with reference now to the figures , and in particular with reference to fig1 , there is depicted one embodiment 10 of a computer system in which the present invention can be implemented to carry out multi - lingual program applications , including the exemplary broadcast automation software described below in conjunction with fig2 - 4 . computer system 10 is a symmetric multiprocessor ( smp ) system having a plurality of processors 12 a , 12 b connected to a system bus 14 . system bus 14 is further connected to a combined memory controller / host bridge ( mc / hb ) 16 which provides an interface to system memory 18 . system memory 18 may be a local memory device or alternatively may include a plurality of distributed memory devices , preferably dynamic random - access memory ( dram ). there may be additional structures in the memory hierarchy which are not depicted , such as on - board ( l1 ) and second - level ( l2 ) or third - level ( l3 ) caches . mc / hb 16 also has an interface to peripheral component interconnect ( pci ) express links 20 a , 20 b , 20 c . each pci express ( pcie ) link 20 a , 20 b is connected to a respective pcie adaptor 22 a , 22 b , and each pcie adaptor 22 a , 22 b is connected to a respective input / output ( i / o ) device 24 a , 24 b . mc / hb 16 may additionally have an interface to an i / o bus 26 which is connected to a switch ( i / o fabric ) 28 . switch 28 provides a fan - out for the i / o bus to a plurality of pci links 20 d , 20 e , 20 f . these pci links are connected to more pcie adaptors 22 c , 22 d , 22 e which in turn support more i / o devices 24 c , 24 d , 24 e . the i / o devices may include , without limitation , a keyboard , a graphical pointing device ( mouse ), a microphone , a display device , speakers , a permanent storage device ( hard disk drive ) or an array of such storage devices , an optical disk drive , and a network card . each pcie adaptor provides an interface between the pci link and the respective i / o device . mc / hb 16 provides a low latency path through which processors 12 a , 12 b may access pci devices mapped anywhere within bus memory or i / o address spaces . mc / hb 16 further provides a high bandwidth path to allow the pci devices to access memory 18 . switch 28 may provide peer - to - peer communications between different endpoints and this data traffic does not need to be forwarded to mc / hb 16 if it does not involve cache - coherent memory transfers . switch 28 is shown as a separate logical component but it could be integrated into mc / hb 16 . in this embodiment , pci link 20 c connects mc / hb 16 to a service processor interface 30 to allow communications between i / o device 24 a and a service processor 32 . service processor 32 is connected to processors 12 a , 12 b via a jtag interface 34 , and uses an attention line 36 which interrupts the operation of processors 12 a , 12 b . service processor 32 may have its own local memory 38 , and is connected to read - only memory ( rom ) 40 which stores various program instructions for system startup . service processor 32 may also have access to a hardware operator panel 42 to provide system status and diagnostic information . in alternative embodiments computer system 10 may include modifications of these hardware components or their interconnections , or additional components , so the depicted example should not be construed as implying any architectural limitations with respect to the present invention . when computer system 10 is initially powered up , service processor 32 uses jtag interface 34 to interrogate the system ( host ) processors 12 a , 12 b and mc / hb 16 . after completing the interrogation , service processor 32 acquires an inventory and topology for computer system 10 . service processor 32 then executes various tests such as built - in - self - tests ( bists ), basic assurance tests ( bats ), and memory tests on the components of computer system 10 . any error information for failures detected during the testing is reported by service processor 32 to operator panel 42 . if a valid configuration of system resources is still possible after taking out any components found to be faulty during the testing then computer system 10 is allowed to proceed . executable code is loaded into memory 18 and service processor 32 releases host processors 12 a , 12 b for execution of the program code , e . g ., an operating system ( os ) which is used to launch applications and in particular the broadcast automation software application used to illustrate the present invention , results of which may be stored in a hard disk drive of the system ( an i / o device 24 ). while host processors 12 a , 12 b are executing program code , service processor 32 may enter a mode of monitoring and reporting any operating parameters or errors , such as the cooling fan speed and operation , thermal sensors , power supply regulators , and recoverable and non - recoverable errors reported by any of processors 12 a , 12 b , memory 18 , and mc / hb 16 . service processor 32 may take further action based on the type of errors or defined thresholds . while the illustrative implementation provides program instructions embodying the present invention on a disk drive of computer system 10 , those skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention can be embodied in a program product utilizing other computer - readable storage media . the program instructions may be written in the c ++ programming language for a windows .