On May 18, 2012, at 4:52 PM, Dave Fisher wrote: > > On May 18, 2012, at 8:44 AM, Donald Whytock wrote: > >> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 11:38 AM, drew <d...@baseanswers.com> wrote: >>> On Fri, 2012-05-18 at 11:29 -0400, Donald Whytock wrote: >>>> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 11:20 AM, drew <d...@baseanswers.com> wrote: >>>>> On Fri, 2012-05-18 at 11:08 -0400, Rob Weir wrote: >>>>>> On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 10:55 AM, drew jensen >>>>>> <drewjensen.in...@gmail.com> wrote: >>>>>>> Hi, >>>>>>> >>>>>>> Recently there has been some discussion on the projects private ML >>>>>>> regarding issues about native language groups and how best to support >>>>>>> work groups which will by definition be somewhat circumscribed from the >>>>>>> whole by virtue of language without losing the cohesion of a single >>>>>>> project focus. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I invite others pick that up here: >>>>>> >>>>>> What we do currently: >>>>>> >>>>>> 1) One big ooo-dev list >>>>>> >>>>>> 2) Some NL-specific lists. I don't subscribe to them at all, so >>>>>> others would need to say how they are currently being used. >>>>>> >>>>>> 3) We have some emerging procedures for how volunteers can contribute >>>>>> to product and website translations, but this information is scattered >>>>>> in old ooo-dev posts and not easy to find. >>>>>> >>>>>> I wonder whether a good step forward might be to document on our >>>>>> project website (http://incubator.apache.org/openofficeorg) the >>>>>> procedures from #3 above. Then when we have a new volunteer on the >>>>>> list we can point them to this information. This could expand to >>>>>> other NL topics such as local marketing/events, trademark usage, NL >>>>>> mailing lists, etc. >>>>> >>>>> hmm I would say, eventually yes, but if you mean - one giant dev list is >>>>> already the decided outcome and so just document it as such, then I'd >>>>> say no, not yet. >>>>> >>>>> I do not think this project is such that one can just say 'the Apache >>>>> way' and be done with it - there is about to be a new Apache way me >>>>> thinks. >>>>> >>>>> For instance I wonder how much experience there is in the Apache Way >>>>> with a project which will need to look local in certain places around >>>>> the world (China, Vietnam, Brasil, Venzuela and Bolivia come to mind >>>>> quickly) as without this the local government support goes away and >>>>> without that so does the local project - or at least that is my >>>>> understanding of the situation in those places. I use that only to say >>>>> that IMO this needs some real thought as to how this project is going to >>>>> build itself. >>>> >>>> Has any thought been given to reaching out to language-teaching >>>> communities at colleges for translation assistance? This would do >>>> dual duty of getting help with translation of top-level site >>>> information and spreading the word about AOO. There may be teachers >>>> who would consider translation of NL pages extra-credit work for >>>> students. >>> >>> Sounds like a great idea, if, the reason for this project is simply to >>> scratch an itch - in other words if the goal here is to build the >>> software and then not really concern ourselves with who uses it, because >>> that is outside of the scope of this project and left to others to do >>> (and a valid position, perhaps) then I'd say sure, that sounds like one >>> good avenue to work on. In that scenario of the reason for the project >>> we don't care really about building local teams, only in the work >>> product. >>> >>> //drew >> >> I was thinking of a bootstrap. At the moment, if all the policies and >> procedures and process descriptions are in English, then all your NL >> communities must start with a person who's capable in both English and >> the target language. If, on the other hand, you mass-produce >> translations of those policies and procedures and process descriptions >> into multiple languages and put them on NL root pages, you've widened >> your community-founding pool. >> >> Yes, scratching an itch. And prying open a door. > > I like your idea here. It can be done. If the translation is bad then a > Native Language speaker might scratch their itch for better language.
It may not be very difficult to do this. A script can be written to use Google Translate to make translations of the current brand.mdtext and topnav.mdtext. I've been planning to rewrite the main page as mdtext. If other pages are in mdtext as well then it will be easy to automatically translate. This becomes the first pass. This itch has been getting stronger, I'm going to need to scratch it next week sometime. $Job needs some time first. Regards, Dave > > Regards, > Dave > > > >> >> Don >
