The challenges of translating JSON

August 25, 2026

When most people picture a translation agency, they imagine literary scholars sipping espresso, passionately debating whether a subtle French nuance translates better as “melancholy” or “wistfulness”. They picture stacks of dusty manuscripts, classic novels, or perhaps slick marketing brochures destined for a global launch.

While we certainly love a good tagline, the reality of modern translation is often much more… digital. In the localisation industry, we aren’t just wordsmiths; we are problem-solvers and formatting detectives. On any given Tuesday, our project managers might receive software strings in custom XML, promotional materials with complex layouts created in vector graphics formats, or scans of legal contracts that must first be made editable using optical character recognition. But recently, one format has risen above the rest to become both a frequent visitor and our most delicate challenge: the JSON file.

The nature of the JSON format

For the uninitiated, JSON stands for JavaScript Object Notation. Despite its complex-sounding name, it is actually designed to be simple. It is a lightweight, text-based format used widely by developers to store and transport data. Whenever an app on your phone fetches data from a server or a website loads a dynamic product catalogue, there is a good chance that it is using JSON behind the scenes.

If you look inside a JSON file, you will find a structured list wrapped in curly brackets. It uses a “key–value” system to organise information. Here is a brief look at what a snippet of an e-commerce app’s data might look like in its native habitat:

{

     "ui_strings": {

          "welcome_message": "Welcome back, valued customer!",

          "terms_conditions": "Terms & conditions",

          "click_next": "Click \"Next\" to continue."

     },

     "debug_active": false

}

From a software engineer’s perspective, this is an elegant way to structure information. From a traditional translator’s perspective, it looks like a matrix of digital code ready to break at the slightest touch. And they wouldn’t be entirely wrong.

Why JSON translation is a minefield

Translating a JSON file isn’t as simple as opening it in an editor, hitting “Translate” and saving it. In fact, doing that is a guaranteed way to break the client’s software entirely. Here is why translating JSON makes our project managers break a sweat without the proper guardrails:

1. The sanctity of the “keys”: In the example above, the text on the left (like "welcome_message") is the “key” that the software uses for identification. The text on the right ("Welcome back, valued customer!") is the “value”, that is the actual text the user sees. If a translator accidentally translates "welcome_message" into Spanish as "mensaje_de_bienvenida", the app will fail to work as it can no longer find the key it was programmed to look for.
2. Syntax sensitivity: JSON is notoriously unforgiving. Miss a single double quote ("), accidentally delete a colon (:), or add an extra comma (,) at the end of a list, and the entire file becomes corrupted.
3. Non-translatable data: Notice the line that says "debug_active": false. That false is system configuration data, not user-facing text. A translator must know to skip over it entirely.
4. Special character encodings: Because JSON relies on specific characters to define its boundaries (like inverted commas to indicate text strings), it gets confused when those same characters show up elsewhere. To fix this, these characters must be “escaped” using a backslash, turning "Next" into \"Next\". Furthermore, strings containing HTML code require the correct encoding of special characters (“entities”) as well, turning & into &.

Our job is to ensure that the files make it through the translation process safely without causing headaches for translators or software developers.

Parsing tools and segregation

So, how do we handle this without driving our linguists crazy or crashing our clients’ apps? We don’t ask our translators to work directly inside the raw code. Instead, we utilise advanced computer-assisted translation software and custom file parsers.

When a client sends us a JSON file, our engineering team passes it through a specialised tool that uses rules and patterns to identify the structural “keys” and other untranslatable content. It then locks them down and extracts only the “values” for translation in a clean, human-friendly interface.

To the translator, the messy code disappears. They are presented with a simple view with the source language on one side and an empty box for the target language on the other. They can focus entirely on linguistic quality, context and tone without worrying about breaking a line of code.

Once the translation is finalised and rigorously proofread, our system performs the reverse operation. It safely injects the newly translated text back into the original JSON structure. Because the structural skeleton of the file was locked and left completely untouched, the file retains its structural integrity. It can be handed back to the developers and deployed immediately into production without a single line of code breaking.

Alpha is your expert for the translation of JSON files

In the modern localisation landscape, being a great translation agency requires a dual identity. We must be guardians of language, ensuring that the emotional resonance and accuracy of the words are preserved across cultures. But we must also be technical partners, respecting the rigid frameworks of the software developers who build the modern world.

By mastering complex and uncommon formats like JSON, we ensure our clients can scale globally at the speed of code – proving that language and logic can live in perfect harmony. Contact us!

Kategorien: know-how
Tags: jsonTranslation, translation of json files