Product teams
Deliver localized versions of your product faster by automating tedious localization steps.
Localization teams
Streamline your workflows and simplify collaboration with efficient localization management.
Developers teams
Add Transifex to your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deploy new translations.
Marketing teams
Quickly launch multilingual websites to accelerate international growth and conversions.
Translators
Deliver more accurate translations faster, leveraging advanced linguistic tools.
Software localization
Keep software continuously localized and in sync using automated CI/CD workflows.
Website localization
Automate and scale website localization to attract and convert international visitors.
Mobile App localization
Rapidly translate and launch apps globally, ensuring high-quality user experiences across markets.
Get a Personalized Demo Today
Precise, on-brand translations at scale. Language AI delivers context-rich content faster.
Get a personalized demo today
Request a personalized demo to learn how to integrate Transifex into your CI/CD
Product teams
Deliver localized versions of your product faster by automating tedious localization steps.
Localization teams
Streamline your workflows and simplify collaboration with efficient localization management.
Developers teams
Add Transifex to your CI/CD pipeline to continuously deploy new translations.
Marketing teams
Quickly launch multilingual websites to accelerate international growth and conversions.
Translators
Deliver more accurate translations faster, leveraging advanced linguistic tools.
Software localization
Keep software continuously localized and in sync using automated CI/CD workflows.
Website localization
Automate and scale website localization to attract and convert international visitors.
Mobile App localization
Rapidly translate and launch apps globally, ensuring high-quality user experiences across markets.
Get a Personalized Demo Today
Precise, on-brand translations at scale. Language AI delivers context-rich content faster.
Get a personalized demo today
Request a personalized demo to learn how to integrate Transifex into your CI/CD
Agile localization is the key to unlocking global growth and delivering a seamless user experience in every language.
For years companies have conducted localization as a separate step after product development. However, as agile development became the norm, this siloed approach created massive bottlenecks, delaying releases and slowing down global expansion.
But there’s a way to break free from this cycle.
This guide reveals the secrets to implementing agile localization – a strategy that integrates translation into development sprints, empowering you to reach new markets faster than ever before.
As we just discussed, the traditional software localization method, also known as waterfall – where translation happens after development – is no longer effective in the modern software environment. Here’s why.
Digital products are often created first in one (source) language, and only then do teams consider translation. This can result in a delay between completing a new feature and making it available in different languages. There’s also a high risk that your design may break after translations, leading to delays in release cycles.
A common issue faced by translators is working with little to no context. They may receive strings without knowing where or how the content will be used.
For instance, imagine translating a word like “save” – without context. It’s unclear if this refers to saving a file, saving money, or something else.
For many companies, localization tasks are still heavily manual.
Developers have to extract content that needs translation, send it to the localization team, wait for the translated content to come back, and then re-import it into the product. This repetitive back-and-forth is not only time-consuming but also increases the risk of human errors.
When your business expands into new markets, you need to manage content in several languages at once. Without a faster system in place, managing these translations can quickly become chaotic.
Your teams might struggle to track what has been translated and what is still pending. Over time, the lack of a scalable process can lead to inconsistencies across different product versions.
To truly overcome the challenges of traditional localization, companies need a more dynamic approach – one that aligns with rapid development cycles. This is where agile localization comes into play.
The Agile manifesto, introduced in 2001, is a set of development principles that promotes flexibility, collaboration, and quick delivery. It was designed to address the limitations of traditional development methods, such as waterfall, which are comparatively rigid and slower.
The manifesto focuses on four core values:
Well, as per the Agile manifesto, the translation now directly integrates into each sprint of the development process. This, in turn, does two important things for your business:
Based on the above 4 pillars, teams worldwide created and adopted the following 12 Agile principles:
Each of these principles focuses on making your development cycle faster, more flexible, and more customer-centric. Applying this approach to localization gives your business a significant advantage by ensuring that your product is ready for global markets.
If you are not yet convinced about the importance of agile localization for your business, here are a few benefits to consider:
Now that we have discussed why you should implement agile localization, let’s guide you on how to do it.
Here are the 6 key steps to implement agile localization into your workflow.
Selecting the right software localization tool is crucial for agile workflows. Here’s a checklist to guide your decision:
Transifex, for example, ticks these boxes by providing a platform designed specifically to support agile localization throughout the entire development lifecycle. It also simplifies the journey by bringing all localization components together under one cohesive platform.
Internationalization (often abbreviated as i18n) is the process of designing and developing your software with localization in mind. It's about creating a flexible architecture that can easily adapt to different languages, regions, and cultural nuances without requiring major code changes later on.
