[MLZ] Mapping titles

simifilm

I'm currently hacking the original BibTeX importer to make it more useful for BibLaTeX (which isn't that easy since I nothing about Javascript).

Since I heavily rely on biblatex's 'Origtitle' and 'Origlanguage' fields I'd like to map those to the respective fields in the Multilanguage Zotero.

Any ideas on how this should be done? I couldn't find any code examples for this.

fbennett

The multilingual storage layer in MLZ may be intended for something slightly different. There are two possible use cases for other-language data.

(1) When a resource is cited outside of its original language domain, citations need to be adapted to the target audience, by providing transliterations or translations of the original field content. Some languages also require supplementary phonetic data for use in sorting. So if the original item cited is (say) "七人の侍", the phonetic supplement (in kana) might be "7ニンノサムライ", and the romanization might be "shichi-nin no samurai". The English translation would be "Seven Samurai". The item, together will all of this supplementary data, all points to the Japanese version of the film.

(2) If you are citing "The Magnificent Seven", and want to include a record of the original source of the story (say), or if citing a translation of a book, that is a different issue.

So whether you want to shunt this data into the MLZ supplementary fields depends on whether the data is for purpose (1) or purpose (2).

simifilm

Thanks. Basically, what I need is (2). If I understand you correctly, MLZ is not meant for this and therefore this can't be dealt with at all in Zotero at the moment.

fbennett

If it's (2), then yes, it can't be expressed in a single item. You can store two separate references and relate them, and they can be joined in a multiple citation (using a prefix or suffix through the word processor plugin). But there is no provision for a tightly linked composite item within the database.

simifilm

In humanities many styles require for translations to give the translator, original language, original title and you of original publication. Joining multiple items seems like a bit of an overkill here. Anyway, as far as I can see the type of relation cannot be defined in Zotero which makes the whole thing quite messy.

fbennett

Version 3.5 will be the target for a large overhaul of metadata. Input from area specialists like yourself will be valuable in that project.

simifilm

I guess the issue boils down to the question whether a field like "original title" should be part of the document entry of the translation or whether it should be its own document. And, of course, this has to be answered on two levels – the UI and the data model.

At least in my regular use (and others definitely have other needs) having a separate document for every original doesn't seem useful. Especially since these entries would often not be complete and only contain very rudimentary data. On the other hand, if I have two complete entries, linking them makes of course sense (and other people certainly need more complete data of the originals).

So in my opinion it would be great to have both options:

- Add data like "original title" etc. in the entry of the translation
- Linking two entries with relations like "translation of" and "translated as".

How this is best done on the level of the data model (always have "original title" as a separate entity or add them to the translation) wont be really the user's concern.