Bibliography Feature in Word 2007/2010 APA style "et. al" in spanish

I'm using the APA Bibliography References built-in in Word 2007. When I insert a reference with multiple authors, there is an undesirable "y otros", (which means 'and others' in spanish). That is completely awful. It should insert "et. al.". I even installed a Service Pack 3, which installs APA 5th and 6th edition, but they forget to fix that.

Since I can't user later versions of Word in my PC, i would like to know if there is a fix for it.

Update: I also found this in MS Word 2010

Solution 1:

This Answer follows the comments made on the Question. It currently assumes Word 2007 and that the .xsl template being used is called APASixthEditionOfficeOnline.xsl, which may be in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\Bibliography\Style"

This XSL Transform contains a Template called templ_str_AndOthersUnCap. (my previous comment said "templ_str_AndOtherUnCap" which is incorrect.

Open that file using a suitable editor (Windows Notepad works). Save the file under another name (say, "APA6mod.xsl"). Modify the file as follows:

Replace the entire <xml:template> called "templ_str_AndOthersUnCap" with the following XSL code:

  <xsl:template name="templ_str_AndOthersUnCap" >
    <xsl:param name="LCID" />
    <xsl:variable name="_LCID">
      <xsl:call-template name="localLCID">
        <xsl:with-param name="LCID" select="$LCID"/>
      </xsl:call-template>
    </xsl:variable>
    <!--start: fix to change y otros to et al.-->
    <xsl:choose>
      <xsl:when test="$_LCID = '3082'">
        <xsl:text>et al.</xsl:text>
      </xsl:when>
      <xsl:otherwise>
       <xsl:value-of select="/*/b:Locals/b:Local[@LCID=$_LCID]/b:Strings/b:AndOthersUnCap"/>
      </xsl:otherwise>
    </xsl:choose>
    <!--finish: fix to change y otros to et al.-->
  </xsl:template>

Adjust "et al." to be the precise text you need. You may also need to modify the LCID "3082" or modify the "test=" part to deal with several possible LCIDs (for Spanish (Spain), Spanish (Mexico) etc.). For example:

      <xsl:when test="$_LCID = '3082' or $_LCID = '1034'">

adds the Spanish "traditional sort" LCID.

Find the following template:

  <xsl:when test="b:StyleName">

and replace the template by

  <xsl:when test="b:StyleName">
    <!--start: modification-->
    <xsl:text>APA Sixth Edition mod</xsl:text>
    <!--finish: modification-->
  </xsl:when>

(Change the relevant texts in there as you think fit. The "APA Sixth Edition mod" text is the one that appears in the dropdown in Word's Ribbon).

Save the file again.

Restart Word, open the document containing the bibliography, then use References->Citations and Bibliography->Style to select the new XSL. Word verifies and loads the various .xsl files when you click that dropdown. If everything is OK, you should now see two APA6 styles - the original one, and the one titled "APA Sixth Edition mod". If you do not see the "mod" one, it probably indicates that either the .xsl file is in the wrong folder, or that there is an error in the .xsl file.

If you do the new Style, select it. As far as I can tell, Word should re-evaluate all the Citation and Bibliography fields automatically. You should verify that everything is OK and that you now have the text you want. Remember that you would need this transform on each PC where you need to view/print the document.

Once Word has decided that your .xsl is valid, you can in fact keep it open and modify it while Word is still open. This makes debugging a bit easier. For example, if you need to change the "et al."in the template you modified, you could

• open the .xsl file in Notepad
• modify the "et al." text
• save the file
• in Word, choose a different Style in the dropdown
• in Word, choose the "mod" style in the dropdown

However, if you make a mistake that invalidates the XSL, when you try that last step, your "mod" Style will disappear from the dropdown. At that point you will have to fix the template and restart Word to get it to see your Style again.

I have now looked at the situation for Word 2010, and as far as I can see, the same template is used, the same changes would work, but the default location is different (use "Office14" in the path name rather than "Office12"). I have not looked at Windows Word 2013 or 2016.

As a bit of background, the XSL code to do with LCIDs is trying to establish what LCID (locale ID) it should use. Ideally, we would be able to avoid hardcoding "et al." by writing the XSL so that it said "If the LCID is 3082, use LCID 1033 (or whatever) instead". But Word does not load the regional information for all regions, only the regional information for the citation that it is currently processing. So hardcoding of one kind or another is probably unavoidable.