Quality translations in GNOME

Quality translations in GNOMEHow to enrich the users experience through a good translation Sílvia Miranda Sánchez

Who am I?

I am not a developer. I am a translator.

Localisation.From a linguistic point of view.

Intro.What is localising?

Well. Wait.What is translating?

Translation ”Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source language text with theequivalent target language translation (text) to help a reader understand a foreign (source) language text.” Wikipedia

Its been done for ages.

First in stone.

Then in paper.

Now in computers.

Localisation (l10n)”the process of adapting software for aparticular geographical region (locale).” LISA

Including:Date and time formats Currencies Measurement units Terminology Tone and style

Why should we care about l10n?

More languages = more users.

Why is it importantto provide good translations? Why should developers care about this too?

Bad translations are funny, but not very useful.

Bad impression of the product.

”The lift is being fixed for the next day. during that time we regret that you will be unbearable.” (in a hotel)

Eat Wikipedia: (in a menu)

”No entry for heavy good vehicles. Residential site only.”____________________________________________________”Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o byrd. Anfonwch unrhyw waith iw giefieithu.” Which means:”I am not in the office at the moment. Send any work to be translated.” (bilingual sign in Wales)

(restaurant name)

Good translations. Requirements.

Good knowledge of the source language.

Excellent knowledge of the target language. ”I am an native english speaker and dont do alot of mistakes, can I be a translator?”

Ability to paraphrase.

Knowledge of the field.

DOs and DONTs

✗ Force people to stay alive.✗ Tell people to eat Wikipedia.✗ Ask truck drivers to send you e-mails while they are driving.

Or:✗ Dont rely on MT.✗Dont rely solely on bilingualglossaries.✗ Dont skip the review process.

Use glossaries AND specialised dictionaries.

Use open-tran.eu for consistency.

Use translation memories.

Use a style guide.

Keep all the resources in one place.Make them accessible to all translators and reviewers.

Run the spellchecker. Please.

Review the translation.

Review the translation (yes, twice).

If possible, check the translation in the actual UI.

In documentation, check forconsistency with the actual UI options.

ProcessTranslator Reviewer CommitterDownload Download Commit file po file po fileTranslate Review file fileSelf-review Run spellcheck Run Run QAspellcheck checks Run QA Upload file checksUpload file

Damned liesStatistics and management

GeditText editor

Gtranslator CAT tool

LokalizeCAT tool

VirtaalCAT tool

Translate-toolkitConverters, QA tools

Web tools TransifexLaunchpad Pootle

Web translations

Nice, but......what if our translation teams consists of very few people? How can we find good translators?

Money!

Students!

... (suggestions?)

Questions, suggestions, complaints... www.silviamiranda.com silvia.gnome@gmail.com @silviamira

Thanks for coming!

Creditshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosetta_Stone.JPGhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/vlashton/1140669128/in/photostream/http://galeria.badall.net/main.php?g2_itemId=3570http://galeria.badall.net/main.php?g2_itemId=3574http://galeria.badall.net/main.php?g2_itemId=3578http://www.flickr.com/photos/arunjrk/2393439923/http://ourfounder.typepad.com/leblog/WindowsLiveWriter/Menu.jpghttp://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=301http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/3366720659/http://www.flickr.com/photos/m00by/2539347606/Fonts: Raleway, Droid Serif, Droid Sans.

Quality translations in GNOME

by silviamira on May 02, 2011

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