How is content localization and translation managed in DITA for agricultural technical documentation?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

Managing content localization and translation in DITA for agricultural technical documentation is essential for reaching a global audience and ensuring that the information is accessible to speakers of different languages. DITA provides features that facilitate the localization process, making it more efficient and accurate.

Translation Management

DITA allows organizations to modularize content into reusable topics and components. When preparing content for translation, these modular units can be easily extracted, translated, and then reintegrated into the documentation. Here’s an example:


<topic id="crop_cultivation">
  <title>Crop Cultivation</title>
  <body>
    <p>For successful <ph keyref="crop_type">crop cultivation</ph>, follow these steps:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Prepare the <ph keyref="soil_type">soil</ph>.</li>
      <li>Plant the <ph keyref="crop_seeds">seeds</ph>.</li>
      <li>Water the <ph keyref="crop">crop</ph> regularly.</li>
    </ul>
  </body>

In this example, placeholders (<ph>) are used to mark content that requires translation. Translators can work on the individual <ph> elements, and the translated content can be easily incorporated back into the DITA topics.

Localization Attributes

DITA supports the use of attributes to specify language and regional variations. Authors can mark content with attributes such as xml:lang and xml:lang-dita to indicate the target language and dialect. This ensures that the correct localized content is displayed to users based on their language preferences.


<topic id="crop_cultivation" xml_lang="en-US">
  <title>Crop Cultivation</title>
  <body>
    <p>For successful <ph keyref="crop_type">crop cultivation</ph>, follow these steps:</p>
    <ul>
      <li>Prepare the <ph keyref="soil_type">soil</ph>.</li>
      <li>Plant the <ph keyref="crop_seeds">seeds</ph>.</li>
      <li>Water the <ph keyref="crop">crop</ph> regularly.</li>
    </ul>
  </body>

By utilizing these localization attributes, organizations can serve content tailored to the language and regional preferences of their audience.