Asset Bank allows you to provide alternative-language versions to your users. You can add as many additional languages as you need, including those using non-latin alphabets and those that read from right-to-left such as Arabic and Hebrew.

Providing a matching language has been added to Asset Bank, each user will be presented with the language that is chosen in their web browser. Additionally, users can choose to switch between languages, either in their user profile, or from links at the top of each page.

Enabling Multi Language

The multi-language functionality is enabled by setting the configuration option 'supportMultiLanguage' to 'true' in the application setting file. (Note that you will require an Enterprise license for this to take effect).

You are then able to see and maintain the list of supported languages by clicking on the Multi-Language tab in the Content area of the admin menu.

Adding Languages

Initially, Asset Bank is configured with just the default language (English) which is used in the admin pages, and thus cannot be removed.

Additional languages can be added by clicking the 'Add a new language' link, which will prompt you to enter some details about the new language.

Name
This is the English name for the language, which will be used in admin screens.

Native Name
This is the name of the language in that language, and will be displayed to users when choosing a language or adding a translation.

Code
This should be the 2-character ISO 639-1 code representing the language (see http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_list.php).

Uses Latin Alphabet (also know as Roman Alpabet)
This indicates that the language is based on the Latin alphabet (e.g. like modern English). If this is set, keywords in this language will be organised by alphabetical grouping, otherwise grouping will not be used.

Right to Left
Should the language be displayed right-to-left.

Icon Filename
The links that switch between languages can optionally be displayed with an icon - typically a flag. If a filename is provided, a corresponding image file should be placed in \images\standard\languages within the Asset Bank installation directory. Note that Asset Bank comes with a small number of standard icons.

Activating / Deactivating Languages

When a new language is created it is initially 'suspended', meaning that it is only visible to admin users. Users who have the permission to upload assets will be able to enter translations for suspended languages, but they will not be able to switch Asset Bank to the suspended language unless they have admin rights.

A language can be activated for all users by clicking the 'yes' link in the Suspended column in the list of languages.

Activated languages can be suspended again by clicking the 'no' link in the Suspended column.

Editing the Default Language

By default the default language is English. It is not advisable to change the name and code of the default language to that of another language as you would then have to change all content items for this language (i.e. to translate them).

However, you might want to change the default language so that it does not actually represent a real language but instead holds the default translations for all the other (real) languages. See how to make your multi-language Asset Bank less English-centric

Deleting Languages

Languages can be deleted by clicking the delete link. Note that all translations entered for a language will be lost when it is deleted.

If you are planning on deleting a language that is currently activated, consider suspending it for a while first to allow any users currently using the language to exit the system.

Adding Translations

All publicly visible (i.e. non-admin) content in Asset Bank can be translated into the alternative languages added in the above process.

Translations for 'static' content can be entered in the Manage Content admin section in the same way as for the default language. Initially, the content items created for any alternative languages are the same as the English versions, but these can be replaced with translations as required.

Translations for attribute data (e.g. field labels), keywords and asset metadata can be entered in the same screens as the English language versions. For each translatable metadata field (i.e. those accepting text input) the input field will be repeated for each alternative language.

When editing attribute data, keywords or existing assets, the alternative language version of each field will initially be empty. When this is the case the English version will be displayed when viewing the asset. To provide a translation, simply enter or paste it into the field that is relevant for the language. To remove a translation and restore the English version, just delete the content of the relevant field.