Using IEEEtran latex style for language other than English

I had to write a paper in Croatian and I decided to use IEEEtran latex style. The problem was that it uses, and outputs, English words as a default language. That means, for example, that it is outputting words Abstract, Keywords, etc. which don't fit my local language. I managed to solve that problem fairly easy, but I wasn't able to Google anything about this. So, I decided to write how I did it in case someone else needs this too. There are two things you have to translate. The first one is IEEEtran itself, while the other is bibliographic style.

To translate words that appear in your text after the article is generated you have to insert the following lines somewhere at the beginning of the document, but certainly after you've included IEEEtran style:

\def\abstractname{Sažetak}
\def\IEEEkeywordsname{Ključne riječi}

Note that in this case I'm redefining what latex will output as abstract title and keywords title. Basically, whatever appears in your document in English you can translate by first searching for that words in IEEEtrans.cls and looking what associated keyword name is (e.g. abstractname, IEEEkeywordsname). Finally, you add \def commands similar to those I showed above. Note that you first have to find where IEEEtrans.cls is. On Fedora, if you used package tetex-IEEEtran, then it is in directory /usr/share/texmf/tex/latex/IEEEtran/.

Bibliography style, on the other hand, has to be localized separately and in a special way. First, you have to enter special reference in one of your bibliography databases, or, better yet, you can create a separate database just for that purpose. This bibliography entry has to have the following format:

@IEEEtranBSTCTL{BSTcontrol,
  CTLname_url_prefix = "[Online]. Raspoloživ:"
}

In this case I'm changing default output for URL from "[Online]. Available: " to something more Croatian like (though not entirely, there is no equivalent word for Online in Croatian). Then, somewhere within your document you are writing, you have to cite this reference with a special cite command:

\bstctlcite{IEEEexample:BSTcontrol}

Now, if you make dvi/ps/pdf version of your document you'll see that the text really changed (in case you use entry that has url field defined). You can find some details in IEEEtran's bibliography manual. To find out what exactly I have to change, I was searching through IEEEtrans.bst file which is in directory /usr/share/texmf/bibtex/bst/IEEEtran/ (again, if you use Fedora's package).

Prijevod riječi "enterprise"...

In this post I'm discussing the possible translation of a word enterprise to Croatian. There is no adequate translation (as far as I know) and I'm suggesting that word enterprise actually means large business system so I'm starting with that  premise.

Riječ enterprise puno se koristi u Engleskom jeziku i dosta često vidim kako ljudi kada pišu tekst na Hrvatskom koriste tu riječ bez prijevoda, što baš i nije prihvatljivo - bar meni. Razlog za to je jednostavan, nema standardiziranog, niti opće prihvaćenog prijevoda. Dakle, moji prijedlozi za prijevod te riječi su:

• veliki poslovni sustav
• veliki sustav
• poslovni sustav

Razlog za te varijacije je sljedeći. Prvo sigurno se radi o nekakvom sustavu i to najčešće vezano uz nekakav poslovni sustav (što nije uvijek slučaj kako ću malo kasnije pokazati). Nadalje, radi se definitivno o velikom sustavu jer se s tom riječi želi istaknuti nešto što je veće od uobičajnog. Naravno da odgovor na pitanje da li je nešto veliko ili ne, ovisi o mjeri. Primjerice, za Hrvatske uvjete INA je jako velika tvrtka, ali u svjetskim razmjerima (ili Kineskim ;)) radi se o tvrtci koja je bliže srednje veličine.

Dakle, zaključak je, kada se u Engleskom tekstu nalazi riječ enterprise bez dodatnih atributa, radi se o velikom poslovnom sustavu.

Ali, postoje i neke iznimke gornjeg pravila zbog kojega je potrebno imati i alternativne izraze. Za početak, dosta često se sreće pojam SME odnosno Small to/and Medium Enterprises. Dakle, ponekad se želi istaknuti kako se ne radi o najvećim mogućim sustavima već o srednjim ili malima. U tom smislu riječ enterprise ne može se prevoditi kao veliki poslovni sustav već samo kao poslovni sustav, pa onda možemo govoriti o malim i srednjim poslovnim sustavima, ili poslovnim sustavima male do srednje veličine. Naravno, opet je to podložno relativnosti, što sam već pojasnio.

Konačno, u programskom inženjerstvu, odnosno općenito u računarstvu, javlja se i izrazi enterprise software architecture te samo enterprise software. Pod tim izrazima podrazumijeva se programska podrška namjenjenoj upotrebi u velikim poslovnim sustavima, odnosno njena arhitektura, a koja zbog složenosti okoline u kojoj se upotrebljava onda sama po sebi mora biti velika, odnosno složena. Dakle, potencijalni prijevod je arhitektura programske podrške velikim poslovnim sustavima ili arhitektura programske podrške velikih sustava, odnosno, programska podrška velikim (poslovnim) sustavima. Međutim, istina je, ovo su malo nespretni prijevodi no u nedostatku boljeg i ovaj će poslužiti.

My new policy for use of this blog...

Well, I just managed to clarify to myself several principles that I'm going to follow for using this blog. Those are, in no particular order:

• I'm going to use this blog as a diary. This means that I'm going to start to write many posts of which majority wouldn't be published for a long period of time. The rule for when some post will be published is simple when it's good enough.
• In Croatian will be written posts in which I'm writing about something that already has many posts in English or that are only of interest to people living in Croatia (and surrounding countries). The reason for writing in Croatian is that not everyone speaks/reads English, and besides, it is good to emphasize Croatian terminology now and then.
• In English I'm going to write something that I deem of wide enough interest, that writing it in Croatian would severely restrict it's reach.

And, I'll try to write an abstract in front of every post in opposite language, i.e. in English when post is in Croatian and vice versa.