[Xfce-i18n] New translators, some information on how to proceed

[tegegne tefera]

On 6/4/07, Nick Schermer <nickschermer at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Also try the translation, because from time to time there are bug
> reports with translations that do not compile.
>
> Now I never translate so I could be wrong here, but if you change a
> mnemonic label ("_File" for example) and you change the undescore
> because the translation does not contain the underlined letter
> ("_File" -> "_Bestand" for dutch for example). Check the application
> if there are no mnemonic conflicts (ie. labels in 1 window/dialog with
> the same Alt+<key> shortcut) this can be very anoying for people
> navigating with the keyboard and using your translation. (Duno if the
> translation is marked as fuzzy when you change the underlined letter,
> no experience with this, but I do know you can change this in a po
> file ^_^.)
>
> My 0,02....
>
> Greets,
> Nick
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>


I have been in this community only couple of days and raising the fallowing
questions probably is too soon. But it is better to raise them than be
indifferent.

I have been translating Foss software for many years now. I have used online
and offline tools and am the coordinator of the debian installer Amharic
translation team and ubuntu Amharic team.

At debian I had about 7 instructional conversations with the l10n
coordinator that took exactly 1 day to get up and running. At the end of the
day I was checking out, translating and committing files. Since that day I
never had a problem or complaints. That was my first real life svn use.

What makes the foss community unique as far as I am concerned is it's
ability to simplify things so that the most uninformed among them could make
significant contribution. What I do is not a brain surgery or a rocket
science I know. But it has a great significance in some corner of the world.

>From the procedures and regulation I sow until now that govern the xfce it
seems to me that it is more developer centric.  The instructions above might
seem very easy to the developers...but to some of us who just want to
translate it might prove to be quite daunting.

xfce's claim to fame is it's simplicity. And that is exactly why i decided
to translate it. Let that simplicity be shared by the translators too.

I hope I am not over stepping but I share my premature feeling with the hope
that it would encourage more participation and make good use of the
available resources.
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