Rule Category

Definition

Example Style Rule / Additional information

Smartling default Style Rules available?

Industry/Domain

A one or two sentence description of your company, which industry it operates in, and what it does.
​
Typically, this information is populated automatically by Smartling and does not vary by language.

Example:
​Smartling is a cloud-based translation technology and language services company that helps businesses automate and manage the translation and localization of their digital content.
​It provides an AI-powered platform with tools to streamline the entire translation process, from content creation to delivery, ensuring high-quality translations at a reduced cost and turnaround time.

Yes (populated by Smartling)

Audience

Defines the intended reader (demographics, technical expertise, cultural context).
Example: content aimed at developers vs. end-users.

Example:
​Our user is a localization or marketing professional, a key decision-maker responsible for the successful global expansion of their company's brand. They are tech-savvy and data-driven, constantly seeking innovative solutions to streamline the translation and localization workflow, improve quality, and maximize the ROI of their efforts.

No

Tone

Defines the appropriate tone of voice (e.g., casual, friendly, technical).
Example: “Please submit your request” vs. “Go ahead and send us your request!”

Example:
​The Smartling marketing website has a confident and professional tone, focused on efficiency and results. It speaks directly to the needs of its audience by highlighting the platform's ability to automate workflows, ensure brand consistency, and deliver high-quality translations at scale.

No

Formality

The definition of the formality register.

If a style guide using the Smartling template has been set up, this rule checks for the desired formality register: Formal or informal.
For languages where this is not applicable, a single formality register can be defined by using the "Formality" category.
​
If no style guide using the Smartling template, nor any custom rule text in the category "Formality" is available, a formal register will be applied by default.

Yes

Rule Category

Definition

Smartling default Style Rules available?

Abbreviations / Acronyms

Shortened forms of words or organizations.
Example: “ASAP”, “Dr.”, “NASA”.

Note: For features using RAG technology (e.g., Smartling Auto Select LLM and prompt tooling with RAG), only custom rule text is supported for this category.

Yes

Addresses / Phone Numbers (PII)

Mentions of specific personal information.
Example: “+1 123-456-7890”, “51 Main Street”, “John Smith”.

Note: For features using RAG technology (e.g., Smartling Auto Select LLM and prompt tooling with RAG), only custom rule text is supported for this category.

Yes

Articles

Presence of definite/indefinite articles.
Example: “the”, “a”, “an”; French “l’homme”.

Custom only

Call to Action

Imperative instructions or action prompts.
Example: “Click here”, “Follow these steps”.

Custom only

Capitalization

Use of unusual capitalization.
Example: “WELCOME”, “WeLcOmE”.

Yes

Colloquial Expressions / Slang

Informal or figurative expressions.
Example: “spill the tea”, “hang out”, “cost an arm and a leg”.

Custom only

Compounds

Compound words or multi-part terms.
Example: “sunglasses”, “mother-in-law”.

Custom only

Contractions

Use of shortened forms.
Example: “can’t”, “I’m”, “she’d”.

Custom only

Cultural References

Mentions of culture-specific events, figures, or traditions.
Example: “Thanksgiving”, “Super Bowl”, “Beyoncé”.

Custom only

Currency

References to money.
Example: “$5”, “USD 20”.

Yes

Dates

Date formats and mentions of days/months/years.
Example: “Jan 5”, “5/8/2025”.

Yes

Degrees / Strength of Comparison

Comparative and superlative usage.
Example: “better” vs. “best”, “happier” vs. “happiest”.

Custom only

Formatting / Miscellaneous

Rules for headers, lists, bullet points, indents, line breaks, etc.
Example: whether to use sentence case vs. title case for headings.
This rule category can also be used for miscellaneous rules, which do not fit into any of the other categories.

Custom only

Geographical References

Mentions of countries, cities, or regions.
Example: “Paris”, “California”, “Asia”.

Custom only

Inclusivity

References to accessibility, diversity, or gender neutrality.
Example: “they/them pronouns”, “person with a disability”.

Custom only

Numbers

Use of numeric values (excluding dates, currency, time, units).
Example: “123”, “1,000”.

Yes

Placeholders / Variables

Dynamic placeholders.
Example: “%s”, “{username}”.

Custom only

Plurality

How plural forms should be handled across locales.
Example: “1 file” vs. “2 files” vs. locale-specific plural forms.

Custom only

Pronouns

Personal pronouns.
Example: “I”, “she”, “they”.

Custom only

Punctuation: Period

Use of full stops.
Example: “This is a sentence.”

Yes

Punctuation: Comma

Use of commas.
Example: “apples, oranges, and bananas”.

Yes

Punctuation: Exclamation/Question Mark

Use of ! or ?.
Example: “What’s happening?”

Yes

Punctuation: Quotes

Use of quotation marks.
*Example: “Hello”, ‘Hello’, «Bonjour». *

Yes

Punctuation: Other

Other punctuation marks.
Example: colons (:), dashes (–), brackets ({} []).

Yes

SEO / Keywords

Terms used for search optimization.
Example: “easy vegetarian recipes”, “running shoes”.

Custom only

Standard Error Messages

Common system error text.
Example: “An error occurred, please try again”.

Custom only

Symbols

Use of non-alphanumeric symbols.
*Example: @, #, %, &, *. *

Yes

Syntactic Ordering / Sentence Structure

Preferred sentence structure and word order.
Example: adjective–noun order in English vs. noun–adjective in Romance languages.

Custom only

Time

Time formats.
Example: “12:30 PM”, “18:15”.

Yes

Type of Content

Identifies the content domain.
Example: product description, promotional text, instructions, legal disclaimer.

Custom only

Units of Measurement

Units such as cm, in, ºC.
Example: “20 cm”, “5 kg”.

Yes

Verb Forms

Variations or mismatches in tense, aspect, or conjugation between source and translation.
Example: “to create” vs. “created”.

Custom only