Re: PLEASE READ : Sun Gnome2.0 UI translation

[Christian Meyer <christian meyer cs tum edu>]

On Wed, 2002-04-10 at 14:55, Damien Donlon wrote:

[snip]

> We wish to do rolling translations on 4 groups of modules and need
> to coordinate with the community translation teams to ensure there
> is no duplication of translation work.

agree
 
> The 4 groups of modules are :
> 
> 
> Group 1			Group 2			Group 3
> _________________________________________________________
> 
> gdict			sawfish			libgnomecanvas
> gedit			yelp			libgnomeui
> ggv			bonobo			glib
> ghex			gnome-admin		at-spi
> glade			gnome-print		bonobo-activation
> gnome-applets		gtk+			eel
> gnome-control-center	gconf			eog
> gnome-core		gnome-vfs		gnome-desktop
> gnome-media		gtkhtml			gnome-games
> gnome-utils		gnome-i18n		gnome-mime-data
> gperfmeter		libbonobo		gnome-panel
> nautilus		libgnome		gnome-session
> 
> 
> 
> Group 4
> ______________________
> 
> gtkhtml2
> libbonoboui
> libglade
> libgnomeprint
> libgnomeprintui
> libwnck
> libzvt
> metacity
> metatheme
> profterm
> 

I just have a question:
Is there a reason why the packages are seperated like that?

> Some of these modules may currently have no translatable 
> strings as the listing is based on a search for po directories
> in the CVS tree used to build Gnome on Solaris. Also, some of 
> these modules may have complete translations for certain languages 
> already. 

Some German packages are fully translated, some are not. For the fully
translated ones it'd be nice to review them.

> We prefer to use the rolling translation model on groups of modules 
> because doing translations for individual languages  on a individual module 
> basis would be difficult to coordinate over 11 languages and make a 
> generic process for doing translation review and putbacks into the 
> CVS tree difficult. 

ok

> We would like the process to work as follows :
> 
> 
> We will forward a translation schedule in due course listing dates
> when we will take each group of modules.

Very nice.
 
> On these dates , coordinators would then suspend their translation
> work on the modules contained in the group. We will then do analysis of the 
> translatable content and then come back to the coordinators with a 
> return date for the translated files on a per language basis within 
> 1/2 days. 

fine

> Typically turnaround time is about 1500-2000 words per language per 
> day but with QA andd proofreading generally we are talking about 5 days
> for 5000 words or thereabouts. However, this may be shorter or longer
> dependent on the completeness of existing translations for the
> language.

yep, it really takes some time to go through a bunch of packages.
 
> We wish to ensure a complete community review of our 
> translations prior to them being put back into CVS and suggest
> the following process :
> 
> [1] Once Sun translation work has bee completed we will hand-off
> the translated files to the community translation teams for review.
> We will also supply contact names for each language to whom 
> community translation team coordinators can send their review
> comments. Team coordinators ONLY contact this person please!

sounds good
 
> [2] If a situation arises where things are not going well on either 
> side for whatever reason then escalate it to Ashling Donagh 
> (ashling.donagh@sun.com), otherwise no need to cc her on emails
> about the review.

as already earlier said, we have a policy for the German translation
(which is a little bit outdated). I hope that SUN will have a look at it
first to avoid confusion why we've that kind of translation style.
 
> [3] When you review the translations you need to send commments NOT
> changed files. Reason : Because our translators have been translating for 
> Sun for years and they know our style guidelines and use our glossaries
> we have to give their translations precedence (no offense!) for Gnome on
> Solaris. But we do want to get community translator input on those 
> translations because of their familiarity with Gnome. Thus we ensure 
> best quality for all.

As long as they don't much collide with our policy. It was hard work to
push it through. But I'm sure we can agree on most things.

> Providing comments as opposed to changed files ensures that community
> translation teams are free to implement whatever changes they think 
> appropriate for the community release  once we commit them.

hmm. ok

> [4] Our translators will implement the community translation team
> comments. If they do not implement a comment they will flag it
> and return it to the language team coordinator as "not implemented".
> If they make any additional changes to those messages already
> translated by the community they will note it and flag as
> "changed translated message".

ok
 
> [5] If, after 7 days there is no feedback on the files sent
> to community teams for review then we will assume they are ok
> and place them back into community CVS. If a community language
> team is unable to provide feedback within 7 days but wish to do
> so, or if specific teams have specific 'commit' policy for putting 
> back files then let us know. Otherwise, we shall just commit the files!

7 days sound good.
  
> [6] One important note - everything we hand back will be in UTF-8
> encoding and the charmap fielf in the 1st msgid of the .po files
> will be changed accordingly.

sure

> When all translations have been completed for all languages on a 
> specific group of modules then we will move on to the next group.

agree

> In summary the process would be :
> 
> 1. Sun inform community translation teams that they are taking 
>    a group of modules on a specific date.
> 2. Community translation teams freeze working on those modules
>    at that date.
> 3. Sun provides community with expected file return date.
> 4. Upon translation Sun send files to community for review.
> 5. Community teams provide review comments within 7 days.
> 6. Sun implement review comments for Solaris Gnome release 
>    and flag any comments not implemented to community team
>    coordinators.
> 7. Sun returns files to community CVS.
> 8. Move on to next group of modules. 

OK. If that'll work smoothly I don't have any objections.
 

> Please send your comments/feedback to damien.donlon@sun.com cc'ing 
> ashling.donagh@ireland.sun.com

here you go ;-)

Greetings,
Christian