Is there a tool for non-developers (translators!) to edit resource bundles?

Question

What we do in our company to let our software be translated by external translators is ... well .. how to put it...

1. cvs co someModule
2. ant translation.export (behind this target there is a self-made ant task, exporting all resource bundles together as one big tab-seperated text file, columns: the different languages, each row all languages for one key)
3. Some VB tool does something with the file (you don't wanna know)
4. Translators work in Excel on their column
5. Someone collects and merges the translations
6. VB tool
7. ant translation.import
8. cvs commit

... Best case: 2 weeks between 1. and 8., development goes on...

First question: How do you handle this?

My idea was to build a tool with a web-gui that allows translators to work directly on cvs module (checkout in background and commit on "save", maybe tagging in background). We started with implementation by trainees and got something like a proof of concept. Before we go on with development I'd like to know

Second question: Do you know of a comparable tool?

and/or

Third question: Would you use such a tool?

Answer 1

You should use gettext and Poedit. Translations are kept in separate files.

Answer 2

java also provides its own resource bundle editor.

Answer 3

We use Sisulizer to localize our applications (.NET), for what I see in the documentacion of the application, it also supports Java, maybe this can help you.

With Sisulizer you can generate a translation project that you send to translators and when they return you it translated you can import the translation directly into the project.