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List:       kde-i18n-doc
Subject:    Re: translation gUI in Piemonteis
From:       Lauri Watts <lauri () kde ! org>
Date:       2002-09-18 19:54:52
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On Monday 16 September 2002 23.12, Gaute Hvoslef Kvalnes wrote:

> At least, if a language is used «officially», and especially in schools,
> any translation effort should be welcomed. The same rules as for other
> languages would apply, with regard to completeness and upkeep, of course.
> On the other hand, if a language is merely a dialect or a «fun» project, I
> don't think KDE should spend resources on it. (But of course, as this is
> free software, anyone can maintain a translation outside of KDE.)

I agree.  It's not wasting resources, because people who are set on 
translating KDE to piemontes likely won't turn around and join the Italian 
team when their efforts are rebuffed, they will continue to argue their case.  
It's like the argument that pops up on the kde lists sometimes about "Why is 
there people making eye candy icons, when khtml has bugs in?" - the answer, 
because the people who *can* make eye candy icons, are not the ones who *can* 
fix khtml bugs, so advancement in one has nothing to do with the other.

Much more to the point is, do the prospective translators understand what a 
job they have set themselves, that it is ongoing, continually growing, and 
that it will require long term commitment.  I think Thomas is on the right 
track there, I think the bar to getting into CVS may need to be set higher.

I have a personal stake in seeing these kinds of languages get some real 
support, the language I spoke at home as a child has been started many times 
in CVS, and never come even close to finished, because there are not the 
resources.  I can't help, I wasn't allowed to speak it when I went to school, 
and now I no longer can fluently, although I can read enough to get the gist 
of things.  Things have changed at home in NZ since I was a child, and Maori 
is now a full national language, children learn it in school, there are 
native language immersion schools, and all government publications must be 
published in both English and Maori.  I don't see there being a Maori KDE in 
the near future though.

A native language KDE might go a long way to helping people like me, it's 
ironic that I now speak the language of my adopted country better than my own 
native language, and that one of the reasons I'm comfortable with Swedish is 
that there is an excellent and complete translation of KDE in it.  Nothing 
like immersion to reinforce language skills.

Whether it's Saami or nynorsk or Piemontes or occitan, if open source doesn't 
do it, nobody ever will, commercial software houses just don't have any 
interest in a minority language spoken by a smattering of people in a hard to 
place corner of the world.  In less than 30 years though, Maori has gone from 
an almost banned and dying language, to a vibrant and living one - perhaps 
there's hope for all those other small languages after all.

Regards,
- -- 
Lauri Watts
KDE Documentation: http://i18n.kde.org/doc/
KDE on FreeBSD: http://freebsd.kde.org/
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