Charles wrote:
> Hausa is a fascinating language and it definitely deserves to have its own
> OOo localization!
+1
> Christian, please tell your friend that he can either start a
It is not feasible for a single person to translate OOo.
If there were to start today to translate OOo 2.0, they would finish
in December 2006, assuming that they worked non-stop 24 hours a day,
seven days a week.
What _might_ work, is if a group of ten or so people got together for
the project.
i) Create GlibC Locale files
ii) Create OOo Locale files
iii) Create a comprehensive, but generic translation glossary.
iv) Setup translation space at either Pootle or Rosetta.
[Rosetta is slightly better, if the project decides to focus on a
Linux UI in Hausa. Pootle is slightly better if the project decides
to focus on the desktop only. In either instance, do not fragment
resources, by translating the same programs at both sites.]
v) Translate a small useful utility like gettext.
vi) Translate some small useful tool like GAIM.
vii) Then decide whether to tackle OOo, or chip away at providing a
Hausa interface for Linux.
viii) At this point, if you have eight or more people in the same
general area, run a translationthon one or two weekends a month.
Translationthons
Setup a network of at least five more computers than expected
attendees.. Install Pootle on one of them, and have 90 minute
translation sessions all day saturday and sunday.
8.00 am start time.
9.00 first translation session
10.45 second translation session
12.15 lunch
1.30 third translation session
3.15 fourth translation session
Most translationthons end the day after the fourth session.
5.00 fifth translation session
An enthusiastic team can do five sessions a day.
Six or more translation sessions a day is pushing it.
***
The three biggest issues in L10N projects are:
a) Finding qualified translators;
b) Keeping them motivated;
c) Preventing translation burnout;
A minimum of eighty percent of the people who want to work on a
translation project do not know both languages well enough, to do
translate them. One needs to know not only only the vocabulary, but
the cultural metaphors, and cultural idioms.
[Tech writing has more than its share of cultural metaphors and
idioms. Read the documentation for Python, or PERL. (You have to be a
Monty Python fan, to understand Python documentation. PERL
documentation tends to be self-referencing, and requires a PERL Monk
to understand.) Or to step into plain old Internet, consider ARCHIE,
VERONICA, and JUGHEAD. (OK, nobody uses them anymore, but they used to
be a significant part of the Internet.]
xan
jonathon
--
A Fork requires:
Seven systems with:
1+ GHz Processors
2+ GB RAM
0.25 TB Hard drive space
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
