I have Dreamweaver files, but need to get them translated...

seachto7

Ok, this may sound completely stupid, but I need to get the content of a website translated from English to a few other languages. I don't have Word files of the text, but I do have access to the pages via dreamweaver.

What would be the best way to get the text from these files into a document to send to a translation agency? Should I just go copy and paste the text from the English site? I'll have to take care of the meta descriptions myself, I reckon and work on the SEO/source code side of things again...

My main question is getting the text translated.....

Sorry if I am wrecking someone's head here...

Ronan_

Has the translations company told you how they would like the content given to them?

If the entire site is made up of flat html files (i.e. content is not being pulled from a database), then you should just copy and paste content from the english website itself into notepad.

Make sure you get everything though e.g. alt tags for images, page titles, tooltips etc. If you copy and paste the content of the meta tags into notepad along with the content, the translation company should translate that for you too?

If there is a database storing all content and meta data from the site, it would save you a lot of time if you get what you need directly from the database.

seachto7

Hi Ronan,

When you say database (and this may sound silly), do you mean when I log in to the remote server to view the files?....

stimpson

Use a reputable translation/localizaiton firm that can handle HTML.

They should be able to markup your files for translation tools, translate, regenerate HTML, QA the result and fix formatting errors.

Have an idea of your wordcount and get a few quotes (remember that some languages are more expensive than others). If possible, have your transaltions reviewed by a native speaker (not someone with leaving cert french!.

Codpeas

Ronan_ wrote: »

If the entire site is made up of flat html files (i.e. content is not being pulled from a database), then you should just copy and paste content from the english website itself into notepad.

Make sure you get everything though e.g. alt tags for images, page titles, tooltips etc. If you copy and paste the content of the meta tags into notepad along with the content, the translation company should translate that for you too?

If there is a database storing all content and meta data from the site, it would save you a lot of time if you get what you need directly from the database.

Copying content out and then just sending it for straight language translation is generally a bad idea. One of the most important aspects of translation is the context of the text - is it a button/command or a section title? what is it referring to? - the translations could differ depending on the context.

stimpson wrote: »

Use a reputable translation/localizaiton firm that can handle HTML.
They should be able to markup your files for translation tools, translate, regenerate HTML, QA the result and fix formatting errors.

Exactly! If someone cant deal with HTML you dont want to use them...

stimpson wrote: »

Have an idea of your wordcount and get a few quotes (remember that some languages are more expensive than others). If possible, have your transaltions reviewed by a native speaker (not someone with leaving cert french!.

Most translation firms will always use translators who are translating into their native language as this tends to be a requirement from most experienced customers of theirs. Anything else is asking for trouble...and would definitely need a review phase.

I used to work for one of the big localisation companies and the missus still works for another one so I may be able to get you some contact details of people that can talk you through this if you want?

seachto7

Hi guys,

Thanks for the advice. Stuff I did not know about (re: html). I speak French and Italian myself, but would always agree with getting native speakers to translate the material, as I don't want any room for error.
I suppose I could translate the meta tags and descriptions myself, I would have that level of language ability, but I suppose it would be handier to get it all done in the one go if possible.
I'm not 100% on the word count, I'll have a look later....
yep, am looking for quotes and suggestions, so feel free to PM me or whatever is within the rules on this forum,.....

stimpson

Codpeas wrote: »

Most translation firms will always use translators who are translating into their native language as this tends to be a requirement from most experienced customers of theirs. Anything else is asking for trouble...and would definitely need a review phase.

Absolutely. Translators should be native speakers with a relevant qualification. However, many translation companies outsource to the cheapest linguist they can find. If you don't speak the language you won't know how good the translation is.

seachto7

Thanks for the feedback and emails guys..

Ok, I might not have been clear in what I needed translated. Turns out, they don't have the Word files of the site, so it looks like my only option is to just copy the text into a Word doc.

This then creates problems, when it comes to translating the meta descriptions/page titles etc...

stimpson

As I said earlier - send them the HTML files - not DOC files.

Any localization company worth their salt should be able to handle them without any problems. Is it your own site you are translating?

seachto7

Hi stimpson,

No, it's not my own site (though I might get it done eventually).

So, to be clear, I just need to send them the html files. Stupid as it may sound, what would the best way to do this? (to send a large amount of html files...)

stimpson

Engage a company and ask them. Usually it's a case of zipping the files and sending them via email (if small) or via FTP (if large)

I'd include the whole site - HTML, JS, GIF/JPG etc. The company should have an engineer to figure out what's translatable and how to translate it. They should also be able to engineer and QA it after translation to make sure it looks and works like the original site.

It's worth paying for this to be done professionally as localization is more complicated than it may seem.

tricky D

Zip up the site and send that. Also, if graphic elements needs translation you should send all relevant graphics probably best in layered PSDs. That allows for the translators/localisers to follow the current site structure and avoid excess moving of content from editor to editor.

After that you need to figure out how to integrate the content back into the site.

seachto7

I could do it via FTP I suppose...

I'll get in touch with some companys...

cheers guys and gals...

seachto7

Hi all,

An update. Ok, it seems that the html files are locked. (??) So, I could give someone ftp access potentially, to open the files in DW, but according to one translation agency, the files were locked when they opened it.
They don't ave PDF / Word files of the site's content, so it would appear, my only solution is to paste the content into a word doc, and worry about the meta description translations myself at a later date.

Bit of a disaster....

ressem

What's on the site?
It's possible to mirror many sites using a program like wget.

If you or an IT person has a PC running linux, or is capable of installing Cygwin and adding the wget package (through the cygwin point an click interface.) then you can then open up a console window and type in
wget -r www.yoursite.ie
then it'll crawl the site and save each page as a HTML page, even if the original was PHP/ASP/.NET based.

If there's much content provided by javascript / flash / requiring login then you might need another approach.
Cygwin at www.cygwin.com