Re: [xliff-comment] Proposal on changes of process managment in XLIFF

[Javier SOLA <lists@khmeros.info>]

Hi Asgeir,

I had not thought of this.

The only problem I see is that it would be necessary to keep several 
copies of the same target string, even if the string has not changed. We 
would end up with a file that had all information repeated at least 
three times... unless we have a way of saying that an empty target 
string means that the string has not changed since the last revision.

Javier

Asgeir Frimannsson wrote
> Dear Javier and xliff-comment list subscribers,
>
> It's exciting to see the developments going on within the Wordforge 
> initiative. I'm not part of the XLIFF TC, but since it's the public 
> list I'll comment anyway :)
>
> Under Section 4 Conclusions, you write:
>
>     2. An important one is probably the encoding of which phases a
>     specific translation of a string has gone through during its life
>     cycle. The standard only permits marking one phase for each
>     translation (in the phase-name attribute), and the story of the
>     translation is lost. This information is important for the
>     process. If a string is reviewed by a reviewer, the reviewing
>     phase is marked on the string... but the prior translation phase
>     is lost, as there is not standard way of encoding it.
>
>
> You follow up on this one in section 5 Recommendations:
>
>     2.- To add a mechanism to keep track of the phases that a
>     translation has gone through. Without it, a <trans-unit> can refer
>     (through the phase-name attribute) to only the last phase that it
>     has gone through, having no place to store reference to prior
>     phases. Once a unit has been translated, reviewed and approved,
>     only the reference to the approving phase remains, but all others
>     are lost.
>
>
> You suggest adding <phase-track> elements to track the phases of the 
> trans-unit:
>
> <trans-unit>
>   <source>Knights of the round table, the wine is poisoned.</source>
>   <target>Chevaliers de la table ronde, goutez mois si le vin est 
> bon.</target>
>   <phase-track-group>
>     <phase-track phase-name="approve201"></phase-track>  
>     <phase-track phase-name="review111"></phase-track>  
>     <phase-track phase-name="translate10"></phase-track>
>   </phase-track-group>
> </trans-unit>
>
> Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think what you are describing above is 
> available in the existing 1.2 specification, making use of <alt-trans> 
> elements with the alttranstype attribute set to 'previous-version'. 
> Here is a snapshot of how the above would look like with this approach:
>
> Initial version:
>
> <trans-unit>
>   < source>Knights of the round table, the wine is poisoned.</source>
> </trans-unit>
>
> After Translation phase:
>
> <trans-unit>
>   <source>Knight s of the round table, the wine is poisoned.</source>
>   <target phase-name='translate10' >Chevaliers de la table ronde, 
> goutez mois si le vin est bon.</target>
> </trans-unit>
>
> After Review phase:
>
> <trans-unit>
>   <source>Knights of the round table, the wine is poisoned.</source>
>   <target phase-name='review111'>Chevaliers de la table ronde, goutez 
> mois si le vin est bon.</target>
>   <alt-trans alttranstype='previous-version'>
>     <target phase-name='translate10'>Cheval iers de la table ronde, 
> goutez mois si le vin est bon.</target>
>   </alt-trans>
> </trans-unit>
>
> After Approval phase:
>
> <trans-unit>
>   <source>Knights of the round table, the wine is poisoned.</source>
>   <target phase-name='approve201'>Chevali ers de la table ronde, 
> goutez mois si le vin est bon.</target>
>   <alt-trans alttranstype='previous-version '>
>     <target phase-name='review111'>Chevaliers de la table ronde, 
> goutez mois si le vin est bon.</target>
>   </alt-trans>
>   <alt-trans alttranstype='previous-version '>
>     <target phase-name='translate10'>Cheval iers de la table ronde, 
> goutez mois si le vin est bon.</target>
>   </alt-trans>
> </trans-unit>
>
> The <target> element is usually the only element that changes from 
> task to task, and all changes can be tracked with this approach. It is 
> a bit unfortunate that <seg-source> and <note> elements are excluded 
> from phase-tracking (no phase-name attribute). It would be useful to 
> be able to identify which phases notes were added or even edited.
>
> cheers,
> asgeir
>
> On 11/16/06, Javier SOLA <lists@khmeros.info 
> <mailto:lists@khmeros.info>> wrote:
> > Dear members of the XLIFF TS,
> >
> > Please find attached a paper analysing how process in localisation
> > works. It proposes some changes/extensions in XLIFF that would probably
> > facilitate managment of such process.
> >
> > The work is related to the needs that we see for the implementation of
> > process within the WordForge open source project, in which we 
> attempt to
> > faciliate the use of XLIFF throughout the open source community by means
> > of creating value added tools that can give better service to the
> > community that the present PO-based tools, giving motivation for 
> change.
> >
> > The document is attached in both PDF and ODT formats.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Javier SOLA
> >
> > P.D. We are also closely tracking and implementing the extensions of PO
> > format that are taking place. Once we have implemented them, we will
> > also submit a recommendation for extension of the PO-XLIFF conversion
> > recommendations.
> >
> >
> > This publicly archived list offers a means to provide input to the
> > OASIS XML Localisation Interchange File Format (XLIFF) TC.
> >
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>
> -- 
> Asgeir Frimannsson
> PhD Candidate
> School of Software Engineering and Data Communications
> Queensland University of Technology
> 126 Margaret Street, Level 3
> Brisbane QLD 4001, Australia
>
> Phone: (+61) 7 3138 9332 Mob: (+61) 405 412 696
> Email: asgeirf@gmail.com <mailto:asgeirf@gmail.com>