Locale QA Gate Before Client Sign-Off (QA)

Locale QA Gate Before Client Sign-Off (QA)

1. 01

   Freeze the source string set and record its version hash before any language pass begins

   Pull the source snapshot from the platform of record (Crowdin, Lokalise, or Phrase all expose string versioning) so a reviewer can prove which English copy was translated. Without a frozen baseline, a late source edit silently invalidates every downstream locale.

2. 02

   Confirm glossary and brand-term enforcement is active for every target language

   Check that product names, legal disclaimers, and prohibited terms are locked in the glossary layer. DeepL glossaries and Lokalise custom AI profiles both enforce terminology, but only if the term list was loaded before the translation run, not after.

3. 03

   Run a context pass on strings flagged as short, ambiguous, or UI-constrained

   Anything under roughly 40 characters or containing a placeholder variable needs a screenshot or developer note attached. Machine output on isolated fragments is where tone and gender agreement break first, and reviewers cannot fix what they cannot see.

4. 04

   Sample-review at least 10 percent of each locale with a native reviewer, weighted toward high-traffic pages

   Prioritize checkout, pricing, navigation, and legal copy over blog archives. A 10 percent sample on revenue pages catches more client-facing damage than a full read of low-traffic documentation.

5. 05

   Test rendered layout in each locale for text expansion and truncation

   German and Finnish routinely run 30 percent longer than English; Arabic and Hebrew require right-to-left checks. Verify buttons, tables, and mobile breakpoints in staging, not in the production build.

6. 06

   Verify hreflang tags, locale-specific URLs, and metadata resolve correctly

   Weglot and Linguise generate hreflang automatically, but a misconfigured canonical or a missing return link will suppress the localized pages in search. Spot-check three URLs per locale before sign-off.

7. 07

   Log every reviewer override and unresolved string in a defect register with an owner and due date

   The register becomes the evidence pack for the client and the input for the next release cycle. Strings that recur across releases signal a glossary gap, not a translator error.

8. 08

   Get written client sign-off on the locale set and archive the QA record with the delivery folder

   Sign-off should name the locales covered, the reviewer, and the date. This protects the retainer when a client later disputes a translation choice.