Protected Words: Keeping Brand and Technical Terms Out of Your JSON Translations

The Protected Words feature lets you list terms that must never be translated, keeping brand consistency, technical accuracy and proper nouns intact in JSON localization files.

When to use it

• Brand names & trademarks: Google, Microsoft, iPhone, AWS, Firebase
• Technical terms: JavaScript, Python, React, API, SDK, DevOps, Agile
• Proper nouns: people, places (New York, Tokyo), organizations

How it works

When you add a word: all occurrences in the JSON are identified; they are excluded from translation; original text is preserved exactly; surrounding context and formatting stay intact.

Example. Original JSON:

{ "welcome": "Welcome to our React application built with Firebase!", "features": "Experience the power of our JavaScript SDK" } 

Protected words: ["React", "Firebase", "JavaScript", "SDK"]. French result:

{ "welcome": "Bienvenue dans notre application React construite avec Firebase!", "features": "Découvrez la puissance de notre SDK JavaScript" } 

Best practices

• Only protect terms that genuinely need it; consider cultural context per language; review the list regularly.
• Matching is case-sensitive by default: add both "React" and "react" if needed, plus common variations.
• Test protected words in different sentence contexts and review translations for natural flow.

Advanced techniques

• Use protected words for URLs, emails, phone numbers, file paths and system commands.
• Keep code examples, function names, variables and API endpoints in the original language.

Troubleshooting

• Not working: check exact spelling/capitalization, that the feature is enabled in your plan, and that the word appears in the source text.
• Over-protection: review the list regularly and remove terms that don't need protection.

Originally published on the JSON Translate blog.