Bilingual Conversion

Two complementary tools for moving bilingual content between "review in a spreadsheet" and "process in a CAT tool":

• Two-column Excel → XLIFF: turn a source/target table into standard XLIFF for other CAT tools or clients
• XLIFF → two-column Excel: extract bilingual segments into a table for review and editing in Excel

Two-column Excel → XLIFF

Steps

1. File tools → Two-column Excel to XLIFF
2. Choose an .xlsx file (only the first two columns of the first worksheet are read)
3. Choose the source language (column A) and target language (column B)
4. Run it and choose the output .xliff path

Language detection

• If the first row contains language codes (e.g. zh-CN / en-US), they are used and the selectors above are ignored
• If the first row is a header such as "Source / Target", it is skipped and not treated as content
• Source and target must differ; otherwise the conversion is blocked with an error

Output

XLIFF 1.2, one trans-unit per segment: source from column A, target from column B (empty when B is empty). The result reports the entry count and detected languages.

XLIFF → Two-column Excel

Steps

1. File tools → XLIFF to two-column Excel
2. Choose an .xliff / .xlf file
3. Run it and choose the output .xlsx path

Output

An Excel file with two columns (source / target) in XLIFF segment order, ready for comparison, edits and comments. The edited table can be converted back with the first tool.

A Typical Round Trip

1. A client sends a two-column Excel of terms or segments
2. Convert it to XLIFF for your CAT tool or an external translator
3. Receive the translated XLIFF and convert it back to Excel for final review
4. Import the reviewed result into a project or deliver it

Notes

1. First two columns only — anything from the third column on is ignored
2. First worksheet only — split multi-sheet workbooks first
3. No merged-cell headers: merged cells can break first-row detection; unmerge before converting
4. XLIFF version: output is 1.2; import handles common 1.2 and 2.x structures, but unusual namespaces or custom inline tags may not round-trip perfectly
5. No translation: both tools are format converters and never call a translation engine

FAQ

Q: The XLIFF has zero entries or will not open.

A: Check that content sits in the first two columns, that the first row is not being misread, and that the file is a real .xlsx (save .xls as .xlsx first).

Q: The language was detected incorrectly.

A: A language code in the first row takes precedence. If that row holds something else, clear it or correct the code and retry.

Q: Some tags disappeared after converting XLIFF to Excel.

A: Inline tags (<g>, <ph>, …) appear as text in the spreadsheet, and complex tag structures may simplify on a round trip. Use XLIFF directly when structure must be preserved exactly.

Q: Is CSV supported?

A: Only .xlsx today. Save CSV as .xlsx in Excel first.