Presentation: Translating Digital Interfaces

Slide 1 of 7 · Settling starter · MFL · Year 7

5 minutes

Twelve icons: what does each button do?

Someone has to write the words on every button of every app, in every language it is sold in. That job is called localisation. Today you build a 4-language glossary of interface words, then put a school library app into French or Spanish without breaking the layout.

While the register is called: write your name, class and date on your worksheet, then look at the 12 icons on the stimulus sheet. For each one, say quietly to your partner what tapping it would do.

Starter question: Which icon takes you back to the first page of an app, and what is it a picture of?

DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Communication No computers needed · a paper lesson from start to finish

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Hand out: one worksheet per pupil and one stimulus sheet (Twelve icons, four languages) per pupil or between two. Pupils need a pen. You need no French, Spanish or Welsh: every word pupils need is in the word bank on the stimulus sheet and the answers are on the worked example.

Say aloud: “Write your name, class and date at the top of your worksheet. While I take the register, look at the 12 icons on the stimulus sheet. For each one, tell your partner what tapping it would do, for example: the magnifying glass means look for something.”

Starter answer: the Home icon, a picture of a house. It goes back to the first page. Keep this in mind for later: the French word is not the word for house.

Slide 2 of 7 · Today’s brief and key words · MFL · Year 7

3 minutes

Your brief: a glossary, 3 traps, and a localised library screen

You will fill in a 12-word glossary in French, Spanish and Welsh, answer the 3 traps questions, then localise the Bryn Onnen library app screen into one language, French or Spanish, where every button is only 16 characters wide.

Localisation

Harder than translation: the word has to mean the right thing and fit in the button.

False friend

A word that looks like an English word but means something else. Spanish actualizar is not “actually”.

Character limit

Every button on the library screen is 16 characters wide. Anything longer is cut off on the real screen.

DCF: Interacting and collaborating → Communication Match each icon to what it does, not what it looks like

Slide 3 of 7 · Step 2: the glossary grid · MFL · Year 7

12 minutes

Step 2: fill in the glossary grid from the jumbled word bank

Use the word bank on the stimulus sheet. Copy the accents exactly: paramètres and sesión are wrong without them. The first 2 rows are done for you.

English	Français	Español	Cymraeg
Save	enregistrer	guardar	cadw
Search	rechercher	buscar	chwilio

Step 2 on your worksheet · 12 minutes Every accent in place

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “The first 2 rows are on the board. Fill in the other 10 rows using the word bank on the stimulus sheet. Cross words off the bank as you use them. Copy every accent exactly.”

Quick check: Settings: paramètres, ajustes, gosodiadau. Download: télécharger, descargar, lawrlwytho. Delete: supprimer, eliminar, dileu. Home: accueil, inicio, hafan. Back: retour, atrás, yn ôl. Attach a file: joindre un fichier, adjuntar un archivo, atodi ffeil. Print: imprimer, imprimir, argraffu. Refresh: actualiser, actualizar, adnewyddu. Share: partager, compartir, rhannu. Log out: se déconnecter, cerrar sesión, allgofnodi.

Walk the room: accents to insist on are paramètres, télécharger, se déconnecter, atrás, cerrar sesión and yn ôl. A pupil who writes maison or casa for Home has translated the picture, not the action; the word bank does not contain either.

Slide 4 of 7 · Step 3: the three traps · MFL · Year 7

5 minutes

Step 3: the three traps that translation software gets wrong

Answer the 3 questions in the traps table. Say how you would decide, not just which answer is right.

1. A French app has one button, télécharger. How do you know whether it means download or upload?

2. A pupil translates “Refresh” into Spanish as en realidad. What have they done, and what is the right word?

3. Why is the French for the Home button accueil and not maison?

Step 3 on your worksheet · 5 minutes Check the arrow on the icon

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “5 minutes for the three traps. The hints are at the bottom of the stimulus sheet under ‘Three traps to watch for’. Write your answer in your own words.”

