This extension provides an API to extend support of translations within TYPO3 v7 and v8.
Internationalisation (also known as i18n) is the process of designing software so that it can be easily (i.e. without any source code modifications) adapted to various languages and regions. Localisation (also known as L10n) is the process of adapting internationalised software for a specific language or region (e.g., by translating text, formatting date or time).
The primary source of translations in TYPO3 since version 4.6 are XLIFF message catalogs. XLIFF, the XML Localisation Interchange File Format is an OASIS-blessed standard format for translation.
Each TYPO3 extension may contain any number of XLIFF files. The location for these files is the
Resources/Private/Translations folder. These files there can be named at will, but keep in mind
that Main is the default catalog name. The target locale is then added as a directory hierarchy
in between. The minimum needed to provide message catalogs for the en and de locales thus would
be:
<your-extension-key>/
Resources/
Private/
Translations/
en/
Main.xlf
de/
Main.xlf
A minimal XLIFF file looks like this:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xliff version="1.2" xmlns=urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
<file original="" source-language="da" target-language="fr" datatype="plaintext">
<body>
<trans-unit id="danish.celebrity">
<source>Skarhøj</source>
<target>Sarkosh</target>
</trans-unit>
</body>
</file>
</xliff>
If possible you should set up your editor to use the XLIFF 1.2 strict schema to validate the files you are working on.
Plural forms are also supported in XLIFF. The following example defines a string in two forms that will be used depending on the count:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xliff version="1.2" xmlns=urn:oasis:names:tc:xliff:document:1.2">
<file original="" source-language="en" target-language="de" datatype="plaintext">
<body>
<group id="some.label" restype="x-gettext-plurals">
<trans-unit id="some.label[0]">
<source>This is only {0} item.</source>
<target>Dies ist nur {0} Element.</target>
</trans-unit>
<trans-unit id="some.label[1]">
<source>These are {0} items.</source>
<target>Dies sind {0} Elemente.</target>
</trans-unit>
</group>
</body>
</file>
</xliff>
Please be aware that the number of the available plural forms depends on the language! If you want
to find out which plural forms are available for a locale you can have a look at
EXT:translation/Resources/Private/I18n/CLDR/Sources/supplemental/plurals.xml.
To translate XLIFF files you can use any text editor, but translation is a lot easier using one the available translation tools. To name two of them: Virtaal is a free and open-source tool for offline use and Pootle (both from the Translate Toolkit project) is a web-based translation server.
XLIFF can also easily be converted to PO file format, edited by well known PO editors (like Poedit, which supports plural forms), and converted back to XLIFF format. The xliff2po and po2xliff tools from the Translate Toolkit project can convert without information loss.