Re: French translation

[Callum McKenzie <callum physics otago ac nz>]

On Mon, 2004-12-13 at 23:50 +0100, Heretik wrote:
> I just submitted the first half of the french translation of the rules.
Great.

> Some original rules files were horribly formatted, so i cleaned then
> too, to make them more uniform and cute, to ease the work of other
> translators. I hope it's ok.
That is just fine, the documentation for individual games hasn't
received much attention recently.

> - Must i translate "GNOME Documentation Project" ?
I don't know what the official policy is, I'd have said yes, but look in
the documentation and translation parts of the GNOME web site. 

http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gtp/
http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp/

> - Must i translate the license ? It raises some legal problems, as i'm
> not a lawyer, i couldn't translate it accurately enough. Is there
> already an accurate french translation of this whole thing ?
My memory is that the English version is considered definitive. However
it is highly likely that the GNU website (www.gnu.org) has a translated
version that you can just cut and paste. Again, hunt around the sites I
mentioned above.

> - <sect2>Options</sect2> is always : <para>None</para>
> I guess it can safely be removed from all rule files, may i do this ?
If it really is None, then yes. If not then leave it, the code that
implements the options has been disabled for a long time, but I've
figured out a way to restore it sanely. I think there are only two games
that should have options.

> - I found some mistakes in the english rules, should i fix them ?
Yes ! No one has looked at the docs seriously in a long time, go for it.

> - In Zebra, do foundations start with an Ace (in the game) or a Two (in
> the rules)
If in doubt, document what the game does. In this case be careful, the
aces are already laid out for you so the first card you play is the two.

> - Block ten doesn't exist. Is it an old game ? Should its translation
> file be removed ?
It is buggy. Don't remove the file, I hope to fix it one day. 

> - Chapters <sect2> should appear emphased, for example in bold, it would
> be easier and faster to read. 
It is rendered by yelp, if you can change the markup to make it look
better, do so, but it isn't easy to change the way it is rendered any
other way.

> - Often the rules repeat themselves between the first part :
> foundations, stock, tableau, ... and the second part : rules.
> It would be better if it was avoided, because it would be faster to read
> and to translate. But i'm not sure it's worth the reworking.
Do what you can. We appreciate your work even if it doesn't end up
perfect (if we wanted a perfect French translation, we would have given
you a perfect English version).

> - In the game, game list should be sorted alphabetically dynamically,
> instead of once in the code with the english names. Otherwise, it isn't
> sorted in other languages like french.
OK, this is a bug. I'll look into it.

> - Why is freecell independent from aisleriot in the game menu ?
There used to be a separate program that implemented freecell. The menu
entry was to minimise the change-over hassles.

> - What does aisleriot mean ? Where does this name come from ?
It is an anagram of solitaire. 

> I did this help for translators, which you (Callum) said could be
> integrated on
> http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnome-games/contributing.html
I'll upload this soon.

Thanks a lot,

 - Callum