You have a website that you would like to translate into multiple languages. Can memoQ do that for you?
It can, but not out of the box - there is no translation tool that can do this for you out of the box. Your localization success depends on internationalization.
Modern websites are not plain HTML anymore. They contain embedded program code in multiple languages such as Javascript or PHP. Many websites are driven by commercial, open-source or custom-made content management systems that make content publishing easier. Certain websites are easy to translate, others are hard. There are a couple of questions to ask before you embark on localization:
- Where’s the text? In an ideal situation, original texts and translations are stored in resource files rather than in the program code.
- Where should the translated texts be stored? Are you keeping all languages in a single file or in multiple files, following a naming convention?
- What’s the format of the translatable text? If texts are stored in resource files, they can still be in different formats. XML is probably the easiest to use, but memoQ can handle RESX files or properties files as well. If you use a custom file format, you may need to develop a filter that imports only the translatable text into memoQ. This process is called tagging, and there are excellent tools like Preptags that do this.
- How do you handle a change in the website content? Would you like to set up translation projects automatically or would you like to send out files? Who is informed about changes? What happens to the other language versions if the authoring language version has changed?
- Do you want to keep up the exact same site in multiple languages or shall the language versions differ? The more uniform your sites are, the easier the task. You may find, however, that for certain markets a smaller amount of information is enough. If this is the case, try to set up a regime - first-tier languages, second-tier languages, etc. Keeping it simple helps you keep it up-to-date.
As you can see, website localization is a complex task and requires careful planning. If you need assistance, talk to our experts.
Once your website is translatable, memoQ will support the translation process.
