RTF export language settings

Question

Hey,
I just wanted to check that there is no way to change what language an RTF export will be created with in Microsoft word?
By default it is always “ENGLISH (UNITED STATES)” even though that is not the default on my computer for new documents.
I guess most people wouldn’t even want spell check turned on, but my project is unique as it is in English - but with Australian spelling. I often forget to change this before sending documents to colleagues and proof-readers. I assume there is no way to change this in PT - I just wanted to check in case there was!

Thanks,
anon953007

Answer 1

Iver+Larsen:

it works fine.

It works fine in the sense that it works if your content happens to be the same as your default in Word. However, it won’t work if the content should be German and you’re opening with a Danish version of Word. It would be best if it was set correctly for the contents of the RTF file.

Comments

What about this possibility?

1. By default, do not provide a language declaration. Your word processor will work the same way as it does when you create a new document on your operating system, using the spell checker you would normally have. This would be fairly easy to do, I think. This might be helpful to two people on this thread, and translating into the same language as your localized operating system is a very common use case.
2. If we have time, we could add the ability to specify an RTF language code when exporting. This would be limited to language codes RTF supports, of course, which means it would be most useful for translations into major languages. I wonder how useful / important this would be, though.
   anon892024

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Possibility 1 would work great for me. And then at least it’s the same as people’s default, so if they need to change it, they would already be expecting to/be used to it.
I guess a lot of people would just want spell check just turned off, but I’m not sure whether that could be an option.

Thanks!

anon953007

PS Let me know if I need to do a problem report.

Answer 2

Hi anon953007,

I think you will simply need to set that language setting in the RTF with your word processor. Or you might be able to get this to work simply by opening it up with the right word processor, that’s worth a try. In your email, you also said that you have been forgetting to set this before sending the files out. Is that because your word processor defaults to Australian English?

I created RTF from a few projects, and when I look at it, it does not seem to be creating a language setting. I am guessing that you are simply seeing the default language setting for your word processor when you open it up. I could be wrong about either of these things - I have spend my life ignoring RTF formats whenever possible.

Hope this helps …

anon892024

Comments

Thanks anon892024,

I am using Microsoft word.
My default in Microsoft word for a new document is Australian English.

But when Paratext creates an RTF and I open it in Microsoft word, the language is set to United States English. It is the same for documents exported from Paratext on my colleague’s computer.

(Yes I forget to change them to Australian English for people because all other documents created on my computer are already set to Australian English.)

However, if I open the RTF in Libre office it is set to English Australia! How very strange, but i guess there is nothing that can be done in Paratext about it anyway!

Thanks,

anon953007

Answer 3

I tried to look into this with my Danish computer and Danish Word and Danish Libre Office plus a project in Danish.

I found the same. Libre Office uses the standard language from its own settings, but Word apparently reads a language setting in the rtf file which overrides the standard.

The first line in the rtf file (I think regardless of the language used in the PT project) includes deflang1033\deflangfe1033.

This is the code for USA English, but why is it there?
Iver+Larsen

Comments

Iver+Larsen:

This is the code for USA English, but why is it there?

It looks like Paratext hard-codes this when exporting to RTF. The only way to make this better would be to allow the user to select the language from this list when exporting.

If someone could send in a problem report, that would be great (no promises on when it would be implemented, though).

Answer 4

If I delete deflang1033\deflangfe1033 from the first line of the rtf file before opening in Word, it works fine. It opens with Danish as standard language.

Answer 5

Yes, I can see that the ideal is that it could somehow get the language code from the Paratext Language setting. However, most of my projects are in local languages which Word cannot handle anyway. For back translation projects, a major language is probably used, but I expect many users would then have their version of Word set to that language as default. It is not too difficult to change the language in Word, but if it is easy to delete the language information from the rtf file, that would help.