Translation

DITA has specific capabilities for preparing content for translation and working with multilingual content, including the xml:lang attribute, the dir attribute, and the translate attribute.

1. The xml:lang attribute
   Specifies the language (and optionally the locale) of the element content. The intent declared with xml:lang is considered to apply to all attributes and content of the element where it is specified, unless overridden with an instance of xml:lang on another element within that content. When no xml:lang value is supplied, the processor should assume a default value.
2. The dir attribute
   While most languages are written in text where characters flow from left to right, Hebrew and many Arabic languages are written from right to left. In some languages, including Hebrew and Arabic, numbers and other content is written left to right. Also, a multilingual document containing, for example, English and Hebrew, contains some text that flows left to right and other text that flows right to left.
3. All elements with translation properties
   This contains a list of all current TC-approved elements, divided up by module. It describes which are usually block elements and which are usually inline, and lists which elements should typically be translated by default.

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OASIS DITA Architectural Specification v1.1 -- Committee Draft 13 February 2007
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