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Translatable content

While Components and their Component fields represent the primary content that gets translated, you can also send many other items for translation that also have translatable content in the form of metadata or properties. This topic describes the content that is sent for translation for the different item types.

Translatable Component content

You can send the following content fields for translation in a Component:

  • Text fields, but not if the values are selected from a list
  • External Link fields, for example, if you want to translate a URL such as google.co.uk to google.nl
  • Format Area fields, including attribute values for example alt="System Architecture"

You can also translate a Component's metadata fields of the same field types. For any field to be sent for translation, whether content or metadata, it must be individually configured as translatable in the Component's schema.

In addition to custom metadata fields, the Component name property can also be sent for translation. Whether it is translated or not depends on a setting in the Component Schema.

Non-Component translatable content

In addition to Components, you can send a number of Content Manager items in a Translation Job, including organizational items. These items can also include translatable metadata and properties.

Translatable metadata field types are the same as for Components, namely Text, External Link and Format Area.

The properties that get sent for translation depend on how translation has been configured in the Publication, Folder or Structure Group. The following table summarizes the properties that can be configured for translation.

Content Manager ItemTranslatable properties
FoldersFolder Name
ComponentsComponent Name
Multimedia ComponentsMultimedia Component Name
Structure Groups
  • Structure Group Name
  • Structure Group Directory
Pages
  • Page Name
  • Page File name
Category
  • Category Name
  • Category Description
Keywords
  • Keyword Name
  • Keyword Description
ConceptsNo properties (internal metadata fields only)
Bundles
  • Bundle Name
  • Bundle Description
Virtual Folders
  • Virtual Folder Name
  • Virtual Folder Description

Translating nested items

The following items can include nested items in a Translation Job:

  • Pages contain Components
  • Folders contain Components and nested Folders
  • Structure Groups contain Pages and nested Structure Groups
  • Categories contain Keywords or Concepts which can contain nested Keywords and Concepts
  • Bundles and Virtual Folders can contain all of the above

When you add a one of these items to a Translation Job, the default behavior is that the job will include the translation of nested items. When the item is sent for translation, it—and each of its nested items (to an indefinite nesting level)—is evaluated and resolved individually to determine its inclusion, or exclusion, from the Translation Job. When working in the Classic user interface, the Added Items tab provides the option not to include nested items.

By default, the translation job does not include the organizational item itself (the properties listed in the preceding table). When working in the Classic user interface, the Added Items tab provides the option to also translate properties for the item itself.

Example:

When you create a translation job for a Page, the default behavior is that the job will include the translation of nested items but not the Page itself. Selecting either or both of the additional options will affect the translated content as follows:

  • If only the Translate Pages and Organizational Items check box is selected, then the selected organizational structure, including all Pages contained within it, is sent for translation. The job includes all levels of the organization hierarchy, not just the selected item.
  • If only the Translate nested Items selected check box is selected, then only the nested content items are sent for translation, but not Pages or organizational items. Nested content items can include Components contained on Pages and Components contained in Folders, Bundles, and Virtual Folders.
  • If both check boxes are selected, then all levels of organizational structure, all Pages, and all and nested content items (on a Page or directly in folders) are sent for translation.

Translation restrictions for Multimedia Components

The following restrictions apply to Multimedia Components:
  • Only the name and metadata of a Multimedia Component is sent for translation, not the binary content.
  • Translation of Multimedia Components (name and metadata) is only supported for translation management systems that support ITS.

Translation restrictions for external content

If the External Content Library (ECL) feature has been set up by your organization, then you can also send external content items for translation. Note, however, that translation is limited to internal metadata, that is, the metadata you can add and edit in Tridion Sites. You cannot translate the content or metadata that is maintained in the external system.

Translatable ECL items include both external multimedia files and concepts maintained in an external taxonomy. The ways in which you can external items for translation depends on both the item type and the user interface you are using.
Multimedia content
To translate the internal metadata of external multimedia items, you can do the following:
  • Add the items to a Page or Bundle, or include them as linked items in a Component. You can do this in both Experience Space and Content Manager Explorer.
  • If creating translation jobs in Experience Space, add multimedia items directly to a job. This is not yet possible in Content Manager Explorer.
Taxonomy concepts
You cannot send Concept items directly for translation, either from Content Manager Explorer or Experience Space, but you can send them for translation using one of the following methods:
  • Add specific Concept items to a Bundle and send the Bundle for translation.
  • Send an entire external Category for translation, which will send all Concept items within the Category.
  • Send classified Components for translation. The classifying Concepts will considered for translation only if the field used for classification (a list field using a Category as the source) has been defined in the Schema to include the linked items in translations.
Regardless of the method you use, the translation jobs will only include the Concepts that include translatable content, that is, some internal metadata to be translated.