Translating models from Dutch to English

[Rob van Wees]

Hi All,

I'm working in a project with a dutch customer and an indian development team. Most of the models contain dutch element names. While dutch in itself is not a problem while working in the Netherlands, getting both halves of our team to understand the models the same way is :)

Is there a way in EA (we're using v7.5.849) to automate translation of models, f.i. using tagged values for different languages to "switch" element names? I've searched the forums and the web but could not find any references to translation.

Kind regards,

Rob van Wees.

[Geert Bellekens]

Rob,

If it is only two languages you need to support then you might want to consider using the alias field to store the English name.
There is an option to show either the regular name, the alias, or both on diagrams.

If you really want to use tagged values, then sure you can automate that using the API. For the translation itself you probably need to find some webservice or something you can use. (google translate and stuff like that)

Geert

[beginner]

You must be joking. Have you ever tried to model in two languages via an alias? What about the notes? Store both languages in the same notes field? And if so, which language has the correct contents? EA is simply not designed for a multi-language model (I do not know of any software that's capable of doing so).

The only solution(s): switch to a common language or have a translation service. The latter will not work for common modeling but only to produce sporadic customer documentation.

b.

[Geert Bellekens]

I'm seriously not joking.
In countries like Belgium and the Netherlands it is pretty common to have to use multiple languages in the model.
For the notes we distinguish the different language using xml-like tags. (eg. <EN>English description</EN><NL>Dutch description</NL>)

It's not ideal, but workable. (I did write a little addin to help us write the notes, without having to deal directly with the tags)

Actually, there is a modelling tool that supports multiple language: MEGA. Unfortunately that is one of the only positive things I can say about hat tool

Geert

[Makulik]

<OT>

(eg. <EN>English description</EN><NL>Dutch description</NL>)

Sure? Shouldn't that be   <EN>English description</EN><NL>Nederlands Beschrijving</NL> ??  
</OT>

g.

[Geert Bellekens]

 
Yes it should have

Geert

[beginner]

That still leaves the question which of the <EN>ambiguous</EN><DE>verwirrend</DE> is the correct one? If (in my case) the german guy changed the note, the contents in the <DE/> will be correct (hopefully). Did he translate at all to English? If so, correctly? How would you know. It might also be that one guy just talking english changed only the <EN/> contents. It will simply NOT work in reality.

b.

[Geert Bellekens]

Unless the users speak/write both languages. (which probably is the case in Robs company)

I agree that having to maintain only one language is by far the preferred situation, but I've seen this type of setup actually work without too much issues at several places.

Geert

[Rob van Wees]

All,

Thanks so far, but I haven't found the solution yet :)

- The customer requires us to deliver documentation in dutch
- The india half of the team doesn't speak a word of dutch

So I do need both languages available, preferably in the model to avoid documenting in two places. And it would be greatly helpful to have a "translate" button of sorts to switch between languages, hence my question.

In a previous poject, I worked with Aris, which has a multi-language feature especially for this kind of situation.

I'll go and play with the Aliases (thanks for that!), but that will only solve half of my problem (notes in the properties being the other half).

Kind regards,

Rob.

[Makulik]

Some cases simply need pragmatic solutions (yes, far from the ideal sometimes).

g.

[RoyC]

To what extent would these two facilities help you?

http://www.sparxsystems.com/uml_tool_guide/reporting_in_enterprise_architect/language_substitution.html

http://www.sparxsystems.com/uml_tool_guide/reporting_in_enterprise_architect/wordsubstitution.html

Ultimately, the most pragmatic manual solution would be to acknowledge that the Nederlanders spraykt Engels far better than most Engelsmen do, and to just review and translate the RTF documentation into Dutch at required intervals. (The Indians also speak English rather better than most English do, as well as probably more than one of the Indian lanuages each. Makes me proud to be an Englishman.... NOT!)