Re: Danish team have long waiting periode for review

[Ask Hjorth Larsen <asklarsen gmail com>]

Dear scootergrisen, and all,

Since I'm the coordinator for Danish, I feel that I need to post a response.

Am So., 18. Apr. 2021 um 19:58 Uhr schrieb scootergrisen via
gnome-i18n <gnome-i18n gnome org>:
> It's a long one...
>
> Hi i have been translating GNOME modules to danish
> (https://l10n.gnome.org/teams/da/) for some time.
>
> But since i have spent so much time translating so many modules/strings
> for a long time there have been a problem.
>
> The problem is that the time it takes for the translations to get into
> the software is way to long.
>
> Currently the translations that have waited the longest was submitted
> for review on the danish mailing list january 10. 2020. So that's 1 year
> and 3 months i have waited so far just to get someone to review the
> translation.
>
> It have been like this for a years now and i have mentioned it many
> times on the danish mailing list for a long time.
>
> It seems the danish team have a rule that all translations should be
> reviewed by another person before it can get into the software.
>
> That may sound like a good idea at first but when someone like me
> translates a lot of modules and nobody wants to take the time to do the
> reviweing i don't think this is a good idea anymore.

It is unfortunately difficult to motivate others (and myself) to
proofread certain translations for reasons that we have discussed
within the team and are, as far as I know, not interesting for
subscribers of the i18n list.  You could be more proactive in
proofreading other translators' submissions.  And I encourage more
communication, so the team agrees on the kinds of changes that we
make.  Even if the team is just three people.

> Instead i think it would be better to include the translations i have
> made in the software if nobody wants to review within a periode og time.
> Let's say nobody shows interest in reviewing the translation for 1 or 3
> months or something like that.
> Then at a later time when/if people want to review the translations they
> can do so at any time they wish.
>
> If the translation is slowed down for 1 year just to find a few spelling
> mistakes and fix commas i don't think this is worth it. This could
> easily be fix at any later time allowed the translator to keep going
> insted of being slowed down and perhaps loosing interst in continuing
> the work.

Well, I think it is better that translators learn up front, instead of
producing a large quantity of translations with the same problems
repeated.  This is not limited to commas.

> For danish translation in other projects (not GNOME) it is totally
> standard way that the translations is just approved without review
> because there is just about nobody interested it taking the time to
> review. But nothing prevents them doing so at a later time.
>
> Anyway my suggest is that i can have the waiting translations included
> in the software without having to wait for review by the danish team.
> That way i can better move on with the translation work.
> And should the time come when the danish team have found the time to
> review the translation nothing is preventing them in doing so.
> I can keep a list of the translation which is missing review.

Not having proofreading will mean that every translator uses a
different style.  Having proofreading means that translators will know
each others' styles, learn from each other, and can hopefully agree on
some things.  Allowing fast-track submissions of translations does not
promote this sharing.

> The danish team don't use damned-lies to review and upload translations
> just to reserve modules for translation.
> Danish team use a mailing list for the files.
> And since there is no public archive of the mailing list i can't give a
> link to show people what i have submitted and when.
> So it's not easy to keep track of it all.

Some things are definitely broken.  I wish someone had time to fix them.

Best regards
Ask