Setting Up Database Translations
Note: This is a living document. Not in that it grows, needs nutrition, or is watching you as you read this, but in that I will be updating it for reasons of clarity and comprehension. Feedback is welcome!
What Does This Process Do?
It turns a single KB into a multi-lingual paradise! In more down-to-earth terms, it allows you to add and edit translations for each entry in a KB. Step 1 and 2 also add that nifty translation dropdown to the banner title on your site.
Your KB will have the same number of entries as before, organized the same way as it has been, it'll just serve up different content, depending on which subcommunity is being viewed. This allows each translation of a discussion to have the same post ID as the original discussion - which is important for not turning the organization of multiple subcommunities into a giant spaghetti bowl of madness.
Another way of explaining this process is that it creates one KB that lives in one spot, has one set of articles, has one layout and structure, but speaks multiple languages - depending on who's talking to it.
It is possible to use this process with machine translation, or with client-provided translations.
What Does This Process Not Do?
This process does not allow you to connect a KB written in one language to a separate KB written in a different language. [See caution about spaghetti bowls of madness above]
How To Set Up a KB For Translation
1. Turn on locales for each language you want to translate your KB into.
2. Under Subcommunities turn on "Enable Product Integration" and add a product to represent the translation. I called mine 'Translation' for reasons of clarity - let's call it what it is!
3. Set up a subcommunity for each locale. Make sure to set the Product field to the product you just created! Every subcommunity that you want a translation for should use the same product.
4. Add the 'Translation' product to the Knowledge Base you want to translate. You can do this for any number of KBs. Don't be shy!
5. Click the translate button on the KB settings window to translate the KB titles for each locale.
6. Provide translations for each KB article.
If you have questions, clarifications, or additional metaphors to share, please don't hesitate to comment.
Comments
-
@Branwyn Tylwyth thank you for this, it really helps as it's not the most obvious flow.
I have been testing and have one question:
When I enter a translation manually, how do I remove the red warning message saying it's not yet translated?
I think this removes automatically when you use machine translation but not for manual translations.
Also I would like to clarify how the article layout works as this isn't clear to me. For the client I'm trying to help (Polyas), they have already added all 100 (ex) articles on each of their four subcommunities translated into the appropriate languages.
But if I follow the steps above and add in the manual translations it seems to add the translated article to the designated subcommunity, which would mean that it would be adding duplicate articles for Polyas right?
Further to that, if you set up your KB on your other subcommunities using the translation steps above, how could you organize the articles the way you want?
Any insights would be helpful!
0 -
When I enter a translation manually, how do I remove the red warning message saying it's not yet translated?
Ouch. That feels like a bug. Just confirmed this is true on my site as well. Looking into it.
But if I follow the steps above and add in the manual translations it seems to add the translated article to the designated subcommunity, which would mean that it would be adding duplicate articles for Polyas right?
Correct. This is why it's a bit easier to set things up using this process initially. I would suggest setting up a hidden KB to copy all the translations into. Once they're done copying all the content over, unhide it and remove the old ones.
Further to that, if you set up your KB on your other subcommunities using the translation steps above, how could you organize the articles the way you want?
They will be organized exactly like you set up the original KB.
Think of it this way:
With this method there's only one KB. It exists where you place it, goes by whatever name you call it, and knows whatever articles you populate it with. And then it gains the ability to speak in multiple languages. So if you tell it, "I'd rather speak Welsh," it will then speak Welsh to you. It's still communicating the same knowledge. It's still sitting in the same sunny café on the coast of Spain. It's still wearing those adorable vintage glasses (Where did they find those?!). It's just now speaking Welsh instead of Spanish. Or Romanian instead of Tagalog. Or whatever language you choose instead of whatever language you originally chose.
There's just one KB. It's simply more accessible now.
1 -
Here is a single KB on my site. It speaks four languages - German, English, French, and Spanish. I don't need to create another KB for those languages, because this one does all the work for me. It doesn't even really matter what it's original language was because it can be equally proficient in all four (you know, providing we provide it with good information in all four).
0 -
That makes more sense, thank you!
So I guess they would only need to add additional KBs if they want to have additional content in a different language but not in the other languages?
0 -
So I guess they would only need to add additional KBs if they want to have additional content in a different language but not in the other languages?
Correct!
They may still want multiple KBs for a variety of reasons (one for only the French-speaking members, or one only for members who own Kia Souls, or what-have-you), but they don't need multiple KBs for multiple languages.
Once everything is converted over, they're in for a lot less work any time they add an article, or decide to reorganize how the KB is ordered.
0
