[sorry for multipost]
G'day everyone
I'm the project leader for a new localisation effort by
Translate.org.za to help translate ten opensource programs into
several languages, including minority languages. In the coming year,
we will help volunteer translators to translate software into their
languages, using our web-based translation tools. We call our project
the "Decathlon".
It hasn't been decided which ten programs will be translated, though,
and I'm hoping some of you might be willing to come up with
suggestions. The Decathlon will require some effort and commitment
from participating developers of those programs, but we believe the
advantages will make it worth the effort. We may be able to remunerate
the project liaison for his or her time.
The Decathlon is not meant to replace any existing localisation
efforts, but if a project already has a localisation system in place,
we would like to try to fit in with it. If there are existing
translators, we would love them to join the teams we help create, and
we hope that they continue to translate the other software in the
Decathlon project as well.
We therefore invite developers or people tasked with localisation of
opensource projects who would like to take part in this project, to
contact us. Prerequisites for projects which will be considered this
year are:
* Must be opensource
* Must be end-user focused software
* Must work on both Linux and Windows (and/or Mac)
* Must assign a contact person to Decathlon to answer questions about
the software and try to resolve issues that may confuse or hinder
translators
* Must be willing to build a release with the translations in it
(within this year)
A brief background
Translate.org.za has been involved with opensource software
translation since 2001. Over the years we've developed translation
tools to convert complex localisation formats into simpler formats
that are easy to translate, such as Gettext PO and XLIFF. Our tools
also help automate various quality control checks, thereby reducing
the risk that volunteer translators "break" the software with their
translations.
It has always been our dream that volunteer translators should be able
to translate without having to learn complicated tasks that
programmers take for granted. That is why we developed a web-based
translation system, called Pootle, which enables amateur translators
to translate software in their web browsers, while giving professional
translators and power users the ability to use specialised third-party
tools if they prefer. Pootle is ideal for teams of volunteers, because
several translators can translate a single file simultaneously.
We have used our tools successfully to help translators translate
OpenOffice.org, Firefox and Thunderbird into the ten official African
languages of South Africa. With the Decathlon project, we'd like to
help translators from all over the world translate other software as
well.
I look forward to your responses. You can read more about the
Decathlon project at
http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/decathlon/mainpage.
Sincerely
Samuel Murray
Decathlon project leader
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