Re: [OT] gnome-doc-utils strings

[Clytie Siddall <clytie riverland net au>]

Hello Yavor (and list), thanks for your reply. :)

On 16/07/2005, at 10:52 PM, Yavor Doganov wrote:

> On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 14:01:06 +0930, Clytie Siddall wrote:
>
> I have no doubt in your motivation and can only congratulate you  
> for your
> tremendous efforts.
Thankyou. I'm always impressed by how much effort the relatively few  
active people in OSS put in to support the mass of users (and the  
people who turn up on mailing lists saying, "I'd use your free app.  
if you spent the next year implementing these changes"... ;) )
> You got me wrong; probably it is my fault that I haven't expressed  
> myself
> correctly.

There's always a gap in communication, even between two speakers of  
the same language. I'm sorry I misinterpreted you.

> I am not saying that vi translations are a mess, neither I was
> implying similar analogy.  Perfectly documented/commented templates  
> will
> be awesome, but testing the translation is a must, at least in my
> language.  Maybe I should have said it in another way, maybe it is my
> personal judgement as I never translate apps that I don't  
> understand and
> haven't actually seen.

I agree with you that it's the best way to go. Fortunately, as Danilo  
mentioned, I can run Unix/Linux apps under Mac OSX (which has a BSD  
base), using fink, opendarwin or simply installing source directly.  
Also, our family network has a mix of Mac and Linux machines. Both my  
husband and my son are keen Debian users, and give me feedback, as do  
many other users. I still think that moment when you see your  
translation come up on the screen, the first time you see that app.,  
in your language, is worth all the effort. :D

I've said this before, but I think internationalization is not about  
how good your English is: it's about who you are, about identity, and  
about feeling at home with your computer and software.

> I am currently investigating the pointers that Danilo gave.  If we can
> extract useful information without bothering the developers, it'll  
> be a
> big win for all translation teams.

Definitely. Although I still think developers need regular feedback  
on how clear and understandable their strings are: they do have a  
responsibility there.
> I meant the source code.  I have to agree with Danilo that looking  
> at the
> source code is a waste of time and certainly not the most pleasant  
> job for
> a translator.

Also confusing, if you don't or can't use that language. I think  
we're going to get more translators who have less computing skills  
and less time to devote, and thus we'll benefit from simplifying the  
process and distributing the load, if possible.
> Once again I apologise and regret that you have treated it as an  
> insult.

Thankyou. I'm sorry I misinterpreted you.

> As the string freeze approaches, I will shut up and try to  
> concentrate on
> translations, rather than writing useless messages that abuse people.

We have a troll on the Debian-Women list, if you feel like a break  
from translation... ;)

> However, I won't change my attitude to proprietary software.

I don't think we discussed that, but we probably agree there. :)

from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhÃm  
Viát hÃa phán mám tá do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN