Defining Language Variants

You can define language variants, e.g. to depict US and UK English.

To define language variant:

  1. Define the language as described in Defining Languages.
  2. Enter the number of the language that the variant is derived from in the Parent Language No. field.
  3. Save the record.

Defining language variants has the following effects:

  • If no translation of variable catalog values or texts is entered for the variant, the text defined for the parent language is used.
  • If no translation is entered in the parent language for variable catalog values, the value in the catalog base language is used.
  • If no translation is entered for a text in the parent language, the language-independent text is used, see Data Model and Text Info Area.
Note: Texts and catalog values are searched for in the parent language, the parent language's parent language and so on. The parent language(s) must be assigned to the current station. Up to 16 levels can be present in this hierarchy (including the base language).

Catalog settings (e.g. the Sort Order) inherit values from the parent language or catalog base language, see Editing Variable Catalogs.