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Doug298723560gy4
Participant
March 20, 2024
Answered

Ebook language is wrong

  • March 20, 2024
  • 2 replies
  • 366 views

I make medical textbooks for the US government. We're trying to make our ebooks handicapped accessible. That is, an ebook reader should be able to read the book to them. Unfortunately, something in the metadata is convinced that the book is in Saudia Arabia Arabic and that Google Play Books should read it accordingly. The reader doesn't care what I have my phone set to. It overrides everything starts reading the sample chapter "Chapter Setta" instead of "Chapter 6". 

How do I make it stop? 

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer Doug298723560gy4

    Solution: In the Character Panel I had repeatedly set all the text to "English: USA Medical", but the degree symbols (°) wouldn't change. It said they were Arabic characters. A search and replace by language solved the problem. 

    2 replies

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    March 20, 2024

    Can we assume you're using InDesign's EPUB export to create the e-books? If not, the answers will have to come from a completely different direction.

     

    I am further inferring that you are using the MEL version of InDesign, and are not completely setting up the book projects to use English as the document language. Any stray bit of content still tagged either Arabic or for RTL reading might cause the export process to de/fault to Arabic.

     

    Use either the Western version of ID (which you can install in parallel to any multi-language one), or review all of the content, doc settings and styles for any trace of non-English language settings.

     

    If that all checks out, report back with more details of your project and workflow.

     

    Also: It's probably secondary, but EPUB readers vary enormously, and Google's is not the best or most standard. If the problem persists, check a sample on Calibre or Thorium Reader to see if the misidentification persists. There are situations where it's the reader, or its user settings, that choose the book language.

     

    Secondary question: have you looked at the actual book code to see if the langauge tag is correct? Or are you relying on the reader reporting back?

    D
    Doug298723560gy4Author
    Participant
    March 20, 2024

    I am an single-language, American, English speaker using a Western English version of InDesign. The text is in English by English speakers (as much as any doctor speaks English).

    I could see in the metadata that two languages were represented - Saudi Arabia Arabic and US English, in that order. Being first in line meant that Arabic overrode any settings on my reader.

    I couldn't find anywhere in the settings that might make InDesign think I wanted something in Arabic. I selected all the text, including each and every separate text box, and set it to "English: US Medical" in the Character Panel. In the end, I did a search/replace for Language: Arabic and found that the degree symbols were not changing as instructed. I had to select the ° symbol and ONLY the ° symbol to make it admit the language was jacked up. There were 21 instances.

    With that corrected, my device started reading it with the same voice it uses for all other books.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    March 20, 2024

    Okay. The language tag has to be coming from somewhere, and if it's not the ID version or settings, it must be some text somewhere in the book content — maybe something cut and pasted from another source.

     

    In a quick test, setting one style to Arabic still left the document language at EN-US, but with language tags on that one paragraph.

     

    If this reoccurs, look at the book content files (XHTML - open the EPUB with any ZIP archiver) and see what the overall language setting is, then look for such override tags.

     

    Such faults pretty much have to come from pasted material, or an inadvertent language change during style editing. There's no easy way I can find to search for such settings within ID, though — I thought it might be part of the Export Settings display for each style, but no.

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    Doug298723560gy4AuthorCorrect answer
    Participant
    March 20, 2024

    Solution: In the Character Panel I had repeatedly set all the text to "English: USA Medical", but the degree symbols (°) wouldn't change. It said they were Arabic characters. A search and replace by language solved the problem. 

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