Waze & Transifex

Waze is one of the biggest companies to use crowdsourced translations with huge success. Since 2017, they have managed to expand in 58 different languages! Here is how they used Transifex to achieve their goals.

Waze needed a way to manage translations in multiple languages with multiple contributors and to become available to as many languages as possible, which is where Transifex comes in. 

They have to translate everything from their application and website to newsletters, emails, subtitles, and more! The impressive part is that a lot of this is being done with the help of approximately 350 volunteer translators, plus professional linguists! But more about that later. 

The thing is that to communicate with so many people and manage their work efficiently, you need a tool that’s specifically designed for this. Translation Management Systems are great for that since their communication tools are specifically tailored with translation tasks in mind. 

We can safely assume that things can get hectic with a more generic communication tool. Though, a combination of both is often the best approach, as we’ll soon find out in this success story.

In regards to managing translations, Waze uses the Transifex editor to add new languages, translate them, and make sure that they are always up to date with the source language by using a continuous localization workflow. 

When it comes to translators, a big part of Waze’s localization team is made up by volunteers who want to provide a better Waze experience for Wazers internationally. This challenge is solved by using Transifex’s built-in crowdsourcing and team management capabilities. 

And this is not exactly a simple process. The volunteers, or as Waze calls them, the “Localizers”, need to know the Waze products very well. They need to meet some criteria, such as being an experienced Waze Map Editor with at least 6 months of experience. 

To manage everyone from the interviewing process to the onboarding and managing their work, Waze uses Discord in combination with Transifex.  

Waze mentioned that a particularly useful solution is being able to search for strings, create reports, and that the Translation Management System automatically notifies translators about new work, as well as the managers when the work is completed.

Thanks to all these efforts and the available tools, Waze is now localizing in 58 languages with a community of about 350 volunteer translators and professional linguists since 2017! 

Waze now has a continuous localization workflow where they can quickly send and adjust content in an easy manner.