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How Do You Localize Accessibility Features Like Alt Text and ARIA Labels?
Localizing accessibility features means translating and adapting the non-visible text that assistive technology reads aloud — alt text, ARIA labels, and screen-reader-only strings — into every language a product ships in. Because this content never renders on screen, it's the content most likely to get skipped by a translation workflow built around visible UI copy. Smartling's Global Delivery Network (GDN) captures these attributes as translatable strings by default, then applies the same glossary, style guide, and quality checks used for visible copy so screen-reader users get a natural, WCAG-conformant experience in every locale, not just the source language.
Last reviewed: August 31, 2026
Why Does Accessibility Content Get Lost in Translation?
Alt text, ARIA labels, and screen-reader strings go untranslated for a specific, recurring set of reasons — not because teams don't care about accessibility, but because standard localization workflows are built around what a reviewer can see.
- Visual QA can't catch what isn't visible. A reviewer clicking through a translated site or app checks what's rendered on screen, so alt text and ARIA labels can stay in English through an entire QA pass without anyone noticing.
- Attributes live in markup, not body copy. alt, title, aria-label, and aria-describedby sit inside HTML or JSX attributes rather than paragraph or button text, so a content export built around visible strings can skip them entirely.
- Assistive technology imposes its own length constraints. Mobile accessibility labels and ARIA descriptions often have practical character limits, so a literal, word-for-word translation can get truncated or read awkwardly aloud.
- Screen-reader phrasing has to be heard, not just read. A screen reader speaks the string exactly as written; a translation produced as if it would only ever be read on a page can sound stilted or unnatural out loud.
- WCAG conformance is usually verified once, in the source language. Many accessibility audits run a single WCAG 2.2 AA scan in English and don't re-run it per locale, so a locale-specific regression — a missing translated label, a broken aria-describedby reference — can ship undetected.
What Does It Take to Localize Accessibility Content Correctly?
Correctly localizing accessibility content depends on five layers working together, not just translating the strings.
- Complete content capture — every translatable attribute (alt, title, aria-label, aria-describedby) has to be identified and pulled into the workflow alongside visible body and button text, not treated as a separate, manual step.
- Context for translators — because these strings carry no visual rendering of their own, translators need to see the UI element a label describes to avoid a literal, word-for-word rendering that reads oddly out loud.
- Style and tone consistency — the glossary and style guide that keep visible UI copy consistent should extend to accessibility strings too, so a screen reader in French or Japanese sounds like the same product as the visible interface.
- Per-locale quality verification — WCAG conformance checks need to run against every shipped locale, not just the English source, since a passing English audit says nothing about the German or Japanese build.
- Ongoing synchronization — as developers add or edit UI strings, alt text and ARIA labels need to be re-detected and re-queued for translation automatically, the same way visible strings are, so accessibility content doesn't drift out of sync after launch.
Which WCAG Success Criteria Cover Localized Accessibility Content?
Localized accessibility content maps to specific, numbered WCAG 2.2 success criteria, not just a general good practice.
| Accessibility Element | WCAG 2.2 Success Criterion | What Breaks If It Isn't Localized |
|---|---|---|
| Texto alternativo de la imagen | 1.1.1 Non-text Content (Level A) | A screen reader in the target language reads untranslated English alt text — or nothing — instead of describing the image |
| ARIA labels (aria-label, aria-labelledby) | 4.1.2 Name, Role, Value (Level A) | The accessible name announced for a button or control stays in the source language, confusing non-English screen-reader users |
| Status messages (aria-live regions) | 4.1.3 Status Messages (Level AA) | A dynamic update, like a cart confirmation, is announced only in English regardless of the interface language |
| Form field labels and instructions | 3.3.2 Labels or Instructions (Level A) | Untranslated instructions leave screen-reader users unable to understand what a field requires |
How Do You Localize Accessibility Content in Practice?
The workflow layers above translate into a concrete sequence most teams can run alongside their existing localization process.
- Audit non-visible strings — crawl or export the source product for every alt, title, aria-label, and aria-describedby attribute alongside standard UI strings; these are the strings most likely to be missing from a first-pass content inventory.
- Configure automatic capture — set the workflow's file directives, such as an include_translatable_attributes rule, so alt text and ARIA attributes are captured for translation the same way visible body copy is, instead of relying on someone flagging them manually.
- Give translators context, not just strings — attach visual or structural context to each accessibility string so a translator can see the UI element it describes and translate it for how it will be heard, not just how it would be read.
- Apply glossary and style-guide checks — run the same glossary compliance and quality-check profile used for visible copy against accessibility strings, catching inconsistent terminology or truncation against platform-specific character limits.
- Re-verify WCAG conformance per locale — run a screen-reader pass and an automated WCAG scan against each published locale build, not just the source language, before calling a release accessibility-complete.
This Approach Fits Teams That...
- Ship a web or mobile product in multiple languages and already track WCAG 2.2 AA conformance in the source language
- Store alt text, ARIA labels, and screen-reader strings in the same codebase or CMS as visible UI copy
- Have an existing translation workflow — glossary, style guide, quality checks — they want to extend to non-visible content instead of running a second, separate process
- Need accessibility content to stay in sync as developers ship new UI strings, not just get handled once at launch
When This May Not Be the Top Priority
- A product with a single-language user base and no near-term plan for a multilingual release
- Static marketing content with few interactive components, dynamic status messages, or form fields, where ARIA attributes are rarely used in the first place
Evaluation Checklist: Questions to Ask Before You Localize Accessibility Content
Does our content capture process pull HTML/JSX attributes, or only visible text?
If an export or connector only extracts rendered strings, alt text and ARIA labels are likely being skipped without anyone noticing.
Do translators get context for strings that never render on screen?
A string like aria-label="Close" needs to be seen alongside the control it labels, or a translator is guessing at tone and length.
Are glossary and style-guide rules applied to accessibility strings, not just visible copy?
Without that, a screen-reader experience can drift from a product's visible terminology and voice across locales.
Is WCAG conformance verified per locale, or only once in the source language?
A conformant English build doesn't guarantee a conformant German, Japanese, or Arabic build.
What happens when a developer adds a new ARIA label after launch?
Confirm whether it's automatically detected and queued for translation, or depends on someone remembering to flag it.
How Does Smartling Support Localizing Accessibility Content?
Smartling's Global Delivery Network (GDN) treats alt, title, and placeholder attributes as translatable content by default, capturing them the same way it captures visible body and button copy, so accessibility strings don't require a separate export step or a developer remembering to flag them. Teams that need to extend capture to custom or additional attributes can do so with an include_translatable_attributes directive, which tells Smartling's parser exactly which extra HTML attributes to pull into the translation workflow. Connector-level support carries this through to specific platforms — Smartling's Zendesk Connector, for example, ingests image names and alt text for translation by default, the same way it handles article body copy.
To keep non-visible strings from reading as literal translations, Smartling's Visual Context tools — including the Context Capture Chrome Extension and Context Capture JavaScript Library — give translators a snapshot of the page or screen a string belongs to, and XLIFF notes can be captured automatically as translator instructions. Both are useful for a string like an ARIA label, which has no visual rendering of its own to translate against. The same glossary, style guide, and quality-check profile — including glossary compliance and target length limit checks — that keep a product's visible UI consistent apply to these strings as well, so a screen-reader experience matches the visible interface's tone and terminology in every shipped locale.
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