Setting Up and Working with Languages

This chapter provides an overview of language support in PeopleSoft and discusses how to:

• Set language preferences.

• Work with alternate character sets.

Understanding Language Support in PeopleSoft

A key part of any multiple-country system is language support. PeopleSoft streamlines the process of using multiple languages. For example, to change from one language to another during a session, you change the contents of only one field, and the system changes to the new language. You can change from German to English to French and back to German all in one session. This section introduces you to language support in PeopleSoft.

PeopleSoft uses several methods to ensure full multilingual capabilities. PeopleTools contains built-in ways of translating field labels, page displays, and menu items. When you log in to the system, everything appears in your language of preference, assuming that it has been translated.

If you modify PeopleSoft by adding new fields, pages, or menu items, you can use the built-in PeopleTools capabilities to translate those items into your supported languages.

To maintain full language capability when you modify your application, you enter translations of any new items. If you use only one language and enter new items in that language, that's fine. However, if you use more than one language and you do not translate the new items, they appear in your original language, even when you change to another language. Then you may see more than one language on your page.

This table lists the supported languages and language codes:

Note. The translation of objects that we deliver is performed once, before we distribute the system, and includes all the pages and menu items that are in the application. However, you must translate new field labels and any data―names, comments, long descriptions, and short descriptions―for each new record that you create or in the data that you add.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Global Technology

Setting Language Preferences

This section discusses how to:

• Use the Language Preference page.

• Use the International Preferences page (INTERNATL_PREF).

Note. PeopleSoft has built-in language preference capabilities. Regardless of your system's base language, you can view a PeopleSoft application in any supported language.

Using the Language Preference Page

PeopleSoft enables you to view a Foreign Language sign-on page for each language that is supported by the system. Because you are viewing PeopleSoft pages through an internet browser, you must be sure that the browser accepts the language that you want to use. Check the language preferences of your browser to select the correct options.

Once setup is established, click the Language Name button to view the sign-on page in the specified language. The language you select determines the language in which the entire application is displayed in the PeopleSoft Internet Architecture.

Note. The Language Code used in My System Profile page (USER_SELF_SERVICE) is applied only when you run reports and produce emails.

Using the International Preferences Page

After you log in to a PeopleSoft application, you can change your language preference anytime during your session on the International Preferences page. When you change your language preference, everything appears in the new language, assuming that it's translated. If you change your language of preference, the language code change isn't written to the database, but is stored in PeopleTools memory for the duration of the current session.

The language code you indicate is the language that the system uses for future pages that are displayed during the current session. This is the language of the session until you either log off or change your language preference. The tool set uses the language code to apply country-specific formats for numbers, dates, and currencies. If you change the language code during a session, your user profile language preference is not affected. The next time you log in, you'll see the language that is associated with your user ID.

Making a change means that everything you see―pages, menus, and field contents―appears in your new language preference.

Note. Your PeopleSoft language selection is independent of your Windows language options. To change your Windows language parameters, select Start, Settings, Control Page.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Global Technology

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Security Administration

Working with Alternate Character Sets

This section provides an overview of alternate character system architecture and discusses how to:

• Configure your system for alternate character functionality.

• Enter alternate character information.

• Find records using phonetic searching.

• Work with alternate character system architecture.

Understanding Alternate Characters

PeopleSoft HRMS uses related language table architecture to enable users to use multiple languages to enter data and to switch between a base language table and a related language table to view information in multiple languages. In addition, it uses alternate character system architecture to enable users to use two character sets for one language.

The alternate character system architecture accommodates languages (such as Chinese and Japanese) that require the entry of proper nouns by using two character sets to support phonetic sorting rather than binary sorting on proper nouns. For example, users who enter data in Japanese require functionality that enables them to enter proper nouns (such as names or descriptions) both in Kanji and by using a phonetic character set. To accomplish phonetic sorting in PeopleSoft HRMS, configure your system so that the user can enter Japanese proper nouns twice: once in Kanji and once (phonetically) using Katakana, Hiragana, or roman alphabets also known as Romaji.

Important! (JPN) In choosing which phonetic character set to adopt, it is important for customers to determine a consistent method for entering phonetic character set information. From a technical perspective, the system simply applies a binary sort method to phonetic characters. Thus, different characters with the same pronunciation aren't sorted together by their pronunciation in PeopleSoft HRMS. For example, a Hiragana Ma character is sorted before a Hiragana Mi character and after a Hiragana Ho character. If a Katakana Ma character is included in the sort, it is sorted after a Katakana Mi character and appears only after all the Hiragana characters are sorted.

(CHN) As Chinese government adopts an official method of romanizing Chinese characters, also known as Hanyu Pinyin, it is strongly advised to use Alphanumeric (roman alphabets) as the alternate character set.

