Great post on the pains of localization. An easier way of doing localization might be a using a localization platform.
Instead of manually tracking strings with a spreadsheet, it acts like a version control system for your strings.

You would essentially use a development framework to automatically extract translatable strings from your source code into what’s called a plaintext file (e.g. .strings, .PO). That file is uploaded into the localization platform and from there, a lot of the work can be automated. For example, if you add a new string in English, it’s automatically added to the Japanese language and your translators can be notified that a new string needs to be translated. Once the translations are done you can download the plaintext file for use when you deploy your software. And everything happens in the cloud so you Translation Memory, glossary, suggestions, etc. are always accessible.

That was a very brief overview of what we (Transifex) do. Take a look at it (transifex.com) and let me know what you think. We would love to help make localization less painful for you guys. :)

I look forward to hearing from you.

Samuel