Human translation services - Manual translation

Development model: MVC Portal Engine
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Kentico EMS required

Features described on this page require the Kentico EMS license.

The manual service exports the translation data on the file system. Every translation submission is converted to a zip archive containing .xlf files (the source data in XLIFF format) and instructions. You can deliver the translation assignment by:

  • Sharing the export folder (by default, the system uses the ~/App_Data/Translations/Export/ folder)
    – OR –
  • Manually sending the submission package to the translators

The service checks for finished translations in a designated import folder. The translators can also manually upload the completed zip package through a system page (the default instructions in the translation package provide a link).

Do not change file names

The file name of the zip archive and its contents must correspond to the file names in the source package. The system uses the names as identifiers when importing the translated data.

Configuring the manual translation service

To customize the settings of the manual translation service, open the Settings application, select the Content -> Translation services category and configure the settings in the Manual translation section:

Setting

Description

Custom translation export folder

Location of a custom folder to which the service saves new submissions for translation. The submissions are in the form of zip archives containing the translation source data (XLIFF files and instructions).

If empty, the ~/App_Data/Translations/Export/ folder is used by default.

Custom translation import folder

Location of a custom folder from which the completed translations (i.e., zip archives with XLIFF files) are imported.

If empty, the ~/App_Data/Translations/Import/ folder is used by default.

Note that you need to create the import folder manually.

Delete ZIP after successful import

If enabled, the system deletes the zip packages containing finished translations after importing the XLIFF data.

Customizing the instruction files

In addition to the .xlf files that store the translation source data, the manual translation service puts an instruction file into the exported zip packages. The instruction file is created as a copy of the template file found in the ~/App_Data/CMSModules/Translations/Template/ folder in your web project.

By default, the folder contains the Instructions.html file. You can modify the content of this file according to your own requirements. You can also add additional instruction files to the folder so that the service includes them in the exported zip packages.

You can use macro expressions in the text of instruction files to dynamically insert the values of the given submission. For example:

  • {% Submission.SubmissionSourceCulture %} – returns the culture code of the translation source language.
  • {% Submission.SubmissionTargetCulture %} – returns the culture code of the target language.
  • {% GetTranslationPriority(Submission.SubmissionPriority) %} – returns the priority set for the submission (low, normal or high).
  • {% Submission.SubmissionDeadline %} – returns the date and time of the submission’s deadline.
  • {% Submission.SubmissionInstructions %} – returns the additional instructions entered for the submission.
  • {% Submission.SubmissionWordCount %} – returns the total number of words in the translation source text.
  • {% SubmissionLink %} – returns the URL of a system page where users can upload finished translation packages.