Breaking the Language Barriers with ONLYOFFICE

Dear friends!

On the occasion of the International Translation Day we ask our content writing and translation team to tell us some words about the ONLYOFFICE localization process, the role of ONLYOFFICE in this process and its most frequently used features.

– ONLYOFFICE is currently available in more than 20 languages. Who are doing the web-office localization?

When we only started and were not well known, we did all the localization by our own team. We managed to translate the web office into French, German, Spanish and Russian. Later people began to learn about us and asked if it were possible to have ONLYOFFICE in their own language. We had no possibilities to do that by ourselves, so we suggested that they could take part in the localization process and sent the files which needed translation to those who were eager to contribute. Some time later we realized that such translation was not convenient either to us or to our volunteer translators, that’s when translation system was designed and developed. Nowadays all portal translations are done through that system.

– How are the localization and communication processes organized? Do you use some special tools?

No special tools are used but the translation system itself, as it does not require any additional tools or knowledge of web office internals. We try to keep in touch with our translators inviting them to take part in the life of the portal for ONLYOFFICE translators – we-translate.onlyoffice.com/ and some of them actively participate in discussions there.
 
Anyone who wants to localize ONLYOFFICE into their own language can do that – you only need to write to us using documentation@teamlab.com email address stating the language you want to translate into and we will add you to the translation team and send you the credentials for the translation system access. If you want to translate for your local server, this can also be done through the translation system: after you are done with the translation process, we will send the script files necessary for your local server update so that your language became available (it will also be available with the nearest release, in case you do not want to update the server languages manually).

– As you deal with documents every day, you work a lot with ONLYOFFICE Online Editors. What are the most appreciated features?

Here is our top-5 ONLYOFFICE Documents features for content writers, translators and not only.

1. Spell checking
Everything begins from grammar. It’s certainly very convenient to be able to quickly detect and correct mistakes in spelling right as we type, but the possibility to verify the text that is written in several languages makes our work even easier. If the document contains the original text and its translations, we just highlight a paragraph with the mouse and select the necessary language from the list.
 
2. High-quality Formatting
Good article should not only be correctly spelled but also attractively decorated. It’s easier to perceive well-structured and illustrated information (this is especially significant for users guides, for example). ONLYOFFICE Online Editors provide us everything that may be necessary to quickly make a document more expressive: predefined styles, format painter, images insertion and table templates. As for the presentations, they also include all means to attract the attention of the audience – autoshapes, charts, animated effects, etc.
 
3. Searching and Replacing
The creative process is unpredictable and it’s often necessary to quickly replace some terms because the concept for an article is changed or we’ve found a better translation. Even if the text is long, it is not a problem due to the set of search and replace options. We can replace all the found occurrences at once or view each of them individually and replace some words selectively.
 
4. Real-time Co-editing
Although all the listed features are present in any desktop editor, online collaboration makes ONLYOFFICE indispensable. It ensures efficiency in the work and eliminates a waste of time. We can simultaneously translate a text in an online excel spreadsheet into several languages or collectively create a presentation with our colleagues from other departments. In case unwanted changes have been applied, we can easily revert a previous version, however, this happens rarely, but it’s better to have a possibility to play it safe.
 
Of course, there are several pleasant additions that make collaborative translating and text writing more comfortable, namely comments and the integrated chat. It’s much more easier to discuss the content using comments as they specify the exact location of the text we need to correct. Comments can be marked as closed so that it’s immediately clear, without extra words, that the problem is resolved. The chat allows us to discuss some aspects on the fly.
 
Generally, all this lets us focus on immediate priorities without the distraction of institutional matters.
 
5. Sharing and Embedding
Once an article is ready and approved, it’s time to publish it. We can just share the document and post only a link to it instead of copying and pasting all the content. And what is more, it’s possible to embed the file into a web page, which is also a good solution. If we make a promo presentation, we can send the link to separate customers who’ve requested this information (moreover, it is just great to create a promo and guidance materials using the product that is being advertised).
 
It’s quite difficult to rank these features, because all of them are equally important and necessary in our day-to-day work. ONLYOFFICE Online Editors simplify all the content writing and translating process – from the basic features to the co-authoring and publishing.