--- /Mount/RAM/debian-i18n-l10n.xml 2006-04-02 11:45:04.000000000 +0100
+++ debian-i18n-l10n.xml 2006-04-02 12:09:33.000000000 +0100
@@ -58,6 +58,10 @@
2006
Christian Perrier, Javier Fernandez-Sanguino
+
+ 2006
+ Clytie Siddell, MJ Ray
+
This book is distributed under the terms and conditions of GPL
@@ -94,22 +98,25 @@
translators and package maintainers as well as the work done by
the different translation team members.
- English as an universal language?
+ English as a working language?
- English is the official language of most of the existing
- free software projects. This language has become, throughout
- the 20th century, the international language and this
- is a reality that affects users of free software and, in
- general, users of information systems. This is the main reason
- why program interfaces present their messages in English and
- most documentation available is written in English.
-
- Obviously, a single common language helps coordinating
- work of multiple developers worldwide and helps people exchange
- their ideas (even if non-native speakers might have trouble on
- some occasions). However, users demand that the environments
- they work in are adapted to their native languages.
-
+ English is often regarded as the official language of most free
+ software projects. This assumption affects users of free software and
+ users of information systems generally, to the degree that "They
+ should all just speak English!" is a frequent reaction to
+ internationalisation projects. On behalf of the majority of the
+ world's population - who do not speak English - a great deal of work
+ is done voluntarily in the Debian project, to ensure that program
+ interfaces do not only present their messages in English and that
+ most documentation is not only written in English.
+
+ Although a single working language would help coordinate work
+ of multiple developers worldwide, and help people exchange their
+ ideas, we don't actually have one. Currently, using only English
+ disadvantages most potential users and limits the pool of potential
+ developers. It's an accessibility issue, as well as a usability
+ issue. We want everyone to be able to use their computer effectively,
+ and that's what internationalisation is about.
@@ -120,7 +127,7 @@
teams. Having a universal operating system
does not only mean having all possible software tools available,
it also means providing an operating system that can be used by
- anyone worldwide. Even though English is a very common language in
+ anyone worldwide. Even though English is a very widely-used language in
the IT world, this does not mean that all the world population can
speak it or, even, understand it. That's why this legitimate goal
needs to be fulfilled, at least partly, by providing users with an
@@ -140,9 +147,9 @@
users.
Making Debian usable by more people is also a selfish goal
- for the project: having more users mean that the software
+ for the project: having more users means that the software
developed by the project gets used more (more exposure leads to
- more testing and more, eventually, more features) and it also
+ more testing and, eventually, more features) and it also
means that the new users might eventually contribute to the
project (through bug reports, patches, translations) and even
become Debian developers themselves.
@@ -190,7 +197,7 @@
This document will not try to explain the different issues
regarding localisation and associated with the representation of
- different code pages. This is an important issue especially for
+ different code pages. This is an important issue, especially for
environments that do not use the western code pages (ASCII
character set and ISO-8859).
@@ -201,15 +208,15 @@
- Debian supports an ever-increasing number of natural
+ Debian supports an ever-increasing number of
languages. Even if you are native English speaker and do not speak
any other language, it is part of your duty as a maintainer to be
aware of issues of internationalisation. Therefore, even if you are
OK with English-only programs, you should read most of this
chapter.
- Letting alone the i18n problems, where no general receipt
- exist, there is actually no central infrastructure for l10n within
+ Besides the i18n problems, where no general recipe
+ exists, there is actually no central infrastructure for l10n within
Debian which could be compared to the dbuild mechanism for
porting. So, most of the work has to be done manually.
@@ -239,7 +246,7 @@
infrastructure to ease the translation process.
An effort to translate the package descriptions started long
- ago even very few support is offered by the tools to actually use
+ ago, even though very little support is offered by the tools to actually use
them (i.e., only APT can use them, when configured correctly). There
is nothing to do for the maintainers, and the translators should use
the DDTP. For more information, see .
@@ -248,7 +255,7 @@
package to ease the work of their translators. Some statistics of the
integration of debconf translations in packages can be found on the
Central Debian
- translation statistics pages. For more information see pages. For more information, see
For web pages, each l10n team has access to the relevant CVS,
@@ -261,16 +268,16 @@
statistics pages, except for specific projects. For more information,
see .
