Specifying a list of target languages

["Gershon Joseph (gerjosep)" <gerjosep@cisco.com>]

Hi all,

 

We have encountered the following requirement, which I know also applies to a number of other organizations I worked with before joining Cisco.

 

If there is an ITS spec for this, please could someone point me to the relevant URL and section within the spec.

 

Here is the issue:

 

Some elements, particularly <note>, are not translated to all target languages. Many notes (e.g. warning statements required to meet a specific country or region's legal requirements) apply only to a specific set of target languages.

 

At present, DITA supports an on/off switch via @translate.

 

I would like us to propose a solution for the case where authors need to specify a set of target languages. I feel this would be best achieved either by extending the definition of @translation to have the values "yes | no | group" (I'm sure we can find a better word than "group") and add another attribute that lists the target languages, or leave @translate alone and simply add a new attribute that lists the target languages (in which case, if the attribute is not set the default is to translate to all target languages). I'd anticipate a space-separated list of language/locale values, such as "it_IT fr_FR fr_CA".

 

I read the blog on dita.xml.org that proposes use of a different namespace, but namespaces most likely won't be supported by DITA until release 2.0 at the earliest.

 

I disagree with the statement on the blog that the CMS or translation workflow should manage the target languages. We're talking about a set of target languages that apply to a specific element, and relying on the translation workflow for this is asking for trouble... This information must be associated with the element it applies to.

 

Suggestions? Comments?

 

JoAnn, please could you forward this to the non-OASIS advisors to the Translation SC.

 

Thanks in advance for your help in driving this to a spec we can submit to the DITA TC, and/or a best practice we can document.

 

Gershon

 

Gershon Joseph Technical Leader PDI DocTools gerjosep@cisco.com Phone: +972 9 892-7157 Mobile: +972 57 314-1170	Cisco Systems, Inc. Israel Cisco home page

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