Translations
Translations allow data to be translated into another language, including languages that utilize double-byte characters such as Chinese or Arabic. Translations can also be used to display the entire user interface in a new language, or they can be used to accommodate customer preferences by substituting one phrase for another in the same language, for example, changing “Create Request” to “Create a Work Order.”
Not all data can be translated. In general, static data can be translated while data that is updated by users cannot.
Examples of data that can be translated:
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Literals – Built-in labels used for tabs, field labels, navigation menus, buttons, and links.
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Structured Lookup – Values that are defined during system configuration, such as type, priority, or status. This data is normally included in drop-down to specify an attribute of or classify an entity.
Examples of data that cannot be translated:
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Unstructured Data – User-defined values that utilize free-form data entry, such as comments, statements of work, asset descriptions, or procedures.
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Structured Entity – Values that refer to a specific, real-life entity such as a property name, a user, or a company.
All translations must be made for a specific language.
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Default Language – The language assigned, by default, to all user accounts where a specific language is not assigned. The default language can be any written language (English, Spanish, Chinese) but only one default language exists for an installation and it cannot be deleted. Only the super administrator can add translations to the Default language.
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Language – Any language other than the default language that is added to the system. A language can override the default language for a specific user account or can be selected by the user upon login. Multiple languages can be defined and they can be deleted.
To access translations:
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Open the Administration Menu page.
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Under the GLOBAL ADMINISTRATION heading, click Translations.
Clicking this link exports all of the translations that exist for a specific language to an Excel spreadsheet. This function provides a simple way to review the existing translations. The resulting spreadsheet can be compared to the master translation list to aid in determining if any translations are missing.
To export translations:
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In the Language field, select the language you want to export the translations from.
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Click the Export All link.
An Excel spreadsheet is created with two columns:
Before you add translations, you may want to view the translations have already been defined using the Find function. To find translations:
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In the Language field, select the language to search in.
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In the Find field, specify a value to search for.
The Find function will look in the selected language for the specified value in both the literal and translation lists. Searches are not case-sensitive.
If you want to search for all translations, leave the field empty.
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Click FIND.
A list of all of the defined translations that match the specified criteria appears. The system can only return 500 translations at a time. If more than 500 translations records are found, an error message appears asking you to narrow your criteria. If you want to view all the translations and there are more than 500, use the Export All function to export the list of translations to an Excel spreadsheet.
From the list of translations you can:
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Click DELETE to delete a translation value.
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Modify the value displayed in one or more of the Literal Translations fields and click UPDATE to make changes to the translation values.
The Literal value cannot be modified; only the Translation value can. If a Literal value is incorrect, you must delete the translation and reenter it with the correct Literal.
There are several methods for adding translations:
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Add a Translation – This method allows you to add individual translation values to the selected language, one by one.
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Import All From Default – This method allows you to import all of the translated values from the Default language and specify new translations for these values.
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Batch Language Conversion – This method allows you to specify translations for all system-wide translatable values in a single batch process. For more information about this method, contact your super administrator since batch conversion processes already exist for several common languages.
Add New Translation
To add a translation:
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In the Language field, select the language the translation applies to.
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Click the Add New Translation link.
A window opens, allowing you to enter a literal value and a translation.
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In the Literal field, enter the existing value to translate.
If the value includes punctuation (such as a ? at the end), include the punctuation as part of the literal to translate. However, do not include trailing colon ( : ) characters.
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In the Translation field, enter a translated value for the literal value.
Once saved, certain characters appear in the Translation field as escaped XML characters. For example, apostrophes are displayed as ' ( Susan's Property). These characters will be displayed properly to the user (Susan's Property).
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Click ADD.
The translation is added to the list. The name of the user who added the translation and the date and time it was added are displayed.
Import All From Default
Selecting this option imports all of the translations defined for the default language into the selected language. When this is done, the Literal value is imported for both the Literal and the Translation fields. For example, if the default language has the following translation defined: Literal = Create Request, Literal Translation = Create a Work Order, the imported translation will contain the following values: Literal = Create Request, Literal Translation = Create Request.
To import translations from the default language:
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In the Language field, select the language to import translations into.
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Click the Import All From Default link.
Export All