- For package specific documentation (man pages, info document,
+ For package-specific documentation (man pages, info document,
and other formats), almost everything has yet to be done. The KDE
project handles translation of its documentation in the same way
- than its program messages but there is no specific way to handle
- manpage translations project-wide. Debian specific man pages
+ as its program messages but there is no specific way to handle
+ manpage translations project-wide. Debian-specific man pages
translation was initially handled within a the manpages
module of the DDP CVS repository, but some packages handle
- just like generic documentation. For more information on how
- manpages translations are handled see .
@@ -279,7 +286,7 @@
This is a list of problems that Debian package maintainers may
face concerning I18n and L10n. While reading this, keep in mind that
-they are recommendations, there is no real consensus on all of these
+they are recommendations and there is no real consensus on some of these
points within Debian. If you have a better idea for a given problem,
or if you disagree on some points, feel free to provide your feedback,
so that this document can be enhanced.
@@ -288,8 +295,8 @@
How to get a given text translated?
To translate package description or debconf templates, you have nothing to
-do, the DDTP infrastructure will dispatch the material to translate to
-volunteers with no need for interaction from your part.
+do, the DDTP infrastructure will send the material to translate to
+volunteers with no need for you to interact.
For all other material (gettext files, man pages or other documentation),
the best solution is to put your text somewhere on Internet, and ask on
@@ -308,19 +315,19 @@
How to get a given translation updated?
-If you have some translations of a given text laying around, each time you
+If you have some translations of a given text lying around, each time you
update the original, you should kindly ask to the previous translator to
update his/her work to make the translation up to date with regard to the
current original text. Keep in mind that this task takes time, at least one
week to get the update complete and reviewed.
-If the translator is unresponsive, you may ask for help to the
+If the translator is unresponsive, you may ask for help on the
corresponding L10n mailing list. If everything fails, don't forget to
put a warning in the translated document, stating that the translation
is somehow outdated, and that the reader should refer to the original
document if possible.
-Avoid removing completely a translation because it is outdated. An old
+Avoid removing completely a translation because it is outdated. Old
documentation is often better than no documentation at all for non-English
speakers.
@@ -378,7 +385,7 @@
As package maintainer, never edit the translations in any way (even to reformat
- the layout) without asking to the corresponding l10n mailing list. You
+ the layout) without asking the corresponding l10n mailing list. You
risk for example to break the encoding of the file by doing so. Moreover,
what you consider as an error can be right (or even needed) in the given
language.
@@ -392,8 +399,8 @@
In any case, remember that the major issue with l10n
is that it requires several people to cooperate, and that it is very
easy to start a flamewar about small problems because of
-misunderstanding. So, if you have problems with your interlocutor, ask
-for help on the corresponding l10n mailing list, on debian-i18n, or
+misunderstanding. So, if you have problems with your correspondant, ask
+for help on the appropriate l10n mailing list, on debian-i18n, or
even on debian-devel.
In any case, cooperation can only be achieved through
@@ -412,8 +419,8 @@
I18n/L10n projects in Debian
- Debian has different ongoing process to permit the
- internationalisation of the software it develops as well as to allow
+ Debian has different ongoing processes to permit the
+ internationalisation of the software it develops, as well as to allow
translators to work on the localisation of content produced for
the project. This chapter explains the different I18n and L10n ongoing
projects in Debian and describes their inner workings.
@@ -426,9 +433,8 @@
people who want to learn about it but don't use it
yet. Information at a project's website is usually a complement of the
documentation available through other means.
- It is also typically more up to
- date that the documentation provided when the software was
- installed or the media it was provided in was purchased.
+ It is also typically more up-to-date than the documentation provided when the software was
+ installed or the distribution media was purchased.
Consequently, a project's website must be part of the
internationalisation and localisation process of a universal
@@ -477,7 +483,7 @@
similarly. Through the use of included files, translators do not need to
care about the content of the Makefile files themselves.
- Thanks to the independence of real content to aesthetic
+ Thanks to the independence of real content and aesthetic
information, translators can just take the original (English) wml
files, move them to their own directories and translate them. The
templates that generate the website itself do not need to be translated
@@ -487,7 +493,7 @@
pages (such as headers and footers).
One of the main concerns for translations is the possibility
- to be able to detect if the original file has been updated and
+ of detecting if the original file has been updated and
when it is necessary to update the translated content. Also, since
the web server will provide only the translation (through content
negotiation) and it is not aware that content might have been
@@ -572,7 +578,7 @@
Without proper internationalisation or translation of these
tools, users will not be able to use or manage the Debian GNU/Linux
- operating system fully in their native language.
+ operating system fully in a familiar language.
The following sections describe the efforts in
internationalisation and translating different parts of the Debian