Main Content

Globalization Testing -
with an Emphasis on Translatability Testing
and Pseudo Translation

Instructor: Dale Schultz

09:00 - 17:00 : Thursday, December 11, 2008

Overview

Globalization Testing is a critical part of the overall software development cycle and it impacts not only the end user customers but also the ease with which software can be translated. The task of testing modern software is getting more and more complex as software increases in complexity and as customers' expectations of global usability rise. It is simply financially impossible to test all the functionality of complex systems in every combination of platform, configuration and global environment.

“The instructor shared a lot of valuable experience that my team will benefit from. What I liked best was how new ideas kept popping up during the workshop.”
– Ben Yue, Localization Engineer at Hewlett-Packard

This workshop will describe what globalization testing means and also present techniques to allow for an efficient globalization test effort that results in adequate test coverage while minimizing the test effort. Note this is not about environmental test matrix optimization but rather a functional approach to the problem. Best practices of who should do such testing and when will be provided.

One of the aspects of globalization testing is that of translatability testing, and we will focus on this area, describing what it is and why it is critical in minimizing translation costs. A translatability test technique known as pseudo translation will be presented in detail. By learning how to detect translatability problems before actual translation starts enormous saving can be achieved because the problems are detected and documented once instead of each translation team running into the same problems. Earlier detection also results in a smoother and hence quicker translation phase.

In addition to learning what to include in a pseudo translation, attendees will learn how to detect the following types of problems:

  • language switching failures
  • installation failures
  • hard coded resources
  • text corruption
  • layout and truncation problems
  • concatenation problems
  • functional breakage
  • incorrect audience designations

Who will benefit from this workshop and why?

Development leaders interested in:

  • Translatability
  • Build tools

Test project leaders interested in:

  • Globalization Testing
  • Translatability Testing
  • Test effort reduction
  • Better test coverage

Translation coordinators interested in:

  • Techniques of determining if software is ready for translation
  • Cost reduction
  • Translation efficiency

Translation service providers interested in:

  • Techniques of determining if software is ready for translation
  • Translation efficiency

Agenda

09:00 - 09:15 Welcome and Introduction

09:15 - 10:15 Globalization Testing

  • Why is globalization testing needed?
  • What is, and what is not, adequate globalization testing?
  • Why is simply repeating tests in different locales not good enough?
  • When should globalization testing be done?
  • How does one determine what is needed for adequate testing?
  • What teams in the organization are best positioned to do globalization testing?
  • How do teams find out how to test and what test data to use?
  • What tools are useful in globalization testing?
  • What organizational structures and techniques are efficient?

Questions and answers on Globalization Testing

10:15 - 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 - 12:15 Translatability testing

  • What is translatability testing?
  • Why is it so important?

Pseudo Translation – a translatability test tool

Who should generate the pseudo translation? Who should perform the testing? What to include in a pseudo translation How much expansion should there be? Types of translatability problems that can be found through pseudo translation testing.

Questions and answers on Pseudo Translation

12:15 - 13:30 Lunch

13:30 - 14:30 Practical application of Pseudo translation

Now that you have a pseudo translation of your software - what should the test team do?
Switching to the pseudo translation

  • Looking for language switching failures
  • Looking for installation failures

Testing pseudo translated screens

  • Looking for hard coded resources
  • Looking for text corruption
  • Looking for layout and truncation problems
  • Looking for concatenation problems
  • Looking for functional breakage
  • Looking for incorrect audience designations

Ignoring strings from library code

Pseudo Translation and Bidi

Questions and answers on Pseudo Translation testing

14:30 - 15:00 Coffee Break

15:00 - 16:00 Exercises – recognizing translatability issues

Practice identifying translatability defects

Open discussion on experiences, potential problems, cost savings, etc.

About Dale Schultz

Dale Schultz is the Globalization Test Architect in the IBM Globalization Leadership Team and has been involved in globalization software for 17 years. He has worked in South Africa, Germany and the USA.

When he is not delving into subjects such as code pages, time zones and globalization test issues he can be found working on his model train layout, taking photographs, making biltong or camping with mosquitoes.

About LISA Workshops

LISA Workshops make use of presenters with real-world experience in the subjects they teach about. Workshops do not pitch any products or services, but instead provide a general overview with candid and practical evaluations of tools and products that impact your business.