Have you seen this fantastic translation service??? Thread poster: Javier Wasserzug
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0.1¢/word
Automatic translation
Powered by Translate
Save money by choosing our automatic translation for less critical languages.
http://smoothlocalize.com/
| | | | Edward Vreeburg 
Netherlands
Local time: 22:29
Member (2008)
English to Dutch
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| thanks for the warning | Jul 22, 2013 |
.... that should wake up some of the low lower lowest rate translators and agencies.....
what is"less critical" and why should you trust a machine mess up the app you spend so much time and effort on in the development, marketing and troubleshooting, ....
why not go the extra mile and make it perfect for any audiance... (probably earning back your investment within 10 sales)...
Ed
| | | | Ian Mansbridge
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:29
Member (2012)
Italian to English
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| More worryingly... | Jul 23, 2013 |
$0.04/word for an 'expert translation'???
| | | | | that's so funny | Jul 23, 2013 |
I wonder whether they actually get away with charging 0.1c for something any fool can get for free.
If so, kudos to them.
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Thayenga
Germany
Local time: 22:29
Member (2009)
English to German
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| A smile or two | Jul 23, 2013 |
Expert translations, even native, powered by Google translate... This reminds me of the "just for fun" time when I used Google Translate to give me a translation (????) of one of the links provided during a search.
First came confusion when I tried to figure out which website Google translated (surely not the link I clicked!). Then came genuine PI work trying to figure out what my eyes were reading. And then... a hearty chuckle.... just like when I followed this "fantastic translati... See more Expert translations, even native, powered by Google translate... This reminds me of the "just for fun" time when I used Google Translate to give me a translation (????) of one of the links provided during a search.
First came confusion when I tried to figure out which website Google translated (surely not the link I clicked!). Then came genuine PI work trying to figure out what my eyes were reading. And then... a hearty chuckle.... just like when I followed this "fantastic translation" link.
And please note: I emphazise the fact that I would never ever use this "service" for any translation I do for my customers or even just for myself. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Some details... | Jul 23, 2013 |
Hi, I'm Jay from SmoothLocalize.com.
SmoothLocalize is meant for low-budget indie app devs to be able to localize their apps without spending a fortune. The auto-translation option is a quick and cheap way to get your app available on iTunes in other languages so you'll at least come up in a search when someone searches for your app keywords in a foreign language.
I wonder whether they actually get away with charging 0.1c for something any fool can get for ... See more Hi, I'm Jay from SmoothLocalize.com.
SmoothLocalize is meant for low-budget indie app devs to be able to localize their apps without spending a fortune. The auto-translation option is a quick and cheap way to get your app available on iTunes in other languages so you'll at least come up in a search when someone searches for your app keywords in a foreign language.
I wonder whether they actually get away with charging 0.1c for something any fool can get for free.
If so, kudos to them
Basically what you are paying for is the parsing and organization of your files. A typical Localizable.strings file for in-app text is in a very specific format that you certainly cannot just paste into Google Translate. We parse the file into strings, send it to Google Translate, and put the results back into files that you simply download and drag into your app.
For a 1000 word app, this would take 10+ hours to copy and paste into GT, then paste back into new strings files. Translating a 1000 word app into 20 languages would cost just $1 a language. SO you can see how we are worth it.
For the app description and title which are NOT in complicated strings files, we don't do all that much good, so you might as well use GT yourself (which most people do). ▲ Collapse
| | | | Joakim Braun
Sweden
Local time: 22:29
German to Swedish
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"for less critical languages"
Translation: For languages where you don't care about the translation quality.
Their marketing spammer has just informed his prospects that he has a lousy product to sell.
| | | | | More details... | Jul 23, 2013 |
smoothlocalize wrote: Hi, I'm Jay from SmoothLocalize.com. SmoothLocalize is meant for low-budget indie app devs to be able to localize their apps without spending a fortune. The auto-translation option is a quick and cheap way to get your app available on iTunes in other languages so you'll at least come up in a search when someone searches for your app keywords in a foreign language. I wonder whether they actually get away with charging 0.1c for something any fool can get for free.
If so, kudos to them Basically what you are paying for is the parsing and organization of your files. A typical Localizable.strings file for in-app text is in a very specific format that you certainly cannot just paste into Google Translate. We parse the file into strings, send it to Google Translate, and put the results back into files that you simply download and drag into your app. For a 1000 word app, this would take 10+ hours to copy and paste into GT, then paste back into new strings files. Translating a 1000 word app into 20 languages would cost just $1 a language. SO you can see how we are worth it. For the app description and title which are NOT in complicated strings files, we don't do all that much good, so you might as well use GT yourself (which most people do).
Portugese????
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Martina Fink
New Zealand
Local time: 08:29
German to English
Thanks for joining the discussion. I'm curious, are you monolingual? Your business plan points to "yes".
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 16:29
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| For 10 work work you charge $20? | Jul 23, 2013 |
smoothlocalize wrote:
For a 1000 word app, this would take 10+ hours to copy and paste into GT, then paste back into new strings files. Translating a 1000 word app into 20 languages would cost just $1 a language. SO you can see how we are worth it.
