13 March 2009, 6:18

Hi,

We are slowly integrating Mahara with our Moodle site WWW.CARD.COOP (also integrated with Magento). I am a bit unsure of how Mahara works re multi-linguality. We are having different languages in use in the Beta version of the site and more will come. So far we have successuflly integrated the language selection between Magento and Moodle, i.e. the chosen the language in Magento is seamlessly chosen in Moodle. My question is if there would be a possible way to seamlessly integrate Moodle and Mahara in this respect too? Depending on the language selection in Moodle, Mahara is shown in the same language. How does Mahara differ in the handling of multi-linguality from Moodle?

Any hints and good advice are warmly welcomed!

Kind regards,

Jonas

13 March 2009, 6:58

Hi Jonas,

greetings from Germany ;-)

I don't know how you integrate Mahara with Moodle. If you do this by SSO Mahara tries to use the given language in the moodle account. Please take care, that not all the language packs installed on your moodle site are translated for Mahara (e.g Chinese, Swedish langpack).

By the way David created a translator group (http://mahara.org/group/view.php?id=58) for all guys playing in the translator area :-)

Hope that helps
Heinz

13 March 2009, 7:09

Just to add to what Heinz says.

First - I assume you are talking about the language displayed to users for Mahara strings, NOT user supplied content (eg like the multi-lang filter in Moodle).  Mahara doesn't have that sort of localisation at the moment.

Second - when Heinz says SSO he means the MNET implementation, which is probably different to how you integrated Moodle and Magento.

13 March 2009, 10:09

Hi Heinz and Penny,

Many thanks for your replies!

Have I understood it correctly if I summarize thus in my words:

1. We use MNET - logging in to Mahara from Moodle. So Mahara will, when coming from Moodle to Mahara, then automatically display the already chosen language in Moodle?

2. There is not yet a function for user supplied content in Mahara.

Extra question: Is there a parameter one could use to direct Moodle users to a specific institution? The institution could in this case be in a different language (that is the content).

Kind regards,

Jonas

13 March 2009, 11:50

Hi Jonas,

your summarize is correct

The user created content is written in one language, mahara does not support a translation. The langpacks translate the menu item and the HTML helpfiles.

You will find a manual to intall the MNET connection here:
http://mahara.org/artefact/file/download.php?file=5414

About your extra question, within the mahoodle maual you will see that the setup is done for a specific institution. so your Moodle users will land in your installed institution,where they can find user content in a specific language.

Do you think about a Swedish langpack? This would be a great idea!!

Heinz

15 March 2009, 7:43

Hi Heinz,

Thanks a lot! 

1. Would it be possible to use a global parameter with the value for the institution? As all the Moodle users are registered in the same Moodle installation but display different languages, it would be beuatiful if one could guide them to language specific institutions. Do you understand what I try to explain? Please signal if this is unclear.

2. Yes, I ahve now posted in the Translation forum a request on how to get started on a Swedish transltion.

Kind regards,

Jonas

15 March 2009, 8:20

Hi Jonas,

I don't know if Moodle or Mahara support the idea you have in mind. My workaround would be to create a MNET connection for each language you need and also institutions on the mahara side.

Heinz

15 March 2009, 17:40

Hi Jonas - when users SSO from Moodle to Mahara, their language setting is kept. It's done by language code, so if the Moodle user was using 'es' as their language then they'll use 'es' in Mahara too. It all falls back to English if there's no matching language.

I presume you have a good reason to split users into institutions by language? If you do, then you might have to make a customisation or two to Mahara itself, as by default you can't set up multiple SSO connections from one Moodle to another Mahara. It would just require some custom code in auth/xmlrpc/land.php or the functions it calls, I think. At the point where new accounts are being created for users, you could check what language they have and add them to the correct (hard coded perhaps) institution.