How to localize using only Flare

[Joost]

Hi,

I am looking for a good procedure to start translating Flare projects without translation tools (which I can't afford for the time being).

Can anyone give advice? Do I create a new project? Do I stay within the same project? Can I easily duplicate projects? Etc...

Thanks in advance,

[RamonS]

Will this be a ongoing effort? Will there be several translations for various versions of the application that need to be maintained? I surely read that you cannot afford translation tools such as Lingo, but I highly recommend to think about it again.

I would make a copy of the entire project and have both projects open in two instances of Flare and translate side by side. You can also just work in the copy of the project, add an empty paragraph, write the translation into it, then delete the translated paragraph. That will work OK, but you really should start of creating a glossary of terms with the original and translation and stick to that. Otherwise the same term gets translated in five different ways, which will cause confusion. Also, you need to decide what to do with screen shots. If you have any I recommend replacing them with the translated counterparts. Depending on how many screen shots you have you may want to reduce the amount prior to translation or replace them with screen portraits.

[GregStenhouse]

First of all make sure your English is completely reviewed and finished, and freeze it. You really don't want to handle changes after beginning translation. Rename your high level Flare folder "..._English". Make a copies of that folder, and rename "..._"French", "..._Spanish" etc. Open each of these "language" projects, and change the project language "Project>Project Properties" to match. I would also maintain a separate document (maybe a spreadsheet) containing all Flare-specific text such as title bar text, snippets, variables, and anything on master pages, so you can translate that separately and copy back to Flare.

Now you can begin to think about how to translate the main content. Here are some ideas:
1. Translate directly into Flare - probably best if the translation is in-house, and recommended if at all possible.
2. Translate the .htm files in the Content" folder, using the HTML translation/editing tool of choice. Have to be very careful not to change anything within < > tags.
3. Roundtrip - Output to FrameMaker or Word, translate using FrameMaker or Word, then import back in. Good to compare between version releases and translate only the delta. You lose any flash stuff like popups, snippets & expanding text though.
4. Translate the output only (e.g. webhelp, HTML help). Not recommended due to ongoing maintenance (i.e. you can't easily regnerate if you make even slight changes to the Flare project.

Each has its pros and cons, try it out on a small sample project first, and see what works best.