For 10 work work you charge $20?
| | | | Martina Fink
New Zealand
Local time: 08:29
German to English
| 10 hrs manually | Jul 23, 2013 |
jyuan_us wrote: smoothlocalize wrote:
For a 1000 word app, this would take 10+ hours to copy and paste into GT, then paste back into new strings files. Translating a 1000 word app into 20 languages would cost just $1 a language. SO you can see how we are worth it.
For 10 work work you charge $20?
I think he's saying it would take 10 hours if you did it manually, whereas he has obviously developed a system that automatically whips your strings through Google Translate.
| | | | John Fossey
Canada
Local time: 16:29
Member (2008)
French to English
+ ...
It is curious what a "less critical language" is. Is English more or less critical? Than what? At least they admit that MT is for "less critical languages".
I have to also admit being curious about these native speakers whose localizing work they can sell for $0.04/word. Note this is "localize", not "translate". I can believe that some translators into, for example, English could be found in low-cost countries such as India or China, but it's highly doubtful that they could local... See more It is curious what a "less critical language" is. Is English more or less critical? Than what? At least they admit that MT is for "less critical languages".
I have to also admit being curious about these native speakers whose localizing work they can sell for $0.04/word. Note this is "localize", not "translate". I can believe that some translators into, for example, English could be found in low-cost countries such as India or China, but it's highly doubtful that they could localize their target text into, say, Canadian English. That takes someone very familiar with the target culture and dialect and it's not likely they will be found in this country for $0.04/word. I know they're talking about "localizing" out of English, but I'm sure the same principle applies.
[Edited at 2013-07-23 19:56 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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| One of the less critical languages... | Jul 23, 2013 |
John Fossey wrote:
It is curious what a "less critical language" is. Is English more or less critical? Than what? At least they admit that MT is for "less critical languages".
I have to also admit being curious about these native speakers whose localizing work they can sell for $0.04/word. Note this is "localize", not "translate". I can believe that some translators into, for example, English could be found in low-cost countries such as India or China, but it's highly doubtful that they could localize their target text into, say, Canadian English. That takes someone very familiar with the target culture and dialect and it's not likely they will be found in this country for $0.04/word. I know they're talking about "localizing" out of English, but I'm sure the same principle applies"
[Edited at 2013-07-23 18:48 GMT]
... is Portuguese without the "u"!!!!
| | | | | Me worry? Yes. | Jul 23, 2013 |
smoothlocalize wrote:
A typical Localizable.strings file for in-app text is in a very specific format that you certainly cannot just paste into Google Translate.
It actually isn't very difficult at all, nor is it very specific. Just download and install The Localization Suite, a small (less than 10 MB download) freeware app. OS X only, of course.
I don't care about the USD 0.001 the website mentions for the MT, that's no competition for us, what worries me is your 4 cents "offer", Jay. Where in the world will you find a "expert native" who will deliver a translation for less than USD 0.04? If you charge the unlucky iOS developer 4 cents, what will you pay the even unluckier "expert native"?
Cheers,
Hans (seasoned in Apple strings)
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Thanks for joining in to the conversation. That certainly takes some courage.
I'm sorry to reveal this to you though but localizing is actually tougher than translating and there is no way that 'google translate' can localize. (The clue is in fact in the name). Localization requires local knowledge of the target market. There is no computer or software in existence that is able to capture the intricacies of how we communicate thoughts and ideas as humans and subsequently effectively trans... See more Thanks for joining in to the conversation. That certainly takes some courage.
I'm sorry to reveal this to you though but localizing is actually tougher than translating and there is no way that 'google translate' can localize. (The clue is in fact in the name). Localization requires local knowledge of the target market. There is no computer or software in existence that is able to capture the intricacies of how we communicate thoughts and ideas as humans and subsequently effectively transfer these thoughts and ideas into another language, taking into account local/national idiosyncracies. Google translate is limited in its ability to translate, let alone localize. Google translate does not even attempt to pretend that it is a tool for localizing (so I would argue that you shouldn't either).
Whilst there are websites that use googe translate such as Tripadvisor, most of the translated text ends up as gobbledegook in the target language and the best you can hope for is for a reader to roughly get a general impression of what was said in the original language.
There are exceptions to this though. I wrote a review recently on Tripadvisor of a Thai restaurant where GT turned "delicious spicy soups" into "Moroccan prawn cigar soup" in the Dutch version.
This may serve the purpose of people all over the world being able to roughly understand, sometimes, a review written in a free service. However, this will not serve the purpose of someone trying to enter a market other than their home market with a product that they wish to charge for.
What if the result is rude or insulting to people in the desired market once translated?
I believe that using a free service for this sort of thing is likely to do more harm than good.
Anyway, it's up to people what they do with their time and it's not my job to tell you what to do with your business.
I would ask you though to please refrain from calling something that is categorically not localization, localization. ▲ Collapse
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