What does "...is not defined" error mean?

[leke]

I'm having a problem testing some code I wrote. Here is the error...

Error: translateEn is not defined
Line: 1

What does it mean 'not defined'? I have defined the function (I assumed), so what else is it referring to?
...and the code.

<script>
var function translateEn() {
document.getElementById("translateHeader1").innerText = translation.header1;
document.getElementById("translateContent1").innerText = translation.content1;

}

// *** TRANSLATION ***************************
var translation {
header1: 'In English',
content1: 'This text is in English.'
}
// *************************************************
</script>

<p>
<button id="translateButton" onclick="translateEn()">English translation</button>
</p>

<h1 id="translateHeader1">Suomeksi</h1>
<p id="translateContent1">Tämä texti on suomeksi.</p>

Thanks in advance

[Kor]

You missed the assignment operator within the object's syntax. Should be

var translation = {
header1: 'In English',
content1: 'This text is in English.'
}

The IE debugger is not accurate, this is the reason for that error message
And I would have used innerHTML instead of innerText, for cross-browser compatibility reasons.

[leke]

Thanks, and thanks for the extra tip.
I got the error again, but realised I had also defined the function wrong. It's all working now though

[Padonak]

var function translateEn() {

[stevengoh]

function translateEn()

delete away the var

[Troy III]

What does it mean 'not defined'? I have defined the function (I assumed), so what else is it referring to?
[/CODE]

Nothing else - it say that translateEn doesn't exist in this document realm, nor within its outside connections .

And it never lies.

[CODE]<script>
var function translateEn() {
document.getElementById("translateHeader1").innerText = translation.header1;
</script>

you don't "var" prefix your function keywords because it's a reserved word and you cant use it for a variable name nor can the var keyword be left alone not even terminated without feeding it a variable name in any case - therefore "translateEn" is never created - therefore it doesn't exist -that's what "...is undefined" error report means in browser javascript. Of course it doesn't say "it doesn't exist" literally, because of the "this" omnipresence. Otherwise it most probably would.