Problem displaying Chinese MIF files from memoQ

[Companywag]

We have a number of manuals created in FrameMaker that we are translating into multiple languages. None of the translators work directly in FrameMaker, but use various TM apps depending on which language they handle to translate the MIF files. The finished Western language MIFs open fine using our copy of FM 2019, but we are experiencing problems with the Simplified Chinese MIFs displaying correct text. Our Chinese translator who we've worked with for years uses memoQ for his TM and we haven't had problems with other Adobe applications like InDesign...just FrameMaker.

We do have Asian language support loaded onto our English Windows 10 system and have SimSun and Arial Unicode MS installed, but the imported file displays nonsense. Oddly, I can cut and paste Chinese from a Word doc and it works fine. I can change the font with no problems. I can also use the IME to enter Chinese text in FM without problem. I just cannot display Chinese text correctly that was translated in the MIF in memoQ.

I need to tweek formatting and present the client with FM files that will display correctly on his computer. Can anyone offer suggestions how to solve this problem without resorting to cut-and-paste from a Word DOC? 
Paul

[Stefan Gentz]

Have you changed the "western" fonts to Chinese fonts in the translated documents? Check View > Pods > Fonts to see which fonts are in use in the document.

Also, you can open the MIF file in a plain text editor like Notepad++ and check the first line. What does it say? If you scroll towards the end of the MIF file in Notepad++, do you see proper Chinese characters there?

[Companywag]

Thanks for replying.

• Yes, I tried changing the font to our usual go-to Chinese font, SimSun, with no improvement. I also tried Arial Unicode MS font.
• Prior to changing to SimSun, the fonts pod shows all fonts present as: Arial, Calibri, Calibri Light, Cambria, Symbol, Times New Roman and Wingdings
• First line reads:
  <MIFFile 7.00> # Generated by FrameMaker 2019
• Yes, I do see multiple strings of Chinese characters appearing further down in the file. Example:
  <String `有些司法管辖区不允许排除意外或连带损坏，因此本条限制可能对您不适用。'>

[Stefan Gentz · Accepted solution]

Okay, so probably an outdated plugin for generating the source language MIFs was used (probably a plugin to batch-save all files in a book as MIF): Your MIF files are in FrameMaker 7 format which is like super old and FrameMaker 7 had no Unicode support (which was introduced in FrameMaker 8).

Change the first line to <MIFFile 2019> and check if the file encoding is UTF-8 (Encoding menu in Notepad++), save the MIF, open the MIF again in FrameMaker and change the fonts to a Chinese font. That should do the trick. However, note that this is an emergency workaround only. If the source files are FrameMaker 2019 as the MIF statement says, you might have "lost" other things already when saving as a FrameMaker 7 MIF.

For the future, please make sure, to update the Save as MIF plugin to a newer version that properly creates MIFs in the version your FM version is. Alternatively, use FrameMaker's built-in Save As MIF feature.

[frameexpert]

FYI, I do have a paid script for saving batches of documents to MIF and earlier versions of FrameMaker. If you are interested, please see ConvertDocs at my store: frameexpert dot com. Thank you.

[Companywag]

Success! 
The translator was working with MIF 7 files because his version of memoQ did not support MIF 2019. I edited the first line and was able to change to Unicode and Chinese characters appeared. Thank you for your help!

Paul