Quick check: 1. French uses the same verb for moving a file in either direction, so the word alone does not tell you. Work it out from the arrow on the icon (pointing down into a tray means download) or from the more precise verb téléverser, which can only mean upload. 2. They have fallen for a false friend. Actualizar looks like “actually” but means to update or refresh, which is exactly what the button does, so actualizar is right and en realidad (“actually”) is wrong. 3. The house is a picture of the idea, not the idea. The button takes you to the starting screen, so French uses accueil (welcome), Spanish inicio (start) and Welsh hafan. Maison would translate the drawing and leave the user guessing.

Slide 5 of 7 · Steps 4 and 5: localise the library screen · MFL · Year 7

20 minutes

Step 4 & Step 5: localise the Bryn Onnen library screen

Step 4 (15 min): choose French or Spanish, write it at the top of the table, then write your label and its character count for all 10 rows. Every button is 16 characters wide.

Step 5 (5 min): any label over 16 characters must be shortened. In “Anything too long”, write the label that did not fit, the shorter version, and why it still tells the user what the button does.

Where it appears in English	My label (French)	Characters (max 16)
Title: Library	Bibliothèque	12
Button: Save	Enregistrer	11

Steps 4 and 5 on your worksheet · 20 minutes Same word for the same action everywhere on the screen

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “Choose one language, French or Spanish, and write it on the line. Two French rows are on the board as a model. Fill in all 10 rows with your label and count the characters, including spaces and accents. You have 15 minutes. Then take 5 minutes to record anything you had to cut and why.”

Quick check (French, characters): Bibliothèque 12 · Rechercher un livre 19 (the search field allows 24, so it is fine) · 3 livres à rendre vendredi (text, not a button) · Enregistrer 11 · Télécharger 11 · Partager 8 · Imprimer 8 · Aide 4 · Paramètres 10 · Se déconnecter 14. Spanish: Biblioteca 10 · Buscar un libro 15 · 3 libros para devolver el viernes · Guardar 7 · Descargar 9 · Compartir 9 · Imprimir 8 · Ayuda 5 · Ajustes 7 · Cerrar sesión 13.

Walk the room: a good “too long” entry looks like the model pupil’s: Enregistrer dans ma liste was 25 characters, 9 over, cut to Enregistrer (11) because the user can already see they are looking at one book; Télécharger le livre was 20, cut to Télécharger (11) because the arrow on the icon shows the direction. The Spanish version needs no shortening at all: Spanish is the tightest of the languages here and French the loosest. A pupil whose Spanish labels all fit should write that down as their answer.

Slide 6 of 7 · Step 6: swap and check · MFL · Year 7

3 minutes

Step 6: swap with a partner and count their characters

People always miscount their own. Count your partner’s characters for every button label, then tick the success criteria their work meets. Correct 1 thing before handing in.

I match each icon to what it does, not to what it looks like.
My glossary is spelled correctly with every accent in place.
I can explain a false friend (actualizar) and a word with two meanings (télécharger) in my own words.
Every label on my screen fits inside 16 characters, and I say what I cut where it did not.
My labels use the same word for the same action everywhere on the screen.

3 minutes · partner check Finished early? Do the screen again in Welsh using the Cymraeg column

Supply teacher script (no subject knowledge needed)

Say aloud: “Swap worksheets with your partner. Count the characters in each of their button labels, spaces included, and write the number if they got it wrong. Tick the success criteria they have met, then swap back and correct 1 thing.”

Extension answers: the Welsh screen uses the Cymraeg column (cadw, lawrlwytho, rhannu, argraffu, gosodiadau, allgofnodi); pupils should say which language needed the most shortening (the worked example found French the loosest and Spanish the tightest). The error message “Sorry, that book is already on loan” should be polite but simple for a Year 7 reader; accept any sensible attempt. For the icons they could not guess, accept any icon with a clear reason and a better drawing.

Slide 7 of 7 · Plenary review · MFL · Year 7

2 minutes

Quick-check answers before handing in

Check your answers before your worksheets are collected.

Question	Correct answer
What is the French for the Home button, and why not maison?	Accueil (welcome). The button goes to the starting screen; maison translates the picture of a house, not the action.
What does Spanish actualizar mean?	To update or refresh. It is a false friend: “actually” is en realidad.
How many characters wide is each button on the library screen?	16. Anything longer is cut off, so Enregistrer dans ma liste (25) became Enregistrer (11).

Check your name and class are on your worksheet Leave stimulus sheets neat on the desk