🌐Managing languages in Toucan (internationalisation)

Locale vs language: what’s the difference ?

Locale includes language and other elements that are attached to the language.

For instance in the French locale (fr) we use the French language but we also use space as a thousand separator and , as a decimal separator.

On the other hand, in the English locale (en) we use the English language and , and . as thousand and decimal separator respectively.

Locales

The locales of the app are set up in the instance_settings.cson. It is accessible from the instance page, after clicking on Parameters.

You can set up:

availables locales
default locale

It should look like this:

i18n:
  available_locales: [
    "fr"
    "en"
  ]
  default: "en"

This locale sets up:

the language used in the menu (Glossary vs Glossaire, etc.). No need to set up a translation for those. The translation is automatic. Available languages menu : French and English.
the format used for number (thousands and decimal separator) and dates. No need to set up expected format for those. The “translation” is automatic. Available formats : French and English.
the translation to use for your slides (if you have set up a translation, see below).

The possible locales are:

en : English
fr : French
it : Italian
nl : Dutch
es : Spanish
de : German
pt : Portuguese

Translation

Let your users choose the language of their application directly from the home page !

Important

To activate translation, your locales should be set up properly as explained above.

To setup translation you’ll need to work on two things:

your stories
a dictionary file

Set up your stories

Important

Before starting, make sure you have the following set up in your front_config.cson file, at the root of the config.

availableLocales: ["en","fr"]

While configuring your stories, you have to flag the elements to translate. Like templating, you need to indicate to Toucan that this word will be dependending on the language picked by the user.

You need to type something like : <%= lang["ELEMENT_TO_TRANSLATE"] %>.

You can translate most of your story’s elements: Title, narrative, tips…

⚠️ ELEMENT_TO_TRANSLATE needs to be unique! It will be your translation key in the dictionary.

Set up the dictionary

The translation dictionary is available from the Assets menu. At the bottom, you can download the locales.cson file.

For each language you make available in your application, a traduction key must be written.

In the dictionary, all you need to do is write down the traduction key an it’s translated value for each of the language available to your user.

It should look like this:

en:
  "ELEMENT_TO_TRANSLATE_1": "Global sales"
  "ELEMENT_TO_TRANSLATE_2": "Slide Title"
fr:
  "ELEMENT_TO_TRANSLATE_1": "Ventes Globales"
  "ELEMENT_TO_TRANSLATE_2": "Titre Slide"

Don’t forget to drop the modified locales.cson file, and you’re all set!

Let’s practice !

🌎 We need to define the language at two levels:

Instance’s level ==> On the Instance settings file to define the available locales.
App’s level ==> On your front config to declare the use of different languages + the locales.cson file to set up your dictionary

Instance Settings

On your App Store, click on "Admin Area" > "Settings"
Download the Instance Settings file
Open the file and look at the i18n block. By default you will find the following block. Nonetheless, you can add some new languages or switch the default value.
On your app level, you will be able to edit the available language (on the app’s homepage).

Application configuration

Edit your home on your application.
Edit the language picker.
In the configuration mode you can then select the languages you want to propose on your application.