How to pseudo-translate, Part II

You only speak one language, so maybe you'll never be a translator, but you have a chance as a pseudo-translator.

Pseudo-translation is the process of replacing or adding characters to your software strings to try and break the software, or at least uncover strings that are still embedded in the code and need to be externalized for proper localization. (Part I of this post describes why anybody would want to do such a thing.) Pseudo-translation is a big piece of internationalization (I18n), which you should undertake before you bother handing anything off to the translators.

Here's an example of a few strings from a C resource file, with their respective, pseudo-translations:

IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "Select Device"
IDS_TITLE_OPEN_SKIN "日本Sイlイct Dイvウcイ本日"

IDS_MY_FOLDER "Directory:"
IDS_MY_FOLDER "日本Dウrイctエrユ:本本"

IDS_MY_OPEN "&Open"
IDS_MY_OPEN "日本&Opイn日"

IDS_WINDOW_NOT_ENOUGH_MEM
"Windows has not enough memory. You may lower the heap size specified in the configuration file."
IDS_WINDOW_NOT_ENOUGH_MEM
"日本Wウndエws hアs nエt イnエオgh mイmエrユ. Yエオ mアユ lエwイr thイ hイアp sウzイ spイcウfウイd ウn thイ cエnfウgオrアtウエn fウlイ.本日本日日本本本日日本日日本日本日本日本"

IDS_TARGET_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
"Failed to load or initialize the target."
IDS_TARGET_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
"日本Fアウlイd tエ lエアd エr ウnウtウアlウzイ thイ tアrgイt.日日本日本日本本"

In these strings, Japanese characters have been pushed in to replace the vowels in all English words. The goal of using Ja characters is to ensure that, when compiled, the strings will look and behave as they should under Windows Japanese; it's important to pseudo-translate with the right result in mind.

Some observations:

1. Each string begins with Ja characters, since that will be the case in the real Japanese translation, and it's a situation worth testing.
2. Each string contains enough English characters to allow the tester to "gist" the string from the context. This is helpful because pseudo-translation can often destroy the meaning of the string.
3. Each string has a ratio of swell, with trailing characters adding 20% to the length of the string. This helps flush out fields and controls in which strings will be truncated.
   

Okapi Rainbow is an excellent (if somewhat inscrutable) text-manipulation utility for just this purpose. When run on all of the string files in the development project, the result is a set of resources which, when recompiled, will run as a pseudo-translated binary. With a testbench running the appropriate operating system, a tester can get a good idea of the I18n work in store for the developers.

Rare is the product that passes pseudo-translation testing on the first try, either because of strings left behind in the code, resizing issues, string truncation, buffer overflows, or just plain bad luck.

Even if your code isn't perfect, though, look on the bright side: You're now a pseudo-translator.