What makes a software multilingual?

In order for a software to be considered multilingual, it must be able to do the following:

1. Multilingual Data- the software must allow the user to store and ACCESS their data

in multilingual mode.

2. Interface - the software must allow the user to interact with the data in more

than one language.

Multilingual Data Storage

1) Unilingual Fields - data is stored uni-lingualy in duplicate sets of fields. E.g, CHIN

2) Bilingual Fields – data is stored bilingually in a field with a separator between the two languages. E.g. KE

We have used two different approaches for storage of bilingual data.

Client Issues with a Multilingual KE

Although KE handles multiple languages better than most other Museum Information Systems, our users have identified several concerns.

Multilingual Issues

1) Screen Real Estate 2) Unilingual vs. Bilingual View of Data 3) Sorting of Second Language Term 4) Browse Mode in Thesaurus 5) Lookup List View 6) Handling of “Other Languages”

Screen Real Estate

The second language is always the one that gets truncated when long strings of data are viewed in display mode.

When it is in the Catalogue,it is a design issue for us.

When it is in a standard Module, it is a KE design issue.

Rocking Chair in Bilingual Data View

The language option is set to “English” forprompts and “AllLanguages” for the data.

Data editing is only allowed in “AllLanguages” data mode

Rocking Chair: Unilingual English View

Rocking Chair: Unilingual French View

Language option set to “English” forprompts & “French” for data. Data editing only allowed in “All languages” data mode.

The English data “rocking” is visible in French language Mode because there is no Frenchequivalent for “rocking”.

Rocking Chair: Bilingual View with Filler Word

One way to getaround unilingual entry displaying in both languages is to enter a “filler word” so that there is an equivalent entry in each language.

Rocking Chair: Unilingual French View with Filler Word

Since there is now a term on French sideof the delimiter, the English term “Rocking” does not appear in French record.

Mantlepiece: Bilingual Data View

Mantlepiece: Bilingual Data View with Filler Word

Thesaurus: Bilingual View

Thesaurus Browse: Unilingual French View

Lookup List View - Client

This is the view of the bilingualauthority list in the EMu client.

It is difficult to dosearches for unilingual terms.

Lookup List View - Texforms

Here is same record in texforms view. It is simple to search for unilingual terms by searching for the absence of data in a field.

Changing Language Mode

A rapid way to change languages is under Tools…Language

Changing the Language Modes

The first selection in the menu changes the prompt mode and the unilingual data mode to that language.

Changing the Language Mode

The second selection in the same menu changes the data mode.

Handling of Other Languages

The title of this poster is entered in German. We do not translate titles. Thespell check will pick this up as a misspelling in English.

The title should be entered on both sides of the delimiter since the German title is the “equivalent entry” in both English and French.

Summary

The KE interface is consistently functional in its multilingual implementation.

The data is stored and accessed with an emphasis on the English side of the delimiter.

Problems

Multiple languages combined in one field provide ease of entry, viewing and reporting but does not allow for greater manipulation of each individual language other than English.

Unilingual fields allow for greater manipulation of each individual language but forces twice as much entry and makes the multilingual data harder to view and report.

Combined Solution

Should each field have a combined multilingual entry that allows for ease of display, entry and viewing?

Should each field also have a unilingual entry that allows for equal sorting and data switching functionality?

If the above was implemented, each field would be composed of three entries. The second and third unilingual entries could be created automatically from the first entry.

On a personal note