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Fix Bad Translations with Needs Review

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Fix Bad Translations with Needs Review

Translation wrong? Learn when to fix one locale vs. refresh all languages, and how NeedsReview propagation works across parser-backed localization files.

Use this guide when a translation is wrong and you need to decide whether to re-review one locale or all locales.

Decision Rule

  1. Use locale-only NeedsReview when one target language is wrong.
  2. Use base-wide refresh when base copy or translation guidance changed and every locale should be revisited.

Locale-Only Fix (One Language)

  1. Open the target non-base translation.
  2. Change state to NeedsReview.
  3. Save and confirm re-translation.

What happens

  • A re-translation task is queued for that single locale row.
  • Base language rows do not fan out from this action.
  • If the row was already NeedsReview, duplicate confirmation is skipped.

Base-Wide Fix (All Languages)

Use this when source meaning changed, or when a comment/context update should refresh all locales.

  1. Turn on the relevant retranslation trigger if the refresh should happen from source changes.
  2. Update base source content, base context/comment, or base review state.
  3. Run sync/import.
  4. Review non-base rows moved to NeedsReview.

What happens in parser sync

  • Base value changes mark matching non-base rows as NeedsReview + Pending when Retranslate when base text changes is enabled. TestFlight What-to-Test base content changes always refresh related locale notes.
  • Existing non-base values are preserved for reviewer context.
  • Base rows stay stable while downstream locale review is propagated.

Important Parser Nuances

XCStrings

  • Repeated identical needs_review signals are coalesced to reduce duplicate processing.
  • Comment/context updates can retrigger locale review when guidance changes.
  • Completed rows are not reprocessed unless new changes are detected.
  • In-flight review rows (Pending / InProgress) are preserved during follow-up syncs.

Android XML

  • Base value changes can mark stale non-base rows NeedsReview when the base-text retranslation trigger is enabled.
  • Locale-only XML sync does not trigger global review fan-out.

i18next JSON

  • Locale is inferred from the file path, and namespace files are grouped together for tracking.
  • Base value changes follow the base-text retranslation trigger.
  • Existing target values are preserved unless the row is queued for refresh.

TestFlight What-to-Test

  • Only base-language content changes trigger global NeedsReview.
  • Non-base file processing does not override base-driven review state.

When Not to Use Base-Wide

  • Typo or style issue in one language only.
  • Glossary or term issue isolated to a single locale.