Dreamweaver - Building in multi Language

Author

Building in multi Language

John Morton

2005-01-20, 12:17 pm

Hi
Does anyone know of a good dynamic language translator available that would
allow us to develop a DW site in English - but have it available translated
into Spanish and German and possibly French. Are there any white papers
available on this subject or any particularly informative sites out there.

Does anyone have any experience doing this - is the best approach to have
separate structures for each language - which would mean 3 or 4 copies of
the site OR is a dynamic translator an acceptable route (bearing in mind the
grammar in the translation may not be perfect)

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated
TIA, John

darrel

2005-01-20, 12:17 pm

> Does anyone know of a good dynamic language translator available that
would
> allow us to develop a DW site in English - but have it available
translated
> into Spanish and German and possibly French.

Just use google. But realize that no automated system can accurately
translate language perfectly, and you're always at the risk of having some
poor (or even embarrassing) grammar once translated. This may or may not be
a good thing for your site's image.

> Does anyone have any experience doing this - is the best approach to have
> separate structures for each language - which would mean 3 or 4 copies of
> the site OR is a dynamic translator an acceptable route (bearing in mind
the
> grammar in the translation may not be perfect)

The best system is to use a content management system and then store the
content in multiple languages...ideally translated via a human. Then, based
on end-user preference, deliver the appropriate languages to the templates
to send to the browser.

-Darrel

Pablo

2005-01-20, 12:17 pm

Don't whatever you do use an online translator, you will need to hire a
professional for this. Just make sure you hire someone who DOES know what
they are doing.

--
Cheers Pablo

_____________________

Whoever said "image doesn't matter" was lying.
http://www.dellwebsites.com
______________________________________
"John Morton" <jmorton@jcm-polo.com> a écrit dans le message de news:
csoipc$a28$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Hi
> Does anyone know of a good dynamic language translator available that
would
> allow us to develop a DW site in English - but have it available
translated
> into Spanish and German and possibly French. Are there any white papers
> available on this subject or any particularly informative sites out
there.
>
> Does anyone have any experience doing this - is the best approach to have
> separate structures for each language - which would mean 3 or 4 copies of
> the site OR is a dynamic translator an acceptable route (bearing in mind
the
> grammar in the translation may not be perfect)
>
> Any guidance would be greatly appreciated
> TIA, John
>
>

Joe Makowiec

2005-01-20, 7:17 pm

On Thu 20 Jan 2005 10:29:47a, John Morton wrote in
macromedia.dreamweaver:

> Does anyone know of a good dynamic language translator available that
> would allow us to develop a DW site in English - but have it available
> translated into Spanish and German and possibly French. Are there any
> white papers available on this subject or any particularly
> informative sites out there.

Are you talking about the jcm-polo.com site? You're on Apache, so you can
use content negotiation:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/content-negotiation.html

> Does anyone have any experience doing this - is the best approach to
> have separate structures for each language - which would mean 3 or 4
> copies of the site OR is a dynamic translator an acceptable route
> (bearing in mind the grammar in the translation may not be perfect)

Like the others said - skip the dynamic 'translation'. What do you think
when you run into a site which looks like it was translated by a machine?
The site looks like it doesn't have too many pages, so although you've just
tripled or quadrupled your maintenance, it still shouldn't be /too/ bad.

Michael Fesser

2005-01-20, 7:19 pm

.oO(John Morton)

>Does anyone know of a good dynamic language translator available that would
>allow us to develop a DW site in English - but have it available translated
>into Spanish and German and possibly French. Are there any white papers
>available on this subject or any particularly informative sites out there.

Proper translation can't be done automatically.

>Does anyone have any experience doing this - is the best approach to have
>separate structures for each language

I would also translate the URLs, is more userfriendly.

http://www.example.com/deutsch/produkte/diesunddas
http://www.example.com/english/products/thisandthat

>- which would mean 3 or 4 copies of
>the site

Depends on how the site is generated. There could be a kind of CMS on
the server, providing the content in different languages. The gettext
tools on *nix servers might also come in handy.

>OR is a dynamic translator an acceptable route (bearing in mind the
>grammar in the translation may not be perfect)

I wouldn't do it.

Micha

John Morton

2005-01-20, 11:16 pm

Thanks everyone for the input - no it's not the www.jcm-polo.com site - it's
a new portal we have been working on at www.jcmgroup-sotogrande.com (still
in development)

This is going to be an information portal for the Costa del sol (in Southern
Spain) so needs to be multi-language and also has several shopping carts
incorporated. It has been structured to appear as areas off a hub. Each area
has it's own database and is presently built around the shop software
(VP-ASP)

BUT we have now run into problems with this translation issue with this
software, and are trying to get our heads around the 'best way forward
before we start to populate the site, hence my plies for help and advice.
TIA, John
---------------------------------------------------

"John Morton" <jmorton@jcm-polo.com> wrote in message
news:csoipc$a28$1@forums.macromedia.com...
> Hi
> Does anyone know of a good dynamic language translator available that
> would
> allow us to develop a DW site in English - but have it available
> translated
> into Spanish and German and possibly French. Are there any white papers
> available on this subject or any particularly informative sites out
> there.
>
> Does anyone have any experience doing this - is the best approach to have
> separate structures for each language - which would mean 3 or 4 copies of
> the site OR is a dynamic translator an acceptable route (bearing in mind
> the
> grammar in the translation may not be perfect)
>
> Any guidance would be greatly appreciated
> TIA, John
>
>