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List:       kde-i18n-doc
Subject:    Re: Armenian Language
From:       "Anoush Najarian" <a.najarian () worldnet ! att ! net>
Date:       2004-05-17 2:27:04
Message-ID: 015501c43bb6$72a948c0$bead4c0c () clubhousemember
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Hi Ashod (and everyone!)

First, anyone planning to be in Yerevan for the Open Source Conference, June
28-30? (see www.opensourcearemnia.com).  I will be there, and it would be
good to meet any and all of you!  I will mention this project on the
conference website if you all don't mind.

Another thing: my Boston friends and I have been raising hardware donations
with which we're going to set up computer labs in three villages around
Spitak.  We could ask (gently) to test-drive our Armenian KDE at those
schools when we're ready with it.  Nice?  (There are also the SpiTux lab and
the lab at the Boarding School for Orphaned Children that we've put
together; we're considering putting together an Open Source lab for kids in
Yerevan as well.  Your ideas on this are welcome, too, by the way!)

> The first steps that, I think, we should take is to
> deal with the following:
> - The Keyboard Mapping issues.
> - Which font to use.
> - Unicode or UTF ? (I believe KDE PO's use UTF, but
> probably not other projects)
> - How to coordinate and merge the translations.
> - Spread the word and reach linguists and others who
> could contribute.
> - Create a web site where we keep our files, with a
> forum for discussion.
> - How many versions of Armenian translation, and which
> to start with.

These are great questions, and it would be good to have a wiki on the site
off SF where we can discuss them, and keep a record in case we forget what
we agreed on :).

I personally am capable of contributing to the Eastern translation only (as
that's the dialect I purport to know).

> I think when we have to transliterate Abbreviations
> and the like, we better use English letters. Names
> such as "CD" can hardly be translated. Transliteration
> of "CD" doesn't help either.

My feeling is, in Eastern Armenian, people react to the words "lazerayin
skavarak" better than to the word "CD".

A couple more points: if you're working on a Windows box (some of us are,
from time to time!  and many people in Armenia really have to, as one
doesn't always have access to a Linux box there) ...so, if you're working on
a Windows box, you have a couple of tools at your disposal: poEdit (a
specialized PO file editor).  Also, Knoppix allows one to boot Linux from CD
on a non-Linux machine.

> Anoush, great job with the SpiTux! I've been to the
> center a couple of times... thumbs up!

Have you?  I didn't know!  And thanks!  SpiTux was, is a lot of fun.

By the way, prior to departing for Spitak, back in 2002, I did send an email
out to the kde-i18n list, seeing if we could push an A13n ;) effort forward;
that's when I found Shant!  It turned out that while in Armenia, I really
had no time to spare though, and I decided I had better concentrate on
working on projects with the kids.  Now, time is right!

> I've thought of Wiki about 2 years ago. I thought
> first let's have a team of volunteers working on some
> Armenia related stuff (tourism, info, history) on the
> english Wiki. Then start and all-Armenian one. Anyway,
> no one in my circle got hooked up (actually every one
> is busy with some project or the other.) Anyway, long
> story short, http://hy.wikipedia.org. Don't seem very
> active though, although I might add that I got to know
> about it only a few hours ago, while searching for
> Armenian translations of Open-Source Software. Shame!
> Is it that new? Or people don't care to spread the
> word?

Wikipedia is sort of new, but the English version is already the largest
encyclopedia in the world and all...  Norayr will probably confirm that many
of the people on the "Internet in Armenian" forum on ArmenianHouse are
affiliated with the National Library, and I am hoping that working on
Armenian Wikipedia would be of interest to that community.

> As for the benefits of Armenianization of KDE and the
> family, I think it's much more then removing some of
> the barriers. I plan on going in much more details
> when there is a site (where we can have articles and
> discussion boards and the like), but here is what I
> think in two lines.

I agree with you, in two lines :).

In any event, the Armenian i18n for Plone (www.plone.org) is an effort I've
directed, and we do have a bunch of po files from that, and some experience,
and a team of volunteers (mostly in Spitak, they're a great bunch!)

Guys, I am curious: who of us are where?  I'm in Boston, anyway.  Come by if
you're here!

Cheers,
Anoush

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