Facilitating the localization and translation of manufacturing documentation for global markets is essential to reach a broader audience while ensuring clarity and accuracy in different languages. DITA (Darwin Information Typing Architecture) provides effective strategies for managing the localization process, allowing manufacturing organizations to efficiently adapt their documentation for international audiences.

Content Reuse and Translation Memory

DITA’s modular content approach enables content reuse, which is highly beneficial during the localization process. When documentation is created using DITA, translation memory tools can store previously translated content. This means that when you need to translate new content or update existing documentation, the tool can identify and suggest previously translated segments. This not only speeds up the translation process but also ensures consistency in terminology and phrasing across all documents.

Conditional Text for Different Languages

Conditional processing in DITA can be used to manage content for different languages. You can create conditions for specific languages or regions and include the corresponding translated content within the same DITA topic. This approach streamlines the localization process by centralizing the translation within the source DITA content. When updates are made in the source language, they can be easily reflected in all translations. For example:

<topic id="product_description">
  <title>Product Description</title>
  <conditional conkeyref="en">
    <p>English product description...</p>
  </conditional>
  <conditional conkeyref="fr">
    <p>French product description...</p>
  </conditional>

In this example, the content for English and French product descriptions is stored within the same DITA topic. Conditional processing manages which content is displayed based on the language condition, allowing for efficient updates across translations.