[Localization] Khmer localization

[Clytie Siddall]

To: OLPC Localization list
Cc: Nancie Severs (OLPC Vietnam), Javier Sola (KhmerOS), Cambodia Pride (OLPC), MaoVuth and Stephen Bognar (OLPC, Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation)

Introduction for new participants
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On the OLPC Localization list, we started a discussion on support for OLPC projects (getting localizations enabled on the XOs, input and display in your language on XOs, Cheat Sheets, where to ask for help), initially due to enquiries from OLPC Vietnam projects.

Then Nancie Severs asked about general localization support and further translations for an upcoming Cambodian OLPC project. We are trying to connect the dots here.

(Note: the Khmer OLPC software localizations on the Pootle server:

http://translate.sugarlabs.org/

are at best only half-complete).

On 11/03/2010, at 4:50 AM, Edward Cherlin wrote:

> As the original Localization Administrator for Khmer, I am willing to
> take a hand in recruiting again.

Great! Please do so. :)

Nancie, please put Edward in touch with your Cambodian OLPC project workers.
> 
> I am pleased at the cooperation with other groups.

It's key to keeping any project going, but particularly one with low resources, in my experience.

> When I first approached Javier Sola, he was quite hostile to OLPC and Sugar.

That surprises me. I've never known Javier to be hostile to any effort. It's important to understand that people working within a country like Vietnam or Cambodia also have internal project constraints. It sounds to me as though he has been given quite strict guidelines.

Javier's response to our enquiry (emphasis mine) was:

> I am afraid that the XO is not part of the strategy of the Cambodian Ministry of Education for computers in schools. We concentrate on giving ICT-based professional skills in grades 10, 11 and 12, preparing students to enter the employment market. We cannot put any efforts into the OLPC, as it is completely out of the scope of our goals. Our strategy is to use desktops in classrooms of _high schools_.
> 
> There are nevertheless organizations that use them and who would be happy to receive some more, in particular the Jollie-Pitt Foundation is using them in a remote area near the Thai border, and were looking for some more. I would be happy to make the contact.
> 
> Some people engaged themselves to work on a Khmer translation, but they did not get very far, I am afraid.

He also directed me to Stephen Bognar (CC) as a contact.

I've worked with Javier for quite a few years now, and never found him anything but supportive, informative and above all committed to the wellbeing of his Cambodian community.

In any case, working with very low resources mean you have to focus your efforts on less projects, in order to achieve anything sustainable. Just as each OLPC project has to decide who can benefit from it (and thus who will not benefit from it), KhmerOS has had to do the same.

> 
> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 12:25, Chris Leonard <cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Wed, Mar 10, 2010 at 5:59 AM, Clytie Siddall <clytie at riverland.net.au>
>> wrote:
>>> 
>>> 3. I will be sharing my  knowledge with an upcoming deployment in Cambodia
>>> too. Is there a language pack for Cambodia we can use as well.
>>> 
>>> Sayamindu? I notice that Khmer (the language of Cambodia) has only minimal
>>> stats on the OLPC Pootle, but that's mostly due to etoys being untranslated.
>>> Glucose, Fructose and OLPC Content are about half done. I don't know how
>>> recently anyone has updated those translations. Is any Khmer translator
>>> currently reading the OLPC Localization list? Please respond, if so.
>> 
>> Sometime back Mao Vuth of the Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation (in Cambodia)
>> posted to the Localization list asking for some assistance with Khmer fonts
>> and language set up for their XO laptops and help was provided.
>> 
>> http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/localization/2008-October/001701.html
>> 
>> A little while after that, I did have some direct correspondence with Mao
>> (off-list), who indicated they had successfully addressed the font issue and
>> Khmer was  working well in Write and Journal.
>> 
>> Some pictures/news of the MJP XO deployment can be seen on their web-site:
>> 
>> http://www.mjpasia.org/news/2009/samlaut_goes_high_tech.htm

So we have two contacts for the Maddox Jolie-Pitt foundation in Cambodia. That's a good start, and at least they know about the OLPC Localization list.
>> 
>>> 
>>> Do you have someone who can translate a newly developed Activity into the
>>> Khmer language?
>>> 
>>> Like Vietnamese, Khmer is severely under-represented in localization.
>>> However, as noted at the top of this email, we are now also talking to
>>> Javier Sola of KhmerOS. Javier has pretty much single-handedly introduced
>>> and sustained Khmer as a software localization language. Javier, after you
>>> take your bow ;) , do you have anyone who would be interested in localizing
>>> for OLPC? It's a great project, aimed straight at the kids we know need it
>>> most. Someone young, who enjoys games, would be ideal. The language should
>>> ideally be that which the children use in daily life, as well as introducing
>>> them to common computing terms.
>> 
>> I very much agree with Clytie's point that there are any number of languages
>> where it is challenging to get sufficient on-line community engagement in
>> localization, including Khmer.  Unfortunately, the KhmerOS team (which has
>> otherwise done wonderful work on a variety of FOSS projects) does not see Sugar
>> localization as fit for their efforts.

Please see my comments earlier in this email.
>> 
>> To me the lesson of this is that it is critical for like-minded individuals
>> with an interest in Sugar / OLPC efforts in a given country or region band
>> together to coordinate their efforts.  I call this "weaving the grassroots"
>> and in many ways, it is through providing a central pivot point via e-mail
>> lists, RT queues, wikis, Pootle server, etc. that Sugar Labs / OLPC can most
>> effectively facilitate the leveraging of these individual efforts, but it
>> takes some real effort on the part of each individual effort to communicate
>> and coordinate amongst themselves (using the provided tools) to be able to
>> share resources like a Pootle-hosted localization effort.

I agree. It concerns me that different OLPC teams heading to third-world countries don't necessarily know about each other, or how to get help with their localizations. How can we change that?
>> 
>> In that context and with specific reference to Cambodia, I would point out
>> that there is another organization there with strong OLPC ties and a bunch
>> of XO laptops,  Cambodia-p.r.i.d.e.
>> 
>> http://www.cambodiapride.org/

I've used the "info" address posted on their website. Hopefully we'll have a real-person contact soon.
>> 
>> I have had correspondence with that organization and their president in the
>> past and I would encourage any effort in SouthEast Asia to reach out to them
>> as well as MJP to see what points of common interest there might be and to
>> look for opportunities to share digital resources and experiences.

Enough to go on with, Nancie? Please encourage your Cambodian project team to write to this list with ideas and/or queries.

from Clytie 

Vietnamese Free Software Translation Team