Re: Wasted resources

[Adam Weinberger <adamw gnome org>]

Clytie Siddall wrote:
> On 18/05/2005, at 2:40 AM, Jaap Haitsma wrote:
>
> > Pootle sounds very interesting, especially the fact that it can  
> > handle multiple file types. (po, mozilla, openoffice etc.)
>
>
> Yes, it's very adaptable. I've just translated a manpage on Pootle. :)
>
> > Now it would be nice if there was going to be just one central  place  
> > on the web where the translations would take place. Now  there will be 
> > a lot of duplicated effort of translators. (people  using pootle, 
> > rosetta, cvs/svn ). There could be an official GNOME  web based 
> > translation site, but I think it would be even better if  translator 
> > of a certain locale would all work together. This is  especially true 
> > for small languages.
>
>
> I agree wholeheartedly, Jaap! The thing I've noticed most since  
> stumbling into the i18n arena, and which frustrates me the most, is  how 
> fragmented it is. You meet the same hard-working translators and  
> co-ordinators everywhere, doing the same job over and over in ways  
> which vary for no apparent reason, but because they belong to that  
> project. With so few resources (especially, as you note, for  languages 
> with few translators: we have three, worldwide), it's so  wasteful and 
> inefficient to duplicate like this, and spend so much  time learning to 
> use the local procedures.
>
> OSS _should_ be about sharing our resources and working together.  When 
> will this happen in i18n?
>
> from Clytie (vi-VN, team/nhóm Gnome-vi)
>
> Clytie Siddall--Renmark, in the Riverland of South Australia

Sharing resources and working together does not equate to "everybody on 
my team should use this tool that I like."

There are some of us who prefer CVS and abhor the thought of using a GUI 
or web-based translation tool. I personally do all my work from a 
terminal, and a web-based or GUI tool would not fit any of my needs.

But the point is that my reasons for wanting to use a terminal are 
exactly the same as your reasons for preferring pootle, and others' 
reasons for preferring rosetta or gtranslator or etc.: it's the 
environment which best suits your needs.

You're barking up the wrong tree here. Don't focus your energy on 
finding one way of doing things that you feel everybody should follow. 
If you are a huge fan of pootle, join the pootle project. Contribute 
code, thoughts, ideas, and advocacy.

But please, recognize how easily people get into application-based Holy 
Wars. Though your intentions are good, implying that people should use a 
method that obviates their own may well lead to more problems than it 
solves.

# Adam


--
Adam Weinberger
adamw magnesium net || adamw FreeBSD org
adamw vectors cx    ||   adamw gnome org
http://www.vectors.cx