Re: [libreoffice-l10n] Bavarian and Nipmuck - report

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On 09/12/2015 14:31, Michael Bauer wrote:

> 1) Orthography
> Terrible reason to turn down a project. Most l10n projects LO has invo
lve languages where spelling is a potentially contentious issue.

Nonetheless, every one of the 3,000 languages that have been reduced to
writing has a published dictionary, and grammar. I'll grant that
regardless of which language one is talking about, there will be
contentious issues regarding the accuracy of the book in question.  That
doesn't mean that work on spell checking and grammar checking should not
be done.  It does mean that whoever creates the spell checker and
grammar checker have a hardcopy (paper) copy of the printed dictionary
and grammar checker of the language in question, and understands both
what in the book is contentious, and why it is contentious.

It also means that when automated tools are used to pare out foreign
words, ensure that only foreign words are omitted.  (How many iterations
of the Afrikaans spell checker were needed, before "die" was included in
it? The same thing happens in other languages, but usually aren't as
blatantly obvious omissions to even the most casual user.)

> Team Size

> Errr no. 1 dedicated localizer is more than enough. 

How many people should be on a team is as dependent on cultural factors,
as it is on practical factors.

The vice of a one-person team, is that there is nobody to hand off
responsibility for the project off to, if the sole team member is no
longer able to work on the project.

The vice of multi-member teams, is death by paralysis. The inability to
come to mutually acceptable solutions, when questions/problems arise.

In the corporate world in Europe and North America, researchers have
found that eight people on a team, is the most effective size, for a
project to be successful.

> 5) Start with documentation/help
> No.It would raise the wrong expectations, if you give the average user
 a screen that says Filte, unless highly cynical, they would expect the
rest in the same lingo too.

a)  The primary issue with translating the help file after the rest of
the UI, is that it does not get done. (Take a look at the number of
localizations of LibO, where the Help file is not translated into the
target language.)

b) By starting with the Help File, one can incorporate it into the
Documentation Work Flow, ensuring the documentation is consistent across
the various mediums.  Otherwise you end up with situations like the US
English, where the written documentation and the help file contradict
each other. Even worse, is when both the built-in help file, and written
documentation are wrong.

> As to the Help, who reads the Help? 

The advanced/expert users of the software.

I realize that Apple pioneered "Prohibit documentation wherever and
whenever possible", but all that really results in, is to ensure that
the user is unable to use the product as designed.

> its the worst starting point and a soul-destroying task.

It is no more heartbreaking to translate the Help file, as it is to
translate the rest of the UI, or the documentation that is in other
languages, into the target language.

jonathon
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