English-Spanish Localization Glossary
| English term | Spanish term |
Description
|
A
| Ad hoc test | Prueba discrecional | Informal testing carried out without following test scripts or checking for expected results as opposed to formal, controlled and defined testing but scheduled within the testing process (see Bug bash) |
| Alpha | Alfa | Initial testing version |
| Alphanumeric | Alfanumérico/a | A string made up of letters and numbers or an input field supporting such strings |
B
| Beta | Beta | Release candidate version widely available for testing |
| Bi-Di | Bidireccional | Short for Bi-Directional |
| Bi-Directional | Bidireccional | Languages such as Arabic or Hebrew written from right to left but digits and Western words are written from left to right |
| Binary, binaries | Ficheros binarios | Compiled files, typically executables and Dynamicaly Linked Libraries or DLL, as opposed to text files such as ASCII or HTML files, for example |
| Blind key | Tecla ciega | Key stroke with no immediate display such as diacritics like accents, diaeresis, etc. used in combination with other key strokes |
| Bug | Defecto, chinche (col.) | In software, refers to a defect in the code (see Exception) |
| Bug bash | Sesión abierta de pruebas | Scheduled informal testing event performed by all teams, besides testers, involved in the localization process such as management, marketing, sub-PM's, localizers, etc. The Internationalization test is usually performed during these events (See Ad hoc, Internationalization test) |
| Bug fixing | Corrección de defectos | Process to fix application errors logged into a bug tracking system |
| Bug tracking | Seguimiento de defectos | System and process designed to follow up on errors reported for an application or web site. |
C
| CAT | CAT | Acronym for Computer Aided Translation |
| CJK | CJK | Acronym for Chinese, Japanese and Korean (see Double Byte Character) |
D
| DBC | DBC | Acronym for Double Byte Character |
| Debug version | Versión de depuración | Special compilation version of an application with extra features for testing purposes not included in the release version. In gaming, for example, might include shortcuts to specific scenarios, display sound file names, etc. while desktop application might include verbose error messages. |
| Debugging | Depuración | Process, generally performed by the developer in interpreted mode, to detect errors in the code. (see Bug fixing) |
| Delta | Delta | Time difference, usually between language version releases |
| Double Byte Character | Carácter de byte doble | Far-Eastern language character system such as CJK in which local characters are stored in 2 bytes while Latin characters are store in 1 byte (see CJK, Latin) |
| DTP | Autoedición | Acronym for Desktop Publishing |
E
| Exception | Excepción | A condition thrown by an algorithm or function due to an invalid situation or variable value that can't be evaluated or has no valid result, e.g.: a division by zero (see Bug) |
| Extended character | Carácter extendido | Additional characters to the standard ASCII character set in code page based systems. The term is still in use to refer to any character outside the 0 to 127 ASCII code range (see Non ASCII) |
F
| FIGS | FIGS | Acronym for French, Italian, German and Spanish |
| Freeze | Fijar, bloquear | Prevent a file, component or characteristic from being modified in subsequent development cycles. The User Interface of an application, for instance, needs to be freezed prior to start creating the User Assistance components or the localization process |
H
| HAF | HAF | Acronym for Hebrew, Arabic and Farsi (see Bi-Directional) |
| Hotkey | Tecla de modo abreviado | Underlined interface character representing a keyboard key that in combination with auxiliary keys such as Alt, Shift or Control provides access to on-screen controls such as buttons, menus, text boxes, etc. |
I
| i18n | i18n | Short for internationalization referring to the initial i followed by 18 letters and an ending n. Generally written in lower case to avoid confusion between upper-case i (I) and lower-case L (l) |
| Internazionalization test | Prueba de internacionalización | Test carried on the source or pseudo-localized application or web site running on localized Operating Systems or User Agents to check the compliance of the data formats with the target version standards (see Pseudo-localization) |
L
| L10n | L10n | Short for localization: starting "l" followed by 10 letters and a final "n". Generally written in upper case to avoid confusion between upper-case i (I) and lower-case L (l) |
| Language Sign-Off | Aprobación, conformidad, visto bueno lingüístico | Review of the final material performed by a linguist upon completion of engineering or DTP tasks. The goal is to detect potential issues introduced in post-translation processes such as cropped strings, erroneous language versions, misplaced elements (like headers, foot notes, image captions), incomplete lines or paragraph, etc. but not terminology, linguistic style or spelling mistakes. |
