[maemo-developers] Maemo localization to officially non-supported languages

[From: Jordi Mas]

Hello Quim,
> The current system based on logical strings and not on standard open
> source practices is open for change though, or at least not-closed to
> changes. In fact I’m willing to push this feature to the maemo roadmap.
> A problem here are the implications any change has on code, processes,
> licensing and such. Nothing that couldn’t be done but since the basic
> L10n is covered, other features tend to get higher priority and
> attention.
>   

As many other people has pointed out I think that this is a must have
step for Maemo.

> a) What is the real interest for L10n in the maemo community? What
> unsupported languages (could) have translators putting pressure, what
> apps (could) be pushing already L10n forward, what projects like the CJK
> support (could) be expanding already L10n beyond Nokia’s list of
> supported languages? (see below)
>   

I suggest to separate between internationalization (I18N) needs and
localization (I10N). There are languages that you probably could already
translate Maemo to (like all the romance languages) but probably the
support for others may require asking/lobbing for new features to the
I18N team (read here RTL or any other feature).

> b) Since the feature is about community translation, should it be
> complemented by any kind of community tools for translation? How to
> reuse what is already translated and how to orchestrate the rest.
> Different open source projects have different ways of organizing
> translations (see for instance GNOME or Ubuntu). We should find the way
> suiting our needs best.
>
> So what do you want? What do you need? Getting into details is
> appreciated. All the better if it’s in a wiki page several people can
> edit, and that is linked from maemo’s roadmap wishlist.
>   

If we use regular PO files then you can leverage all the tools,
glossaries and translation memories from other projects.

At platform level I see these main needs:

- The use of standard PO files.
- The possibility to register a new language in the system (the user can
switch to it).
- The possibility to package a deb packet with all the translations and
install it.
- Establish a process for the community can ask/lobby for I18N features.

I'm not very familiar with the platform. May be some of this kinds are
already possible.

 From the community management perspective there are many ways of
organsing it. From going to a system like Pootle or LaunchPad to more
simple approaches. One easy to setup scenario is:

- A Wiki page to list the localization teams / efforts.
- A Wiki page with the I18N requirements / needs are collected.
- A mailing list to coordinate the community I18N/L10N efforts.
- An automatic generated PO statistics files for every language, like
GNOME's Damned Lies. (nice to have)
- Access to a Subversion space to upload the translations.

May be makes sense to move all of this to a Wiki page (community
localization?) and start collecting all this feedback there.

If such a system is put in place, I can help testing the whole process
and tools help to translate (I hope with other folks) the system into
Catalan.

Regards,

-- 

Jordi Mas i Hernàndez, HomePage http://www.softcatala.org/~jmas/
Bloc personal http://www.softcatala.org/~jmas/bloc/
Planeta Softcatalà: http://www.softcatala.org/planet/