What is Smartling? It’s a cloud platform for managing the translation and localization of content. Smartling helps global companies localize their products, websites, apps, and documents using machine and human translation technology.
The service offers solutions that suit both major international business and fast-developing startups. Smartling allows you to expand your language presence, improve user experience, and build strong partnerships in global markets. In this article, we tell you everything about what Smartling is and how to work with it.
Key aspects of Smartling
The global service has two products: A TMS system and a set of solutions for translation work itself.
Smartling’s two main functions. Let’s take a look at each product.
Translation management system
Smartling offers a powerful TMS (Translation Management System) which automates the entire translation process for customers, from uploading the source content to publishing the translation. Customers can manage projects, monitor progress, assign tasks, and interact with the translation teams, all in one space.
What the Smartling TMS comprises
CAT tools
Smartling’s built-in editor supports translation with CAT technology. It provides the translator with visual context, suggestions from the translation memory, glossaries, comments, and automatic quality assurance. This technology helps to improve consistency and speed up the process.
Key features of the editor:
- Visual context. Translators work with an interface in which they can see what the text will look like on the website, in the app, or in the document. This way, it’s possible to take into account formatting, structure, and length limits, and to adapt language to the specific customer experience.
- Translation memory and hints. The system offers solutions based on previously translated segments, taking into account context and brand preferences. This technology makes it possible to maintain consistent terminology, speed up work, and reduce localization costs, as previously translated phrases can be used again.
- Glossaries and style guides. Translators get access to glossaries, which establish specific terms and the client’s preferences. It’s also possible to attach brand guides with examples of correct and unacceptable translation solutions. This is particularly important for global companies with a single tone of communication and corporate style.
- Support of several formats. Smartling’s CAT tool works with texts from different sources: customers’ websites, mobile apps, marketing materials, and legal documents. This makes it a universal solution for localization of any type of content.
A proxy server for translation
Global Delivery Network by Smartling is a proxy technology that makes it possible to translate websites without interfering seriously with the code in the process. Smartling’s technology automatically identifies and translates content, all of which makes managing a site in several languages easier and speeds up the launch of translated versions.
Explanation of GDN operations
This is how GDN works:
- Minimal technical effort. GDN operates as an intermediary stage between the source website and customers. When a visitor accesses the site from a different region, the proxy server automatically shows a translated version of the content in accordance with their language settings. This all happens without the developers having to do anything, which reduces the time required for businesses to launch a localized version.
- Automatic detection of content. Smartling’s software automatically defines what content needs to be translated, including text, buttons, meta data, popup windows, dynamic elements, and even strings of JavaScript. This helps businesses ensure that no detail is missed and makes localization truly complete.
- SEO support and URL adaptation. Translated versions of pages can have their own URL that reflects the languages of different global regions (for example, /fr/, /de/), which helps companies improve visibility of the site for local search engines and increase organic traffic.
Analytics
Smartling provides customers with in-depth analytics for each project: localization deadlines, volumes, costs, and team productivity. This allows businesses to make decisions on the basis of data and to optimize localization processes. Here’s what you can do:
- Monitor productivity in real time. Customers get access to dynamic dashboards where it’s possible to monitor the status of the project in real time: the volume of content already translated, the volume remaining, and the current status of the translation process. This simplifies management of time and resources for businesses, especially when working with large volumes of text and several languages.
- Get detailed analysis of costs. Smartling shows how much the business is spending on each project, language, team, or type of content. The breakdown of costs by type of translation is also supported by Smartling: machine, professional, editing, post-editing, etc. This helps to optimize the budget, choose the most effective combination, and avoid overspending.
All reporting is available on Smartling’s special reports page.
LQA (translation quality assurance)
Smartling offers a suite of tools for Language Quality Assurance. Smartling’s technology allows you to monitor and evaluate the quality of translation according to previously established metrics, perform audits, and improve the final content. Here is how LQA works in Smartling:
- Evaluation according to clear metrics. Smartling uses standardized categories of mistake and types of error (for example, semantic, grammatical, stylistic, terminological), as well as the level of severity. In this way, Smartling provides an objective and reproducible assessment of translation quality for all languages and projects.
- Integration with core workflow. Smartling’s LQA technology is integrated directly into the platform and works in real time. When translators or editors make changes, they can immediately see comments, evaluations, and explanations. This approach speeds up feedback and helps to immediately improve content localization during the process.
