Systems and methods for facilitating software interface localization between multiple languages

• US 9,552,213 B2
• Filed: 05/16/2011
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 05/16/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: D2L Corporation
• Original Assignee: D2L Corporation
• Inventors: Grabka, Dariusz, Ghassemi, Ali
• Primary Examiner(s): Desir, Pierre-Louis
• Assistant Examiner(s): Sharma, Neeraj
• Application Number:
  US13/108,587
• Publication Number:
  US 20120296630A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,080 Days
• Field of Search: 704/2, 704/3, 704/8, 704/260, 704/5, 704/9, 715/262, 715/703, 715/764, 715/816, 434/178, 382/182, 719/328, 717/141, 726/26, 705/3, 707/100, 345/168
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/129 Handling non-Latin characters, e.g. kana-to-kanji conversion
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/47 Machine-assisted translation, e.g. using translation memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/454 Multi-language systems; Localisation; Internationalisation

Abstract

In one aspect, there is provided a system having a processor and a data storage device coupled to the processor. The data storage device stores instructions executable by the processor to receive a software module, the software module having an interface adapted to display a plurality of first graphemes in a first language, provide at least one look-up table having at least some of the first graphemes and a plurality of second graphemes in a second language associated therewith, said association being based on a phonetic similarly between the first and second graphemes when the first graphemes are vocalized in the first language and the second graphemes are vocalized in the second language, and replace at least one of the first graphemes in the interface with the associated second graphemes such that the interface is adapted to display the second graphemes in the second language, the second graphemes being understandable in the first language when the second graphemes are vocalized.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating software interface localization comprising:

receiving a software module to be localized, the software module having a first graphical user interface comprising at least one control label displaying a plurality of first graphemes in a first language, wherein the plurality of first graphemes correspond to text comprising one or more words in the first language;

providing at least one look up table having at least some of the first graphemes and a plurality of second graphemes in a second language associated therewith, said association being based on a phonetic similarly between the first and second graphemes when the first graphemes are vocalized in the first language and the second graphemes are vocalized in the second language; and

generating a second graphical user interface of the software module based on the first graphical user interface, including searching the at least one look up table for at least one second grapheme corresponding to at least one of a plurality of portions of the first graphemes, determining a plurality at least a first matching grapheme and a second matching grapheme among the plurality of second graphemes, wherein the first matching grapheme corresponds to a first portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, wherein the second matching grapheme corresponds to a second portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, wherein the first portion has more text characters than the second portion, and replacing at least one of the first graphemes in the at least one control label of the first graphical user interface with the associated second graphemes such that the second graphical user interface displays the second graphemes in the second language, the second graphemes being understandable in the first language when the second graphemes are vocalized, wherein the replacing of the at least one of the first graphemes comprises determining the first portion has more text characters than the second portion, and replacing the first portion with the first matching grapheme before replacing the second portion with the second matching grapheme based at least in part on a number of text characters comprised in each of the first portion and the second portion.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising vocalizing the second graphemes such that meaning of the second graphemes are comprehensible in the first language.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of replacing the first graphemes is automated.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising testing the second graphical user interface to determine whether the second graphical user interface is functional in the second language.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first graphemes are organized as words, each of the words having at least one of a beginning portion, an ending portion and a remaining portion, the beginning portion comprising at least one first grapheme located at the beginning of that word, an ending portion comprising at least one first grapheme located at the end of that word, and a remaining portion comprising at least one first grapheme of that word that are not located at the beginning portion and the end portion.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the at least one lookup table comprises at least one of a beginning lookup table having first graphemes that are located in the beginning portion and associated second graphemes, an ending lookup table having first graphemes that are located in the ending portion and associated second graphemes, a general lookup table having first graphemes that are located in any of the beginning portion, ending portion or remaining portion.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the first graphemes at the beginning portion of the word are replaced before the first graphemes at the ending portion of the word are replaced.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first graphemes at the ending portion of the word are replaced before the first graphemes at the ending portion of the word are replaced.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first and second phonetic language elements comprises at least one of a syllable and a phoneme.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of providing at least one lookup table comprises at least two look up tables, a first lookup table comprising the first graphemes and third graphemes in a third language associated therewith, and a second lookup table comprising the third graphemes and associated third graphemes, and the first graphemes are replaced by the second graphemes based on the first and second lookup tables.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the first graphemes and the second graphemes are Latin based graphemes.

12. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of first grapheme and the second graphemes are non-Latin based graphemes.

