare and Medical Settings in the Advent of COVID-19
Edited by Minako O'Hagan and Julie McDonough Dolmaya
[The Journal of Internationalization and Localization 8:2] 2021
► pp. 110–136

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Localizing a Covid phone app

A university class experience

Kara Warburton | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Kamya Bharthi Krishnan | University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign

Published online: 28 March 2022

https://doi.org/10.1075/jial.21007.war

Abstract

In this paper we describe how a COVID-19 phone app was localized by students of the MA program in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The project presented unique challenges including the urgency and short time-lines, less-than-optimal internationalization of the source code, limitations of the CAT tool, and the use of an open-source platform and crowd-sourced agile development model, in addition to particular linguistic aspects related to the new specialized subject matter, limited string context, and potentially sensitive data. On the other hand, it offered the opportunity to experience a real-life localization project, which had important pedagogical benefits for translation students. These and other aspects are described and suggestions proposed to enable similar projects to run smoothly.

Keywords: COVID-19 phone app localization, real-life localization, internationalization, localization pedagogy, Japanese, capstone project

Article outline

1.Introduction
2.Background
3.Key Concepts
4.The Localization Process
5.Description of the Safer Illinois App
6.The Agile Model
7.Localizing the app
8.Working in GitHub
9.Completing the Japanese Localization
10.Issues and Challenges
- 10.1Lack of Context
- 10.2Function and Tone
- 10.3Strict Formatting
- 10.4Code Dependencies
- 10.5Hidden Attributes
- 10.6Presence of Unused Strings
- 10.7String Concatenation and Placeholders
- 10.8Cultural Adaptations
- 10.9Issues with the English
- 10.10Terminology
- 10.11Comments on Issues and Challenges
11.Conclusion and Recommendations
12.Future Work
Notes
References

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