Pseudo-Translation

Pseudo-translation can be used early on in the product development cycle to determine whether an application can be localized easily and if it functions correctly when translated.

Correct localization depends (among other things) on three issues that can be checked with the pseudo-translation:

1.	All texts must be separated from the code to be translatable.
2.	Support of special characters.
3.	All strings must fit within the dialogs, even longer translations.

Pseudo-translation can be combined with the writing of a target file. To activate the pseudo-translation, check the Pseudo-translation option in the Target Files dialog box. When the pseudo-translation is enabled, all the text items (for the target file) will be replaced with a pseudo-translation as it is specified in the Pseudo-Translation Properties dialog box (see figure below).

Pseudo-Translation Settings

The appearance of a pseudo-translation (a pseudo-translation text) can be specified in the Pseudo-Translation Properties dialog box (see figure below). This dialog box can be opened using the pseudo-translation Settings button on the Target Files dialog box.

Figure: The Pseudo-Translation Properties dialog box.

The Pseudo-Translation Properties dialog box contains the following elements:

·	Conversion characters Check this option if you would like to replace characters in the source text with accented characters. You may select from a range of predefined character maps or create you own using the Custom text box. A custom character map consists of a pair of characters delimited by a comma. Each pair of characters denotes the character that is to be searched for and the character with which it is to be replaced. For example, the character map "aà" will replace each lowercase "a" with "à."
·	Expansion Use this option if you want to expand each text stringby a certain number of characters. The effect of the expansion is shown in the Preview group box at the bottom of the dialog box.
·	Replacement text Check this option to replace each text string with a replacement string.
·	Pre-text characters Check this option to add a defined character sequence in front of each text string.
·	Post-text characters Check this option to add a defined character sequence to the end of each text string.