Re: [Panicbutton-translators] Structure of l10n files

[Russ P. <ru...@ph...>]

On 08/09/06, Gerard Jensen <ger...@a2...> wrote:
> Hi Russ,
>
> only got around checking my email today (talk about a *really*  busy
> schedule these days... ;-))
>
> > My thinking for l10n files is to put them all in a "locale" directory
> > (this includes gettext .mo files, localised help files, etc). My plan is
> > that the program will first look for a file that exactly matches the
> > locale returned by the above code. If such a file does not exist, then
> > it will look for a file that matches the first part (en in this case),
> > since that will probably be "good enough", if not ideal.
>
> I think that's a pretty good way of getting around the problem of
> possibly having to provide multiple language versions (en_US, en_GB for
> example) - but I think an even easier way would be to define English (in
> your case obviously en_GB) as the "default" on which to fall back if no
> other match can be found.
>
> After all, the installer probably supports more languages on
> installation than PanicButton will support for quite some time, so if
> someone chooses "Simplified Chinese" just for the fun of it, he should
> still get something usable installed ;-)
>
> The same should apply if the .mo file can be found for a certain
> language, but the .chm file can't: in that case fall back on the English
> original. Translating the entire help file may after all seem a bit
> daunting to some - so here you could provide a translation in two stages
> then: first just the .po file, then some time later the helpfiles...

I agree entirely. I had intended to say that in my original post, but
obviously forgot :-) We need to choose a language to be the default
language to use if the local language isn't available, and English
seems a good choice, for two reasons:

1. The original, definitive, version is English - everything else is a
derivative

2. Many people across the world speak English. I *think* it's the
widest-known language, so there's a good chance that the user will be
able to understand the messages, even if English is not their default
language.

> > The thing is, my knowledge of languages other than English is
> > non-existant. I'm pretty sure that this would be fine in the
> > English-speaking world, but I don't know about anywhere else. I imagine
> > there are German and Austrian variants of German. Are they close enough
> > that a speaker of one would have no difficulty if presented with an
> > interface in the other language?
>
> Apart from minor spelling differences there may be the one or other
> grammar difference too (especially now that Germany has chosen to work
> with the NEW! IMPROVED! MORE BANG FOR YOUR BUCKS! kind of spelling), but
> I'd assume that someone from Austria or Switzerland will still be quite
> content to use the "normal" German - even more so, if the choice of
> alternatives is rather limited (Swiss users may also prefer a French or
> Italian version after all).
>
> And if they're not content with it - well, what a good motivation for
> them to start a new localisation run, don't you think? ;-)

We can hope ;-)

Russ