When you translate a localization file or product catalog for a new market, the real challenge isn't the volume of text β it's keeping the structure intact. A single mistranslated key or a shifted column can break an application or fail a marketplace import entirely. SonikaAI translates JSON, YAML, CSV, and XML files while keeping every key, placeholder, SKU, and structural element exactly where it was, so you don't spend hours untangling the file afterward.
A general-purpose online translator is the wrong tool for this job. Paste a JSON file into one and it will cheerfully translate the keys, mangle the quotes, and turn a placeholder like {name} into something the application can't parse. CSV fares even worse: columns shift, article numbers get converted to words, and you're left doing a line-by-line comparison before the file is usable again. The problem isn't translation quality β it's that those tools have no concept of which parts of the file are human-readable text and which parts are structural data.
What SonikaAI translates β and what it leaves alone
The rule is consistent across all supported formats: human-facing text is translated, service data is not. In JSON and YAML, interface strings, prompts, and messages are translated, but keys, nesting, indentation, and field order are untouched. Placeholders like {name} or %s stay exactly as they are β only the surrounding text changes. In CSV, text columns (names, descriptions, comments) are translated, while numbers, dates, IDs, codes, and URLs are left as-is, and the row count, order, and delimiters are preserved. In XML, text inside elements is translated, but tag names, attributes, and identifiers are never touched. The service also recognizes dates, emails, URLs, and formulas automatically, so you don't need to flag individual fields before uploading.
What this looks like in practice
For software localization, you can export your interface strings to JSON or YAML, run them through SonikaAI, and get back a translated file with identical keys β ready to drop straight into the project. For a product catalog, names and descriptions are translated while SKUs and prices stay unchanged; hundreds or thousands of rows process in a single run, and the result is ready to import. For a product feed or RSS feed in XML, the output remains compatible with whatever system consumes it, because the file structure hasn't moved.
The workflow itself is straightforward: upload the file, the format is detected automatically, select the target language, and processing runs in the background. The finished file appears in your account when it's done β no need to keep a tab open. Before dropping it into production it's worth spot-checking a few places (placeholders, SKUs, tags), but that's a quick review rather than a line-by-line rebuild. Billing only counts the translated text values; keys and markup don't add to the volume even in large files.
Where it fits β and where it doesn't
SonikaAI is not a CAT editor. There's no shared translation memory or per-line team editing, so if you're running a large localization project with many contributors and review rounds, a dedicated localization platform will serve that workflow better. For teams that need to translate each release automatically, the API and B2B add-on make it straightforward to wire structured file translation into a pipeline. One thing worth noting on any format: very short strings β a single button label with no surrounding context β may come back less accurately and are worth a quick manual review. That's not specific to SonikaAI; it's a limitation of machine translation without context, and knowing which strings to check in advance keeps the review fast.
The easiest way to find out whether this works for your files is to try one you'd normally translate by hand. You can translate a JSON or YAML localization file without setting anything up in advance, and the first run is free with no card required. If you're curious how SonikaAI handles structured data more broadly, the structured data translation comparison covers what sets format-aware translation apart from pasting text into a general tool. Start Free and upload a file you'd usually spend time fixing afterward.