ubuntu-translations-coordinators team mailing list archive

[Harald Sitter <apachelogger@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Shalom my dearest KDE l10n contributors and Ubuntu translation coordinators :)

It's been some time since I started whining about how horribly the
Kubuntu l10n is degraded compared to KDE's. Time that didn't pass
unused. We are currently in the process of improving the reflection of
KDE l10n changes (.pot movement/removal/..) to Launchpad (Rosetta),
thus decreasing the probability of missing or outdated templates.
Within the last few months Rosetta as well as the whole Ubuntu
translation process got tremendous improvements which should also help
prevent unexpected issues from appearing (at all).

=== KDE Liaison ===
One of the most important changes is probably the introduction of the
Ubuntu Translation Coordinator team, who's members are responsible for
management of translation templates (.pot). Even though this helps a
lot, since now the Kubuntu developers have someone to blame when
something goes wrong ;-), they are currently lacking a member who is
experienced with KDE's l10n process and the inner workings of KDE in
general.

So I am asking you: Is someone willing to at least become KDE liaison
for the Ubuntu Translation Coordinator team? You'd be their primary
contact for anything KDE related, so being experienced is certainly
helpful (otherwise you should at least know whom to ask :)).
A lot of the problems Kubuntu experienced in the past appeared because
the bigger part of the Ubuntu translation team doesn't exactly know
all that much about KDE l10n, and I have been told KDE handles some
stuff quite differently, so having someone to help the Ubuntu
Translation Coordinator to stay on top of things would help a lot.

=== Kubuntu Translations Day ===
David Planella, from the Ubuntu Translation Coordinators, suggested to
do a Kubuntu Tutorials Day:

> I'd like to propose a Kubuntu Translations Day in #kubuntu-devel. The
> purpose of this event will be to test everything around Kubuntu
> Translations and make sure any issues get detected and fixed well before
> release. If you'd like to propose any other activities (e.g. doing
> actual translations), please feel free to do so.
>
> I've asked the Launchpad Translations guys and Arne to be there, and
> myself and probably other members of the Ubuntu Translations
> Coordinators team will be there as well.
>
> The idea is to build upon the work of having rearranged and updated the
> translation templates, and also to have released at least the first
> language pack in Karmic, so that translations can be tested.
>
> In order to give time to everyone involved in organising this, I propose
> a tentative date in a month's time:
>
> * WHAT: Kubuntu Translations Day
> * WHERE: #kubuntu-devel on Freenode
> * WHEN: Wed 29th July 2009
>
> Thoughts, suggestions, ideas, etc. will be very welcome.

It would be good to have some people from KDE around, because then we
could help people upstream translation changes from Launchpad to KDE
and raise general awareness of upstreaming changes. Are you interested
in this? If so, is the date ok?

We, at Kubuntu, really hope that the ongoing changes enable us to
deploy Kubuntu with the kick-arse l10n quality from KDE, in future
releases. No matter what your point of view on Rosetta is, bad l10n in
Kubuntu reflects badly on KDE, especially because Ubuntu is the
closest alternative Linux choice.

I for one will continue fighting for perfect localization in Kubuntu.
Will you join me? :)

kindest regards,
Harald