Why isn't my %xlate working?

This must be obvious, but not to me :

User enters a date which must be between 2 dates.

IF DateEntered > TodaysDate OR
DateEntered < minimumDate;
message = 'Use date between 11.11.1111 and 22.22.2222'; // Message returned by a standard error procedure.
message = %XLATE ( '11.11.1111' : %CHAR ( minimumDate ) : message );
message = %XLATE ( '22.22.2222' : %CHAR ( TodaysDate ) : message );

ENDIF;

How on earth am I getting this at the end : message = 'Use date between 00.00.0000 and 00.00.0000' ?

Ps : I realize I don't NEED the xlate function.


Thanks.