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Definition
Pseudo-translation enables you to test internationalization aspects of your ABAP developments before translation even starts. Your texts are replaced with an altered version of the original language that includes the most problematic characteristics of the world’s languages. For example, the original language text Company could be displayed as [Ĉŏɱρąŋŷ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙] on a pseudo-translated interface.
Note

Pseudo-translation is part of the development cycle, not the translation cycle. It is a quality assurance step that developers take to ensure that their user interfaces can be translated later without, for example, the end of translations being cut off or hard coded texts not being translated at all.

Use
Pseudo-translation enables you to identify and fix bugs during the development cycle that would otherwise cause problems, and significantly increase costs, during the subsequent translation cycle. Examples of such bugs include:

  • Pseudo text strings that are not followed by a series of dots.

    For example, if the original language text Company is displayed as [Ĉŏɱρąŋŷ] on a pseudo-translated interface, this indicates that you have not extended the field length. Translators working in the short text editor in transaction SE63 will be unable to enter texts that are longer than the text in the original language. This often forces translators to abbreviate, even though there is in fact plenty of space for the full translation to be displayed on the user interface. This makes translated versions of the user interface less intuitive, and therefore more difficult to use.

    SAP recommends that you extend the field length of as many text strings as possible so that translators can enter texts that are longer than your original language texts.

  • Pseudo text strings for which an opening square bracket, but no closing square bracket exists.

    For example, if the original language text Company is displayed as [Ĉŏɱρąŋŷ∙∙∙∙∙∙∙ on a pseudo-translated interface, this indicates that the graphical user interface cannot display the maximum field length. Translators working in the short text editor in transaction SE63 will be able to enter texts that are longer than the text in the original language, but their translations might be truncated on the user interface.

    SAP recommends that you find the exact cause of the problem and solve it, so that texts in all languages are displayed in full.

  • Text strings for which no pseudo-translations exist.

    For example, if the original language text Company is displayed as Company on a pseudo-translated interface, this indicates that you have hard coded the text.

    SAP recommends that you do not hard code text, because hard coded texts cannot be translated at all.

    Note that pseudo-translation only works for ABAP short text objects. Furthermore, pseudo-translation is not (always) possible for certain objects that are listed at the end of Activating Pseudo-Translation.

  • Several pseudo-translations that appear in a single string.

    For example, if the original language text Exclude Local Objects is displayed as [Ĕχċĺűƌē∙∙∙∙][Ļŏċąĺ∙Ŏƃĵēċţş∙∙∙∙∙∙∙∙] on a pseudo-translated interface, this indicates that you have concatenated. Splitting text across several text elements often leads to translation errors and is always bad for the quality of the proposal pool, which is the translation memory that is used to support short text translation.

    SAP recommends that you do not split text across several text elements.

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