MadsRH
November 11th, 2008, 11:45 PM
Open source translation
The problem with the way translations currently are being done in the open source world is that the work is very “boondoggle”. What I mean is that a lot of projects are doing the same translations – even for the same applications. Take Gnome forinstance - let’s say Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE are using the same Gnome release. Because the translations are made down-stream, every distribution has to do its own translations - although many of the translations probably will be translated similar. Like:
help, about, quit, general notification…
Of course there’s also phrases witch the three distributions will translate differently or not include at all.
Ubuntu Tweak is a tool for Ubuntu that makes it easy to configure your system and desktop settings1
If the translations had stayed up-stream in Gnome (or even higher2) using a hosting service like LaunchPad, one person could submit a translation for “about” and all distributions down-stream could use it. If a distribution wants to use a synonymous, they could simply add that. The synonymous would then be added to the suggestions pool (viewed as a listbox) as other projects might want to use the same translation.
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92245&d=1226443306
Another idea is also to make the suggestions prioritized for a specific distribution (see the image on the first page). Another great feature/tool would be to have intelligent suggestions. Say I submitted the translation for “Ubuntu makes it easy to configure your system and desktop settings“, then Launchpad should know that Ubuntu is the name of a distribution and that the same phrase can be translated using another distribution name.
It is of course very important that LaunchPad (or whatever will be used) can import and export the format the distributions are handling translations, like PO for example.
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92244&d=1226443306
1: I know this is not the best example!
2: A common database for translations (like Launchpad) that GNOME, KDE, XFCE and others can benefit and contribute to.
Thanks for reading :-) Please post your thoughts!!!
//MadsRH
Anotherubuntu.blogspot.com
The problem with the way translations currently are being done in the open source world is that the work is very “boondoggle”. What I mean is that a lot of projects are doing the same translations – even for the same applications. Take Gnome forinstance - let’s say Ubuntu, Fedora and openSUSE are using the same Gnome release. Because the translations are made down-stream, every distribution has to do its own translations - although many of the translations probably will be translated similar. Like:
help, about, quit, general notification…
Of course there’s also phrases witch the three distributions will translate differently or not include at all.
Ubuntu Tweak is a tool for Ubuntu that makes it easy to configure your system and desktop settings1
If the translations had stayed up-stream in Gnome (or even higher2) using a hosting service like LaunchPad, one person could submit a translation for “about” and all distributions down-stream could use it. If a distribution wants to use a synonymous, they could simply add that. The synonymous would then be added to the suggestions pool (viewed as a listbox) as other projects might want to use the same translation.
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92245&d=1226443306
Another idea is also to make the suggestions prioritized for a specific distribution (see the image on the first page). Another great feature/tool would be to have intelligent suggestions. Say I submitted the translation for “Ubuntu makes it easy to configure your system and desktop settings“, then Launchpad should know that Ubuntu is the name of a distribution and that the same phrase can be translated using another distribution name.
It is of course very important that LaunchPad (or whatever will be used) can import and export the format the distributions are handling translations, like PO for example.
http://ubuntuforums.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=92244&d=1226443306
1: I know this is not the best example!
2: A common database for translations (like Launchpad) that GNOME, KDE, XFCE and others can benefit and contribute to.
Thanks for reading :-) Please post your thoughts!!!
//MadsRH
Anotherubuntu.blogspot.com