About a week ago, I published the first version of the Movable Type Weblog. It is a website, written in my primary language - which happens to be German. Today, the German language is left behind, and I enter the world.

Analyzing the logs

After the weblog had been online for a couple of days I started analyzing the server's log files. I should have known: most users coming to the website were not located in Germany. These users hit one page and then left immediately.

I had to face the fact, that the large majority of internet users is not interested in a German language website about Movable Type.

Therefore, I decided to copy all contents into an English language weblog. Two things had to be done.

• All text had to be translated into English.
• Movable Type had to be prepared for supporting a dual language weblog.

Translation

I certainly would be able to survive in an English speaking restaurant. That is one thing. Writing text so others are learning from it, is another thing.

I have done my very best. There are probably many typos, maybe even stupid grammar, not to mention the commas. I only hope that you will always understand what I am trying to say.

If there is some text that cannot be understood, please let me know. If you send me an email with errors, I will be very thankful. You can find my email address on page Contact.

Dual Language Weblog

At least today, I want to keep both the German and the English weblog in parallel. New entries will be published to both weblogs.

However, Movable Type does not support the scenario of dual language weblogs. Several problems had to be solved. As for example...

• Corresponding entries should have the same ID.
• If for example in the German weblog a link is written into an entry pointing to another entry, this tag should be simply copied from the German language entry to the English language entry. I did not want to look up the anchor text or the URL manually. This should be done automatically when rebuilding.
• There should only be one set of templates. This set should create both weblogs.

Anything could be solved. It meant some work. But it was possible. And I learned a lot.

If you are interested, I will describe the details in a future entry.

mgs | 04/19/2005

Feedback is welcome!

What do you think about this entry? Was it interesting or boring? I would like to hear your comments. If the text was helpful, please consider setting a link to http://www.movable-type-weblog.com/.

No spam please!

For protecting this weblog I have installed the MT-Approval Plugin. You have to view a new comment in preview mode, before it is saved on the server. Moreover, I will view your comment manually, before it is published. You can find more information on the subject in the entry Weblog Spamming Basics.

With an active TypeKey session, your comment will be published immediately.

TypeKey has temporarily been disabled at this location. Please create your comment without using TypeKey or log in from the preview dialog.

Ahh, schade, dass so wenige Leute Deutsch lesen kann. Es war mein Nebenfach in der Uni, und ich liebe die Sprache. Ãœbrigens, dein Englisch an dieser Seite ist perfekt!

Auf jeden Fall hast du eine sehr tolle Website! :)

hi, i'm interested in the details of making the Dual language weblog.
is tehre any place on net where you describe this ?.

thanks in advance.

I did not write a tutorial about that subject. However, there once was a similar question on the Movable Type Forum and I gave the key decisions that I choosed.

http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/forums/