OpenMRS is used in many countries around the world, and it is important that the software is available in the local language. Translations are handled on 2 sides; the backend and the frontend. The backend translations are facilitated by the Concept Dictionary that uses Open Concept Lab (OCL) for metadata management. While on the frontend, it's a mixture of frontend libraries like i18next and Transifex platform for easier translation management and review. If you would like to help translate OpenMRS into your language, please visit the OpenMRS project on Transifex.
To change the language,
- Login to the app http://lime-mosul-dev.madiro.org/openmrs/spa/login After login you will be redirected to the home page.
- Navigate and click on the profile icon on the top right corner, there you will see an option to Change language. This will open a list of languages available for translation.
- Select the language you want to translate to and confirm the change. The page will reload and the language will be changed.
Concepts are the building blocks of the OpenMRS data model. They are used to represent clinical data in a structured way. Concepts are stored in the Concept Dictionary and can be translated into multiple languages. The Concept Dictionary uses Open Concept Lab (OCL) for metadata management. To translate concepts, you need to have an account on OCL. You can sign up for an account on the OCL website. Once you have an account, you can log in to OCL and start translating concepts.
These concepts can then be added to your distro and used in forms, reports, and other parts of the OpenMRS application.
Forms are used to collect data from patients. Forms are made up of pages, sections, questions and answers.
You can translate forms using the Form translation files. These files are JSON files that contain the translations for the form element labels. To translate a form, you need to create a translation file and append it with the short hand of the language you want to translate to for example F13-PNC_translations_ar.json for Arabic translations. The translation files are stored in the ampathformtranslations directory of your distribution.
You can also use the Concept Dictionary to automatically translate answer labels.
We will be using this form as a reference for the translation examples below.
F13-PNC.json
{
"name": "F13-PNC",
"description": "Postnatal Care Form",
"version": "1",
"published": true,
"uuid": "",
"processor": "EncounterFormProcessor",
"encounter": "Maternal Health",
"encounterType": "dd528487-82a5-4082-9c72-ed246bd49591",
"retired": false,
"referencedForms": [],
"pages": [
{
"label": "Postnatal Care",
"sections": [
{
"label": "General information",
"isExpanded": false,
"questions": [
{
"id": "typeOfConsultation",
"label": "Type of consultation",
"type": "obs",
"required": false,
"questionOptions": {
"rendering": "radio",
"concept": "typeOfConsultation",
"answers": [
{
"label": "Admission",
"concept": "admission"
},
{
"label": "Follow up",
"concept": "followUp"
},
{
"label": "Discharge",
"concept": "discharge"
}
]
}
},
{
"id": "caretakersName",
"label": "Caretaker's name",
"type": "obs",
"required": false,
"questionOptions": {
"rendering": "text",
"concept": "caretakersName"
}
}
]
}
]
}
]
}Pages, sections, and questions use the translation file for translation of labels. The translation JSON file has the same name as the form JSON with the language specified using the short name. The keys within this file correspond to the labels of the pages, sections, and questions in the form JSON.
To translate the F13-PNC form to Arabic, you would create a file named F13-PNC_translations_ar.json and add the translations for the labels in the form JSON.
F13-PNC_translations_ar.json
{
"uuid": "",
"form": "F13-PNC",
"description": "Ar Translations for 'F13-PNC'",
"language": "ar",
"translations": {
"Postnatal Care": "رعاية ما بعد الولادة",
"General information": "معلومات عامة",
"Type of consultation": "نوع الاستشارة",
"Admission": "القبول",
"Follow up": "متابعة",
"Discharge": "الخروج",
"Caretaker's name": "اسم الراعي"
}
}There 2 ways answers can be tranlated depending on if you want to use translations directly from the Concept Dictionary or if you want to use custom translations using the form translation files.
Concepts by default have translations in multiple languages. You can use the Concept Dictionary to automatically translate answer labels. To do this, you need to add the concept UUID to the form JSON without the label and the Concept Dictionary will automatically translate the answer labels.
{
"id": "typeOfConsultation",
"label": "Type of consultation",
"type": "obs",
"required": false,
"questionOptions": {
"rendering": "radio",
"concept": "typeOfConsultation",
"answers": [
{
"concept": "6b3f1f1e-7e0f-4f3b-8b1f-3b6f3f1e7e0f"
},
{
"concept": "7e0f4f3b-8b1f-3b6f-3f1e7e0f4f3b"
},
{
"concept": "e0f4f3b8-b1f3-b6f3-f1e7-e0f4f3b8b1f"
}
]
}
}Preview of the form with the translated answers.
There are scenarios where you would want to use custom translations for the answers, this is possible by adding the language specific translation strings to the form translation files. The keys within this file correspond to the labels of the answers in the form JSON.
Using the same example as above;
{
"id": "typeOfConsultation",
"label": "Type of consultation",
"type": "obs",
"required": false,
"questionOptions": {
"rendering": "radio",
"concept": "typeOfConsultation",
"answers": [
{
"label": "Admission",
"concept": "admission"
},
{
"label": "Follow up",
"concept": "followUp"
},
{
"label": "Discharge",
"concept": "discharge"
}
]
}
}To translate the answers to Arabic, you would create a file
{
"uuid": "",
"form": "F13-PNC",
"description": "Ar Translations for 'F13-PNC'",
"language": "ar",
"translations": {
"Admission": "القبول",
"Follow up": "متابعة",
"Discharge": "الخروج"
}
}Alternatively, you can even use the translation files for custom English labels for scenarios where concepts are shared for different questions and forms.
{
"uuid": "",
"form": "F13-PNC",
"description": "En Translations for 'F13-PNC'",
"language": "en",
"translations": {
"Admission": "Admission to hospital",
"Follow up": "Follow up visit",
"Discharge": "Discharge from hospital"
}
}Preview of the form with the custom translated answers
