1. Identifying Placeholders

In localization, placeholders are often used to dynamically insert content such as product names, user names, currency values, or other variables into strings. These placeholders are integral to ensuring that content is correctly personalized or tailored to the user. However, when translating content, it's easy for these placeholders to get lost or mismanaged.

Why Placeholder Errors Matter

• Broken functionality: If the placeholders are used inappropriately or are missing, the dynamic content will not be rendered properly, and the interface will break or display incomplete information.
• User confusion: Incorrect usage of placeholders may result in user-facing content that is confusing or nonsensical. For instance, a placeholder that's mistakenly translated might show something like "Welcome, $username" instead of correctly displaying the user's name.

How to Identify Placeholder Issues

• Placeholders are preserved in their correct positions and are not translated.
• The syntax of placeholders (e.g., or %% ) remains intact.
• The format of the localized string accommodates placeholders properly, without truncating or misaligning text.

Automated tools and scripts can be extremely useful in identifying and verifying placeholder issues across large batches of strings, reducing human error and speeding up the QA process.

2. HTML Inconsistencies

When translating content for digital products, it is often necessary to insert HTML tags into the text (for example, links, images, buttons). These HTML tags are essential to maintaining the structure and functionality of a page. However, differences in character encoding, translation length, and formatting between languages can easily lead to HTML inconsistencies.

Why HTML Inconsistencies Matter

• Broken links or buttons: HTML tags that have been misplaced or not fully implemented during translation might make buttons, links, or other interactive components malfunction.
• Layout issues: Placement of HTML tags might be misplaced and cause some problems with layouts such as text being overflowed from the container, or elements out of alignment.

How to Identify HTML Discrepancies

• Examine every string that has HTML tags so that there is no missing tag, tag used in the wrong context, or tags improperly nested.
• Check for the output so that it should be displayed visually and functionally correct when HTML is being applied.
• Make use of tools which can automatically parse strings for any missing tags or broken elements.

3. Leading and Trailing Whitespace

Whitespace refers to any spaces, tabs, or line breaks within the text. The leading spaces refer to those found at the beginning of a string, while the trailing spaces refer to those that appear at the end. At first glance, these might appear to be inconsequential, but they do have major consequences in terms of layout, user experience, and functionality.

Why Whitespace Issues Matter

• Visual problems: Unwanted spaces can lead to misalignment in the UI, especially in closely spaced areas such as buttons, menus, or forms.
• Functional problems: Leading or trailing spaces can affect backend systems that process the text. For instance, in user authentication forms or search bars, extra spaces may prevent proper matching or cause errors.

How to Identify Whitespace Issues

• Manually check for any unwanted leading or trailing spaces in text fields.
• Use automated whitespace checkers to highlight any strings that contain excess whitespace, ensuring that content displays correctly.
• Ensure that input validation in forms strips out unwanted spaces, preventing data entry issues.

4. Whitespace Between Words

Similar to leading and trailing spaces, extra or missing whitespace between words can make text appear crowded or awkward. This problem is especially common when translating content into languages with different sentence structures or spacing conventions.

Why Whitespace Between Words Matters

• Readability issues: Excessive or insufficient space can render the text unpalatable to read, especially for languages with long words or characters that may appear crowded without appropriate spacing.
• Aesthetic issues: Over- or under-spacing can cause a loss of visual balance in the UI, making it appear inconsistent with other language versions.

How to Detect Space Between Words

• Verify that there is consistent spacing between words so no words are crammed together or awkwardly spaced apart.
• Ensure that the translated text carries over the source material's formatting to ensure the layout looks the same on all versions.
• Automated text validation tools can also help automatically detect spacing discrepancies between languages.

5. Basic Grammar and Syntax Checks

Last but not least, grammar and syntax are the fundamental elements that will ensure that content is not only correct but also clear, fluent, and professional. Even small mistakes in grammar may have a major impact on user experience.

Why Grammar and Syntax Matter

• Clarity: Poor grammar confuses users and can make your product appear unprofessional or unreliable.
• Brand perception: Grammar-free content can also lower the reputation of your brand if proper grammar and syntax usage are considered very valuable in that particular market.
• Cultural sensitivity: Some grammatical mistakes may be not only wrong but may even unknowingly hurt or confuse some cultures.

How to Identify Grammar and Syntax Issues

• It should be reviewed by native speakers or professional editors to ensure that the content matches the grammatical rules and nuances of the target language.
• Use AI-based grammar checkers such as Grammarly or LanguageTool to find out the basic grammar mistakes in the translated text.
• The translation should take into account the entire context and sentence structure for the language.