[IPython-dev] Internationalisation and creating domain specific Help items

[Matthias BUSSONNIER]

Hi Antonio, 

I suppose you come here after the following question on stack overflow [1], which 
redirected you here. as you've pointed out, there is currently no good mechanism to
translate IPython. One of the things that might change the final answer for you is wether 
student will run IPython themselves on their machines, or wether it will be a installation
that will be provided on a cluster they can connect to.  If you are in the case of the second
option, then I suppose you could have a custom patched version of IPython installed with the
key-part translated. The part you are interested in will mostly be in IPython/html/templates/*.html
that is to say the menu, part of the dashboard, and changing the items in the help menu.
Editting those file and reinstalling should give you a mostly translated UI.

I have to check wether or not the path where IPython search for templates is configurable, 
if so new template could allow some internationalization to be done without modifying IPython
source and just specifying where theses new templates are. 

(from a quick look probably c.NotebookApp.webapp_settings = {'template_path':<your path>} but not sure. cf notebookapp.py)


Personally, as a non native english speaker, I think more and more that no translation at all, 
is better that a partially translated software, even in a context of classes. Having to deal with software 
that sadly are partially translated into french make finding information on the internet quite hard as almost 
every piece of help you will find will have the menu-name in english then you need to find what the translation
might be, and for the few things you find in your language, you will see that the translation have changed 
between 2 versions of the software. So before absolutely translating for your undergrads, try to consider the 
above fact and wether or not having a manual that explain the key element of the UI could be more beneficial. 

If we are interested in a longer term i18n, 

- Jinja support extension for internationalization [2], that will allow to translate most of the part of the templates.
- I don't know of any solution to i18n with javascript. 
- Some other things are hard-code in python itself. (doctoring and so on)
- You have the extra  constraint that most of the library you will use are in english (and in julia in your case)

The question is how much effort we should put into translating IPython, and also that most languages
are more verbose than english so some menu "won't fit" in screen anymore.

We have to take into account that for correct translation, of a full application, we need to put extra constraint
on the developers to think the application for translation. This mean wrapping each strings that could be translated
into _()  most of the time avoid string concatenation... etc. This is a process that for IPython itself would take quite
some time if we don't get external help. I think we would be ok to go into such a direction if we have
insurance that we will actually have people that will use that to provide IPython translation. Seeing how difficult it 
can be for popular project and even OS, I'm doubtful we can have a correct internationalization of IPython.
Also, if there is a translation effort, it should also target IPython documentation, which already need some love in english. 

If I was in your position I would :

 - Search/Ask who is interested would participate in such a translation project.
 - Consider that only  5% of people who said will be interested in participating will participate
 - depending on the result decide what is worth to do.

In any case A document that describe in your language IPython and the significance of each term 
will be the easiest to update and take the less time. It will be useful even in a translated software to 
search for english documentation on the internet. 

If having a way to plug external translation is an minimal patch for IPython itself, we'll be 
happy to integrate it. As soon as you add something into IPython itself it will considerably 
slow you down as every change will have to go through the core team.

If a deep change is required, go through an IPython Ehencement Proposal [3]. 

Hope that respond to some of your question, I'm sure other dev will have things to add on that. 

Cheers, 
-- 
Matthias

[1] : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20777151/ipython-notebook-internationalization
[2] : http://jinja.pocoo.org/docs/extensions/
[3] : https://github.com/ipython/ipython/wiki/IPEPs:-IPython-Enhancement-Proposals

Le 26 déc. 2013 à 16:46, António Seabra a écrit :

> 
> Hi everybody,
> I'm planning to use IPython (under the clothes of IJulia actually) in an undergraduate class where some of the students don't know much English.
> Would like to be able to do two things:
> 	• Translate IPython Notebook Menu items and Dashboard.
> 	• Change items in Help Menu by: (i) deleting some items and (ii) creating new domain specific Help items (eg. course related topics would 	be more relevant than some Python packages that would no be used).
> I understand that at the moment there's no machinery in place for easily achiving this. Which would be the best way to proceed?
> Many Thanks!
> Antonio
> 
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