[Localization] Terminology (was Re: Translating Wiki pages)

[Edward Cherlin]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2008 at 9:23 PM, John Watlington <wad at laptop.org> wrote:
>
> So I'm translating a bunch of Wiki pages into spanish, as
> requesting translation doesn't seem to produce results.
> As part of this, I'm building up a phrase library of preferred
> translations for different hardware components, etc.
>
> I had started adding these to
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Translating/Spanish_terms
> but then found
> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Translation_terms
> and was told that these wiki pages were deprecated and all
> the translation terms had been moved to Pootle.

Did you link the two pages, or mark the first one as deprecated?

> Pootle seems to be fine with anything that bends to use .po
> files (including the OLPC website, evidently.)   But what about
> using its wealth of translation terms for Wiki content ?
>
> How do I both contribute/mine its set of stock phrases ?
> --- it took a while to realize embedded controller was
> "controlador incrustado".

I have to ask whether that is that properly attested in the
literature, or did one of our people invent it? Partial answer: It
gets 91 hits in Google, which is suspiciously low, even though IBM and
Microsoft use it. It would be depressing if there turned out to be no
Spanish-language trade press.

Further partial answer: Search for   embedded-controller controlador

* controlador empotrado (embedded controller) The phrase
controlador-empotrado gets 87 hits.
* controlador embarcado (EC—embedded controller) The phrase
controlador-embarcado gets 201 hits.

We actually need a more systematic process, but this will do to
illustrate the issue.

I think we need to install Free Software for compiling dictionaries,
so that we can include source citations, and talk to the professionals
about the process. Wiktionary might work. It is multilingual and has a
citation page for each entry. There is a discussion about automating
the process of finding words in context at

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Grease_pit#.5BBOT.5D_Populating_Citations:.2A.

KWIC (KeyWord In Context) tools are readily available. Someone
knowledgeable would have to comb through the results identifying typos
and misspellings, and picking the best illustrative quotes for
different uses of terms. We should be able to get permission to
process the entire run of several major computer publications in
several languages, including trade, consumer, and research literature.
We should ask Google if they can help.

I'll be happy to assist anybody who is willing to ramrod this process
and go through the online research with our localizers. One of the
first things I do on a new tech writing contract is set up a Glossary
spreadsheet where I can collect terms, phrases, acronyms, and
abbreviations, with definitions and source citations.

> I might as well share this ---
> I didn't see this addresses in the set of slides illustrating
> the workflow.
>
> This is not a hypothetical issue, as the wiki pages I'm translating
> compose the XO Troubleshooting Guide, which will be needed
> in most languages.

Yes, we need consistent terminology in software, wiki, and
publications. We are creating a process for part of that for the
upcoming doc sprint, and we have a partial framework for it in Pootle
that needs considerably more work. But we don't seem to have anybody
to oversee the process as a whole.

> Thanks,
> wad
>
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>



-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay