Stream: implementers
Topic: Translation of profiles to other languages
Sadiq Saleh (Feb 28 2017 at 17:42):
I tried looking for discussions about the following question, but was unable to find one. Could someone please point me in the correct direction if it has already been discussed?
How should profiles be defined for use cases where different languages may be required? Specifically:
1) Should the english and non-english based profiles have different URIs? I am unfamiliar how this is being handled for base resources
2) Should attribute names differ? Since profiles get attribute names from base resources, are there base resources with attribute names in different languages?
3) Could instances generated in an English version of FHIR be checked for conformance against a non-English version?
I appreciate any guidance that the community may be able to provide.
Lloyd McKenzie (Feb 28 2017 at 18:55):
All FHIR instances use a single set of schemas using English names, regardless of where they're used or what language is predominant there. The implementer community indicated that this was their preference for interoperability reasons
Lloyd McKenzie (Feb 28 2017 at 18:55):
Profiles are sets of constraints, so I'm not sure what an english and non-english based profile would mean.
Lloyd McKenzie (Feb 28 2017 at 18:56):
The documentation in a profile can be written in a language other than English. And if multiple languages are needed, translations are possible for each string in the profile
Sadiq Saleh (Feb 28 2017 at 19:24):
You answered my question w.r.t base resources, and likely about profiles as well but I would just like to clarify I understand.
When I referred to non-English profiles, I was referring to a profile that was generated for use where a different language is predominant.
For example for a profile on Patient for use in a French medium, the Patient profile would still have attributes with English names and not the French equivalent and these would have to be translated by the system using the profile for displaying it to the user.
Sadiq Saleh (Feb 28 2017 at 19:25):
If this is the case, is there a resource for "approved" translations for base resource attributes?
Lloyd McKenzie (Feb 28 2017 at 21:55):
You can create a profile on a resource that defines labels, definitions, usage notes, rationale, etc. in whatever languages you like. (Though authoring tools like Forge won't necessarily support capturing multiple translations yet.)
Grahame Grieve (Mar 01 2017 at 02:24):
so the plan is:
- you put translations anywhere you want in the profiles, using the standard translation extension
- forge will be updated to support editing these translations at some time
- when you run the IG publisher, you will be able to specify what languages you want to generate for
- you can use Jekyll to assemble multi-version IGs, separated as much as you want
- the IG will spit out, among other things, a list of terms that need translating into each of the target languages
Grahame Grieve (Mar 01 2017 at 02:25):
(oh and: as well as using the translation extension, you can just provide a long list of value=value to translate from the primary language to another language
Last updated: Apr 12 2022 at 19:14 UTC
