Re: Translating schema files (was: Re: Survey results (yay!))

["jbowtie amathaine com" <jbowtie amathaine com>]

Speaking as a small team coordinator struggling to recruit people and
get them active, I have to agree this is a big issue - I don't know
how we'll ever make it to 20%, much less 80%. The problem is that most
people take one look at a file filled with error messages and schema
strings and I never hear from them again. I *only* get contributions
when I can tell them *exactly* which strings in the file correspond to
buttons/menus/labels.  Guess what?  I can't do that on my own for most
modules, which is why over the last few years our stats have actually
dropped from nearly 5% to <1%. In fact, I don't think I've landed a
single contribution since the switch to Git (though there have a been
a few drive-by translations via Ubuntu).

I don't know how many of the other languages languishing at the bottom
of the list are facing the same issue, but I'll bet it's a fair
number. I can swear to you that if I could get a fair number of the UI
elements translated (say, 20% by D-L stats), we would see a big surge
in contributions and maybe even sponsorship from the Language
Commission.

I mean, gtk+ is my favorite example here; the first string is "Error
parsing option --gdk-debug", while the stock labels (which is frankly
all I care about given our general lack of coverage) are down
somewhere around 450 strings in. 99% of my users are never going to
see any of the command-line stuff in the gtk+ module, but 100% of them
are going to encounter the stock labels. Why should I *have* to
explain all this stuff to every potential recruit? It's hard enough
just finding people who are willing to contribute in the first place;
then the first thing they see is the sea of technical messages and
their motivation just evaporates.