- Metrics and analytics. Smartling’s LQA technology works in conjunction with the analytics module, providing customers with a clear picture: which languages require improvement, which projects most often produce errors, and what types of content are most vulnerable. This data helps businesses to make decisions based on facts, not on impressions.
Translation and AI hub
Smartling is actively developing machine translation technology, integrating leading AI models. Smartling’s in-built AI translation technology analyzes the context, style, and purpose of content, improving accuracy and retaining branding in different languages.
The translation process in Smartling includes the automatic processing of content, its assignment to AI and professional translators, editing, quality assurance, and publication. Smartling supports dozens of formats and allows you to flexibly configure workflow depending on customers’ wishes.
This is how AI translation works in Smartling:
- Work with 450+ global languages.
- Integration with leading engines. The Smartling platform supports more than twenty popular machine translation models, from Google Translate and DeepL to Azure and Amazon.
Supported technologies
- Contextual adaptation. The AI technology in Smartling analyzes not just the text, but also its context – the purpose, style, and target audience of the text, as well as global brand language. This helps to avoid overly literal translation and create more natural content that matches any ToV.
- Post-editing and flexible monitoring. Businesses can choose for themselves where it’s acceptable to use machine translation technology unedited, and where it’s important to maintain accuracy, legal correctness, or stylistic purity.
- Learning and adaptation. Smartling allows you to train the AI on company data: brand guides, glossaries, and stylistic preferences. This is particularly useful for customers that actively employ specific terminology and non-standard phrasing, or prefer to communicate in a particular ToV.
Smartling’s AI hub is the control center for the platform’s artificial intelligence. Smartling combines several AI solutions, from adaptive machine translation to intelligent prompts, which helps to improve results and monitor workflow.
Translators’ services on Smartling
A community of professional translators with experience in a wide range of fields works on Smartling. Customers can employ fully automated or hybrid translation with the contribution of editors. This makes it possible not just to translate content, but also to adapt it taking into account cultural sensitivity. You can find more information about translators in the Smartling guide to services.
The cost of Smartling
The cost of Smartling’s services depends on the plan you choose, but they are not publicly available. You can find out more about pricing by making a call to the company:
Two main service plans. Elsewhere on Smartling’s site, it is written that on average, translation of one word costs $0.10
These plans vary according to the volume of features, the storage time for translations, and the levels of analytics and technical support. You can find more information on Smartling’s plans page. Before buying the service, you can check out a two-minute demo of Smartling’s technology – you’ll need to provide a business email to access it.
Which businesses Smartling’s service suits
Smartling is an almost universal platform that can be useful for different types of company. The service allows you to translate:
- Websites – Smartling’s technology helps to automate translation and manage localization for a global online presence.
- Apps and software – Smartling helps with seamless localization of interfaces, strings, and user content.
- Technical documentation – Smartling’s service provides a high level of accuracy, industry glossaries, and access to quality control.
Projects from a wide range of industries are supported, and the Smartling service is trusted by various brands, from Pinterest to Reddit. You can find more information on Smartling’s projects page. Here are the industries that are particularly noticeable and the ways Smartling’s service helps them:
- Automotive. Translation of marketing and technical materials, as well as vehicle interfaces and documentation.
- Insurance. Adaptation of conditions, products, and client support to regional specifics.
- Fashion. Localization of e-commerce platforms, product descriptions, brand information, and advertising campaigns.
- Management. Translations of internal and external corporate communications and HR documentation.
- Legal. Accurate localization of legal documents, contract terms, and policies.
- Pharma. Translations of instructions, scientific texts, packaging, and medical documentation.
- Technology. Localization of complex IT products, SaaS solutions, and interfaces with a high level of automation.
Integrating the Smartling service
Smartling integrates with dozens of systems: CMS (WordPress, Drupal), code storage systems (GitHub, Bitbucket), CRM, marketing platforms, client support platforms, and cloud storage (Google Drive). This makes it possible to integrate localization directly into the workflow and automate the uploading/downloading of content.
You can find more information on Smartling’s integration page.
Conclusion
Smartling is a powerful platform for translation and localization, which combines technology, professional experience of specialists, and analytics. Smartling helps businesses expand their global presence, adapt content to different markets, and ensure high translation quality.
If you’re looking for a reliable partner to localize your products and content, please get in touch with INLINGO. We can help you localize almost anything: websites, apps, and documents in dozens of languages – quickly, accurately, and in accordance with your wishes!
