See About Language Packs for a quick introduction to the varied uses of language packs. This page discusses how to use Family Historian to produce reports in different languages. Notice that there are some minor differences (see the table below) depending on whether you are using the language pack for same language rendering (project language and output language are the same) or for other language translation (project language and output language are not the same). See About Language Packs for more on this distinction.
To produce a report in a language other than English (or even in English, if the project language is not English), open the report and, within the report options, select the Language tab. Choose an appropriate language pack for the Report Language field. If there is no language pack listed for the language you require, see How to Install a Language Pack, or How to Create a Language Pack.
If your project language is not English and you always want reports to be in the project language, you can make this the default output language (see How to Work in Different Languages).
Most Family Historian reports support language translation (that is, are language pack ready), but not all. All reports support language packs to some degree, but some are not fully language pack ready (or may not be). The ones that aren't, or may not be, are custom reports, and some of the reports in the Miscellaneous category. In general, owing to the high level of configurability of Family Historian and for other practical reasons, it is not possible to guarantee that all parts of a report can always be fully translated by a language pack, without some action being required by you, the user. However, if some part of a report is not being translated, the untranslated parts can optionally be marked distinctively so that it is easy to spot untranslated portions. The different colours of the markings are your guide to what you need to do to correct the problem, if anything. See the table below for details:
| Item | Translation Context | Translation Method | Default Marking if not Translated | Remedial Action if Not Translated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source footnote & bibliography formats |
any | Language variant definitions for source footnote & bibliography formats | Highlight in green | Add or edit the language variant definition for the relevant source footnote & bibliography format. See Work with Language Variant Definitions for Source Footnote & Bibliography Formats. |
| Fact sentence templates (for narrative reports), fact
labels, witness sentence templates (for roles), and role
labels. |
any | Language variant definitions for fact
types |
Highlight in green |
Add or edit the language variant definition for the relevant fact type. See Work with Language Variant Definitions for Fact Types. |
| Report titles, heading, field labels, relationship descriptions
and other constant text (except for field labels and constant text
which relate to facts & witnesses & roles - see next) |
any | Miscellaneous translation table |
Highlight in purple | Add missing values to the Miscellaneous translation table in the language pack (see Language Pack Translation Tables). |
| Only applicable to narrative
reports. Fact and witness sentence overrides ('overrides' of narrative sentences, entered in the 'Sentence' field on the Facts tab of the Property Box, or in the Witnesses Window, and displayed in narrative reports) Note: So that you can easily see which sentences are overrides, even if they have been translated, there is an option to 'Mark Sentence Overrides' (default for this is Highlight in grey). |
same language rendering | None. These are not translated as they should already be in the output language. | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| other language translation | Miscellaneous translation table | Highlight
in purple |
Add missing values to the Miscellaneous translation table in the language pack (see Language Pack Translation Tables). | |
| Names of people, titles of pictures/media, addresses |
any | None. These are not translated. |
Not applicable |
Not applicable |
| Dates |
any | Language pack plugin |
Highlight in blue |
Contact the author of the language pack plugin |
| Ages |
any | Language pack plugin | Highlight in blue |
Contact the author of the language pack plugin |
| Places |
same language rendering | None. These are not translated as they should already be in the output language - if subject to translation at all (some place names are, and some are not). | Not applicable |
Not applicable |
| other language translation | Place translation is optional.
An untranslated place name is not treated as an error, or marked
in any way. If translated, the translations are picked up
from the Place translation table. |
None. |
Add the separate place parts that you wish to be translated to the Place translation table in the language pack (see Language Pack Translation Tables). Each comma-separated part of a place reference is handled separately. So, for example, if the place is "Greenwich, London, England", and your project language is French, you might add "London" to the Place translation table (translation = "Londres") and also add "England" ("Angleterre"). But these are separate decisions, and you don't have to add either. | |
| Attribute Values |
same language rendering | None. These are not translated as they should already be in the output language. | Not applicable |
Not applicable |
| other language translation | Attribute Value translation table. | Highlight in orange | Add missing values to the Attribute Value translation table in the language pack (see Language Pack Translation Tables). | |
| Notes, Text from Source and Research
Notes |
same language rendering | None. These are not translated as they should already be in the output language. | Not applicable | Not applicable |
| other language translation | None. Texts consisting of notes (or similar lengthy
sections of text) are not translated, even if they are not in the
output language. |
Highlight in yellow |
The fact that these are not translated, is not considered a
problem necessarily, and no remedial action is required. If
giving someone a copy of the report, consider giving them a
version in which the untranslated notes etc. are left highlighted
in yellow. The advantage of doing so, for the reader, is
that they can see at a glance which parts have not been
translated. This should make the report as a whole, easier
for them to read. |