The String translation module, part of the Internationalization (i18n) package, provides support for other modules to translate user-defined strings. It implements the i18n_strings function, which in Drupal 6 was commonly known as the tt function. The i18n_strings function is an API function that lets other modules (such as the Taxonomy translation and Menu translation submodules) manage translations of user-entered strings. Depending on which modules you have enabled that use this feature, different text groups will be available for translation.

In contrast to Drupal's standard localization system, which always translates from English, strings will be translated from the source language. By default the source language is the site's default language, so changing the default language could break these translations. You can set which language is used as the source language via Administration > Configuration > Regional and language > Multilingual settings > Strings.

The String translation module also allows you to configure which text formats are translatable. Formats like PHP Filter and Full HTML are translated before they are processed, so allowing a translator to edit these can be a security risk. This is particularly problematic when importing translations in bulk from a CSV file, since the translator's access to the import formats isn't verified by Drupal. After updating this setting, be sure to refresh the strings via Administration > Configuration > Regional and language > Translate interface > Strings so that strings in forbidden formats are deleted.

Figure 1