Translating the Know Your Lemons app – How it’s done
Hi, I’m Katja Goodlet, the Translation and Volunteer Manager at the Know Your Lemons Foundation. I want to tell you a little bit about what’s involved in translating our award-winning Know Your Lemons app into a different language, which up until now we have translated into French and German.
It’s quite the process, let me tell you!
The text
We have had the English and original version of the app up and running for a few years now. The English text is saved in a Google sheet file, which multiple people have various degrees of access to (app developers, KYL staff, translators). Text changes and updates are done on a regular basis to reflect updated research and new information coming to light, as well as feedback from app users.
As the text needs to be translated into a new language, I go out and hire a translator. This needs to be a native speaker of the target language whose English needs to be fluent or their second native language (bilingual).
Translating the text in a spreadsheet in this case is tricky, because the translator doesn’t always know the context of everything they are translating. For example, the word “save” on its own can have a multitude of meanings. Save money, save the world, save your progress, etc. In order to be able to translate the word “save” the translator needs to know the context, which in this case is “save these settings” or something similar. So if I were to translate this into German, I can assume because this is an app, I will know the language to use for this specific word. And this is where the difference lies between using AI like Google Translate to do the work, versus a human being doing the work. Context is everything, and AI doesn’t understand context. ;-)
A snippet from our app translation file
The audio guides and self-exam video
By far the most fun part of the translation process for the app was translating the Mona Lisa and Napoleon audio self-exam guides. If you listen to them on the app, you will understand why I say that! The colorful language, the humor, the Lemonland analogy – it is so much fun to listen to, and was even more fun to put into my own language. Fun fact – our CEO and Founder Corrine wrote those two scripts herself. Not only is she super smart and has a PhD in design, she is obviously also a secret creative writer! ;-)
The best bit about the audio guides? When we find the right voice to play our Mona Lisa and our Napoleon in the respective language! This is probably as nerve-racking a challenge as any other, because we know recording this takes a lot of work and costs a lot of money, so we better get it right the first time! Each of their scripts come with detailed instructions on how to use their voices in certain parts, where to include the sound effects, when to laugh, when to sing, etc. So. Much. Fun!
Katja, the voice of the German Mayor of Lemonland, in the recording studio
I had the privilege to provide my own voice in the German Know Your Lemons self-exam video on Youtube, where I play the Mayor of Lemonland!
Let me tell you, I have never done voice overs before, and I always thought I would really enjoy doing it – which I did! But boy was it much more difficult than I anticipated! Who knew that when you record yourself speaking in your normal voice you actually sound really dull, tired and grumpy? Haha!
So there I was in my friend’s studio, putting on a grin like never before, eyes as open and “excited” as possible, just so I wouldn’t sound like I was half asleep! And the best tip I got came from the professional voice over artist for our German Mona Lisa. She said to me: “Remember, the microphone doesn’t bite!” And she was right! The closer I got to the mic, the fuller the sound was.
App testing
The last piece of the puzzle is lots and lots of testing before the app launch. For this we asked some of our German speaking volunteer educators, also called Lemonistas, to test the beta version of the app in German and provide us with feedback about glitches, typos, missing text etc. They’ve been extremely helpful and we really hope we have ironed out all the glitches that presented themselves. If you find any more issues, please do let us know! You can submit feedback via the “account” page on the app.
App launch
We really hope you enjoy using the Know Your Lemons app. A lot of work and love goes into it day in and day out. And did I mention that we do not sell your personal information and make no money from you using the app? That’s right, it’s all funded by generous donations. So make sure to check out the “donate” button on the app as well. ;-)
So, go and download the app now or update it to the latest version. Share it with your friends and family – and don’t forget to tell them it is also available in French and German, and more languages will be coming soon!
Thanks for being on this exciting journey with us! :-)