I am localizing a project in 6 languages. The import/export document is XLIFF version 2. While I had no problems importing the translated documents in 5 languages, the import breaks for one document. Only the general error message appears that AS is closed and that the error report is sent to Articulate. I have tested the import on 2 different PCs, once with the current AS version, once with the version under which the content was created. As far as I can see, the XLIFF document is valid (tested with several xml tools). The project should be finished by next Monday - what now?
I've dealt with a few translations. It could be a few things. I've sometimes seen translators give me things back that have weird or "smart" apostrophes that have given me trouble. You could try some find and replace for those by opening the file in notepad, visual studio code, or notepad++.
Since you're on a deadline it might be easier to use some software tools to compare the original language XLIFF you exported and let the tool tell you what has been changed, in order to find non-language changes.
I like using the free text editor program from microsoft, Visual Studio Code https://code.visualstudio.com/ . If you open the file there it will give you automatic color highlighting which could let you skim with your eyes and look for spots where the color-coding breaks by a stray symbol or wrong quote symbol.
Visual studio code also has built in version control with git. I would open the original language XLIFF file and click the "source control" icon (third down on the left panel and commit the original file. Then paste the translated file on top of it and then go to source control and click on the changed file to see the highlighted changes. This will show you all the new translated text but you can also look for XML related changes that might be breaking the file.
If none of that works then I would experiment with bringing in the translated XLIFF file in pieces by dropping out portions of it and importing it in pieces until you find the corrupted XML blocks. I would test to make sure that each import doesn't erase previous parts you've imported.
2 Replies
I've dealt with a few translations. It could be a few things. I've sometimes seen translators give me things back that have weird or "smart" apostrophes that have given me trouble. You could try some find and replace for those by opening the file in notepad, visual studio code, or notepad++.
Since you're on a deadline it might be easier to use some software tools to compare the original language XLIFF you exported and let the tool tell you what has been changed, in order to find non-language changes.
I like using the free text editor program from microsoft, Visual Studio Code https://code.visualstudio.com/ . If you open the file there it will give you automatic color highlighting which could let you skim with your eyes and look for spots where the color-coding breaks by a stray symbol or wrong quote symbol.
Visual studio code also has built in version control with git. I would open the original language XLIFF file and click the "source control" icon (third down on the left panel and commit the original file. Then paste the translated file on top of it and then go to source control and click on the changed file to see the highlighted changes. This will show you all the new translated text but you can also look for XML related changes that might be breaking the file.
If all of the above seems tricky or git version control is new to you or if you prefer notepad++ then here also is a text compare to do the same. https://www.technicaloverload.com/compare-two-files-using-notepad/
Or you could also try to use an online text compare like https://text-compare.com/
If none of that works then I would experiment with bringing in the translated XLIFF file in pieces by dropping out portions of it and importing it in pieces until you find the corrupted XML blocks. I would test to make sure that each import doesn't erase previous parts you've imported.
Josh,
thank you so much for trying to find a solution.
The problem is that I have already tried all the options you mentioned (notepad+/compare and VS Code).
Importing the text in individual blocks would be the absolute last resort, as the XLIFF file contains over 36,000 lines of text :(