How do you handle automatically generated text in multiple languages?

[pbartlett]

All,

Do you publish documentation in multiple languages? Do your stylesheets
produce automatically generated text -- like "Chapter 1" or "Page 2-2"
-- in multiple languages?

If you answered yes, then would you please take our 1-minute survey
about how you translate the gentext?

Survey location: http://www.zoomerang.com/survey.zgi?p=WEB2269NYGKALK

It doesn't matter which tool you use for publishing, we're interested in
your process: do you use outside translators who have desktop tools like
SDL/Trados? Or do you use bilingual colleagues who just fill in a
spreadsheet? Or something else?

Your answers will help us produce better products in the future.

Thank you!

PG Bartlett
VP Arbortext Product Management

[lhales]

Well, I don't publish in multiple languages, but were I to do it in FOSI, I'd probably use a series of <specval>'s in an <att> to set the appropriate language and generated text. The counters would be incremented in the <e-i-c> <charlist> (unless each language has its own format as well, then in the <specval> <charsubset>). This is assuming that there is an attribute for language (or a system variable that is set for each pub run).

XSL, I'd do something similar by evaluating the lanugage att if if exists (or having language based page sets that are pulled in based on a particular parameter set at pub time).

Lynn

-----"Bartlett, PG" <-> wrote: -----

To: "arbortext-adepters" <adepters@maillist.arbortext.com>

[pbartlett]

Thanks to those who filled out the survey! I would welcome more
responses, but I have enough to guide us in our product planning.

The main thing we wanted to learn was if you use translation tools like
SDL/Trados to help you translated the automatically generated text that
goes in stylesheets.

And the answer is that about half of you do and half of you don't.
Those who aren't using translation tools are using a spreadsheet or
something else.

Thanks!
PG