managing translations

[Marc]

Hi all,
I'm starting to generate documentation that later will also have to be
trasnlated to other languages different than the original one so I'd like to
have a master copy and then versions that would permit me to track changes,
items pending to translate, .... I'd like to do it in a way that later could
be easy to choose the formt to deliver it (richtext, pdf, html, xml, chm,
....) but basing all on the same source data so when I'd have to make a future
change/update wouldn't it mean a complex task. Does it Word permits to work
like this? Do you know/use any documentation tool or additional MSWord Plugin
or there's no way for doing this in Word?

Thanks in advance,
Marc Soleda

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello Marc

I'm starting to generate documentation that later will also have to be
trasnlated to other languages different than the original one so I'd like to
have a master copy and then versions that would permit me to track changes,
items pending to translate, .... I'd like to do it in a way that later could
be easy to choose the formt to deliver it (richtext, pdf, html, xml, chm,
...) but basing all on the same source data so when I'd have to make a future
change/update wouldn't it mean a complex task. Does it Word permits to work
like this? Do you know/use any documentation tool or additional MSWord Plugin
or there's no way for doing this in Word?

the longer I think about this, the more I'm convinced that starting
right away in Word won't get you there.

To get this right, you probably want to separate content from
formatting/layout as much as possible. That means you'll end up with a
big database (or spreadsheet-like tool), listing all content broken down
to paragraph level in your master language in one column, add one column
per translated language.

I'm afraid I don't know of any tool to support this process, but I'm
pretty sure that stuff like this is "out there" somewhere.

..02¢
Robert

 

[Marc]

Hi Robert,
yes, I think so and I've found 2 or 3 tools/ways that would permit the
indepndization of the content and the presentation. One of them is using
Latex and/or DocBook. Do you have experience in any of them?

Marc

 

[Robert M. Franz (RMF)]

Hello Marc

yes, I think so and I've found 2 or 3 tools/ways that would permit the
indepndization of the content and the presentation. One of them is using
Latex and/or DocBook. Do you have experience in any of them?

not really: I know conceptually what LaTeX is like. It ranges from
(rather) crude text programming (as if you wrote HTML code in a raw text
editor) to more sophisticated environments (more or less support of GUI
tools). Handled right, you get better results in terms of typography
than in any word processor, that's for sure!

Expect some learning curve for LaTeX alone (and that's without
separation ), but it might well be worth it.

HTH
Robert