About LightBurn Software
LightBurn Software is a leading provider of laser engraving software, known for its intuitive platform that supports a wide range of laser engraver controllers.
With users worldwide, LightBurn was ready to expand its reach by offering its software in 27 different languages, ensuring accessibility and usability for its growing international customer base. However, they faced significant challenges in building an efficient software localization workflow to reach their expanding international audience.
Managing consistent, efficient, and cost-effective translations—given the complexity of their UI and the technical nature of the content—seemed impossible to the team, until they found Taia.
The Challenge
Before partnering with Taia, LightBurn struggled with a fragmented software localization process:
- Multiple translators from different companies led to inefficiencies, increased costs, and inconsistent translations
- No centralized vetting process meant quality often varied, and translators frequently misunderstood the technical context
- Overwhelming project management made managing multiple projects across languages time-consuming for their internal team
- Falling behind on translations meant the application was primarily in English for most foreign customers
As Adam Haile, Engineering Director at LightBurn, explained:
“We were way behind on translations, to the point where the application was primarily in English for most foreign customers. We had considered actually dropping down to only 6-8 primary supported languages at one point because it was too much to keep up with otherwise.”
The team was seriously considering reducing their supported languages to just a handful, as keeping up with demand seemed unattainable under their previous workflow.
The Taia Solution
Taia approached LightBurn’s software localization needs with a custom-tailored solution designed specifically for their QT-based application.
QT-Specific Workflow
Knowing that LightBurn’s application was built with QT, Taia designed a specialized workflow that leveraged:
- QT Linguist for in-context review, allowing linguists to see translations directly in the app’s context
- AI-assisted pre-translation combined with Translation Memory (TM) for efficiency
- Expert linguists who could review and validate translations within the context of the UI, ensuring technical accuracy and consistency
Comprehensive Preparation
One of the key steps in the process was thorough analysis and preparation:
- Deep analysis of source content to understand technical requirements
- Creation of a comprehensive glossary and terminology list as the foundation for consistency
- Integration of previously translated sections from LightBurn’s community and previous Language Service Provider (LSP)
- Deep review and proofreading to seamlessly merge existing translations into the new workflow
By focusing on the preparation of linguistic assets early in the process, Taia ensured that every linguist involved could refer to the same terminologies, which reduced discrepancies and delivered a more polished final product.
Results and Impact
By consolidating translation management under Taia’s single team, LightBurn achieved remarkable results:
Increased Efficiency: LightBurn went from considering dropping to 6-8 languages to being fully localized in 27 languages, opening their product to a much broader audience.
“Taia made any of it feel actually possible. We had considered actually dropping down to only 6-8 primary supported languages at one point because it was too much to keep up with otherwise.”
Higher Quality and Consistency: The use of specialized tools like QT Linguist and AI-assisted pre-translation, combined with internal consistency checks, greatly improved translation quality.
“Our domain space is not easy to translate since it requires a lot of technical knowledge. It is good to know that that knowledge is shared internally at Taia for use with our translations.”
Cost Reduction: Taia’s combination of AI, Translation Memory, and human expertise allowed LightBurn to achieve significant cost savings compared to their previous methods, while receiving higher-quality translations.
Scalability and Future-Readiness: With API integration in place, LightBurn is now prepared to handle future content changes seamlessly, reducing turnaround times for updates and ensuring they can maintain their release schedule without localization becoming a bottleneck.
Adam Haile
Managing Director
LightBurn Software