®. environment or in other programming languages suitable for other operating system platforms . computer system 10 carries out program instructions for various application processes including a multi - lingual user interface . accordingly , a program embodying the invention may include conventional aspects of various user interface tools such as windows , command menus , buttons , boxes , tabs , text fields , etc ., and these details will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reference to this disclosure . in this exemplary application of the invention , computer system 10 is programmed to execute broadcast radio automation software , one user interface for which is illustrated in fig2 . user interface ( ui ) 50 can contain a parent window 52 , and is designed to run on windows 7 , windows vista .®. os and windows xpc .®. os , as well as other - language based operating systems such as chinese vista .®. os and chinese xp .®. within parent window 52 can be file commands 54 , button toolbar 56 , and system child window 60 . file commands 54 can include general commands as well as application - specific commands relating to broadcast radio automation , and can be selected by using either the graphical pointing device ( mouse ) of computer system 10 or the keyboard of computer system 10 . selection of a particular file command causes a pull - down menu or button bar to appear having additional command items . in this example file commands 54 include a home command , a modules command , a tools command , and a help command . selecting the tools commands results in display of button toolbar . button toolbar 56 has a plurality of buttons which are used to present associated child windows . in this example button toolbar 56 has three global buttons system , stations and computers , three configuration buttons hotkeys , players and playcontainer , one permissions button accounts ” and four utility buttons media import , edits , gpio history and scheduled maintenance . system child window 60 can be accessed by selecting system button 58 . system child window 60 can present several system functions which are further accessible via selectable tabs 62 , including a general tab , a content manager tab , a gselector tab , a billboarding tab , an audio processing tab , a command mappings tab , and an auto load tab . system general function 64 has several parameters , including name field 66 , original language field 68 , and features list 70 . a user can choose a language to display ui strings ( text ) for the broadcast radio automation software by selecting a language from original language field 68 . in this example the original language is english ( us ). as used herein , the term “ string ” includes not only ascii letters and numbers , but also other letters , characters or symbols which correspond to written scripts or spoken words , letters or phrases in any language or dialect , including without limitation ideographs , hieroglyphs , or transliterations . the language can further be customized , for example , according to locality or other user preferences . in this manner a user can specify certain words or forms of words to be used in various fields , such as substituting the word “ cheque ” for “ check ,” or substituting the phrase “ post code ” for “ zip code .” system general function 64 can also include a selectable start translation button 72 . when a user activates start translation button 72 , the broadcast radio automation software responsively opens a translation child window in ui 50 , one illustration of which is shown in fig3 . translation child window 80 is shown on top of system child window 60 and within parent window 52 . translation child window 80 can contain current language field 82 , generate resources button 84 , display configuration frame 86 , filter frame 88 , ui string pane 90 , and string table pane 91 . the desired language to translate ui strings into can be selected from a list of available languages ( more than two ) in current language field 82 . these languages are pre - programmed into the broadcast radio automation software as desired by the application designer , and the text strings in the different available languages are localizable , meaning that the broadcast radio automation software has access to translation information for various languages which vary based on their context , i . e ., the particular use within ui 50 . the context is preferably specified by the child window in which a given ui string is located , i . e ., the child windows respectively associated with each of the buttons in button bar 56 or other button bars . thus a translation applied to a word / symbol / phrase in one child window might not give the same results as a translation on the same word / symbol / phrase in another child window . the child window context is just one implementation , and other granularities or display areas for identifying the context may be employed . after the user activates generate resources button 84 to enter the translation mode , any child window can be selected as the focus of the translation , as well as any ui string . in this embodiment of the invention , a user can hold down the control and shift keys on the keyboard of computer system 10 while left - clicking with the mouse on a ui string or string set to translate . no other windows or string sets are translated with this selection process , and a colored - enabled container or other focus graphic is placed around the string set to be translated . this ctrl + shft + left - click selection allows the multi - lingual software application to identify the text string to be translated . in the exemplary implementation the translation is based on a string table within the multi - lingual software application that is used to replace one language with another for the focus window and string set . this feature may be understood with reference to ui string pane 90 and string table pane 91 . in