Adobe FrameMaker (2015 Release) Supports Right-to-Left Languages

For many people, a long-cherished wish has come true these days: The latest version of Adobe FrameMaker (2015 release) also supports right-to-left (RTL) languages such as Arabic.

All those who do not (yet) use the latest Adobe FrameMaker release can find below some instructions as to how to proceed when translating FrameMaker files into RTL languages:

First of all, open the FrameMaker file in Adobe InDesign and convert it into the InDesign format. This requires a plug-in which can be purchased at www.dtptools.com, for example. During this step, it may be possible that the FrameMaker layout is not taken over 1:1. It therefore makes sense to check, and possibly fix, the layout (of the source text) immediately after this step. Alternatively, the layout may be checked (and fixed, if necessary) in the RTL-target-language version at the end of the localization process. The text to be translated will be completely transferred from FrameMaker to InDesign in any case.

After that, the source-language InDesign file thus generated can be translated using a CAT tool. After translation, the target-language file is exported from InDesign as a vector file (.eps). The benefit of a vector file as compared to a pixel-based graphic such as .tif is that it takes up less storage space and can be printed in any resolution without any loss of quality. This .eps file is now inserted as a picture in an empty FrameMaker frame. Because FrameMaker references the .eps file, any changes to this .eps file (e.g. updates) are automatically shown in FrameMaker as well.

It must be noted that if the text is several pages long, the pages for RTL languages are also sorted from right to left, i.e. “back to front“.