Translations

Translations

For each project a default language is selected in the Edit project panel. In Diversity Descriptions for most database entries additionally translated expressions can be stored in the Translation table. Even for the default language adjusted for the project alternate expressions may be entered. In several export and document generation forms it is possible to select an alternate output language, if translations are available. Translatable entities are listed in the following table.
Database table Database columns
CategoricalState label, detail, abbreviation, wording
DataStatus_Enum label, detail, abbreviation
Description label, detail, wording
Descriptor label, detail, abbreviation, wording_before, wording_after, wording
DescriptorTree label
DescriptorTreeNode label, detail, abbreviation
Frequency label
Modifier label
OtherScope label, detail
Project label, detail
Resource label, detail
ResourceVariant_Enum label, detail
SamplingEvent label, detail
SexStatus_Enum label, detail, abbreviation
StatisticalMeasure_Enum label, abbreviation

All mentioned entities may be edited using the translationseditor. If for an output a translation language is specified, a situation may occur that for a certain entity not translation is stored in the database. In those cases automatically the original database values will be used. 

As you can see in the table above, no translations are supported for the descriptive data, i.e. summary or sampling data. Concerning categorical data, there is a tranlsation support, because the terminology parts (Descriptor and CategoricalState) my be translated. Quatitative data mainly include numeric values and their statistical measure, where the measure texts themselves can be translated. The same is valid for descriptor status data. Molecular sequence data naturally do not contain any translatable texts. Finally only the contents of text descriptor data and notes, that can be included in any summary or sampling data, are not supported for translation.

 

Data export

The export format SDD is XML based and offers multilingual support. By default the document language ist set to the project default language and the original database entries (labels, detail texts and so on) are included without explicit language tag. If translations are stored in the database, they are included in the SDD output with their specific language tag. As an option translations may be completely excluded from export or the SDD document language may even be switched to one of the available translation languages. Please be aware, that the enumerated values (DataStatus_Enum, StatisticalMeasures_Enum and SexStatus_Enum) are identified by specific tags within SDD. Therefore the translations for these are not included in the SDD file! 

The export format DELTA is text based and does not support multilinguality. By default the original database entries are used in the DELTA output. If translations are stored in the database, you may select one of the available languages for the DELTA output.

In both cases the general rule applies that if for a certain term no translated value is present, the original value will be used. For details concerning the data export see here.

 

Data import

In the SDD import form the available languages are displayed. You have the options to omit translations during import or select a different language as the project’s default language. 

The DELTA import form offers the option to import translations for descriptors, categorical states and description items from separate DELTA files with identical structure. In a first step the complete data are imported form a main DELTA file. In subsequent steps the identifier for additional languages may be imported from additional language specific DELTA files. 

 

Document generators

The is a number of document generators to generate HTML or Media Wiki output. In this form an “Export language” field is shown if any translations are available in the database. In those cases you have the choice to adjust the default language or one of the offered tranlsations languages. Anyway, there may be some fixed expressions in the generated documents, where currently no mutilingual support is available.  

 

 

Jan 14, 2025

Subsections of Translations

Edit Language Codes

Edit language codes

In the Diversity Descriptions database language codes are used for two purposes: The first one is to indicate the project’s default language. Furthermore for the most important parts of the data translations may be entered, which carry a laguage code, too.

By all means the language codes consists of an at most three-letter string. In the application you may select the language code from a drop-down box, which shows the language code - in most cases a two-letter ISO 639-1 code - and the corresponding long name. By clicking the button you may change the display sequence (see images below).      

Most of the values are provided by the operating system. Anyway there might be the need to include additional values, e.g. “eo” for Esperanto. For those cases as a second source additional language codes may be stored in the application’s settings. Finally, language codes that are present in the database but neither included in the operating system’s list nor the application settings will be included at the end of the selection list with red background, if neccessary. 

To edit the language codes, click the button and a new window will open (see image below). The operating system’s entries are shown with a light blue background and cannot be modified. The language codes that are stored in the application settings are shown with white background and may be edited. To enter a new value, use the empty line at the end of the table. To delete an entry, mark the whole line by clicking on the row header and press the delete key on the keyboard. 

   

By clicking OK the changes will be stored in the settings.

Jan 14, 2025

Edit Translations

Editing translations

After connecting a database select Edit -> Translations … from the menu (see image below). You have to select the mandatory parameter Project and the Table. If you want to enter a new translation text, the Column and the target Language must be selected. If you omit one of those parameters, only existing tranlation texts from the database will be shown. Anyway the number of translations that match the currently selected criteria will be shown in field Translations in the upper right area of the form.

You man change the display and sorting of the entries in the Language combo box from “<code> - <description>” to “<description> - <code>” (and back) by clicking the button . If you need language codes that are not included in the list, click the button. For more details see Edit language codes.

With the numeric control Items you may adjust how many database items shall be selected for display. After clicking the button the query results are displayed. By clicking the buttons and you can load the next rsp. previous matches. 

When you select a Column, an additional text box Filter is activated, where you may restrict the displayed datasets to matching entries in the Original text (see image below). In field Start ID the first ID of the current output is shown. You may enter a dedicated value to be used for the next output. 

The table lists the internal ID of the data entry (“ID”), the table column (“Column”), the project language (“PL”), the “Original text”, the translation language (“TL”) and the “Translated text” (see image below). In table column “x” lines without write access will be marked as  x . If you have write access, you may enter the tranlated text directly in the table. 

   

You may copy the original text of selected lines to the translated text by clicking the button or delete the translated text with button . To select all translated texts click on button . In modified lines the background color of the first two columns will be change to yellow (see image below). With button you can save the modified data, with button you can reload the table, i.e. discard the changes. 

If you selected any Translated text entries, it is possible to modify several values simultaneously. Therefore select the table entries that shall be edited - by clicking the button you may select the whole table column. Then select the required operation in the Edit section: “Insert”, “Append” or “Replace” and enter the new rsp. new and old value. After clicking the action button - depending on the selected operation this is (Insert), (Append) or (Replace).

By double-clicking the table line or clicking the button you can open a separate edit window (see image below). This form works almost in the same way as the Extended text editor.