The Localization Roundup (2021-06-04)

Welcome to another Localization Roundup, a collection of some of the best articles about website and software localization from across the Internet. Here are the articles we found this week:

Using Google Translate to Autogenerate Content?

We’ve previously written a whole article about this topic, but here’s an update straight from the John Mueller of Google. The question is: Is it ok to simply take the English text from your website, run it through Google Translate, and post the translated text on your website? In short, is it ok to localize a website with Google Translate?

Mueller replied:

So if you use an automatic translating tool and you just translate your whole website automatically into a different language then probably we would see that as a lower quality website because often the translations are not that great.

But if you take a translation tool and then you rework it with maybe translators who know the language and you create a better version of that content, then that’s perfectly fine.

Further, extensive use of machine translation can lead to the entire site being penalized for low quality. Mueller said,

And even a step further, if that’s something that is done at scale, then the web spam team might step in and say, this is automatically generated content, we don’t want to index it.

https://www.searchenginejournal.com/using-google-translate-to-autogenerate-content/409042/

Google On Internationalization, Languages & What It Takes To Succeed In SEO

Here’s another exchange with Google’s John Mueller on international SEO. A Twitter user said that each country and language needs a different approach to do well in SEO, and she asked Mueller whether that was because of Google’s semantic understanding or because of user behavior. Mueller replied that both aspects were important, but the key was differences in user behavior between various regions and languages.

https://www.seroundtable.com/google-on-internationalization-languages-seo-31510.html

New government and app store requirements present fresh hurdles for apps and games in China

The Chinese Government has added new requirements that app developers should be aware of if they want to reach the Chinese market.

First, ICP Filing is required for listing on more and more Chinese app stores. It is not currently required on many of the less popular app stores, but it is now required for many of the top stores. Check out the article to learn more about ICP Filing.

Second, regulators that are reviewing applications for game licenses will reject your application if your app is already available on Chinese app stores. Unfortunately, many developers find that their games are already listed on app stores in China without their knowledge or permission, leading to headaches when trying to get the license.

https://www.appinchina.co/blog/new-government-and-app-store-requirements-present-fresh-hurdles-for-apps-and-games-in-china/

How to properly internationalize a React application using i18next

This lengthy article is for developers and explains how to use the i18next internationalization framework to localize a React.js app.

https://locize.com/blog/2021-04-14-how-to-internationalize-react-i18next/

That’s our roundup for this week. Leave a comment below to share any great localization or translation articles you have read lately.