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The very nature of the project is multi-lingual and multi-cultural. And although English is (currently) our [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lingua_franca ''lingua franca''] it may not be so in the future—or so we hope—as each community takes over the project and molds it to their needs and objectives.

In the meantime, here are some tips, tricks and things to keep in mind while trying to bridge the language barrier that will hopefully make everybody's life simpler and more productive.

: See [[Translating/HowTo|a quick (example driven) guide]] of how to translate.
: See the [[Translated pages]] matrix for a status update

'''''NOTE:''' please feel free to add or comment, as this is on-going work.''

== See Also ==

Ok, yes, usually the ''see also'' section is at the end... but why settle for tradition when we are going for a revolution? ;)

* [[Localization]]
* [[Python Style Guide#Internationalization and Localization]]
* [[Translators]]

== recommended translations ==

The following is not a ''must-do'' list, rather a suggestion of where to start. If you want to take a look at what ''has been'' translated check the [[translated pages]] (itemized); or the [[:Category:Translated Pages]] (and its sub-categories split by languages).

Another possible good starting point for picking things to translate are those pages tagged as <tt><nowiki>{{OLPC}}</nowiki></tt> and that have the 'green bar' noting so and grouped in [[:Category:OLPC|OLPC Category]].
* [[The OLPC Wiki]]&mdash;relatively static, few updates (doorway).
* [[News]]&mdash;updated once a week (towards the end of the weekend).
* [[Hardware specification]]&mdash;lots of technical (usually untranslateable) terms, but a doorway.
* [[One Laptop per Child]]&mdash;relatively static, and doorway.
* [[2B1: The Children's Machine|The Children's Machine]]&mdash;doorway.
* [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines]]&mdash;not really recommended, but a central piece (currently unfinished)
* [[Developers program]]&mdash;for local developers.
* [[Bitfrost]]&mdash;the summary of the security model. The full spec is in [[OLPC Bitfrost]].
* [[Using QEMU on Windows XP]]&mdash;enable the local community to use [[Sugar]] using an emulator.
* [[Getting involved in OLPC]]&mdash;could satisfy the local community about ''what now?''
'''Before ''jumping in'', please read the remaining of this page as it will (hopefully) provide with enough background on how multi-lingual things are currently working in the wiki.'''
If you think something is missing or should not be in the above list, please [[Talk:Translating|leave a comment]].

== resources ==

It has been noted elsewhere that although the community translation effort is greatly welcome, it lacks guidelines and standards. Until now that was not really an issue, but at some point there should be some a more coherent and unified style. Which? It hasn't been determined. In the meantime, it could prove valuable to have some documentation available that could at least serve as the baseline or source for its creation.

Most of the resources listed below [[Talk:Localization#June 19 2007|resulted from a meeting]] in [[IRC|IRC #olpc-l10n]].

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internationalization_and_localization
* http://www.gnu.org/software/gettext/manual/gettext.html
* http://inti.sourceforge.net/tutorial/libinti/internationalization.html
* http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/Unicode.html

There's the localization@laptop.org in the [[mailing lists]]. Although english is the default, feel free to raise questions in other languages too.

Please feel free to add (human & computer) languages resources below.

=== [[python]] ===

* http://wiki.wxpython.org/Internationalization
* http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/library/os-php-intl/index.html
* http://crysol.org/node/203
* http://www.learningpython.com/2006/12/03/translating-your-pythonpygtk-application/

