[Localization] Suti: Bolivia

[Yama Ploskonka]

(Suti means "name" in Aymara.  The first activity a child using an XO
does is to give a name to his computer, and thus 'name' was the first
string we translated, at 7:05 pm EST Friday the 12th)


An enthusiastic team kept working well past the 6 pm official end time
on Saturday 13th to do as much as possible for the translation of
Sugar to Aymara, in La Paz, Bolivia, proving that if we had started
slow on Friday, that was no reason to do less than all that was
possible.

Some of the basic Sugar PO files were localized to 100%, though none
have yet been uploaded to the official Pootle server as of Monday the
15th.  Connectivity is a major issue, and such infrastructure
limitations will likely be a challenge to future deployments in this
South American country.

The usual fun of finding suitable terms was had by all for this
ancient language learning new tricks.  The "Memorize" Activity will be
understood now as the "Safekeep In My Head" Activity among Aymara
kids, as rousing matches of wits happened between the etymologists and
the semanticists to figure out the best term that would convey the
right meaning, and we are glad we have been so far spared the major
religious wars existing between Aymara pentavocalists and trivocalists
and others such issues.  I make a mention of this, because the next
steps such as fine tuning quality and reaching acceptance are not in
the bag yet, as no consensus exists among specialist in this language
for spelling, grammar, and obviously neologisms.

Yet the news this week for Bolivia was not this advance in
computer-based education.
As other events unfolded, concern for the future of our country was
high among those working in the Scouting District Center of La Paz.
While our personal safety was not in jeopardy, we were aware that the
best we could do under the circumstances was to keep working, and so
we did.  We all hope that helping the Aymara find their voice and role
through OLPC tools will help do a little towards our country achieving
mutual respect among those of different races and cultures, within our
borders, and with those working to build a whole world community,
where quality education for all is a reality.

(Translators, technicians, support team for an end-of-event picture.
The logo was a modified XO with the national colors of
red-yellow-and-green, wearing a 'lluchu' hat and the Scout neckerchief
of the Impeesa Group, our hosts)

(can you please pass this to lists?  I have all my lists on my other
account, which I cannot access from google mail.  hmmm, I could sign
up again...)
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