Hi, I am wondering how best to go about creating an evolving document that will need translation. This is a manual that will probably need to be produced - and maintained - in around 6 languages. For what it is worth, I have come up with two approaches, which follow. But I would really appreciate any insights anyone may have. ... 1) Just translate the file -------------------------- - Obey formatting rules in document tex file so as to most easily visually separate commands from text. - Distribute the files for translation with instructions. This will work until we need to modify the file, then how to communicate the modifications? An english diff? I think this may be the best solution, but there is also 2) Using blocks --------------- The "excursion" manual briefly describes an alternative (which I think may be too cumbersome). The idea would be to totally separate the text from any tex commands (except for a single type of begin/end sequence). Conceptually :- manual-env.tex: \defineblock[EN,de,it] \setupblock[EN][file=EN] \setupblock[DE][file=DE] \setupblock[IT][file=IT] \doifmode[EN]{\def\lang{EN}} \doifmode[DE]{\def\lang{DE}} \doifmode[IT]{\def\lang{IT}} manual.tex: \environment manual-env.tex \useblocks[\lang][installation-1] \useblocks[\lang][installation-2] EN.tex: \beginEN[installation-1] This is how to install the product type 1 \endEN \beginEN[installation-2] This is how to install the product type 2 \endEN DE.tex: \beginDE[installation-1] (german text here) \endDE \beginDE[installation-2] (german text here) \endDE IT.tex: \beginIT[installation-1] (italian text here) \endIT \beginIT[installation-2] (italian text here) \endIT -- John Devereux