See Also

Enterprise PeopleTools PeopleBook: Global Technology

Understanding Alternate Character System Architecture

For certain names, addresses, and description fields in PeopleSoft HRMS, there is a corresponding alternate character field that is part of the record. This architecture enables the users to enter the same proper nouns using two character sets.

Alternate Character Fields Associated with Global Pages

The following table lists the alternate character fields and the global pages with which they are associated in PeopleSoft HRMS.

Search Records with Alternate Character Name Fields

The following PeopleSoft HRMS search records that have NAME_AC (alternate character name) as an alternate search key or subrecords that are included in search records, enable for Japanese input and display:

• NAMES

• NAMES_SS_TMP

• NE_INCIDNT_SRCH

• NE_PERSONAL_DTA

• OPR_ROWS_EE

• OPR_ROWS_EE2

• PERSON_NAME

• PERS_SRCH_ALL

• PHYSICIAN_SRCH

• PHYSICIAN_SRCH2

• SHS_EMPL_TAO

• SHS_EXEMPT_TAO

• SSF_PERSON_VW

• SUCCESS_TR_SRCH

• TRN_DMNDEE_SRCH

• TRN_INSTR_SRCH

• UPG_NAMES_TAO

• WCS_NAME_SCH_VW

• WF_PERSON_NAME

• WORKER_PROMPT

Note. This list includes only Human Resources system records.

PeopleSoft Human Resources Reports That Sort on Alternate Character Name

The following reports in PeopleSoft Enterprise Human Resources sort on the Name field or on the Alternate Character Name field when the system base language and the report language are configured as shown:

SQR/Crystal Reports

These SQR/Crystal reports are sorted phonetically for Japanese, based on the report and the base language configuration:

Note. This list doesn't include country-specific regulatory reports that are sorted by Name.

Configuring Your System for Alternate Character Functionality

This section explains how to set up alternate character functionality in PeopleSoft HRMS.

To set up alternate character functionality in PeopleSoft HRMS:

1. Link the alternate character sets with language codes on the Installation Table - Alternate Character page (ALT_CHAR_TBL).

   These settings affect your entire PeopleSoft HRMS installation.

   Note. On this page, you define the alternate character set for the language that each user selects on the sign-on page.

2. Enable the alternate character functionality for specific user IDs on the Org Defaults by Permission Lst page (OPR_DEF_TBL_HR).

   When you enable alternate character functionality for a user, the system displays the alternate character button to the right of all the fields on the Global menus that have an associated Alternate Character field.

   When you click the Alternate Character button, the system opens a page where you enter or display the field value in the alternate character set.

Entering Alternate Character Information

On pages on the Global menus in PeopleSoft Human Resources, you can access the alternate character fields for proper noun fields like Name, City, and Company Description. To access these fields, click the Alternate Character button that appears to the right of a field that has a corresponding Alternate Character field available.

Note. (CHN), (HKG) and (JPN) On the Name page, when the Format for Country is CHN, HKG or JPN, the Name and the Alternate Character Name fields appear on the page: You can enter information in both fields directly on the Name page. On the Address page, click a button to access the alternate character secondary page. Whether the Alternate Character button appears on the Address page depends on the user ID's permission list and whether the particular page has Alternate Character functionality.

(CHN) When the Format for Country is CHN, the First Name and Last Name fields have values with alphanumeric characters, and you leave Alternate Character Name blank, the system populates Alternate Character Name using Last Name, space delimiter, and First Name. Please note that this functionality works only if Alternate Character Name has no existing value.

If you click the Alternate Character Address button in the Address History secondary page (ADDR_HISTORY_SEC), the system opens the Alternate Character Address page, such as the example that follows, where you can enter any proper noun information, such as street and city, in the designated alternate character set.

Note. If you sign in to the application using a language for which you specified an alternate character type, the system displays that character type in the title bar of the Alternate Character Type page. In the example above, Alphanumeric is the alternate character type defined for English.

Once you enter alternate character information into an alternate character field and click OK to close the page, the system changes the appearance of the Alternate Character button on the page to indicate that alternate character information is available for the primary proper noun field on the main page.

Finding Records Using Phonetic Searching

PeopleSoft Human Resources provides several options for finding a person and updating or adding information to the people's records in the system. Even if you enter a person's name using ideograms such as Chinese characters and Japanese Kanji, you can specify the name phonetically as a search criterion.

For example, to look up Japanese employee Noriko Kawamoto's Personal Data record, place the cursor in the Alternate Character Name field, enter the Japanese phonetic characters for Kawa, and click OK. The list box on the search record page displays all the names (sorted phonetically) that begin with Kawa such as Kawasaki, Kawashima or Kawamoto in both Kanji and Kana.

Note. The phonetic value is the same as the base name value.ain