About 16 minutes reading · 29 minutes practice
You will produce: A transcreation brief, terminology glossary and approval record.
Provide the intent behind the sentence
A reviewer needs to know who the copy addresses, what the user wants and what the app actually does. Include screenshots, feature conditions and the communication role of each field. Mark terms that are brand names and phrases that can be freely adapted. Without this context, even fluent translation can preserve the wrong meaning or lose an essential qualification.
Create a shared glossary
Record approved product terms, rejected alternatives, tone and reasons for important choices. Include words with ambiguous category meanings. A glossary is a living decision record, not just a bilingual list. It should help future reviewers maintain consistency across metadata, screenshots, onboarding and support, especially when different people work on different surfaces.
Review meaning and fit together
Ask the reviewer to explain significant departures from the source wording. Check the adapted text in its actual field and design context, including length and line breaks. A literal back-translation can reveal discrepancies but is not proof of quality. The final acceptance should combine local linguistic judgment, product truth and the intended user situation.
Quick check · pick a response
Make the call before you scroll.
Go deeper: practical decisions and tradeoffs
Explain the meaning that must survive
Give the reviewer the audience situation, intended benefit, product proof and important limitations. Include screenshots and the actual field context. A string without context can be translated correctly but communicate the wrong task. Mark brand terms that must remain unchanged and concepts that can be expressed naturally. Explain why particular English phrases were chosen, but do not require literal word order. The goal is equivalent useful meaning for the local audience, not a sentence that mirrors the source language.
Create a glossary that records decisions
For each important concept, store the approved local term, alternatives considered, forbidden implications and usage notes. Include grammatical variants where context requires them. Keep the glossary connected to the product and screenshot copy so one feature does not acquire several inconsistent names. A glossary is not frozen forever: record who can change it and what evidence supports a revision. If a term is uncertain, label it as provisional rather than allowing different contributors to make silent independent choices.
Review the final layout with the language specialist
Translation approval before design is only one stage. Shortening, line breaks and UI truncation can change meaning. Give the reviewer the exported artwork and actual console strings after layout. Back-translation can help identify meaning drift, but naturalness and local search intent require direct local judgment. Record unresolved questions, such as whether a term sounds like navigation, and resolve them before approving the promise. Keep the final wording linked to its research rationale.
Platform references for this work: Apple — Localize app information · Google Play — Translate and localize your app
Your turn · two-minute exercise
Try the scenario. Make your case.
A translator asks whether trail log means a GPS route record or a written memory. Write the clarification they need, including product proof and the implication that must be avoided.
Autosaved on this browser. Your work is private and does not sync between devices.
Your step-by-step procedure
Package audience, product screens, field purpose and claim qualifications for the reviewer.
Create a glossary with approved terms and ambiguous alternatives.
Request adaptation with explanations for important wording choices.
Review final copy in layout and record language/product approval separately.
Completed example · use the reasoning
A transcreation handover
Gabriel’s take: Literal translation can preserve every word and lose the entire point.
Constructed teaching material, not a client result. Adapt the evidence and product facts before using it for your app.
English intent
Keep the story of every walk
Spanish draft for review
Guarda los recuerdos de cada caminata
Meaning to preserve
Personal memories, not route guidance
Avoid
Claims implying navigation or guaranteed fitness results
Approval
Fluent in-market reviewer validates natural usage before release.
Your turn · repair the decision
Make the call. Then compare.
Write a reviewer brief for the draft without calling it a finished translation.
Autosaved on this browser. Your work is private and does not sync between devices.
Explore the supporting case and interpretation
Trail Notes’ source phrase “capture your trail” could mean recording a GPS route. The brief explains that the intended benefit is preserving memories. A local reviewer adapts the phrase accordingly and records the rejected route-recording interpretation in the glossary. That decision is then reused in screenshots and onboarding, preventing another translator from reintroducing the same ambiguity later.
Brief component: Intent
Example need: Remember a walk
Reviewer output: Natural local expression
Brief component: Boundary
Example need: No navigation functionality
Reviewer output: Words that would imply routing
Brief component: Context
Example need: Short caption beside journal screen
Reviewer output: Approved phrase in layout
Brief component: Glossary
Example need: Consistent term for an entry
Reviewer output: Preferred term and variants
The boundary row is as important as the desired message. Without it, a reviewer may choose an attractive outdoor phrase that suggests unsupported guidance. The context row prevents a sentence approved in a document from becoming awkward or misleading when shortened for artwork. A useful handover preserves reasoning so future editors can maintain the local voice without restarting every decision.
Build a handover someone can use
Context brief
Provide audience, situation, desired meaning and verified product boundaries.
Source assets
Attach editable strings, screenshots, field limits and where each phrase appears.
Glossary
Record approved terminology, variants, rejected implications and change ownership.
Review record
Capture language and layout approval for the actual final version.
Open questions
Assign unresolved meaning or intent issues and state whether they block release.
Your ASO assignment
Use your own app and evidence, or work through the teaching case. Keep your observations separate from assumptions and explain the reasoning behind your decisions.
Build something · track your work
Your assignment checklist
Tick each item after you have produced the work. Reading it does not count. The strategy deck will survive.
0 of 3 tasks checked.
Autosaved on this browser. Your work is private and does not sync between devices. Course completion is recorded separately.
Assess your work
- The reviewer can understand the product without guessing.
- Essential qualifications survive adaptation.
- The glossary records reasons for high-impact language choices.
Common mistakes to catch
- Using back-translation as the only quality check.
- Sending isolated strings with no field or product context.
Sources and further reading
Platform references reviewed 29 September 2026. These sources support platform capabilities and constraints; the teaching frameworks, assignments and illustrative cases are original course material.
- Apple — Localize app information — Localized metadata and language behavior.
- Google Play — Translate and localize your app — Localization workflow and language support.
Your ASO lesson notes
Use this space for your assignment, evidence and handover. Your notes save automatically in this browser. Download a copy to take with you.
Notes stay on this device and are not submitted to ASO Agency.
Complete your assignment with the Listing Studio.
Loading your progress…
Progress is saved only in this browser. It does not sync across devices. Mark a lesson complete after doing its exercise.