[xliff-tools] PO Representation Guide: The PO Header

[Rodolfo M. Raya]

On Fri, 2005-02-11 at 12:33 +0100, Josep Condal wrote:

Hi,


> For indicating 'fuzzy', should we use the 'state' attribute of the <target> element set to 'needs-review-translation', or the 'approved' 
> attribute of the <trans-unit> element set to 'no'? 


"state" attribute of <target> element is used to qualify a translation.
This is intended to aid project managers decide when to add a
translation to a TM database. Look at the predefined values in
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/xliff/documents/xliff-
specification.htm#state and you will understand what I mean.

IMO, the "approved" attribute of <trans-unit> is better suited to
reflect if an entry needs translation or not. If a segment needs
translation, simply mark it as non approved. Once the translator has
reviewed the segment, he can mark it as approved.

When a file is converted back from XLIFF to PO, all unapproved segments
can be marked as "fuzzy", but what should be done if a target has the
"state" attribute set to "needs-adaptation"?

The most important reason for selecting the "approved" attribute is that
is is a boolean attribute by definition, with only 2 values defined:
"yes" and "no".


> Also, if we use the 'approved' attribute, should this be set to 'yes' for non-fuzzy
> messages?


Yes. Non-fuzzy messages don't need changes and editors supporting this
attribute  can set the translation unit as read-only, protecting the
text from accidental modifications.


> If we use the 'state' attribute, it would also be possible to set this
> to 'new' for messages with fuzzy and blank msgstr, indicating a new
> trans-unit, esp. useful when merging POT's and translated PO's.  


When you edit an XLIFF file, the editor can change the "status"
attribute to different values, according to the quality of the
translation retrieved from  the translation memory database. 

Remember that the conversion filter is just one step in the translation
process. When <alt-trans> element are added to a <trans-unit> it is
possible to fill an empty <target> with data from the translation
memory. At that stage, the value of the "state" attribute can be
anything.


> My opinion is that the correct flags for a fuzzy match should be the
> following:
> 
> State = needs-translation
> 
> State-qualifier = fuzzy-match



You can't limit the values that those attributes will have at
translation time. The editors used to process the XLIFF files can use
them at will. 

The value "leveraged-glossary" is perfectly valid for "state-qualifier"
attribute and if an editor making use of glossaries sets the attribute
accordingly, how would you interpret it at reverse conversion time?

Regards,
Rodolfo
-- 
Rodolfo M. Raya <rodolfo at heartsome.net>
Heartsome Holdings Pte. Ltd.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xliff-tools/attachments/20050214/0334239b/attachment.htm