Localising open-source software is important, as more languages means more users. However, it is equally important to provide high quality translations. This slideshow prov is an overview of the importance of quality translations in GNOME

1. Quality translations in GNOME
How to enrich the users' experience through a good translation
Sílvia Miranda Sánchez

2. Who am I?

3. I am not a developer.
I am a translator.

4. Localisation.
From a linguistic point of view.

5. Intro.
What is localising?

6. Well. Wait.
What is translating?

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

8. It's been done for ages.

9. First in stone.

10. Then in paper.

11. Now in computers.

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

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

14. Why should we care about l10n?

17. More languages = more users.

18. Why is it important
to provide good translations?
Why should developers
care about this too?

19. Bad translations are funny,
but not very useful.

20. Bad impression of the product.

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

22. Eat Wikipedia:
(in a menu)

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

24. (restaurant name)

25. Good translations.
Requirements.

26. Good knowledge of the source
language.

27. Excellent knowledge of the target
language.
”I am an native english speaker
and don't do alot of mistakes,
can I be a translator?”

28. Ability to paraphrase.

29. Knowledge of the field.

30. DOs and DON'Ts

31. DON'T:

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

33. Or:
✗ Don't rely on MT.
✗Don't rely solely on bilingual
glossaries.
✗ Don't skip the review process.

34. DO:

35. Use glossaries AND specialised
dictionaries.

36. Use open-tran.eu for consistency.

37. Use translation memories.

38. Use a style guide.

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

40. Run the spellchecker. Please.

41. Review the translation.

42. Review the translation
(yes, twice).

43. If possible, check the translation
in the actual UI.

44. In documentation, check for
consistency with the actual UI options.

45. Process
Translator Reviewer Committer
Download Download Commit file
po file po file
Translate Review
file file
Self-review Run
spellcheck
Run Run QA
spellcheck checks
Run QA Upload file
checks
Upload file

46. Tools

47. Damned lies
Statistics and management

48. Gedit
Text editor

50. Gtranslator
CAT tool

51. Lokalize
CAT tool

52. Virtaal
CAT tool

54. Translate-toolkit
Converters, QA tools

55. Web tools
Transifex
Launchpad
Pootle

56. Web translations

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

58. Money!

59. Students!

60. ... (suggestions?)

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

62. Thanks for coming!

63. Credits
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Rosetta_Stone.JPG
http://www.flickr.com/photos/vlashton/1140669128/in/photostream/
http://galeria.badall.net/main.php?g2_itemId=3570
http://galeria.badall.net/main.php?g2_itemId=3574
http://galeria.badall.net/main.php?g2_itemId=3578
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arunjrk/2393439923/
http://ourfounder.typepad.com/leblog/WindowsLiveWriter/Menu.jpg
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=301
http://www.flickr.com/photos/amagill/3366720659/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/m00by/2539347606/
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