[Mailman-i18n] greek lang - el

[Clytie Siddall]

I'm posting these also directly to Maria, which is a good thing,  
because all three of my mailman-i1 8n messages yesterday were bounced  
due, apparently, to configuration errors. I'll post a query to Tokio  
directly.

On 09/03/2006, at 5:34 AM, Maria Avgoulea wrote:

> WOW! Thanks for your welcome in greek and for your help/guidance...

My pleasure. :)

I know how awkward it can be to pop up on a new mailing list and ask  
about starting a translation. I think it really helps to get a  
welcome and some basic info. :)
>
> But let me re-ask my question regarding its not technical part. I  
> would like to know if there is any particular tool or procedure in  
> place for the translation or if I just open and edit the files.
>
> To explain my self:  When the next version of mailman comes out i  
> will have to "diff" the files to search for possible changes to  
> update the transalation to the next version? This point is of  
> interest to me as I already have translated the 2.1.4 mailman  
> version and i could use any possible tool or mechanism there might be.

Ah, you're not currently translating for open-source projects? Sorry,  
I assumed that, and I shouldn't have.

OK, translation in open-source is usually done in gettext PO format.  
There are several freeware editors available, and the format is easy  
to use. I think the best thing I can do to give you a useful  
introduction to PO file editing is give you the link to the Translate  
Wiki, a central resource for open-source internationalization (i18n,  
because there are 18 letters in between i and n, and we get sick of  
writing such a long word! :D ).

http://translate.sourceforge.net/wiki/

Please see especially the Localization Guide. There is a lot of  
useful info there about PO format, where to start, what editors you  
can use, and handy tips to use while translating. I did an  
introduction to The Translation Project which covers a lot of basic  
PO information: you'll see that part-way down the Localization Guide.  
I hope you find it useful. :)

Because you're starting out with open-source localization (l10n ;) ),  
you will probably have a lot of questions. Please feel free to ask  
me. Have you joined any of the Greek translation teams? Please see  
The Translation Project:

http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/translation/HTML/index.html

which is a central project which accepts files from any open-source  
effort. Its Greek team is here:

http://www.iro.umontreal.ca/translation/HTML/team-el.html

and you can ask any translation questions on the TP (Translation  
Project) mailing list:

https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/translation-i18n

It's a very good list to join, to ask general translation questions.  
I'll look forward to meeting you there. ;)

Your Greek language team will have its own mailing list, where you  
can discuss translation issues in your own language, particularly  
those that affect your language specifically (fonts, language style,  
how to translate certain phrases... ;) ).

There are a number of large open-source translation projects, each  
with its Greek team, but the TP is a good place to start. I translate  
for them, and in my experience, they're the most effective  
translation project. You don't have to learn any complex procedures:  
just translate files and email them in. Updated files get emailed to  
you. Quick and easy.

To answer one of your questions straight away: yes, gettext can merge  
older translations with newer files, saving us repeating our work.  
That should all be explained in the Localization Guide. If it isn't,  
please ask me. The gettext manual (linked from my TP howto) is very  
thorough, but not easy reading. ;)

Last but definitely not least, I invite you personally to join one of  
the open-source groups aimed at encouraging and supporting women's  
participation. Have a look at Linuxchix:

http://linuxchix.org/

and there are also Gnome-Women, Ubuntu-Women and Apache-Women groups,  
although you don't have to use that software to join: the aims are  
the same. I'm a member of most of these groups, so I'd be happy to  
introduce you.

Phew! Lots of information! I hope it isn't too much at once. :)

It's great to meet another woman in open-source: as yet we are scarce.

bfn :)

from Clytie (vi-VN, Vietnamese free-software translation team / nhóm  
Việt hóa phần mềm tự do)
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/vi-VN