🌐 iOS Localization Automation Script

Easily automate translation for iOS localization files (.strings) using Google Translate API via googletrans. This script saves hours of manual work by automatically generating translated .strings files for multiple languages.

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🚀 Features

• ✅ Automatically translates your base Localizable.strings file
• 🌍 Supports multiple target languages
• ⚡ Fast translation with progress tracking (tqdm)
• 🧩 Simple configuration for any iOS project structure
• ⚡ One-click updates for all localizations — no need for extra packages

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📦 Project Setup

1. Clone or Download the Repository

You can either:

• Click Code → Download ZIP on GitHub, then extract the files, or
• Clone the repository using GitHub Desktop or command line:

git clone https://github.com/MianMHaroon/translate_strings_xcode-iOS.git

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2. Add the Script

Place the file translate_strings.py in the root folder of your iOS project.

Your project structure should look like this:

/MyProject
├── translate_strings.py
└── (your existing folders and files)

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3. Install Python

Ensure you have Python 3.x installed. You can download it from: https://www.python.org/downloads

To verify installation, open your terminal and run:

python --version

You should see something like:

Python 3.10.12

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4. Install Required Libraries

Open your terminal and run:

pip install googletrans==4.0.0-rc1 tqdm

This installs:

• googletrans → for automatic translations via Google Translate
• tqdm → for displaying progress bars during translation

⚙️ Alternatives if installation fails

Option 1 — Use pip3 (macOS/Linux):

pip3 install googletrans==4.0.0-rc1 tqdm

Option 2 — Use Python’s module installer:

python -m pip install googletrans==4.0.0-rc1 tqdm

Option 3 — Install latest working version from GitHub:

pip install git+https://github.com/ssut/py-googletrans.git

✅ Tip: Upgrade pip and setuptools if you face issues:

pip install --upgrade pip setuptools

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5. Configure Your Project Path

Open translate_strings.py in a text editor and update:

PROJECT_PATH = "./aichat3/Resources/Localization"
BASE_FILENAME = "Localizable.strings"

Example:

PROJECT_PATH = "./MyApp/Resources/Localization"
BASE_FILENAME = "Base.strings"

Note: PROJECT_PATH should point to the folder containing all .lproj folders (e.g., en.lproj, fr.lproj, de.lproj). Ensure each target language folder and .strings file exists.

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6. Navigate to Your Project Directory

cd path/to/your/project

Example:

cd Desktop/MyProject

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7. Run the Script

python translate_strings.py

Or, if Python 3 is default:

python3 translate_strings.py

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🧠 Example Output

🌍 Translating 120 keys to 'fr'...
FR Progress: 100%|████████████████████| 120/120 [00:08<00:00, 14.83it/s]
🎉 fr: Translation file written to: ./MyApp/Resources/Localization/fr.lproj/Localizable.strings

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💡 Notes & Tips

• Ensure your base .strings file is correctly formatted before running.
• Translations are powered by Google Translate; review results before release.
• You can extend this script to include custom APIs or additional file types.
• Ensure you have an active internet connection during translation.

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🧩 Example Folder Structure

MyApp/
├── Resources/
│   └── Localization/
│       ├── en.lproj/
│       │   └── Localizable.strings
│       ├── fr.lproj/
│       │   └── Localizable.strings
│       ├── es.lproj/
│       │   └── Localizable.strings
│       └── de.lproj/
│           └── Localizable.strings
├── translate_strings.py
└── ...

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🤝 Contributing

Pull requests are welcome! Open an issue on GitHub for bugs or improvements.

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📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License — free to use, modify, and distribute with attribution.

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Author

• Muhammad Haroon
• Email: [email protected]
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mian-haroon

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