Locale: Target language mapping in your GoogleSheets projects
Introduction
Google Sheets is one of the worlds most known, dynamic spreadsheet applications. When used for translation needs, it pairs perfectly with Lang Connector by Locale for a quick, and efficient automated translation workflow. By using a simple translation format and workflow, it is easy to extract content for translation via your existing workflows, whether it is a TMS, MT engine, or dedicated human for translation.
What you will need to get started
The Login link for Locale.
The username and password for the Google Account which contains the Google Sheet for translation.
Note: If you do not possess the correct credentials to access this information, please contact your system administrator or support representative. Locale does not have access to this nor do we provide this information.
User login information for both your Locale instance, and your Google Sheets account.
A trial account of Locale can also be taken for free by going to locale.to and selecting the “Get Started” button.
Target language mapping in your Google Sheets projects
Before starting the localization of your Google Sheets content, it is important to ensure that the content follows the correct structure to be read and accessed by the Lang Connector.
In order for the language information to be properly access, analyzed, and placed back into your document, it will need to be divided into columns according to source and target content.
These columns can appear in any order, so long as the language codes used are correctly mapped to the language codes in your Locale instance. And at the time of publication of this content (November 2023) only 1 source language per project can be used.
An example template that we’ve used in the past can be found here. It starts with the Source content (en) in Column A, and continues with our target content languages (es, fr, and it) in Columns B, C, and D.
Language mapping settings in Locale
The default values for language codes in Locale can only be seen after a project has been created. After creating a project in the Locale platform, navigate to the project languages tab, and choose the option to Add a new language.
When the dialogue window appears, each language that is available in the platform can also be seen with the accompanying language code. Use these language codes in your Google Sheets documents to make sure the language mapping is properly matched between your Google Sheets project, and your Locale instance.
If changes to your language codes are needed, you may also do this here and save the changes, just be sure that the language codes from your Google Sheets project and your Locale instance match for the project to be a success.
Content Synchronization
If the project was first created via the Lang Connector, and language codes in your Google Sheet project required modification, a project synchronization is also suggested to ensure that access to all the content, languages, and correct word count can be achieved.
To synchronize the project, first ensure that all of the needed languages in your Google Sheets project are reflected in your Locale instance.
Next, navigate to the Settings tab within your project, and scroll down to the Synchronize button, and select it.
This typically only takes a moment, and will provide you with an up-to-date word/segment count for each of the target languages which have been properly mapped between your Google Sheets project and the Locale platform, as seen normally within the Languages tab.