TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
Subject:Re: Database > Formatted HTML files? From:HALL Bill <bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Sun, 26 Aug 2001 16:29:39 +1000 (EST)
Rowena Hart apparently asked for some ideas about how to get equivalent
translations - where most respondents suggested using a database structure
to hold the equivalent translations.
I've had my head down in a big configuration and content management tender
response, so I have not been following Techwrl for a while, but had a quick
look at today's and thought I might stick my oar in.
My short answer for a generic solution to this kind of problem is to work
within an SGML or XML DTD that allows you to have multiple language elements
within structural element containers. You write your English text in the
English elements and then send the documentation out to translators who fill
in the equivalent elements in their own languages. My understanding is that
this is how some of the big documentation houses that do multilingual owners
manuals for cars, motors, etc. work. It is basically also how we dealt with
different texts required by our Australian and New Zealand customers. (see http://www.tenix.com/PDFLibrary/91.pdf) for some background on the business
requirements.
The basic concept of what we did is very simple. The DTD allows any number
of language elements to be included within the structure elements - where
the lang attribute value determines the language for the content:
<PARA><LANGUAGE lang=English>Good day<LANGUAGE/><LANGUAGE
lang=Spanish>Buenos dias<LANGUAGE/>...<PARA/>. (apologies for any syntax
errors - I haven't time to check my tag usage - it has been a while since I
actually wrote a new DTD).
We then use an output process to deliver documents to the appropriate
language. It works like a charm. Our authors use FrameMaker+SGML, but any
other SGML/XML editor would also work fine. My understanding is that several
translation houses are clued in to working within such frameworks.
And sorry if I am repeating what someone else may have said earlier, or if I
misunderstood the thread.
Regards,
Bill Hall
Documentation Systems Specialist
Data Quality
Quality Control and Commissioning
ANZAC Ship Project
Tenix Defence
Williamstown, Vic. 3016 AUSTRALIA
E-mail: bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com <mailto:bill -dot- hall -at- tenix -dot- com>
URL: http://www.tenix.com/
*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com
A landmark hotel, one of America's most beautiful cities, and
three and a half days of immersion in the state of the art:
IPCC 01, Oct. 24-27 in Santa Fe. http://ieeepcs.org/2001/
---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot- Visit http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.
