Multilingual

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The change in architecture between ICA-AtoM 1.3.1 (Zend Framework, Apache Lucene Search engine) and AtoM 2.0 (ElasticSearch engine) has introduced a number of changes to the multilingual functionality and usability. This wiki page has been created to document the outstanding bugs and tasks related to the multilingual feature, provide use case examples, explain the current functionality and if necessary, suggest workflows for multilingual instances.

Introduction: Multilingual design principles

ICA-AtoM and AtoM 2.x are multilingual applications which incorporate the following design principles:

Both the user interface and the database content should be capable of existing in multiple languages
Users should be able to switch the user interface to their preferred language using the language drop-down from the main menu,
When switching the user interface to a preferred language, database content should also switch, if a translation is available; if not, the content remains in the original source language,
Users with translator access privileges should be able to contribute translations of content (e.g., archival descriptions) from the source language to their assigned languages using the translation interface available in ICA-AtoM and AtoM,
Administrators should be able to remove languages that are not needed in their application; they should be able to easily add back supported languages that were removed,
Using Transifex translators and translator teams should be able to translate interface elements and add new languages for inclusion in the application as supported languages.
When installing ICA-AtoM and AtoM 2.x, the administrator specifies the default language. Any user can switch the current language to display the interface and database content in any of the other supported languages.

Neither ICA-AtoM or AtoM 2.x automatically generate "translations" from one language to another. It is up to individual translators to do the translations, either in the interface (e.g., application elements and content) or using Transifex to translate the application strings. The translations of content (e.g. archival descriptions) will always be linked to the primary archival description created first in the default language.

Current status

Following the release of 2.0, a number of issues related to the search and presentation of multilingual content in AtoM have been reported by our users, and confirmed by AtoM Product Managers. In February 2014, AtoM Product Manager Jessica Bushey began a series of comprehensive tests to better understand and document the current functionality, limits to this implementation, and possible solutions. Below is a list of bugs (either outstanding, which have been tested and confirmed in 2.x, or newly filed), feature requests, and testing workflows produced during this evaluation.

Outstanding Bugs

Bug 2912 Adding an unsupported language.
Bug 6264 Adding a supported language causes error.
Bug 3250 Can't export multilingual descriptions (EAD export)
Bug 3433 Can't translate relationship
Bug 3479 When creating new user translation languages don't "stick"
Bug 6265 Subject and place terms cannot be translated
Bug 3697 Can't select actor name if actor was created in another language.
Bug 3698 Container names created in one language are not available in drop-down in other languages.
Bug 3700 When switching language in information object edit screen, screen switches to new record. THIS IS ONLY IN ICA-AtoM 1.x, not AtoM 2.x
Bug 3844 RAD specific fields don't show when not in source culture. THIS IS ONLY IN ICA-AtoM 1.x, not AtoM 2.x
Bug 3845 RAD specific fields not available in edit mode if another language is chosen. THIS IS ONLY IN ICA-AtoM 1.x, not AtoM 2.x
Bug 4090 i18n: isolate "This is a mandatory element" from other strings.
Bug 4113 Add new term: "Use for" label is not translated.
Bug 3274 "Add new" label not i18n in dialog.js & multiRow.js.
Bug 4163 In edit template the "Add New" hyperlink and in rights and donor dialogs the "submit" and "cancel" button labels in English only.
Bug 6294 Search for terms doesn't work in interface other than English
Bug 4279 Translator cannot edit published descriptions - permission denied.
Bug 5582 Archival institutions failure in new language.
Bug 6316 Setting default language other than English doesn't stick
Bug 5914 Create a second accession in the same day in a culture different than "en" gives '500 Internal Server Error.
Bug 6216 Archival description cannot be created from accession by editor when culture is not in English.
Bug 6314 Languages facet and specific language filter should show related description and authority records in source language.
Bug 6315 export:bulk doesn't export other cultures

Feature Requests

Feature 2218 Automate "language of description" in Description control area
Feature 3246 Apply culture fallback to information object search results
Feature 3988 Allow adding a custom language or script from dialog.
Feature 6313 Language of archival description should be hyperlink.

Search Scenarios for translated content

Scenario One: Searching for title in translated archival description

Default language for site is English. Create an archival description in English and save. Title is: "Englishonly"
Switch language interface to language other than English (e.g., French) and translate the content of the archival description including the title and save. Title is: "Anglaiseseulment"
Search for "Anglaiseseulment" in French interface using the main search box, AtoM will prompt and you get accurate result. Notice that the language facet on the left side of the results screen shows (1) hit in Anglaise filter and (1) hit in Francais filter. If you click on either, you will see the french archival description "Anglaiseseulment".
Search for "Englishonly" in French interface using the main search box and results show: "Anglaiseseulment" archival description. Notice that the language facet on the left side of the results screen shows (1) hit in Anglaise filter and (1) hit in Francais filter. If you click on either, you will see the french archival description "Anglaiseseulment".
Switch to English language interface and search for "Englishonly", AtoM will prompt and you get accurate result. Notice that the language facet on the left side of the results screen shows (1) hit in English filter and (1) hit in French filter. If you click on either, you will see the english archival description "Englishonly".
Search for "Anglaiseseulment" in the English interface using the main search box and results show: "Englishonly" archival description. Notice that the language facet on the left side of the results screen shows )1) hit in English filter and (1) hit in French filter. If you click on either, you will see the english archival description "Englishonly". See Bug 6314