this example , “ all ” is selected in filter frame 88 , meaning that all localizable texts for any text fields in the application are displayed in ui string pane 90 . if “ focused window ” were selected in filter frame 88 , then only the localizable texts for text fields in the currently selected window would be displayed in ui string pane 90 . a given window is considered selected when the user executes the ctrl + shft + left - click input to select a localizable ui element in that window . if “ make translation window topmost ” is selected in display configuration frame 86 , then translation child window 80 will remain visibly on top of all other windows , but its size and position within parent window 52 may be adjusted so that any portion of an underlying child window is still visible . string table pane 91 shows all the ui strings not present in windows or controls , but instead located in message boxes , i . e ., dialog boxes , as opposed to control or command features . while the tables are described as containing strings , those skilled in the art understand that this attribute may be implemented in the tables and stored in memory using pointers rather than the actual strings , where the pointers are addresses for the strings themselves located elsewhere in memory . the tables associate the text strings with their respective child windows which allows the translation function to match a string in one language to a string in another language based on context . the localized text can be defined using extensible application markup language ( xaml ). each entry in ui string pane 91 displays the text in which a given ui string is to be translated from , in text column 96 . all parameters in text column 96 are in the language specified in original language field 68 . localized text ( in localized text column 98 ) is the translated form of the given ui string . all of the parameters in text column 96 are in the language specified in current language field . for each of these entries , there are other associated parameters such as control type in control type column 92 , property name in property name tab 94 , and comments in comments tab 100 . meanings of string sets or portions thereof may vary within the software application , so that the specific replacement string set may use varied elements for replacement to meet the expectation of language and context translation . in fig3 , the localized text parameters in localized text column 98 are all blank because no window or string set has yet been selected for translation . fig4 shows one embodiment of user interface 50 after a window and ui string have been selected and translated in the chinese dialect referred to as hong kong s . a . r . the translation is immediate ( real - time ), and is shown in the focus window in the software application proximate the selected string . in other words , each ui string within the focus area has been translated into the language specified in current language field 82 . in this example the focus area selected is in system child window 60 , and the selected ui string “ features ” is surrounded by a color enabled graphic 110 . ui string pane 90 has changed significantly from fig4 . control focus graphics 112 have appeared for several of the ui strings , which indicate that those ui strings are present within the window selected for translation ( i . e ., system child window 60 ). each such ui string also now has a corresponding localized text in the localized text column 98 . a user cannot localize if the current language is english ( us ) since it is the default language for this application . other languages can be programmed as the default . the application strings that can be translated to other languages exist in xml files , which contain translatable text from ui controls and string tables . the translatable text for ui controls can be extracted from xaml files and string tables into a xml file for each assembly ( into a dynamic link library ( dll ) or executable ( exe ) file ) when building the application . the xml files can be zipped ( compressed ) to save space . by default these xml files are localized in english ( us ) language , and saved in the resource folder . to create a chinese version of the application , the zipped xml files are copied , and are then translated and saved in a new chinese resource folder . when the broadcast radio automation software application is started , it can set its language either based on the operating system ( e . g ., windows ) regional settings or a language selection stored as part of the application &# 39 ; s configuration , or based on the user &# 39 ; s individual preference . the application can then load the appropriate translated resources . the application can also allow changing the language at runtime . although the invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments , this description is not meant to be construed in a limiting sense . various modifications of the disclosed embodiments , as well as alternative embodiments of the invention , will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reference to the description of the invention . the general process of translation , which is an integral function of this application , should not be limited to visual text - based translation . in translation mode , a user can “ ctrl - shift - click ” on a text field or string and the application can provide a translation sound file which is then made available to the user via an audio output device of the computer system , allowing the user to hear the corresponding text pronounced in the new language . it is therefore contemplated that such modifications can be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims .