The definition of a language might seem quite confusing because it does not refer to any specific language variant but the whole language category, for example, English. In other words, it encompasses both the language itself and all of its existing variants.

The source language is the language in which a text that you want to translate is written.

The target language is the language into which you want your text to be translated.

Language variant is a subcategory of a particular language, and such variant is indicated by the set of parentheses and the name of the variant inside, next to the name of the language it derives from; for example, English (Germany) or French (Canada). As mentioned, the second word after the name of the language indicates a particular language variant (usually a country in which it is used).

Language variants might have a slight impact on the final results of the translation (TM matching). They are separate functionality, contrary to adding a new language, which can be added to the newest XTM Cloud version release.

IMPORTANT! Keep in mind that for a particular language variant to be matched against its other variants in the TM matching process, the relevant language category first needs to be activated at global level (administrative privileges required!) in Configuration → Settings → Translation → TM → Matches - general → Match against all language variants. Open Otherwise, those variants will be treated as separate languages and will therefore not be matched against one another during the TM matching process.

IMPORTANT! Keep in mind that for a particular language variant to be matched against its other variants in the TM matching process, the relevant language category first needs to be activated at global level (administrative privileges required!) in Configuration → Settings → Translation → TM → Matches - general → Match against all language variants. Open Otherwise, those variants will be treated as separate languages and will therefore not be matched against one another during the TM matching process.

Furthermore, language variants can have their own penalty profiles and the segments in XTM Workbench which are populated with a TM variant match of this kind can be highlighted to identify them and for additional reassurance.

New language

Adding new language for generating separate translation memory, terminology, etc., is free of charge and is usually implemented at the end of the development cycle.

Language variant

Adding language variants requires an estimation task first as it involves a financial investment.