13. A method for facilitating software interface localization, comprising:

receiving a software module to be localized, the software module having a first graphical user interface comprising at least one control label displaying a plurality of first graphemes in a first language, wherein the plurality of first graphemes correspond to text comprising one or more words in the first language;

determining at least one first language phonetic element associated with at least one of the first graphemes, each phonetic element being a sound associated with the pronunciation of the at least one first grapheme;

determining at least one second language phonetic element that is phonetically similar to the first language phonetic element;

determining at least one second grapheme in a second language associated with the second language phonetic element; and

generating a second graphical user interface of the software module based on the first graphical user interface, including searching for at least one second grapheme corresponding to at least one of a plurality of portions of the first graphemes, determining at least a first matching grapheme and a second matching grapheme among the plurality of second graphemes, wherein the first matching grapheme corresponds to a first portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, wherein the second matching grapheme corresponds to a second portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, and

replacing the at least one first grapheme in the at least one control label of the first graphical user interface with the at least one second grapheme,

wherein the replacing the at least one first grapheme in the at least one control label of the first graphical user interface with the at least one second grapheme includes determining the first portion has more text characters than the second portion, and replacing the first portion with the first matching grapheme before replacing the second portion with the second matching grapheme based at least in part on a number of text characters comprised in each of the first portion and the second portion.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising recording the association between the at least one first grapheme and the at least one second grapheme to generate a lookup table.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising vocalizing the second graphemes such that meaning of the second graphemes are comprehensible in the first language.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising testing the second graphical user interface of the software module displaying the second graphemes to determine whether the second graphical user interface is functional in the second language.

17. A system for facilitating software interface localization, the system comprising:

a processor;

a data storage device coupled to the processor storing instructions executable by the processor to;

receive a software module to be localized, the software module having a first graphical user interface comprising at least one control label displaying a plurality of first graphemes in a first language, wherein the plurality of first graphemes correspond to text comprising one or more words in the first language;

provide at least one look up table having at least some of the first graphemes and a plurality of second graphemes in a second language associated therewith, said association being based on a phonetic similarly between the first and second graphemes when the first graphemes are vocalized in the first language and the second graphemes are vocalized in the second language; and

generate a second graphical user interface of the software module based on the first graphical user interface, including searching the at least one look up table for at least one second grapheme corresponding to at least one of a plurality of portions of the first graphemes, determining a plurality at least a first matching grapheme and a second matching grapheme among the plurality of second graphemes, wherein the first matching grapheme corresponds to a first portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, wherein the second matching grapheme corresponds to a second portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, wherein the first portion has more text characters than the second portion, and replacing at least one of the first graphemes in the at least one control label of the first graphical user interface with the associated second graphemes such that the second graphical user interface displays the second graphemes in the second language, the second graphemes being understandable in the first language when the second graphemes are vocalized, wherein the replacing of the at least one of the first graphemes comprises determining the first portion has more text characters than the second portion, and replacing the first portion with the first matching grapheme before replacing the second portion with the second matching grapheme based at least in part on a number of text characters comprised in each of the first portion and the second portion.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising an audio output device, and the processor is further adapted to vocalize the second graphemes such that meaning of the second graphemes are comprehensible in the first language.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the at least one look up table comprises at least one of a beginning lookup table having first graphemes that are located in the beginning portion and associated second graphemes, an ending look up table having first graphemes that are located in the ending portion and associated second graphemes, and a general look up table having first graphemes that are located in any of the beginning portion, ending portion or remaining portion.

20. The system according to claim 18, wherein the one of the first or second graphemes are Latin based graphemes, and the other of the first and second graphemes are non-Latin based graphemes.

21. A method for facilitating software interface localization comprising:

receiving a software module, the software module having an interface adapted to display displaying a plurality of first graphemes in a first language, wherein the plurality of first graphemes correspond to text comprising one or more words in the first language;

providing at least one look up table having at least some of the first graphemes and a plurality of second graphemes in a second language associated therewith, said association being based on a phonetic similarly between the first and second graphemes when the first graphemes are vocalized in the first language and the second graphemes are vocalized in the second language;

searching for at least one second grapheme corresponding to at least one of a plurality of portions of the first graphemes, determining at least a first matching grapheme and a second matching grapheme among the plurality of second graphemes, wherein the first matching grapheme corresponds to a first portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes, wherein the second matching grapheme corresponds to a second portion of the plurality of portions of first graphemes; and

replacing at least one of the first graphemes in the interface with the associated second graphemes such that the interface is adapted to display the second graphemes in the second language, the second graphemes being understandable in the first language when the second graphemes are vocalized, wherein the replacing the at least one first grapheme in the at least one control label of the first graphical user interface with corresponding ones of the second graphemes includes determining the first portion has more text characters than the second portion, and replacing the first portion with the first matching grapheme before replacing the second portion with the second matching grapheme based at least in part on a number of text characters comprised in each of the first portion and the second portion;

wherein the at least one look up table comprises at least two look up tables, a first lookup table comprising the first graphemes and third graphemes in a third language associated therewith, and a second lookup table comprising the third graphemes and associated third graphemes, and the first graphemes are replaced by the second graphemes based on the first and second lookup tables.