A Non-Translatable (also known as Do Not Translate or DNT) is a series of characters that should not be translated. LILT Translate can be set up to automatically recognize and protect Non-Translatables, which will prohibit changes to the Non-Translatables during translation and review. Project managers can make use of this Non-Translatable protection to keep Non-Translatables from being accidentally translated, saving on overall translation time. When LILT recognizes Non-Translatables (determined by special formatting set up on an account basis), the Non-Translatables will be displayed in gray boxes to indicate to translators and reviewers that these items are not to be translated.
Non-Translatables can be used in a wide range of applications, such as:
  • numbers
  • formulas
  • code
  • email addresses
  • currency
  • proper names
LILT does not currently support a standardized Non-Translatable format. However, LILT can enable custom Non-Translatable pattern-matching rules for your account. Reach out to your account representative for more information about enabling custom Non-Translatable rules. Note that Non-Translatables will not be recognized in documents uploaded before this feature is enabled on your account; Non-Translatable matching only works for documents uploaded after your account is enabled with Non-Translatable pattern matching.

​
Using Non-Translatables in LILT Translate

If a segment contains Non-Translatables, the Non-Translatable items are displayed inside gray boxes in the source text field. The suggestion field also displays any Non-Translatables in gray boxes. Once a segment is confirmed, Non-Translatables are automatically projected into the target text field using Contextual AI. Non-Translatables may not always be projected into the correct positions; therefore, it is good practice to check the positioning of Non-Translatables after confirming a segment. Once Non-Translatables are added to the target text field, they can be moved around, but cannot be edited or deleted. Note that Non-Translatables can be moved even after the segment is confirmed.
If you want to add Non-Translatables to the target text field before confirming a segment, you can manually project Non-Translatables at any time by clicking on the gray boxes in the suggestion field.
When Pretranslating, for any segments with 100% TM matches available, any Non-Translatables will be carried over into the target text. In addition, when selecting the Pretranslation option to UseContextual AI for unmatched segments, Non-Translatables in the source text will be projected into the target text using Contextual AI. Projecting Non-Translatables using Pretranslation provides more accurate results than projecting Non-Translatables within LILT Translate. There are two types of Non-Translatables discussed in the sections below: standalone Non-Translatables and paired Non-Translatables.

​
Standalone Non-Translatables

Standalone Non-Translatables appear on their own and are not related to any other Non-Translatable item in the segment. Standalone Non-Translatable examples:
  • HTML tags:
    • <br>
    • <img>
  • Variables in software strings, such as:
    • "String with one variable {0}"
    • "String with one variable {0}"
As an example, if your LILT account is configured to recognize text within two curly braces as Non-Translatables, then an English to French document containing {{small}} will not be translated to{{pétit}}, but will instead to preserve it as {{small}} when it is projected to the target text field.

​
Paired Non-Translatables

A paired Non-Translatable item is an element of a tag pair. LILT currently supports paired Non-Translatables in this format:
  • <strong> … </strong>
Using paired Non-Translatables in this format causes LILT to treat them as tags within LILT Translate. This means they are not protected like with standalone Non-Translatables, and must be projected into the target text field using the Project target tags option under the Tags tab. For information on how to use tags, see the Tags & Formatting article. Paired Non-Translatables can be nested (and can encompass standalone Non-Translatables):
  • This sentence uses <b>bold and <i>italics</i> together {{0}}</b>.
LILT does not currently support paired Non-Translatables in any other formats, such as:
  • {strong} … {strong}
  • [bold] … [/bold]