Re: Contacting i18n/l10n team

Helge Kreutzmann <[email protected]> Wed, 26 Jun 2024 15:14:11 +0000
Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.l10n,gmane.linux.debian.internationalization.general
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
Hello Andreas,
Am Wed, Jun 26, 2024 at 11:15:57AM +0200 schrieb Andreas Tille:
> Am Mon, Jun 17, 2024 at 10:23:28PM +0200 schrieb Thomas Lange:
> If all this does not help we should probably accept find some minimum
> level of activity in some translation and in case some language is
> falling below this level it might be better to remove this translation
> (rather than providing "really" (whatever this means is to be discussed)
> outdated translations)

Depending on the context and frequency of updates, it might be a good
idea just to "disable" instead of remove translations. In PO based
workflows, a translation is disabled if it goes below a threshold
(usually 88%). 

In manpages-l10n we have (had) quite a few non maintained languages.
My co-maintainer carefully imported them in our toolchain and then I
went about looking for translators and some translators even
approached me asking to contribute. From my experience they were glad
"not to start from scratch" and I kindly helped them using the
infrastructure and, where possible, implemented there feature request
to ease the work. And now many translations are active (of course,
with varying ressources).

Actually, one language started from scratch and I got less than a
dozen commits and then gone. This is not statistics, but just an
indication that "empty" languages might be too big a burden to start
with (and thus complete removal might not be the best way forward).

> > - it hard to see which language team is inactive, since we still have
> >   git commits in the webwml repo, but not from translators. These are
> >   almost simple changes from non-translators (like http -> https,
> >   fixing URLs,...)
> 
> Good point.  Seems somehow to stress my idea that we should try to
> reach out to real persons.

Yes, I strongly support this. For me, the most difficult point is
"finding" them (i.e. potential translators).

> > - I'm interested in what may help translators, for e.g. is git a
> >   barrier for people to become an active translator? Would a web based
> >   tool help?
> 
> I'm not competent to answer this.  My gut feeling tells me that if some
> volunteer really wants to contribute the tools do not matter much.  I've
> seen my "non-Linux-office-only-educated" daughter Minh from Vietnam
> doing an intro session into CVS (at that time) and Git by Felipe and the
> next day she started with using these.  It might be that "easier" tools
> are possibly helpful to attract new contributors more easily since not
> everybody is sufficiently motivated to climb that steep hill in the first
> place.  So the contact to past translators cold include some kind of
> questionaire like:
> 
>   1. Do you think that (re-)gaining the skills you need to restart
>      your translation work is a blocker?  yes/no
>   2. Do you think you could find someone who takes over your work
>      would be easier if the tools would 	be easier to use? yes/no
> 
> I'm convinced that we as technically addictect persons can not find a
> proper answer to this question amongst ourselves.

From my experience (see above) helping them is key. I have no problem
giving them the exact command they need, forgiving mistakes and where
necessary take the time to explain it over and over again. 

Greetings

           Helge

-- 
      Dr. Helge Kreutzmann                     [email protected]
           Dipl.-Phys.                   http://www.helgefjell.de/debian.php
        64bit GNU powered                     gpg signed mail preferred
           Help keep free software "libre": http://www.ffii.de/

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