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Thread: In-Language translation for ARIA?
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From: Judith.A.Blankman@wellsfargo.com
Date: Mon, Oct 06 2014 11:30AM
Subject: In-Language translation for ARIA?
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We are in the process of translating content to Spanish, which should of course include alt text and hidden text.
I was wondering if there is any advice regarding translating ARIA, such as <role="navigation"> or the word "selected" to designate a state.
I realize that any content that is included in an aria-describedby attribute would be translated. Just wondering if ARIA roles or attributes should be translated.
Thanks,
Judith Blankman
Accessibility Strategist
Customer Experience
Wells Fargo Digital Channels Group | 550 California Street, 2nd floor | San Francisco, CA 94104
MAC A0122-020
Tel 415-947-6583 | Cell 415-601-1114 | Fax 415-974-7452
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From: Jared Smith
Date: Mon, Oct 06 2014 11:35AM
Subject: Re: In-Language translation for ARIA?
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The ARIA attributes are defined in the specification, and like all W3C
specifications, they are in English. It would be up to assistive
technology to identify things like landmarks or element states and
properties in the correct language. In short, don't worry about it -
follow the specification.
Jared
From: Jukka K. Korpela
Date: Mon, Oct 06 2014 12:10PM
Subject: Re: In-Language translation for ARIA?
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2014-10-06 20:30, = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = wrote:
> I was wondering if there is any advice regarding translating ARIA,
> such as <role="navigation"> or the word "selected" to designate a
> state.
>
> I realize that any content that is included in an aria-describedby
> attribute would be translated. Just wondering if ARIA roles or
> attributes should be translated.
They *must not* be translated.
Although they look like English words, and have been taken from the
English language, they are identifiers in a formal language. Browsers
and assistive software are expected to recognize these identifiers, and
only them, as denoting attributes names and attribute values.
So they must not be translated, just like HTML tag names and CSS
property names and API identifiers must not be translated.
The aria-describedby attribute must refer to an element's id attribute
value, so the essential thing is that it matches what you have in an
id="..." attribute. Such values can be selected freely, as long as they
are unique. So the values are are identifier-based, but the identifiers
can be selected by the page creator. However, using e.g. Spanish words
there instead of English words has no accessibility impact worth
mentioning. These values are expected to be internal to the page, read
and handled by the browser, not presented to the user.
The aria-label attribute, or the alt or title attribute, are different:
by definition, their values are not identifiers but "free" text,
basically expected to be in a human language understandable to the user
(and suitable in the context of the page). Thus, translating them is
essential and quite comparable to translating normal text content
(except that it is in practice more difficult: the translator has to
work typically with short phrases, at worst without any context).
Yucca
From: Judith.A.Blankman@wellsfargo.com
Date: Mon, Oct 06 2014 12:23PM
Subject: Re: In-Language translation for ARIA?
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Thanks for the clarification, Yucca.
I realized now that I mentioned aria-describedby when I should have used
aria-label. I had assumed that this was the free text that should be
translated. Appreciate the confirmation.
On 10/6/14 11:10 AM, "Jukka K. Korpela" < = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = > wrote:
>2014-10-06 20:30, = EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED = wrote:
>
>> I was wondering if there is any advice regarding translating ARIA,
>> such as <role="navigation"> or the word "selected" to designate a
>> state.
>>
>> I realize that any content that is included in an aria-describedby
>> attribute would be translated. Just wondering if ARIA roles or
>> attributes should be translated.
>
><snip!>
>
>The aria-describedby attribute must refer to an element's id attribute
>value, so the essential thing is that it matches what you have in an
>id="..." attribute. Such values can be selected freely, as long as they
>are unique. So the values are are identifier-based, but the identifiers
>can be selected by the page creator. However, using e.g. Spanish words
>there instead of English words has no accessibility impact worth
>mentioning. These values are expected to be internal to the page, read
>and handled by the browser, not presented to the user.
>
>The aria-label attribute, or the alt or title attribute, are different:
>by definition, their values are not identifiers but "free" text,
>basically expected to be in a human language understandable to the user
>(and suitable in the context of the page). Thus, translating them is
>essential and quite comparable to translating normal text content
>(except that it is in practice more difficult: the translator has to
>work typically with short phrases, at worst without any context).
>
>Yucca
>
>
>>>
From: Jonathan Avila
Date: Mon, Oct 06 2014 12:26PM
Subject: Re: In-Language translation for ARIA?
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ARIA attributes and roles should not be translated as those string values are not directly spoken by assistive technology but instead are used by the browser and translated to platform level accessibility APIs. The assistive technology should properly handle speaking different states when they are provided through ARIA.
Some ARIA values such as aria-valuetext and aria-label should be changed, but these are designed as spoken literal strings.
Jonathan
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Sent: Monday, October 06, 2014 1:30 PM
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Subject: [WebAIM] In-Language translation for ARIA?
We are in the process of translating content to Spanish, which should of course include alt text and hidden text.
I was wondering if there is any advice regarding translating ARIA, such as <role="navigation"> or the word "selected" to designate a state.
I realize that any content that is included in an aria-describedby attribute would be translated. Just wondering if ARIA roles or attributes should be translated.
Thanks,
Judith Blankman
Accessibility Strategist
Customer Experience
Wells Fargo Digital Channels Group | 550 California Street, 2nd floor | San Francisco, CA 94104
MAC A0122-020
Tel 415-947-6583 | Cell 415-601-1114 | Fax 415-974-7452
= EMAIL ADDRESS REMOVED =