What is to be done part II

Well, here is part II of what is to be done.

The topic this time is translation.  We need to translate both GUIand
the documents  ( help files, FAQ,  etc.). This time we  deal only with
translation of the GUI. 

Most programs nowadays  use the GNU gettext standard  as the basis for
i18n (internationalisation).  All messages  can be extracted  from the
program sources  to a special  file with .po extension,  which contain
only the  strings. The translator  then simply translates  the message
strings in  the file, compiles  the .po file  (no need for  the entire
sources of the package)  to give a .mo file, which is  then put in one
of the subdirectories of /usr/share/locale/.

When an application is run, it  will look at the $LANG environment and
select    the   appropriate    .mo    file   from    /usr/share/locale
directory. Obviously,  the framework in which l18n  functions is quite
simple.

But, job of translation is not so simple.

You will  have noticed  that several menus  have several  common terms
like   `file'  `open'  `save',   `save  as',   `edit',  `preferences',
etc.  Each  project  has  a  <project  name>.GLOSSARY.po  file,  which
contains  such common  terms. This  file has  to be  translated first;
else same term  appearing in different files are  liable to translated
differently.  Once the  glossary is  translated, we  can  import terms
appearing in  the glossary of  .po for a specific  application; making
translation of a specific application much simpler.

There should be  consensus amongst the team members  for the terms and
translation in the glossary.

There  also should  be a  consensus  on the  shortcut to  be used  for
accessing the menu items.

EXAMPLE:-  the shortcut  for `file  >  open' in  most applications  is
`ctrl+O'. Translation of the terms  `file' or `open' are not likely to
have  the  Malayalam  syllable for  O  or  the  key  O on  the  QWERTY
keyboard.  Obviously, we  may have  to decide  on some  other keyboard
shortcut.

We need to be prepared for flamewars while discussing on these.

-- 
താങ്കള്‌ക്ക് ഇത് വായിക്കാമെങ്കില്‌
താങ്കളുടെ കംപ്യുട്ടറില്‌ മലയാളം ഉപയോഗിക്കാം