Translations for documentation

[Claude Paroz]

Hi,

For some time now, we are progressively setting things up so that our
fabulous documentation can be translated.

We've now pushed po files for the documentation on Transifex:
https://www.transifex.com/projects/p/django-docs/

These po files contain the 1.5 stable version of the documentation. We
have chosen to concentrate on the current stable version of the
documentation for now.

Note there are still no automated builds of the documentation. Progress
is tracked on:
* https://code.djangoproject.com/ticket/18108
* https://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/TranslatingDocumentation

For what I've seen, there are still some limitations on translating
sphinx documentation through po files, like some remaining
untranslatable strings and issues with embedded links. But it's a start,
and can be considered as some beta phase.

You'll also realize that the number of strings is huge! Beginning with
the "index" and "intro" resources (containing the tutorial) might be a
safe bet. Tip: do not only translate short/easy strings in different
places, but instead choose continuous chunks in po files, as it's nicer
for readers to have entire sections translated.

Cheers,

Claude
--
www.2xlibre.net

[Vlada Macek]

On 25.4.2013 11:25, Claude Paroz wrote:
> For some time now, we are progressively setting things up so that our
> fabulous documentation can be translated.
>

> ...

>
> You'll also realize that the number of strings is huge! Beginning with
> the "index" and "intro" resources (containing the tutorial) might be a
> safe bet.
>

> ...

Hello to all!

The translation of all documentation undertaking is a bit of a surprise for
me. The number of strings is really huge.

Personally I'm not sure it needs all to be translated as the translations
will IMO always stay behind the original, in completeness and quality. Some
time ago, aside from founding a local site http://www.djangoproject.cz/, my
friend Michal Valoušek decided to translate the tutorial and some intro texts.

In my opinion, that is exactly best amount of work that should be done (if
any) -- to attract new developers. I think it is impossible to code on
level Python/Django expect without knowing English.

May I ask, where was the discussion about doing all doc translation so I
can look for the arguments?

I might be isolated soldier here but in my opinion human resources in
Django universe now is not needed for making Django bigger. I'd be close to
prescribe a diet if I was in charge.

A question to other language teams: Do you have resources and willingness
to translate the huge doc and keep up with the quality of the changing
original? I'm sure it is best to have no translation than to have
translation with errors.

I'd like to ask the Czech team members too as I'm certainly not working on
the entire Django doc translation.

Thanks,

Vláďa

[Claude Paroz]

Le jeudi 02 mai 2013 à 15:18 +0200, Vlada Macek a écrit :
> On 25.4.2013 11:25, Claude Paroz wrote:
> > For some time now, we are progressively setting things up so that our
> > fabulous documentation can be translated.
> >
> > ...
> >
> > You'll also realize that the number of strings is huge! Beginning with
> > the "index" and "intro" resources (containing the tutorial) might be a
> > safe bet.
> >
> > ...
>
> Hello to all!

Hi Vlada,

First of all, thanks for your feedback.

> The translation of all documentation undertaking is a bit of a surprise for
> me. The number of strings is really huge.
>
> Personally I'm not sure it needs all to be translated as the translations
> will IMO always stay behind the original, in completeness and quality.

To address the completeness issue, we've only provided translation
templates for the stable version, which should limit the frequency of
updates.
About the quality, well, this depends on the team and its translators,
of course. We cannot tell beforehand that the quality will lag...

> Some
> time ago, aside from founding a local site http://www.djangoproject.cz/, my
> friend Michal Valoušek decided to translate the tutorial and some intro texts.
>
> In my opinion, that is exactly best amount of work that should be done (if
> any) -- to attract new developers.

It is very clear that this should be the start, yes.

> I think it is impossible to code on
> level Python/Django expect without knowing English.

"knowing English" is not an all-or-nothing assertion. The fact is that
there are developers which know enough English to use the programming
language, but which have difficulties to understand some documentation.

> May I ask, where was the discussion about doing all doc translation so I
> can look for the arguments?
>
> I might be isolated soldier here but in my opinion human resources in
> Django universe now is not needed for making Django bigger. I'd be close to
> prescribe a diet if I was in charge.

The fact that all strings are available for translation does not mean
you should translate it! It's all about time, resources and leadership
at language team level. In some part of the world, English is second or
third level language taught in schools and nothing will be translated.
Fine.
For other languages, translating most of the documentation might be a
desirable goal. Who are we to decide for teams?

> A question to other language teams: Do you have resources and willingness
> to translate the huge doc and keep up with the quality of the changing
> original? I'm sure it is best to have no translation than to have
> translation with errors.

Hopefully team leaders will require some level of translation ability
before accepting anyone in the team. That argument could be used to
prevent anyone to translate anything, so I'm not buying it.
And of course, anyone is free to prefer reading the original English
documentation to the translated documentation.

Once again, see it as an opportunity, not an obligation.

Cheers,

Claude
--
www.2xlibre.net