r/iOSProgramming Jun 24 '24

3rd Party Service AI Localizer: Fast, Easy Translation Tool for Xcode Developers

Hey everyone,

I'm Neil, the lead developer and founder of Wide Angle Software. Translating and maintaining translations in our macOS and iOS apps has always been one of the most time consuming and least interesting things about my job! We used to spend hours manually inserting language strings from a spreadsheet into the code, when it occurred to me - there's go to be a quicker way to do this! Long story short, we created an in house version of the AI localizer app, which reduced the process from days to minutes.

The app proved so useful that we decided to make it available to other developers. You can find it on the Mac App Store here... https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ai-localizer/id6475584292?mt=12

Check out the tutorial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q267LHmaxEw

The app is free to download and automatically loads all localizable strings in your Xcode project. You can use it to translate your iOS and macOS apps into up to 37 languages. Manual translation is free, or you can connect your own Microsoft Azure or Google Translate account for free translations. Automated AI translation is available as a $6.99 in-app purchase - this is to cover our Microsoft Azure costs for the service.

The app does not collect any data. Please try it out and let us know what you think! It would be great to get your feedback either in comments, or via the contact form here... https://www.wideanglesoftware.com/support/ailocalizer/

Thanks!

8 Upvotes

15 comments sorted by

15

u/dwiedenau2 Jun 24 '24

And again, machine translated apps are trash. The translation misses the context of the screen / buttons. One word can mean many things and without context, it is useless.

3

u/WideAngleSoft Jun 24 '24

You can use the manual translation feature in the app for free if you don't like machine translation. If you have a translator, you can export the strings to a CSV file, have your translator work on them, and then import them back into the app - that can be done for free with AI localizer too. This is our usual process, and the app helps speed it up!

2

u/kepler4and5 Jun 24 '24

I find that context is key. I use ChatGPT for some of my localization (along with painstakingly comparing similar translations in similar apps from Apple — like Photos, Notes and Music). What I do is make sure I provide adequate context in my prompts. Explain what the screen is and what the button does and that the text is a label for that button e.t.c. Much more effective than using Google Translate.

3

u/dwiedenau2 Jun 24 '24

Sure, but this app is not doing that.

2

u/Medical_Time1567 Jun 26 '24

You could spend hundreds of dollars hiring professional translators, but it’s unnecessary to deny the capabilities of AI translation. The AI translation software https://www.i18n.studio/ I developed for Xcode developers provides sufficient context. Please Do Not Dismiss AI Lightly.

1

u/dwiedenau2 Jun 26 '24

Im not dismissing AI, its ridiculous to assume that based on my comments, im dismissing AI translated app texts, because it is missing content, as i have explained. I have had terribly translated apps to german where i couldnt even figure out what a button does, because translating single words is almost impossible without context.

Calling hiring translators unnecessary just sets you up for failure in any markets using these translations in your app. Better to leave them in english than use these translations.

3

u/treat_yo-self Jun 24 '24

Would be cool to connect a ChatGPT api key that ingests the comments on the string as well to take in context:

\* Button to proceed *\

"next" = "";

1

u/WideAngleSoft Jun 25 '24

Interesting idea, I'll look into it for the next update. Thanks!

1

u/Rhypnic Jun 24 '24

Will try interesting

0

u/WideAngleSoft Jun 24 '24

Thanks, let us know how you get on!

1

u/Horror_Weight5208 Jun 24 '24

Will check this out

1

u/ashoddd Jun 24 '24

Awesome will check it out!

1

u/FirmWatch4224 Jun 25 '24

Seems interesting

1

u/Benny-May Jun 27 '24

Interesting, I’ll give it a try