Probability score: 0.7  

Question improvement suggestion: Please provide the exact error message you are receiving when trying to create the project, as well as the version of Trados Studio you are using.  

In the meantime, based on the information you have provided, here is a suggested answer to your question:  

Hello,  

To address the issue of Trados Studio not recognizing the XLIFF 1.2 file, please follow these steps:

**Step 1:** Verify the XLIFF file's structure. Use an XML validator tool to ensure that the file is well-formed and adheres to the XLIFF 1.2 specifications. Pay special attention to any invalid attributes or characters that may cause parsing errors.

**Step 2:** Check the language pair in the XLIFF file. Ensure that it matches the language pair you are using in Trados Studio (Portuguese (PT) to English (UK)). If there are discrepancies, correct them in the XLIFF file.

**Step 3:** If you continue to receive error messages, try opening the XLIFF file in a text editor and check the schema location at the beginning of the file. Remove any extra content or line feeds that may have been inadvertently added.

**Step 4:** If the issue persists, consider creating a new project in Trados Studio with a different target language, such as English (United States), to see if that resolves the problem.

**Step 5:** As a workaround, you can also try translating the XLIFF file individually as a single-document translation instead of creating a project.

**Step 6:** If you have access to a different version of Trados Studio, try opening the file there to see if it resolves the issue.

If you follow these steps and still encounter problems, please provide the exact error message you are receiving, as this will help in diagnosing the issue further.  

I hope this answer addressed your question. If not, please reject the answer, add the question improvement suggestion information, and click the RWS Community AI checkbox on the right to try again.  

RWS Community AI

When I try translating the XLIFF file individually as a single-document translation it auto-detects the wrong Source language ((Dutch Netherlands) and does not allow me to change ir.

See screen print.

Alexandra Antunes 

It probably picked the right language. An XLIFF has language attributes in the XML which you can see if you open it with a text editor.

Probably some careless provision of the file, or not understanding how XLIFF files work.

Text editor shows me that the language set up is correct: source-language="pt_PT" target-language="en-GB"

 Alexandra Antunes 

Hrd to tell on my phone… but I think the Portuguese has an underscore instead of a hyphen. Change it and try again.

FINALLY! That was indeed the problem. Once I changed the underscore of the Portuguese langue to hyphen it all fell in place and Studio 2019 opened the file perfectly well. Thank you Paul for your life saving support. This could have cost us a Client. 

Allow me to add that I had also asked an External translator with whom I often collaborate to open the Xliff 1.2 file in MemoQ and he had no problems. (And he did not need to change the underscore. Go figure!)  

Alexandra Antunes 

Alexandra Antunes said:

And he did not need to change the underscore. Go figure!

Different CAT tools apply the XLIFF specification with different levels of strictness.  Trados Studio follows the XLIFF 1.2 specification, which explicitly references RFC 3066 ("Tags for the Identification of Languages").

RFC 3066 defines the language-tag syntax as:

Language-Tag = Primary-subtag *( "-" Subtag )

This allows letters, digits and the hyphen (-), but not the underscore (_).  In other words, the standards Trados Studio follows recognise tags such as pl-PL, but not pl_PL.  An XLIFF file using pl_PL is therefore technically non-conformant, even if some tools choose to accept it for convenience.

Trados Studio’s stricter validation is intentional: it's designed to encourage consistent, standards-compliant language tags across projects and tools, which helps interoperability in the longer term.

Alexandra Antunes 

Alexandra Antunes said:

And he did not need to change the underscore. Go figure!

Different CAT tools apply the XLIFF specification with different levels of strictness.  Trados Studio follows the XLIFF 1.2 specification, which explicitly references RFC 3066 ("Tags for the Identification of Languages").

RFC 3066 defines the language-tag syntax as:

Language-Tag = Primary-subtag *( "-" Subtag )

This allows letters, digits and the hyphen (-), but not the underscore (_).  In other words, the standards Trados Studio follows recognise tags such as pl-PL, but not pl_PL.  An XLIFF file using pl_PL is therefore technically non-conformant, even if some tools choose to accept it for convenience.

Trados Studio’s stricter validation is intentional: it's designed to encourage consistent, standards-compliant language tags across projects and tools, which helps interoperability in the longer term.