ubuntu-translations-coordinators team mailing list archive

[Gunnar Hjalmarsson <gunnarhj@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi again,

Please see some inline comments below.

On 2021-05-14 16:12, Jay Philips wrote:
> Hi Gunnar,
>
> > "Projects on Launchpad" is a bit ambiguous. Most templates on this
> > list:
> >
> > https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/impish/+lang/de
> >
> > (German picked as an example) should normally *not* be translated
> > on Launchpad. Templates where Launchpad is upstream should indeed
> > be translated on Launchpad. But otherwise it's best to do the
> > translation efforts upstream. Those translations will later make it
> > to Launchpad automatically.
>
> Yes i've noticed this a few weeks ago when finding out where upstream
> translations for Xubuntu were for the website and this Arabic
> translations google doc.
> https://xubuntu.org/contribute/documentation/#translation
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fj86gTZhPotY0NWpvf1tN0hr4RauM5JtAMoaPnj_sqk/edit#

I think the latter is a good attempt at a translator guidance (even if I 
see a few things I'd like to change).

> This there any wiki/guide that mentions which ones should and
> shouldn't be translated in Launchpad?

Unfortunately not AFAIK, at least not a good enough one.

There is <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations/Upstream> with some 
general guidance. Most likely there is a need to update both that page 
and its sub pages.

This long discourse topic comes to mind:
https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/reconcidering-workflows/4656

I think you would find it useful to study that discussion.

As regards the Launchpad interface, there are both projects, e.g.

https://translations.launchpad.net/snap-store-desktop

and the long list of Ubuntu packages, which basically consists of the 
packages in "main":

https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/

Most of what you need to translate at Launchpad can be accessed from the 
latter list. One problem is that also a lot of packages, whose 
translations are imported from elsewhere, are included in that list. 
That makes it hard for translators to find their way.

One thought I have is to add a column to the interface to inform the 
translators about the nature of respective translation template. 
Basically these three categories would apply:

1. Launchpad is upstream. Should be translated here.

2. Upstream is elsewhere, and most of the translations are imported, but 
there are a few Ubuntu specific strings which need to be translated here.

3. Upstream is elsewhere and translations are imported.

To realize that, the Launchpad folks would have to add such a column 
first. Then somebody would need to go through all the translation 
templates and select the applicable category.

> > What I'm trying to say here is important to understand for everyone
> > who wants to contribute to "Ubuntu translation".
>
> Yes definitely that is an important thing to get across to users.
>
> > I assume you have seen the docs at
> > <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Translations>. While there indeed is room
> > for improvement of those docs, that's *the* place to go if you want
> > to learn how it works.
>
> Yes I did skim through it when I was creating the guides google doc.
>
> > Creating an enough complete translation documentation elsewhere
> > would be unfortunate IMO. Ubuntu translation is a rather complex
> > subject, and having to maintain docs at multiple places would not
> > be desirable.
>
> Yep I have no plans to create another translation documentation, only
> to create a simple guide of points to give the basics and point
> people to more info.
>
> > That's bad. I also noticed that your message with a CC to
> > ubuntu-translations-coordinators@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx didn't make it
> > to that list even if I approved it.
>
> I wonder how you are able to reply to my first email to the launchpad
> ML if it didn't reaching the list.

Your first email was not sent to any list. It was sent to the admins of 
the Ubuntu Translations Coordinators team. I chose to CC the 
ubuntu-translations-coordinators list when replying to keep the team 
posted and to have our discussion publicly documented.

> I know I purposely made sure that you were CCed in my last reply, as
> I noticed in the ML archive that my first email never arrived.

Yeah.. the ubuntu-translations-coordinators list is one thing (you are 
currently not allowed to post directly to it). But as regards the 
ubuntu-translators list, to which you are subscribed, you should really 
ask for help to figure out why your messages don't make it. That list is 
essential for everyone involved in Ubuntu translation.

> Thanks for the help.

Thank *you* for your effort to help make sense of this rather complex 
aspect of Ubuntu.

> Regards,
> Yousuf

Cheers,
Gunnar