If you want to create or update translations you can use files existing in AVI ReComp installation directories but it's much better to download a special Translation Package from our server. Every time I'm going to release a new version there is also a special Translation Package for the forthcoming version of AVI ReComp. Translation Packages contain all textual references used in a given version of AVI ReComp - all interface strings, all documents and guides and help files.
Translating the main language file
1.
Download poEdit - open-source PO files editor. If you would like to work under Linux system you can use a great tool KBabel. This guide is based on poEdit usage.
2.
Look for the template.po file. You should find it in the "\Locale" subdirectory of the Translation Package. You can also find the latest template in the "\Locale" subdirectory of the main AVI ReComp installation folder. Copy the file anywhere you want and rename it to default.po
3.
Open your default.po file with poEdit (File -> Open).
4.
Go to Catalog - > Settings. You will see the following window:
You have to fill all the fields correctly otherwise your translation will not work correctly! Please enter a project name and version, your nick and any e-mail address, the language of your translation. Set both encoding types to utf-8.
Plural Forms: Only one form (Japanese, Korean, Hungarian, Turkish) Some languages only require one single form. There is no distinction between the singular and plural form. An appropriate header entry would look like this: nplurals=1; plural=0;
Two forms, singular used for one only (Danish, Dutch, English, Faroese, German, Norwegian, Swedish, Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish) A header entry would look like this: nplurals=2; plural=n != 1;
Two forms, singular used for zero and one (French, Brazilian Portuguese) Exceptional case in the language family. The header entry would be: nplurals=2; plural=n>1;
Three forms, special cases for numbers ending in 1 and 2, 3, 4, except those ending in 1[1-4] (Croatian, Czech, Russian, Ukrainian) The header entry would look like this: nplurals=3; plural=n%10==1 && n%100!=11 ? 0 : n%10>=2 && n%10<=4 && (n%100<10 || n%100>=20) ? 1 : 2;
Three forms, special case for one and some numbers ending in 2, 3, or 4 (Polish) The header entry would look like this: nplurals=3; plural=n==1 ? 0 : n%10>=2 && n%10<=4 && (n%100<10 || n%100>=20) ? 1 : 2;
Four forms, special case for one and all numbers ending in 02, 03, or 04 (Slovenian) The header entry would look like this: nplurals=4; plural=n%100==1 ? 0 : n%100==2 ? 1 : n%100==3 || n%100==4 ? 2 : 3;
After you are done, click OK to save all required settings.
5.
Activate all available windows in the View menu: Show comment window and Show automatic comments window.
Now you can start translating all items included in the translation file. The main window is divided into 5 panels. The upper and the biggest panel contains all strings (translated and untranslated). All untranslated sentences are marked as blue. Every translated item becomes white. There are also four smaller windows. The first (upper left) window contains an original item that has to be translated. The lower left window is for you to enter your translation. The upper right panel contains special comments written by a programmer. Most often it is empty but sometimes you can find some important instructions here. For example: maximal allowed length, exact meaning of a given word or sentence.
The lower right window is for you to write your own comments. They can be very useful for you later or for another translator that will want to continue your work. You can add your own comment by clicking the button below:
Every commented item is marked with a special little symbol (look at the screen below):
Sometimes you may want to mark your translation as unsure (fuzzy). To mark the item as fuzzy just select it and click the following button:
Marking your translations as fuzzy can help you when you decide to save your work and verify it later. Please note, the fuzzy items are not used by AVI ReComp so you will not see these items while checking the translation!
Now, something about plural forms used in the translation. Sometimes you can find items looking like that:
If you set a proper plural form in poEdit settings (see above) you will see that sometimes your translation window will be divided into a few smaller ones. It means that you have to enter correct singular and plural forms for a given noun. You cannot omit %d syntax! This is a special syntax used for numerical variables. If you omit this syntax you won't be able to compile your translation! The same situation is related to the %s syntax (for textual variables)!
Sometimes you can find special signs like \n - this symbol represents a line-break point. I use them especially for the hints and longer messages.
If they are too long and can be too difficult to read being placed in one line. You don't have to use these symbols in the same places where I have set them. It is your own choice where to use them.
6.
When you are done or just want to save your work -> click the following button:
and your translation will be saved. poEdit will also compile your PO file to a special MO file format. If your translation is not finished and you are not going to check how it works you can delete this MO file. Next time you decide to continue your translation just open your PO file.
Testing the translation
As I have mentioned above poEdit always generates a special MO file during saving your job. This is a target file used by AVI ReComp to process the translation. Now go to AVI ReComp installation directory and find a directory named "Locale". There you have to create a new subdirectory. The name of this directory has to refer to the language code you are going to test. You can use the following link to check what is the code for your language: http://dybdahl.dk/dxgettext/docs/beta/online/standards.html For example, if you are going to check your British translation you will have to give the name "en_GB" for your folder. If it is a French translation then choose "fr" name for the folder. Now lets create one more subdirectory in your new folder. Its name has to be "LC_MESSAGES". And this is the final place for your compiled default.mo file. So for the French translation the whole path will be as follow: AVI ReComp install dir\locale\fr\LC_MESSAGES\default.mo Now you can run ARC and you should see your new language available on the list of all available languages. You can now check how it works.
Translating additions
If you want a full language support you can also translate a documentation: changelog, license and installer language files. Note! Almost every content should be saved in utf-8 code-page! There are just a few documents that should be saved in a common ANSI encoding and they are all used in the AVI ReComp installer. All those files can be found in our Translation Package. Files from the following folders should be saved in ANSI encoding: - \Documents\License\ANSI for installer only\ - \Install lang\ After translating such documents just put them in a proper subdirectory and name them in accordance with your language code. For example changelog_no.txt for Norwegian or changelog_sl.txt for Slovenian. After that AVI ReComp should automatically recognise the language of your document depending on a current chosen language.
Translating the Help System
It is also possible to translate the Help System. The Help file consists of several HTML files (pages) which can be easily translated. However it requires some minimum and basic knowledge of HTML language. All HTML files with the *.html extension are located in the \Help\en_GB\ subdirectory\ of the Translation Package. Please, do not modify the source code of HTML/XHTML documents! Also, do not change their file names! But you can replace all images from the \Help\en_GB\HTML\screenshots\ subdirectory with your own screenshots (in your native language). The Index_en.hhc file includes the list of contents of the Help and it can also be translated. You can also change the suffix from "_en" to your own language code. All index items are stored in the following form: <param name="Name" value="Audio conversion">. Moreover all HTML/XHTML files have to be compiled into one help file. And that's why all users eager to translate the Help System are requested to contact me directly and send me all constituent files. However, more advanced users can compile the Help file by themselves. To compile the Help file you will need to download and install Microsoft HTML Help Workshop. AVI ReComp_en.hhp is the main Help script which can be easily loaded to HTML Help Workshop and then compiled to the final Help file. Using HTML Help Workshop you can edit the project file and change some main parameters (Title, Language and Contents file in case you modified its name or location).
Publishing the translation
Finally you can publish the translation in this section of my forum describing what is the language of your translation and what ARC version it is related to. After the translation is published and verified I will add it to the list of all available translations. Please, always try to include your PO file. PO file is the most important. MO file is a compiled version and it doesn't contain any additions like comments etc. If you have any questions and problems please create a new topic in this section of AVI ReComp discussion board or contact me directly by filling out the Contact Form.