| Latin | Latín | Basic character set with various extensions applicable to most Western European languages such as English, Spanish, German, etc. |
| Loc | Loc | Short for Localisation or Localization |
| Localisation, localization (US) | Localización | Process to adapt a product or service information to another language, culture or market |
| Localizability bug | Defecto de localizabilidad | An error in a localized version of an application due to lack of localization capabilities in the original (source) version |
| Localization bug | Defecto de localización | An error due to the localization process (see localizability bug, over-localization, under localization) |
| LSO | LSO | Acronym for Language Sign-Off |
M
| Machine Translation | Traducción automática | Automatic computer-based translation system |
| MLV | MLV | Acronym for Multilingual vendor |
| Mnemonic | Nemónico | Same as Hotkey. Refers to a sign or cue to remind us something else, such as the underlined character of a hotkey |
| MT | MT | Acronym for Machine Translation |
| Multilingual vendor | Proveedor multilíngüe | Company that provides localization into any number of languages |
N
| Non breakable space | Espacio de no separación | Space between two characters that prevents them from being split into two lines as if part of the same word. Relevant in localization since languages like French use them with quotation, exclamation or interrogations marks |
| Non-ASCII | No ASCII | Character other than the standard ASCII character set with a code equal or greater than 128 (see Extended Character) |
P
| Place holder | Marcador de posición | A special character or characters in a software string that will be replaced by a variable value at run-time |
| Pilot language | Idioma piloto | Any target language into which a product is first localized typically while it is being developed. The purposes are to pinpoint early localization and localizability issues and thus fix them and to reduce the delta for top priority language versions (see Delta, Sim ship) |
| PM | Gestor de proyectos | Acronym for Project Manager (or Product Manager) |
| PO | Orden de compra | Acronym for Purchase Order |
| Pseudo-localization | Seudolocalización | Simulated localization where source strings are substituted with controlled ones in order to detect localizability issues before proceeding to the real translation process. Types of controlled strings could be pre-established length increase, trailing special or language-specific (Bi-Di, DBCS, etc.) characters, or generic extended characters (see Bug bash, Bi-Di, DBCS, Extended character, Localizability bug) |
Q
| QA | QA | Acronym for Quality Assurance |
| QSG | Guía de inicio rápido | Acronym for Quick Start Guide |
| Quality Assurance | Control de calidad | Process quality control system specially tailored to evaluate outsourced vendors |
R
| Regression | Regresión | To re-run a test to ensure that bugs found in previous runs have definitely been fixed |
| RTL | Derecha a izquierda | Acronym for Right To Left |
| RTM | Entrega a fábrica | Acronym for Release To Manufacturing |
S
| Sim ship / Simultaneous ship | Lanzamiento simultáneo | Launch of localized versions along with the source one or with a 30 day delta (see Delta) |
| Single Language Vendor | Proveedor de un solo idioma | Company or agency specialized in a target language. Usually provides linguistic services to MLV's (see Multilingual Vendor) |
| SLV | SLV | Acronym for Single Language Vendor |
| Sub-PM | Sub-PM | Short for Subsidiary Project (or Product) Manager |
T
| Test case | Escenario de prueba | A pre-established set of conditions and actions with an expected result to test a particular feature, state or interface of an application or web site |
| Test script | Guión de prueba | Set of instructions to be followed by a tester or an automated testing system to make an application or site being tested attain a state or result |
| Tier | Nivel, grupo | Set of target languages grouped by their priority or other criteria which are handled simultineously. |
| TM | MT | Acronym for Translation Memory |
| Translation Memory | Memoria de traducción | Repository of previously translated strings |
| Triage | Priorización | Set a bug's severity and priority to be fixed, usually by consensus of all parties involved which, for localized versions may include subsidiary project managers, language leads, localization testers, etc. |
U
| Under-localisation | Infralocalización | To skip localization of an item causing it to appear as the original in a localized version |
| ZBR | ZBR | Acronym for Zero Bug Release |
| Zero Bug Release | Versión sin errores | A testing release version with all reported bugs fixed |