=== [[spanish]] ===

As a language that spans many nations, each influenced by it native population and local languages, and historical immigration patterns, yields a superficially apparent homogeneous language zone. Truth is that local idioms do have a considerable weight.
* It has been suggested that a good starting point is Gnome's <tt>'''[http://www.openshine.com/Members/serrador/gnome_l10n_es.pdf/download gnome_l10n_es.pdf]'''</tt> &mdash; another alternative is to read [http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:ctNAQzNJNBEJ:www.openshine.com/Members/serrador/gnome_l10n_es.pdf+gnome_l10n_es.pdf&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=16 Google's HTML cached version]
* Other [http://www.es.gnome.org/ GNOME Hispano] links:
** [http://www.es.gnome.org/documentacion/traductores/ Equipo de traducción]
** [http://www.es.gnome.org/colabora.php ¿Cómo colaborar con GNOME Hispano?]
** [http://live.gnome.org/ManualProcedimientos Manual de procedimientos]
* [http://es.l10n.kde.org/glosario.php KDE l10n glossary]
* [http://www.insflug.org/colaboracion/recursos/glosario/index.php3 Glosario insflug.org]

: ''See also [[Translating/Spanish terms]] for more info on how the wiki is being translated.''

== fast & furious ==

: See [[Translating/HowTo|a quick (example driven) guide]] of how to translate.

== wiki pages ==

You are not forced by any means to use what follows&mdash;although it may save some time and help develop a standard way of doing things. By no means we are implying this is the best way, and some steps may seem arbitrary, and not really optimal; although their cost may be worthwhile. Any feedback is '''welcome!'''

The 'basic' structure of a 'standard' translation is based on the following premises:
# there's a base page you want in another language
# you want to keep it as a 'mirror' translation
# little or no reverse-flow towards the original

One of the main problems when translating is that your personal choice may not be the best one. Text-wise that is not a problem, and here the wiki spirit shows the true power by allowing a more democratic choice of wording. The problem arises from the fact that we are not translating text but also structure (headers, sections, etc.). So if we happen to pick a 'wrong' section header, anything linking to it will be broken when we try to make things better&mdash;defeating the wiki kaizen spirit of constant improvements. In order to avoid getting stuck in bad translations, here are some techniques and tips that may help the kaizen spiriti of a wiki-editor.

=== creating the ''translated'' page ===

Usually you can give a page any name you like, although I recommend using a sub-page technique that uses the language identification: <tt>originalPage/lang-xx</tt>. This comes in handy as the volume of pages in the <tt>xx</tt> language grows and won't be able to recall all the exact names of all the translations. So if you find yourself translating a link to say [[The OLPC Wiki]] you may wonder what is the exact translation used for your language. Appending <tt>/lang-xx</tt> to the link takes care of that. If by any chance the page hasn't been translated yet, you may create a <tt>redirect</tt> page to the original version and do the translation later.

==== how to set up the translated page ====

A page worth translating will surely be split up in sections and sub-sections, which are latter used as <tt>anchors</tt> by the hyper-text system, allowing to refer and link to specific sections. Again, if we translate the <tt>section/anchor</tt> name, when a better translation is found the links will brake. A simple solution (leveraging on the <tt>/lang-xx</tt> technique) is to avoid the problem altogether by ''preserving'' the original anchors.

For example, if we were to translate the section ''<tt><nowiki>==Home==</nowiki></tt>'', we could translate it into spanish as either ''Hogar'' or ''Casa''&mdash;context will probably make one more likely than the other, but you can't always be certain. The problem arises when that header is being used as an anchor for some link: [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/Zoom Metaphor#Home]]. This 'example' link, is very interesting (although extremely peculiar and rare) because it depends on the original title page [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines]], the chained subpages [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience|The Laptop Experience]] and [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/Zoom Metaphor|Zoom Metaphor]], and finally the anchor/section name [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/Zoom Metaphor#Home|Home]]. Each one of them may have multiple possible translations.

The simplest solution is to make the links ''independent'' of the translation. The <tt>/lang-xx</tt> takes care of the ''page-links'' and the following trick of the {{tl|anchor}}:
<pre><nowiki>
# ORIGINAL # TRANSLATION 1 # TRANSLATION REVIEWED
{{anchor|Home}} {{anchor|Home}}
== Home == == Casa == == Hogar ==
</nowiki></pre>
While the '''links''' will always remain basically the same:
[[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/Zoom Metaphor#Home]]
[[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines/The Laptop Experience/Zoom Metaphor/lang-es#Home]]
'''NOTE:''' only the <tt>/lang-xx</tt> has been added&mdash;greatly simplifying the linking.

