CATS Applicant Tracking System

At CATS we’ve always worked hard to make our software available to as much of the world as we can. Because we offer a cloud-based solution, with reach across the globe, translating our platform into different languages has been a great way to do that. We’re continually improving our system with new features. This presents a challenge for maintaining complete translation coverage and sourcing internationalization for many individual projects. That said, CATS is used by thousands of customers in dozens of countries, every day. So the effort has been worth it.  

But maybe we were putting in too much effort… let me explain!  

Previously, our localization process consisted of 3 steps. First, developers write the code, wherein they mark various bits of text to be translated, a sentence here, or an individual word there. Second, whenever a page or feature is added to CATS, its bits of text are automatically included in a list of English to translate. Third, whenever that list gets too long, we manually send off untranslated portions of that list to third party translation services, and then import their work into CATS.  

It’s that third step we’ve taken a closer look at. As you know, any manual process is a potential streamline point. It’s not always possible, but in this case, we’ve removed our developer interaction entirely. The third step now looks like this:  

Every time a bit of text is added to the list of English to translate, a separate request is automatically sent off for each of our target languages. The requests go to a third-party translation service, and are received by a team of professional translators around the world. We’ve worked with each translator before, so we know they provide a high standard of service. When the translation is complete, they send it back to us via an online portal we’ve set up to collect the translations. The translated text is automatically put into our database, corresponding with its language and the original English. And then it’s all ready for a CATS user to see, without any further developer involvement!  

The new system makes sure we’re always up-to-date with our international availability, keeps costs down, and increases our potential customer base whenever we add a new language. Every one of those outcomes is good for CATS and good for our customers. Speaking of adding new languages, we’ll be expanding our selection in the coming months. So if you’ve got a friend in Spain, or a former co-worker in Germany, don’t hesitate to give us a shout out.

Additional Resources

For the latest news and announcements from CATS, follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, and read our blogs.