I'm putting this draft together, not because I have all the answers, but because I think I have most of the questions. Hopefully others can help fill in the details. When complete, this can go onto the website and we can have a blog post to call for more translation volunteers.
--------------------------------------------------------- =How to Help Translate Apache OpenOffice= ==Introduction== OpenOffice traditionally has had excellent localization support, especially with its support of over 100 languages, including many minority languages that are not commonly supported in commercial products. Our community-led, all-volunteer, open source development model facilitates this. Each new version of OpenOffice requires the translations to be updated, to add translations for terms and phrases that have been added or changed in the product. So maintaining support for any given translation is an ongoing effort, requiring volunteers to help keep the translations current, complete and accurate. A list of translations available in the most-recent release of Apache OpenOffice can be found here: http://www.openoffice.org/download/other.html A larger list of languages, including ones that have incomplete translations are listed here: https://translate.apache.org/projects/OOo_34/ [ Is that the correct URL? There were other AOO-related projects on Pootle as well. ] [ Also, is that the entire list of PO files or do we have others? I thought we had more than 71 languages ] ==How to Help== First, register your interest. We track a list of volunteers interested in helping with each language on our wiki here: XXXX [ This doesn't exist yet, but I propose adding it ] You should add your name to that list, and send an email to [email protected] to introduce yourself and your interest in helping with that language. [ I'd love to start a new list, [email protected] to handle this and the following translation coordination issues ] If a build with your language already exists, you should download and install. If you find errors in the translation, you can report it directly as a bug report in Bugzilla (https://issues.apache.org/ooo/enter_bug.cgi?product=native-lang) or enter a suggested fix into Pootle (more on Pootle below). If a build is not yet ready for your language, then that typically means that the translation is not yet complete. You can help finish the translation in several ways: 1) You can send a note to the ooo-dev list [or ooo-i10n list if we make one] requesting the PO file for that language. This file can be loaded into a translation management tool where you can edit the translation. When done, or when you've make progress that you want to verify, you can submit the new PO file as an attachment in Bugzilla. This approach works well if you are the only person working on a translation. [ I need a list of some suggested tools that can be used with PO files ] 2) You can suggest translations on our Pootle server: https://translate.apache.org/projects/OOo_34/ Logins to Pootle are reserved for project "Committers" (those volunteers who have demonstrated sustained contributions to the project and have been voted in as committers). So initially you will need to work with Pootle via suggestions. But translators who have made substantial contributions via their efforts are regularly give Committer rights. 3) Whichever method you use, when you have completed the initial translation, send a note to ooo-dev [or ooo-i10n list if we make one]. At that point we can make a special test build of Apache OpenOffice for you to review. If more changes are required in the translation, we can iterate on these steps, making changes, making new test builds, etc. Note: This process works best if there is a community of users supporting the effort, and not just a single translator. The additional users, even if they cannot help with the translation directly, they can help review the test build and point out errors in translation, as well as other localization errors. Others on the OpenOffice project might be able to help you find other interested users, so let us know, via a note to the ooo-dev list [or ooo-i10n list if we make one], if you want that help. ------------------------------- [ Anything else we should add? I assume we already have more on the website someplace on the technical details of translation, dealing with formatting strings and other non-translatable content, dealing with substitutions in a string, etc. ] [ A separate topic, and one where we could use an equivalent document, would be How to Help Translate the Website ]