=== hooking the translation to the wiki ===

In a wiki, an unlinked page is as good as no page; so we need to somehow make sure that people navigating the site actually can reach those pages in a sensible way. The current technique is based on three elements:
# a template to be included in the [[Template:Translation|translated page]],
# a template to be included in the [[Template:Translations|original page]], and
# a sub-page indexing the original page's translations (<tt>originalPage/translations</tt>).
This triad serves two main uses: reader & translator.
; reader : it allows the multi-lingual navigation by presenting all the translations of a given page in a homogeneous way while avoiding the typical error of forgetting to update all translations with the 'new' translation.
; translator : by keeping track of the <tt>original</tt> and <tt>diff</tt> (to ''current'') anybody can review if the current page is up-to-date in respect to the original.

=== maintaining the translation ===

Wikis being what they are, mean that what you translated yesterday is not today's version... so how do you manage the ''evolution'' of the original? Fortunately, wiki pages have an essential thing: '''history'''; and an extremely useful function: '''diff'''. Remember when the <tt>[[Template:Translation|<nowiki>{{Translation | ...blah... }} template</nowiki>]]</tt> was added, there were three mandatory parameters:
# lang = the 2-3 characters denoting the target language of the translation
# source = the ''page name'' (sans ''<nowiki>[[]]</nowiki>'') that is being translated
# version = the ID of the actual revision or edition being translated
:: It is ''crucial'' this value is correctly recorded (''and updated'') as it will allow a consistent way to handle the evolution of the original in regard to the translation.

The version number (ie: <tt>30534</tt>) appears in the ''original'' page in the upper right corner (ie: <tt>[ID# 30534]</tt>). This number, together with the ''source'' page name will be used to perform a ''diff'' between the version translated and the current version (of the original page).

By following the ''diff'' link (bottom-right of the blue translation bar) you can verify the changes (if any) of the ''translated-version-#'' with the ''current-version-#''&mdash;just by following it.

'''IMPORTANT:''' <u>When updating a translation, you '''must''' update the ''version''.</u> (Just copy paste the # shown in the original page). This will allow translators and reviewers to work only on the sections that have changed without actually having to review both documents in order to find differences (some of which may be trivial from the text perspective, but crucial from the exactitude and validity of the content&mdash;ie:latest build, etc).

=== multi-lingual navigation templates ===

Initially, when the [[Template:Translation]] was coded, all of its text was in English. That has been changed so that with the exception of the different languages and the title of the source page, it can all be in the same language as the translation. The extracted strings are shown below:
{|
|- valign="top"
! «Translation of»
| is for the '''reader''' community to be aware which of the multiple languages available is the original page (whose full name link is to the right of this text).
|- valign="top"
! «original»
| is for the '''translating''' community to see the actual version of the ''original'' with which this page is ''synchronized''. Basically a helper.
|- valign="top"
! «changes»
| is for the '''translating''' community to see the changes in the ''original'' in respect to its ''current'' state (so that we can get the translation back in sync).
|-
| colspan="2" | Keep in mind that being «original» & «changes» for the translating community they should be discrete and brief (as the space is used for language navigation).
|}
'''For a list of language codes see [[ISO 639]]'''.
<span class="plainlinks">
{| border=1 cellspacing=0
|- style="background:gray"
! language !! code !! Translation of !! original !! changes !! translator / notes !! inline translation instructions !! wanted !! incomplete !! check

