The String translation module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, provides support for other modules to translate user-defined strings. It implements the i18n_strings function, which in Drupal 6 was commonly known as the tt function. The i18n_strings function is an API function that lets other modules (such as the Taxonomy translation and Menu translation submodules) manage translations of user-entered strings. Depending on which modules you have enabled that use this feature, different text groups will be available for translation.

In contrast to Drupal's standard localization system, which always translates from English, strings will be translated from the source language. By default the source language is the site's default language, so changing the default language could break these translations. You can set which language is used as the source language via Administration > Configuration > Regional and language > Multilingual settings > Strings.

The Multilingual content module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, provides extended multilingual options for nodes. These options help accommodate a variety of translation workflows by controlling how the language for nodes is set.

Figure 1

Node Options per Content Type

For each content type, the following Extended language options are available under the Multilingual Settings tab (Figure 2):

• Set current language as default for new content can be useful for content that is community-generated.
• Require language prevents users from creating 'Language neutral' nodes.
• Lock language prevents users from changing the language of a node after it's created.

Additionally, if the String translation module is enabled, the Multilingual content module will localize all content type configuration texts including content type names and submission guidelines. Content type descriptions are localized by the core Locale module.

Figure 2

Site-wide Settings for Node Translation

The Multilingual select module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, allows you to define whether content is filtered by language on pages provided by Drupal core. This applies to cases in which multiple nodes are pulled out of the nodes table and displayed together on the page, such as on the default homepage (/node). The module allows you to configure whether or not to filter these pages by the current language.

The Synchronize translations module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, allows you to synchronize fields and other node elements across translations of a given node. This is available for content types where multilingual support, with translation, is enabled.

Usage

You can configure which elements are synchronized for each content type under the Synchronize translations tab (Figure 1). Synchronization of a field or node element means that when it is edited for any node in the translation set, all other nodes in the translation set will be updated as follows:

• For fields: All the node fields selected for synchronization will be updated for all node translations.
• For multilingual vocabularies: The terms for all node translations will be replaced by the translations of the terms on the edited node.
• For untranslated vocabularies: The terms will be copied over to all the node translations.

Use Cases

Synchronization is particularly useful for cases when a field will be identical across translations, such as price, author, taxonomy terms, and images.

The Path translation module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, allows you to map together existing pages that are translations of each other. This will allow users to use the language switcher to navigate between the associated pages.

Note: The Field Translation module does not provide content translation for fields. This functionality is provided by the Entity Translation (ET) module.

The Field Translation module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, allows for translation of text associated with a field's settings including the label, help text, default value, and list options. Translation of these field settings can be added through the 'Translate interface' pages (Administration > Configuration > Regional and language > Translate interface). This functionality is not provided by ET.