How is content localization and translation managed in DITA for government content?

November 10, 2023
|By Bryan Tipper

In government projects, content localization and translation in DITA are essential for making information accessible to a wider audience, including those who speak different languages. DITA offers a structured approach to managing multilingual content, making the localization and translation process more efficient and consistent.

Content Segmentation

DITA allows content to be segmented into topics and subtopics. This granular structure makes it easier to identify content that needs localization or translation. For example, individual topics can represent specific sections of a document, and each can be translated independently. This segmentation streamlines the process and ensures that only relevant content is localized or translated.

Conditional Text

DITA provides a mechanism for handling conditional text, which is particularly useful for managing content that varies by language or region. Government documents may have sections that are specific to certain regions or languages. Conditional text allows you to include or exclude these sections based on language criteria, simplifying the localization process.

Example:

Here’s an example illustrating how DITA enables content localization and translation in government projects:


<topic id="government_report">
  <title>Annual Government Report</title>
  <body>
    <p>This DITA topic represents a section of the annual government report.</p>
    <section>
      <title>English Version</title>
      <p>This is the English content of the report.</p>
    </section>
    <section>
      <title>Spanish Version</title>
      <p>This is the Spanish content of the report.</p>
    </section>
  </body>

In this example, the DITA topic contains both English and Spanish versions of the content, which can be independently translated. Conditional text can be used to display the appropriate version based on the target language.