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Software localization, better with every loop
Don't let localization slow you down. Develop and translate your application in parallel, in multiple branches, seamlessly, effortlessly. Scale your localization the same way you scale your engineering infrastructure.
Our approach
Of course you have heard about automation and developer friendliness from other localization solution providers. What they usually offer is an API to automate file transfers, initiate translation job requests and check translation status. That's so 2000s! At best, you get a connector to your GitHub repository that has primitive settings or requires manual steps to pick and send files for translation, merge them back and manually resolve file conflicts.
At Smartcat, what we offer is a truly automated continuous localization approach, which is based on the following principles:
Maintainable
Localization infrastructure as code. Your entire localization automation can be expressed in configuration files that are written once and which then serve as a single source of truth. Your localization infrastructure is reliable, reproducible and transparent.
Flexible
Multiple source file formats and version control systems. Advanced resource pre- and post-processing. Automatic propagation of translations across language dialects. Automatic generation of translation comments and preview links. Ability to work with any types of project folder and file structures, including working with multiple repositories within one logical translation project.
Reliable and engineer-friendly
No merge conflicts. Ever. You can freely update resource files in repository as translations happen in parallel. In fact, you will never need to worry about any localization files at all, focusing just on maintaining the source language resources, and localized resources will be kept in sync with your changes.
Granular
You are able to choose target languages on a per-project and per-resource file basis, making conscious decisions on what your company needs, and reducing the translation costs.
“Now we can manage our strings just as we manage our code. We can create new branches, merge them, roll them back — and all the while be sure that the Serge–Smartcat bundle does all the background job to get the strings for that specific branch localized in our repo. Works like magic!”
Maxim Kungurtsev
Front-End Developer at Xsolla
Consistent
The features that are usually treated as highly platform-dependent—plural and placeholder support, or pseudo-localization—can be supported consistently across platforms, programming languages, and file formats.
Translation of marketing content is handled the same way as the translation of product strings (though we still have a convenient interface to upload files for one-off translation tasks).
Secure
No proprietary file formats or SDKs. We know you prefer to follow your platform's internationalization best practices whenever possible.
It's up to you whether you want localization automation to run on Smartcat side for convenience or on your side for extra security and resilience. If you choose to self-host your localization automation, your localization infrastructure will be self-sufficient, and your localization files will continue to be updated regardless of the remote API availability.
Transparent
All localization activity goes through the content versioning system (e.g. Git) so it can be audited, backed up and restored.
Adaptable
We respect your development workflow. Using just one development branch or multiple feature branches? Our system supports both options. Yes, even in a free tier.
CI/CD-ready
The entire localization automation is built around your version control server (e.g. Git). As a part of the automation pipeline, we offer built-in pre- and post-processing of localization files to ensure they are ready to be used in your continuous integration builds as is, with no patching on your side.
Faster than agile
Localization files are updated automatically in just several minutes after the source language file is changed. The process works non-stop and requires no supervision. Best part: it unlocks a totally different kind of interaction between engineering, QA and design teams. You can start translating even before delivering the code, or do linguistic and internationalization QA in the context of internal builds.
“Before using Smartcat tools, our translation process consisted of 38 steps — Smartcat helped us reduce this to six! It simplified our process for onboarding new freelancers, and our overall efficiency got a huge boost due to the platform’s Vendor Management features, the Marketplace, and the open API.”
Alexander Markevitch
Localization team lead at Flo Health Inc.
No vendor lock-in
You can own your automation infrastructure. Whatever connectors to external systems you use or develop, they will not be specific to Smartcat proprietary APIs. We know developers hate to migrate data and write code twice, so when we say "no lock-in", we actually mean it.
No data lock-in
At any time you can get your project/translations database in an easy to work with SQLite format, suitable for developing custom reports, export or integration scenarios.
Scalable
1, 5 or 25 languages? Doesn’t really matter. A good automated process makes adding new languages a routine task, introducing virtually no management overhead.
But file processing automation is just a part of the story. Smartcat offers robust automated process management workflows, automated matching with language providers on our thriving marketplace, and full payment automation, making us the only localization platform with such a holistic approach to localization at scale.
Open and affordable
We're big believers in open-source software. Automation technologies and connectors that we build are free and open-sourced. This, combined with an honest free subscription tier, gives you true peace of mind. But if you need a paid or managed support, or want to simplify your payments with multiple vendors, we're here for you.