Hello Jonathon, nice to see you back here. I agree with your advice, and the numbers you provide seems to be accurate and form some kind of "golden proportion" for FOSS localization efforts.
I hope that this "teenager" Christian knows represents more than just himself. But of course, nothing is impossible to the ones who believe in their cause... BTW, how's the Esperanto NL project doing? Best, Charles. > 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] > > Acc�dez au courrier �lectronique de La Poste : www.laposte.net ; 3615 LAPOSTENET (0,34�/mn) ; t�l : 08 92 68 13 50 (0,34�/mn) --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