Scenario Two: Searching for terms in scope and content in translated archival description

Default language for site is English. Create an archival description in English and save. Term in scope and content is: "rabbits"
Switch language interface to language other than English (e.g., French) and translate the content of the archival description including the scope and content and save. Term in scope and content is: "lapins".
Search for "lapins" in French interface using the main search box and get accurate result. Notice that the language facet on the left side of the results screen shows (1) hit in Anglaise filter and (1) hit in Francais filter. If you click on either, you will see the french archival description that includes "lapins" in the scope and content.
Search for "rabbits" in French interface using the main search box and results show the related french archival description that has "lapins" in the scope and content.
Switch to English language interface and search for "rabbits", AtoM will give you accurate results. Notice that the language facet on the left side of the results screen shows )1) hit in English filter and (1) hit in French filter. If you click on either, you will see the english archival description.
Search for "lapins" in the English interface using the main search box and results show the related english archival description that has "rabbits" in the scope and content. See bug 6314

Scenario Three: Searching for name and terms in translated authority records

Default language for site is English. Create an authority record in English and save. Include name and bio/history.
Switch language interface to language other than English (e.g., French) and translate the authority record name and bio/history etc. and save.
Search for french name in main search bar, AtoM prompts and provides accurate french authority record in result.
Search for french terms (included in bio/history) in main search bar, AtoM provides accurate related french archival description in result.
Go to browse authority records and search for english name in sub-search bar, AtoM provides accurate results and also provides the option of using the language facet to select the french authority record from either anglaise filter or francais filter.
Search for english terms (included in bio/hisotry) in main search bar, AtoM provides accurate related french archival description in result.
Switch to English language interface and search for english name in main search bar, AtoM prompts and provides accurate english authority record in result.
Search for english terms (included in bio/history) in main search bar, AtoM provides accurate related english archival description in result.
Go to browse authority records and search for french name in sub-search bar, AtoM provides accurate results and also provides the option of using the language facet to select the english authority record from either english filter or french filter.
Search for french terms (include in bio/history) in main search bar, AtoM provides accurate related english archival description in result.

Search Scenarios for content created in other languages (not translated)

Scenario One: Searching for title of archival descriptions created in other languages (not translated)

Default language for site is English. Create an archival description in a language other than English (e.g., Spanish) and save.
Stay in the Spanish language interface and search for the title of the new archival description using the main search box. AtoM will provide a prompt for the title of the archival description. You receive ACCURATE search result.
If you switch to English language interface and search for the foreign language title in the main search bar, you will NOT receive any results. See bug issue: 6294.

Scenario Two: Searching for term in scope and content of archival descriptions created in other languages (not translated)

Default language for site is English. Create an archival description in a language other than English (e.g., Spanish) and save.
Stay in the Spanish language interface and search for the terms in scope and content of the new archival description using the main search box. NO RESULTS. See bug issue: 6294.

Scenario Three: Searching for authority records created in other languages (not translated)

Default language for site is English. Create an authority record in a language other than English (e.g., Spanish) and save. "Flores, Maria"
Stay in the Spanish language interface and search for the name "Flores, Maria" in the main search bar, AtoM prompts and you get the accurate result.
Stay in the Spanish language interface and click on the browse authority records. Enter "Flores" into the sub-search bar for authority records only. AtoM provides a result, but YOU MUST CLICK ON THE SPANISH filter in the IDIOMA (language) facet on the left side of the screen to get the accurate result. The default for results is English.
Switch to English language interface and search for the name "Flores" in the main search bar, AtoM has NO results.
Stay in English language interface and click on the browse authority records. Enter "Flores" into the sub-search bar for authority records only. AtoM provides a result, but YOU MUST CLICK ON THE SPANISH filter in the language facet on the left side of the screen to get the accurate result. The default for results is English.

Scenario Four: Searching for terms in the bio/history of authority records created in other languages (not translated)

Default language for site is English. Create an authority record in a language other than English (e.g., Spanish) and add terms to bio/history of authority record: "chevaux" and save.
Stay in the Spanish language interface and search for "chevaux" in the main search bar, AtoM provides a result, but YOU MUST CLICK ON THE SPANISH filter in the IDIOMA (language) facet on the left side of the screen to see the related archival description.
Stay in the Spanish language interface and click on the browse authority records. Enter "chevaux" into the sub-search bar for authority records only. AtoM provides a result, but YOU MUST CLICK ON THE SPANISH filter in the IDIOMA (language) facet on the left side of the screen to get the accurate result for the authority record.
Switch to English language interface and search for "chevaux" in the main search bar, AtoM provides a result, but YOU MUST CLICK ON THE SPANISH filter in the language facet on the left side of the screen to see the related spanish archival description.
Stay in English language interface and click on the browse authority records. Enter "chevaux" into the sub-search bar for authority records only. AtoM provides a result, but YOU MUST CLICK ON THE SPANISH filter in the language facet on the left side of the screen to get the accurate result for the authority record.

Wish List

Enter archival description using English interface. Search database, but have option for search results to "expand search to all languages".