Languages

Heritage datasets are often described in more than one language, for example Dutch for a national audience and English for international researchers. This page explains how SideDoc handles that today.

How SideDoc stores text

Every piece of text you type, such as a title or a description, is stored together with its language. One field can hold the same text in several languages side by side: an English title and a Dutch title, for example. When you export to JSON, all languages are included.

Which language you are editing

The current version of SideDoc has no button to switch the editing language. The form works in English:

• New text you type is stored as English.
• If a document already contains text in several languages, the form shows the English version.
• If a field has no English text, the form shows the first language it does have.

Text in other languages is kept. Opening, editing and saving a document never removes a translation that is already in it.

Editing text that is not in English

If a field only has, say, Dutch text, the form shows that Dutch text. When you change it, your change is saved as a new English value and the original Dutch text stays as it was. Keep this in mind when you edit documents that were written in another language.

Languages of the dataset itself

Do not confuse the language of your description with the language of the dataset. To record which languages the content of the dataset is in, use the Language field (in the Datasheet profile you find it under Composition, Dataset structure). Pick the languages from the ISO 639-2 list. See Terms from a vocabulary.

Tips

• Write your description in English if it is meant for international reuse. Add other languages outside SideDoc if you need them, for example by editing an exported JSON file, and import the file again.
• The help texts in the form are in English.