How Do Translation Editors Work With My Finished Deliverable?

[kwag_myers]

I've just been asked about the procedures and possible requirements for translating my webhelp output into other languages. From what I've been able to find so far, it appears that someone uses a translation editor, such as Swordfish II, to translate the content of the xml files. After playing around with Swordfish II's trail version, it appears that the editor extracts text from the xml file, leaving the syntax intact. Is this correct, or do I have it all wrong?

Also, if my understanding of this process is correct, how does reuse play in all this?

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[Su-Laine Yeo]

That is correct. When you translate an XML document, you should translate only the contents of elements and leave all tags and attributes as they were in the original language. If you do this, conditional text markup and references in the target language will be an exact duplicate of the conditional text markup and references in the original language.

The exception to this rule is that you might have to translate the values of certain attributes which are used to store human-readable content, particularly the “navtitle” attribute in DITA maps.

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[kwag_myers]

Thanks for the reply, but I'm not sure you understand my question, or more likely, I don't understand your answer. I'm trying to learn what a translator does when they get a web help file. Are you tell me that a translator will open each file (presumably in an XML editor) to replace the English text? Or would they translate from the HTML? It seems to me that if they used the XML, they would have to generate the output.

I'm sorry if I'm being difficult on this, but I just don't want my boss to get blind-sided because I gave him misinformation. We're working for an international company, so I'm sure this project will get translated. My boss wants to know how the process works, i.e., the work-flow, and he's looking to me to inform him (he wouldn't take “I don't know' for an answer).

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[Su-Laine Yeo]

Ah, I see what you're asking now. You should send translators DITA files in the original langauge, and have the translator send you back DITA files in the target language. Don't send them WebHelp files containing your content.

There is only one file which contains the text used in buttons and tab names for WebHelp, described here: http://forums.xmetal.com/index.php/topic,951.0.html . That is the only non-DITA file which you should send for translation.

After the translator sends you DITA files in the target language, generate WebHelp using your own machines.

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[kwag_myers]

Ah, so my employer is still responsible for the deliverable, just outsourcing the actual translation.

Just one more question, and I'm a little embarrassed to ask this, but what exactly do you mean by “DITA files”? I thought it might have something to do with the translate attribute and translate folder in the db directory, but that doesn't seem to be working the way I thought it might.

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[kwag_myers]

Anybody…please…

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[Su-Laine Yeo]

By DITA files, I meant all DITA topic and map files. Probably nobody outside your company would know what the “translate folder in the db directory” is used for in your company. You need to find where your DITA files are in your database so you can ship them over to the translators. This isn't a trivial task in some places, I know.

We have a draft of an article which will explain the translation process in more detail. It's due to be published in a few weeks. For XMetaL customers on a maintenance plan, I can probably arrange to send you a draft copy. Please email me from your work email address if you are interested in a draft copy, at syeo at justsystems dot com.

Cheers,
Su-Laine

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[Su-Laine Yeo]

The article, “Using DITA for Successful Localization” is now available here:
http://na.justsystems.com/whitepapers.php

We will also be doing a webinar on this topic on December 18. See here for details: http://na.justsystems.com/webinars.php

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[IF]

My “topics” directory contains hundreds of files but the map I need to translate only use a subset of these files. Is there a way to select only the XML files that are actually referenced from the DITA map?

I just read the white paper. It says this for the step “When English content is ready for translation, you send a copy of the relevant files to the translator”: You can send a subset of your files instead of sending all files at once. However, keep files in their folder structures so that the links between them don’t break; tools are available to automate this process.

What tools would these be? Is there something else besides content management systems?

Thanks

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[IF]

Just downloaded  DITA Packager Utility from Suite Solutions and from what I can tell it works like magic.

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