RE: [xliff] ref value in translation candidates module element <mtc:match>

["Yoshito Umaoka" <yoshito_umaoka@us.ibm.com>]

Thanks Rodolfo for
your quick response.

>The
specs says that "ref" attribute points to a span of text, that
does not mean it must be a <mrk> element, I take it just means that
it has to point to an element that contains the text that is being matched.

This is somewhat
I initially thought and I thought it make sense to point <segment>
element. However, I realized that the original intent was not to limit
a text span of match can be in <target> element, I started thinking
the spec really meant exact text span specified.

For for example:

<?xmlversion="1.0"encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xliffxmlns="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:2.0"version="2.0"srcLang="en"
xmlns:fs="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:fs:2.0"xml:space="preserve"
xmlns:mtc="urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:matches:2.0"trgLang="fr">
<fileid="f1">
<unitid="u1">
<mtc:matches>
<mtc:matchid="tc1"ref="#s1"similarity="65">
<source>Please
check the output.</source>
<target>Veuillez
vérifier la sortie.</target>
</mtc:match>
</mtc:matches>
<segmentid="s1">
<source>Please
check the results.</source>
<target>Veuillez
vérifier les résultats.</target>
</segment>
</unit>
</file>
</xliff>

If we allow <segment>
can be referenced from <mtc:match> in bi-lingual XLIFF, it becomes
ambiguous whether match/similarity is coming from the <source> value
or the <target> value.

I think typical
translation service application using XLIFF would do translation memory
look up for each <segment>. If I were author of the spec and if segment
element can be used for target span of text, I would not put example found
in 5.1.4 -

<unitid="1">
<mtc:matches>
<mtc:matchref="#m1">
<source>He
is my friend.</source>
<target>Il
est mon ami.</target>
</mtc:match>
<mtc:matchref="#m1">
<source>He
is my best friend.</source>
<target>Il
est mon meilleur ami.</target>
</mtc:match>
</mtc:matches>
<segment>
<source><mrkid="m1"type="mtc:match">He
is my friend.</mrk></source>
</segment>
<segment>
<source>Yet,
I barely see him.</source>
</segment>
</unit>

Use of <mrk>
will allow us to annotate sub-string of source/target value. If you can
use a segment ID for the reference, the use of segment ID looks more natural
choice. But this example uses <mrk> to enclose entire span of text
in <source> element.

I also carefully
looked at the term "span of text" "spanning" etc. in
the specification. I feel these terms are specifically used for text value
(including inline elements). The segment element is a container of source/target
element, so I feel segment element does not specify "span of text".

If the original
intention was to allow segment ID reference, then the spec should state
- "points to a span of text or a container..."

-Yoshito