Creating an Epi Info 3 Translation File
Erik Knudsen, Information Technology Specialist
Epidemiology & Analysis Program Office (EAPO)
Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC)
3/25/2011
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Creating an Epi Info 3 Translation File
Introduction
Epi Info’s built-in translation tool allows users to create a customized translation of the Epi Info™ menus
and dialog boxes. The tool does not in any way provide for translation of the forms (Views) that users
design in MakeView or that are shown in Enter. Epi Info™ has been translated into several languages
including Spanish, Russian, Italian, Greek, Arabic, and French. Some of these translations can be
downloaded from the CDC Epi Info™ website at http://wwwn.cdc.gov/epiinfo/script/translations.aspx.
Getting Started
Setting non-Unicode character conversion sets
Some setup work may be required depending on the language that Epi Info™ will be translated to.
Because Epi Info™ is not UNICODE compliant, any non-English character sets used in a translation
document are unlikely to display properly, even if the computer’s regional settings are set to match that
language. The way around this problem is to first change the computer’s language settings for nonUnicode programs.
Note: This procedure is only needed for the translated phrases to show up properly in Epi Info. The
translated phrases will show up properly in Windows, on the web, and during the actual translation
without needing to follow the steps below.
Steps:
1) Open the Windows XP Control Panel
2) Open Regional and Language Options
3) Select the Advanced tab
You may need administrative privileges on the computer to see the Advanced tab. Regular user
accounts may only see the Regional Options and Languages tabs. Contact your system
administrator to proceed if this is the case.
4) In the Language for non-Unicode programs drop-down list, select the target language of your
choice
Depending on the language, you may need to select one or more checkboxes in the Code page
conversion tables list for the settings to work properly. This can be a trial-and-error process, but
in general, it is recommended to select all of the options for a single language.
5) Click OK
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Getting Started
You may be prompted to install the language files you selected after clicking the OK button. This
process may require a Windows XP CD-ROM. If you do not have the Windows XP CD-ROM that
came with your computer, please contact your system administrator.
The computer should now be set to properly display the desired language in Epi Info™.
Creating the Translation File
The translation process is started by opening the TSETUP module from within Epi Info™. In addition to
being able to create language translation files, it can also install language files for use and compress
them into language modules for distribution to other users. In this scenario, we will go through the
process of creating a new translation for the Korean language.
Steps:
1) Open Epi Info™
2) Navigate to Settings > Manage Translations from the menu. The window below should appear.
3) Click the Create button.
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Creating an Epi Info 3 Translation File
4) Enter Korean into the text box and click OK. The following dialog box should appear:
Translating Epi Info™ Phrases
Now that the translation file has been created, it must be opened for editing. The process of editing the
translation file is done using Microsoft Access, although it can be done in Epi Info’s VisData utility if
Microsoft Access is not available.
Steps:
1) Open My Computer or Windows Explorer
2) Navigate to C:\Epi_Info\Korean
3) Double-click on the language.mdb file. The file should open in Microsoft Access.
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Getting Started
4) Each table that appears in the list corresponds to a different component of Epi Info™. Doubleclick on the Analysis table to open it.
Each table has two columns: One for the English phrases and one for the Korean phrases. The
left-hand column is the English phrase that must be translated. The right-hand column
represents the translated phrase.
5) Begin entering the Korean translations of the English phrases into the column titled Korean. The
work is automatically saved as you type it in, so there is no need to save as you go.
Creating a Language Installer and Installing the Language
Once the language.mdb file has been fully translated from English, it must then be made into an
installer package so that TSETUP can install it to Epi Info™ and so that it can be distributed to other
users.
Steps:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Close any open copies of the language.mdb file.
Open Epi Info™
Navigate to Settings > Manage Translations from the menu. The TSETUP window should appear.
Click the Compress button.
Type Korean into the Self-Extractor .exe name field and then select C:\Epi_Info\Korean as the
Folder Location for Compression.
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Creating an Epi Info 3 Translation File
6) Click OK. The following dialog should appear:
7)
8)
9)
10)
11)
Open My Computer or Windows Explorer.
Navigate to C:\Epi_Info\Korean.
Right-click on the Korean.exe file and select Copy.
Navigate to C:\Epi_Info\TransEXE
Right-click inside of the folder and select Paste from the pop-up menu. The Korean.exe file is
copied into the TransEXE folder.
12) Close the TSETUP window.
13) Open the TSETUP window by navigating to Tools > Manage Translations from the Epi Info™
menu.
14) Select the Korean option from the list of languages.
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Getting Started
15) Click the Install button.
16) In the Zip self-extractor window, change the install path from C:\Epi_info\TransEXE to
C:\Epi_Info\Korean.
17) Click OK.
Once the installation is complete, TSETUP will automatically close.
18) From the Epi Info™ menu, select Tools > Choose Language.
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Creating an Epi Info 3 Translation File
19) Select Korean from the list.
20) Click OK.
The Korean interface translation should appear. If black squares or question marks show up instead of
the proper translated phrases, then you may need to modify your non-Unicode character conversion
sets.
Additional Information
The Epi Info™ help documentation contains more detailed information on how to use the translation
tools and contains its own step-by-step instructions. Please open the help documentation by navigating
to Help > Contents from the main Epi Info™ menu. In the help window that appears, select the Contents
tab and then navigate to Translation > How To. A list of translation-related help topics will appear.
For technical assistance, please contact the Epi Info™ helpdesk at epiinfo@cdc.gov.
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