AUTOMATED ENGLISH-UKRAINIAN APPLICATION USER INTERFACE TRANSLATION TOOL

Abstract

The user interface plays a big part when using various computing devices. Nowadays anyone has the ability to develop their own software application and distribute it on the Internet. However not every developer can be fluent in several world languages. The Internet provides free access to powerful modern text translation services, however that still requires precious time on behalf of the developer. This may severely limit the success and amount of users of the developed application, and even negatively impact the quality of the application’s key functionality. This raises the question of creating a quality user interface translation.

This article analyses existing methods and presents a design concept of a tool for developers that wish to reach potential users across the whole world. The process of this research provides examples of existing text translation systems in the Internet and an overview of their features within the context of translating a user interface. Also conducted were analyses of the target audience and the current state of the mobile app markets, showing the relevance of the problem with user interface languages for computers and mobile devices, as well as the importance of providing a comfortable and quality application user experience for the end consumers.

The research also includes an overview of existing solutions for automated and assisted translation tools, their key functions and shortcomings. The proposed project of the translation utility describes a program interface for the translator, designed to make the translation process more comfortable and geared specifically for translating developed software interfaces. The primary functionality of the translation tool would be based on using plain text files with a special format of records to enable automatic displaying of corresponding lines within the source code of the program. An analysis of such existing text formats was conducted, with considerations of their use and implementations in already existing translation systems and possible approaches of their implementation in the proposed translation tool. The creation of a custom text format specifically for the project was proposed as well.