We invite you to read the following blog post on Pseudo Translation in memoQ by Stefan Weimar, CEO at PRODOC Translations GmbH.
You can test the import filter function for memoQ with the Pseudo Translation feature. This is particularly beneficial for XML formats, which have been adapted to customer requirements.
With Pseudo Translation you can determine which sections of the XML file in memoQ have been released for editing and which are protected from editing. This is important to attain a valid XML file after successful translation.
Software localization with XML-files
In software localization, language relevant contents of XML files often have to be translated. The technical translation should only be done for certain parts of the XML file, other parts have to remain unchanged and should therefore be protected by the CAT tool from editing.
You can see an XML file in the following example. If you move the cursor over the image, you see the part of the text, which has to be translated, highlighted in yellow.
It is very easy to recognize what has to be translated:
- the content of the text tag
- some of the CDATA framed texts within the text tag, but not all of them
With Pseudo Translation „translated“ XML file
A translation can be simulated using the Pseudo Translation feature of memoQ.
In the first step we have used the standard memoQ XML filter for import. The edited texts were then translated using Pseudo Translation and the file was exported again.
The effect of the Pseudo Translation can be clearly seen in the comparative image above: Texts, which can be edited in memoQ, are labelled with # at the beginning and $ at the end. There is illegible gibberish with a number of special characters between these.
The text for editing can therefore be easily recognized and in the example we see that the node tags within the CDATA elements are translated with the text.
This is, however, not intentional in this case.
Adaptation of the import filter for optimal results
Process for filter adaptation
Now we have to consider how to adapt the memoQ import filter in such a way that the desired result is attained.
There are three parameters for doing this:
- Filter options for the XML filter
- Cascading Filters – several filters connected in series
- Regex Tagger – protection of certain strings against editing
The effect of these three parameters is more closely examined in a special article on XML filter configuration.
Result of the correct filter configuration
In the example we used a cascading filter to protect the node tags against editing using a downstream HTML filter.
The result looks like this:
Now all parts of the XML file, which must not be edited, are protected by the specially adapted XML import filter from memoQ.
More information on Pseudo Translation
An application example for the localization of XML data can be found in the article „translate IODD data“ on the PRODOC homepage.
The following video shows how to use the function Pseudo Translation for the configuration of the import filter in memoQ:
