A plan for Oriya localization
G. Mohanty
Revision 0.1: July 3, 2004
The common consensus seems to be to start localization work with the desktop,
as that is part of the operating system that is most useful to the user. Thus,
we have chosen to translate, in order, (a) a minimal set of application
software in GNOME and KDE, (b) GNU system tools, including gcc,
fileutils (covering the basic commands like cp, mv, etc.),
(c) OpenOffice, the open-source office suite. Of these, all except OpenOffice
use the standard gettext set of utilities, and thus we will initially
focus on these. Also, we will start translating the development versions of
the desktops, so that we can be caught up with our work by the time of
release. This means targetting GNOME 2.8, and KDE HEAD versions. For example,
the scheduled release date for GNOME 2.8 is September 2004.
We initially had in mind a fairly formal structure, with translation units
handed off to sub-groups. The sub-groups were supposed to translate their set
of packages, and verify the translations; after which the sub-group
coordinator sent it to the central coordinator. The job of the central
coordinator was to review the submissions with the help of assistants, and
make the final decision as to whether to accept the submission. After talking
to other language groups, it was felt that rather than having such a rigid
hierarchy, it was better to adopt a more open model, where the sub-groups (or
individual members) made submissions to a common mailing list. The submissions
will be reviewed by other correspondents to the list, and will be accepted
after fixing any reported problems.
The GNOME translation project (GTP) handles localization-related work for
GNOME. Its homepage is at http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gtp, which
will be referred to as <gnome_dir>below, when referencing web pages.
The GTP task list for a language team is at <gnome_dir>/tasks.html. It
suggests translating in the following order: (a) package .po files. The order
in which the packages are to be translated needs to be defined but should
start with the libraries that are used by most GNOME programs, then go to the
base packages, and finally to any others. (b) the GNOME user's guide and the
GNOME FAQ. (c) other application documentation. To this, it should be added
that we should actually start with the GNOME glossary which has reference
terms that are commonly used in many applications. This makes it easier to
ensure consistent translations by different sub-groups.
The GTP resources page is at <gnome_dir>/resources.html. Read, at a minimum,
the first two articles on the page: (a) localizing GNOME applications, (b)
translation of the GNOME desktop environment, and (c) the GNOME localization
style guide at <gnome_dir>/style-guides/pdf/styleguide_C.pdf. People who are
to act as coordinators for their sub-groups should also read the GNOME PO file
status pages for GNOME 2.8 at http://l10n-status.gnome.org so as to get
an idea of what has been done till now. The person responsible for liaison
with GTP will also need to read ``How to use GNOME CVS as a translator.''
The individual .po template files can be obtained from
http://l10n-status.gnome.org/gnome-2.8/en, by continuing to follow links
till one gets to the base package. We might want to start with the files that
have already been partly translated to Hindi (replace ``en'' in the last part
of the above web page with ``hi'').
The KDE translation page is at http://i18n.kde.org, which
will be referred to as <kde_dir> below, when referencing web pages.
Note that, as per the current KDE translation HOWTO, KDE does not completely
support Indian languages.
The KDE translation HOWTO suggests translating .po template files in the
following order: (a) kdelibs (libraries used by most KDE applications),
(b) desktop_kdelibs, and desktop_kde_i18n which relate to the
entries under the main KDE menu, (c) applications in kdebase, and (d)
then, anything else. At present, I am not aware of a glossary for KDE.
Read, at a minimum, (a) the KDE translation HOWTO at
<kde_dir>/translation_howto, (b) the KDE style guide at
<kde_dir>/doc/styleguide/index.html.
KDE makes all its .pot files available in a tar bundle separately for
each supported language. These can be downloaded from
ftp://ftp.kde.org/pub/kde/snapshots/kde_i18n, with individual packages
for each language. For example, the Hindi snapshot is named kde_i18n_hi.tar.bz2. The individual Hindi .po files can be obtained by
following links all the way down, starting from
http://i18n.kde.org/stats/gui/HEAD/hi/index.php.
A translation project
(http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/translation/HTML/index.html) exists for the
localization for the GNU programs that make up a large part of the base Linux
system. This will include the gcc compiler, system file utilities, and a
variety of other command-line and GUI programs that are not part of the
desktop suites. The .po template files are available from
http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/translation/registry.cgi?domain=index. We
still need to go through these and decide on a translation order, but a
tentative one could be (a) the X-related files, (b) fileutils, (c) other
system programs, (d) gcc, and (e) anything else.
OpenOffice uses a native language support scheme that is different from gettext. While it should not be too difficult to use their supplied programs,
and follow their methods, we have chosen not to do so immediately, as we are
already familiar with gettext. Their internationalization page is at
http://l10n.openoffice.org.
This is a collection of other miscellaneous translation resources that might
be useful. The Indian Language Technology Solutions groups were founded by the
central government to promote computing in Indian languages. For example,
IIT-Guwahati hosts the group for the Northeastern region, with the group
homepage being at http://www.iitg.ernet.in/rcilts. Open-source
translation teams for various languages can be accessed via the IndLinux
homepage, http://www.indlinux.org. Another such group is at
http://www.indictrans.org. In particular, I have found the Bengali
language group page to be useful, e.g., a Bangla translation HOWTO is
available at http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bangla-HOWTO/devguide.html. Finally,
an English-Hindi dictionary from Banasthali University can be downloaded from
http://www.indictrans.org/src/Dictionaries/Banasthali_Dictionary.tar.bz2.
A plan for Oriya localization
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The translation was initiated by Gora Mohanty on 2004-07-24
Gora Mohanty
2004-07-24
