As a member of Globe Language Services, I was on a team to localize for a client named PanLex. I first heard of PanLex last November when I attended an International Multilingual User Group (IMUG). They have developed a linguistic database that connects all languages at a term level; that is, it creates a translation by going through all the languages it may need to to find a translation. When asked if PanLex was planning on integrating its platform into Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, they stated that they were unfamiliar with translation software. At the meeting, one of my classmates, Seongji Kim, approached them about localizing their website, which they were intrigued, even accepting her proposal. A few months later, when Seongji joined Globe Language Services, she brought PanLex with her, and I was happy to help.

Setting up

At first, we had a kick-off meeting to introduce PanLex to our team of three people, plus volunteer linguists. In preparation for the kick-off meeting, we prepared a Statement of Work (SOW) for PanLex, outlining the interaction we would be having with them, the workflow, deadlines, and all other pertinent project details. We agreed that for the time being we would only localize their website.

Another key element of setting up was creating a test website. We tried using Pantheon, since it allows free hosting of dev sites, but it didn’t allow us to add any plugins. So, eventually we chose our school-provided hosting site, Cpanel, which allowed us to easily access the code and add plugins without any difficulties.

Tool selection

At first, we weren’t sure what Translation Memory System (TMS) to use. We considered Lingotek and Memsource, and in the end we opted for Memsource since MIIS (Middlebury Institute of International Studies) already has a license for us to use. We weren’t sure if Lingotek would give us some sort of student discount, so we opted to used Memsource. To integrate with Memsource and WordPress, PanLex purchased a WPML license, which facilitated continuous localization, allowing us to automatically uploaded new content and download completed content back into WordPress.

Theme internationalization and localization

PanLex informed us that they developed and implemented their own theme, and since they weren’t aware of the need for localization previously, it was not internationalized (prepared for multilingual content). So, after researching WordPress theme internationalization, I extracted their strings, mainly from the footer. Then, I created PO files using POEdit and translated them. After review, I uploaded them following the folder structure outlined in WordPress theme localization guidelines.

Translation

Seongji managed translation of the website into Korean, while another classmate of mine, Axelle Nelson, did much of the Spanish work. Axelle did most of it since she is a native Spanish speaker. I translated the theme strings and a few emails. Axelle and other linguists handled the review superbly, finishing the whole process in Memsource.

Troubleshooting and QA

Once the translation and review phases were complete and all the translations were implemented back into the test site, we begin troubleshooting. One problem we noticed immediately was the inconsistency between some of the terms, so we went in and edited them in the translations, as well as in the Translation Memory (TM) and termbase. The next problem we noticed was that we needed a language switcher since the languages were making the principal horizontal menu too long. So, we implemented one, but soon realized that when we switched screensizes to the smaller screensize, the links in the language picker did not work. Then we remembered that PanLex had also told us that the site used Boostrap for its styling and CSS. We did some investigating, and found some attributes that needed to be added to the urls to get them to work correctly. We did so, and *poof*! It worked!

Wrapping up

After completing all QA issues, it was time to finish the project and talk about exit strategy. We convinced them to stay on with Globe and use them in the future since students are much cheaper than any other Language Service Provider (LSP). We had a closing kick-off call, created some accounts in Memsource for them to handle their translation resources, and that was that!

Lessons learned

For my part, I learned the communication is essential when onboarding new clients, particularly those that have no previous localization experience. It was neat to see how communication occurred with a small startup, and to learn the importance of establishing client expectations so that they know what to realistically expect. Overall, PanLex was a great client to work with, and I’m grateful for the experience.