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Original agenda
1) What are the roadblocks and bottlenecks for translators at the moment
and how we can move forward including: language specific issues in phpList itself such as
Salutation handling and bugs with translation.
2) Using the pootle system and working collaboratively to get a
translation finished
3) Specific details of the German translation which need clarifying.
A German translation was completed before the meeting so we changed the agenda
New agenda
1) What are the roadblocks and bottlenecks for translators at the moment and how can we move forward
2) While learning the system is fresh in your mind how can we improve the documentation content
http://resources.phplist.com/translations/start
3) Testing the German translation
4) Announcing the German translation: https://public.pad.fsfe.org/p/german_translation_release
Minuets
- In attendance: <mvscheven> (Malte); Gingerling (Anna), <michiel1> (Michiel)
- Apologies from: Daniel.
- Special thanks to: To Malte for all his work. To Gernot for all his work. To Anna for her efforts.
1) What are the roadblocks and bottlenecks for translators at the moment and how can we move forward
Problem:
There are some issues with capitalization. It is modified in the code after translation (by CSS?) e.g. for the menus. This causes issues German translation.
Solution:
Mantis issue is here: https://mantis.phplist.com/view.php?id=17020
Problem:
Need to wipe the suggestions once a translation for a string once it is submitted, or wipe all suggestions when language is 100%. That way feedback in the form of suggestions after language is launched will be more helpful.
Solution:
Anna has emailed Pootle list to find out about how to do this. Other possibility is do it directly on database. Later… bug report here: http://bugs.locamotion.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3172 . Anna confirmed that using the DB is the only quick way, however Malte did them all manually.
Problem:
Suggestions are often unhelpful, especially when HTML special characters, like é are used. (They should be written directly as é or öäü in Pootle using UTF-8).
Solution:
Document how to suggest translations better. Later: it is there in the wiki under “Things to be aware of when translating” however, I think we need to make this clearer if/when we restructure the documentation. It seems to be tied to large “time wastage” and so is an important issue :) (anna)
JOB FOR ANNA: we need to help the work of people making suggestions become more useful. There seems to be a lot of work gone into this (collectively) that is not being used, sometimes for technical reasons like this UTF-8 / HTML issue, but other times I assume people just don't SEE the suggestions. How can this be improved?
Problem:
Context indicators need to be added to pootle-terminology.po in brackets after each term. Eg (noun) or (verb). Also (if possible). Also, if possible edit this list to remove words like “page” and “update” etc. to focus on terms like “subscriber” and “black list” and “campaign”. This will make the whole translation process work more smoothly. For more info see page 20 of Pootle manual.
Solution:
Anna made mantis bug https://mantis.phplist.com/view.php?id=17042 if no progress is possible consider organising a sprint.
2) While learning the system is fresh in your mind how can we improve the documentation content
http://resources.phplist.com/translations/start
“The wiki page about translations is very helpful. It was all I needed to get started.” - Malte
Things to add to wiki
- It takes some time (hours) before you can see your updates in your phpLIst installation.
Anna: query who has power to roll out translations. We should consider and document how that power is awarded, this will help new people get involved.
- Possibly some screenshots would help.
- One approach to translation -
- * You look at phpList page by page and look for untranslated strings.
- * Search them in Pootle with the search at the bottom of the page (which is quite good) and the translate.
- * It takes much longer then translation string by string in Pootle, but will result in much better translation.
- In Pootle in the left column translations for words in glossary are given as a hint.
- If you speak multiple languages you can get additional hints.
3) Testing the German translation
Problem:
New translation has some missing strings, and it needs testing.
Solution:
Anna and Malte to arrange testing via mailing list. Ask German speakers to update as per M's instructions and test. Feeback either on list or change directly on Pootle.
4) Announcing the German translation
https://public.pad.fsfe.org/p/german_translation_release
Once testing is done, we will announce the translation in German and English on the blog, forums, social media and via a/the/some phpList-users mailing list.
Problem:
We need a feedback channel for German users that is very simple, like a forum post. Directing them e.g. to Pootle might be to difficult and scare them off. However, if people see a problem in a new translation, it is a good time to get them to join the translation community, so we should make this possible too.
Solution:
Discuss methods of feedback at a second meeting or on list (solution not discussed in meeting).
JOB FOR ANNA: Think about this in some details. Initial thoughts are that we could have “simplest way” and “most useful way” to help. Both would be documented.