Re: [native-lang] Status update season!

On 15/12/2006, at 8:17 PM, Charles-H.Schulz wrote:

>>
>> I strongly suggest we have a basic Howto for l10n projects. It  
>> doesn't
>> need to be long and complex, but it can include items like:
>
> This page that I wrote not such a long time ago seems to answer  
> some of
> your needs, but more needs to be added to it:
> http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/NLC
>
> What do you think?

It's a good NLP introduction, Charles. I think I sort of fell through  
the cracks, taking over an established NLP level 2 project, but  
having nobody left to tell me what to do.

If it happened to me, it might happen to others. So I suggest making  
a general l10n page similar to yours, based at l10n.openoffice.org  
but also linked from your page, which summarizes the steps needed to  
participate in a language project.

The reason I stress "l10n" is that translators entering the OOo  
project, if they have worked in other projects, are familiar with  
"l10n" and will be looking for "i18n" or "l10n". "NLP" at that stage  
won't mean anything to them. The l10n page can introduce the OOo  
terminology.

We do need an intro page which provides the type of information other  
translators are used to, if we want to attract them. If we make it  
clear that _every_ translator has to sign the JCA, for example, and  
join certain key lists and read key information, that will help.

Then we need to extend your page, with one that shows the steps for  
achieving a released translation.

The QA page, Release Action List for QA [1], is good, but how is a  
translator supposed to find it? If we link to it from l10n and NLP,  
we're making more effective use of our existing information.

See the GNOME Translation Project wiki page [2], a very basic page  
which yet includes most things a new translator or language-team lead  
needs to know. We send every new translator there: it saves a lot of  
repeated explanation.

Because the OpenOffice.org project is so large and diffuse, we need  
to have even more effective overall information processes than single  
projects, to pull the whole together, and give each part the access  
and abilities it needs. :)

from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm  
Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN

[1] http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Release_Action_List_for_QA

[2] http://live.gnome.org/TranslationProject