[proofread] February newsletter

Thank you.

I have proofread the webpreview, and attach a version with my
suggestions.  My file is generated from the xhtml generated by the
webpreview, but it is in .odt format to get the benefit of
highlighting my suggestions with the LibreOffice Track Changes
feature.

I am making the effort to do this quickly enough that you and the
translators will be able to work on it on Monday, before it is
published on Tuesday.  So much material is now being published without
being proofread.


1.  There are quite a number of instances this month in which spelling
is correctly rendered in the xhtml but incorrectly rendered in the
webpreview.

These are what I have noticed; there may be more.  (The first three
are in the heading of the newsletter.)  Of course -- for example for
the fourth -- I could be wrong.

“I                                                       “I
â ¤ï¸                                                         ❤
Dayâ                                                       Day”
Gabriel’s                                                Gabriel's
Kühn                                                    Kühn
Sofía                                                      Sofia
Øjvind                                                     Øjvind
can’t                                                  can’t
children’s                                                children's
“I                                                        “I
2026â                                                      2026”
Let’s                                                  Let’s
â ¤                                                            ❤
you’re                                                      you’re

This problem also occurs consistently with the two-letter national
abbreviations in the list of local events.


2.  "Among them, Alex, who together with Michael Schuster and Tommaso
Bernabo, addressed the role of Free Software in the Cyber Resilience
Act, which was followed by a lively Q&A with the audience."

(a)  I suggest removing "who."

(b)  I suggest dividing the sentence, replacing the last comma (after
"Act") and "which" with a period (full stop) and "This."

This is a long and complex sentence.  I therefore want to explain what
I have suggested.  If you wish to accept my suggestion, you do not
need to read all of this.

The antecedent of "them" is the last words of the previous sentence,
"a series of engaging discussions."  Thus this sentence is about the
discussions in the Devroom.  But Alex was not a discussion; he was a
participant and a leader.  So,  simplifying the text, "Among them,
Alex . . . addressed the role" is better than "Among them, Alex who .
. . addressed the role."

Dividing the sentence shortens it.  I think that this is an
improvement, but it's purely a matter of taste.  Some people prefer
long, complex sentences.

It was technically correct to say "which," since the long sentence was
about the discussions.  But I think that it is clearer to say "This."

3.  "Tobias was invited to speak about <a
href="https://media.fsfe.org/w/ccD34bimEMfbToNe68GoSs">Friendica in
the Social Web Devroom</a>  I suggest moving the </a> mark from its
present position back to immediately after "Friendica."  He spoke in
the Devroom on the subject of "Friendrica," not on the subject
of"Friendica in the Social Web Devroom."

4.  "which is currently at its programming period"  I suggest
replacing "at" with "in."  English usage.

5. "Both also used FOSDEM to record a live episode,"  I suggest
replacing this with "They also seized the opportunity to record a live
episode at FOSDEM," (retaining the comma).  I would have expected them
to use some sort of electronic equipment to make their recording,
rather than using FOSDEM -- the somewhat dispersed meeting -- itself.
8-)   If each made a separate episode, it would be correct to say
"Both," rather than "They," but then the plural form "episodes" would
be necessary.

6.  "Thanks to Nico, who put a lot of work"  Insert "in" after "put."
English usage.

7.  alt text ""Toot showing pictures from the Braille machine with
three men posing"  I suggest replacing "Toot" with "Mastodon post."  I
do not use Mastodon, but an internet search suggests that the term
"toot" is being supplanted by "post" because the word has several
other -- and unfortunate -- slang meanings.

8.  "that provides a legal precedent and underlines the importance of
transparency
in source codes and algorithms, and support for the freedom to study!"
 Replace "codes" with "code."  "Source code" is a member of the class
of terms in English that do not form plurals.  [Other examples from
the latest edition of Fowler's Modern English Usage, at "count nouns,"
are adolescence, heating, richness, and warfare.]

9.  "Public authorities in Spain are therefore obliged to allow
citizens to understand how algorithms used in decision-making that
affect citizens work."  I suggest rewriting as "When public
authorities in Spain use algorithms, in decision-making that affects
citizens, they are obliged to allow citizens to understand how the
algorithms work."

(a)  It is not good usage in English to separate "algorithms" such a
great distance from its verb, "work" with the long phrase "used in
decision-making that affect citizens."  Yes, the important concepts in
the sentence are in the description of the algorthms, but the
displacement of the verb can and should be corrected.

(b)  In my suggestion, I have dealt with an ambiguity.  I interpret
the meaning to be that the decision-making affects the citizens,
rather than that the algorithms affect the citizens.  But the original
sentence could be read either way.   I have not read the judicial
decision, so I don't know which the Court said.  (Strict grammatical
reading requires the sentence to be read to say that it is the
algorithms, rather than the decisions, that affect citizens.  However,
considering the condition of the Legal Corner article, from which the
sentence was adapted, I don't want to rely on a strict reading of its
grammar.)

10.  "We are getting ready to celebrate Free Software and the people
behind it, developers, activists, translators, designers, and
supporters who make this movement what it is, across Europe."  I
suggest replacing the comma before "developers" with a colon.


On Fri, Feb 6, 2026 at 6:33 AM Ana Galan <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> Dear translators,
>
> the February newsletter is ready for your proofread and translation.
>
> You can find it here: https://webpreview.fsfe.org/cgi/fsfe.pl?pad=1581
>
> Best regards and thanks a lot!
>
> Ana
>
>
> PS. It will be published next Tuesday
>
> --
>
> Ana Galan (she/her) - Senior Project Manager Communications
> Free Software Foundation Europe
> Revaler Str. 19, 10245 Berlin, Germany | t:+49 157 92 34 72 12
> Registered at Amtsgericht Hamburg, VR 17030
>
>
> Support the FSFE: https://my.fsfe.org/donate
> Sign up to our newsletter: https://fsfe.org/news/newsletter.html
> Follow us on the Fediverse: @[email protected]
>
> _______________________________________________
> Translators mailing list -- [email protected]
> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]
>
> This mailing list is covered by the FSFE's Code of Conduct. All
> participants are kindly asked to be excellent to each other:
> https://fsfe.org/about/codeofconduct



--
"The problem with quotes on the internet is that it is difficult to
determine whether or not they are genuine." -- Abraham Lincoln

_______________________________________________
Translators mailing list -- [email protected]
To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected]

This mailing list is covered by the FSFE's Code of Conduct. All
participants are kindly asked to be excellent to each other:
https://fsfe.org/about/codeofconduct