Ackuna to help app developers with free translations

BANGALORE, INDIA: English is a useful tool of globalization, but it's far from being the most popular or the only language on the web.

In fact, according to internet world stats, only about 27 per cent of all internet users speak English. What does this mean for web and app developers?

It means they are severely limiting their user base by restricting their target audience to English speakers alone. In order to reach a larger market, developers need to localize: make their software accessible in different regions, in different languages. This can be an arduous, expensive task.

But a company called Ackuna is looking to change that with a free translation platform for developers. Ackuna is a project of professional translation agency Translation Cloud, and has recently come out of beta.

Ackuna offers free translation through crowd-sourcing; a new concept in the $1billion+ industry. While free translation is nothing new, in the past it has always been relegated to machine translation tools, which are historically inaccurate methods of translation. Ackuna is different, whereas text strings are segmented and real human users translate them for review by other users.

Once a translation is submitted, its quality is voted on by other language enthusiasts, until an accurate translation is agreed upon by the majority. The level of accuracy (i.e. the number of votes which determine a translation is accurate or note) can be adjusted by the app's developer.

The most industrious aspect of Ackuna is how the program separates the text from the original programming language. There is no need to pre-format the files before uploading them to Ackuna.

Ackuna accepts original string files for all the popular application formats, including Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry Resource, and more. After the translation is complete, the text is inserted back into the original file and the developer can download their project now in the new language.

Crowdsourcing is great, and free, but if the user requires a faster and more professionally assured translation, Ackuna also offers access to Translation Cloud's professional services as an upgrade.

Ackuna itself boasts a community of about 5,300 users, about 3,000 of which are volunteer translators. Translation Cloud is an agency of over 15,000 professional translators, many of whom use Ackuna to practice, network, and build a client base.

Ackuna is a young startup with a lot of potential, and it's a viable option for developers looking to translate their apps in order to expand to bigger markets. Best of all, they can do it without needing to spend the enormous rates typically associated with professional translation, nor having to settle for an inaccurate machine translation.