Think of i18n as "localization-proofing" your product. When done right, it significantly reduces the time, cost, and effort required for the actual translation phase.
Here are some essential internationalization best practices:
By properly implementing i18n, you set the stage for the next localization steps.
After internationalizing your software, it's time to upload the translatable content to your localization platform. This step can be done in multiple ways, depending on what best matches your localization needs. With Transifex, for example, you have the following options:
With your content uploaded, it's time to initiate the actual translation process. Whether you prefer a human touch, AI-powered speed, or a strategic blend of both, Transifex provides an intuitive editor with built-in translation tools and features to streamline your translation workflow.
Recognizing the need for speed and scalability, Transifex also offers the best-in-class AI technology that lets you automate repetitive tasks and create human-quality translations at record speed and minimal cost.
Transifex AI ensures consistent, accurate translations built on your brand voice. Our best-in-class AI technology picks up your brand tone automatically and can even leverage your style guides, glossary, translation memory, and more to speak your language from day one.
Automatically translate new content as soon as it’s added to any project, eliminating unnecessary manual steps. Experience nearly 50% faster translations, ensuring your global content is always up-to-date.
Compared to typical translation agencies, Transifex AI provides:
Testing is crucial to ensuring your localized content works as intended. With Transifex, you can preview translations in context directly within your application. This allows you to catch visual issues like text overflow or misalignment in messaging before going live.
Transifex also provides you with a unique testing feature – Transifex’s Quality Index (TQI) – that provides a translation quality score tailored to your business. So, no matter where you are in your software cycle, you can get accurate AI translations for your website or apps that maintain the context and your brand's unique voice. Alternatively, you can also conduct user testing with a small set of native speakers before the final release.
Once your translations have passed quality assurance checks, it’s time to integrate them back into your product or website. Transifex offers multiple options for exporting your localized content:
Downloadable Files: Easily download your translated content in a variety of file formats, making it compatible with your existing development workflows.
Automated File Synchronization: Configure Transifex to synchronize translated files with your code repository or content management system for a more streamlined approach. This eliminates manual file transfers and keeps your localized content up-to-date.
Over-the-Air (OTA) Updates: Take advantage of Transifex’s OTA update functionality to deliver translations directly to your users’ devices in real-time. This is especially beneficial for mobile apps and dynamic web applications, ensuring users always have access to the latest localized content.
Choose the export method that aligns with your technical setup and release management processes.
Transifex is engineered to be more than just a translation management system—it's an AI-powered end-to-end hub that makes agile localization truly achievable and scalable.
Instead of creating bottlenecks in your fast-paced development cycles, Transifex integrates seamlessly into your existing workflows. Connect it with popular CI/CD tools to automate content synchronization, translation, and deployment, ensuring localization happens in tandem with development, not as an afterthought.
Collaboration is at the heart of agile, and Transifex provides a central hub where developers, product managers, translators, and reviewers can work together seamlessly. Its intuitive interface, real-time communication tools, and granular permission settings make it easy to manage complex workflows, track progress, and maintain consistency across languages.
Worried about sacrificing quality for speed? Transifex has you covered. Its suite of quality assurance tools—including in-context previews, the Transifex Quality Index (TQI), and automated QA checks—empowers you to uphold high standards without slowing down your agile processes.
Whether you're expanding into new markets or managing a growing volume of content, Transifex provides the robust features and scalable solutions you need to break down language barriers and unlock global success.
Unlike the traditional waterfall model, which requires extensive planning and a fixed timeline, the agile approach is more flexible with shorter sprints. This lets you adapt as you evolve. Moreover, by aligning your localization process with your development cycle, agile localization significantly cuts down your time-to-market.
With Transifex, you can implement agile product localization while taking advantage of AI automation. This frees up your human team for more creative tasks while Transifex delivers a seamless globalized brand experience to your users every time, everywhere.
Ready to start? Schedule a personalized demo today!
The four main types of agile methodologies in software development are:
The localization method refers to the processes and strategies used to adapt your content for different languages and cultures. This often involves translation but it can also include adjusting design elements, formatting, and functionality to fit local expectations.
The main difference between the Waterfall and Agile methodologies is their approach to project management.
While Waterfall is a linear process where each phase must be completed before the next one begins, Agile is iterative and flexible. It allows for changes to be made even late in the development process – focusing on delivering small, functional pieces of software in short cycles.
Firstly, create a Transifex account and set up your project. Now, follow the below steps to build an AI-powered localization hub with Transifex:
Chris is a B2B & B2C Digital Content Manager and versatile copywriter. Based in Amsterdam, he has helped Tech companies shape and implement multichannel marketing campaigns across earned and owned media.