What is a Localization Bug?

You have done your app localization and testing, but now your localization partner is sending you a list with "bugs"... and you are faced with a conundrum.

What is a "bug"?

In localization terms, a bug is simply an error that needs fixing. During localization testing, all the bugs (errors) are logged in a database that tracks these entries.

Then, a tester assigns the task of resolving each bug to an appropriate party, depending on the required knowledge of the software, linguistic capabilities, and source of the error.

For example, some internationalization errors must be resolved by developers, truncated text may need to be abbreviated by a translator, or a hot-key assignment might need to be corrected by a localization engineer. 

Examples

BUG: A truncated word in a software string
SOLUTION: Abbreviation or shortening or changing the word
TEAM: Linguistic

BUG: Concatenation (meaning two words together likethis)
SOLUTION: Insert a space
TEAM: Localization engineer

BUG: Hard coded string, for instance the word YES
SOLUTION: Expose that string for editing
TEAM: Developers

In our experience, we typically find that about 80% of the bugs can be fixed internally. These are usually linguistic and user interface sizing issues. The other 20% of the bugs will require external involvement, for instance, the software's product development team.

After the errors have been corrected, the modified software is tested again to ensure all bugs (errors) have been corrected. This is called regression.

Regression

Regression testing ensures each bug has been resolved and has not created any other problems with the software in connected or surrounding components.

I hope you enjoyed this short blog. You might also like our other blogs on software localization for beginners:

What is Software Localization? 

What is Software Localization Testing?

5 Most Common App Localization Questions.

Best Practices for Information Security Software Localization