{{Navtemplatelist|lang=am|status=red}}

{{Navtemplatelist|lang=ar|status=green|notes=[[User:Khaled hosny|Khaled hosny]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=yellow|lang=bg
| notes = from '''pootle-bg.po'''}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=da
| notes= [[User:Riv|Riv]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=de
| notes= via Google + IP}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=el
| notes= [[User:Simosx|Simosx]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=gray|lang=en
| notes= ''Text used in Google''}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=eo
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=es
| notes= [[User:Xavi|Xavi]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=yellow|lang=fa
| notes = from '''pootle-fa.po'''}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=fr
| notes= [[User:Dupuy|Dupuy]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=he
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=yellow|lang=ht
| notes= [[User:Dupuy|Dupuy]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=hu
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=id
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=yellow|lang=is
| notes = from '''pootle-is.po'''}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=it
| notes = [[User:Frafra|Frafra]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=ja
| notes = [[User:Abee|Abee]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=kh
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=ko
| notes= [[User:Php5|Php5]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=mn
| notes= (actually russian via Google)}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=ne
| notes= via IP}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=nl
| notes= via Google + IP}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=no
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=pl
| notes= [[User:Idzikow|Wiktor]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=ps
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=pt
| notes= [[User:Ptdrumm|Ptdrumm]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=ro
| notes= [[User:Alexxed|Alexandru Szasz]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=ru
| notes= [[User:Maxim|Maxim Osipov]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=rw
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=si
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=sr
| notes= [[User:Goran Rakić|Goran Rakić]]}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=sw
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=red|lang=tl
}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=yellow|lang=tr
| notes = from '''pootle-tr.po'''}}

{{Navtemplatelist|status=green|lang=zh
| notes= [[User:YChao|Yuan Chao]]}}
|}
</span>
'''NOTE:''' This strings are being ''proposed''... when it says 'via Google' means that
the current string displayed for a particular language was ''obtained'' via Google.
IOW, it's an ''invitation'' to fix it accordingly :)
Those non-green language codes (particularly red) need to be changed, please do so.

== laptop.org ==

Please refer to the [[Localization]] page for further information on the [[Localization/www.laptop.org|l10n efforts of www.laptop.org]].

: ''See also [[Translating/www.laptop.org]]''

== translating the [[OLPC Human Interface Guidelines|HIG]] ==

: See [[Translating/HIG]]

=== pitfalls: things to watch out ===

Please do keep the [[Template:Translation]] in each page and the correct <tt>lang</tt> & <tt>version</tt> number for future updates and maintenance of the translated page.

Note that there are ''two'' navigation bars (besides the language bar), one at the top, the other at the bottom. In that navigation bar you ''also'' have to update the <tt>lang</tt> parameter.

== foreign wiki pages ==

As the global effort picks up speed, it's our hope and interest that local communities will develop things in their local languages that we may want to share globally. This is already happening, and we are trying to develop the necessary templates to make life simpler (probably a variation on the local translation templates mentioned above). In the meantime, take a look at [[Hello World!]].

==[[Reverse Localization]]==
[[Reverse Localization]], has links to Google translation Gadget in many languages to suggest improving information flow from non-OLPC web-pages about OLPC efforts between wider language communities.

== requested translations ==

Here's a list of pages requested for translation. Please verify with [[Translated pages]] in order to avoid duplicate translations before jumping into one.

* [[Demo notes]]
* [[Software release notes]]
* [[Distance]]

<div style="border-top:1px solid #888888; border-bottom:1px solid #888888; margin:0px;">
{| width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color:#f78f1e; color:white"
|-
| width=75% align=left | &nbsp;&nbsp;Fancy a subject you can't find or not in your language?
|width=25% align=right | <span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:{{PAGENAME}}/Suggestions|action=edit&amp;section=new}} Ask for it!]&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>
|}</div>
{{/Suggestions}}
<div style="border-top:1px solid #888888; border-bottom:1px solid #888888; margin:0px;">
{| width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color:#f78f1e; color:white"
|-
| width=75% align=left | &nbsp;&nbsp;Fancy a subject you can't find or not in your language?
|width=25% align=right | <span class="plainlinks">[{{fullurl:{{PAGENAME}}/Suggestions|action=edit&amp;section=new}} Ask for it!]&nbsp;&nbsp;</span>
|}</div>


[[Category:Language support]]
[[Category:Languages (international)]]
[[Category:HowTo]]

Revision as of 12:46, 26 August 2008

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