More often than not, translations require more characters than the source copy (especially if English is the source locale). This means that translated content can require more display space than the source content.
As translating content can be of high-value and require time and resources, it can be worthwhile to get a visualization of the predicted structure and layout of your translated content.
Pseudo translation is the simulation of translations, which allows you to view the resemblance of the translated content and make strategic decisions on layout and sizing requirements.
The Smartling Sketch plugin has a built-in pseudo translation feature that can be used to preview changes in text length that occur when translating to other languages, against your layout design.
How to Pseudo Translate a Sketch Page
- Launch Sketch Desktop App
- Open a new or existing Sketch page
- Under Pages, click the page you would like to preview in pseudo translation
- Click on Plugins > Smartling > Pseudotranslate
- Select the text expansion ratio from the dropdown (see text expansion ratios explained below)
- Click Apply Translations
- A copy of your chosen page will be created with selected pseudo translations
Text Expansion Ratios
- Chinese, Japanese: reduces text size by 50%.
- Korean: reduces text size by 30%.
- Baseline: displays pseudo translations with no text expansion.
- Most European Languages: increases text size by 15%.
- French, Italian: increases text size by 30%.
- Dutch, German: increases text size by 50%.