If you’re experiencing issues with your AWS services, then please refer to the AWS Health Dashboard. You can find the overall status of ongoing outages, the health of AWS services, and the latest updates from AWS engineers.
Placeholder handling on Amazon Translate
We have been testing Amazon Translate to translate Word documents on SDL WorldServer and we've noticed there are spaces added after placeholders (see example below).
The Word document output is:
We have used Amazon's console to translate Word documents before; however, they did not have placeholders.
We tried exporting an .XLF file from SDL WorldServer, running a batch translation project on Amazon's console and uploading the translated XLF file on SDL WorldServer, and the segments with placeholders were ignored (see example below).
Can Amazon Translate handle placeholders? Is there a way to fix the errors we are getting?
- Newest
- Most votes
- Most comments
Amazon Translate can handle placeholders, but it appears you're encountering some challenges with your specific use case. While Amazon Translate supports real-time document translation of various file types including Text, HTML, and Docx files, it may not inherently understand or preserve all types of placeholders used in specialized translation management systems like SDL WorldServer.
To address the issues you're experiencing, there are a few approaches you can consider:
-
Custom Terminology: Amazon Translate offers a feature called Custom Terminology that allows you to define how unique terms or placeholders should be translated. You could create a custom terminology file that includes your placeholders and specify that they should remain unchanged during translation. This might help prevent the addition of unwanted spaces after placeholders.
-
Do-not-translate Tags: If your content is in HTML format, you can use the "translate" attribute with a value of "no" to specify parts of the text that should not be translated. This could be applied to your placeholders to ensure they remain intact.
-
Active Custom Translation: For batch translation jobs, you could use Amazon Translate's Active Custom Translation feature. This allows you to provide parallel data (examples of desired translations) that Amazon Translate can use to adapt its output. You could include examples of correctly handled placeholders in your parallel data.
-
Pre/Post-processing: Given the specific behavior you're seeing with SDL WorldServer and XLF files, you might need to implement some pre-processing before sending content to Amazon Translate, and post-processing after receiving the translations. This could involve temporarily replacing placeholders with unique tokens that won't be altered during translation, then restoring them afterward.
-
API Integration: Instead of using the console, you might get more control over the translation process by integrating Amazon Translate's API directly into your workflow. This would allow you to handle placeholders programmatically before and after translation.
It's worth noting that the behavior you're seeing might be due to interactions between SDL WorldServer, the file formats you're using, and Amazon Translate. You may need to experiment with different approaches or consult with AWS support to find the best solution for your specific workflow.
Sources
Amazon Translate Features – Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Customizing your translations with custom terminology - Amazon Translate
Customizing your translations with parallel data (Active Custom Translation) - Amazon Translate
Preventing translation on nouns like person names using Translate | AWS re:Post
Relevant content
- asked 3 years ago
- asked 5 years ago
- AWS OFFICIALUpdated a year ago
