[NTG-context] Simple question

[Henning Hraban Ramm]

Am 10.05.22 um 00:15 schrieb Gerben Wierda via ntg-context:
> What is the easiest way to have a ‘database’ of translations for strings 
> and maybe links?
> 
> I now have 4 languages and 2 versions so 8 documents, but I’d like to 
> have all translatable strings together so I can maintain these in a 
> single file. Ideally I can do a file where the key of the translation is 
> one language (say English) and the translations are part of that.
> 
> Something I can call like this
> 
> \translatephrase[English phrase][nl]
> \translatelocation[../LMTX-Output/without-ids/en/file.pdf][nl][simple]
> 
> and where I can maintain all the translations a bit like this:
> 
> \translationentry[English phrase]{
> \definetranslatephrase[nl]Nederlandse frase]
> \definetranslatephrase[fr][Phrase français]
> }
> }
> 
> \translatelocation[../LMTX-Output/without-ids/en/file.pdf][simple][nl][../LMTX-Output/without-ids/nl/file-simple.pdf]]
> \translatelocation[../LMTX-Output/without-ids/en/file.pdf][none][nl][../LMTX-Output/without-ids/nl/file.pdf]]
> 
> 
> Where the \translatelocation command can be used inside an 
> \externalfigure command and \translatephrase can be used as as text.
> 
> In the end I’d like to compile with
> 
> context language=fr mode=simple mainfile.tex
> 
> Doable?
> 
> Gerben Wierda (LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerbenwierda>)
> R&A IT Strategy <https://ea.rna.nl/> (main site)
> Book: Chess and the Art of Enterprise Architecture 
> <https://ea.rna.nl/the-book/>
> Book: Mastering ArchiMate <https://ea.rna.nl/the-book-edition-iii/>
> 

Hi Gerben,

a lot is doable, it depends on by whom ;)
But this looks like a quite easy case.

Of course the answer is always “Lua tables”, but I guess the 
translations would be most easy to maintain in a CSV file (you can edit 
it in LibreOffice or Excel, while the latter often botches the encoding).

It could look like:

key;en;de;nl
yes;yes;ja;ja
LANG;English;Deutsch;Nederlands

i.e. the first column is the keyword and the other columns contain the 
translated term (so you can also change the “original” version).

(We’re using the same in a LaTeX3 project made by Marei.)

Without researching I assume there are already Lua functions to read a 
CSV file into a Lua table, and the lookup is easy – since I’m not fluent 
in Lua, I won’t provide the function(s) for you.

BTW there is already \translate 
(https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Command/translate) that changes text 
depending on the current language.

And there is the translate module that changes terms within the whole 
text: 
https://source.contextgarden.net/tex/context/modules/mkiv/m-translate.mkiv

Other options like .po files might be more versatile but also much more 
involved.

This covers \translatephrase; for your figures I’d just just a language 
variable in the path, like \externalfigure[images/\LANG/cow.pdf]
If this is always the current language, use \currentlanguage.
You can also setup the language dependent directory in 
\setupexternalfigures.

Regarding modes, the current language is set as a system mode (*en, 
*nl), and of course you can query modes with one of the many \doif 
macros. (https://wiki.contextgarden.net/Modes)
Since it doesn’t make sense to try 
\externalfigure[path/\currentmode/cow] (you never know how many modes 
are active), you can set a macro or variable depending on a mode:

\doifmode{simple}{\setvariable{gerben}{level}{simple}}
and then
\externalfigure[images/\getvariable{gerben}{level}/\currentlanguage/cow]

Hraban